Spiritual Heritage
From the Series—Spiritual Heritage
July 4, 2004This evotional begins a two-part series titled Spiritual Heritage. My prayer is that it will renew a sense of history and sense of destiny and give you a sense of where you fit in God’s plan for this country and this generation.
Generations
In their book, The Fourth Turning, William Strauss and Neil Howe say, “History shapes generations and generations shape history.” Every generation is conditioned by its chronological location in history. In their book, Geeks & Geezers, Warren Bennis and Bob Thomas put it this way. “The era into which we are born has a profound impact on our lives, although we are rarely aware of it day to day.”
What I want you to understand at the outset of this evotional series is that from a biblical perspective there are no accidents. You were born when you were born and you were born where you were born by divine appointment. Acts 17:26 says, “From one man God made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
Your birthday and your birthplace were part of God’s plan for your life. You were born into a generation and you have a generational responsibility. Acts 13:36 is King David’s epitaph. “When David had served God’s purposes in his own generation he fell asleep.”
I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 5, 1969. I am part of what sociologists have labeled Generation X. We are the thirteenth generation to call ourselves Americans. Like each of us, I have a generational responsibility: to serve God’s purpose in my generation.
We also have a biblical responsibility to respect and learn from former generations and a responsibility to teach and inspire future generations. Psalm 71:18 says, “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation has a rendezvous with destiny.”
Prologue
Right outside the National Archives in Washington, DC is one of my favorite statues because of the inscription on it: “What is past is prologue.” The National Archives symbolically serve an important function—they remind us of where we come from and how we got here. In a sense, history is prophecy. Winston Churchill said it this way, “The farther backward you look the farther forward you are likely to see.”
There is an imminent danger that faces every generation and the danger is this: forgetting what God has done for previous generations. That is precisely what happened in Judges 2:10. “After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.”
The bottom line is this: if we lose our sense of history we lose our sense of destiny. Understanding our history is part of fulfilling our destiny.
Lots of different things come to mind when people think of Washington, DC. I know there is lots of cynicism and skepticism about this city. Charles Dickens called it the city of “magnificent intentions” in 1842. Some of the criticism is justified, but I don’t think there is a city in any corner of the world or any era of history with a richer spiritual heritage.
I admit that I’m biased. William Zelinsky said, “One’s first pilgrimage to Washington can be a blinding religious experience, a rite of communion.” It was for me. I visited Washington, DC for the first time in 1994 and fell in love with the city. Washington is my parish.
In May of 1994 my wife and I packed all of our earthly belongings in a fifteen foot Uhaul truck and drove fifteen hours from Chicago to Washington. We didn’t have a guaranteed salary or place to live, but we knew we were called to the nation’s capital.
In recent months I’ve been researching the history of Washington, DC and praying for spiritual renewal in our nation’s capital. This evotional is the end result of that research and prayer.
The Invisible Hand
Let me put my cards on the table.
I believe America was ordained by God. I think it’s tough to come to any other conclusion historically or biblically. Nations don’t rise or fall without God’s providence. Psalm 48:7 says, “God reigns over the nations.”
Just as individuals have a unique destiny, countries have a unique destiny. I think we’ve so individualized the gospel that we’ve forgotten that God enters into corporate covenants with nations.
I believe that many, if not most, of the early settlers and founding fathers were motivated by their faith in Christ. They saw America as a place where they could put their faith into practice. America was first and foremost a religious experiment.
America was seen as “the promised land.” When the first boundary stone was laid marking off the territory for the federal district Reverend John Muir presided with a prayer. He said, “Of America it may be said, as it was of Judea of old, that is a good land.” Alexander Hamilton borrowed Jesus’ words to describe Washington as “a city upon a Hill.”
The Great Seal proclaims annuity coeptis, novus ordo seclorum: “God gave his approval to these beginnings, a new world order.” There was a deeply held conviction among our Founding Fathers that God’s favor was upon America.
In his first Inaugural Address, George Washington said, “No people can be found to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.”
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘God governs in the affairs of man.’ And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this.’”
The Mayflower
Let me take you a little further back in time. On September 6, 1620, a small sailing vessel named the Mayflower left the harbor of Plymouth, England and set sail for the New World.
One of the eight oil paintings hanging in the rotunda of the Capitol depicts this event. It shows the Pilgrims with their Geneva Bible open and their heads and hands in a posture of prayer. For what it’s worth, if you look at all eight pictures that adorn the Capitol rotunda, you’ll find among them a baptism, a prayer meeting, and a Bible study.
Just before stepping foot in the new world for the first time, the Pilgrims signed what would become known as The Mayflower Compact. I love the language of that compact: “Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia.”
There geography was a little off—they ended up in Massachusetts. But their motive and mission was clear—“Having undertaken for the Glory of God and the Advancement of the Christian Faith.” Anything less than an acknowledgement that the early settlers were motivated by their faith in Christ is revisionist history.
The Declaration of Independence
Since we just celebrated Independence Day I can’t not share this story.
John Quincy Adams was our sixth President and a committed follower of Christ. Adams had a distinguished political career. Besides serving as our sixth President he served as an ambassador. George Washington said of Adams that he was “the most valuable public character we have abroad.” He served in the U.S. Senate during Jefferson ‘s presidency. He served as the Secretary of State under James Monroe. And he became the only president to ever serve in Congress after his presidency by being elected to the House of Representatives.
Here’s what you might not know about Adams. He was an avid reader of the Bible. He made it his practice to read through the entire Bible once every year. During his tenure as a diplomat overseas he was concerned that his son learn how to study the Bible. He wrote nine letters between 1811 and 1813 teaching his son how to study the Bible. Those letters were actually published in 1848. Our sixth president actually wrote a book about how to study the Bible.
On July 4th, 1837, he was invited to give a speech at an Independence Day celebration. He asked a rhetorical question: “Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival occurs on this day?”
He answered his own question this way. “Is it not that in the chain of human events the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission on Earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government on the first precepts of Christianity.”
Adams was basically saying that the gospel was the basis of and reason for our national independence.
When the faith of our Founding Fathers is taken out of the historical equation we end up with a distorted view of history. I don’t have time to do an extensive history of each of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, but let me share a few of their stories.
The Signers
Most Americans know next to nothing about most of the signers of the Declaration. And most Americans would be surprised to discover their unequivocal faith in Christ. Here are a few of their stories.
John Witherspoon was an ordained minister and authored several books of sermons, as well as editing America’s first family Bible published in 1791.
Charles Thomson served as Secretary of Congress and was a Biblical scholar. He helped edit the first American translation of the Greek Septuagint into English.
Charles Carroll, the last of the fifty-six signers to pass away at the age of 95 in 1832, wrote out his declaration of faith at the age of eighty-nine. “On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for my salvation, and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.”
Another Founding Father, Benjamin Rush, is considered the “Father of American Medicine.” He personally trained three thousand medical students. Dr. Rush also founded “The First Day Society” which was the precursor to the Sunday School movement, as well as founding America ’s first Bible society. It was Benjamin Rush who said the Constitution was “as much the work of Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament were the effects of divine power.”
Francis Hopkinson was a church music director and edited one of the first hymnals printed in America in 1767. He also set 150 psalms to music.
After signing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas McKean served as governor in Delaware and Pennsylvania. During his tenure as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, he offered these words of advice to John Roberts—a man sentenced to death in Respublica vs. John Roberts. It was nothing short of a courtroom altar call. “You will probably have but a short time to live. Before you launch into eternity it behooves you most seriously to reflect upon your past conduct; to repent of your evil deeds; to be incessant in prayers to the great and merciful God to forgive your manifold transgressions and sins; to rely upon the merit and passion of a dear Redeemer, and thereby to avoid those regions of sorrow….May you, reflecting upon these things, and pursuing the will of the great Father of light and life, be received into [the] company and society of angels and archangels and the spirits of just men made perfect; and may you be qualified to enter into the joys of Heavens—joys unspeakable and full of glory.”
Samuel Adams has been dubbed “The Father of the American Revolution” because of his role in the Boston Tea Party and the Sons of Liberty. As Governor of Massachusetts, Adams issued multiple proclamations calling people to prayer and fasting. He closed his 1795 proclamation asking the citizens to pray “that the peaceful and glorious reign of our Divine Redeemer may be known and enjoyed throughout the whole family of mankind.” In his 1797 proclamation he asked the people to pray for “speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who is the Prince of Peace.”
Roger Sherman is the only Founding Father to sign all four of America ’s Founding documents: the Articles of Association in 1774, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Articles of Confederation in 1778, and the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Some NCCers owe their job to Sherman. He was instrumental in resolving the conflict between big states and small states by creating two legislative bodies—the House and the Senate.
Roger Sherman was also a theologian. He wrote a personal creed that was adopted by his church. “I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.”
I could share story after story, but the bottom line is this: many if not most of our Founding Fathers were motivated by their Faith in Christ. They wrote sermons and creeds and hymns. They founded Bible Societies and Sunday Schools. They served God’s purposes in their own generation.
That sense of history ought to give us a sense of destiny. We follow in their footsteps!
Time Lapse
Let me switch gears from biography to geography.
I think it’d be virtually impossible for someone living two hundreds years ago to envision Washington, DC today. And I think it’s next to impossible for us to go back in time two hundreds years and envision what this city was like then. But let me try to take you back in time.
One of my hopes is that when we get to heaven we’ll get to see lots of instant replays of difficult historical events—sort of like Sports Center, except better, if you can imagine that!
I’d love to see a two hundred year time-lapse of Washington, DC. If we were to do a reverse time-lapse the entire city would begin to disappear. One by one the buildings would disappear. The paved streets and streetlights and cars would disappear. People would disappear. The population of DC in 1800 was just over 3,000 people—that’s only 157 residents per square mile. When the Federal Government moved to Washington in 1800 there was a grand total of 126 federal employees!
As you go further back in time, trees would reappear. The Potomac River would swell to its original riverbanks. Farms would reappear. You’d see animals grazing and crops growing. Swamps and creeks would reappear. In fact, one of them would run right through the present site of Union Station. Before construction on Union Station even began, it took laborers an entire year and four million cubic yards of fill dirt to fill in the swamp—that’s enough dirt to pack eighty thousand train hoppers stretching six hundred miles!
Basically, the cityscape would turn into a landscape.
When Washington, DC was chosen as the capital city in 1789 it largely consisted of swampland and farmland owned by eighteen families. Just south of the Whitehouse is a granite shaft that few people walking on 15th street ever notice, but the memorial is dedicated to the original landowners whose property eventually became Washington, DC.
George Washington met with the landowners at Suter’s Tavern in Georgetown where he negotiated a price of $66 per acre. The land was divided into 20,272 lots that sold for $80 a piece. For what it’s worth, NCC just bought one of those lots two years ago for $300,000. And we got a bargain!
Tunnel Vision
We tend to have tunnel vision chronologically and geographically. We tend to see the here and now.
Right now thousands of Christians are being persecuted for their faith but we don’t think about it because it’s not happening here. Right now tens of thousands of people are putting their faith in Christ in China and Africa, but we don’t think about it because it’s not happening here.
And we tend to see the here and now. But I want to help you think outside the box a little bit.
The left-hand seal on the back of the one dollar bill is a circle with a four-sided pyramid and what is often referred to as “the all-seeing eye.” It is a symbol of God who sees all of history at one glance. That is the difference between us and God. God exists outside of space and time so He sees everything at once. We can’t even comprehend that. But here is a way of thinking about it.
Strata
When I walk or run near the Capitol I sometimes think about the fact that I may stepping on the very places where George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton walked.
In a sense, geography has layers of history. Let me give you an example. Right next to Union Station there is a construction project called Station Place. When it’s finished it’ll be the largest office building in Washington, DC. We own the property kitty-corner and are about inching ever closer to submitting for building permits and building a coffeehouse.
The people who occupy Station Place won’t know this, but way back in 1997 we hosted an event on that piece of property, which used to be a parking lot, called the Convoy of Hope. We gave groceries to 5,000 needy families. And close to a thousand people put their faith in Christ that day. It was an amazing experience! I doubt anybody who occupies that space will know that they work on a geographical site where a thousand people got saved on the same day!
So what’s my point? I think every geography has a unique spirituality based on its history. If you go back through time the character of the geography is establish by the historical events that took place there.
Let me give you another example.
One of my heroes if President James Garfield. You might not know that our twentieth president was also an ordained minister. His biography, Log Cabin to White House, relates God’s miraculous intervention in his life from a near-death experience in the Ohio-Pennsylvania Canal. Following that divine intervention, James Garfield committed his life to Christ. In one of his personal letters, he describes a revival in which he personally preached the gospel nineteen times and thirty-one converts were baptized.
Garfield was shot on July 2 nd, 1881, as he walked through the Baltimore and Potomac Railway station in Washington, DC. He died a few months later. His statue sits on the SW side of the Capitol—facing away from the where the station once sat.
If you could remove the marble at the base of that statue and dig down you might find some rotten wood from the gallows that sat on that very spot. In 1802, James McGurk was the first person executed in the federal district.
Dig a little deeper and you may find some Indian artifacts from the Algonquin Indians who, according to local tradition, may have held their tribal grand council on what is now the site of the U.S. Capitol.
What I’m trying illustrate is this—geography is full of history. And a brief history of geography will help us put Washington, DC in context.
Rome
In 1663, Francis Pope acquired 400 acres which included Jenkins Heights or Jenkins Hill. You can actually see the original deed dated June 5, 1663, in the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis. Here’s where it gets interesting. Pope called Jenkins Hill “Rome.” Some people believe it was a joke—His last name was “Pope” so he named the Hill “Rome.” But several historical documents record what has become known as “the Pope prophecy.” Francis Pope prophesied that “later generations would command a great and flourishing country in the new world.” That is more than a hundred years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. America wasn’t even an idea. “He related that he had had a dream, a vision, in which he had seen a splendid parliament house on the hill which he purchased and called Rome, in prophetic honor of the great city to be.”
Two hundreds years ago, Washington was the middle of nowhere. But Pope prophesied that DC would become an even greater world capital than Rome.
The Book of the Law
One of Israel ’s more intriguing historical episodes takes place in II Kings 22. I have no idea how it happened, but somehow Israel lost the Book of the Law. Can you imagine the childlike excitement when Hilkiah rediscovered the book of the law? This was a defining moment in the life of King Josiah and Hilkiah the High Priest and the entire nation of Israel. That rediscovery literally saved the city. And the end result was a national spiritual renewal. All the people—from the least to the greatest—“renewed the covenant in the Lord’s presence.”
On a much smaller scale, I’ve experienced those moments of childlike excitement as I’ve researched and rediscovered some of our history as a city and as a nation. I have no idea how some of the stories got lost or went out of print. But my hope and prayer is that they would renew a sense of history and a sense of destiny and inspire us to serve God’s purposes in our city and our generation.
Next week’s evotional will focus on Washington, DC ’s two namesakes: Christopher Columbus and George Washington.