AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: WHAT REALLY MAKES AMERICA GREAT"

 

“AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM”: WHAT REALLY MAKES AMERICA GREAT?

(A July 4^th Sermon by The Rev. Canon Dr. Fred Vergara, July 4, 2021, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 130 Jerusalem Avenue, Hicksville, NY 11801)

A Filipino immigrant named Jose Dela Cruz just became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was so happy he phoned his mother back in the Philippines. “Mom, America is a wonderful country and the Americans are a wonderful people. During my oath-taking as a new American citizen, they even sang a song for me,” “And what song is that?,” the mom asked. The son replied, “Oh Jo-se can Jo-see?”

Today is Sunday, July 4^th and we commemorate the 245^th American Independence Day. It behooves us also to reflect on the American values that our founding fathers lifted up, values which made America great.

The Episcopal Church where you and I belong closely identifies with this nation. Our history as an American Church is inextricably intertwined with American history. I was once priest-in-charge of St. James Episcopal Church in Queens, New York. It was established in 1704 by the missionaries from the Church of England. In 1775 while the struggle for independence from Great Britain was raging, the church suspended its Sunday services for three months because its members who were polarized were literally fighting. There were those who were vocal about demanding freedom from the British Crown. And there were those who wanted to cling to the umbilical cord of the Queen of England.

In the end the Independence Movement won. It is said that 2/3^rd of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, including Thomas Jefferson, were Episcopalians. So when the U.S. became independent from Great Britain in 1776, eleven years later, in 1787, the Episcopal Church also became independent from the Church of England. Samuel Seabury became the first Presiding Bishop. He did not get his consecration from the Church of England, for obvious reasons, but from the Scottish Church. It is however correct to say that the Episcopal Church is the first independent Province of the Anglican Communion outside the British Isles.

So what are the values of American democracy that makes it a model for other nations? There are many great values but let me emphasize three---and they are---freedom, opportunity, and generosity.

 

I.FREEDOM

The first American value that makes America exceptional is freedom, love of freedom. The song from Neil Diamond says it all “Everywhere around the world, they’re coming to America, every time the flag’s unfurled, they’re coming to America. Got a dream to take them there, they come to America; got a dream they’ve got to share; they’re coming to America.”

People all over the world come to America primarily in search of freedom: economic freedom, political freedom, religious freedom.

The story of the Pilgrim Fathers who landed in Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in 1620 has become a classic model for many stories of immigrants from all corners of the world.

People come to America so they can be free to worship God without fear. As missioner for Asiamerica Ministries in the Episcopal Church, I have welcomed the Hmong, the Karens, the Iranians, the Arab and Middle Eastern Christians who have come to this country as religious and political refugees and are now worshipping in some of our Episcopal Churches.

People come to America so they can be free to speak their mind without fear of political repression. During martial law in the Philippines, many Filipinos came to the United States through political asylums and contributed to the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.

People come to America so they can be free to pursue their dreams and improve their lives. Countless immigrants from various countries in the world have become “who’s who” in America.

People come to America so they can be free to be themselves and express their identity, their gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation without fear of being outlawed, imprisoned or even killed as in some other repressive countries. Surely, there is still racism, homophobia and all sorts of discrimination in this country, and there are still vestiges of slavery of our past history, but there are now laws to protect us.

This commitment to freedom was enshrined in the Declaration of American Independence which begins with this preamble:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The genius of these words is that these are natural laws, universal laws and therefore God’s laws which stand the test of time. Freedom is a right, a basic human right and to deny freedom to any human being is an affront to God and a violation of natural law.

II. OPPORTUNITY

The second American exceptionalism is opportunity. America is well- known as the land of opportunity. Many people all over the world find America as a beacon of hope. They see America as a biblical Canaan---a land flowing with milk and honey. Like Abraham leaving his country of birth, many immigrants come to America hoping to improve their lives through hard work, patience and perseverance.

Since World War II, millions of refugees fleeing wars, poverty and persecutions have been resettled in the United States and have become exemplary and productive citizens of this country. This willingness to provide equal opportunity is emblazoned in the Statue of Liberty in Ellis Island in New York with these words from Emma Lazarus, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

In fact and in truth, the most precious opportunity is offered to all those who come to this country legally that they can become American citizens. You may come from Russia, or China, or Timbukto but if you so desire, you can become an American. Not all countries offer this opportunity easily and even if some countries do, such as Canada, Mexico and Ireland, none can surpass the U.S. And so millions have come to this country, a country built by immigrants and prospered by immigrants in search of the America Dream. Bringing with them faith, hope and courage, they found their niches in the American business, economics, politics and religion. Even people-groups who have no country of their own, such as the Hmong in Asia and the Kurds in the Middle East, have found a permanent home in America.

The Holy Apostles' Episcopal Church in St. Paul. Minnesota is the first and largest Hmong American congregation led by Hmong clergy and lay in "total ministry team" emphasizing the unique gift to the life and work of the Church in America. The Hmong are an ethnic people from the mountains of China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam who have no country of their own and now have found their citizenship in America.  

There are several Karen Episcopal groups in various parishes in the U.S.. Photo shows one of the annual July 4th gathering of Karen-American youth and young adults gathering held in All Saints Episcopal Church in Smyrna, Tennessee. The Karens are an ethic group in Myanmar who have come to the U.S. as political and religious refugees but have now adopted America as their home country.

III.GENEROSITY

The third American exceptionalism is generosity. A few years ago, visitors from China Christian Council visited our office at the Episcopal Church Center in Manhattan. They had traveled to Washington DC and other parts of the country and stopped by the Episcopal Church to share the purpose of their journey. They told us they were actually sent by the Chinese government, through its agency called SARA (State Administration for Religious Affairs) to study American philanthropy.

These Chinese scholars and religious leaders said that Chinese philanthropy was operating largely on kinship system and at best within the confine of Chinese nationalism. They admired American philanthropy because it is not confined in family systems nor bounded by race or nationality. In another words, American philanthropy operates in unconditional generosity. Like freedom and opportunity, American generosity has played a major role in American history. From the Puritans of early Massachusetts who founded Harvard University; to the Carnegies, the Rockefellers and the Fords; down to the present day Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, Mike Bloomberg and Mark Zuckerberg, successful Americans, through their philanthropic foundations, have shared large portions of their wealth not only within but outside the United States for various causes and often regardless of race, color or ethnicities.

And here’s the more amazing thing: American generosity comes not only from the rich and famous. A little girl who sells lemonade and cookies in her neighborhood, supports children from a Third World country. As a matter of fact, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the rich or those who make over $100,000 a year (by the way it was recently decided that those earning $100,000 in America are no longer rich) actually give a smaller share of their income to charity (4% on the average).It is the poorer people (those earning between $50,000-$75,000) a year, who are giving more, around 8% of their income, to charity.

In other words, the poor in America are actually more generous than the rich in America. In the Bible, Jesus saw the rich giving money from their excess. But a widow gave only loose change. Jesus commended the widow because she gave all she had while the rich only gave a portion of their surplus. Generosity is not measured by dollars and Euros but by the heart of love and compassion.

CONCLUSION

So these are what makes America exceptional. It is not so much its economic wealth; it is not so much its political power; it is not so much its military might. What makes America exceptional is that it is a paragon of freedom, not authoritarianism; opportunity, not opportunism; and generosity, not selfishness. And because of that we are blessed as a people and as a nation. 

Happy 4^th of July. God bless us all and God bless America.