A Day for All of Us

...if we make it so

It’s July 4, Independence Day in the United States. Our 249th anniversary.

Last night, members of the Blue Room community came together to talk about “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass. Those who registered for the event, check your inboxes in the next couple of days for the recording, and I’ll share it here sometime in the next few weeks.

Last night’s gathering was a prototype of the kind of conversation we’re hoping to have as part of faith250, a grassroots movement to host conversations about some of our important national texts. Read more about the project here:

The Invitation

Senator Cory Booker has said, “If this country hasn’t broken your heart, you probably don’t love her enough.” My country and I have a perpetual lovers’ quarrel going, but this is my home: this big, unwieldy, flawed, lovely, troubled, polyglot nation. I am an American, and that’s both a privilege and a weighty responsibility.

This year I feel especially committed to celebrate the ideal of a multiracial democracy, even as that identity feels contested in fresh ways. Building on a list I began last year on this date, here’s a random sampling of the people I celebrate today—diverse people who make us who we are.

Walt Whitman.

Juliette Gordon Low.

Sojourner Truth.

Sarah Weddington.

Dolores Huerta.

Marsha P. Johnson.

Geraldine Ferraro.

Frederick Douglass.

Jim Henson.

Daisy Bates.

Fred Rogers.

Anne Lamott.

Mary Oliver.

Amanda Gorman.

Rudy Francisco.

Brittney Griner.

Magic Johnson.

Willie Mays.

Stephen Sondheim.

Shirley Chisholm.

Julia Child.

Sylvia Earle.

Abraham Lincoln.

Maya Angelou.

Harriet Tubman.

Frank Capra.

Muhammad Ali.

Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Nellie Bly.

Harvey Milk.

Mae Jemison.

Thomas Edison.

Colin Kaepernick.

César Chavez.

Mamie Till-Mobley.

Amelia Earhart.

John Lewis.

Viola Liuzzo.

Melinda Gates.

Woody Guthrie.

Who do you celebrate today?

What I’m Up To

• I’m preaching this Sunday July 6 at 10:15 EDT at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon, in person or via livestream.

• And here’s the latest Pop Culture Pastors Hour—a discussion of the 2006 film Stranger than Fiction. Enjoy!