DAY 238
Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic
A series of daily reflections for people of faith
by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor
Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland
pastorrobert@paxpres.org
Week Thirty-four Saturday 7 November 2020
The Unfinished Work
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” - Abraham Lincoln 19 November 1863.
It was in Mrs. Thomas’ 5th grade class in the small desert town of Boulder City, Nevada where we memorized the Gettysburg Address, reciting it one at a time before the class. That’s why the words, mostly forgotten, still resonate within, moving, succinct and powerful that bear reviewing in our collective soul as a nation, for the cultural divide today is as deep as the civil one 157 years ago. They echo in the evidence around us that there is still unfinished work to do, the hopeful thread running through it all being that we recognize it – that’s our starting place.
NOTE: This week’s columns were completed and submitted before the week began, before any of the election results or subsequent events were known and remain non-partisan in intent.
Reflective question: What ‘unfinished work’ in our nation will you dedicate yourself to pray for this week?
Reflective Scripture: Micah 6:8 – “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Reflective hymn:
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” – verse 3 - Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
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