Three thousand people gathered on Jan. 29, 1976, in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel for the National Prayer Breakfast. They represented, for the most part, the leaders in power and wealth from the United States and other nations.
There is an aura about the National Prayer Breakfast which pervades the gathering. With the Cabinet, many members of Congress, high government executives, leaders from the corporate world, heads of educational institutions, and religious celebrities, along with some others who lack such titles, there is a corporate sense of prelacy--being with other people of importance--that dominates the atmosphere for most who attend. The attention of all is directed toward the fact that the President is there with them--or, that they are there with the President. It is precisely the sort of atmosphere that would fill an Amos, Jeremiah, or Isaiah with profound discomfort.
How does the gospel of Jesus Christ address those at such an occasion? Can it penetrate through the fog of collective pretension so that its word can truly be heard? This is not a matter of underestimating the power of the Spirit, but simply recognizing the obstacles which the world inevitably puts in its path, and which seem particularly clear at such an event.
At the 1973 prayer breakfast Senator Mark O. Hatfield (contributing editor to Sojourners) gave a deeply prophetic statement which referred to the dangers of civil religion and the sin of the Vietnam War. His words struck a resonant note throughout the church underscoring the need for liberating biblical faith from cultural captivity. The committee planning the 1976 prayer breakfast asked Hatfield to give the major address (three years before he had been asked to just give brief comments). Their concern in the bicentennial year was to avoid any blatant dose of civil religion rhetoric. Sen. Hatfield did not disappoint them. His address, printed in full below, spoke with power and prophetic truth. It is hard to tell when words strike people's hearts as truth which demands personal response, rather than ideas which simply rebound off the mind. The 3,000 at the gathering listened respectfully, quietly, and intently to Mark Hatfield's words.
President Ford followed Hatfield with remarks, as does the President each year at these gatherings. His remarks proved to be a sharp contrast. He cited how it was the force of convictions which gave the colonists their victory over the British. It is not, the President said, our wealth and our power which are our strength, but our spiritual capacities. But by that it seemed he meant the same devotion to cause as the American revolutionaries; he asked, "Do we have the faith of Washington, Jefferson and Adams?" Like Lincoln, he said, our concern should not be whether "God is on our side, but whether we are on the Lord's side"--a quote also cited by President Nixon at the 1974 national prayer breakfast. Ford called those present to unite in the same bonds as those who signed the Declaration of Independence and pledged their "fortunes, their lives and their sacred honor."
It was a call, in the end, not to Jesus Christ, but to the destiny of America. And it never even suggested that God's imperatives might clash with the nation's.
The breakfast ended with the singing of a song written and sung by Congressman James Symington which went, "It takes time to know a country and time to understand." It had no overt religious meaning to it. But ironically, it did suggest a sense of question about the nation's identity. In the past Christians have felt that they had all the answers about their country. They were simplistic, idolatrous, self-righteous answers which prayer breakfasts too frequently have reinforced. But in more recent years, Christians in America have begun asking fundamental questions about their nation. In that, they are discovering more deeply their identity as the people of God. Senator Hatfield's remarks should continue to deepen those questions for Christians this year. --The Editors
Proclaim Liberation
On November 1, 1751, a committee of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, in ordering a bell for the tower of the new State House, instructed that these words from the Old Testament be inscribed on it: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
The Liberty Bell, tradition tells us, heralded the signing of the Declaration of Independence 25 years later.
From that passage, we may find insights of biblical truth which can illuminate our understanding during this important year of our nation's life. This scripture is taken from a section of Leviticus which announced to the people of Israel the "year of jubilee." We read, "You shall hallow the year and proclaim liberation in the land for all its inhabitants. You shall make this your year of jubilee" (Leviticus 25:10).
What was the biblical meaning of this year? It was to be celebrated not through pageantry but through concrete acts that flowed from a deeper commitment to God's justice.
The jubilee year proclaimed liberation for the poor and the oppressed. It provided for the disinherited to be restored to their land. It repaid and forgave debts, so those who were beholden with their lives in economic servitude to others would be free. In short, the jubilee year was a striking course of action and law which served the plight of the dispossessed, insured the just stewardship of wealth and resources, and expressed God's passion for justice.
It was not the imposition of self-righteous kingly power, but the corporate faithfulness of the people to their God which would infect the whole society with this prophetic vision. Yet, the history of this ancient people reveals how they continually turned to idols and gods of their own making, trusting in their own self-sufficiency, forsaking the "weightier demands of justice and mercy," and being confronted with God's judgment.
Into this setting Jesus Christ entered human history. His ministry was inaugurated with the same prophetic call for justice and liberation; he rose in the synagogue, Luke tells, and read from Isaiah, announcing his mission in words which rekindled the vision of the year of jubilee:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me; he has sent me to announce-good news to the poor, to proclaim release for prisoners and recovery of sight or the blind; to let the broken victims go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.--Luke 4:18-19
There he was--God's love incarnate, pouring his life out in sacrificial service for others, proclaiming the presence of God's own kingdom breaking into our midst, and faithfully following this calling to death on a cross.
Through Christ's resurrection we see revealed power that is "far above all government and authority, all power and dominion, and any title of sovereignty that can be named" (Ephesians 1:21).
And here is the power which can set each of us free from human bondage to self, sin and futility.
The hope which is ours today as a people rests not in our great history of traditions, not in our accomplishments or our own power, but in this one--Sovereign over all--who even now is Judge of the nations, and offers to us his healing power.
The biblical message of liberation, etched into the side of the Liberty Bell, resonant through the scriptures, confronts us this day as judgment, but offers renewing hope.
Its liberating power calls us away from placing our trust in the false values, gods and idols of our own making which characterize this present era.
Today, our abundance, which has brought material blessings to so many, threatens us spiritually as a peril. Never have we known such wealth, but never have we worshiped wealth more. Dazzled by material success, we have developed a new religion: the worship of progress itself. We have placed a faith in technology, and devote increasing billions to life-destroying arsenals.
Whereas people once looked toward God for salvation, our culture now propels their daily lives toward the domination of nature and fellow human beings in a ceaseless quest for material accumulation. The search for the transcendent, mystical, supernatural reality of life is being supplanted by religious devotion to what is visible, tangible, and synthetic.
From such bondage Jesus Christ yearns to set us free. "Where your treasure is," Christ said, "there your heart will be also." He proclaims unto us who are rich, and unto those who are poor, a jubilee which would liberate us all from spiritual and physical impoverishment.
Obedience to Christ can exercise a vital influence in our corporate life as a nation and people, but only on his own terms.
To believe that true faithfulness to Jesus Christ will bolster our structures of power, or protect society's status quo, is impious folly. We who are finite dare not attempt to use an infinite God for our own ends.
Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to give to us the gift of new life and to proclaim a new order. Therein lies the hope for all humanity. We have been given the vision of how our personal and corporate life can be molded by values undergirded by an all-encompassing love.
But all this runs so counter to the realities of power and politics which often possess each of us. It requires a break, a discontinuity, a new starting point. This is repentance--personal and collective. It commands us to turn from selfishness, materialism, and prelacy and turn to selfless love, spiritual fullness, and servanthood.
Our hope as a people is found only in our response to him who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Let there be no mistake; such a hope entails a profound new beginning. Christ's love liberates us, and breaks the parameters of the old order to institute a new creation--within us and among us.
What we require at this juncture in our history is a new revolution--a spiritual revolution transforming our values and reshaping our corporate life. This would be the natural manifestation of true repentance.
Lest we think that such words sound impractical, irrational, or outlandish, we should recognize that the core of our own American Revolution was not the waging of a successful war, but a dramatically new starting point which first transformed the hearts and minds of the colonists, nurturing a new vision.
John Adams clearly explained this truth when he wrote:
"What do we mean by the Revolution? The American War? That was no part of the Revolution. . . . The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. A change in their religious sentiments, or their duties and obligations.... this radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments and affections was the real American Revolution."
Today, the message of Christ presents us with the imperative of a "radical change" in our values--a change spiritually rooted, whose effects would be revolutionary in our time.
Christ's Leadership
Its first impact would be evidenced in a new understanding of leadership.
"The rulers of the world lord it over you," Christ said, "but I am among you as one who serves." Christ was among us in the form of a servant, and he demonstrated his leadership by the washing of others' feet. Following him calls us to lose our lives in order to find them.
Embracing the power of love, we are to forsake the love of power.
Therein we discover the power which truly is the most revolutionary force--the power of sacrificial love, shown to the whole world by Christ's redeeming death on a cross.
As St. Paul told early believers:
This doctrine of the cross is sheer folly to those on their way to ruin, but to us who are on the way to salvation it is the power of God.... Divine folly is wiser than the wisdom of man, and divine weakness stronger than man's strength. My brothers, think what sort of people you are, whom God has called. Few of you are men of wisdom, by any human standard; few are powerful or highly born. Yet, to shame the wise, God has chosen what the world counts folly, and to shame what is strong, God has chosen what the world counts weakness. He has chosen things low and contemptible, mere nothings, to overthrow the existing order. And so there is no place for human pride in the presence of God.... Christ Jesus is our righteousness; in him we are set free. --1 Corinthians 1:18, 25-31
Therefore, we can discover authentic and creative power in servanthood. From such a posture of humility, our nation could affirm this true understanding of leadership. Abraham Lincoln exemplified this well when he wrote:
We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But. . . . we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
This new revolution would also bring a true understanding of our common humanity. When we encounter the creator through repentance and love, our hearts are turned outward to all people. We discover a boundless love--the indiscriminate love of a Father who rushes to embrace the returning prodigal, and gives a feast. It is a love which knows no boundaries of class, race, ideology or nation.
We see it manifest in Jesus; his love knew no conditions. It extended to all. We are to love as he did, for to hate another, for whatever reason, is to hate one for whom Christ suffered and died.
We are called to an unlimited liability for our brothers and sisters throughout creation: There are no exclusions to make, no qualifications to impose. Their destiny, their livelihood, and their fulfillment becomes inseparable from our own.
Finally this spiritual revolution will produce a just embodiment of stewardship. In our era, this is critical to the vision of liberation which God offers humanity, just as when the jubilee year was first proclaimed to the people of Israel.
Humanity is beset by a cleavage between the wealthy and the impoverished; further, the affluence of a few is dramatized by the realities of global scarcity.
We here are the guardians of enormous prosperity; as a people we utilize about 40 percent of the globe's resources amidst only 6 percent of all its people.
Our materialism holds us in bondage to what we consume and possess. But Christ's good news sets us free from the poverty of abundance. That freedom can be the means for liberating those who face death this day because of impoverishment that is beyond their control.
In the end this revolution will teach us that we own nothing. We are only stewards. The world's resources belong to its creator; they are to be used not for the luxury of a few, but for the livelihood of all.
"To whom much as been given," our Lord said, "much is required." He asks us for our love, our commitment, our possessions, and our discipleship. In this we will find our truest freedom.
Let us begin this revolution new. Let us be known as a people who are committed to the primacy of spiritual community, and as just and compassionate stewards in service to the needs of humanity.
He calls each one of us to give ourselves to this liberating revolution.
Let us here today, covenant one with another to mobilize our resources and commit our lives for the corporate spiritual transformation which this revolution will bring.
He awaits us now, with his love reaching out, even for the "healing of the nations."
Mark O. Hatfield was a Republican Senator from Oregon and a contributing editor to Sojourners when this article appeared.
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