A Prayer for July 4th

One of the greatest religious thinkers of twentieth-century America was a man named Mordecai Kaplan.  He was born in 1880 and lived until age 104!

During that time, he wrote 20 books and 30 volumes of personal diaries. He also founded the Reconstructionist Jewish movement.

(The great grandson of Teddy Roosevelt was recently ordained as a Reconstructionist Rabbi.)

Kaplan not only loved Judaism. He also loved America and its ideals. In 1944, in the midst of World War II, he wrote this prayer to celebrate July 4th.

Prayer for July 4th:

That America Fulfill the Promise of Its Founding

O God, who is Liberator and Redeemer, Lawgiver and Judge,

who rules over all humanity

and presides over the destinies of nations,

we invoke your continued blessing on our Republic,

which your grace called into being,

and your love has sustained to this day.

May America remain loyal

to the principles of the Declaration of Independence,

and extend their application

to ever-widening areas of life.

Keep out of our life all manner of oppression,

persecution,

and unjust discrimination;

save us from religious,

racial and class conflicts;

may our country be a haven of refuge

to the victims of injustice and misrule.

Instruct us in the art of living together,

of reconciling differences of opinion

and averting clashes of interest,

of helping one another

to achieve a harmonious and abundant life.

Give us the wisdom to elect to leadership capable,

conscientious ones, those of integrity

who will govern our people

according to your law of righteousness.

Bless the enterprise of the American people,

that they may utilize the natural resources of the land

for the highest good of all humanity.

May America be ever hospitable

to new revelations of truth in science and philosophy,

ever sensitive to the appeal of beauty in nature and art,

ever responsive to the call of duty

and the spirit of religious consecration and worship;

And may Americans so love their country

that they shall withhold no sacrifice required

to safeguard its life and to fulfill its promise;

That the Star-Spangled Banner,

the symbol of our American democracy,

may ever wave o’er the land of the free

and the home of the brave.

Amen.