November 11, 2023

Dear Road Church Friends,

This is Veterans Day weekend, and Thanksgiving Day is less than two weeks away. A thankful people is a happy people, and it behooves us to express our gratitude to our Veterans who have taken an oath to serve this country in times of peace and war. As a pastor, my prayer is that as civilian citizens we do all we can to keep America the country our Founding Fathers intended it to be. What our Veteran’s pledge to fight for and die for, we as citizens must live for and work for every day. Our Founders established what they referred to as a Republic of Virtue. By that they meant it will function and endure only as long as it’s citizenry hold fast to values essential to good governance. My Sunday morning message is inspired by George Washington’s Farewell Address, a parting gift to the American people as he prepared to retire to private life. His words ring true today and deserve to be remembered on this Veterans Day weekend.

SERMON:  A Message from Mt. Vernon

SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 14:32-34

Wicked people bring about their own downfall by their evil deeds, but good people are protected by their integrity. If you oppress poor people, you insult the God who made them; but kindness shown to the poor is an act of worship. Righteousness makes a nation great; but sin is a disgrace to any nation.”

SCRIPTURE:  Amos 5:14-15, 24

Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is. Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.

For You O Democracy

by Walt Whitman

Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,

I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,

I will make divine magnetic lands,

With the love of comrades,

With the life-long love of comrades.

I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies,

I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks,

By the love of comrades,

By the manly love of comrades.

For you these from me, O Democracy.

For you, for you I am trilling these songs.

Blessing to you all.

Pastor Norm

This service on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/HUGLwmqmELQ?si=b8oQ-xns15tJgFV-