July 4, 2026
July 5th: Sabbath Sunday (Independence Day Version)
July 5th: Sabbath Sunday (Interdependence Day!)
No, that subject heading is not a typo.
It’s somewhat poetic that this Sunday, our first since we completed the move from the Knight Street building, will be during the July 4th weekend, also known as Independence Day.
Besides being the title of a late 90s Will Smith action movie, Independence Day is the general observance of the founding of the United States of America, a myth infused with the bombast of violence and the grandiosity of imperialism, as we celebrate America’s independence from colonial British rule. July 4th is also very broadly associated with freedom, specifically many of the freedoms codified in the U.S. Constitution and its various Amendments that were added as part of the great American experiment.
As a church that intentionally aims its theological imagination by centering the voices of black and brown people, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that, even today, these freedoms are disseminated and enforced quite selectively. At a keynote address on July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglass asked the piercing question, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” It was a speech of observation, indictment, and lament. “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? … I say it with a sad sense of the disparity. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us.”
We at Access Church are committed to interrogating the reasons for that distance and seeking to reduce it, not merely for political reasons, but theological ones. The Apostle Paul talked about his personal freedom in his letter to the Corinthian church (1 Cor 9:19-24), and talked about how he would adjust his own identity for the sake of reaching people with the message of Jesus. He was not talking about cultural appropriation, but missional proximity. He knew how to build relationships with people of various backgrounds as a foundation for showing them the truth of who Jesus is and what He came to do. Elsewhere in that same letter, Paul talks about the need for the people of God to remain in such tight proximity to each other that they can anticipate each other’s needs and work together in mutual rejoicing and lament. As a metaphor, he referred to them as one body with many parts.
Unlike our American holiday, Paul was not celebrating independence, but another more nuanced, concept: interdependence. If independence is not needing anyone to fulfill one’s needs, and co-dependence is needing others in order to feel useful or valued, then interdependence is about finding the balance between those extremes, learning the dance between receiving and giving, speaking and listening, seeking outward for expansion and collaboration and inviting others into our spaces for intimacy and introspection.
Climate activist David Suzuki once wrote a Declaration of Interdependence for the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In it, he wrote these words:
This we know:
We are the earth, through the plants and animals that nourish us.
We are the rains and the oceans that flow through our veins.
We are the breath of the forests of the land, and the plants of the sea.
We are human animals, related to all other life as descendants of the firstborn cell.
We share with these kin a common history, written in our genes.
We share a common present, filled with uncertainty.
And we share a common future, as yet untold.
So as you enjoy the July 4th weekend, take care to practice interdependence. If you’re in or around the Lents neighborhood, there’s a great example, a tradition at Glenwood Park. On the day of July 4th, there are a ton of people out shooting off dangerous, illegal fireworks (not that we condone violating local ordinances against such things), but just as importantly… the following day, on Sunday July 5th, a delegation of neighbors show up to quietly clean up the mess, to declare their commitment to keeping that park livable by choosing to compensate for the decadent violence only hours prior.
When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus told his disciples to love God and to love their neighbors as themselves.
However or whenever you choose to do it, you can honor the name and mission of Jesus by choosing to live interdependently.
Have a good weekend everyone!
REMINDERS:
SUNDAY JULY 12th — 10AM SERVICE & COOKOUT @CASA LOPEZ-ERICKSEN
SUNDAY JULY 19th — SABBATH SUNDAY (No gathering).
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