The Wired Word for the Week of February 16, 2025
In the News
By executive order on January 29, 2025, President Donald Trump took action to “provide a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence on July 4, 2026,” and “to take other actions to honor the history of our great Nation.”
This effort will build on the U.S. Bicentennial Celebration which occurred a half century ago. The White House told Fox News Digital that the celebration will emphasize “national renewal of our founding ideals after a period of national unrest and division.” America’s 250th anniversary, said the White House, will “afford an opportunity to unite the American people around their shared history and common future as a nation.”
A group called “Task Force 250” will organize the celebration. According to the order, the President “shall be the Chair of Task Force 250 and the Vice President will serve as Vice Chair.” An executive director will administer and execute the day-to-day operations of Task Force 250, a group which will be made up of members ranging from the Secretary of State to the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Additional actions included the reinstatement of executive orders from Trump’s first administration: “Building and Rebuilding of Monuments to American Heroes” and “Building the National Garden of American Heroes.” Additional historically significant Americans will be recommended “for inclusion in the National Garden of American Heroes, to bring the total number of heroes to 250.”
ABC News reports that it was in a 2020 speech, celebrating Independence Day at Mount Rushmore, that Trump first announced his plans to create “a new monument to the giants of our past.” At that time, he listed some of the people who were to be included: Davy Crockett, Billy Graham, Whitney Houston, Harriet Tubman and Antonin Scalia, among others. No site was selected and the garden was never funded by Congress. In May 2021, President Joe Biden abolished the task force that was formed to create the “National Garden of American Heroes.”
During his 2024 campaign, Trump talked about creating a yearlong “Salute to America 250” celebration. He said that when he returned to office he would convene a task force that would coordinate with state and local governments to plan festivities, beginning on Memorial Day 2025. He wanted the celebration to include a yearlong “Great American State Fair” in Iowa, featuring pavilions that would “showcase the glory of every state in the Union, promote pride in our history, and put forth innovative visions for America’s future.” In addition, he shared a desire to establish “Patriot Games” — sports contests featuring high school athletes from across the country. He hoped these games would “allow young Americans from every state to show off the best of American skill, sportsmanship, and competitive spirit.”
This weekend in February is an appropriate time to focus on American heroes, since Monday, February 17, is Presidents Day. Officially known as Washington’s Birthday, the federal holiday was originally meant to honor our country’s first president, George Washington. According to USA Today, “Washington was born in Virginia on Feb. 11, 1731, according to the then-used Julian calendar. In 1752, however, Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar which moved his birthday a year and 11 days to Feb. 22, 1732.”
Over time, the holiday began to honor President Abraham Lincoln as well, since his birthday is February 12. Because the holiday falls between the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, it has become commonly known as Presidents Day. In 1885, Congress designated February 22, Washington’s birthday, as a holiday for all federal workers, but the holiday was changed to the third Monday in February in 1971.
According to CBS News, a group of historians, political scientists and presidential scholars recently evaluated presidents across 20 categories and ranked them best to worst. In this ranking, the top president was Franklin D. Roosevelt, followed by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. The Mount Rushmore National Monument, carved from 1927 to 1941, contains enormous likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent the nation’s birth, growth, development and preservation.
More on this story can be found at these links:
Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday. The White House
Trump to Create Task Force to Plan ‘Extraordinary Celebration’ for 250th Anniversary of America’s Independence. Fox News
Trump Makes Plans to Mark the Nation’s 250th Anniversary Celebration and Recognize ‘American Heroes.’ ABC News
When is Presidents Day 2025? Date, History, and Why We Celebrate. USA Today
Presidents Ranked From Worst to Best. CBS News
Applying the News Story
As Christians, we are challenged to live with integrity in our civil society, as well as to abide by the values of the kingdom of God. We have a responsibility to elect honorable political leaders, and also to live by the ideals of God’s kingdom in our personal and congregational lives. Use this lesson as an opportunity to discuss the qualities of leadership and citizenship that are important to you, as well as faithful to God.
The Big Questions
1. What ideals from our nation’s founding should be highlighted during a celebration of our 250th birthday? How would a renewal of these ideals help our country in a time of division?
2. How does American history unite us as a people? How does it divide us? What should we work on together if we want to have a “common future”? What people or groups seem to benefit from division?
3. Who would you include in a “Garden of American Heroes”? Name your top three, and give a reason for each selection. What four persons would you carve into a biblical Mount Rushmore? Why did you choose them?
4. What are some of the values of the kingdom of God? What are the core teachings of Jesus? How does your church community organize its life around them? In what ways does it fail to do so?
5. Where do you see alignment between the ideals of the United States and the ideals of God’s rule in civil society? Where is there divergence? How do you express appropriate loyalty to each, if at all?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Genesis 17:1-2
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.” (For context, read Genesis 17:1-14.)
In the book of Genesis, God makes a covenant with Abram (later, Abraham), the great patriarch of the Israelites. God invites Abram to walk before him “and be blameless,” and God says that he will make a covenant with him, and that Abram will be “exceedingly numerous.” God makes a deal with him: In exchange for Abram’s devotion, God promises to multiply him and make him exceedingly fruitful, to establish him as the father of a multitude of nations, with kings and family and a land that his family could call its own.
This is covenant in its classic sense: A term of relationship between a superior and an inferior party, with the superior party — in this case, God — establishing the bond and setting the terms. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, God renews this covenant with the people of Israel over and over, and the deal is always basically the same: You shall be my people and I shall be your God.
Questions: Which leaders in American history have called citizens into a covenant, one in which devotion is exchanged for benefits? Who are the great covenant-makers of Christian history, and what have been the terms of their agreements? What is the value of a covenant, for individuals and communities?
Exodus 3:7-8
Then the LORD said [to Moses], “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” (For context, read Exodus 3:1-12.)
The book of Exodus reports the mighty act in which God liberates his people from slavery in Egypt. Knowing that the Hebrews have suffered, God comes down to “deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land.” Moses is appointed to lead God’s people out, and he does so, through the Red Sea and on toward the Promised Land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Throughout Jewish and Christian history, this event has been considered crucial in the life of faith, for it demonstrates God’s solidarity with the oppressed and his desire to liberate people from physical and spiritual bondage.
Questions: Who have been the great leaders who did the work of liberation in American history? What work are we challenged to do as we follow them? Who have been the liberators of Christian history, and what role do they play in our faith today? Why should we, as Americans and Christians, be concerned about physical and spiritual bondage?
Mark 1:14-15
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (No context needed.)
In the gospel of Mark, Jesus begins his ministry by traveling from the wilderness of Judea to the populated area of Galilee and proclaiming “the good news of God.” In the first century, “good news” (Greek euangelion) was typically a political message that announced the arrival of a powerful helper, the defeat of an enemy, or a change of regimes. In many Bibles, euangelion is translated “gospel.”
The good news that Jesus proclaims is that “the kingdom of God has come near.” God’s kingdom is arriving along with Jesus, but it is not fully present. To use an American political term, we might say that it has been “inaugurated.” The response that Jesus calls people to make is to “repent,” which means to make a change of heart and mind. He wants his followers to turn their lives around and “believe in the good news.”
Questions: How do you serve the kingdom of God in your personal life, in the church, and in the wider community? How do you understand “the good news of God” as a change of regimes? Where do you see the kingdom of God coming near today, and how do you respond to it?
Acts 18:26
[Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. (For context, read Acts 18:24-28.)
Priscilla was a powerful church leader in the book of Acts. Along with her husband Aquila, she led the church in maintaining right belief, showing love for the poor, and mentoring young leaders such as Apollos, who “spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John” (v. 25). Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos aside and “explained the Way of God to him more accurately.”
Priscilla and Aquila were close companions of the apostle Paul, as well as being teachers of the gospel. In four of the six times this couple is mentioned, Priscilla is named first. This may indicate that she was the more prominent of the two. In a male-dominated society, she was certainly an example of God’s insistence on the dignity of women in church leadership. She showed God’s plan for what it means to be part of the community of faith, including the raising up of women who have gifts for teaching, mentoring, and performing works of charity.
Questions: What lesson does the leadership of Priscilla have for the church today? What can she teach us about women in leadership beyond the church? Who are some of the women that you consider to be heroes of American and Christian history, and why do you feel this way?
For Further Discussion
1. In his plans for the “National Garden of American Heroes,” President Trump listed a number of faith heroes, including Billy Graham and Harriet Tubman. How were these two involved in both religious and political activities? What lessons do they teach you about expressing faith in the public arena?
2. In his book Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts, TWW Team Member Henry Brinton writes, “In each election cycle, conservatives emulate the covenant-making character of Abraham, as they focus on the obligations of religious life and show an appreciation for moral clarity. Liberals continue to march behind Moses, as they embrace religion as a liberation movement and stress God’s love for the oppressed of the earth. Obligation versus liberation, and clarity versus charity — these distinctive approaches continue to define the theological battle lines in church and society.” Discuss.
3. “What was the message of Jesus?” asks Mark Roberts of Fuller Seminary. Many “would answer this question by saying something about love, because we rightly associate Jesus’ teaching with love. But, as it turns out, love is not the core of his message, though it is close and essential to that core. What Jesus actually proclaimed, first and foremost, was not that we should love, but something else. … It is, in a nutshell: The kingdom of God has come near.” Why would this message anger people and lead to the crucifixion of Jesus? How is the arrival of the kingdom of God still countercultural today?
4. As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday over the next year, what celebrations of American faith would be appropriate? How would you like to take part, as an individual and a congregation?
Responding to the News
Offer your support to leaders of your church and community, while also holding them accountable. Keep in mind the values of God’s rule in civil society as you reflect on the history of the United States. Make a commitment to share the good news of the kingdom in your home, church and community.
Prayer
God of the nations, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to live as Christians in the United States of America. Remind us of our obligation to keep covenant with you, and give us opportunities to join you in liberating work, as we attempt to create a more perfect Union. May we live by the values of your kingdom as we worship, work, learn, serve and celebrate together. In Jesus’ name. Amen.