Essential Takeaway: Be the little chapel
This is St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel in Lower Manhattan, New York City. I did not know anything about this church before this weekend. The church was built in 1766, ten years before the Declaration Independence was signed. April 30, 1789 was George Washington’s Inauguration Day. At 9am that morning, church bells all around the city rang, calling for a national prayer. Citizens were united in prayer for God’s blessings to be upon the young country and the new president. Later in the morning, the official ceremony took place in New York City. After Washington took the oath of office, with his hand on the bible, he addressed the Senate and the House of Representatives.
I share part of that address: “it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge. “ He then makes a covenant with God saying: “Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” Washington
is saying that we cannot expect to be blessed by God if we as American’s turn away from Him. George Washington acknowledged God’s hand in the founding of our country as his first act as president and then made a covenant we will remember God. President Washington then went to the little church of St. Paul’s. George Washington and some members of the new government went to church to be blessed and participate in a “Divine Service.”
This little church sat next to the two world trade towers. It is nicknamed “The Little Chapel That Stood.” This chapel did not get a single window broken when the world trade centers came down. I believe our Heavenly Father takes covenants seriously. I also believe that we as a nation seem to be forgetting our part of the covenant which states we will remember God. This week I will spend extra time reading God’s word and taking extra time to be quiet, ponder, and feel His spirit. What things would you like to do this week to work on your relationship with God?
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