November 9th Sermon
"Be an Olympian of Liberty"
Liturgist:
* Today’s first reading comes from the 6th chapter of the first book of James Madison. The 5th Amendment which was ratified in 1791 along with the ten original bill of rights.
Turn with me to page 6
1 Madison 6:1-7
1No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, 2unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, 3except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; 4nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; 5nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, 6nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; 7nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
* Today’s second reading, on the supplemental you received, is from the 11th chapter of the second book of James Madison. It is a letter he wrote to Father Jefferson in 1788 concerning the creation of the Bill of Rights.
2 Madison 11:4-9
4Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. 5In our Governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, 6and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents. 7This is a truth of great importance, but not yet sufficiently attended to; 8and is probably more strongly impressed on my mind by facts and reflections suggested by them than on yours, which has contemplated abuses of power issuing from a very different quarter. 9Wherever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done, and not less readily by a powerful and interested party than by a powerful and interested prince.
*These are the words of Father Madison
Now if you would welcome
Our Constitutional Prophet
BCG
BCG
BCG:
Thank you Citizen Saars
How are you doing Citizens?
Are ya’ll enjoying
The first night
Of Teatro Caliente
It is quite an honor
To be apart of this festival
And to be able to share
Your company tonight
Boys born in Arkansas
Don’t normally get
Opportunities like this
And I am grateful
Thank you Chris
Now I understand
We are in Arizona
But you know sometimes
How you just miss home
Well Arkansas is home to me
The thing I love the most
About Arkansas
Besides the beautiful Countryside
And trust me it’s gorgeous
Is that
The nearest neighbor is a mile away
And it is another relative
It’s America’s Heartland
On my dad’s side
The majority of my Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins
Live on the family property
You can literally walk through the woods
From one house to the next
I remember when I was younger
One of my Aunts would need
Some butter or sugar
So they would send us kids after it
And it was quite the adventure
Especially after dark
Me and my Cousins
Clint and Cody
Would grab our guns
Our bb guns
And make the trek
In search of sugar
Locked and Loaded
Now my Cousin Cody
He’s a special case
After graduating High School
He moved out of his dad’s house
And moved into
His mom’s barn
That summer after graduation
I helped Cody move in
We turned the loft
Into his bedroom
Put Carpet underneath that
For his living room
Added linoleum to the other side
With some cabinets
For his kitchen
Granted for about six months
There were certain parts of the woods
You avoided
Until he built his bathroom
And got some plumbing put in
But this abandoned barn
Had become a home
Well eventually
Cody got married
To his high school sweetheart
Christy
And they are a wonder couple
And eventually
She got pregnant
But there came a point
During her pregnancy
When she could no longer
Climb the ladder
To the “master bedroom”
Well my cousin, Cody realized
He would have to extend
His original foundation
And build a new Master bedroom
And a bedroom for his coming son
Luke Aaron Gann
My Cousin loves baseball
And then again
This last Christmas
I helped him build
Yet another bedroom
For the latest addition to his family
He has also added
A study
A weight room
And a tanning room
Which they rent out
His house no longer resembles
The original barn
But it was built
On the same bedrock
On the same principles
On the same foundation
The United States of America
Has a similar history
We started our as
Thirteen Renegade Colonies
And look at us now
Our Founders gave us
A firm foundation
And strong principles
On which to build our country
And it has grown
And is still growing
* Father Madison begins today’s lesson
With a letter to Father Jefferson
Concerning the creation of a Bill of Rights
2 Madison 11:4
4Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.
These days we are removed
Removed from the oppressions
Experienced by our Founders
Our Founding Fathers
Our Founding Mothers
And as many problems
As some of us believe
Our current Government has
It is no match to the tyranny
Of England’s King George III
The inspiration behind
The Declaration of Independence
The inspiration behind
The Revolutionary War
The inspiration behind
The Bill of Rights
*Father Jefferson listed this Prince’s
“Long Train of Abuses and Usurpations”
In the Declaration of Independence
Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent
For depriving us, in many cases,
of the benefit of Trial by Jury
For Transporting us beyond seas
To be tried
For pretend offences
Our Founders understood Oppression
And knew what it looked like
4Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.
And in reaction
To these oppressions
Our founder’s discovered
America’s bedrock
* Turn with me to page 8
Of your Political Scriptures
1 Jefferson 1:4-6
4We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal,
5that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 6
that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness –
Our Founder’s declared
That We the People
Were endowed
With certain unalienable rights
Fundamental Rights
Natural Rights
And the protection of these rights
The securing of these
Blessings of Liberty
Became America’s Ultimate Goal
The Foundation of America’s Freedom
The Incorporation of America’s Independence
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
In the Declaration of Independence
Father Jefferson explains
Why we must
Create a Government
That secures
That Protects
That Preserves
These Unalienable Rights
*In verses 7-9
7that to secure these Rights,
Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,
You, me, We the People
It is up to us
To protect ourselves against Oppression
The Consent of the Governed,
8that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends,
it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it,
9and to institute new Government,
laying its Foundation on such Principles,
America’s Bedrock
Laying its foundation on such Principles
The principles of
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
These were to become the principles
Upon which our Country was built
These were to become the bedrock
Upon which Our Foundation was laid
America’s Foundation
It reminds me of a parable
I was told when I was younger
The parable of the two Brothers
The two Brothers who
Build their houses upon a Beach
As the story goes
The first Brother
Walked along the beach
And upon finding
The most beautiful
The most scenic spot
He declared
“This is were I am going to build my house”
It was a gorgeous choice
The ocean was framed
By palm trees
And the sand
Was a brilliant white
The second brother
Admiring his brother choice
Continued to walk down the beach
Poking the sand
With a bamboo stick
Finally he stopped
And he declared
“This is were I am going to build my house”
The first brother was dumbfounded
The beach was rocky
And the sand was covered in weeds
“Why would you build there?”
“When the view is so much better over here”
The second Brother replied
“Beauty is only temporary”
“I want a house that will last”
So the two Brothers build their houses
The first upon the sand
The second upon the bedrock
And of course a storm came
And
By the time
The eye of the storm pasted
Most of the palm trees
Had been blown down
Their temporary beauty
Destroyed
And as the second half
Of the storm blew in
The wind and the rain
Picked up
And the storm surge
Crashed in
Battering the shoreline
Finally the sun reappeared
The storm had pasted
But the first Brother’s House
Was gone
It had been washed into the sea
Along with the sand
The Sand on which it was built
While the second Brother’s House
Stood firm
On its foundation
On its bedrock
Our Founders
Understood that our Country
Would have to weather many a storm
The United States would need
A bedrock of principles
On which to build it foundation
9and to institute new Government,
laying its Foundation on such Principles,
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
*In 1788 Father Madison
Was corresponding with Father Jefferson
Who was at the time
Our minister to France
Negotiating the repayment of our debts
He and Father Madison
Were discussing the Colonies
And their latest hurdle
Several states had ratified the Constitution
But on one condition
That a bill of rights be added
Now Father Madison had to be won over
By this idea of a Bill of Rights
He believed
That they were unnecessary
That they were inherit
In the Constitution
He believed
That they would narrow
Essential Rights
But ever so slowly
Father Jefferson had won Father Madison over
He had convinced him that
The United States of America
Needed a Bill of Rights
A Bill of Rights
To guard the people against
The federal government
A Bill of Rights
To protect the few
From the many
A Bill of Rights
To defend individual Liberties
To defend Private Rights
And Finally Father Madison
Started to see this need
This need
For a Bill of Rights
And in his letter to Father Jefferson
We get a glimpse into his reasoning
*2 Madison 11:4-6
4Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. 5In our Governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, 6and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended,
Private rights needed to be protected
So Father Madison went to work
He went to work creating a bill of Rights
12 Amendments to our Constitution
And in 1791
10 of the 12 were ratified
And these solid principles
Became the bedrock
For Our Country’s Foundation
And embedded
In the heart of these Amendments
Lies Our Country’s guiding principles
In the 4th Clause of the 5th Amendment
It declares
*1 Madison 6:6
No person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or Property
It brings a whole new meaning
To pleading the 5th doesn’t it
No person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or Property
Most of us stop at the fifth verse
The third Clause
No Person shall be compelled in any criminal case to witness against himself
The self incrimination clause
But NOW
When you plead the 5th
You’ll understand
You’re pleading to uphold America’s bedrock
You’re pleading to sustain America’s Principles
You’re pleading to maintain America’s Foundation
Life, Liberty, and Property
And
Citizens
I encourage you to plead the 5th
I encourage you to plead for
Life, Liberty, and Property
Our Country’s Bedrock
A foundation that protects us
Protects our individual rights
Protects our country
From the storms
Of Conflict and Oppression
And as our Founder’s understood
That these storms would come
And they did
Including the category five hurricane
The Katrina of conflicts
That shook our country
To it very foundation
The Civil War
A storm that almost destroyed
Our Independence
Our Sovereignty
Our Country
The Civil War
And it wasn’t until after this storm
That We the People
The United States of America realized
That like the 1st Brother
In the parable
Our States weren’t built
On the same bedrock
On the same foundation
On the same solid principles
As our the National Government
We almost lost several States
To that storm
And they almost washed away
Like sand into the ocean
So with the addition of
*The 14th Amendment
America’s bedrock
America’s Foundation
America’s Principles
Were EXPANDED
Were EXTENDED to the States
To our United States
The 14th Amendment reads
Nor shall any State deprive any person of Life, Liberty, or Property
These guiding principles
Had United
Had reunited
The United States of America
As the 14th Amendment proclaimed
Nor shall any State deprive any person of Life, Liberty, or Property
But America’s house
Was by no means finished
And we still have a long
A long, long ways to go
Like my cousin’s house
Our Country has grown
Our Country is still growing
Adding liberties
Adding Freedoms
Ending Slavery
Women’s Rights
Voting Rights
In his letter Father Madison warns us
*In 2 Madison 11:6
He leaves us with a warning
6and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents.
What would protect us
You, Me, Him, Her
From We
We The People
The Constituents
What would protect us
From ourselves
What would protect the minority
The Private Citizen
Or as Madison refers to us as
The “Obnoxious Individual”
What would protect our private rights
From the oppression of popular prejudices
6and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents.
Sometimes it’s the simplest things
That are the hardest to master
Take the Olympics
The Olympics are a perfect example
How many of you citizens can run?
Without being chased
How many of you citizens can swim?
On the surface
These activities are simple
The Side stroke
The Back stroke
Freestyle
Life, Liberty, Property
But to become a Master
To Become an Olympian
You have to constantly
Work at it
I remember when I was younger
I was obsessed with basketball
Me and my friends
Would play 4hrs a day
And I would practice
On my own
On top of that
Work on my crossover
My lay ups
My turn around jumper
Which even today
I challenge
Any of you to stop
We might have only played
In a church league
But we won the Championship
2 years in a row
Which I credit to my Coach
Who constantly stressed
One thing
The Basics
Passing
Shooting
Dribbling
And as Americans
As citizens of
The United States of America
We also have
Our Basics
Our Foundation
Our Fundamentals
Life, Liberty, and Property
So
How do they work
Let’s start with Life
If someone Kills you or harms you
They’ve crossed the line
The line of Life
Hence our laws against
Assault, Battery, and Murder
If someone steals from you
They’ve crossed the line
The line of property
Hence our laws against
Theft, Burglary, and Larceny
Now let’s look at liberty
Your fundamental rights
Your individual rights
Your Private rights
Everything you take for granted
Until it’s taken away
Your Liberty
Everything you take for granted
Until it’s taken away
Our Constitution
Specifically protects some of these
Your right to worship
Your Freedom of Speech
Your right to bare arms
But Father Madison was smart
He understood that you couldn’t cover
Every single right
Can your imagine
If you had to spell out
Every single right
What if you forgot one
Or two, or three
Would we still have them?
Or maybe something would come up
That you never would have thought of
Especially in 1790
Such as
Cell phones
Computers
The internet
Even Cars
Father Madison Understood
You couldn’t cover everything
* So he created the 9th Amendment
The Enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution
Shall not be construed to deny or disparage
Other retained by the people
Father Madison says
Just because
The Constitution
Doesn’t explicitly mention something
Doesn’t mean
It isn’t a right
An individual right
A private right
Retained by you, us
We the People
The Enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution
Shall not be construed to deny or disparage
Other retained by the people
One right that he forgot to Enumerate
Was Marriage
The right to marry who you love
And According to the Supreme Court
It’s an essential right
It’s an individual right
To marry the one you love
It’s the ultimate pursuit of happiness
But as Father Madison warned
Private Rights
Wouldn’t always be
Popular Rights
Let me tell you
The story of
Mildred and Richard Loving
Like many people
After seeing each other
For several years
They decided one
Beautiful Spring
To get Married
So they drove
From their home
In Virginia
To Washington D.C.
And they got Hitched
That’s how we say it in Arkansas
Anyway
That summer
They were awoken
In the middle of the night
And they were dragged
From their Wedding bed
And arrested
They had committed a crime
And were hauled off
Straight to Jail
The year was 1958
And it was illegal
In the state of Virginia
For Interracial couples
To be Married
Interracial Marriage was Illegal
At the time more than ½
Of Our United states
Had laws prohibiting
Such Marriages
Actually in 1912
A Marriage Amendment
Was proposed in Congress
An Amendment aimed at banning
Interracial marriages
It was the will of
The People
Until 1948
We the People
In 30 of the 48 States
Agreed with this ban
We the People had State Constitutional Amendments
We the People had State Statues
We the People had State laws
Against
These non-traditional Marriages
These Unnatural Marriages
These immoral Unions
Which brings us back
*To Father Madison’s warning
6and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents.
We the People
Had forgotten
Our fundamentals
Our foundation
Our basics
We the People
Put our own Beliefs
Over the rights
Of others
We the People
Put our own Opinions
Over the liberty
Of others
We the People
Put our own Prejudices
Over the Property
Of others
We the People
Forgot
That the Pursuit of Happiness
Is for all
So what happens
When you’re not performing your best
When you you’re not playing well
When your game is off
What does the coach do?
The coach pulls you out of the game
In 1967
That’s exactly
What America’s coach did
In Loving versus the State of Virginia
The Supreme Court overruled
We the People
America’s Coach
Pulled us
Pulled We the People out of the game
*Chief Justice Warren ruled
“The Freedom to Marry
Has long been recognized
As one of the vital personal rights
Essential
To the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.”
He said
It’s an unalienable right
To marry the person you love
So despite the majority opinion
In these United States of America
That these unions
Were disgusting
Were unnatural
Were immoral
We the People
Did not have the right
To interfere
With the liberty of others
To interfere
With the rights of others
To interfere
With their pursuit of Happiness
Why would you do that
Why would you mess
With someone else’s
Pursuit of Happiness
Because it made you
Uncomfortable
This is the bedrock
Of our country’s principles
From Father Jefferson’s Blueprint
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
To Father Madison’s Foundation
Life, Liberty, and Property
Our Founders
Elevated Private rights
Above popular prejudices
But what about original intent
That’s always a question
Unfortunately
Our Founders would have never
Agreed with Interracial Marriages
Father Madison
Wasn’t thinking about
Protecting Interracial Marriages
When he pinned
The 9th and 5th Amendments
I’m sorry to say
He wasn’t
Our Founder’s weren’t perfect people
They were human
However Fortunately
The underlying Principles
Our Founder’s created
Excelled even their own
Personal failures
Father Madison foresaw
A need to Provide Principles
For Private Protection
* 2 Madison 11: 7-9
7This is a truth of great importance, but not yet sufficiently attended to; 8and is probably more strongly impressed on my mind by facts and reflections suggested by them than on yours, which has contemplated abuses of power issuing from a very different quarter.
Sounds like he thought this was important
So listen closely Citizens
9Wherever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done, and not less readily by a powerful and interested party than by a powerful and interested prince.
Its human nature
Where there is power
In the Many
In the Majority
In a party
If wrong can be done
IT WILL BE DONE
Wrong will generally be done
Git R done
Sorry that’s another Arkansas phrase
But
Father Madison understood
That the Majority
Wouldn’t always
Choose the right
9Wherever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done,
But Mom everybody’s doing it
“So if everyone jumped of a bridge
Would you do it”
See Father Madison
Understood the power
Of Peer Pressure
Come on
It’s just a little segregation
Come on
Everybody’s doing it
Plus their not real people
Just look at ‘em
Their different
Being an Olympian of Liberty
Takes Practice
Takes Persistence
Takes Perseverance
The temptations of oppression
Are easy to fall into
It’s easier to hate your enemy
Than it is to love your enemy
It’s easier to sit on your ass
And just go with the flow
Let the Majority Rule
I mean who wants to be the odd man out
It’s easy to fall out of shape
But if your game
Isn’t in tip top shape
If you don’t know your basics
If you haven’t practiced your fundamentals
Then the Coach is going to pull you out
Pull you out of the game
And no one ever likes
Being pulled out of a Game
So
What do we do
We bad mouth the coach
He’s an Activist Judge
And it’s never your fault
That just his interpretation
In basketball
We call that
Bad Sportsmanship
Taking responsibility
For your actions
Is Hard to do
As some might say
It’s Hard Work
To admit you’re out of shape
To admit you’re fundamentals are slipping
To admit you haven’t practiced your basics
*So
Citizens
How many of you wanna
Get your democracy on
Get your Republic
Back in Shape
Work on your liberty guns
Get rid of that oppressive gut
Tone up those sagging minority rights
Let me hear you Citizens
Who wants to get
Their Republic back in shape
Give me an Amen
Praise the Constitution
Citizens
Rise and stand with me
Let’s get off our asses
And
Let’s work on America’s Fundamentals
Let’s work on America’s bedrock
Let’s work on America’s Basics
Life, Liberty, and Property
Let’s gets started
With some warms ups
You ready
Life
If someone harms you
They have crossed the line
The line of Life
Let me here you citizens
If someone harms you
They have crossed the line
The line of (Life)
Liberty
If someone takes away your rights
They have crossed the line
The Line of (Liberty)
Property
If someone steals from you
They have crossed the line
The line of (property)
These lines
Are America’s Basics
They are your Fundamentals
And as a Citizens of the United States
What are your basics?
Let me hear ya’ll
(Life, Liberty, and Property)
What your fundamentals?
(Life, Liberty, and Property)
Amen
Now you know
The rules of the game
They’re simple
If any of these lines are crossed
According to the 5th and 14th Amendments
It’s a no go situation
It’s Unconstitutional
If a law crosses any of these lines
What is it citizens
(Unconstitutional)
So are ya’ll ready
For a good ole fashion American workout
Let’s use the precedent set by
Loving vs the state of Virginia
Where the Supreme Court ruled
It’s an unalienable right
The pursuit of Happiness
To Marry the person you love
Assuming they love you back
We won’t get into my personal problems
Here’s the situation
We have two Loving people
Two Consenting Adults
And they have decided
To Pursue Happiness
And get Married
Now this Marriage
Does it affect you personally?
Your Life
(No)
Does this marriage affect your rights?
Your Liberty
(No)
Does it affect your Property
(No)
No, no, no
This marriage passes America’s test
It doesn’t cross any lines
It meets Constitutional Muster
Now let’s look at another situation
If WE the People
Decide to interfere with
Their Loving pursuit of happiness
By turning the government
Into our own instrument
Denying those two consenting adults
Denying them marriage
Denying them their pursuit of happiness
For whatever reason
The reason doesn’t Matter
What Matters
Is America’s Test
So if We the People
Deny them their right
To Marry who they love
Are We the People
Affecting their Lives
Their life
(Yes)
Are We the People
Affecting their Liberty
Their pursuit of happiness
(Yes)
Are We the People
Affecting their Property
(Yes)
Yes, Yes, Yes
This denial of marriage
Crosses the line of Life
Crosses the line of Liberty
Crosses the line of Property
And Citizens
What do we call a law
That crosses any one of these lines
(Unconstitutional)
What do we call a law
That fails
America’s test
(Unconstitutional)
Amen
Praise the Constitution
Please be seated
You see how America’s fundamentals work
You see how America’s basics are used
You see how America’s foundation
Holds up our principles
The principles of
Life, liberty, and property
And you can practice
These fundamentals at home
Take any law
Take any statute
And give it
America’s Test
Practice, practice, practice
Learn your basics
Teach the fundamentals to others
Spread America’s foundation
Expand these principles
To your everyday life
And Build your life
Build our Country
Upon the bedrock of
The United States of America
Life, Liberty and Property
And maybe someday
Maybe someday
WE the People
Will once again become
Olympians of Liberty