This week, we celebrate the birth of our nation. To many of us, that means backyard barbecues with family and friends, perhaps some fireworks to cap off an evening of fun and fellowship. A deeper dive takes us back over two hundred and fifty years when the place we call the United States was a loose configuration of colonies along our eastern coastline that were engaged in deep disagreement with the British government over a little thing called “taxation without representation.” In other words, the British government was demanding tax money from the colonists but not allowing them a voice in the government. All of this disagreement precipitated a painful war that ended in the birth of a new nation. 

But disagreement continued among the new colonies about a number of issues, and so a Continental Congress was convened with representatives from each colony in attendance and, following a lot of heated debate, a constitution was established. Was it perfect? Absolutely not! And yet, its precepts have served us well over the two and a half centuries since. Various leaders have come and gone, and differing perspectives have kept our debate alive. We naturally gravitate toward certain individuals because they espouse beliefs with which we can agree. We take positions that align with what we hear that sounds reasonable to us. We are pulled toward those individuals and ideas that are attractive to us, for better or worse.

We’re all familiar with the word gravity. It is defined as the force by which a planet or other body draws objects toward its center. It’s the force that causes all the planets to remain in constant orbit around the sun. It’s what makes a ball come back to earth when tossed in the air. It’s what keeps us from floating off into space.

It’s easy to see how the word gravity could be applied to our attraction to the things around us that may seem better than that which we are experiencing in any given moment. A person or an idea that seems to promise personal gratification can color the way we see the world around us. We can easily be drawn into danger or unacceptable behavior because of our innate sense of “lust.” As Pastor Dennis pointed out on Sunday morning, our downfall began in a beautiful garden called Eden, and today’s temptations are just as dangerous. Just as our country remains in constant search for good leaders, we need a personal leader we can rely on to point us in the right direction. That leader went to a cross to redeem us.

This past week, the kids in our church and community learned the meaning of a term called “True North,” defined as the direction along Earth’s surface toward the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface on its northern half, the True North Pole.

But the term “True North” also contains a spiritual adaptation, referring to our core values, purpose, and deepest sense of self. Think of it as an internal compass that guides us toward authenticity and personal fulfillment, as well as ensuring that our decisions will align with our genuine beliefs. It is an awareness of direction, a fixed point that helps individuals stay on their chosen path, a gravitational pull, if you will.

All this rhetoric begs the question,

“Where, or whom, do you want your True North to be?”

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer….Psalm 18:2a

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Ephesians 2:20-21