make on it a rim of gold.” (Exodus 25:1-2, 8, 10,11)
The rim of gold means a border of good, which the Heavenly Doctrines
explain as the Lord’s effort “to defend [us] from the approach of evils and the
harm these can do.” (Arcana Coelestia 9492)
Our military services in the United States can be thought of in the same
way; they form a rim of gold, a border of good around this nation. In their
service to this cause, many soldiers of the U.S. Army, the Marines, sailors in
the Navy, and flight crews of the Air Force do their duty knowing that they
may be called on any given day to give their lives to protect us.
The defense of our country began before we were a country, on April 19,
1775. On that day, the first battle of the Revolutionary War began. We did not
have an army, but a loosely organized militia who were defending the common
good of the Colonial settlements. With the first shots being fired at dawn in
Lexington, Massachusetts, three companies of British regular troops later
advanced to Concord and there they met 500 militiamen at the Old North
Bridge.
Ralph Waldo Emerson later lived within eyesight of the event in the first
generation of our country, and captured the moment in his famous poem,
Concord Hymn:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The intention of the Colonials was to protect, preserve and defend the
rights of liberty and to oppose brutality. They started a resistance to tyranny,
preserving personal freedoms which we enjoy every day in our country. On
that first day of the conflict, 49 men gave their lives for this cause. They bravely
stood on the rim of gold, and gave their lives to preserve it.
In the New Church, a very important part of our values is our love of
country. In every war since World War I, New Church men have given their
lives protecting what is just and right, good and merciful, in every community
across this great nation. Our devotion to serve and die for our country is
expressed in many teachings, including:
One’s country is more a neighbor than a single community, because it consists of
many communities, and consequently love toward the country is a broader and
higher love. Moreover, loving one’s country is loving the public welfare. One’s
country is the neighbor, because it is like a parent; for one is born in it, and it has
nourished him and continues to nourish him, and has protected and continues to
protect him from injury.
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