As Americans and members of Centers for Spiritual Living, we’ve been graced with the profound thinking and expression of well-read men with a passionate hunger for and dedication to freedom that endangered their very lives.

Ernest Holmes, the founder of Centers for Spiritual Living, was born in 1887, just 11 years after the Declaration of Independence, and 24 years after the Gettysburg Address. (For perspective, the continuing war in Afghanistan has already lasted 20 years.)

The ideas of the Founding Fathers and President Abraham Lincoln still have the power to inspire us. Recently, during a news broadcast reflecting on the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th of this year, I heard the Gettysburg Address again, and it brought tears to my eyes. Holmes, too, in his expression of the immense importance of liberty reminds me of why we’re all here.

This morning I’ll be sharing the vision of these inspired people and reflecting on what Freedom and Independence call us into as Religious Scientists, as we aspire to live by the great Visions set forth by these writers and speakers.