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A Personal Devotional by Debbie Hall
Going to the House
We had to go! Even though there had been several inches of snow followed by early morning ice, I knew we had to make it to the State Capital in Richmond! I had been given the honor of praying to open the House of Delegates on January 27th, and I wasn’t going to let a little snow and ice keep me from following through on the commitment.
Of course I know they would have been very gracious had I called to cancel because of the weather, but I felt a compulsion to get there for a couple of reasons.
First, I wanted my son Will, who is in 4th grade at Grace Christian School, to experience democracy in action. He’s old enough now that government and history really are interesting to him, and I wanted him to experience it being made firsthand. That was also luring to my friend Mike Huff and his 5th grade daughter Ashleigh, who made the trip with us. At the capital we saw the only statue that George Washington ever posed for and many other beautiful works of art. Our super Delegate, Steve Landes, spent a few minutes with us and interacted great with the kids, telling us a little of the history and how the House works. A young page gave my son a tour of the capital, and he came back beaming and wanting to be a page one day himself. You just can’t put a price on something like that!
But for me the biggest reason why I had to make it there on that day was to honor our heritage and the founding fathers efforts to secure religious liberty for all. In the early days of Virginia it would have been hard to conceive of a Baptist pastor being asked to say the opening prayer at the House of Delegates. Do you know the story?
Early on in our state history, Baptists and others were sometimes imprisoned for preaching, and tax money was used to support a state church clergy whether you actively participated in the state church or not! James Madison, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson and others fought during their lifetimes to rectify this injustice. On January 19, 1776, the Virginia legislature passed the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty. Jefferson later stated that it was the most fiercely contested piece of legislation in his entire political career. A few years later the first amendment to the constitution would guarantee all Americans the free exercise of religion and the freedom of speech.
America has become a great nation! And this heritage of religious liberty is one of the defining characteristics of our greatness. Here we fight for the advance of our faith and ideas with words, not with weapons. Sticks and stones are breaking bones around the world in the name of religion. But America was set up so that people are free to exercise their faith and speak freely of it in public. Or their lack of it! And now Baptists join Episcopalians and others in offering the opening prayer at the House of Delegates! As I thought about that on January 27th, 228 years after the Statute passed, I was deeply moved as I got to offer the opening prayer! God Bless America!
Rev. Danny Campbell
Wayne Hills Baptist Church