A City on a Hill?

What can a break point a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth? With the Colson Center, I'm John Stuntree. To celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Cana Academy has taken up the task of telling the American story. Among the resources they offer to schools, especially classical schools, is a new History 250 series of free, beautifully made short films that are released weekly and tell the story from America's founding to the present. According to their website, Cana Academy's approach to history is, and I quote, observational and sympathetic, not anachronistic or moralistic, narrative and fully contextual, not fragmentary, unitive, not divisive." A film in the series, titled A City Founded Upon a Hill, tells the story of Puritan John Winthrop in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. That event took place 150 years prior to the Declaration, but is essential to America's formation and its future. Prior to making landfall in the New World, Winthrop wrote and delivered a famous sermon, a model of Christian charity. Inspired by Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount, Winthrop made this famous statement, quote, We're entered into covenant with God for this work, for we must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world. His words were both daring and humble. Having landed on a massive, largely unknown continent with slim prospects of survival, much less success, there was no hint of arrogance or invincibility. Instead, Winthrop offered a pious warning to the Puritans to keep covenant with God, lest they become a blot on the pages of world history. As historian Wilford McClay put it, Winthrop Sermon was not just a declaration that the New Colony would be a beacon of God's light to the world. It was also saying that the Colony would be judged by the same high standard, by the degree to which it faithfully carried out the terms of the commission that God had assigned it, end quote. When Winthrop's words were picked up by various leaders throughout American history, from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, each time they were intended to inspire hope and an American future that was rooted in its providential past. But today Winthrop's words are often portrayed as arrogant and tolerant. American history is often portrayed as primarily a narrative of injustice and oppression. That portrayal rarely strives for a balanced warts and all account, in the spirit of Oliver Cromwell's famous instruction to his portrait painter. Instead, it delivers just warts and no redeeming features at all. And yet, even as we engage the realities of fallen individuals, as the American founders certainly were, such attempts at deconstruction downplay the true miracle that America is. It ignores the role that Christians played in advancing liberty and equality for all. In his excellent book, Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land, historian Mark David Hall argued that Christians and Christian ideas were pivotal in resisting British tyranny, conducting the American Revolution, eradicating slavery, pursuing justice for Native Americans, and promoting religious liberty. Andrew Zernemann, co-founder and president of Cana Academy and writer and narrative of the History 250 series, noted that Americans are a recollective people, meaning the American founders and many of our greatest statesmen, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King Jr., were steeped in history and understood the realities of human nature, the truths of the Bible, and both the triumphs and the tragedies of civilizations from the past. Christians should likewise be people of recollection. Scripture repeatedly tells God's people to remember, to remember the works of God, to remember those who have gone before us, and as such we can be people of hope, with a deeper sense of God's oversight and goodness throughout human history. And at the same time we can be a people of humility, striving to be the city on a hill by declaring the goodness and greatness of God. For The Coulson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Andrew Caracow. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources and to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Hey Breakpoint listeners, my name's Jack and I'm a Coulson Fellow from the Class of 2024. Are you interested in the Coulson Fellows program but feeling nervous about the time commitment it would require? While thousands of men and women like you have completed the program amidst busy lives, even while working full-time like me, Coulson Fellows find a lot of ways to fit the program into their schedules. It could mean trading one of your books for a Coulson Curriculum book, listening to a podcast or audiobook chapter on a daily walk, or swapping a streaming show for program webinars. Listen, good things take time, and you won't regret the investment of becoming more equipped in your faith. You can request more information on the Coulson Fellows program and apply today at CoulsonFellows.org. That's CoulsonFellows.org.