In my sermon this week I mentioned that in my view these are the three most important civic sermons in the history of the United States. I spoke about the first, as the first example of the way the Hebrew Bible profoundly influenced the founding of the American colonies and the American republic.
1. "A Model of Christian Charity" (1630) — John Winthrop gave this sermon about community, covenant, and New England on the ship Arbela to the Puritans who would found Boston. It's the source of the "city on a hill" quote, among other famous things. The last third or so is a particular wonderful (and prophetic) vision of what New England should be before it ever was, in the idiom of Deuteronomy.
2. Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865) — a haunting religious meditation on the meaning of the Civil War and the hoped-for national reconciliation
3. Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech (1963) — important because of its ongoing impact and echoes.
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