Among the events taking place in 2026, such as the football World Cup, the Winter Olympics/Paralympics, and Suzi Quatro playing at the London Palladium, we have a quarter-millennium commemoration to observe.
The United States of America will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. The Declaration articulated the ideals of liberty and self-governance and encompassed many grievances against the British rule, particularly aimed at King George III, justifying their act of rebellion.
You can imagine the colonists discussing the principles and practices under which they wanted to live. Thomas Jefferson said that he hoped his Declaration words would serve as an “expression of the American mind”.
The most compelling sentence in the Declaration, for me, is “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”.
Unalienable rights or Human Rights matter! – “the right to life, freedom from torture, the right to liberty and a fair trial, and the right to private and family life; freedoms like expression, assembly, and religion, as well as protections against discrimination”.
I have two new year resolutions; a) to respect these values in everyone I meet. God wants us all to have ‘abundant life’ and b) to pursue the aspirations of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. We are all “created equal” and sometimes this needs to be written into a document; lest we forget.
The Declaration ends with a solemn promise “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
All for one and one for all?
So let us wish America a happy birthday as they celebrate 250 years of independence, with a hope and prayer that they too embrace the words of their founding fathers and honour their original principles. Amen