The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the U.S. worldwide, and in a more general sense, represents liberty escape from tyranny. The Statue of Liberty was often the first glimpse of the United States of America for millions of immigrants who traveled 1000’s of miles on harrowing ocean voyages from Europe and Asia.
The statue depicts a woman, standing upright, dressed in a flowing robe and a spiked crown, holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The statue is made of pure copper on a framework of steel (originally iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal, itself on an irregular eleven-pointed star foundation. The statue is 151 feet and one inch tall, with the foundation adding another 154 feet.
In her hand pressed into the stone tablet testify these truths once held dear to American and foreigner alike:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Rob Nash, Coordinator for CBF Global Missions, often reminds Baptist Christians that the 25-year plan of bold mission (taking the gospel to every person on earth by the year 2000) was launched in 1976. We have just marking the end of some 30 years from the bold vision of our mothers and fathers.
In the previous 100 years, the rise of Denominational Missions has seen thousands upon thousands of missionaries commissioned into their Jerusalems, Judeas, Samarias and even into the ends of the earth, and yet the percentage of Christians in the world has not changed in 100 years of this bold thrust.
God took us up on our bold mission vision. He brought the peoples of the earth to our very front door as if to say, Prove it! Show Me that you want to share the Gospel with the World.
Do you see newcomers when you are out and about? Maybe even across the street of in your child’s classroom there are newcomers from far away lands who have never met a Christian; never been welcomed to America.
You can make a MISSION THRUST – BOLDLY MAKING FRIENDS WITH THEIR NEW NEIGHBORS FROM DISTANT LANDS – WHO LIVE ACROSS THE STREET.
Pray:
Father, thank you for the liberty I have in Christ Jesus. Today as I reflect on my life and the blessings I enjoy as an America, give me opportunity to welcome someone who shares the hope Lady Liberty proudly holds close to her heart. Give me, I pray, the chance to be a friend to someone who doesn’t know the freedom Christ has give me. Thank you. Amen.