Gettysburg

Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Pastors Dan Hans, Lou Nyiri, Candace Veon-Nyiri, D.C.E. Phyllis Dowd

Gettysburg is one happening church. I was blessed by the opportunity to preach there on a Summer Sunday. The congregation, even in the dog days of August when all the pastors were away, bristled with energy and excitement. Now I know, first hand, why the congregation is exploring the creation of a third Sunday morning worship service. Even in August the 11:00 service was filled well beyond the comfort zone of most Presbyterians.
After my visit to Gettysburg, my reflections got all caught up in the aura of the American Presidency. Gettysburg is our church of the Presidents, with its connection with the Eisenhower family and, as many tourists to Gettysburg learn, its Lincoln pew. Visiting Gettysburg sent me thinking about a fascinating, historical detail I had discovered long ago but could not fully recollect. When I got home I was off on a search through my American history books, wikepedia and google. I found it; another gem of American history. . .
What do the Presbyterian Church, President Eisenhower and President Lincoln have in common? In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States, he commonly walked the several blocks from the White House to worship at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Although he never joined the church, he did rent a pew. After his assassination all things associated with Lincoln including the pew where he sat in the Gettysburg Church and the pew where he sat in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church became something like national shrines. Given its proximity to the White House, the Lincoln pew in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church has taken on a special significance with American Presidents. It has become an unofficial tradition that the President worships at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Chruch and sits in the Lincoln pew every year on the Sunday closest to Lincoln’s birthday, February 12.
Following the stellar career of Peter Marshal, in 1954, a Scotsman named George MacPherson Docherty was the pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. In preparation for Lincoln Sunday, when he knew President and Mrs. Eisenhower would be in attendance, he wrote a sermon reflecting on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Rev. Docherty preached that the essence of the American way of life and spirit was the sense that the nation was, in Lincoln’s phrase, “under God.” His sermon was built on Lincoln’s famous phrase from the Gettysburg Address, “. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom . . .” Docherty developed this idea into a discussion of the American Pledge of Allegiance. As a Scotsman he was very aware and deeply troubled that the American Pledge of Allegiance included no reference to God. President Eisenhower was paying attention.
The very next day Eisenhower started some political wheels to turn which was quickly expressed in the Oakman – Ferguson joint resolution to Congress adding the phrase, “under God” to the American Pledge of Allegiance. President Eisenhower, in a nice symbolic touch, signed the bill into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. Eisenhower’s reflection on that new legislation picked from Rev. Docherty’s sermon:
“These words ‘Under God” will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded.” May it be so today.