America at 250: A Nation Still Becoming A Universal Rainbow Faith Reflection on Our Shared Journey

By Reverend Paula Josephine Sadler Founding Minister, Universal Rainbow Faith Church

This Independence Day is unlike any other in our nation's history.

On July 4, 2026, the United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday—a milestone reached by only one generation.

Birthdays are sacred moments.

Whether we celebrate the birth of a child, a loved one, or a nation, birthdays invite us to pause. They encourage us to look back with gratitude, to acknowledge both joy and sorrow, to celebrate how far we have come, and to prayerfully consider the future we hope to create.

That realization inspired me to begin writing my newest book, America at 250: A Nation Still Becoming – A Spiritual Perspective on America's First 250 Years.

As I researched the origins of our nation, I found myself asking questions that became more profound with every chapter.

What are we really celebrating?

Did America begin on July 4, 1776?

Or did its story begin much earlier—with a vision, a dream, and the courage of people willing to risk everything for a future they could not yet see?

Those questions led me back to the earliest English attempts to establish permanent settlements in North America—the mysterious colonies of Roanoke, the perseverance of Jamestown, the founding of the thirteen colonies, and ultimately the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Yet this journey also revealed another truth.

America's story did not begin with Europeans.

For thousands of years before the first English ships crossed the Atlantic, Indigenous peoples lived upon these lands, cultivating communities, traditions, languages, and spiritual wisdom that remain an essential part of our shared history.

Our story is larger than any one people.

It belongs to all who have shaped it.

As I continued researching, I encountered stories of extraordinary courage and heartbreaking loss.

I learned of entrepreneurs who invested fortunes into uncertain dreams.

Of sailors who crossed dangerous oceans.

Of settlers who endured starvation, disease, and unimaginable hardship.

Of Indigenous communities whose lives were forever changed.

Of millions of Africans who were captured, enslaved, and denied the very freedoms our nation would one day proclaim as universal rights.

History asks us to remember all of them.

Not selectively.

Completely.

As people of faith, remembrance is sacred.

We remember not to remain imprisoned by the past, but to be transformed by it.

Scripture continually calls us to remember—remember God's faithfulness, remember those who suffered, remember the stranger, remember the oppressed, remember the blessings we have received, and remember our responsibility to future generations.

This is why I believe America's 250th anniversary is more than a patriotic celebration.

It is a spiritual invitation.

An invitation to gratitude.

An invitation to humility.

An invitation to reconciliation.

An invitation to hope.

At Universal Rainbow Faith Church, we affirm the sacred worth of every human being.

We believe every person is created in Divine Love.

Every race.

Every culture.

Every nation.

Every faith tradition.

Every gender identity.

Every sexual orientation.

Every person.

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

History reminds us that America has often struggled to live fully into those ideals.

Yet perhaps that is precisely why I chose the title A Nation Still Becoming.

Like every human soul, nations continue to grow.

They learn.

They stumble.

They heal.

They mature.

They seek greater wisdom.

The work is never finished.

Neither is the spiritual journey.

As we celebrate 250 years of American history, may we give thanks for the courage of those who came before us.

May we mourn honestly where injustice has wounded our nation.

May we celebrate every step toward greater liberty, equality, and compassion.

And may we remember that the next chapter of America's story has not yet been written.

It will be written by us.

By the choices we make.

By the love we share.

By the justice we pursue.

By the compassion we extend.

By the courage we demonstrate.

And by our willingness to see the Divine in every person we meet.

May America's next 250 years reflect not only greater prosperity, but greater wisdom.

Not only greater strength, but greater kindness.

Not only greater freedom, but greater responsibility.

For the American experiment continues.

And so does our spiritual journey.

Happy 250th Birthday, America.

May we remember with gratitude.

May we grow with humility.

May we serve with love.

And may we continue becoming the nation—and the people—we are called to be.

In Rainbow Light,

Reverend Paula Josephine Sadler Founding Minister Universal Rainbow Faith Church "Activating the Rainbow Light of Love."

A Prayer of Remembrance for America's 250th Anniversary

By Reverend Paula Josephine Sadler

Let us pray.

Eternal and Loving God,

Today we gather in gratitude, humility, and remembrance as we commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States of America.

Like every birthday, this day invites us to pause...

To remember...

To reflect...

To give thanks...

And to ask who we are becoming.

Today, O God, we remember not only July 4, 1776, but the centuries that made that day possible.

We remember the first idea.

We remember the vision carried by Richard Hakluyt, who dared to imagine an English America before it existed.

We remember Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, whose charters helped shape history.

We remember the investors of the Virginia Company of London who risked their fortunes for a dream they would never fully see fulfilled.

We remember the captains, the sailors, and every passenger aboard the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery.

We remember those who crossed a vast and dangerous ocean with hope in their hearts and uncertainty before them.

We remember the settlers of Roanoke.

We remember Governor John White.

We remember Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas, and all of the Lost Colony whose ultimate fate remains known only to You.

We remember Jamestown.

We remember those who endured hunger, disease, loneliness, fear, and unimaginable hardship.

We remember those who survived.

And we remember those who did not.

Today we also remember the first peoples of these lands.

We honor the Indigenous nations who lived upon this continent for thousands of years before European ships appeared on the horizon.

We remember their elders, their children, their languages, their cultures, their ceremonies, and their sacred relationship with the land.

We acknowledge with humility the suffering, displacement, broken promises, violence, and loss that accompanied colonization.

May we never forget their stories.

May we continue to listen.

May we continue to learn.

Loving God,

Today we remember another chapter that calls us to both grief and hope.

We remember the millions of African men, women, and children whose lives were forever changed by the transatlantic slave trade.

We remember those first captives taken from the western coast of Africa.

We remember the peoples of Angola, the Kingdom of Kongo, Ndongo, Senegambia, the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana), the Bight of Benin, the Bight of Biafra, Sierra Leone, and so many other lands whose sons and daughters were stolen from their homes.

We remember the more than thirteen million souls forced onto slave ships.

We remember those who survived the Middle Passage.

We remember those who never reached the shores of the Americas.

We remember the enslaved Africans who were present in St. Augustine.

We remember those who arrived in the English colonies in 1619.

Many of their names have been lost to history.

But none of them have been lost to You.

You knew each one by name.

You knew every family.

Every mother.

Every father.

Every child.

Every prayer whispered in sorrow.

Every dream that was stolen.

Every hope that refused to die.

Today we honor the descendants whose family stories continue through generations.

We give thanks for the oldest surviving church records, baptismal records, marriage records, and family histories that preserve names which might otherwise have been forgotten.

May every recovered name become an act of sacred remembrance.

God of Justice,

We also remember those who courageously changed the course of history.

We give thanks for the abolitionists.

For those who sheltered the oppressed.

For those who spoke truth when it was dangerous.

For those who believed that every human being bears sacred worth.

We give thanks for the Declaration of Independence.

For the Constitution of the United States.

For the Bill of Rights.

For the Emancipation Proclamation.

For the Thirteenth Amendment, ending slavery.

For the women who struggled tirelessly until the Nineteenth Amendment affirmed their right to vote.

For all who marched, prayed, organized, and sacrificed for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

For those who helped bring an end to the legal system of Jim Crow.

For every generation that has worked to bring America closer to its highest ideals.

We honor every soldier, every servant, every teacher, every minister, every parent, every activist, every peacemaker, every bridge-builder, and every ordinary citizen who chose love over hatred, justice over oppression, and hope over despair.

We also pray for those who failed to live up to these ideals.

May we not judge them with arrogance.

May we instead learn from history with humility.

For we, too, are imperfect.

And we, too, are called to choose compassion over fear, truth over ignorance, and love over division.

Forgive us where we have failed one another.

Heal what remains broken.

Comfort those whose wounds still endure.

Teach us to see every human being as Your beloved child.

May we never again allow any person to be treated as property.

May we never again deny the dignity of another because of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any human difference.

Help us to remember that Your image shines within every soul.

As we celebrate America's 250th birthday, help us never to forget that freedom is a gift requiring responsibility.

Justice is a journey requiring courage.

Democracy is a promise requiring participation.

And love is the foundation upon which every lasting nation must be built.

May we continue telling these stories.

May we preserve this history.

May we teach future generations both the triumphs and the tragedies.

May we celebrate honestly.

May we grieve faithfully.

May we forgive wisely.

May we reconcile courageously.

May we love more deeply.

And may America continue becoming a nation that more fully reflects the ideals proclaimed in its founding—that all people are created equal, endowed with sacred dignity, and worthy of liberty, justice, compassion, and peace.

Thank You, God, for how far we have come.

And thank You for reminding us that there is still further to go.

May the next 250 years be marked by greater wisdom than the last.

Greater justice.

Greater humility.

Greater unity.

Greater compassion.

Greater peace.

And greater love.

For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

Guided Meditation

America at 250: A Nation Still Becoming

A Meditation for Reflection, Remembrance, and Renewal

Take a slow, deep breath.

And gently let it go.

Again...

Breathe in...

And breathe out.

Allow your body to become still.

Allow your mind to become quiet.

Allow your heart to become open.

Today, we step beyond the noise of headlines, politics, and opinions.

Today, we enter sacred remembrance.

Imagine yourself standing upon a quiet shoreline.

The ocean stretches endlessly before you.

The wind is gentle.

The air is filled with possibility.

Far beyond the horizon, small wooden ships begin to appear.

You do not yet know their names.

You do not yet know the history they will carry.

You simply watch.

One by one they come closer.

You see the faces of explorers...

Sailors...

Families...

Children...

Dreamers...

People leaving behind everything they have ever known.

Some come seeking opportunity.

Some seek freedom.

Some seek wealth.

Some seek a new beginning.

Offer them your blessing.

Now allow the scene to change.

Long before those ships arrived...

This land was already alive.

See forests stretching to the horizon.

Rivers flowing freely.

Mountains standing in silent majesty.

Listen.

Hear the songs of Indigenous peoples.

Hear their prayers.

See generations gathered around sacred fires.

Feel their deep connection with the earth.

Honor them.

Silently whisper:

"We remember."

Now the scene changes once more.

The Atlantic Ocean again.

But this time...

The waters carry another story.

Ships crowded with human beings taken against their will.

Mothers separated from children.

Families torn apart.

Languages silenced.

Dreams interrupted.

Feel their sorrow.

Feel their courage.

Feel their humanity.

Without judgment...

Without turning away...

Simply witness.

Silently whisper:

"We remember."

Now watch history continue unfolding.

Settlements rise.

Communities grow.

The thirteen colonies emerge.

Voices begin speaking of liberty.

Justice.

Equality.

Freedom.

Some experience these promises.

Many do not.

History is never simple.

History is human.

History is sacred because every life is sacred.

See generation after generation walking across the landscape of time.

Those who built.

Those who served.

Those who struggled.

Those who marched.

Those who prayed.

Those who taught.

Those who healed.

Those who stood for justice.

Those whose names history remembers...

And those whose names only God remembers.

Allow them all to gather around you.

An unbroken circle.

Thousands...

Millions...

Across centuries.

Now gently become aware that you are standing among them.

You are not outside the story.

You are part of it.

You are one more life...

One more voice...

One more chapter.

Feel gratitude arise within you.

Gratitude for those who came before.

Gratitude for those who walk beside you.

Gratitude for those who will one day come after you.

Ask yourself quietly...

What inheritance have I received?

Pause...

Now ask...

What inheritance will I leave?

Pause again...

See before you a brilliant rainbow of light stretching across the sky.

Every color...

Every people...

Every culture...

Every generation...

Every faith...

Every story...

United not because we are the same...

But because every soul shines with Divine Light.

Allow that rainbow light to gently surround you.

Feel it filling your heart.

Healing old wounds.

Softening old fears.

Awakening new hope.

Silently affirm:

I remember with gratitude.

I learn with humility.

I forgive with wisdom.

I serve with compassion.

I honor the dignity of every human being.

I help build a nation still becoming.

Now imagine America—not as a map...

Not as a government...

Not as an idea alone...

But as a living community of people.

People still growing.

Still learning.

Still healing.

Still becoming.

Offer this blessing:

May wisdom guide our freedom.

May justice strengthen our democracy.

May compassion overcome our divisions.

May truth illuminate our path.

May love become our greatest legacy.

Take one final deep breath.

As you exhale, know that the story of America is not finished.

Neither is your story.

Both are still unfolding.

May we walk together with courage.

May we remember with reverence.

May we love without exception.

And may we continue becoming the people—and the nation—that Spirit is calling us to be.

Together we affirm:

And so it is.

Amen.

A Litany of Sacred Remembrance

America at 250

Leader:

Today, O God, we speak the names.

For to remember a name is to remember a life.

To remember a life is to honor the sacred image of God within every soul.

Today we remember those whose visions became history.

We remember Richard Hakluyt, whose dream of an English America inspired generations.

We remember Queen Elizabeth I.

We remember King James I.

We remember the Virginia Company of London, its investors, merchants, and more than 1,700 shareholders whose resources made the Jamestown venture possible.

We remember Sir Walter Raleigh, whose vision led to the first Roanoke colonies.

We remember Governor John White.

We remember Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas.

We remember every member of the Lost Colony, whose names are known to history and whose ultimate fate is known only to You.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

We remember the ships that crossed the Atlantic.

The Susan Constant.

The Godspeed.

The Discovery.

We remember their captains:

Christopher Newport.

Bartholomew Gosnold.

John Ratcliffe.

We remember every sailor.

Every settler.

Every child.

Every soul who crossed an unknown ocean believing tomorrow could be different from yesterday.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

We remember the Indigenous nations who had called these lands home since time beyond memory.

We honor their ancestors.

Their wisdom.

Their languages.

Their cultures.

Their ceremonies.

Their descendants.

May we never forget the lives lost through war, disease, displacement, broken promises, and injustice.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

We remember the peoples of Angola...

The Kingdom of Kongo...

Ndongo...

Senegambia...

The Gold Coast...

The Bight of Benin...

The Bight of Biafra...

Sierra Leone...

And every African homeland from which human beings were taken against their will.

We remember the first recorded Portuguese captives of 1441.

We remember the more than thirteen million African men, women, and children forced onto slave ships.

We remember those who never survived the Middle Passage.

We remember those whose names history did not preserve.

Yet every one of them remains known by God.

We remember the first Africans in St. Augustine.

We remember the first recorded Africans who arrived in English Virginia in 1619.

Among the earliest documented individuals were Anthony and Isabella, who later married and whose son, William Tucker, is the first documented child of African descent born in English Virginia.

We honor every family whose courage endured despite unimaginable suffering.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

We remember George Washington.

Thomas Jefferson.

John Adams.

Benjamin Franklin.

John Hancock.

And all fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, who pledged "their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor."

May we continue striving to fulfill the ideals they proclaimed.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

We remember Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring freedom for enslaved people in the Confederate states and helping to change the moral direction of the nation.

We remember the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, abolishing slavery throughout the United States.

We remember the women whose generations-long struggle led to the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, affirming women's right to vote.

We remember John F. Kennedy, whose call for civil rights stirred the conscience of a nation.

We remember Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964, and the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, helping dismantle the legal structure of Jim Crow.

We remember every known and unknown hero of the Civil Rights Movement.

Every marcher.

Every minister.

Every teacher.

Every parent.

Every child.

Every voice that declared that justice belongs to all.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

Today we honor every generation that has brought America closer to its highest ideals.

We honor those who built.

Those who healed.

Those who served.

Those who sacrificed.

Those who challenged injustice.

Those who chose compassion over fear.

Those who widened the circle of liberty.

Those who believed that every human life possesses sacred worth.

All:

May we remember.

Leader:

And now, O God, we widen our circle beyond every border.

Today we honor not only Americans, but every nation.

Every people.

Every culture.

Every language.

Every faith.

Every family.

For before we belonged to any nation...

We belonged to one another.

Before there were kingdoms...

There was humanity.

Before there were borders...

There was Earth.

May we remember that we are one human family, sharing one world, entrusted with one future.

Teach us to celebrate our diversity without surrendering our unity.

Teach us to remember our history without repeating its wounds.

Teach us to love one another as sisters and brothers.

Teach us to build a world where every child is safe, every people are respected, every nation seeks peace, and every person is treated with dignity.

For we are one human race.

One world community.

One sacred family.

And may the next 250 years be remembered not only for the greatness of our achievements...

But for the greatness of our love.

All:

Amen.

Coming Soon

These reflections are drawn from my upcoming book, America at 250: A Nation Still Becoming – A Spiritual Perspective on America's First 250 Years.

As America commemorates its 250th anniversary, my hope is that this book will inspire readers to remember our shared history with honesty, celebrate our progress with gratitude, acknowledge the lessons of our past with humility, and embrace the sacred responsibility of shaping a more compassionate future.

May we remember.

May we reflect.

May we give thanks.

May we renew.

Because America's story is not finished.

Together, we are still becoming.

Learn more about the upcoming book and future release announcements at www.thenatureofmiracles.com.