WASHINGTON DC AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

          Next week we leave for a long awaited youth trip to Washington, DC.  We had originally planned this trip two years ago, but a snowy winter cancelled most of Spring Break and we had to postpone the trip.  But now it is finally here and when Amtrak # 80, the Carolinian, rolls through Lexington next Thursday morning around 8:00 a.m. 27 youth and adults will be on board bound for Union Station in our nation’s Capital!

        We will tour the US Capitol on Friday morning and travel to Mount Vernon for a Friday afternoon and evening tour.  In fact, our group will have the interactive Reynolds educational center all to ourselves Friday night. Then we travel by bus back into DC and we tour all the monuments on a moonlight monument tour. 

        The next morning we visit the monuments (we walk!) and then begin our time at the Smithsonian.  We will start at the Air & Space Museum and then go across the Mall to the American History Museum.  Early Saturday evening we will go the National Archives to view the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, followed by a great meal at the Hard Rock Café.   We actually have t-shirts that have the Hard Rock logo on the front and a special youth group logo designed by Jack Davis on the back.  

        We will visit Arlington Cemetery Sunday morning and come back into DC for an afternoon tour of the Newseum, devoted the First Amendment of the Constitution.    Our whirlwind trip will conclude with a ride back to Greensboro on the Amtrak Crescent, one of Amtrak’s premier long-distance trains that runs between New Orleans and New York City.   We arrive in Greensboro at 12:15 a.m.

I’m a firm believer that every child and young person should visit Washington.  There is no better place to learn the guiding principles of our government and to reflect on the significance of freedom and liberty.  

Once reason I feel so strongly about this is because my grandmother took me to Washington when I was 9 or 10 years old.  I remember the trip well.   We went to Birmingham and caught the Southern “Southerner.”   The Southern “Crescent” was more of a Pullman train, while the Southerner had more coaches.  We rode in a coach, not a sleeper. 

I remember going to the Britling Cafeteria in Birmingham before we went to the station.  My grandmother was a firm believer in arriving at the station at least two hours or more before the train departed.  “You never know when something might happen,” she would say.   “It’s always better to be early.”

I’ve adopted her philosophy and Joyce will tell you that when we travel I’m always at the airport well ahead of schedule because, “You never know what will happen!”

Birmingham had two train stations, one for the Southern RR and one for the L&N.  The Southern Station “Birmingham Terminal Station” was a massive Byzantine styled structure with a massive dome over the center of the station.  I was awestruck by the sight.  Sadly, the old train station was demolished in the late 1960s.  

We left Birmingham in the afternoon and headed for Atlanta.   Atlanta also had a beautiful old station that has long since seen its demise.   I remember the train having to back a long way into the station. 

A highlight of rail travel was the dining car.  We sat down to silver service on a white linen tablecloth.   A seasoned waiter in a starched white jacket took our order.  I marveled at how he could almost effortlessly carry a tray of drinks and plates as the train swayed back and forth. 

Arriving in DC on the train is a thrill.  You can see the Washington Monument looming in the distance as you approach the city.   The train crosses the Potomac and you pass by the Jefferson Memorial.  Soon you can see the US Capitol, the Washington Monument and other well-known landmarks.   Suddenly everything turns dark as you enter a long tunnel that takes you into Union Station.  

Some of you might remember those old black limousines that would give DC tours back in the 60s and 70s.  My grandmother contracted for a limousine and driver to take us around the city and visit all the monuments and museums.  We visited the Capitol and the White House.   It was a lot easier to do so fifty years ago.  Security was a far cry from what it is today.

   I actually saw LBJ in Washington.   We were standing in line to go into the White House when a motorcade flew past us and LBJ waved from his car.   It had only been a year or so since JFK had been assassinated.  Washington was full of JFK memorabilia.  I saw a small bust of John Kennedy that I wanted.  I remember the store owner telling me how fragile it was and I was to take good care of it.  Fifty years later it has a few nicks, but it still sits in my office.   

I can remember as a child standing in the rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial and my grandmother pointing out Jefferson’s powerful words that are inscribed in the marble panels.  There is, of course, the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, . . .”  Right next to it you will find these words on Religious Liberty:  "Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."

I’ve stood under that rotunda with both my grandsons and pointed out these words.  Next week I will stand there again and point out these words to our adopted grandchildren, the youth of our church.  And our granddaughter, Hannah, will also be with us.  More than anything else, I want our youth to understand the power and the significance of freedom. 

Later we will visit the World War II memorial as well as the Korean and the Vietnam.  Here we will see the cost of the freedom that Jefferson proclaimed.  Freedom is never free. 

I always get inspired when I visit Washington.  I can’t wait to share this with our youth next week. 

God Bless America!   Land that I Love!