“What America Means to Me” 

Recent events in our country has caused us to look at things in a much different way, and even to use a different vocabulary. Now I am not so naive to think that our country doesn’t have problems, and that we aren’t helping anyone to just sweep things under the rug and pretend that everything is okay. The reality is, they are not. There is plenty that is wrong in our country, and still needs fixing.

Still, the United States is still a pretty great place to live. So, on this July 4 holiday weekend, I thought I would share a few words on what America means to me. Of course, if you know me, I am going to have to do it from a sports perspective. It is from 40 years ago, during the 1980 Winter Olympics, when we were witnesses to the “Miracle on Ice.” 

Mike Eruzione was clutching a yellow daisy in his right hand, and in back of him the people had switched from the National Anthem to “God Bless America.” In the distance were fireworks, lighting up the night sky, and providing the backdrop for a celebration that had something to do with sports, and this place we call America.

The final score was America 4, Russia 3 on a Friday evening that in Lake Placid, New York, and that game has been stored in our memories as one of those clear and perfect sporting moments, so right that we were afraid to script it, or believe in it when it was over. To this day is it a treasure that manages to go past hockey and sports. We remember the flags. We heard the chants and the music, and we recall how a bunch of American kids with heart and scrap beat a team with whom they had no business being on the ice.

Now I know that victory does not stop one act of violence, restore race relations to perfect harmony, or stop people in power with bad intentions. And, it doesn’t make this whole Covid-19 mess come to an end. But as I think about that game on that night and rooting so hard for that team, -- a colorful, cocky, and as lovable a bunch of American hockey players that we will ever see again, -- I think it is a good thing, don’t you? With monuments falling in our cities like dead Goliaths, we take our heroes as we can find them these days.

America beat Russia, 4-3 on that February evening in 1980. Mike Eruzione, the captain, scored the game winner. “We epitomize the word ‘team,’” Eruzione said. “And we play this game with heart.” The fireworks may have ended after a while that night, but the chanting of “U-S-A” has continued ever since for me.

Pastor John