The Gettysburg Address

This week is the 150th commemoration of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery on November 19, 1863 http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm.  This address was delivered when the city of Gettysburg dedicated the cemetery for the victims of the Battle of Gettysburg http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html.  I was blessed to tour the Gettysburg battlefield and cemetery areas, tour the visitor's centers and other buildings.  I do not think I have ever been more emotionally or spiritually moved by any place I have visited.  It was just awe-inspiring.  Of course, Lincoln's words ran through my brain much of the time as I was touring Gettysburg.

I am so thankful that I was able to tour Gettysburg.  I am thrilled at the commemorative media coverage http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/11/seven-score-and-ten-years-ago-the-gettysburg-address-entered-history.html. In my email queue today, was a letter that President Obama wrote regarding his reflections about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/gettysburg-address?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email263-text1&utm_campaign=gettysberg 

It is amazing to me how powerful, how important, how all encompassing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is. 

We are blessed to know the significance of this address. We are blessed to know that the Union survived, (something Lincoln did not know for certain at the time of his address).  We are blessed to see the racial integration of this nation, and although we have much more work to do, how wonderful it is that we have made the advances we have made.