“The danger to any people is when it confuses itself with God.  America with its affluence, its power, is becoming so arrogant that it has replaced God.  Our fathers asked, ‘What doth the Lord require of thee?’ and they heard the answer, ‘to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with thy God.’  We do not ask that question any more.”

The “you” in “In Knew You When” is the United States.  In this sermon, delivered on March 1, 1970, Rabbi Olan does not spare the prophetic rage – a term applied by Dr. Johnny Bernard Hill to Reverend King.  Rage at a nation that has forgotten its humble origins and desperately needs to be reminded.

“What does success require of us? is the question today.  The answer is writ in the anxiety, frustrations, riots, and moral chaos of our time.  When there is no God, men become gods, and the trouble starts then and there.  This is the time for America to hear a voice that says, ‘I knew you when you were a young nation with a great dream of doing justice and loving liberty, and walking humbly before a God who is the Creator’.”

*Written by Joshua F. Hirsch*