A litany of acknowledgement for the 250th anniversary of the 13 colonies of America and their Independence from Great Britain’s Kingdom. For use on the weekend of July 4th, 2026. Written by Rev. Dr. Chris Davies, with adaptations for UCC at Valley Forge by Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg. This litany draws on the ways bells are used to celebrate, to honor memory, to toll grief, to ring warning. It also bears noting that the Liberty Bell with its famous crack became a very important image for the movement to abolish slavery in the U.S.

One: Ring the Bells for Freedom!  Ring for hope, for joy; ring for the dream of our forbearers and the liberation of our children.  Ring the bells!

All: Ring for Freedom!

One: Ring the bells for those that have fallen in the name of the dream.  Those who held the candle on the shore, inviting more; the city on the hill built to demonstrate the Way. Ring the bells!

All: Ring the bells for Freedom!

One: Ring the bells for those who came, and those who come, seeking the dream:  The tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. (1) Ring the bells!

All: Ring for Freedom!

One:  Ring the bells for dreams deferred,(2) placed asunder and left to wander.  Ring the bells for when freedom has been distant.  Ring to witness the stoney road, the bitter rod, the moments where hope couldn’t be.  Ring with the harmonies of liberty.(3) Ring the Bells!

All: Ring the bells for Freedom!

One: Ring the bells for those who were here before the colonies. Ring the bells for the neighbors who were not asked, not invited, not included in the dream. Ring the bells until the dream is wide enough to hold them. Ring the Bells!

All: Ring for Freedom!

One: Ring for those who do not know freedom today, for those whose rights have been denied. Ring for the hope that there will be a day when all people are free!

All: Ring the bells for Freedom!

One: Ring for those who fought and continue to struggle for our freedoms.  Ring for those who paid a price beyond comparison for the lives we lead today.  Ring the bells in honor and witness!

All: Ring for Freedom!

One:  Ring the bells for those who love this country enough to tell the full truth about it, the good and the bad. Those who fight for the dignity of all, the future of who we can be, with liberty and justice for all,(4) where all may be free.

All: Ring for Freedom!

One: Ring the bells that we may hold these truths to be self-evident,(5) that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  Ring the bells, that we may join together, because of our faith, to ring the bells and work for liberation, in the footsteps of those that came before, holding the wide welcome, loving our neighbors, and, for those of us who are Christian, following Jesus Christ in the best way that we know how.  Ring the Bells!

All: Ring the Bells for Freedom!

1. From “The New Colossus,” Emma Lazarus, 1883

2. From “Harlem,” Langston Hughes, 1951

3. From the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” James Weldon Johnson, 1900

4. From the Pledge of Allegiance

5. From the Declaration of Independence, 1776