(RNS) — As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the life and witness of the Rev. America, be what you proclaim yourself to be!” said Murray, in a 1976 interview with Genna Rae McNeil for the Southern Oral History Program. Murray, an Episcopal priest and relentless advocate for civil and human rights, provides a guide to what it means to be American Christians in these unsettling, confusing and frightening times. Murray saw no division between the demands of the gospel and the unfinished work of democracy. The gospel compels us to live out, in the messiness of everyday life, the values that reflect the justice God desires for God’s people.