Towering 5,725 feet above sea level, Mount Rushmore memorializes four of our American Presidents – Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln. It covers over 1,000 acres. The heads of these four presidents are each sixty-feet high.
Rushmore was the child of a Danish-American immigrant who was so thankful for his adopted country. His name was Gutzon Borglum. The challenge for Borglum was that he wanted to begin Mount Rushmore during the presidency of Calvin Coolidge. Among the items Coolidge is most famous is cutting the federal budget. But Borglum would need federal support to pull off this memorial.
The summer before Coolidge’s final year in office, Borglum was able to persuade him to spend a summer vacation there. He had Coolidge give a dedication speech, having been able to persuade Coolidge to agree to the federal funding. Borglum even suggested that he would put an image of Coolidge up among the other presidents.
Amity Shlaes finishes her chapter on this event in the presidency of Coolidge with this sentence: “There was a case for monuments to other presidents. But the best monument to his kind of presidency was no monument at all” (386).
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20).
For someone who also eschewed material things, it is appropriate, is it not, that Jesus also chose for a monument – no monument at all. Bread and fruit from the vine. We are amazed at the simplicity of Christianity as Jesus designed it. Elements that are available all over the world that can be consumed – at least in minute amounts – by nearly everyone.
To memorialize the Son of God. The greatest gift ever given. The most astounding blessing ever visualized by man. Bread and fruit from the vine. Let us serve Him with the same simplicity and singleness of heart (Rom. 12:8; 2 Cor. 1:12; 11:3; Acts 2:46; Eph. 6:5; Col. 3:22).
–Paul Holland