Today is the Sunday closest to the 4th of July, and I have already started preparing myself. It's one of the days- Veteran's Day and Memorial Day are the others- when I know our church service will have at least some focus on patriotism. I'm just going to admit right up front that this aggravates the crud out of me. It's not that I don't love my country or support those who serve- I do. I am a serious student of our history (for instance, I can tell you about Paul Revere's ride!) and the amazing things we have accomplished in our 235 years of existence. I appreciate our freedoms and those who, from the earliest days of our nation, have fought for those freedoms- and not just on the battlefields. But...as a follower of Jesus Christ I believe my primary citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. It frustrates me to see our churches continually wrapping the Cross in the flag. It's a matter of principle: Who is it I really pledge allegiance to- first?
The reason this bothers me so much is because here in USAmerica, patriotism often becomes a litmus test for Christianity. People assume they know my politics because I am an outspoken follower of Christ. We have somehow tied the two together in a sort of bizarre tango in which love of country has become more important than the love of God. I recently read a quote from Shane Claiborne which describes my fear: "It is a dangerous day when we can take the cross out of the church more easily than the flag. No wonder it is hard for seekers to find God nowadays." If you look at the way the church is booming around the rest of the world, you will see that we may have the steps all wrong. Christianity is blossoming in nations where the government refuses to recognize the faith. It is growing by leaps and bounds in countries where it has been outlawed. Jesus himself told us that the persecuted would be blessed; he did not mention the patriotic. When we begin to believe that true freedom comes from our form of government rather than from our relationship with Jesus, we have jumped the shark. It is a wonderful thing to love our country. It is absolutely imperative that we love Jesus and love others as he taught us to love.
As long as I'm making people mad, let me take this one step further. Somewhere today, in some church (I just pray not mine) someone is going to sing the great Lee Greenwood song, Proud To Be An American. It is a magnificent song that expresses our gratitude for our nation in a beautiful way. But I'm sorry- it has no place in a worship service. We gather to glorify God, not country. I love my UNC Tar Heels, but the Carolina fight song doesn't belong in worship either. So to wrap this up, I have re-written Mr. Greenwood's chorus to make it appropriate to use in the worship of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. Feel free to sing along...and have a wonderful Independence Day tomorrow. USAmerica- bless God!
And I'm proud to be a Christian 'cause I know I'm truly free
and I won't forget that I have life because Jesus died for me
And so I'll shout to the LORD, and praise His name
and share His love today
I'll leave no doubt of whose I am...
LORD take my heart, I pray!
Because of Jesus,
If this makes people angry, then I say good for you. It is the truth, and we need to hear it. Blessings to you and your family and have a great 4th! - Chris Cooper
ReplyDeleteHmmm... We had a patriotic flavor to our church service this morning, but it was to thank God for this country we live in, for His continued love & protection, and to pray for His blessing on her & her people, and that our hearts be opened to serve her needs in the way He sees fit. I will always get chills when I hear 300 people singing "God Bless Our Native Land," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "Before You Lord We Bow" -- hymns with overtones of patriotism but with the glory going to God.
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Dawn! I have no issues with thanking God for His blessings and for our freedoms within the confines of praising the name of Jesus. Too many churches forget Jesus altogether on these Sundays. I would question only the Battle Hymn. God loves the world, not just us.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I would take it maybe even a little further. Pride for one Kingdom necessarily deteriorates the ability to have pride for another, much in the same way that a man cannot serve two masters. Then again, Im so far out there that I would probably even suggest rethinking "investments" in sports teams, too. Which makes a WHOLE lot of people hate me. All I know is, a smart guy once told me, "By their fruits you will know them." 30 years of hanging out in church foyers after worship and listening to mouths speak, has given me a pretty standard indication that the love for Jesus does not overflow out of most members' hearts as much as the love for country, or sports, or a myriad of other topics you might insert.
ReplyDeleteI cant speak on behalf of CJ, but I think the line of reasoning may go something like this- The Battle Hymn of the Republic originated during the Civil War, wherein the Northerners were thoroughly convinced that they God's agent to bring redemption by killing the Southerners to the point of surrender (if you want me to state it bluntly...). Funny thing, if I understand correctly, the Southerners believed that too about the North. To sing, "Glory, glory, hallelujah" as a battle hymn in this context, seems to be born of an eerily similar ideology as that of those shouting "allahu akhbar" while crashing planes into buildings. "His truth is marching on," speaking of military conquest, is in my opinion, quite a muted view of Gods redemptive conquest through the cross. The entire original lyrics of the song, I believe, bring this to light:
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/h/bhymnotr.htm
I have no problem with your article at all. Our pastor didn't even say anything about the 4th AT ALL - He's on a series on GRACE and it was straight out of Ephesians 15. I would have to say, though that I'm neutral and it would not have bothered me to talk about freedom or our nation from the pulpit - I guess I'm tired of everyone always running down our president - and I mean good Christians! I won't say anything bad about our leaders and continue to pray for them. I do love that "Proud to be an American" song - but the only time I've ever heard it in church was when our choir did a patriotic package years ago - and we used to do one every year.
ReplyDeleteActually the only mention of July 4th at our church today was to pray for our leaders, our nation and our world. It was very well done. Thanks to everyone for your input. I just wanted to get a discussion going.
ReplyDeleteOur worship team re-wrote that entire song (which is funny, being that we are in Canada and not America) and wrote it all to be 'proud to be a Christian'. They have sung it and taught the words to the congregation too. It's pretty cool, but hard to teach yourself to remember the new words :)
ReplyDeleteI'll stop you when you get there brother. Preach on.
ReplyDeleteW
Great story, Kim. Sounds like Canada gets it! And Wayne, I will fall right off the edge if I am waiting for you to stop me when I get there! :)
ReplyDeleteI am with you Carl. I did not serve in the military so I do not personally know the pain and suffering that many of these men and women go through in defending our country. I appreciate the sacrifices that are given and could not thank them enough but I do agree that those days (memorial day, veterans day, independence day) are difficult in services. I actually preached this past week on Sunday right before the 4th. I personally said thank you to those who sacrificed for their country and helped make it possible that we could gather and worship Jesus freely together. I preached on true freedom in Christ. How even though we celebrate our independence day and that means freedom really we will never be free until we depend on God. Those Sunday's are some of my least favorite because I feel too many times we spend just as much time praising our country as we do God.
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