I sometimes don't know what to do with the fourth of July and other patriotic holidays. I love going to BBQ's, swimming, hanging out with friends and family, and even celebrating America's history (I love history but I love it even more if involves lighting fireworks). What I have a hard time with is how the church celebrates these holidays. Church potlucks are amazing (which should go without saying) but there is a fine line between celebrating a cultural holiday and the church asserting that America is somehow more worthy of blessing than any other nation on earth. Do we really need to keep producing bumper stickers asking God to bless America when a large potion of the world lives in poverty, where child and sex slavery is a common affair, and war (as well as rape, civilians casualties, corrupt governments, destroyed property, lost jobs, ruined economies, and everything else that comes with it) is a problem in a lot of other nation? Or what about blessing the inner-cities of America? Places ravaged by gun and gang violence? Or the rural poor of America? I have a feeling this is not who is in mind when "God Bless America" is used. I actually like the bumper stickers (since we are on the topic of bumper stickers) that responds to this problematic statement with sayings like, "God bless the world" or "God bless EVERYONE" usually with an underline or bold type that highlights that more should be blessed than just America.
I have a confession to make. At a church I use to work at, I went out of my mind at how closely intertwined American pride and Christianity were. One ministry that served soldiers had a poll asking people if they thought if Jesus were alive today, if he would be in the army. The answer to the survey was suppose to be "Yes." I don't remember how they came up with this answer but after being in New Testament studies for going on my 9th year I have a very difficult time understanding where that unequivocal "yes" came from. I was so frustrated with this group that after they had a party and left all there patriotic decorations up around the church buildings, I went and torn them down and threw them away. I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do (or even the mature thing to do) but what they were doing felt morally wrong and this was my act of rebellion against it.
One reason this bothers me so much is due to traveling as well as visiting churches all over the world. It saddens me that churches as well as Christians in America forget their brothers and sisters from around the globe so easily. Most Christians are not American. Most churches are not in America. America is not a Christian state (at least, not in the same way that Iran is a Muslim nation). So instead of celebrating our diversity and a unity that is stronger than any mere nationality - the tie that binds us as Christ followers - some take what should be cultural holidays and intertwine them so closely with the gospel and its message that I have a hard time seeing the love of Christ for ALL people in that message any longer. I also wonder how many would feel if the position was reversed and Christians in an enemy nation were cheering on their government by blending church and patriotic sentiment together. Do you suppose there are Iraqi Christians with bumper stickers on their cars saying God Bless Iraq? And celebrate various battles they have won against American troops in their services? I know this is making an absurd comparison, but are there not some similarities? Most of us would be horrified! I would contend that it would be better if neither Iraqi churches nor American churches celebrated their superiority over one another and instead focused on the Church - which is made up of every nation on earth, including nations that are enemies of the U.S. Just look at how the the early church started in Jerusalem and moved all over the Roman Empire and beyond! Just look at the teachings of Paul and how God is no longer a God of a single nation but is the God of all kinds of people in all kinds of places.
What do you think? These are just some of the struggles I have had. Have you struggled with this? Or is this really not an issue for you? Many Christians (like the group I mentioned above) are very for this idea of God and country, while others (like myself) are horrified that we are so quick to forget not only the rest of the human population but our sisters and brothers. I have been to churches in many countries and I have always been struck by the warm welcome I receive from churches and Christians for no other reason than they see me and as their sister. It is a tie that binds us no matter what nation one is from or what ones cultural or ethnic background is.
"The tragedy of the church's reaction to September 11th is not that we rallied around the families in New York and D.C. but that our love simply reflected the borders and allegiances of the world. We mourned the deaths of each soldier, as we should, but we did not feel the same anger and pain for each Iraqi death, or for the folks abused in the Abu Ghraib prison incident. We got farther and farther from Jesus' vision, which extends beyond our rational love and the boundaries we have established. There is no doubt that we must mourn those lives on September 11th. We must mourn the lives of the soldiers. But with the same passion and outrage, we must mourn the lives of every Iraqi who is lost. They are just as precious, no more, no less. In our rebirth, every life lost in Iraq is just as tragic as a life lost in New York or D.C. And the lives of the thirty thousand children who die of starvation each day is like six September 11ths every single day, a silent tsunami that happens every week.” ― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
Here is a link to an interesting online magazine which deals mainly with non-violence and the problems of war and the toll they take on the soldiers. It's a bit off topic, but it deals with the dilemma of alligence to one's nation verses alligence to the larger kingdom of God. http://conspiremag.com/
