Reflections on July Fourth

I love America. My dad's dad served in our military around the time of the Korean War. A few good friends from my childhood are currently still serving in our Armed Forces and one of my best friends in the world is serving as a Captain in the Army National Guard, where he serves to train soldiers. When Sunday rolls around, you can bet that I will listen to Ray Charles' version of America the Beautiful. He was my late grandmother's favorite singer- she served in our military as well.

I have little and declining patience for snarky comments made by those who have never done a thing but write a blog about how unjust the United States' government is in our foreign policy. So I write this blog as one who has never signed up for service. I have only fired a gun under my second amendment rights which have been so long protected by my brave fellow-Americans.

Regardless of your views (or mine) concerning immigration reform, working with several immigrants who have held various prestigious positions in Mexico who have moved their families to America will open your eyes to how specially blessed we are to have our natural citizenship in America. I love America.

Philosophers have long seen a difference between being a patriot and being a nationalist. Our government was not founded on a nationalistic basis, but on a patriotic one. A patriot sees government in its proper place. The government is not an absolute authority but derives its authority from in the design and command of God. This is the type of thing we see in Romans 13. Government derives from God. Our obedience to government is expected so long as that will not conflict with obedience to God himself.

Like so many other things, the question here comes down to worship. Another word for worship is service. Obedience is another closely related term. Who do we worship? Who do we serve? Who are we obedient to?

Another way to put it may be, do you love America for God's sake or do you love America for her own sake? Still another way to put it may be, do you serve God or an idol? One of the truest things the great theologian John Calvin said was that our hearts are idol-factories. There is a fine line between loving your culture for God's sake (patriotism) and loving your culture for its own sake (nationalism). That line seems to blur on days like the 4th of July.

This brings us to the question of the worship of Christ in his church on the 4th of July. Do we sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" together as the people of God? Do we sing "America the Beautiful" together as the people of God? My answer may be obvious at this point but I will write clearly. I think we are selling our witness as the people of God to the word of God by worshipping something other than God. Does this make sense? I may need help to say this more clearly. Enter my favorite writer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer preached these words four weeks after Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist party came into power back in 1933:

The church has only one pulpit, and from that pulpit, faith in God will be preached, and no other faith, and no other than
the will of God, however well-intentioned.

Of course, we are not Nazis, we are above trading obedience to Christ for nationalistic loyalty, right? Maybe the Nazis were worse sinners than we are; maybe the complicit church of Germany were different than we are. If you have a way to prove that from the bible, I would like to see it.

The truth is that we are all capable of trading loyalty to Christ for nationalistic zeal baptized in religious language. The good news is that we have a word, an answer as the people of God. We have his word. This is really what makes us unique as the church. We are not a religious organization or a moose club. We are a community that bears the joyful burden of God's revelation of himself to us for our good- for the good of our fellow Americans.

I pray that we, as the church, will use the 4th of July to preach Christ. I pray that we will sing to him with joyful hearts. I pray that we will be moved to not draw away from our country but to love our fellow Americans with Jesus-formed lives.

Then let's watch the fireworks, drink a beer, listen to Ray Charles, thank God for our nation, and pray for the courage to proclaim Christ in our day-to-day lives.