I've been really into the U.S. lately.
I know that sounds weird.
I remember working at my retail job the night of 9/11 and I lost count of the number of people who came in that night looking to buy an American flag (which we didn't have because we only had them for Memorial Day and Fourth of July...September is out of season). And I remember thinking to myself that it was a shame that it took something like terrorism to spark a sense of patriotism in people. Shouldn't we always be that patriotic?
In the nearly ten years since those attacks, my generation has really had a chance to think about what it means for us to be patriots. Few of the people that are within two years of my age remember the political wars of the early 90's, but we all remember where we were on 9/11/01.
There has always been a strange tension between our sense of patriotism and our religion. On the one hand, we wonder why we have to separate them when both are such a deep part of our identity. On the other hand, we read stories all the time about people striving towards a deeper sense of separation between church and state. I look at the American flag in our sanctuary and sometimes think to myself, "Well, if they're taking the Ten Commandments out of the court house, why can't I take the American flag out of the sanctuary?" I say this tongue in cheek, of course, because a large part of biblical history has to do with nationalism; our biblical roots inform us that we can't help but associate our faith and our national pride in the same breath.
I've often wondered about this separation between church and state. I can see in theory where it would be a good thing. America is the great melting pot with people of so many different faiths and no faiths, so there's no way having a "national religion" would be a healthy thing for this country. I've talked about religious pluralsim before, so I'm not going to get into that here, but for the moment I will say this: there really is no such thing as a separation between church and state.
I've gotten into this show "How the States Got Their Shapes" on the history channel and I have to say, I'm really enamoured by it. That's what I mean when I say I've been really into the U.S. lately. I'm realizing how little of my own American history I really know, and I've been learning so much through this show. Watching the show leads me to look other things up. It led me to pick up a biography of James K. Polk (11th president of the United States) at a used bookstore at the shore last week, and it's not as dry as you might think. It's actually really fascinating. Two weeks ago, the show did a special on how religion helped shape the states and there was a moment when I couldn't tell whether the show producers were trying to paint a positive, negative, or neutral view of religion. Towards the end of the episode, I was more convinced that it was the neutral approach, but if you watch the episode you see just how little separation there really is between church and state.
If we are truly people of faith, we cannot separate out the different aspects of our identities. Being people of faith means that we are engaged with the world because that's where we live. We live in the world and we have secular jobs and we have friends of different faiths or no faiths and we watch movies that maybe Jesus would have shunned even though we find them entertaining. It's good to be a patriot (actually, in some ways it's a requirement), but it's not good to be a patriot at the expense of our faith. The converse is also true. It's not good to be people of faith at the expense of our patriotism. There are some branches of faith that completely separate themselves from the secular world and there are some branches that condemn the world for being too separated from faith. To each its own. But for me, my sense of country is connected to my sense of faith. I feel blessed that I live in a country where I can worship God the way I feel called to worship. I feel blessed that I live in a country where I can talk about God wherever I want. I feel blessed that I live in a country where even when there are those who feel blessed to be able to say God is dead, I can look them in the face and say, "God is alive and well and His Spirit is dwelling within me right now."
The scripture passage this week is from Matthew 11 and the verse goes, "To what shall I compare this generation? It is like a group of children in the streets calling to one another, 'We played the flute and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn." I wonder sometimes if Jesus were to come down to a church in America today, would he look around at the people gathered and ask the same question? "To what shall I compare this generation? We played the flute and you did not dance. I performed a sunset and you didn't pay attention. I gave you comfort and you didn't notice." Sometimes we become so busy trying to keep our faith separate from our secular identites so we don't offend people that we put God in a box that God doesn't want to be in. God wants our faith to permeate every aspect of our being, from our patriotism, to our most intimate relationships, to our most secular jobs.
As you celebrate the Fourth of July, I encourage you to think about how you connect your life of faith to the rest of your life on a daily basis. Is it something you can see easily? Or do you have a hard time focusing on God other than that hour on Sunday morning? I encourage you to consider the ways you might connect the various aspects of your identity more deeply as you strive to live a life in the light of Christ who loves you and keeps you. When God plays the flute, I hope you are able to dance.
May God bless you in your week. Take a moment, whether you as my reader are a person of faith or not, to remember those who have been affected by the wars either past or present and give thanks for those people. I'm remembering especially this weekend my two grandfathers, one who served in the navy, one who served in the national guard, I'm remembering Pastor Jan of my home church who served several terms as a chaplain in Iraq. I'm remembering my friend Ben K. for his service and a collegue David W. who lost his life in Afghanistan. I'm remembering and lifting up my collegue Craig who continues to serve as an army chaplain and for those spoken and unspoken, those I know and don't know, praise God for your courage, your bravery, and your faith.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
RIP David.
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