This message is not for what is happening this coming Sunday, but rather it is about what did not happen last Sunday.
I love America. I love our Flag. I love the history of our country: 1776, Fife & Drum Corps, old pictures of Presidents wearing white wigs, Williamsburg. But is my love more a product of nostalgia founded on a memory of a small boy running in the back yard on a hot 4th of July night with a sparkler, than the reality of what is? I ask this because I am not sure if all Americans agree on what we mean by America?
Last week I received a few complaints from some patriotic parishioners that we didn’t properly remember America in our church service. In what way should have we remembered it? Have all the veterans stand? We do that on Veteran’s day. Memorial Day is meant to remember the dead — but you can’t have those who died in wars past stand because they are already buried. Do we sing “God Bless America?” What if some patriotic Canadians are in the service or foreign exchange students from China and Germany? Are we claiming special favor when we ask God to bless American mountains and prairies? Will they be upset if we don’t ask God to bless the Rhine River or Great Wall of Mao’s China?
Is love of country wrong? There are a lot of things I am hating about our country right now. I will not ask God to bless our bathrooms, never. Men wearing women’s dresses does not fall under my category of true Liberty. Nor am I going to sing about our abortion mills and selling of fetal tissue – – that makes me sick! I guess some people don’t think you can be an American, or a real human for that matter, if you still are in your mother’s womb? Some people are sick of our greed and lack of compassion for the poor. Some others would say we give the poor far too much money with far too little accountability. America is a confusing, wonderful, disgusting and terrific place.
I think how I view America says more about me than what America actually is. My description of patriotism is more like a Rorschach inkblot test than an accurate accounting of life as it is from the Atlantic to the Pacific. What I see is usually what I want to see. Often those who want to sing songs about America at the church service see life through 1950’s Norma Rockwell spectacles; whereas those who don’t are wearing the much newer and more cynical Andy Warhol lenses.
In a strange way, this vast polarization of vision means America is really healthy. It infers that we are not yet expected to think monolithically like Nazis or Soviets or even the Khmer Rouge. We still have a free press, even though most of them have no problem lying to us. We still can assemble, even if some marches end in looting and riots. We still can own guns, even if the Chicago South Side is being riddled with blood and bullets every single day. We still have a choice.
There are so many questions left unanswered when it comes to America. There are so many different versions of what America is. Some people see it as the land of opportunity, others as a vast prison of exploitation. Some see it as the government of the people by the people for the people. Others see it as an elitists’ social project protecting the marginalized and victimized minority where the word democracy has become nothing more than a badly told joke. Some see America as the last bastion of freedom in the world; others see it as a place where freedom has gone wild, along with its girls, gays and gorillas.
So, who and what is an American patriot? I don’t know anymore.
I am proud that the Constitution is a Judaeo-Christian product representing an accurate view of man’s fallenness and the human heart’s desire to control, however, I am ashamed of its dreadfully wrong anthropology. Black races were not considered fully human. To appease 18th-century slave-holders, the drafters of our freedom justified the legal bondage of so many. We can not ignore this sin! While others cannot move past it.
Yes, our military is the best in the world, but we are not always the most righteous. Are all soldiers to be considered heroes & saints? Or are some slackers joining the service just to receive a boatload of benefits and job opportunities from the government knowing they will not really face combat like our grandfathers used to? Do some soldiers just like to wear a uniform? Because it sure does feel good to be honored during patriotic parades. Do the women who fought for the right to go into combat really want to go into combat? Or is that too another political ploy for pushing this silly feminist equality narrative?
I love America, I really do. I just am not sure what America is? George Washington would blush to hear we recently had a President who had sex with an 18-year-old girl in his office; Jack Kennedy would probably have laughed about it. John Adams would turn in his grave to see us pass a thousand-page health-care reform bill without the majority of congressman knowing what is even in it; tricky Dick Nixon would applaud at how they got away with it. Joseph Goebbels would be jealous of our current day media’s access to power and technological tools for mass manipulation.
After living in Russia for a year, traveling through Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Austria, France, Israel and even Mexico I can say we as a country are truly blessed. Democracy works, so does capitalism, so does private ownership, rule of law, and so does fair and just courts. But corruption still lingers in the shadows of every politician’s heart. Lord Acton was right, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. We aren’t there yet. But we have started sliding toward Gomorrah.
If you love this country, help stop the slide. We need more than songs and nostalgic tears of what may have been to turn this country around. We need more than flags flying and trumpets blowing. We need more than soldiers marching and blowhards arguing. We need more than Facebook posting and Twitter sputtering. What we need is individual righteousness. We need people that will say no to corruption. We need people to serve others without needing applause or hero worship.
We need God. Fear him.
Last week I received a few complaints from some patriotic parishioners that we didn’t properly remember America in our church service. In what way should have we remembered it? Have all the veterans stand? We do that on Veteran’s day. Memorial Day is meant to remember the dead — but you can’t have those who died in wars past stand because they are already buried. Do we sing “God Bless America?” What if some patriotic Canadians are in the service or foreign exchange students from China and Germany? Are we claiming special favor when we ask God to bless American mountains and prairies? Will they be upset if we don’t ask God to bless the Rhine River or Great Wall of Mao’s China?
Is love of country wrong? There are a lot of things I am hating about our country right now. I will not ask God to bless our bathrooms, never. Men wearing women’s dresses does not fall under my category of true Liberty. Nor am I going to sing about our abortion mills and selling of fetal tissue – – that makes me sick! I guess some people don’t think you can be an American, or a real human for that matter, if you still are in your mother’s womb? Some people are sick of our greed and lack of compassion for the poor. Some others would say we give the poor far too much money with far too little accountability. America is a confusing, wonderful, disgusting and terrific place.
I think how I view America says more about me than what America actually is. My description of patriotism is more like a Rorschach inkblot test than an accurate accounting of life as it is from the Atlantic to the Pacific. What I see is usually what I want to see. Often those who want to sing songs about America at the church service see life through 1950’s Norma Rockwell spectacles; whereas those who don’t are wearing the much newer and more cynical Andy Warhol lenses.
In a strange way, this vast polarization of vision means America is really healthy. It infers that we are not yet expected to think monolithically like Nazis or Soviets or even the Khmer Rouge. We still have a free press, even though most of them have no problem lying to us. We still can assemble, even if some marches end in looting and riots. We still can own guns, even if the Chicago South Side is being riddled with blood and bullets every single day. We still have a choice.
There are so many questions left unanswered when it comes to America. There are so many different versions of what America is. Some people see it as the land of opportunity, others as a vast prison of exploitation. Some see it as the government of the people by the people for the people. Others see it as an elitists’ social project protecting the marginalized and victimized minority where the word democracy has become nothing more than a badly told joke. Some see America as the last bastion of freedom in the world; others see it as a place where freedom has gone wild, along with its girls, gays and gorillas.
So, who and what is an American patriot? I don’t know anymore.
I am proud that the Constitution is a Judaeo-Christian product representing an accurate view of man’s fallenness and the human heart’s desire to control, however, I am ashamed of its dreadfully wrong anthropology. Black races were not considered fully human. To appease 18th-century slave-holders, the drafters of our freedom justified the legal bondage of so many. We can not ignore this sin! While others cannot move past it.
Yes, our military is the best in the world, but we are not always the most righteous. Are all soldiers to be considered heroes & saints? Or are some slackers joining the service just to receive a boatload of benefits and job opportunities from the government knowing they will not really face combat like our grandfathers used to? Do some soldiers just like to wear a uniform? Because it sure does feel good to be honored during patriotic parades. Do the women who fought for the right to go into combat really want to go into combat? Or is that too another political ploy for pushing this silly feminist equality narrative?
I love America, I really do. I just am not sure what America is? George Washington would blush to hear we recently had a President who had sex with an 18-year-old girl in his office; Jack Kennedy would probably have laughed about it. John Adams would turn in his grave to see us pass a thousand-page health-care reform bill without the majority of congressman knowing what is even in it; tricky Dick Nixon would applaud at how they got away with it. Joseph Goebbels would be jealous of our current day media’s access to power and technological tools for mass manipulation.
After living in Russia for a year, traveling through Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Austria, France, Israel and even Mexico I can say we as a country are truly blessed. Democracy works, so does capitalism, so does private ownership, rule of law, and so does fair and just courts. But corruption still lingers in the shadows of every politician’s heart. Lord Acton was right, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. We aren’t there yet. But we have started sliding toward Gomorrah.
If you love this country, help stop the slide. We need more than songs and nostalgic tears of what may have been to turn this country around. We need more than flags flying and trumpets blowing. We need more than soldiers marching and blowhards arguing. We need more than Facebook posting and Twitter sputtering. What we need is individual righteousness. We need people that will say no to corruption. We need people to serve others without needing applause or hero worship.
We need God. Fear him.
