God Bless America
July 4, 2005
I don’t want to write the anti-patriotism post, but I can’t let the 4th of July pass without saying something about the state of our country and the world.
I’m the first to say that I am not as informed on politics as I ought to be; and I’m the first to say that I am spoiled and richly enjoy the freedoms and benefits of this country more than most. I’m the last person who has a right to complain, but I’m going to anyway . . .
I’m really tired of the patriotism kick we’re on in this country. I’m all for being grateful for all of our riches and freedoms, but the patriotism I keep seeing isn’t about being grateful - it’s about being greedy and scared. It’s about the need to assert our country at the expense of other countries and other people. It’s about God bless America versus God bless everyone. It’s about us versus them. It’s about the need to be the best country, but best defined by material goods and wealth and power and land; not best defined by aid or neighbor or good.
I don’t understand the state of our world right now. We are clearly living in dangerous times. We are quickly depleting natural resources, we are heightening fear and terror and we seem frequently to be on the brink of destroying ourselves. Why then, in this situation, are we fighting one another rather than helping one another? Why, on a planet that is overflowing are we not coming together to figure how we can best survive and flourish (all of us, not just some of us)? Why on a planet as richly blessed as ours are we not helping everyone to experience the fullness of life? I don’t understand - what do we have to lose? What are we so afraid of?
I like fireworks, I like our freedom, I like democracy, but I can’t help feel like the 4th of July heightens our us vs. them patriotism and I hate that . . .
Posted in uncategorized by Sarah
Amanda said:
July 5th, 2005 at 4:56 pm
I’ve been reading a lot of news magazines/papers/articles lately in an attempt to have a better understanding of what’s happending in our world right now. I think, in a sense, you’re right about America wanting to be the “top dog,” especially with the whole China issue that’s happening. At the same time, I can’t help but think that part of our patriotism is taking our advantages and using them to help other nations. I have a friend from Chad who is here in America who is holding a protest in August in Washington in the hopes of sendinig a message that our country should be doing something to help the people of Chad. He said that he is proud to be an American now because we have the power to change things. I like the 4th of July because it reminds me of how lucky we are to be an independent nation and the opportunities that it brings us. I do think that America has its problems, but I think that there’s only so much we can do when other nations are unwilling to help make things better.
Julie Jensen said:
July 6th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
AMEN SISTER!
ryan said:
July 7th, 2005 at 11:06 am
Sarah,
I, too, struggle with the “my country, right or wrong” attitude that seems to rear its ugly head this time of year. It’s something I struggled mightily with when preparing the liturgy and the sermon for this past Sunday. However, a sermon from George Stroup really helped me get my head around the issue. You may remember it, he preached it in chapel last spring term, and it is republished in this quarter’s Journal for Preachers. The quote below was particularly helpful for me.
So is patriotism a sin? Is it a sin to love your country, to sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee?” Much depends on how we understand the “‘Tis.” If we understand the “‘Tis” to mean that God and country are the same, if we have confused the two, if we love and serve our country in the same way we are commanded to love and serve God, then yes, patriotism is a sin. A great sin. However, if the “‘Tis” means that we acknowledge that our country is a gift to us from God, if the “‘Tis” is a call to responsible stewardship of that gift, then no, patriotism is not a sin. We dare not love our country, its history and its traditions, too much. But we also dare not love our country too little. We must not be ungrateful for God’s grace, God’s blessings, in all things.
Grace and peace,
RB