One Nation Under God: Christian Patriotism
David C. Myers
July 6, 2008
Matthew 22:15 - 22; 34 - 40
Today, the Sunday of Independence Day weekend, focuses the attention of faithful Christians on the relationship between church and country. And no doubt throughout this country there will be a vast variety of sermons preached. Some will proclaim that the United States is a Christian nation governed by God. Others will proclaim that God shows no partiality to any country per se.
This morning I would like to examine two scriptural passages found in the 22nd chapter of Matthew. The first finds Jesus, when questioned about paying taxes to the Roman government saying, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." We are told that those in attendance marveled at Jesus' wisdom.
Later in the same chapter of Matthew, a lawyer asked Jesus about the greatest commandment of the Law. You know, kind of one of those questions designed to get an easy answer that sums everything up. The, "what's your understanding of life in 50 words or less", kind of question. And lo and behold, Jesus answered the lawyer clearly and distinctly - and in only 28 words, not counting the transition phrases. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" and. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus goes on to say that "on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
On this Independence weekend I want to examine a very important aspect of our lives - especially in light of this being an election year - the relationship of God and country. And I believe that there is great wisdom found in the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" and many of the other founding documents for our country. In repeating the "Pledge of Allegiance" we say, "one nation, under God." In so doing are we not saying that our ultimate allegiance is not to our nation, but rather to God - to Whom this, or any other nation, is under? We are, indeed, "one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all." Because of this, I like the term "Christian Patriotism." Since some of you might wonder if there can be any such thing as a Christian patriot, let me begin by defining what I think one is.
I would like to suggest that Christians are those who reflect the values and spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and resurrected. They reflect the universality of God's love and desire for peace among all peoples God has created.
Patriotism means love for country.
Christian patriots then are persons who respond to the claims and evaluate the policies of their own beloved country in the light of the gospel of Christ. There is no higher patriotism.
• A Christian patriot will not echo the heresy, "My country, right or wrong."
• A Christian patriot will not try to rally people by saying our country is doing God's Will, whereas the enemy is the devil personified.
• A Christian will echo the sentiment of Lloyd Stone in the Hymn, "This is My Song" - "Oh, hear my song, Thou God of all the nations, A song of peace for lands a-far and mine."
Recent generations have known many Christian patriots. Here are some on my list:
• Albert Schweitzer was a Christian patriot when he left his world of music, scholarship and fame to become a lowly doctor in the remote jungles of Africa.
• Martin Niemoeller was a Christian patriot who defied Adolf Hitler as he cried from his pulpit, "God is my fuehrer!"
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian patriot who joined others in plotting against the rule of Hitler. He was sent to a concentration camp and hanged as an enemy of the state.
• Dag Hammarskjold was a Christian patriot when he said in his inaugural speech as Secretary General of the United Nations, "The greatest prayer is not for victory, but for peace."
•Desmond Tutu is a Christian patriot as he witnesses his faith in his country of South Africa and to the world, a faith that proclaims all are free, all are equal. He helped lead South Africa from the violent and oppressive rule of apartheid.
These are the kinds of values that Jesus described in the last judgment in Matthew's Gospel. It's both curious and poignant that as Jesus told what we have come to know as the "sheep and goats" parable that He begins it by saying, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." (Mt. 25:31f) All nations would be gathered before the Son of God. They would be separated into two groups on the basis of their response to human need. Had they fed the hungry? Had they clothed the naked?
Had they identified with the alienated, the outcast, and those in bondage? The Christian patriot will be as sensitive to the faults and failings of their own people as to the ignoble deeds in distant lands.
The United States has produced many Christian patriots.
• Our ancestors were Christian patriots as they dumped the tea into Boston Harbor, struggled for their independence and tried to define the "inalienable rights" of all children of God.
• Abraham Lincoln was a Christian patriot who, as a young congressman, challenged the morality of an unwise expansionist war; and who, as President, preserved the Union and freed the slaves.
• Jane Addams was a Christian patriot when she pioneered in social welfare, fought for women's rights and sought to improve living conditions in slums and tenements.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian Patriot when he cried, "Throw us in jail, and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you." Committed to nonviolence, he was repeatedly imprisoned and finally murdered that racial justice might prevail.
• Senator Mark Hatfield was a Christian patriot when, in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate, he called our country to a day of national prayer and penitence.
Why this string of biographical vignettes? Because they reveal the characteristics of the Christian patriot; the ones who reveal a faith that sees "one nation, under God;" those who reveal what it means to give to Caesar things that belong to Caesar, but to reserve the higher things to the God of all people.
A Christian patriot:
• Will have compassion for the poor and hungry, for those who live in squalor, for the weak and powerless;
• Will actively participate in those programs and processes that lead to positive social change;
• Will seek to secure for others the opportunities and freedoms we covet for ourselves;
• Will courageously oppose racism, sexism, and bigotry in every form;
• Will protest the denial of civil-liberties and the violation of human rights in every form;
• Will be peace-makers completely committed to global justice while rejecting the limited self-serving goals of regional and parochial loyalties;
• And, "will seek first the Kingdom of God" knowing that in so doing the interests of one's beloved country are best served.
The "Christian patriots" I have listed have been prominent, influential, singularly gifted people. We rationalize our lack of involvement or relative impotence by saying we don't have their quality of life or depth of commitment.
Yet, the people we have been talking about were (or are) as human as the rest of us. They have known grief and pain, uncertainty and fear. They have been tempted by compromise and cowardice. They have made mistakes and sinned their sins. Like the rest of us, they have had their strong regrets. They, too, have experienced feelings of frustration, boredom and helpless anger. Yet, they have tried to be faithful to principal. They have conscientiously related the ideals they have professed to the lives they have lived to the world around them.
If our nation is to become what God would have it to be - and the human family needs - we have much to learn from them. Are we willing to rethink our loyalties and values? Are we willing to stand alone, if need be, to be misrepresented and misunderstood? Are we willing to have our patriotism questioned while serving the higher patriotism? Christian patriots will try to flesh out the word in their own lives and witness. They will work within their own sphere of influence - whether it be for their family, their place of work, school or play, their church, their community, their state, their nation, or in their sphere of influence that is the global human family. Theirs will be an incarnational faith - a faith that believes and acts that God can work through human flesh. They will seek to do the truth.
A Christian patriot is one who, acknowledging fault and frailty, seeks to reflect the spirit and values of Jesus Christ above all else, and rejoices when saying, "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all."
This morning, with our thoughts so focused on our country and this holiday weekend, it is perhaps even more fitting that we remind ourselves where our true allegiance lies. Our allegiance, our bottom line, lies with God. We may be of one nation, but we are under God. For us, it is the God Who sent us His only Son, Who suffered, was crucified, dead and buried only to rise again to show us that new life is possible. This morning we celebrate our allegiance to God, The One Who through Christ's death and resurrection gives us the possibility of new life.
You are invited to participate in receiving the Bread and the Cup, so that we might be for the world, the Body of Christ.