Happy Independence Day!

                                                                  Happy Independence Day! July 4, 2024
For many, the Fourth of July means sun tans, parades and picnics, hot dogs and Coca-Cola, ice cream and apple pie, baseball and bombs bursting in air (Thank the Lord our framers signed the Declaration of Independence in July and not January!)  For 248 years the significance and seasonal timing of Independence Day have made for the best outdoor celebrations of the year!

As Americans, most feel a renewed sense of pride and accomplishment on the Fourth of July. Hearts and minds are enticed by stories of patriotic sacrifice and providential guidance, and we enjoy a moment of peace amidst the current political drama. For Christians, however, there may be an inner conflict simmering, an unease amidst the celebration.

First, let’s be clear about where the Christian’s deepest identity lies. If we are in Christ, joined to him by faith, all other pledges of allegiance have been relativized, whatever our nation of origin or naturalization. We still love our country, are patriotic to the core, but all of our loyalties no matter how deep are subservient to the One. No one can serve two masters, Jesus said, only one can be primary. In Jesus, we have one final allegiance, and thus in this world we will always be, in some real sense, pilgrims, strangers and aliens, sojourners and exiles. As St. Peter proclaimed,  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11).
 
For the Christian, our citizenship in any nation aims to be “worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27), not merely worthy of that political state. At the most basic level, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” who will do for us what no political entity in this world will ever do — “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”(Philippians 3:20–21).
 
We proudly stand shoulder to shoulder as we sing the National Anthem together and pledge allegiance side by side and enjoy the parades and fireworks as we create and strengthen the ties of friendship and national unity, but that only goes so far. The blood of Jesus runs deeper than the blood that flows in defining or defending any nation. Our fellows in political liberty are important, but not as significant as our fellows in Jesus from every tribe and tongue. Yes, we seek to do good to our fellow Americans as we uphold and defend our home, but our deeper allegiance is to those who are of the worldwide household of faith. As St. Paul wrote, So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).
 
It is good and healthy to have real affection for the nation we call our own. It is right for the Christian to be patriotic and reserve a special kind of love for city and country. In fact, it’s a sign that something may be amiss spiritually if the Christian doesn’t have some tempered but tangible sense of belonging to his “kin and country.” It’s not only okay for American Christians to enjoy being American on the Fourth; it’s commended.

God means for us to be appropriately enmeshed in this world (as Jesus prays in John 17, not of the world, but sent into it). Christ and country aren’t irreconcilable. In Jesus’s perfect arithmetic, there is space not only to render God our everything, but render to Caesar his share as well, he said, "Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:19–22).
 
St. Paul made it clear that Christians render respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7). Though there are times we may disagree and oppose the governing authorities, ultimately God is our guide and is our true King. Under His authority we live where we are and honor God’s plan (though we may not understand it). “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17).
 
Third, it follows that as God’s common goodness is manifested in our political state, we should be genuinely grateful. We give thanks when thanks is owed. Perhaps we balk at being “proud to be an American”—and would prefer to be “humbled” by it. That’s wise and good. And we need not make any such alteration to the call to be thankful.
 
Given the fallen condition of our world because of human sin, we should be amazed how much common goodness God continues to create and uphold in nations good and even bad. In the same breath St. Paul instructs Christians to be good citizens--“to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:1–2) — he also reminds us about our native condition:
“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy . . .” (Titus 3:3–5).

Given our depravity, and the diabolical desires that have a foothold in humanity for now, it is extraordinary mercy not only that any are saved at all, but also that any of our nations aren’t in worse shape than they are. We betray the far-reaching effects of God’s kindness when we’re so consumed with frustrations about our homeland that we can’t see many good things to be grateful for.

Finally, for now, it continues to be legal to speak the Gospel in public in these United States, and even to press for repentance and faith. This is a glorious liberty. Let’s make the most of it by remembering that we Christians have a true country, which will satisfy our inconsolable longing like no nation in the present can. And let’s double our joy by bringing as many others with us as we can. It’s hard to say it any better than C.S. Lewis:

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage.
 
I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same. (Mere Christianity)

Embracing, renewing and proclaiming such a perspective as sung about in the "Star-Spangled Banner" over our Independence Day celebrations with family and friends, we would find them richer than ever.

We are profoundly grateful for the freedom we have in this country to recruit for the true one, and let’s be unashamed to seize upon our fellow Americans’ desire for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and show them in whom such joy is truly found.

Our Country Tis of Thee, verse 4
Our father's God to, Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!

The Star Spangled Banner, verse 4
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
 
In Christ Jesus,

Fr. Bill+