This is an intriguing read from the God’s Politics blog at the Sojourners website. I throw it out here as food for thought.
It’s wild how easily we get sidetracked from Holy days by holidays, and how quickly we can smother our central identity in Christ with other identities such as our national identity. The Fourth of July is one of those holidays that is a little tricky for those of us who are Christian, these peculiar people of God whose kingdom is “not of this world.” While we want to celebrate the many freedoms and opportunities we have in these United States, we also want to be people that are honest about history, who lament the places where our country and government and founding fathers have fallen short of God’s Dream. .. so without being a real prude or “anti-American” stick-in-the-mud, we want to try to remember the history of this country well on July 4 (and every day) — the good and the bad. That doesn’t mean we can’t have some serious fun on July 4. We might as well take advantage of the chance to be with neighbors and family, to have work off and play in fire hydrants (at least on my block). But above all, we want to remember that our deepest allegiance and identity run deeper than nation. And that may take some creativity to remember with all the fireworks popping and national anthems playing.
This comes off the wire from Disciples News Service at our main website – exciting news for our little denomination!
