Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 40

 

This post is it: part 40 of 40. It's my last in a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. Believe it or not, I could go on. Separating faith from national identity is so important to the scriptures, and to the Christian tradition, that I could easily put out another 40. 

But I've made my point and it's time to move on. I hope this has been good food for thought. I don't know too many scholars of the U.S. Constitution or of its framers. But I know quite a few people who view the Bible as a sacred text, and understanding it as their duty. If that describes you, I hope I've given you some strength and guidance in pushing back when people of faith try to glue the flag and cross together. 

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith nation: Because Martin Luther, and many other Christian teachers, taught us to pray for a kingdom of God not within any national boundaries, but within ourselves. 

When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in Matthew ch. 6 and Luke ch. 11, praying for the Kingdom of God is a very high priority. But when his critics ask where that Kingdom will be, he says, "The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, 'look, here it is!' or, 'look, there it is!' For, in fact, the Kingdom of God is among/within you." Martin Luther used this concept as a guide when he was trying to explain the "Lord's Prayer" (AKA the "Our Father") for ordinary Christians. This wasn't an off-the-wall speculation, but an explanation grounded in Jesus' own words, about what he meant when he asked his followers to pray, "Your Kingdom come."

God's kingdom comes not from any war of conquest, not from any election won or lost, not from passing any federal law or local policy. God's kingdom comes to our hearts, by the power or the Holy Spirit, through faith in the Good News of Jesus. It's really that simple. There's no greater Kingdom to look for. The one we need most is within.   

For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.    

Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 39

 

This post is part 39, and my second to last, in a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith nation: Because as much as I appreciate the country where I live, my faith always has to come first, and when the two conflict, I had better know the difference. 

In my devotional reading for today, Jesus warns his disciples that if any part of you draws you into sin--even a hand, a foot or an eye--it's better to cut it off than risk your relationship with God.

Thankfully, no major Christian movement has ever taken this literally. It's hyperbole. Jesus doesn't really want his followers maiming themselves due to the tiniest mistakes. But he does challenge us to examine what we hold dear--the things that seem as essential to us as our own body parts--and question whether they are helping us or hurting us in connecting with God and our neighbor.

In our congregation's Bible study, we've been talking about civic life and faith. One of the terms we learned was "mega-identity," a combination of social and political factors that is causing people to increasingly identify their political affiliation with who they are at the deepest level. I've seen it in increasingly passionate language on flags, signs, and bumper stickers dotting the countryside, no longer just during election season, not even just in election years, but all the time. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say for many in our country, political partisanship has become a religion, as dear to us as any faith we find in the scriptures--or perhaps so entwined with our religious faith that we think of them as the same thing. 

Echoing my Lord, I'm going to ask: is it time to cut it off? 

I'm not saying we shouldn't vote. I'm not saying we should hold our tongues in matters of national significance. I'm not even saying it's inappropriate to give money to causes or candidates we believe in. I'm asking, have our mega-identities delved too deeply into our hearts? Can we see God's image in the faces of people who disagree with us? Can we still tell our faith and our national or political identity apart? 

This series began because I was looking back on my last ten years of ministry, and asking these questions, and I didn't like the answers I was seeing. You may think I'm blowing it all way out of proportion. I hope I am. But I care deeply for Christ's church. And I would much rather see it enter a new phase of life, cut off from some of its worst impulses, than make life more hellish because we didn't dare question them.     

For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.    

Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 38

 

This post is part 38 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith nation: Because this week, as Rosh Hashanah begins, I give thanks for my friendships with Jewish Americans.

I went to elementary school in Bexley, Ohio, a Columbus suburb with a large Jewish population. One of my best friends from 4th to 6th grade was the son of a Conservative rabbi (in Judaism, "conservative" is closer to the middle of the road in theology and practice). I had the honor of sometimes being a guest at sabbath meals and attending Saturday synagogue services. 

On Rosh Hashanah, a new year festival signaled by the blowing of a trumpet, school was out. I wasn't Jewish, so for me, it was just a nice early fall break. I didn't think anything of it. We never had school on Sundays, or Good Friday--half the time spring break coincided with Christian Holy Week--so why wouldn't we also give time off for Jewish holy days?

I valued my friendship with Jordan. He and I would imagine movie scripts together (which often involved him patiently listening to my long-winded pitches and providing notes. He was a great friend!). We shared life together. I was welcomed in his home, and I learned a great deal from his family. 

Though I'm a Christian and I always will be, my time in elementary school formed my worldview in important ways. Every child could benefit greatly from having friends who don't share their faith, and living in a community where more than one faith is honored. When I resist the idea of centering Christianity in the public sphere, I'm not doing it out of "political correctness". I'm doing it because inter-faith friendships and communities have blessed me, and I want that for all our kids.  

For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.    

Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 37

 

This post is part 37 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith nation: Because the teachings of my church, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, are at odds with Christian Nationalism. 

In a draft social statement coming up for a vote next summer, our church says, "The ELCA understanding of civic life and faith is at odds with Christian nationalism because the latter seeks to fuse the exercise of political authority with a selected set of supposed 'Christian' ideals. It also asserts that Christianity should be a privileged religion in the United States...Christian nationalists pledge allegiance to their version of the United States, first making the U.S. into an idol and seeing God’s plan in U.S. society as including only those whose religious beliefs fuse with a certain view of that society.” (article 37)

"Christian Nationalism" is a term being used a lot more in the last 5 years than ever before. But that doesn't mean it only began recently. It's been around for a long time, and it has never been faithful to scripture or Christian teachings.

 When we attempt to fuse our Christian beliefs with our political ideology, and when we suggest that God has a special plan for the United States above other nations, we are committing the sin of idolatry. We can't both know Jesus as Lord, and give divine status to our own vision for our country.

God is the Lord of all nations, and God's plan is to make peace with the whole creation through Christ. No nation comes first or last in that scheme: the shortest distance to peace with God is not over any country's border, but the one step in our hearts, to the foot of the cross. 

Learn more about our draft social statement and provide feedback HERE. 

 For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.   

  

Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 36

 

This post is part 36 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith nation: because Christians have enough to worry about in keeping watch over our own souls, let alone the soul of a nation. 

Colossians, a letter attributed to the Apostle Paul, warns readers not to fall into a long list of bad habits of thought, word and deed, which believers had before they became Christians. Christians today tend to focus on sins related to sex, but right next to "fornication", the letter lists "greed (which is idolatry)" and "anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language from your mouth."

The letter's point is not that Christians never do these things--we wouldn't have a letter asking them not to if that were the case--but that seeking Christ helps renew our souls in order to live a new way. 

As I read this in my daily Bible readings, it occurred to me that just focusing on renewing my own soul in Christ is more than a full time job. If I were serious about that, I wouldn't have time to worry about how any local, state or national policies are favorable or unfavorable to Christians, because my main concern would be whether I myself am acting like a Christian. And I would venture a guess that if Christians focused first on our own thoughts, actions and most of all words, we would have more impact on our communities, and our nation, than any law or court case ever could.      

 For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.   

Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 35

 

This post is part 35 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith world:
because Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. 

Yesterday, September 11, commemorated a tragic day for our country and our world. 23 years ago yesterday, nearly 3,000 lives were lost due to an act of terrorism committed by religious extremists. As people of faith, we have to come to terms with the truth: religious nationalists committed this attack. The men who carefully planned and carried out this act of violence against their perceived enemies, did so out of what they thought was religious devotion and national pride. 

Bear in mind, as I say this, that the vast majority of their fellow Muslims were just as horrified by this violence as the rest of the world: maybe even more so, because they knew better than others what a vile perversion of the Islamic faith Al Qaeda believed and taught. These attackers were so committed to their vision of a world in thrall to their narrow interpretation of Islam, that they saw everyone who did not agree as an enemy, deserving of death. 

Jesus' teaching was the opposite: rather than wishing death on our enemies, we are commanded to pray and wish blessings upon them. Islam, as practiced by most Muslims across the world, has similar teachings. Faith does not grow through violence or political coercion, full stop. In fact, the very moment when we begin to use violence in service to our faith, Jesus teaches, we have stopped living according to it.

I continue to stop for a moment every September 11, and grieve the many lives lost. I also say a prayer for the future, that the peaceful way of Jesus would prevail, first and foremost in the hearts of his followers.   

  For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.   

 

Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 34

 

Revelation 21:3-4

This post is part 34 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

Today's reason I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith world:
because nations are temporary.

During the 20th century, American Christians had a lot to say about the end times (eschatology, if you want the fancy term). This isn't new at all: many of Jesus' first followers believed he would return to reign over the world in their own lifetime. Martin Luther in the 16th century suspected it would happen in his own time, too. Needless to say, everyone so far has been incorrect. Often when the pace of change in the world picks up, so do speculations about what the Bible says about end times, and whether there might be clues that "this is it!"

During the Cold War and the following years in America, Christians turned to some of the cosmic battles portrayed in Revelation, and wondered what role the US and its allies (and adversaries) might play in these conflicts. Even in my (still kind of short?) lifetime, preachers have recast Revelation's "beast" many times, from the Soviet Union, to Al Qaeda, even to American political adversaries. While the "bad guy" has conveniently shifted over time, the "good guy" in much of American theology has remained constant: usually the modern-day state of Israel, and, not surprisingly, the United States. 

Bear in mind, before I say anything else, that I love our country very much, and I am thankful to God for the blessing and profound responsibility of being a U.S. citizen. That said, if you're reading Revelation properly, no human nation, not even Israel, is the "good guy." That role is permanently reserved for Jesus, the Lamb. And you can't cast any one human nation as "the Beast," because "the Beast" in Revelation stands in for how every human empire acts: using economic and military power to get what it wants, no matter the consequences to God's children. 

At the end of Revelation, John, the author, sees a new heaven and a new earth, centered in a new Jerusalem, which is open to people from all nations. God will dwell with us, to establish justice, and to wipe every tear from our eyes. The need for earthly divisions based on language, ethnicity, race, class, or nation, will be at an end. 

Why do I want us to be careful in connecting our nation and our Christian faith too closely? Because anything to do with our nation is transient. Impermanent. It will fade away, like a dream, as we wake to eternal life with God. Let's not confuse temporary things with eternal things. 

  For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.