For King and Country

My father was really big on our heritage.  As a result, I know that I have about eight different kinds of white European in my family tree, with the smallest sliver of Native American from six generations ago.  The other nationalities include English, French, Irish, Scottish, Serbian, Italian, Czech, and German.  The Native American ancestor was Black Foot.  It's easy to feel some pride in my ancestors sometimes, identifying with some Irish blessing, or learning German in school, or loving Italian food, or Czech or German sausages or perogies.  Irish and Scottish music are a lot of fun, too.  

Something that really struck me at some point these past couple of years, during the Black Lives Matter protests, was a reflection on something relevant.  It was an observation that most Black Americans today were descended from slaves initially brought over from Africa.  Not any one particular country, but rather a bunch of different countries, with different cultures, languages, and religions.  But most of those slaves were intentionally indoctrinated with the European imperialistic cultures that captured them, effectively wiping out any real remnants or records of where the slaves came from.  One of the major reasons why Black Americans today take so much pride in being black, in the culture they've forged while living in a land that actively meant them harm, is because the cultures immigrants would normally be expected to take pride in, the cultures of their forebears, were erased.  They don't know and can't know the countries they descended from, usually.  So they had to forge their own.  

There is something to be said about patriotism.  Pride in one's heritage, one's language, one's corporate history, can provide a sense of home you can take around with you.  A sense of belonging, a sense of togetherness.  There is a place for that in God's plan.  But it can go too far, and become something more akin to nationalism.  That's part of the reason why Jesus made his mission bigger than the nation of Israel, in my opinion.  They were so elitist, believing themselves to be God's chosen people, they hoarded their relationship with God, keeping it for themselves instead of sharing it with the world.  

Patriotism turning into nationalism is something we know a bit about in America.  Somehow, the Church in America has moved into a position very similar to the religious elite in the last days of the kingdom of Israel.  Somehow, the Church in America has confused being a hyper-loyal American is the same as being a good Christian.  

IT'S NOT!

I'm sure there's all kind of things that have led up to this confusion.  People have mistakenly been calling America a Christian nation for decades, if not centuries.  I guess part of that must have come from the numbers of people who first settled here because they couldn't practice their religion the way they wanted to elsewhere.  It also comes from the white imperialism that has motivated American institutions to favor the culture and religion of the white overlords, as opposed to the religions of the oppressed.  This goes back to stuff like White Man's Burden and other imperialistic, bigoted works and attitudes.  

I've said it before, but I'll revisit it here.  In the Old Testament, God instructed humanity to "go forth and multiply" indicating that for human civilization to continue, its genes would have to proliferate.  When Jesus rewrote the covenant, as it were, he told us to "make disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." He changed God's priority from a genetic one to a memetic one.  Our relationship with God was no longer defined by where we come from, but what we think, what we believe, how we behave.  The ideas that make Christianity what it is can easily be spliced from one culture into another.  Language, cuisine, music, art, architecture, fashion, and literature are all elements of culture that are prominent in ethnic groups.  But Christianity can fit in in Latin America just as easily as it does in Africa, or Southeast Asia, or Central Europe, Western Europe, and Northern America.  Jesus had his eyes on "all nations," not just America.  American Christians are not special, not any more so than those from anywhere else.  Americans are not special, not any more so than anyone else.  

AMERICANS ARE NOT ANY MORE SPECIAL THAN ANYONE ELSE!

AMERICAN CHRISTIANS ARE NOT MORE CHOSEN BY GOD THAN ANYONE ELSE!

I feel like it's not really possible to say this loudly enough for the people in the back to hear.  Jesus put it pretty succinctly in Matthew 6, starting with verse 24:

"No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." 

American Christians pride themselves on their capitalism and their personal rights.  Jesus prioritizes human dignity and that's something I choose to follow, too.