A Peculiar Prophet: Patriotic Thoughts

A Peculiar Prophet: Patriotic Thoughts

The Bishop has posted some interesting thoughts on patriotism in his weekly blog. I agree with him completely, but it is easier said than done.

Of my congregation, I would say that 70% of them have had some type of involvement in one war or another. I have found it a tricky place to try to navigate away from outright nationalism, to moving toward a more appropriate acknowledgement of those who have served and are serving now. My biggest confrontation had to do with a song the choir director wanted do to as an anthem called, "The Bible is my Statue of Liberty." Luckily, I convinced her that a more appropriate song might be "This is my Song," by Lloyd Stone and Georgia Harkness (pg. 437 in the UMC Hymnal) - which is my favorite song of all time.

However, at the same time of not wanting to have a U.S. flag waving ceremony in the church, I am thankful that at least this is not an area where putting up a US flag would be considered a political statement. A pastor was telling me about a former church that he served that the area that he was in was covered in Confederate flags and the culture, stereotypes, and racism was so pre-Civil war, that to put up a US flag would have been radical move.

My hope is that one day I can re-experience what I saw at the 1st Peace Camp in 1992. During worship one evening, we had a parade of flags from just about every nation in the world, with people running with them throughout Hutto Auditorium, and then out of the building. It was amazing, just the sheer beauty of it alone, but also that it symbolized that we had all been brought here from different locations with different flags, but were now here together, not under different flags, but one cross.