I do. I love my country, and I love the things that it hopes to stand for. I’m grateful to have been born in a place that is prosperous, a place whose founders hoped for something different when they created this nation.
And yet, as a Christian, i am conflicted sometimes when I try to reconcile my faith with what I see in America…. it often seems what is reality doesn’t match with those lofty written goals and ideals handed down over the years from our founders and forbears.
And I struggle.
You have to understand…. the 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays – I love the fireworks, the family gatherings, the reality that this day also signals that summer is really in full swing. I once worked at a church where nearly every summer we had a full-blown Patriotic concert, usually followed by a homemade ice cream feast in the fellowship hall, and then trooping up our back road to the hill on the property and watching the city fireworks. I loved the music, singing and playing, conducting the choir and orchestra, the Worship Team sang “God Bless the USA”… we even did a salute to the Armed Forces, a medley of their theme songs – I always had fun with that and had current or retired service members stand as their song came up…
It was grand fun. And, a part of me misses it.
But this year I’m having a tough time.
Our founding documents tell us “all are created equal” and should be due the right to “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. We like to believe these words are true, and that it means what it says. But, I know there are many out there who are not treated as equals, who struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In most of these cases, it is because of the color of their skin, their sexuality, their gender.
That’s not usually the case for folks like me – I’m a white, straight male. I don’t have the barriers that others have, and it is far easier for me to “get ahead”. Forget “getting ahead”, it’s not even on my radar that my life might be in danger if I get pulled over for a traffic stop…
And, the reasons we are “blessed” financially as a country are flawed – certainly there are hard-working decent people in this country, but much of the original founding basis of our wealth comes from a legacy of land stolen from native people (who were at best relocated to inferior lands, at worst outright slaughtered) and then also the legacy of slavery, followed by systemic racism and a system that sets up people of color to have much less chance of success.
I was raised to believe America was special, exceptional, a “shining city on a hill”. It was the great experiment of a Republic, the “really only successful” country.
Don’t get me wrong – there have been a lot of things this country has done well, it is a wonderful place to live… and I’m grateful. But now older (and hopefully wiser) I see that we have flaws, things that need fixing. My youthful idealism of America as the “exceptional, perfect, best-in-the-world country” has dimmed a bit.
I guess it’s a bit like getting to know someone – the longer you know them, the more you get to see their flaws in addition to their positive traits. The longer I’m on this planet, the more I realize my country has serious flaws. Well, if we are committed to the people in our lives we don’t just drop them when we find out their flaws – we walk with them and hopefully help them (and they us, because we have flaws, too!).
And so, it is the same with my country. I want my country to actually live up to the lofty ideals that were written so many years ago. I want to work and walk alongside others to see that come to pass.
I want an America where
– My Black sisters and brothers (indeed, all minorities and people of color) are treated with the same respect I’ve been privileged to have, and the systems that have been set up to hold them back are dismantled.
– My LGBTQ siblings live in peace, and enjoy the same rights, liberties, and protections I have.
– My sisters are paid an equal wage, and no longer have to worry about the thousand things most men never give a second thought to.
– We find a way to fix for-profit healthcare so that the core mission is healing people rather than making dividends for the stockholders
– We can still have different opinions and convictions, but remain friends (and even compromise for the common good).
I close with a prayer that paraphrases some lines from the hymn “America the Beautiful”
God, this isn’t a perfect country. We think of ourselves as blessed, and we do have much to be grateful for. But we acknowledge some of our wealth and success has come at the expense of the lives and liberty of others. We pray you would indeed help us “mend our flaws”. Shed your grace on us. Help us live up to those lofty ideals of equality, sister/brotherhood and the sacred worth of all people. Teach us to be humble, and willing to acknowledge our faults. Forgive us for the ways we have failed our fellow humans, in action, inaction and ignorance. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
