“Place of Honor”
Romans
13:1-7
July 5, 2009
Does our faith have anything to say about being responsible citizens of the nation in
which we live? How do we reconcile our faith with our patriotism? In what ways
can we faithfully celebrate our nation’s heritage while at the same time worshipping
God who is Father and Creator of all humanity? While Romans chapter thirteen cannot
answer all of our questions about how love of God and love of country relate to one
another; stopping to ponder such questions through a passage that touches on the subject
seems appropriate for this Fourth of July weekend.
Please listen for how the Spirit is addressing us this morning through God’s word
found on page 152 of your pew Bibles from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome chapter
thirteen verses one through seven….
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except
from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever
resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur
judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no
fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; 4for it is
God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for
the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath
on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also
because of conscience. 6For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are
God’s servants, busy with this very thing.
7Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to
whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
This is God’s word to us…
This weekend we celebrate the 233rd anniversary of our nation’s independence and
through our worship today we remember the independence won for us through Jesus as we
break bread and share the cup. So how do we properly mix our faith and
patriotism? Is it better to keep our national celebrations in one place and our
faith in another? And what about keeping church out of politics and politics out of
church?
How can we, if at all, blend potentially touchy subjects like faith and patriotism; Christ
and culture; the flag of the United States and the Christian flag? For some this
question of worshipping God and loving country comes down to a stark either/or
decision. One either radically loves God and nothing else or one serves country
above all else. As a seminary intern I discovered this harsh choice being lived out
in the first church I served.
Thirteen summers ago I was about midway through my first internship. It was the
custom at Lakeside Presbyterian Church that on the Sunday closest to the 4th of July the
congregation would host a picnic for their neighborhood. The festivities began
shortly after worship with a prayer led by the pastor and then the Pledge of Allegiance
led by the Scout Troop. We all bowed our heads, waited for the “Amen” and
then placed our hand on our heart and recited words that we had been reciting since
childhood; all that is, except for the pastor.
Later in the afternoon when I was able to have a word with my supervisor, I asked him why
he didn’t join the rest of us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. His answer
surprised me; he said something to the effect of, “I offer allegiance to God and only
God and certainly not to a flag.” He went on to explain that he understood
God’s chief concern was for us to avoid idolatry. In his mind, offering
allegiance to the flag was a form of worshipping the flag and therefore he felt that the
Pledge was idolatrous.
He was living out what Shirley Guthrie described when he said, “national identity,
which is good in itself, becomes” idolatry “when a nation becomes a god
demanding total, unquestioning loyalty and obedience” (Christian Doctrine, p.
163). My supervisor also reminded me that Acts chapter five verse twenty-nine says,
“we must obey God rather than any human authority.”
Now all of this may be offensive to you, but it is one way that people choose to
understand the relationship between faith and patriotism. It is a clear-cut choice
of either/or and not both/and. For some it is the most authentic way to rectify
absolute allegiance to God and the allegiance our nation asks of us. And even though
it is an approach that I considered valid for a time, through much prayer and thought I
eventually saw the error of my youth and my supervisor’s less than mainstream
opinion.
Even though he used the Bible, did he remember the passage from Romans which seems to
contradict the idea of resistance that Acts advocates? Listen again to the first few
lines of Romans chapter thirteen: “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist
have been instituted from God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God
has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
It may not surprise you that on a contemporary issue the Bible says different
things. Acts chapter five seems to encourage the passive resistance that my
colleague in Richmond practices; while Romans chapter thirteen seems to demand our
allegiance to both God and our country. And then a little further on in the New
Testament we find that John of Patmos, writing in his Revelation, claims that imperial
power comes from Satan and not from God. While in 1st Peter we hear “Fear
God. Honor the emperor.” What are we to make of these seeming
contradictions?
As I’ve said to several of you, while there is often a theologically correct answer
to difficult questions, there is also a pastorally correct answer that provides a way
through an impasse. And a pastorally correct approach seems like the best
perspective in this case, especially since September 11th 2001 when patriotism, loyalty
and obedience to the elected government have been foisted on us day in and day out by the
media and punditry. As we have been faced with their meaning have we prayerfully
pondered how to love God above all else while remaining true to our native land?
As we have sent young men and women overseas and continue to commit our soldiers to battle
abroad; many of you, like me have probably thought about friends and family who wear or
who once wore the uniform of our armed forces. I am reminded of my grandfathers: one
who saw combat as a Marine in the South Pacific in 1942 and the other who served as a
draftsman in the naval shipyards outside of Manhattan during World War II. With my
grandfathers in mind and the thoughts of the sons and daughters of church members I have
served since 2001 can a pastor really remain silent during the Pledge and not through his
silence dishonor God and those whom the pastor serves?
As the flags went up in the weeks that followed that horrible day nearly eight years ago,
our generation’s day “which will live in infamy,” I really began to
question the either/or choice my colleague taught me. And in my prayer-filled hours
I came across an address by a pastor who described a pastorally correct way to reconcile
faith and patriotism. He identified how to faithfully love God and country with
integrity through “authentic, faithful patriotism”
(mykandarryl.com/patriotismandchurch.html).
This “relationship requires allegiance to national ideals and a commitment to fulfill
the responsibilities of citizenship. Because we love this country,” he writes,
“we pledge allegiance to our flag and strive to be responsible citizens.”
The pastor continues, “in contrast, what is opposed to authentic faithful patriotism
is a mindless loyalty, a blind acceptance, and an unquestioning attitude—that is not
authentic patriotism” (ibid.).
According to this ideal “authentic, faithful patriotism” encourages us to be in
relationship with our government as people of faith. In other words,
“authentic, faithful patriotism” requires both the obedience of Romans 13 and
the resistance of Acts 5. As Christians we are to support our government because God
institutes all authority that exists, but we are also to question the actions and policies
of our government when those policies and actions counter God’s desires and authority
which are greater.
What this both/and choice gives us is the hope that tomorrow will be better because we
will be fulfilling both God’s desire and the dream of our founders who implored us to
create a more perfect union. The problem with the either/or position is that it
leads to either blind allegiance or the sport of tearing down America. For some this
sport has become as idolatrous as mindless loyalty. But “authentic, faithful
patriotism” pushes us to view our nation through the lens of Christian faith and
practice.
One of the most important of these Christian practices that “authentic, faithful
patriotism” leads us to is the practice of national repentance. Repentance is
the acknowledgement that none of us are perfect and that we all need to seek God’s
forgiveness so that we might walk upright before God. “Authentic, faithful
patriotism” calls us “to fight against our tendency to celebrate ourselves and
our nation at the expense of holding our government accountable to justice;”
regardless of which party is in power (ibid.).
When we fail to hold our government accountable we are doing the opposite of faithfulness,
then we are in fact guilty of the sin of complacency. “Complacency happens when
we forget that an authentic, faithful patriotism requires our support and opposition of
our government’s policies and actions. Complacency happens when we commit the
sin of assuming that something or someone other than God can be all good. Complacent
nationalism arises when” we see “our nation is so close to good that we
forget” the pervasiveness of sin (ibid.).
All this is to say that as we celebrate our nation’s birthday, we as people of faith
are perhaps best suited to be examples of “authentic, faithful patriots”
today. We are so because as people of faith we are called to look beyond ourselves
through the love of God in Christ to a vision of what we all can be. As people of
faith, as people of the book, as people who look to the vision of the Kingdom of God we
have been equipped to make the ideals of freedom, liberty and justice accessible to all of
God’s children.
The flags have been placed behind the communion table today so that we might take time to
remember the place of honor that they hold in our lives. Despite the problems our
world faces, the United States remains a place that people like our own Zlatko and Biljana
choose. We remain a nation that people dream of not only visiting but of making
their home. And despite the problems that Christianity faces it remains a call that
people answer, a call that reassures us that life is larger than the sum of our individual
lives.
In a little while, after we affirm our faith using a part of the Theological Declaration
of Barmen, I will invite you all to remain standing, face the American flag and recite the
Pledge of Allegiance. In so doing we will have preserved God’s and our
nation’s place in our hearts and minds. Both flags have been moved into a
temporary, but more prominent position to remind us of the places of honor they hold in
our lives.
The flags stand behind the communion table today because we are proud of the heritage we
celebrate this first weekend of July.
The flags stand behind the communion table today because we remember that our country is
not perfect because those who inhabit her are imperfect.
The flags stand behind the communion table today because we seek to live “authentic,
faithful patriotism” in light of the symbols of our faith and country.
The flags stand behind the communion table today because we seek to live our citizenship
in the Kingdom of God and America in the hope that through the love of God in Jesus Christ
we will be witnesses to the Truth who guides us into God’s future.
Amen.
Theological
Declaration of Barmen
“Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (I Peter 2:17.)
Scripture
tells us that, in the as yet unredeemed world in which the church also exists, the State
has by divine appointment the task of providing for justice and peace. [It fulfills this
task] by means of the threat and exercise of force, according to the measure of human
judgment and human ability. The church acknowledges the benefit of this divine appointment
in gratitude and reverence before him. It calls to mind the Kingdom of God, God’s
commandment and righteousness, and thereby the responsibility both of rulers and of the
ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word by which God upholds all things.
We
reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission,
should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling
the church’s vocation as well.
We
reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission,
should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the State,
thus itself becoming an organ of the State.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag…
…with
liberty and justice for all.
