Sermon Dan
Neary
God and
Country
Now that’s a creed! Ted has been after me for a while
to use the Athanasian Creed, and I
kept putting him off because it gets a little complicated… and it is so
long! But it is good… and a couple of
extra minutes reading a creed together simply doesn’t hurt anyone.
Besides…
if you haven’t personally been the beneficiary of Ted’s kindness, generosity,
and wisdom, then you are among the minority here. When someone like Ted asks
for a favor… it is certainly the right thing to do what we can to cooperate.
When I
got to thinking about it, it could very well be that Ted was trying to do us
all a favor. Looking ahead to what I had planned today, Ted saw that
I intended to speak on God and Country…
so it could be that Ted was doing his best to crowd out a sermon that
could get me in trouble!
There
are plenty of preachers who are at ease with making political points from
pulpits… I try to be really careful here. It could be that Laurie’s
grandfather, Watson Argue, said it best when he would explain to his
congregation (
“I do my
best to not reveal my political leanings from the pulpit… it is my own
business, a secret best kept to myself. Besides, whenever I do, it tends to
irritate the Democrats.”
Some
secret… I
guess we can draw on our own conclusions, but I don’t think he was ticking off the Democrats because they didn’t want him!
Even
though Jesus himself, on that first Palm Sunday, came riding into Jerusalem on
his donkey, that gives me no right to come riding into
church on my elephant. And I hope that you will find that there is no elephant
riding, or donkey riding, going on here in church today.
I’ll
pledge to you that I’ll be careful and respectful… I hope you’ll pledge to be
patient and forgiving as we take this occasion to move into what could be rough waters.
Today is
a good day, on this occasion preceding our Nation’s celebration of our
But
today, in these specific times, it is good to consider this critical
intersection of our faith (view of God) and politics (view of Government).
The Fourth of July, Independence Day, commemorates the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776). I was reminded of
this recently because it was question #7 on a citizenship test I took. You see
these pop up every once in a while because researchers habitually learn that most
Americans fail when faced with the test that one has to pass before becoming a
naturalized citizen. I, by the way, passed with flying colors with a 95%, a solid
A and I didn’t study at all! I only missed question #8; they listed 4
amendments to the Constitution (only by number) asking which one wasn’t about
voting rights (I picked C).
The Declaration of Independence, adopted 230 years ago
on Tuesday, made it clear that this Nation would be different. Among the
extraordinary claims were:
1. We are created equal
2. That God gives each of us rights
3. Government is of the people, by the people, and for
the people (Gettysburg Address language… but evident here in the Declaration of
Independence)
These
ideals, that were truly revolutionary ideas in every way, are easy for us to
take for granted today. 230 years ago seems like a very long time to all of us;
as far as we’re concerned, this is normal… right?
In our
homes, in our lives, and communities, and state, and country… these ideals are
firmly in place, right?
·
That we
are, indeed, all created equal…
o
Men and
women
o
Rich and
poor
o
Black,
White, Brown, Red, Yellow and all races
·
That God
gives each of us unalienable rights to
o
Life
o
o
Pursuit
of Happiness
·
That
Government is for the people… and not the other way around
Maybe we
still have some work to do on all of this, maybe we have a lot of work to do with
all of this, but the truth is we, as a 230 year old nation, have set an
admirable example of this pursuit of an extraordinary government.
A quick
reading of the Declaration of Independence makes it clear that our Nation was,
in fact, founded upon Christian principles. Regardless of those who deny that
this is, or ever was, a Christian Nation, it is plain to see that these ideals
that anchor the founding of our country are Christian ideals.
We find
no prescription from Scripture on the making of a Christian Nation. It isn’t
that the founders of our great Nation simply implemented a clear formula found
in the New Testament. But rather, appealing to the Creator and Supreme Judge of
the World, they endeavored to stake their independence and the subsequent
building of a new government on Christian principles, specifically:
·
Equality
before God
·
Unalienable
rights given by God, and
·
The
power of government being derived from the members of the Nation
Pilgrims
settled on the shores of this great land in pursuit of freedom to Worship, and
their ethics, religion, morals, and faith persisted
as the people came together to form a new government. It was really a whole new
kind of government, new ideas that some have labeled The Great Experiment, founded in principles of our Faith.
We can
now, from today’s perspective, generally say, “so far, so good.” It would be
reasonable to state that the verdict is
still out on The Great Experiment…
that within the context of the history of civilization, 230 years is merely a
blip. It could be that none of this will last, that maybe it shouldn’t
last. A look at our 230 year history brings to mind grave mistakes that could
have been the end of our nation, among them could be included:
·
Atrocities
committed against Native Americans
·
Slavery
·
Civil
War
·
Discrimination
·
We found
that our economic systems were fragile when it all fell apart in 1930
The list
could go on and on… but in spite of our mistakes on this path toward good
government, our successes far outweigh our failures. The
What was
documented as the birth of our Nation in 1776 was in many ways gigantic…
huge new ideas that would literally change the world. But in other ways, it was
really small. One page signed by merely 56 men. There were just these thirteen
little colonies that would now call themselves independent states in one
federation. There was no explicit declaration of war, and certainly no
declaration that would impose these ideals upon any one else, or any other
culture or government.
They simply said, for us we choose equality
under God and the exercise of our basic God-given rights: Life,
That was
230 years ago. What about today?
·
We’re no
longer an upstart, inconsequential bunch of revolutionary refugees with some
crazy new ideas
·
We’re no
longer isolated from the rest of the world. The sophistication and technologies
of our era have changed everything, and
·
We’re no
longer minding our own business,
focused solely on our own life, liberty and happiness
On
Tuesday, when we celebrate the 230th anniversary of our Declaration
of Independence, we will do so from standpoints of
·
Economic
dominance (our economy impacts the world’s economy like no other)
·
Cultural
leverage (our culture is adopted by billions around the world)
·
Technological
superiority (the world has come to rely on American ingenuity)
·
Social
influence (we set the talking points; many of the worlds leading Universities
are here and future world leaders come here first), and
·
Military
strength (today, our military muscle is without peer)
Whether
you like it or not, it is undeniable that our Nation is changing the world. Our
actions as a Nation reverberate throughout the globe.
Of
course it is in this last arena, military strength, where we most clearly
demonstrate our resolve in pursuit of our ideals. Especially in these present
times of war.
What
seemed to start as a pursuit for a relatively small group of us 230 years ago,
has now morphed into something that impacts the entire world. We still believe
in the simple principles of the Declaration… not only for ourselves, but now
also for the world.
As I prepared for today’s sermon, I checked out a pile
of books from the Seattle Public Library (I didn’t get to them all). One that
caught my attention was this: George W. Bush on God and Country.
Now I know that President Bush doesn’t speak for each individual in our Nation,
and there are entire categories of people who are opposed to his positions and
policies… but he does speak on behalf of our Nation as a whole and certainly
speaks on behalf of our Nation’s policies. So this includes some fascinating
reading, especially since it is almost entirely made up of the President’s own
words; once the reader gets through a few pages of the editor’s introduction,
the book is basically just the text of 34 selected speeches. The introduction
begins with, “Not since Abraham Lincoln has a sitting president talked so much
about God as President George W. Bush.”
There
are other books about the President’s faith, and what it means to policy and
such… but this book doesn’t draw any conclusions, it merely presents his words,
or at least the words he delivered as a result of advisors and speech writers.
Among the pages of quotables,
this simple phrase rang out as I read a sampling of pages.
“
It is
hard to argue against freedom being God’s plan. We’re
mindful of the words of the Prophet Isaiah (chapter 61), the very words that
Jesus claimed to describe himself:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,a 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. [1]
When
speaking to His followers, Jesus said, as recorded in John 8:31-35:
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendantsa and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.[2]
The
President is right; liberty is the plan of Heaven for humanity. Jesus came that
we might have abundant life and freedom… freedom from sin first and foremost,
but also freedom to worship, and freedom from evil and tyranny.
We Americans
enjoy unusual freedom; our liberty is unparalleled on the world stage. This is
impossible to deny… the question then is, “how should we exercise that liberty?” I
think it is around that question, ultimately, that our Nation is divided.
We are
divided these days over the War on Terror; specifically we are most divided on
our war in
Some
are, of course, simply opposed to war… period. Whether those are among the tie-died shirt wearing crowd who want to
“give peace a chance,” or the Christian pacifist who believes that war is
incompatible with the Faith, I mean no disrespect. I am not a pacifist, but I
can certainly respect the Christian pacifist position. But most of the debate
clogging our airwaves isn’t about war vs.
peace in general… it is about the prosecution of this particular war in
There is
general uneasiness, and a lack of agreement, regarding the defensive and offensive
natures of this war.
A common
criticism of the war in
Most
agree that terrorism, and specifically terrorism conducted by jihadist, Muslim,
fascists, is a threat. The images of September 11 are burned into our Nation’s
memory, remembering that this was no counterattack when they took down
the twin towers of the World Trade Center and slammed into the Pentagon… but this
was a flat out attack on us, based in another culture’s jihad or religious
war.
But the
disagreement comes about the war in
But I wonder,
what about the defense of our liberty? How do we defend against evil
ideals? We are accustomed to defending ourselves, as a Nation, against
evil ideals on the world stage. Within the past couple of generations, we have
defended ourselves against a couple: Nazism and Communism. Both cost our Nation
the blood of our soldiers. Our defense against Nazism took the blood of our
soldiers on European soil; our defense against Communism took the blood of our
soldiers on Asian soil. And our stand against Communism around the World
demanded huge resources and the courage to stand firm on the brink of potential
total destruction. We know, from our national experience, what it means to
defend ourselves against evil ideals.
But how
should we defend ourselves against this present threat from evil ideals? What
about the threat of militarized, jihadist fascists who hate us because of our
liberty?
We don’t
have the benefit of a time machine; we can only speculate about how powerful,
evil men will lead nations into conquest. We can only wish, for example, that
the likes of Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot would have been stopped much
earlier. It is difficult to know when enough
is enough, and the stakes are very high if we dare wait too long to make
that decision. Gauging a threat like this is tricky, dangerous business. The defensive
responsibility is enormous.
But what
of the offensive responsibility? The prosecution of a defensive war is
one thing… but what of our responsibility to spread liberty on behalf of others?
In the
same speech, President Bush said: “By definition, the success of freedom rests
upon the choices and the courage of free peoples, and upon their willingness to
sacrifice.” It sounds like our President is making a case that for evil to triumph,
all that is required is for good people to do nothing (to paraphrase Sir Edmund
Burke).
Our
President then when on to lay out a rational, as we have heard him do on many
occasions, for an aggressive strategy to spread liberty (or freedom or
democracy) around the world. These are high ideals… maybe so high that they
seem unrealistic… but are they?
In the
early 1970s there were around 40 democracies in the world and the predominant
force holding back democracy was Communism. Today there are over 120 democracies
in the world with more on the way, some out of what we might think of as the
most unlikely places. Just that realization alone might cause us to reconsider
what we understand as our Revolutionary War marked by the
We have
heard our President describe the spread of
Our
spread of freedom is an effective defense. Freedom around the world does indeed
protect our own freedom… but this is certainly more than just about our own
self preservation.
In this
present war against evil, our enemy describes the conflict in religious terms.
Our enemies will characterize this as a crusade
between faiths: Muslim and Christian. That is not what we have here. We have
demonstrated time and again that our armies tread on foreign soil, not as
crusaders, and not even as conquerors, but as liberators. The wars have
been won, but we have no colonies in Europe or
So what? Can I real
this in or has this become more of a patriotic speech than a sermon?
Let’s try to get back to one of the first questions I posed: how ought we to
think Christianly in matters of government, politics, nationalism, and
patriotism?
No
matter what our political positions, liberal or conservative, republican or
democrat… whether you hold a pacifist position or you subscribe to the ideal
that there is occasion for a just war… we must approach these weighty
matters armed with our Faith. Of all of life’s considerations, these matters
are among those that demand Christian perspective. We simply must not put our
Faith on a shelf when we consider matters of government, politics, and war.
I
certainly don’t have all the answers here; you ought to be able to tell that
I’m struggling through these considerations as I try to think Christianly about
the world, and our Nation’s place in it. It might be easier to stand here
before you if I had all the answers; truthfully, I like that feeling better.
But I felt like even without all the answers, we needed to give this topic
attention in these days and times.
I hope that you will agree that liberty is
a Christian ideal. We’ve grown so accustomed to freedom that we take it for
granted… we forget that it is based on countercultural ideas found in our New
Testaments, including:
·
That
strength among a people comes from a body working together, many members
contributing to the whole.
·
That
leadership is best demonstrated by becoming a servant. That Jesus, the rightful
King of All Creation, demonstrated his leadership and authority by serving… not
by extracting the best of His subjects, but by taking on the sin of His people.
·
That
equality is God’s way. No man or woman, Jew or Gentile, slave or master… in
Christ there is equality.
President
Bush said in his speech that:
“Historians
in the future will reflect on an extraordinary, undeniable fact: Over time,
free nations grow stronger and dictatorships grow weaker.”
Theologically
we can point to our understanding of sin to explain what is wrong with
dictatorships. Furthermore, we can apply what we understand about how the Holy
Spirit works through a people to explain what is good about freedom.
Finally,
no matter where you stand politically, or how you disagree with me, or even
what you think of the President and his policies… today we should agree to be
thankful for our liberty. Thank God for our freedom. Thank God that we are free
to live, and worship, and provide for our families, and pursue some measure of
happiness.
As we bring our time together today to a close, let’s
thank God for liberty. Let’s thank God for freedom to openly discuss such
things, for freedom to agree and disagree. Let’s thank God for freedom to bring
our Faith into every arena of life. And as we exercise our freedom, let us
beseech God again for wisdom and direction. Let’s follow the command of
Scripture and pray for our leaders. And let’s pray, giving thanks to God, that
he will continue to bless this great gift of a Nation that he has given us… God
Bless