Patriotism, Freedom, Justice for All … and the Church

Balancing patriotism and faith in an election year is tough. Locating patriotism in the context of a local church can be like playing Twister with the pastor as the only player and the local church calling the colors and the appendage formation. Most often the nexus of controversy lies in the controlling sensibilities. Sometimes we pastor’s feel the weight of honoring our Country and at the same time feeling people would prefer to honor the Country in places and times they should be compelled to honor God. Broach the subject and, “Duck!”

Reading over at God’s Politics blog, I found a piece by Eugene Cho. We are Facebook friends. What that means is we know someone who knows someone and we got connected. We may never meet, but his recent piece gave me an appreciation already developed after viewing the video offered below.

People have a hard time with dissent. Baptists, and Southern Baptists, who share in a dissenting heritage now like to monitor just what is “dissentable.” (Neologism alert!) Cho comes to the rescue for some of us. For others he strikes a note to get back in balance. Our Country is great. Our Country is not so great. We share high marks and low times. But, there is a time to reflect on just what we appreciate America for.

Putting this together, I am grateful we live in a Country where we have the freedom to devise a means to help bring “justice for all.” Rather than talk about it, Cho has initiated an intentional action to join the ranks of those who will take the freedom we enjoy and put his money where his mouth is and invite others to do the same. After you watch the video below, leave a comment noting what you appreciate about the United States of America.