A Disruptive Question for this July 4th
How do we as followers of Jesus in America remember and dream forward on the 4th of July? A collection of quotes, a poem, and even a song to muse over with Jesus today.
Freedom Ain’t Free (sung over us this past spring)
“The heart of the American struggle beats with one disruptive question: Will we strive for the “more perfect union” that those same founders enshrined in our national project or will we be captured by their own lack of capacity to imagine a world where all might live free and flourish and have a democratic say in how we live together?… a nation where the spirit of God is welcome to move against oppression and for the flourishing of all, a nation where all are made in God’s image—”male and female, God created them.” A nation where we improvise and imagine new ways of being together in the world.” - Lisa Sharon Harper (read the whole article here, The 5th of July)
On nationalism, “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a part of a nation. But the ‘ism’ part of it gets very dangerous… the near idolatry superimposing on what may otherwise be a legitimate love of my nation and kind of absolutizing it, or saying God cares more about my nation than it cares about any other nation. And furthermore, he’s not very critical of our nation either. He kind of likes the way we do things. That’s the unhealthy stuff.” - Richard Mouw
“Jesus said the Gospel is about good news to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, welcoming all people, caring for the least of these: the immigrant, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned. Christian nationalism attempts to sanctify oppression and not liberation. It attempts to sanctify lies and not truth. At best, it’s a form of theological malpractice. At worst, it’s a form of heresy.” - Rev. William J. Barber II
Let America be America Again, by Langston Hughes. An excerpt: “O, yes, // I say it plain, // America never was America to me, // And yet I swear this oath—// America will be!”
In light of all these things, what emotions and thoughts would you hold as you sang a traditional song like God Bless America? What form would that blessing take, that guidance being asked for?