"Always remember, when somebody comes up with something new,
it's usually wrong. We are to be plagiarists of the same information that
God gave the first Christians." -- Dr. Matthew McMahon, aPuritansMind.com

 

4 July, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Methods   Do Churches Get Carried Away With Nationalism? The 4th of July holiday is upon us, and it brings to mind some of the most troubling church services that I had ever attended. I'm not anti-patriotic, but some of what will go on in churches this weekend is going to be so out of place for a house of worship. A service at my old church included a flag-draped Harley wheeling up the center aisle of the sanctuary, while soldiers sang patriotic songs up on the stage. How much is too much? I don't remember much of anything spiritual going on in that 4th of July service at my old seeker-friendly church, not much of any mention of God outside of "God bless America" type cliche's. The denomination that I was a part of for nearly two decades did it up big on holidays, and I have to confess, in my earlier days of Christianity, I would sometimes find a way to skip out of church on those Sundays. What about the time Christ said to give to Caesar what is Caesar's? Shouldn't we take that as a directive to maintain some separation between church and government? When you see scenes like this one (photo from the thideology blog) what does it make you think? What if the early Christians had Caesar decorations prominently displayed in their meeting places, would that seem out of place in church? In this article entitled Nationalism in The Sanctuary, the author talks about how the US law requires the American flag to be displayed more prominently than the "Christian flag"; the country's flag has to be higher, etc. That seems to be forcing a (small but real) government above God priority. And the potential for showmanship on this holiday is one more opportunity for the mega-seeker churches to amuse goats rather than feed sheep, under the banner of patriotism. All of this is just one more reason why I love being a part of the Reformed tradition, and the church that I now belong to. The Reformers saw the preaching of the Word as the most important thing; they knew how to stay on message, even through the Holidays, even through Easter and Christmas. If you haven't done so already, listen to (or read) this short history presentation on how the Reformers preached. Holidays were not even a speed bump for them, as they preached through scripture, verse by verse. So what are your thoughts about patriotism in church (patriotic songs, saying the pledge, decorating, displaying flags etc.)? Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.311   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism