America

I recently started reading the book, "Telling God's Story: Narrative Preaching for Christian Formation" and, after a little more than a chapter, it's rocking my world.

The basic premise of the book is that too much of preaching tries to conform Christianity to people's existing worldview. To address this issue, the majority of the book offers a new rhetorical approach for homiletics (aka preaching strategy) that seeks to challenge existing worldviews and replace them with one shaped by the biblical narrative. Here's a great quote:

"American Christianity" ... arose at a time when a fundamental shift occurred within the underlying narrative horizon of the church's life and practice. Whereas the church had historically lived out of the biblical story of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah fulfilled in Jesus and made manifest in the life of the Church, this new narrative placed the individual's movement from sin to salvation to service at its center. As the traditional Christian typology between Israel and the church collapsed, a new type of Israel arose - the modern American nation-state. These two distinct narratives ... have become deeply embedded within the cultural horizons of North America.

So, what does this mean? As an analogy I offer the Firefox web browser and it's collection of plug-ins. In this analogy, the browser functions as the foundational worldview. In the case of America, this includes our love of the autonomous individual, concepts like manifest destiny that drove our early history, and of course consumerism and capitalism.

Now, with Firefox, you customize your web browsing experience by downloading a variety of plug-ins, each of which adds something to the browser, but, in the end, has to work within the browsers limitations. This is essentially what has happened to Christianity in America. Rather than being the browser and having a biblical worldview, we've plugged Christianity into the American experience and forced it to live within that worldviews limitations. To put it crassly, most American Christians are Americans who have Jesus serve as an added perk in their life and, when the Biblical narrative doesn't seem to work within our American worldview, it's Scripture that's expected to give.

To continue the analogy, there are various Christianity plug-ins you can add in. You have the democratic form of governance where every member has an equal say in the workings of the congregation so you have to have boards and voters meetings if you're going to do anything. You also have the Christian nation plug-in that always seems to be downloaded with a fanatic devotion to Israel. If you're more into politics you can grab the Republican plug-in where, until '08, it's all about the issue of abortion, or maybe you're more progressive and want the new Democrat plug-in where you talk about loving poor people.

The fundamental problem with all of these is that Christians are still Americans first and Christians later. The American worldview remains the browser and Jesus a plug-in. The emerging church formed out of a longing to let Christianity be the browser, but it too seems to be going the way of the plug-in. Maybe this book will help me in my longing to form faith communities where Christianity is the browser and America can become the plug-in.

I've got to be honest, I'm really thankful the 4th of July didn't fall on a Sunday this year. Why? Because that just seems to that the whole notion of a America being founded as a Christian nation and sending it into overdrive. We end up mixing the flag and the cross and quite honestly, I causes my gut to churn and my blood to boil.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-American. I'm one of the few people I know who has to hold back tears every time I hear the national anthem, I get pissed when I see people flying their flags the wrong way (yes, there is a right and wrong way), and, having spent time in other parts of the world, I'm incredibly thankful that I was born here. It's not a surfacy radical nationalism that makes special appearances when stirred up, but a deep seeded patriotism and love for my country.

At the same time, I don't want an American flag in my church, I don't want to sing "God Bless America" on a Sunday morning, and I don't believe the United States is or should be a Christian nation (although I would agree that our nation was founded on a Judeo-Christian ethic and thus all the references to the 10 Commandments in the architecture of our early legal buildings).

So, why do I say this? First, the Church is not about any nation, race, or tongue ... the Church is for all people, in all places, and in all times. To bring elements of patriotism into the Church only seems to encourage confusion about this reality (especially given the current tension with countries in the Middle East that do mix Islam with their national status).

Second, God has given the Church and the State two entirely different rolls or vocations. The Church has been given the Gospel and is called to proclaim the forgiveness of sin while the State has been given the sword and is called to maintain order and protect their citizens. These distinctions must be honored (which by the way means that the Church should stay out of politics).

So, where do Christians who are citizens of the United States sit in all this? I'd say the answer is found once again in vocation ... specifically the vocation of citizenship. While God calls the Church to proclaim the Gospel, he calls Christians to (among other things) be good citizens. In the United States this means things like voting, working for justice (legal and social), obeying the laws of the land, and, when called, to serve jury duty.

In short, be a Christian who also happens to be an American ... don't be an American Christian.