It happened three times in two day. I was casually visiting
with folks and it didn't take long before current news topics were brought up.
It could be the precarious situation in world politics, a geopolitical chess
game. It might be partisan haranguing in our national capitol or more violence
in our cities. When these topics come up, I am aware how carefully I must walk
through these mine fields. I have yet to
live in a community where my own thinking about political and social issues is
consistent with the majority of the population around me. My views are vastly different and so careful
navigation is important. In the
communities I have lived the folks will blame the terrible things that are
happening on issues that I simply cannot agree. They are convinced that the
reason terrible things happen in the world and our nation is because we've taken
prayer out of the schools. They are upset because there are some folks who want
to return to the time when the Pledge of Allegiance did not include “…under
God.” They believe that because
there are churches and pastors who believe that American flags don’t belong in
Christian sanctuaries, adds to the troubles of the world. They will tell me
that Muslims cannot be trusted and because there are those who would like to
remove the phrase “In God we trust” from our money are additional reasons for our
troubles. When I hear such talk, I can feel my adrenalin rushing and the hairs
on the back of my neck, rising in protest. Surely you cannot be serious. Is your God so
impotent that your knowledge of God is limited to patriotic phrases, praying in
school, an unreasonable fear of diversity and other religion, or a piece of
cloth that represents a particular tribe? Is God, only real to you when God shows
up on our money, in our national propaganda, or in our public classrooms? Is
God, to you, just a guard dog of the American way? How pitiful. How sad. How hopeless. How unfortunate.
I think that for those who think more deeply and critically, one would find
this as disturbing as I do. This God is too small. Let me tell you about my God.
My God is bigger than America’s guard dog.
My God is not a reactive avenger who sweeps away all those
things we do not like; stamping it with the seal of approval about American
exceptional-ism. My God is not beholden
to forced prayer or classroom mantras proclaiming God’s greatness. God doesn't
need America, or any nation for that matter, to do the work we've been asked to
do. My God is a forgiving, merciful, gracious parent who loves all creation
with perfect, holy, faithful, and compassionate love. My God is bigger than an
added phrase to our nations pledge of allegiance or words engraved on our
American money. What God really needs are men and women, youth and children from
all tribes and nations to embrace all of creation as a blessing rather than an
enemy, a partner rather than a rival, and a people alive with God’s grace and
so confident in God’s continued blessing that we don’t need God to be our guard
dog for our narrow view of the world and its troubles. Instead of believing
that prayer in school, phrases engraved on
our money as the answer to our troubles,
maybe we need to repent, ‘rethink’ our God. Maybe this God has become
too small and too easily eclipsed by our own feelings of greatness. Instead of domesticating God by putting words
about God on our money, we need to be more courageous and follow God, believing
that God will show us an even better way.
Can we believe in a God who blesses us so that we are
blessing to others and at the same time see others, including all other
religions and cultures, as a blessing to us? Our God is bigger than our shallow
phrases printed on our money. Can we believe in a God who created all of us for
the common good? This is a bigger God than the one we pledge to in our allegiance
to our flag. Can we believe in a God who has enough grace for Muslims and Jews,
Catholics and Protestant, or atheist and agnostics too? This is a bigger God
than the one we use to legitimize our ignorance and our fear. Can we believe that in our wandering and in
our questioning, in our doubting and in our fear, God still has a good plan for
us and a good plan for others too? This God is bigger. When we drift from seeing all others as God’s
special creation, we are thinking only of me, our clan, our nation, or our
particular brand of religion, and soon our sense of who we are as God’s created
people grows stale, sour, and toxic. Our faith tells us that God is not for us
and against all others. Instead God is for us and for others too. God loves
everyone, everywhere with no exceptions. God is not our own personal
guard dog that protects us from the world. No God is the One whom we trust to
take us to a different place, trusting that that what we know isn't as good as
it gets. My God is not a guard dog, protecting what is safe and comfortable for
us. My God is bigger than that. Won’t you come and meet my God?
