“An Uncommon Patriotism”
A sermon by Lloyd H. Dunham
Micah 4:3-4 and other selections
This is the season of
the year for patriotism.
We are beginning a series of our most
important national holidays.
Memorial Day is here.
Flag Day and Independence Day are
coming soon.
Flag are flying
and marching music
is in the air.
Traditionally we stand a
bit straighter
and a feeling of
pride in our nation
flows
in our blood.
I must admit that
events since 9-11 have modified my feelings of patriotism.
While at times I have mixed feelings,
fundamentally
I remain proud of what our nation has stood for over the years.
Our nation is a
marvelous collection of people,
A
living model of what plurality is all about.
We have often been called a “melting-pot”
–
but
that is a rather unfortunate image
because
it suggests that
we
are a kind of homogenizing nation,
where everything is melted down
and
mixed together
to
produced a new mix
where
all the rich differences
are
lost in the melt down.
The best of
patriotism
calls
forth the richness
of
our many differences
and
stands to defend
and
protect
the
great diversity that we are.
. Our
nation is not a melting pot!
It
is “a human mosaic”
just
as this UU fellowship
is
not a melting pot.
It,
too, is a human mosaic,
where
the distinctiveness and uniqueness of each of your neighbors
serves
to add color and richness to the larger whole.
What
a marvelous image!
Miriam Therese
Winters,
once
one of the famed Medical Mission Sisters singing group,
caught
the vision of that mosaic
and
of a patriotism that sees beyond these shores
when
she penned three new stanzas to our beloved
“
. She
wrote:
Indigenous
and immigrant, our daughters and our sons:
O
may we never rest content till all are truly one.
a
sisterhood and brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
How
beautiful, sincere lament, the wisdom born of tears,
the
courage called for to repent the bloodshed through the years.
a
nation blessed with none oppressed, true land of liberty.
Then she reaches
beyond our common parochialism
to
broaden our understanding of
to
include the entire hemisphere
that
claims the name,
America.
How
beautiful, two continents, and islands in the sea,
the
dream of peace, nonviolence, all people living free.
America! America!
God grant that we may be
a
hemisphere where people here all live in harmony.[1]
***
This is the season of
the year for patriotism.
It
is also a time when,
for
some,
any
criticism of national policy
is
seen as unpatriotic.
Some
would define patriotism
as
a kind of uncritical loyalty,
“My
country, right or wrong!”
One
must ask:
Is
that the best kind of loyalty
to
our nation?
Is
that the kind of freedom that millions have died to protect?
James Kavanaugh
expressed his feelings
in
a poem called “America”
in
which he wrote:
I
love you, America.
But
not like I used to
When
you were a fable without weakness.
Minutemen
are a dusty memory,
George
Washington as distant as a textbook.
I
know that Lincoln learned his law by lamp,
But
meanwhile John was killed, and Robert,
Malcolm
fell and Martin.
I
love you, America,
But
not like I used to.
I
love you better,
I
love you longer.
For
as he died to make (us) holy,
We
live to make (all people) free![2]
Patriots are not all
alike.
There
are many types of patriots,
all
doing they’re best
to
be loyal to our nation
and to preserve its freedoms
and
privileges.
Many
patriots have died on the battlefield,
sacrificing
life itself
for
our national ideals.
Other
patriots have died
while
risking life
to
save life.
Such
was Tom Bennett of Morgantown, West Virginia.
Tom
was a medic in Vietnam.
He
went to the aid of a badly wounded comrade
and
paid for his act of mercy
with
his life.
Tom
is the second known conscientious objector
to
be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
He
was a patriot.
Other
patriots have stood firm
in
protest,
refusing
to do
what
their conscience would not allow.
Like many others,
Jesus
found himself
on
the wrong side of national policy.
His
homeland was part of the Roman Empire
and
there were rather heavy demands
placed
upon the people.
Those
who were against him
were
sure they could trick him
into
an unpatriotic remark
that
could be the basis for charges of treason.
“Should
a person pay taxes to Caesar?”
they
asked.
Then
came Jesus’ crafty answer,
“Render
to Caesar
the
things that are Caesar’s
and
to God
the
things that are God’s”.[3]
But that quotation
from Jesus
has
been used
and
misused
so
many times
to
justify all sorts of things.
Looking back at the
prophets
produces
some clear wisdom
about
the national policy of ancient Israel.
There
were prophets hired by kings
who
said what they were paid to say.
They
made the kings feel strong
and
right.
They
were never critical
of
those who paid their salaries.
When
these prophets were found to be wrong
they
were replaced
and
often executed.
Then there were the
independent prophets
who
dared point out the shortcomings of Israel
and
Judah.
These
prophets were sometimes very harsh in their words.
When
we read these independent prophets carefully
we
find that their loyalty
was
to God
and
to the long term good of their nation
in
the community of nations.
Because
that was their first concern
they
were often critical
of
the prevailing administration
in
the palace at Jerusalem
or
in Samaria.
The great prophets
were often blunt
in
what they said to kings and princes.
They
used sharp words
to
claim the attention of all who would listen.
They
called kings
and
citizens alike
to
a more righteous
and
just way of living.
They
were often cruelly treated
when
they suggested that kings
and
people
were
not doing what was right and fair.
But
their words live on.
History
has shown the wisdom of their stance.
Their
patriotism,
their
love of country,
reached
far beyond the immediate situation,
far
beyond the good favor of wealthy kings,
far
beyond their own personal well-being,
to
the long term faithfulness to their highest values
and
a more enduring hope for their nation.
Thomas Jefferson
seems to reflect the prophetic message
when
he said,
“I
tremble for my country
when
I reflect that God is just!”[4]
As we look at
patriotism
and its meaning for us today,
we
could well hope for the kind of patriots
who
could call forth the best
that
our nation’s people have to give.
We
need to seriously consider
whether
our nation
or
the world
can
any longer afford
the
kind of patriotism
that
is narrowly nationalistic.
Everyday
it appears more and more clear
that
our destiny
and
well-being
is
closely tied to the destiny
and
well-being
of
the rest of the world.
Robert McAfee Brown,
a
well-known theologian,
has
said that
the
“only true patriotism worth talking about
is
the patriotism of the one
who
loves his country enough to criticize it,
who
extends the same privilege to all
who
love their country,
and
who does not set himself up
as
the one to decide who may
and
who may not speak.”[5]
I doubt those words would be welcomed
in
some high places in our land today,
and
yet are these not among the ideals
on
which our nation was founded?
Former President
Jimmy Carter
calls
for our nation
to
“regain its status as the champion of freedom and human rights.”
In
a recent newspaper column
Jimmy
Carter has expressed deep concern
about
“lawyers, professors, doctors and journalists
being
labeled as terrorists,
often
for merely criticizing a government policy.”[6]
Events of the past three years
raise
serious questions about the meaning of patriotism
and
about the freedoms
for
which thousands of our people
have
laid down their lives,
including
over 800 in the last fifteen months.
What
is the nature of the freedom we claim?
What
is the nature of the patriotism we express?
Putting our religious
roots into proper perspective,
one
preacher has commented
that
“those who love God
can
properly love this nation,
because
we are freed from the temptation
of
making our nation into God!
The
new patriotism
will
be exercised by men and women
who
join the moral imperatives of the future
with
specific deeds
whenever
they sense the nation seeking to play God.”[7]
Are
we dangerously near taking just such a role in the world today?
So we stand at the
start of a series
of
national holidays.
As
a religious people
what
shape shall our patriotism take?
”This
nation, under God….”
may
be a bit heavy for many of us,
but
it does suggest that our religious faith offers something vital
and
important
for
the well-being of our great nation.
So do the memorable
words of Katherine Lee Bates
in
her memorable hymn:
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
and every gain divine.[8]
Ms Bates includes in
her poetry the long view,
the
tomorrow that comes after many other tomorrows.
She
writes:
O beautiful for patriot
dream that sees beyond the years –
We can not afford to
let our patriotism be narrow,
short sighted,
and
self-centered.
In
the powerful spirit of the prophets,
In
the faithful way of Jesus --,
in
the serenity of the Buddha,
let
our patriotism reach beyond
the
short range goals of today,
and
the selfish desires of our small nation.
Let
us find the greatness of our patriotism
in
the view that sees beyond the years
to
the good of all the earth’s people
and
thus to all the people of this great nation.
***
#576SCC053187, #618CCU070388, #988CUUC052800
[1] As in the New Century Hymnal of the United
Church of Christ (1995) #594 written in 1993.
[2] Kavanaugh, James in Master Sermon Series, July 1977, p. 336.
[3] Mark 12:14 (See The Acts of Jesus, By Robert
Funk & the Jesus Seminar)
[4] Kavanaugh, Ibid.
[5] Brown, Robert McAfee; The Pseudonymns of God, p. 137
[6] Carter, Jimmy in Seeds of Scandal Over Human Rights, The Daytona Beach News-Journal,
May 17, 2004
[7] Perdue, Roland in Master Sermon Series, July 1977, Ibid., p. 333-4
[8] Bates, Katherine Lee, O Beautiful for Spacious Skies