by Rev. Eric Folkerth
Regardless of your political affiliations and values, I know many of you are deeply concerned about the state of our nation. I know, because you often tell me with worried looks and concerned text messages.
We are headed into an election season this fall with two candidates who apparently worry the American people (for different reasons…).
Also, the Supreme Court has recently ruled on “presidential immunity” in a way that —whomever is president in the future— seems to greatly expand the power of the executive branch.
I have not commented much on politics lately. I know much of the rest of the world is opining all over the place. Opinions are a dime a dozen. But I’ve been relatively quiet. However, Fourth of July, it seems to me, is a good time to remind ourselves of certain truths.
First, as Christians we must continue to remind ourselves that America's government is not intended to be a “Christian Nationalist” government. Yes, as individual Christians and even groups of churches, God calls us to embody our spiritual values in public sphere.
But God never intended for Christians to do this by force of civil law. God did not want, and does not want, a world in which all humans are forced to follow one particular brand of religious faith. (In our culture, most often this is Evangelical Christianity…)
God wants us to be servants of all.
Lovers of all God’s children.
God seeks Disciples who even subsume their personal wants and desires for the sake of loving and caring for others.
We are far from this in our modern Christian culture (and nation) today.
Christian Nationalists increasingly demand all of us to defer to their brand of Christian faith. But there is an innate contradiction with all nationalistic religion:
It can’t help but leave most people out, even other religious folks.
A nationalistic Evangelical Christian government not only leaves out Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others…it also leaves out many Catholics and Mainline Protestants, such as we United Methodists.
This point is sometimes lost in pop culture, social media-driven conversation about these issues. Those conversations always seem to result in a binary choice between “Nationalist Religion" (Evangelical Christians) and “Secularism” (Atheism or Agnosticism).
I understand that binary, and I get the simple attraction of such a way of framing the issues in our culture. I’m just suggesting it’s far too flat to encompass the true harm of Nationalistic Religions to the people of our country.
Not only does Nationalist Religion violate the rights of the non-religious, it also violates both the rights and religious practice faith of every OTHER faith besides the nationalists themselves.
Look, I don’t know what to tell you about where we are headed as a country. If you are worried, I'm not sure I can talk you down.
All I think I can commit to these next few months is to calmly witness to my sense of faith and invite you to join me.
And I can tell you several things I know that have been, and still are, deeply true…
First, I know this July 4th feels ironic.
On a holiday where Americans threw off their allegiance to a “king” we find ourselves with an increasingly powerful “Chief Executive” President. The powers of our President have greatly expanded in recent decades (regardless of which part is in power) and have expanded even more this week. It’s at LEAST a paradoxical thing for us to remember that the original July 4th was all about LIMITING the power of a Chief Executive of that day (The King).
Secondly, I know that the American people still have to vote this fall, and democracy is still on the ballot. I have said this every election since 2018, and I told you all back in 2020 that it would be true in 2024.
Guess what? That is still true. And nobody should be shocked by this.
Democracy is on the ballot this fall, looming far larger than any political or social issue before us as citizens. Ever since 2018 I have publicly stated that we would be fighting against fascist and extremist ideologies for the rest of our lives.
Nothing has caused me to revise this view, or changed that truth.
We’re in the midst of a marathon of perhaps several elections —perhaps decades of struggle still yet to come— to maintain even the vestiges of a democratic republic.
We’re probably at mile marker five of a marathon…
Which is to say, if you’re tired, I get it. But rather than give you false comfort, or an easy end goal, I’m going to keep reminding you that we have a long road ahead.
Finally, I know that too many of our fellow Christians are making their bed with political power, aiding and abetting those who would undermine a system that is fair and just for all and that Jesus calls us to a servant-ministry that is the opposite of this.
In this Sunday’s Gospel lesson, Jesus calls his Disciples to a servanthood of humility and sacrifice.
“Don’t take money with you.”
“Don’t take an extra coat."
“Don’t take a bag.”
Just…go…from town to town, loving and serving humanity and doing the ministry God puts in front of you.
Can we not see how FAR that vision is from anything ANY of us do today, day-to-day?
Much less how far it is from the power-hungry vision of the Christian Nationalists!
But this is the true message of Jesus. At least, the Jesus of the Bible, if our culture really cared to read it.
The lesson ends by reminding us that the Disciples called everyone to “repent.” To repent means “to turn in a new direction.” More than feeling morally bad about some past action, repenting means going some new way.
This Fourth of July, we American Christians should repent of our Christian Nationalism and our power-seeking ways. We American Citizens should repent of our hopelessness and remember that our VOTE is more powerful than any court decision, or any Executive President.
Like Jesus in this week’s Gospel lesson, we should remind ourselves that we are often being most faithful when we are least popular. (Mark 6:1-13)
MY favorite hymn to sing on the Fourth of July is “This is My Song.”
I’ll close with these lyrics (two verses in our UM Hymnal and a third we regrettably left out…).
To me, they epitomize the servant-leadership Jesus calls us to in our nation and at this time:
“This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.”
See you Sunday,
Eric Folkerth
