Our Destiny in the Arms of God

            When the Church Hymnal Commission created the 1982 Hymn book for the Episcopal Church, they removed a wonderful hymn: Once to Every Man and Nation that had been a part of the life of the church for many years.  I was very disappointed in this because I remember that hymn as being one of my favorites since childhood.  It spoke eloquently about how changing times demanded new duties from Christians.  New occasions teach new duties/Time makes ancient good uncouth, echoed the hymn in the words of James Russell Lowell.  Lowell wrote those words in protest against the war that we were fighting with Mexico; and when the hymn was thrown out of the new hymnal, we were still arguing about the war in Viet Nam.  I thought at the time that Lowell’s words were a great affirmation of Christian opposition to ignorant wars fought for reasons that seemed to me to be more in tune with the Military Industrial Complex than with the needs of the nation.  The same thing can be said of what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan.  One can look closely at those military adventures and see little that helped with American freedom.  In pursuing those conflicts, we helped greatly with corporate greed, while sacrificing many lives.

            It is amazing to me how Christianity is available to bend with the times and elevate to good things that seem to me to be so terribly wrong.  Right wing Christianity seems to want constantly to blend the cross and the flag into one symbol.  I know that the United States was not created to be a Christian nation; but a country where all faiths were honored and recognized.  The first amendment to our Constitution forbids the establishment of any religion by the state and opens our doors to the inclusion of any worship group among our inhabitants, including any people who adhere to no religion at all.  That is one of the primary principles that make this nation great.  Over the years, we have opened our doors to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and some home grown varieties such as The Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Christian Scientists and many others.  Religion has been always a firm part of the American Experience, and it flourishes today in many different types, always presenting us with what its adherents believe to be the Word of God.  That the “Word” frequently turns out to be not of God, but simply the political preference of one individual, is irrelevant.  We are a country where it is possible to voice our religious preferences as loudly as we wish.  I think of the Westboro Baptist Church and its picketing of gay weddings and funerals without producing any particular feedback, or of Pat Robertson trying valiantly to blame the Texas flooding on the gay population and struggling to find the right words to accomplish this.  That all of this religious nonsense is a part of our common life, I think is a tribute to the freedom that we have in this country to pursue our conversation with our God and with each other. 

            One of the great politicians of Jesus’ time, Nicodemus came to him by night to talk to him about his miracles and what they meant.  He told Jesus: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God. Jesus told him that no one could see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.  The conversation continued until Jesus ended it with those great words from John 3: 16-17: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

            That is the essence of Christian belief.  We are loved infinitely and saved from ourselves by our God, despite the ignorant things that we do and continue to do.  Our ultimate freedom is not wrapped up in the things that this country does or fails to do.  We are as a people held in the hands of our loving God who offers to us the certainty that our destiny is safe and firmly established in God’s sight.  No matter what the politicians and the moneyed class decide, our lives are safe.  What we need to do is not to fight more wars, but to help those without means to a comfortable life with us.  That is what Jesus spent his entire ministry doing.  Following in his way is our calling.