Zorra's reflections on the Fourth of July service prompted me to join her in pondering the question of how we can "express gratitude to God for the advantages and blessings we enjoy in the United States, and ask for God's blessing and guidance for our country and its leaders, without all the bombastic, non reflective flag waving?" There's no question that sometimes patriotic enthusiasm spills over inappropriately into worship on the Sunday nearest to Independence Day.
Yesterday's sermon at our church was one of the more unique Independence Day related sermons I have ever heard. The text was 2 Samuel 6:6-8: the story of Uzzah who was struck dead when he tried to steady the Ark as it slipped from an oxcart while being transported into the city of Jerusalem by King David. The king and everyone else is shocked and afraid, so the Ark is left in a nearby home. After a few months word gets out that the family who lives in that home has been remarkably blessed--presumably by the Ark. So King David regains the courage to complete the Ark's journey into Jerusalem where it ultimately finds a home in the temple built by King Solomon.
The gist of the sermon was the exposition of an analogy between the story of Uzzah and the tension between our relationship with our religion and faith and the obligations of the state, focusing on the twin concerns of either leaving God out of the political realm and or having God represented in an abusive way.
History is full of examples demonstrating the struggle between these two concerns. In response to a visitor to the White House during the Civil War who said, "God is on our side", President Abraham Lincoln responded: "We trust, sir, that God is on our side. It is more important to know that we are on God's side."
We should focus in worship on getting ourselves on God's side.The gist of the sermon was the exposition of an analogy between the story of Uzzah and the tension between our relationship with our religion and faith and the obligations of the state, focusing on the twin concerns of either leaving God out of the political realm and or having God represented in an abusive way.
History is full of examples demonstrating the struggle between these two concerns. In response to a visitor to the White House during the Civil War who said, "God is on our side", President Abraham Lincoln responded: "We trust, sir, that God is on our side. It is more important to know that we are on God's side."
