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Beloved Community,
Wow, how is it already July? June is always a month that seems to go slow or fly by, and this year it was the latter. But I’ll be honest, I’ve been thinking about this weekend for several months. Not because of the impending trip to Filoli with my family on Friday or what has become our annual trip to Half Moon Bay the morning of the 4th, but because of all this weekend holds with our country celebrating 250 years since the signing of the declaration of independence.
This morning a friend shared that iconic scene from coming of age comedy “Dazed and Confused,” where their history teacher brings up the American Bicentennial as the bell rings and they are dismissed for summer: “This summer as you’re being inundated with all this bicentennial bruhaha, don’t forget what you’re celebrating and that’s the fact that a bunch of slave owning aristocratic white males didn’t want to pay their taxes.” It was one of the first times I remember hearing a different approach to the conventional patriotic narrative.
There has been so much media surrounding this 250th anniversary (rightly so)- everything from historical documentaries on Netflix, to the airing of cage fights on the White House lawn, books, magazines, prayers, liturgies, art, the list goes on.
I’ll confess, I’ve consumed a lot of it over the last couple of months. Not only do I love history, but as a Christian pastor, one who is part of two traditions that were birthed on this land (the UCC and the DOC), my concerns around white Christian nationalism have only grown over the last few years as our country’s leadership appears to increasingly embrace it.
I witnessed this first hand in Texas- books being banned in public school libraries, the ten commandments required by the state to be posted in public school classrooms, and just this past week, Bible passages required in curriculum, and also the rejection of a federally funded summer lunch program for low-income children (I’m curious if lawmakers have read the same Bible they are requiring students to read…”For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat…”).
I heard it described so clearly this week by pastor and hymnwriter Rev. Dr Stephen M. Fearing:
“Christian Nationalism is not just a set of beliefs, it is a rival liturgy. A rival discipleship. It encourages us to replace the cross with the flag. Baptismal identity with national identity. The lordship of Christ with the lordship of power.”
All that to say, I know we are entering this weekend holding a rainbow of emotions about how one celebrates this big anniversary of the “great American experiment,” and how we collectively recognize it when we gather together for worship on Sunday.
As we approach this holiday weekend, I leave you with this prayer by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg:
A Declaration of Interdependence
May we meet the next days of this country with accountability for
- and possibly repair towards- each of its previous chapters.
May we dissolve all the harmful structures upon which it was built.
May we create a more whole future in which every person and community here
- and all interconnected systems of the Earth- may thrive.
May we serve the Holy through our care for one another,
through work for collective liberation: through love made real. Amen.
As a community of faith, we don’t shy away from big questions or rely on easy answers. This Sunday, I hope we’ll reflect on this anniversary together as we wrestle with what it means to faithfully meet this moment in our country’s history.
In hope,
Rev. JV
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