Worship Beyond Nationalism
Practicing the Reign of God
Rob Hewell
WIPF & STOCK - Eugene, Oregon
Worship Beyond Nationalism
Practicing the Reign of God
Copyright © 2012 Rob Hewell. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Wipf & Stock
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
www.wipfandstock.com
ISBN 13: 978-61097-468-4
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U. S. A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Some concepts in this book appeared in “Faithful Worship” by Rob Hewell in The Minister’s Manual 2010 Edition, Edited by Lee McGlone, copyright © 2009, Lee McGlone. Reprinted with the permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
To Cyndy
—the love of my life
-and-
For Christ’s followers in all times and places
whose affections, allegiance, and actions
manifest faithfulness in living out
the grand liturgy of the eternal kingdom:
“love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.” and
“love your neighbour as yourself.”
—Mark 12:30–31 (NRSV)
Foreword
Our deepest loyalties live next to each other in the depths of our soul. They are few in number, only two or three, yet they form the center of our being. Our deepest loyalties constitute the “hills we would die on.” For many American Christians these loyalties are God, country, and family. Perhaps there was a time when they could be listed by priority: 1. God, 2. Country, 3. Family, with the claim that in that order, none would suffer. Times have changed and the three deepest loyalties seem to have been rearranged, resting now side by side on the same plane, any one of the three available to come to the fore of thought and action as “loyalty number one,” according to circumstance. The shift is profound in its implications. Exodus 20:1–8 shouts at the shift, but to no avail. The cries of the commandment are overpowered by the din of 9/11 scandalization, political division, and calls to reestablish a Constantinian Christian America. American flags are posted in the worship sanctuaries of “Church Families” across the United States, with the congregations’ common national enemies and issues providing at least as much inspiration as is their common loving Lord. Rob Hewell has observed these things and with this book speaks in a calm, clear, rational voice that will surely pierce the continuous noise of partisan rhetoric by its sheer contrast to blinded eyes, hoarse voices, and frightened minds.
It must be acknowledged that responsible patriotism is the duty of all citizens, even Christian citizens. At its root, the word patriotism simply refers to one’s love for or loyalty to their homeland. We are called to love God supremely, but we are not called to love God exclusively. So there is room for patriotism in the heart and life of a Christian. Borrowing from a discussion of taxes, we are admonished to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. However, we are called to worship God exclusively (again, Exodus 20). Christian worship cannot and will not abide anything that even remotely resembles the worship of another god. Here is the danger of the three loyalties being stored on the “same shelf” in the Christian’s deepest heart. They can become entangled at the call to worship.
Responsible patriotism is a communal force focused on the welfare and betterment of each other and of humankind in general. It can easily be at home in the Christian heart, resonating with the call to ministry in the name of Jesus, but it cannot and would not be the focus of Christian worship. Nationalism, as opposed to patriotism, is the most ugly and destructive force on our planet and in human history. Somewhere in the migration from patriotism to nationalism, exclusivity and triumphalism enter the picture and the heart. For Christians there can be no participation in nationalism; this is especially true in the context of worship. Endorsing nationalism, especially the sort that blindly stumbles into the sanctuary and considers itself to be the equivalent of worship, can only be categorized as idolatry. Nationalistic worship and civil religion are signs of disillusionment with the gospel, disappointment with the Creator, respectful disgust with the teachings of Jesus, and disconnect from the Holy Spirit. Nationalism is patriotism that has grown impatient with, even frightened of, the Kingdom of God’s orientation of heart and mind.
For many Christians, patriotism is seen as the one acceptable pride that a Christ-follower may politely possess and exhibit. At best, these believers bring their patriotism into worship so that it might undergo purification and divine validation, so that it might be returned to proper perspective. In that regard, one might say that patriotism could rightly bow before the Master who heals and blesses, who receives confession and forgives. But patriotism that stands tall in the place and context of Christian worship, refusing to bow its knee and retire its colors, has already morphed into nationalism. Nothing should cause the worshiper or the liturgy to declare in word, deed, or symbol an exclusivity or triumphalism that the Christ being worshiped will not own. Jesus will not bless our pride, nor will pride bow its heart.
Disturbingly, a poem comes to mind: W.B. Yeats’ The Second Coming. Only three lines deep into his insight Yeats declares that “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Nationalistic worship is a sign that a nation’s patriotism is suffering division and is falling apart, clinging to Christian worship to stop, or at least slow, the deterioration. Nationalism moves beyond the prayer of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and calls on the nation to save Christianity. Nationalistic worship is a sign that within that nation’s culture and identity, the declared center, Christianity, cannot hold in its Christ-following form. In other words, Jesus refuses to be an American and Uncle Sam cannot be Messiah. Things fall apart. Therefore, if Christianity is to be reestablished as the center of the culturally and religiously diverse nation the United States has inevitably become, it must be redefined, divorced and diluted from “Christ-following” of the gospel order. Nationalistic worship’s Christianity, in our world, must be redefined as “not Muslim.”
We have never said that one must first become a Christian to become a U.S. citizen. Let us not, then, declare that one must first become an American (and of a particular political sort) to become a worshiper of Christ.
Pulses race and fears run rampant at such thoughts and words and debate.
