Your description gets me in the gut. I often want to shout out my real feelings when caught in such situations and feel constrained from doing that. Patriotism/nationalism is in my bones...via teaching, preaching and singing througout childhood. Now I can barely stand to sing some of the songs that once inspired such gratitude and love of country. It is not so much that I am a pacifist. Though that is my leaning I am not there yet. But the combination of shame for this country's unthinkable betrayal of what it claims to stand for and a growing sense of the meaning of the "kingdom of God." does cast patriotic demonstrations in a more bitter light. I am outraged by self-righteous pre-emptive (and self-serving) war,greed, consumerism and waste. I miss the sweetness of patriotism and I am depressed by the feeling of grief and shame that replace it. We sang America the Beautiful and Battle Hymn of the Republic in Church this past week. It was not comfortable although I have always loved the songs. I found myself putting aside my former associations and feelings about them and focusing on the other meanings embedded in the words. A. the B is a prayer and the last verse has particular meaning now that in former years I did not notice: "O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears! America America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law." AMEN The Battle hymn, I notice, can be understood as the sovereignty of God DESPITE the folly of humankind in war. Though meant to be a hymn for the Union army, it can be understood as a message affirming the presence of God who has a far bigger idea in mind than the union of North and South. So, happy Fourth of July anyway. I heard somebody refer to it as one of the high holy days of outdoor grilling. Despite it all, I do feel grateful for freedom and to those who won it. I hope we will soon use that freedom to take more charitable actions than we are right now. I voted for Kerry.
country/war/patriotism
We sang America the Beautiful and Battle Hymn of the Republic in Church this past week. It was not comfortable although I have always loved the songs. I found myself putting aside my former associations and feelings about them and focusing on the other meanings embedded in the words. A. the B is a prayer and the last verse has particular meaning now that in former years I did not notice: "O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears! America America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law." AMEN
The Battle hymn, I notice, can be understood as the sovereignty of God DESPITE the folly of humankind in war. Though meant to be a hymn for the Union army, it can be understood as a message affirming the presence of God who has a far bigger idea in mind than the union of North and South.
So, happy Fourth of July anyway. I heard somebody refer to it as one of the high holy days of outdoor grilling. Despite it all, I do feel grateful for freedom and to those who won it. I hope we will soon use that freedom to take more charitable actions than we are right now. I voted for Kerry.