Pray For What?

A recent article in our local paper shared the news of a push from some of the congressmen in Washington making a call to the nation to pray for America. If you go to the actual website established by the congressmen, you will read that they are looking for people who will "join Members of Congress in praying that God will bless and sustain America." I don't know about you, but to me, its arrogant. Its a prayer that we as a nation have been praying since 9/11.

I distinctly remember that night after those attacks where everyone returned to churches to pray for our nation. The church I serve had its own service where we prayed, called out to God for hope, and began to deal with the stunning effect of that day. The beauty of it, in my opinion, was a unity that America has never seen. It saddens me that it took an event to draw us together.

What followed that day, however, sickened me. Our prayers as a nation became self centered. They focused on asking God to bless us. "God Bless America" became the poster song for our nation, even beyond our national anthem. Many Christians planted "God Bless America" signs in their yards. In the circle of people that I know, some even circulated a picture of an eagle sharpening his talons. Songs like "I'm Proud to Be an American" were received with much applause and tears while others like "Amazing Grace" moved us to nothing. Our patriotism became our hope, not God.

In my mind, I really chewed on what our response as the church should be. How were we to react to those who attacked us? How would Jesus have handled the situation. What would he have prayed for those following weeks? Some of my friends shared similar frustrations and concerns about our response. I remember one of them praying that God would help us to lose the "God Bless America" ideal and that we, as a nation would learn to bless God.

As I came across the above website, my frustration with the Church's patriotism bubbled up inside of me again. All too often, we get excited about the wrong things. Some of the most passionate and emotional moments in worship have been more patriotic than Christian. We get more excited about flag poles than the healing of broken lives, or at least that's the way it seems. I wonder what God thinks of it all?

The call to "pray that God will bless and sustain America" shows that we don't get it. We should be praying for God to show us grace. We should be praying that God help us understand what it means to love our neighbors and love our enemies. We should be praying that God will help us to use our place in the world not to dominate, but to bless. We should be praying that Christians get the fact that our faith comes before our patriotism. That in itself re-orders our thoughts and actions.

All through this, I cannot help but think about Israel dealing with Rome. Their understanding of faith was deep. They knew that putting an eagle, the sign of Rome, on the temple was a detestable thing in the sight of God. They knew that as a nation, they were committed to God, not to anyone else. When that became distorted, Christ called to the nation, telling them it wasn't about a physical kingdom. "My kingdom is not of this world." Our lives are to be shaped by something different. They are to pray for something different. They are to be something different.

My prayer is that God helps us as the church to know what different is and that he help us to live it.