Category: Pondering Peace
Two Hundred and Fifty Years
We are in the midst of the 250th year since the United States of America was formed with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As we move toward July 4th celebrations, many of us may be experiencing a complicated mixture of feelings. We may want to feel good about our country and desire to celebrate its worthy achievements, but instead feel upset, angry, and ashamed of its recent actions. A song by The Resistance has tried to capture the dissonant and discomforting feelings many are having. It starts out:
“Two hundred fifty candles, but the room feels cold.
We used to sing in freedom, now we’re bought and sold.
No fireworks tonight, it can all just wait.
We’re not in the mood to celebrate.
We raised a flag on hope, stitched in sacrifice.
Now it’s tangled up in power, greed, and lies.
We taught the world what liberty could be.
Now we barely recognize our own country.
We were the dream calling across the sea.
Now we’re a warning in history…
We’ll celebrate again when the truth can stand.
But tonight this don’t feel like our land…”
The Scripture verse that has recently settled itself in my head is one that is overly familiar and all too often misused. 2 Chronicles 7:14 reads, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (NRSV).
This verse is a favorite of those who hold to American Christian nationalism, believing that the United States is an exceptional nation that was specially chosen by God and that God’s blessing hinges on the country returning to God in such actions as keeping prayer in schools and turning away from what they regard as sexually immoral. It is also a favorite verse of politicians, including the current administration and its supporters. Most recently, President Trump was chosen to read this verse as the high point of the weeklong project “America Reads the Bible,” because the organizers felt that by doing so he would “send a message that faith matters in this country.” As a proud irreligious man who doesn’t attend church or display any Christian virtues, this was an ironic choice indeed.
It must be recognized that the Chronicler wrote these words for the people of ancient Israel as they returned to their land after a painful exile. They were a reminder of their tradition’s understanding that God had chosen to be in covenant with them, and that their faithfulness to God’s ways would result in blessings, while faithlessness would have dire consequences. These are not words that can directly be applied to the United States of America thousands of years later. Rather, the early church understood that God’s people now are comprised of people from all nations who choose to follow Jesus’ way of love. From such a Christian perspective, it is clear that there is no current nation that is more special and chosen by God, and certainly not the United States.
With dampened spirits for celebration, perhaps this Independence Day would be better spent reflecting on the state of our nation and how we can restore the better parts of its legacy. Perhaps this overly familiar verse can be helpful in this regard. This verse tells us that what is needed by a people who have lost their way is to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from their wicked ways.
Our nation is not known for its humility. It has been proud of its wealth, military strength, and accomplishments. What our government has done over the past year has humiliated us in the eyes of the world. But becoming more humble as a nation would be a good thing. We can love our home country without it having to be the greatest nation in the world. Its current imperial stance of proudly throwing its weight around should be discarded. Finding a more humble place within the global community within which to cooperatively work on the critical problems our world faces would be much more appropriate.
Turning from our wicked ways requires a prior commitment to the truth of what we as a nation have done, rather than trying to whitewash history. Our wicked ways are the morally evil actions intentionally taken that result in suffering, injustice, or harm. Repenting or turning from our wicked ways requires not only confessing the truth and radically changing direction so as to rectify the harmful situations, but also doing all we can to restore wellbeing to those who have been injured.
Our nation was built through wicked ways – stealing the land and engaging in genocide of millions of indigenous people, building wealth through the enslavement of millions of African Americans, engaging in foreign policies and wars that overthrew nations and killed millions more, exploiting the earth’s resources and burning fossil fuels so that as the world’s wealthiest nation we are also the nation who has historically contributed the most carbon emissions that fuel the climate crisis.
However, there has also been much good that the United States has done. It has built cooperative relationships with many nations and supported the United Nation’s efforts on behalf of the world. It has provided significant levels of foreign aid for the world’s most needy people and championed human rights and democracy. By protecting many parts of our land it has built a wonderful system of National Parks that cares for the environment and gives animals refuge.
But during this last year and a half, these good things are crumbling. Is it not wicked to cut off all foreign aid through programs such as USAID, an action that has already resulted in over 780,000 deaths, two thirds of them being children? Is there not something evil in promoting coal and the burning of fossil fuels, while doing everything possible to disrupt the transition to clean energy, at a time when the earth is facing a climate crisis and millions are impacted by more intense weather events? Is it not wickedness that turns away refugees seeking safety and hunts down immigrants so as to place them in the abusive environments of detention centers with intentions to deport them to countries where they may not survive? Is it not wicked to slash employees and programs that serve the poorest children and families while giving tax cuts to the wealthiest? Is not the increased racism that targets black and brown people and seeks to reduce their voting power an expression of evil?
There are many kinds of prayer – confession, lament, intercession, and pleas for assistance, as well as expressions of gratitude and praise. These times call for them all as we face truthfully the situation we are in as part of this nation. Seeking God’s face and guidance in knowing how to respond to the overwhelming cascade of events that undermine democracy and human rights and cause great suffering is also needed. As we reflect on these things, may we find renewed determination to resist our nation’s wicked ways and seek to make it an even better place for all peoples, holding on to the best of the American dream of freedom and opportunity while stretching it forward to be more inclusive in liberty and justice for all. As we do so, may we place our hope in God for forgiveness of our nation’s wrongs and for the healing of our land.
The Resistance song cited earlier ends with these words.
We’re not in the mood to celebrate.
But also we’re not ready to abdicate.
We’ll take it back, piece by piece.
Till the noise gives way to peace.
Two hundred fifty years… ain’t the end of the line.
It’s a turning page in a harder time.
We’ll celebrate again when we make it right.
And on that day… we’ll light up the night.
Rev. Ruth Rosell, Ph.D.
Director of the Buttry Center for Peace and Nonviolence
Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology Emerita
Central Seminary
Overland Park, KS
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
Photo by TROY ALLEN on Unsplash