Don't worry God, we've got your back . . .

An email was forwarded to me this week declaring that I should read it so that I would know about my roots. It was a rather lengthy message, with many portraits of presidents, supreme court justices, patriots and Jesus. It contained quotes and references to support the notion that our founding fathers and later great patriots clearly were of the Christian faith.



It was interesting information. I was somewhat put off by the "portrait" of Jesus that was interspersed among the other portraits. It was the same portrait that hung in the hall of my elementary school, just as you walked in the front door. Even as a very young child I was skeptical about Jesus sitting for the portrait.



But generally it was interesting and informative. But there was another thing that bothered me. The intro and close of the email included an ominous message about how I should read the email and pass it on before it's too late. Well I certainly didn't want to be the one who didn't act before it was too late. But I wasn't sure why. As it turns out, the last part of the email, which I didn't get to the first time around, explained that the Supreme Court had taken away our right to be a Christian nation. Here is how Mary Jones ended the message:



"Most of what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks. Revisionists have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country's Christian roots. I, Mary Jones, the designer of this web page, encourage all who read and agree with the words herein, to share it with others, so that the truth of our nation's history may be told."



I have been worrying about the poor martyr Mary Jones. I am sure the Supreme Court has tracked her down and made her disappear by now. But the bravery she has shown by putting out this email alert is inspirational. Sort of like a modern day Paul Revere. "Alito is coming, Alito is coming."



What is the point? Who are we worried about here? Are we worried about God? That seems a little silly. Who else might we be worried about? Could it be us? Do we have a need for everyone to know we are right?



Did Jesus call us to be insistent about these things? Paul, who was much more wordy than Jesus, and a little prideful it seems to me, still had the insight to say, "love does not insist on its on way . . ."



So, why is it important that we get everyone to finally admit that we are a Christian nation, or that most of our founding fathers were Christian? I just wonder if God really wants us to spend a lot of time on this.



I've been thinking about this since yesterday. I have a tendency to get a little judgmental and sarcastic sometimes. I don't think Jesus likes that. Well at least not if it is directed at other people. He did have a little sarcastic bent when he spoke. Like, the "plank in your eye" statement, or the "camel through the eye of the needle" statement. But He was never ugly for ugly's sake. He had a real advantage being God and all. But I do not have the divine discretion that Jesus had. Nor can I turn a phrase quite as nimbly. So I tried to cut the judgmental and sarcastic stuff that comes so naturally. This was a really long blog before I did that.



So seriously, what if our Christian founding fathers had the strong idea that the United States was to be a "Christian Nation" as Mary Jones suggests? What brand of Christianity would our government have adopted? Would it have been the Puritan version? If so, would it have been the separatists version? Or would it have protected the versions that came out of the Great Awakening? Would that have been the 1st or the 2nd Great awakening? Would it have made preacher vestments illegal? Would communion liturgy have been codified? Or women's participation in leading worship illegal? Would liturgy have been limited? Would the book of Acts have been the model for all churches? What exactly would the early founding fathers have chosen to be the Christianity for our nation?


We are just stupid sometimes. OK, so that is a little ugly, but so be it. We are stupid in that we can't see what a wonderful, magnificent, miraculous thing our constituition and its development have been. Especially in the development and growth of the Christian faith in our country. Not because the government chose to protect a particular religion, but that it chose to protect the idea that all individuals and groups were free to explore and pursue their own spirituality.

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After the 2nd Great Awakening Churches in America continued to evolve and change with the country. Some grew and changed in direct responses to the significant cultural issues of the age, like slavery, alcoholism, civil rights, war, and more recently homosexuality, abortion, war, immigration, and on and on.


Do we really believe the Church of 18th century America had it all right? What if that version of the church had been adopted as the Christian church of the USA? If we know anything about government, it is that once it gets hold of something, it is very reluctant to turn loose


What a ridiculous thought, you may be thinking. And so am I. Our founding fathers probably were religious, and many, maybe most, were of the Christian faith. But they had the wisdom to see that religious faith prospered and flourished not by being endorsed by the State. They knew what that was like and it was not good. Instead they were careful to create a legally protected space for individuals and groups to explore relationships with God freely. How incredible was that?

What we have here is a crisis of faith. We feeble mortals have somehow decided that God must be protected. I don't believe we were ever asked to protect God from the world. If you want a Biblical example, you may recall Jesus response to Peter right after Peter whacked the ear off the Roman soldier. Jesus didn't need, or want, Peter's protection. Jesus could handle that quite nicely, thank you very much.

What Jesus wanted was for Peter to follow Him, to stay with him, to remain true to Him. But that was too hard.

And that, I think, is the point. It is much easier to spend our time and energy protecting God than to follow Him.

How bout passing that on . . . before it's too late.