The Flag and the Cross

It is July 4, a date on which we American celebrate with great pride our throwing off the yoke of a distant government that gave us little recourse but to separate from their tyrannical rule.  We set this day in 1776 to create a sovereign nation where the power of the government would rest in the people.  It is a day we celebrate with great pride.  

This year the 4th falls on Monday. Many will be able to enjoy a three-day weekend. Many sat in churches yesterday and many worship services probably included a patriotic-themed hymn. Some perhaps included a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. Some perhaps even included a recitation of the pledge to the Christian flag. None of these are terribly wrong I just wonder if they are right or perhaps appropriate is the better term. 

I have often wondered of late whether expressions of nationalism are appropriate within the time we have set aside to worship God?  Do such expressions further the gospel?  Do they cause a non-believer to consider the human condition and recognize the absence of God in their life?  Or do they feed into a sense of our own pride and entitlement?

This internal struggle began for me several years ago when I felt a disconnect from the Christian flag.  The Christian flag seems like an accoutrement strangely out of place in worship to God.  What is the purpose of the Christian flag?  I really can never understand it. The Cross serves as a tangible reminder of the work of Christ and importantly the call that work has upon my life. 

Here is my difficulty with a Christian flag, it seems to locate God and faith at an inappropriate level. To me, and maybe this is a problem of my perspective, it places God and faith at par with national identity. I am an American. That is something I am proud of and have taken oaths to defend. I am also a Christian. But let us not in any sense equate the two as anything similar. I can defend my Christian Faith but that defense is radically different than what a defense of the ideals of my nation looks like. One involves the potential to be engaged in warfare to defend while the other's defense is actually the emptying of self and accepting the indwelling of the spirit. One repels invasion while the other invites it. 

So to pledge my allegiance to the flag as a representative token of the ideals of this great nation is not in itself inappropriate. But to then turn and pledge to a Christian flag seems to be chalk and cheese.

Perhaps let me go even a little further. While I struggle with the Christian flag as a concept, I also struggle with the American (or any other nation's) flag presence in the sanctuary. The American flag represents the ideals of this country. Ideals that clearly have rooting in the Judeo-Christian worldview.

Absent this worldview the ideas of democracy are incoherent.  However, the sanctuary is a place where the American ideals are overwhelmed by the very concepts in which they are rooted.

Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Galatia,

"But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise."

So as we enter the sanctuary as a representative of the presence of God, should we cast aside all other tokens that would identify is as anything but sinners saved through grace?  Perhaps to even go so far as to say that within the sanctuary where the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is worshiped we are all aliens made children through adoption and share in the inheritance that can only be claimed through Christ Jesus. Let our sanctuaries be free from any symbol, token, or words that would divide us or give us pause to do anything but glorify the Living God.