Some will choose extreme flag-waving, some will avoid flags and patriotic anthems altogether. Some will echo conservative or liberal themes in current political campaigning. Some will offer thinly-veiled jingoism, as if God awakens every morning worrying about the USA’s hegemony, or the opposite tack of national guilt.
A better practice, as the saying in marriage counseling goes, is to “meet in the middle.”
For example, banning “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” from Memorial Day worship misses a teachable moment about how a nation moves from Civil War to unity and how people learn to forgive former enemies. Even our darkest moments have within them ideals like freedom. That preaches.
Banning the American flag from church seems theologically sound to many. But it also wounds those whose lives were shaped by military service, idealistic duty such as the Peace Corps, and ongoing efforts to turn grimy partisan politics into something noble. Many wish our National Anthem were about “spacious skies,” rather than “bombs bursting in air,” but our Christian duty isn’t to wish away the actual context in which we serve. The best practice in such moments is to teach, not to avoid.
If our pulpits are to express leadership and if our faith communities are to transform lives, we need to wrestle with tough questions like our widely divergent attitudes toward nation, flag, war, and patriotic duty.
Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant, and Episcopal priest in New York. He is the author of Just Wondering, Jesus, and the founder of the Church Wellness Project.
