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The 4th of July always makes me feel things. To be fair, I'm a pretty big "feelings" person, so that isn't all that unusual.

However, I've long struggled with the societal expectation for civic worship of the United States that coalesces in the 4th of July. Our national memory is softened as we draw closer to our identity as people of the United States, as Americans. We are expected to do something to celebrate and to remember how this nation came into existence. Even the smallest municipalities have something to celebrate the 4th.

We have been taught to view our identity as an American as inseparably bound to our identity as Christians. To be a good American is to be a good Christian, and to be a good Christian is to be a good American. Any criticism of the US is met with, "well, why don't you just leave then?" As if anything less than pure adoration and blind acceptance is unpatriotic, or even unchristian. 

Scripture teaches us--repeatedly--that this is a worldly fallacy that falls short of who we have been made to be as God's beloved, named, and claimed children. In Christ the old has fallen away, and the new self has been put on. 

To love your country though? To fight for it to live up to its ideals, and to truly be a nation rooted in God--in loving our neighbors as ourselves, caring for the least of these as though they were Christ's own self, turning from violence and seeking true peace--is an immense gift. 

Patriotism wears many hats, with many voices claiming authority as to what it should look like. As followers of Christ, we know that God has called us to live in such a way that our light shines before others and glorifies our Lord. Patriotism that glorifies God above everything, even our own uncertainties or even biases, is a patriotism I can get behind.

May we as God's beloved children be faithful in all that God has entrusted to us as citizens of heaven who are living in the United States. May our pride for our country only ever be a reflection of our love for the One who has made everything within and outside of it. And may we who are the hands and feet of God, and have been eternally blessed by God, be a blessing to this great nation. 

Happy Birthday, USA! 

Image credit: Stephanie McCabe, unsplash.com