Service Day - Thoughts from the Weekend
The Fourth of July has traditionally been understood as a celebration of American freedom. For some Americans, patriotism is built on the belief that the US is called to be a Christian nation. The holiday seems to imply our nation’s greatness, and patriotism--blessed by God--has often felt in recent years like an invitation to embrace power.
That’s why City Church’s tradition of making the July 4th weekend a day of service is important. It is a small but significant way of resisting an unhealthy link between God and country, between patriotism and power.
We are members of a community that gathers in the name of one who described himself as a servant, one who said that anyone who wants to be great must become a servant. To be followers of Jesus--in the US or anywhere else--is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
John Lewis, a civil rights leader and follower of Jesus, has much to teach us about servanthood and love of neighbor. Beaten and jailed repeatedly in his quest for justice, he never lost sight of true Christian character. A recent biographer describes Lewis’s worldview like this:
Love, not power, should have pride of place; generosity, not greed; kindness, not cruelty. Nonviolence has its tactical uses, but it was not only a tactic. It was an enveloping philosophy, a compelling cosmology, a transforming reality. “We are talking about love here,” Lewis recalled. “Not romantic love. Not the love of one individual for another. Not loving something that is lovely to you. This is broader, deeper, more all-encompassing love. It is a love that accepts and embraces the hateful and the hurtful. It is a love that recognizes the spark of the divine in each of us, even in those who would raise their hand against us, those we might call our enemy.” Lewis’s nonviolent witness took place in a democratic context, but his vision transcended the familiar understanding of the progressive impulse in America.
This is a challenging, inspiring vision. May we reject the lure of power and choose the truly liberating road of neighbor love, the path of Jesus.
- Dave Neumann