Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
Two hundred and fifty years ago, something like 90+% of Anglican clergy were forced to flee the colonies.
One of the oaths these priests swore at their ordinations to the priesthood was to serve the King of England as the head of the church. It was to bind priests to the nation, but its sovereign as the church’s overseer. A great portion of these people sided with the cause of independence in their hearts but could not participate in it themselves. It is not just that they could not take up arms (which, itself, is considered a violation of oaths by many), but that they could not go against their own church. They were stuck.
I also think it is easy to mythologize the founding of the United States in righteous terms, even as the traditional language around the fight for independence is intentionally secular. This has offered a kind of alternative civic religion to the public that both mimics the practice of faith and stems from some shared origins with religious tradition. Feelings of solidarity, communion, and virtue are married to liturgical elements of common practice to connect our souls to our nation with the same material of which we are called to connect with God.
Landmark celebrations make introspection unavoidable. Yet we are no less directed to participate in a different, divine project that is unbounded by human territories, tribal makeup, and creedal priorities. A project that has a tendency to erase our divisions at the very moment that it magnifies our character. As Paul articulates that we are no longer divided by gender, enslavement, nation, or tradition, but one people in Christ, we are being compelled to let go, not of who we are, but of what prevents us from sharing a table with our neighbors. And as people of faith, we are drawn to serve these priorities above all others.
With love,
Drew+
