Clergy from left, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired; Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Assistant Rector Lynn Finnegan and Pastor Deb Church. Courtesy photo
By Reverend Lynn Finnegan
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith
Santa Fe
In my former life as a practicing lawyer, I would sometimes cringe at lawyer jokes. For sure, many of the jokes make me laugh and I don’t deny a lot of aspects of legal practice are ripe for a little humor. What made me cringe, however, was the stereotype promoted – a “lawyer persona” of greed and dishonesty that, for sure, was justified for more than a few lawyers, but not all. And it was not a persona with which I wanted to be associated.
I get the same “cringe” feeling whenever I hear the term “Christian nationalism”. Actually, it’s more like a punch-in-the-gut feeling. Like any movement, the ideology of those professing to be “Christian nationalists” varies. They all have one thing in common, however: the desire for power. “Christian nationalists” desire to control American civic life with a very specific kind of Christianity that would not only discourage (and for some Christian nationalists, criminalize) behaviors and beliefs of non-Christians, but also of multiple denominations within the Christian faith.
The Bible has a few things to say about those desiring power and control. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others,” Saint Paul wrote (Philippians 2:3-4). His model for such behavior? Jesus Christ. Jesus, whom we Christians believe bent down to wash the dirty feet of his disciples and stated, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus, whom we also believe could have easily exerted his God-power over the empire, but instead voluntarily humbled his God-self and died the most excruciating and shameful form of death known to that empire. In other words, “Christian nationalism” is the antithesis of how Christ lived and died. It is impossible for us to treat others in a manner worthy of our Christian calling when we view the world through a lens of spiritual superiority or prejudice.
As The Most Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, noted in a recent forum on Christian nationalism: “What we’re actually describing is an ideology that’s not really a religion, but it looks like a religion and invokes language and symbols that have religious traffic.” “Christian nationalism” is not a persona with which I, or a vast majority of Christians, want to be associated.
Nationalism, however, is different from patriotism. Patriotism is an appropriate pride or love that any citizen may have for one’s home country, but it doesn’t elevate that country over others. Patriotism doesn’t ignore the mistakes of the past, but desires to learn from them. The well-known theologian C.S. Lewis did not advocate patriotic love for one’s country as something aggressive. Rather, he saw it as a love of family and the familiar that served to encourage ever-expanding circles of love for God and one another.
As we prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July, and as we recently celebrated Juneteenth, I hope and pray our patriotism brings with it a greater enthusiasm to truly embody the message of Christ and love of our neighbor, all our neighbors, as ourselves.
Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a semi-monthly column written by local women clergy (pastors and deacons) including, ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Nicolé Ferry, Pastor, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); Lynn Finnegan, Assistant Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org) and Deb Church, Pastor, White Rock Presbyterian Church (pastor@wrpchurch.com).
