I can tell it is getting close to July 4th and all the conflict around the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. I am getting a plethora of e-mails on how we need to stand up and make a statement about keeping God in the pledge or on our coins or in our courthouses.
The whole thing has me pondering. It isn’t that I think that we shouldn’t give God due respect but…. I just wonder, how many of those who so proudly put their hands over their hearts and recite the words “One nation under God” will be in worship any place this Sunday to also praise that same God? Then I think how many other Americans who are outraged by this controversy that threatens our ability to proclaim God publicly, will actually take time in these busy summer months to acknowledge God in publicity?
Symbols of freedom and rituals like the Pledge of Allegiance help us to remember who we are, how precious are our freedoms, and how much we owe to the One who created us and sustains, not just our nation, but the world—with liberty and justice for all.
Don’t you think that if we who complain, don’t find ourselves in regular worship and a real relationship with the God whose name is evoked when we say the pledge, that maybe, just maybe this ritual is meaningless?
Call me naïve, but maybe it is not what we say as much as how we live the liberty and justice for all in our lives in worship, prayer, and our service to others that has the best chance of keeping our nation strong and giving meaning to the phrase “One nation under God.”
I guess I am just pondering.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Pastor EvaLyn Carlson of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ.
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