On Friday morning, I went to a well-known bookstore in Seattle and was looking around in the bargain section. I came across a Mark Twain anthology and looked at the table of contents. I saw that it had "The War Prayer", which is one of the few essays I vividly remember reading in high school English. With today being Memorial Day, "The War Prayer" popped into my mind again. Maybe because Mark Twain's short, but powerful, essay throws some light onto one of the many tensions I've been feeling lately.
On Memorial Day, we're supposed to remember and honor those that have served in the armed forces. Both of my grandfathers served in the military and I respect and love both of them greatly. But how do I honor them without honoring what they were part of? How do I communicate that I no longer pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America without it being a slap in the face to them?
I want to make it clear that I do not hate the United States. It is my homeland on earth and, like my parents' house, I love coming back to it no matter how far I've traveled. But I don't think it's where my ultimate allegiance belongs.
I'm just trying to figure out if there is middle ground here. How do I put feet to my utopian ideals in this very real world?
1 comment:
Our ultimate allegiance, without a doubt, is to the Lord and his Eternal Kingdom. Here on this present earth, we are sojourners passing thru, sharing the Gospel as we do. That said, while war itself is a terrible thing, providing for national defense is honorable, and the US has never gone into a war as the aggressor, but as the defender of ourselves and our allies. Even Israel, under God's directives, had to muster an army to defend herself (and in the case of entering Canaan, even as conquest). When I pledge allegiance to the USA, it is to its ideals, without basis of its present realities. It is very much as we pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." As a sojourner on this earth, God has given me the responsibility to be a citizen of the USA, and it is honorable to pledge to its ideals, and to serve in its defense. Thanks to God that one Day there will be no more need for war, and the Lord himself will establish perfect government. Yes, my ultimate allegiance is to the Kingdom of God, and any time there is a conflict between that and any other allegience, God must come first. But as fully as I can within that scope, I will pledge my allegiance to the ideals of the republic which our founding fathers established, and seek to live and serve as a citizen of the USA to the best of my ability, in order to be salt and light here where God has chosen to plant me. /kman
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