A prayer submitted by Kimberly J. Edwards:

God,
I find myself heartbroken 
by the hatred I see all around me. 
So I ask that I may never forget :
 
That behind every brown, yellow, red, black or white face, there is a family like mine, and souls trying to live in a world that often tells them they are less than or unworthy, aliens that are not wanted. May I never lose sight of the soul behind each face, the souls of Your children.

 That behind every homeless person there is a story that may be so familiar to me as to be uncomfortable. May I never be comfortable until there are no more homeless faces seeking a kind word, or an opportunity, or just a smile and a little love.

 That I never forget the truth of Your gospel, that storing up riches here, withholding from others out of some misguided sense of superiority or right to judge, that treating any one of Your children as unworthy to come to Your table is not the Christian love You came to teach us.

 That I count as treasures the friends who stand beside me, encouraging, loving, supporting and accepting me, through word and deed. Sometimes just being available, sometimes through prayer, sometimes through sacrifice of their own. Let me never take them for granted, and always see them as the blessing You meant them to be, and do my very best to love them as well as they have loved me.

 That when I see actions or hear words that mean harm to the 'other', to never stand still or be quiet in the face of injustice, cruelty, racism, to call out behavior that seeks to harm my neighbor. To always see in each face the potential of a child of God no matter how I might disagree with their manner or actions. To protect those who are being shunned, criticized, or even threatened because they are considered different.

 That I appreciate the love and devotion shown to me by my pets. The unconditional adoration that radiates from the soul of our animal friends is surely sent from heaven, through souls that speak a different language, one of complete acceptance. It is no small thing for an animal to love a person. May I always remember those gone on to You to await our reunion.

 That I see and cherish each small blessing, from a spontaneous hug given by a grandchild, to a moment of clarity when I realize that my grown children love and understand me despite my obvious imperfections, a gesture or look from a husband who shows devotion and commitment each day, an unexpected phone call or card from someone reminding me that I matter, to the sunset, birdsong, moonlight, joyous bark or laugh that sweeten my life.

 That I never find myself so blinded by my illness or difficulties that I forget those around me, and around the world, who hurt, hunger, shiver, grieve and strive for rights denied them by oppression and greed.

 That I take every opportunity to let the wonders of Your creation heal and uplift me. Knowing that something as simple as sunshine on my face, sand and waves under my feet, regal treetop canopies, a bird in flight or the beauty of horses galloping across a field can be proof of Your love for Your world.

 That I always, always remember that color, creed, faith or none, accent, sex, age, language, dress, orientation, hairstyle, home, or financial status has not one thing to do with the worth of anyone to You, and to follow your example.
     
That above all the chaos and upset in this world, You gave us the greatest Gift the world has ever known. You loved us then, and love us now, that much. May we all continue to grow and journey toward the greatest we can be for You, and because of You.
      
That I do all I can to give my children an grandchildren an example of the power and light of Your love in my life. That I always do my very best to be a light for Your world, to honor and respect each individual I meet, no matter our differences. That I grow into the person You wish me to be. 

Amen.

Part 2 – Christian 'Heritage' and American Exceptionalism

It is not unusual to find that those who have incorrectly begun treating Christianity as a heritage also cling tightly to a modern, warped conceptualization of American exceptionalism.  In the US, many people have conflated their religion and their patriotism in a way that makes it is hard to tell where one begins and where the other ends.  For the Church, the body of Christ, this has created a very volatile and decidedly un-Christian environment. 

Let's begin, though, with a look at American exceptionalism.  What it has come to mean and what it is supposed to mean have drifted too far apart.    American exceptionalism is supposed to point to the unique qualities of the formation of the United States.  (Conservatives who use the term might also be surprised to find out that it was coined by the American Communist Party).  It points to the way we were formed, the ideologies that influenced our formation and the uniqueness of the structure of government which developed out of those things.

What it has come to mean is something quite different.  Exceptional has been made equivalent to superior.  Many times those making a call to  American exceptionalism are now really making an unfounded call to the superiority of America and its ways in comparison to all other ways.

As if that weren't problematic enough all on it's own, the converse of what I opened this article with is equally true: It is not unusual to find that those who cling tightly to this modern, warped conceptualization of American exceptionalism frequently are also those who have incorrectly begun treating Christianity as a heritage.   They wrap crosses in American flags as if the two have always been together and through that imagery claim what amounts to an unholy union.

When the two are practiced this way, the blind faith that is necessary to practice Christianity as 'heritage' and the blind following of an unquestioning patriotism combine to make a group of people who are necessarily closed to outsiders and particularly opposed to anything that favors anyone other than themselves.  The blindness of it all, the unquestioning devotion to what they perceive as the traditions of their Protestant Christian heritage and the unflappable support of all policies that come from 'their' representatives in name of patriotism, calls for them to practice either cognitive dissonance or willful ignorance any time the facts point to something other than what they want to believe.  

This is a problem for the Church, the body of Christ, because that is not who Jesus taught us God calls us to be.  We are told to care for the outsiders, particularly those who are marginalized and undeserved.  The conflation of Christianity as a 'heritage' and  American exceptionalism create communities where the exact opposite of that is practiced in order to maintain the purity of the group.   The Bible tells us that God “moves about in a tent,” is “about to do a new thing,” and we see that Jesus constantly asked the people he met to change.   The conflation of Christianity as a 'heritage' and  American exceptionalism demands a steadfastness and rigid resistance to change of any type as well as an unquestioning devotion to the past.  We also know that biblically, wisdom is that thing in which God delights daily, but the conflation of Christianity as a 'heritage' and  American exceptionalism, as I have already noted, requires a constant denial of facts that negate what you want to be true.

The conflation of Christianity as a 'heritage' and  American exceptionalism is killing the Church and trying to do the same for our nation.  Those who are willing to confront these realities must begin working together to breakthrough the blind haze that has entrapped our communities.  We do so by naming it out loud, by no longer sitting silently aside and shaking our heads in not only sad amusement but in our own self-serving form of superiority.  We must trust that the truth will indeed set us free and stop being afraid to name the problems because of the negative backlash we might suffer in our places of worship and ministry, because those places are the the very places that need the truth to be prophetically proclaimed. 

Part 1 of this series: The Pitfalls of Practicing Christianity as Heritage