The Burr in the Burgh

Thanks to the good folks at Purgatorio for this. I hope they won't mind that I borrow the pic.

For the sake of full disclosure. I am a pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). This is not a picture from my church, however.

But I have to ask the question: What is Patriotic Worship? Someone please tell me.

Is it a Christian worship service with a special prayer or two for our nation, a chorus of God Bless Our Native Land, and a memorial for those who've given their lives in the armed forces? That could reasonably be done.

But it is a serious problem when pious well-meaning Christians begin to confuse the two kingdoms, the kingdom of power and the kingdom of grace. We treat the flag with equal reverence (or more) as a cross. The sayings of the founding fathers become sacred texts. We start to think it is the role of the civil government to preach the gospel. Or the gospel of Jesus Christ is subtley, incrementally exchanged for the good news of being an American.

Some well-meaning, pious American Christians who believe that God has a special plan for America, almost as if the US is the new Israel, God's chosen. This is a serious and potentially dangerous error.

I have said it before and things like this make me want to emphasize it all the more. There is no place for an American flag in God's sanctuary. When you come into God's house, you leave all other allegiances at the door. God is not an American. Nations rise and fall. This nation will rise and fall. The church is for all people, all nations. God shows no favoritism and is no respecter of persons.

Does patriotic worship mean that non-American Christians would be unable to fully participate? Will Jesus Christ predominate? Or some other savior and some other type of salvation?

Actually, if they are going to have "Patriotic Worship" then I'm glad they put it on the sign. That way I'd know to avoid it like the plague.