A Pastoral Reflection on Christian Nationalism

Sunday morning I shared some of what had been on my heart as I reflected on the events that took place this week in Washington DC. When a significant event like this occurs, I think it is important for us as a church family to talk about it. 

I have intentionally not posted or shared anything regarding these events prior to this, but do want to share with you this prayerful reflection that I shared with my church family this morning.

What is included below is not a transcript, but a written out version of my outline.

I think we’re all struggling to make sense of the horrific images we saw play out this week in our nation’s capital. We’re all trying to process the emotions we’re feeling and not quite sure just what to do with them. We feel shock that something like this could ever occur here. We feel fear as we think about what might happen next. We feel hurt over things that have been said. We feel confusion. We feel grief and sadness over the five lives that were lost.

I also have felt this sense of shame and anger as some of the armed domestic terrorists that led this violent insurrection raised a cross, held signs that said “Jesus 2020”, waived flags that read “Jesus is my Savior, Trump is my President” as though they were one in the same, and they carried a Christian flag onto the floor of the Senate chamber. They justified their violence in the name of Jesus and in defense of Christianity.

But make no mistake, this has nothing to do with Jesus and is not the way of Jesus.

These are symbols of Christian Nationalism, a political ideology that conflates our American and Christian identities, requiring a true patriot and true Christian to vote a certain way and affiliate with a particular political party. It is a poison that has infected the evangelical church that dishonors God and damages our witness to the world.

It was this growing sin of Christian Nationalism that led me to preach through the book of Daniel last fall leading up to the election in our series Citizens of Another Kingdom. I wanted us to see that we are first and foremost citizens of another kingdom, a heavenly kingdom. And that our allegiance is given to another King, a divine King the King of Kings.

Our hope is not in a president or a politician, and our identity is not in a political party or a platform - but in Jesus.

But there is another concern that I have. As we seek to make sense of all of this, trying to understand what happened, and processing our emotions, it is easy to become consumed by it all. We are inundated with information and saturated with breaking news.

This week I found myself constantly checking Twitter, refreshing news sites, even comparing how various news sources told different versions of the same story. It overwhelmed me and consumed me.

When that happens, our anger builds. We point our finger at others, lashing out, speaking without thinking, feeling the need to say your piece, and call everyone out. Our anxiety also builds. You don’t sleep because you’re glued to your screen, and it leaves you utterly exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually, robbing you of any sense of joy.

As your pastor, it is my calling to point you to Jesus - to help you know Jesus more intimately, grow to be more like Jesus, and go shine His light in the world and share His love with the world. I felt it was necessary for us to address this for two reasons.

The first is that we need to address Christian Nationalism for what it is, sin. We need to reflect on how it has taken root in our own hearts. This is not something that is simply out there, but exists in here as well. We need to repent of our sin - not just our believes, but our responses as well which can be equally sinful and our words equally violent.

We need to learn how to disagree with each other without destroying each other.

The second thing is that you need to see how dangerous this overwhelming consumption of media is to your walk with Christ and how damaging it is to your faith. 

Here’s the thing, you are always being discipled. You are always being formed in to the image of something or someone. The only question is what or who? That someone is who you spend the most time with. That something is what you fill your mind with. 

My fear is that right now we are being discipled by the world rather than the Word. We are bing discipled by the media, shaped by social media, and influenced by conspiracy theories rather than Jesus. We are filling our minds with the opinions and promises of the world rather than the truth and promises of God’s Word. 

We are being discipled by the world rather than the Word.

That will only lead you further and further away from God, until He feels so distant you can no longer feel Him and so silent you can no longer hear Him. And it will destroy your faith.

So where do we go from here? What do we do? While I don’t quite know the answer to that question just yet, what I do know is where we start. We start with prayer. I want to ask that we pray for three things.

First, let’s pray we would repent of our sin. Pray the Holy Spirit would confront our sin and convict us of our sin, so that we would repent of that sin - the things we’ve said, the things we’ve done, and the way we’ve reacted. Let’s be sure to take the log out of our eye before point out the speck in someone else’s eye.

Second, let’s pray we would trust in God. I think we all need to take one big collective deep breathe and remember the closing words from our series in Daniel: GOD’S GOT THIS! That was true then, and it’s true now. God is still sovereign and faithful. Christ is still sitting on His throne.

Third, let’s love the world. Jesus said that by this all people will know you are my disciples, my followers - not our political affiliation, not who we voted for, and not what you posted on social media - but if you have LOVE for one another with our actions and how we live. 

Let’s point people to Jesus by loving like Jesus.

Let’s shine His light in the world.

Let’s share His love with the world.