Like many of  you I'm with family celebrating our nation's birthday--Independence Day.  I know there is a lot of history and political theory, etc. that needs to be sorted out, but I'm thankful for my nation.  I'm also concerned for my nation.  Last night a pitifully small remnant of us gathered and used Daniel's prayer from Daniel 9 as a paradigm for praying for our own nation and for us as citizen's of this great land.  (You non-USA folk can appropriately adapt that.)  It's an exercise I recommend.  I am concerned for our land, and I see the need for prayer, but I'll save that for another day.

 

Right now I'm thinking about independence.  I think we can rejoice in the historic event that gave birth to our nation, but we need to resist the idea that independence is always a good, and that more independence is always a virtue.  Our national ethos is filled with strong rugged types who "go it alone."  For many our ideal is a character who is an actor, playing fictional roles. 

The truth is, not only is John Wayne dead, but the image the name conjures is just that, a figment of our imagination.  Not only is that kind of go-it-alone persona an impossibility; it is harmful to try to pursue it.  From the very beginning when God pronounced Adam's alone-ness as the one "not good" in all of creation, it has been God's intention that we be dependent.  Family, church, kin, neighbors, all represent circles of relationship.  I depend on others.  They depend on me.  Above it all, the message of scripture is clear.  Anyone who tries to live independent of his creator is headed for disaster.  The fool of Psalms is not so much one who says I don't believe there is a God, as he is one who says, "I don't need God--thank you very much."  

When we think we are really independent, we will come to lose the kind of independence we celebrate today.  

  

It's STTA