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Trinity Episcopal Church
44 East Market St.
Bethlehem PA 18018-5989
610-867-4741

A Renewed Patriotism
Fr. Nick Knisely - Written for Newsletter, October 2001

I think it was sometime around 2:00 in the afternoon on Sept. 11 that I saw my first American Flag flying from a car window. Someone was driving around the northern part of Bethlehem with a large flag, still attached to its flagpole, and was waving it slowly back and forth out the car window with one hand, while the other hand stayed on the steering wheel.

Since then flags have sprung up every-where: on homes, on businesses, on cars and trucks. I now see the flag, or the colors of the flag, on almost every news channel I watch on TV. I'm reading more and more signs that include a patriotic message along with the daily sort of information they express-"God bless America, Ground Chuck $1.38/lb." And perhaps like me you've noticed the patriotic songs being sung-and like me perhaps you've sung along with tears welling up in your eyes.

But this patriotic response to the events of Sept. 11th isn't universal in the United States, and I hear some people on TV or in the newspaper who are frightened by it. When I listen closely to what they are fearing, generally the fear centers around a sense that this noble emotion will soon degenerate into a kind of jingoism-the "my country, if you don't agree, get out" sort of sentiment.

I don't know that we are faced with an either/or sort of situation here. I am absolutely convinced that it is possible to be patriotic and still remain open to hearing and respecting others' viewpoints. The United States of America is, at its best, a place where all people are welcomed into a new sort of country and society-one not built on ethnicity or on a common religious identity-but rather on a common belief in an ideal of liberty, justice, peace, and tolerance for all.

In church each week, we tell our story-who we are, and how we came to be, and of what God has done for each one of us in Jesus Christ. We focus not on our short comings as a people or as a denomination or as the Church, but instead on what we are called to become as we are made perfect. Perhaps this is what patriotism for America really means. We speak not so much of what America is at her worst-but what America represents and is called to be for all her people. If you listen closely to the hymn, "God Bless America," that is exactly what is being said. We are praying that God would bless us so that we might become the people we want to become-just as we pray in church on Sunday that God might lovingly empower us to do what we are called to do.

For me the greatest gift we could receive from the greatest tragedy to befall my nation in my lifetime would be a renewed sense of purpose in helping our nation become what she is called to be for all people-a shining city set high on a hill (Matt. 5:14). A light to all the people around her, and a symbol of what might yet be. May God bless America and empower us all to strive towards the goal of who and what we are to be.

-Nick+

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Trinity Episcopal Church
44 East Market St.
Bethlehem PA 18018-5989
610-867-4741