Seeking the prosperity of the city
My reflections on America's 249th birthday
It’s a clear, sunny day today, a perfect day for a Fourth of July cookout. We’re having a few friends from our church over to the house for more food and drinks than we’ll be able to consume. Afterward, any of them who want to stay can join my daughter and me in our July 4th tradition of watching the movie Independence Day. I’ve unfurled the American flag and put it out on our front porch like so many others in our neighborhood.
More importantly, as I write this, my son and daughter-in-law, who are expecting their first child and our first grandchild, are at the hospital, and we’re awaiting word on his imminent arrival into the world. The original due date was the 2nd, but it looks like he’s arriving today - “born on the Fourth of July,” as the song goes.
As I reflect on our lives since last July 4th, I feel pretty fortunate. That’s not to say we didn’t have sorrows to bear; we were just over four months removed from losing my father-in-law when we had to say goodbye to our oldest family dog, Daisy, and my father passed away unexpectedly in October. My mother is living her remaining years in the grip of dementia and requires around-the-clock care, which my sister and her children are providing.
Nevertheless, God’s tender mercies have buoyed us. My wife and I celebrated 40 years of marriage at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. My 65th birthday in August found me in reasonably good health and of sound mind, at least in my opinion! With my 66th birthday just around the corner, I feel even better physically after losing a significant amount of weight in the past year. I am blessed to work in Christian higher education, my vocation for the past 14 years, and I love my job, my boss, and the people I work with. I get to work from home, which is rare for a person in my position as a college vice president. That means I get to stay in the house we’ve owned for six years, with the church that’s been our sanctuary for 12 years and where I serve as an elder, near the university that employs my wife and son, and in a community where I’ve built relationships and been given many opportunities to serve others.
Despite all of this, I am pensive about the state of the nation as we conclude its 249th year of existence and look forward to its semiquincentennial next July 4th. Surveys indicate that we have not been this divided since perhaps the 1960s and a recent Gallup poll reveals a steep decline in national pride, with the widest gap ever between those who are and aren’t proud to be Americans. Generation Z, Democrats, and independents are discontented with the direction of our nation, while “The vast majority of Republicans continue to say they’re proud to be American.” Even with that, another survey showed that even Republicans are not happy about the direction of American politics in general:
But across party lines, the predominant political mood is one of discontent. Most adults in the US describe themselves as disappointed (70%) and frustrated (64%) with the nation’s politics today, with nearly half calling themselves burned out. About 4 in 10 say they’re angry, rising to 52% among Democratic-aligned women. Fewer than 20% say they’re optimistic, fired up, inspired or proud.
I share this sense of discontent as a veteran, a former Republican, and a Christian who decries the coarsening of our public discourse, particularly over the past decade, and the compromising of our faith by a fearful, mean, and vengeful movement that practices jingoism and calls it patriotism, and cloaks itself in the vestments of Christianity to justify their exclusion of and hate for people who don’t meet their definition of “real” Americans. They won’t tolerate any criticism whatsoever of America or its history, the truth be damned. Self-awareness, humility, and empathy are dismissed as weaknesses, while bellicose hypermasculinity is celebrated as the ultimate expression of strength.
When it comes to being a Christian and an American, we couldn’t see those roles more differently.
My observations about how good life has been to us were deliberate because I wanted to be clear that my discontent has nothing to do with my life circumstances. I am grateful to God every day for this time in our lives, and as a church elder and community leader, I am well aware of how hard life has been and continues to be for so many people.
I watched Republicans yesterday literally dancing badly to disco music as they celebrated the passage of legislation that will deny healthcare and food to millions of needy Americans. This legislation also empowers Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to become the largest law enforcement agency in the federal government, with a budget higher than the military expenditure of all but 15 countries. This effectively transforms our nation into a police state through the indiscriminate mass deportation of individuals, the vast majority of whom contribute to our economy, our communities, and our government coffers to the tune of billions of dollars, and receive little, if anything, in return. The claim that immigrants receive generous benefits from our government is a lie from the pit of hell; they are ineligible for most federal benefits and qualify for emergency or life-saving services only.
The celebration of this regressive bill was a sickening sight.
The words of Christ on the cross came to mind: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). As I scanned social media, many other words were coming to the minds of others, and they weren’t as gracious.
As I mentioned earlier, when Trump was reelected, I wanted to approach his second term and everything it entails by “thinking Christianly” and offering hope to my readers. I can honestly say that I haven’t been able to do that consistently, although I’m not giving up on the idea. Like many of you, I’ve been overwhelmed by the volume and pace of the cruelty, corruption, vengefulness, and graft emanating from Washington. Trump is misusing his office to enrich himself and others. Frankly, the fact that others benefit seems secondary, as I believe he genuinely cares only about himself.
Nevertheless, his actions would have sparked widespread condemnation and calls for impeachment and conviction in the past. At the same time, he is using the power of the presidency to seek revenge on those he believes have wronged him. He is releasing convicted criminals, from violent insurrectionists who assault law enforcement officers and vandalize public spaces to white-collar criminals who commit fraud. Presumably, he believes that, as a convicted felon, all others are unjustly persecuted like him.
How does one “think Christianly” about all of that? And how do we look forward to this July 4th with hope when we’re exhausted and not even halfway through the first year of his term in office?
The prophet Jeremiah is known as “the Weeping Prophet” because God chose him for a thankless task. The Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). He must have felt very proud to have had such a great honor bestowed upon him. However, as he attempted to carry out the Lord’s bidding, he encountered a people who were unwilling to hear the message God had given him. Their idolatry and injustice eventually led to their destruction and exile at the hands of the Babylonians. I imagine that, even as they were being punished for their unbelief, they probably blamed Jeremiah, who was just the messenger; indeed, even as he was warning them of what was to come if they didn’t change their ways, he was beaten and imprisoned, and his life was threatened.
However, God was not done with Jeremiah or the people of Israel. He had another message for them that he asked “the Weeping Prophet” to deliver, and it’s one that we can keep in mind in these times of strife:
Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (Jeremiah 29:5-7)
What an unusual command to give to a defeated people dragged into exile by their conquerors! A modern-day summary of this directive is “bloom where you are planted.” He is telling them to thrive in a foreign land and seek its peace and well-being, trusting that God’s purpose will be fulfilled.
In some respects, that should always be our task as citizens of God’s Kingdom and temporary residents of the nations in which He has placed us. We are strangers in our earthly homelands, which I know is hard to grasp since they seem so comfortable and familiar to us, and we grow to love where we live. There is nothing wrong with that; clearly, the Lord wants us to demonstrate our love for the land and its people through good deeds, nurturing our families, and praying for it to flourish.
Think about the great biblical heroes who set the example for us of how to conduct ourselves when we feel displaced, even in our home country. Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Esther in Persia all displayed godly traits amid autocratic rule—integrity, wisdom, courage, diplomacy, charity, faithfulness, and forgiveness.
It’s hard to thrive and pray for a land that doesn’t feel like our own, but consider the Americans who’ve been doing it for generations. Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State, made a profound statement about America’s “birth defect” that illustrates this point well:
Black Americans were a founding population…Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That’s not a very pretty reality of our founding.
…[D]escendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that.
That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today.
There is a paradox for this country and a contradiction of this country and we still haven’t resolved it... but what I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn’t love and have faith in them, and that’s our legacy.
Christians have a legacy of loving in the midst of unloveliness, whether from Jewish zealots bent on their destruction or Roman emperors scapegoating them and marking them for persecution. The early church put into practice the command the Lord gave the exiles through Jeremiah, and in God’s time, their faithfulness brought them through. I encourage you to read chapter 31 of The Book of Jeremiah in its entirety to give your heart hope for the future; it reads, in part:
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.” (Jeremiah 31:3-4)
John Adams, in a letter to his wife, Abigail, declared that Independence Day, which he mistakenly thought would be celebrated on July 2nd, would be a time of great celebration. In a previous article commemorating July 4th, I wrote that Adams, while euphoric at what was to come, didn’t underestimate the cost of getting there:
While his date may have been off by a couple of days, his belief that this day would be celebrated from that point forward has been validated. Of course, we find ourselves in yet another challenging moment in our nation's history, and for many, it's hard to celebrate. Adams recognized that the cost of obtaining and maintaining our way of life would be high, and there would be times when it didn't seem like this experiment was going to succeed:
“You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.”
Yet Adams and all those who fought for liberty throughout our history - from the Founders to the abolitionists, from the suffragettes to the civil rights marchers, and all who pursue liberty today, in whatever way they perceive it - were and are optimistic that this idea called the United States of America could and would prevail:
“Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”
“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.” Millions of people need us right now, and tens of millions more will need us as this massive legislation just passed by Congress is signed into law today and takes effect. In the words of President Thomas J. Whitmore:
"We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We're going to live on!
We're going to survive!"
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!