America and Eucharist: Hands and Hearts, Treason and Communion

Lately I've noticed a lot of fervor over American patriotism among Evangelicals. Well, allow me to re-phrase. It isn't only lately, but that it has become more acute lately. Inevitably I always end up opening my mouth and, inevitably, it always ends up on some FB status in a comment where I cannot fully articulate my thoughts, so I thought it might be important to do here, for once.

This post takes for granted a certain Sacramental theology. That is, I believe something really happens in the Sacraments themselves, in the Liturgy. Even if you don't believe that, you should be able to follow the logic of the post, since Christianity believes these things happen, even if you disagree about the locus of their happening. That is, whether you believe that it is in the Eucharist and Baptism that we are united to Christ, all of Christianity believes that we are so united.


I recently commented as to why I do not say the pledge and why I do not salute the American Flag, and why I believe it is in tension or conflict with our calling as disciples of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In doing so, I posted the following quote from Stanley Hauerwas, which I hope to make the springboard for what I'm going to say...

Christians in America have the problem of assuming that the American 'we' and the Christian 'we' are the same.... no speech-act was more determinative for the identification of that 'we' than the day after September 11th... when the President said 'we are at war', and the Christian 'we' identified with that 'we.' Well, if the Christian 'we' had any sense, they'd have said, 'no, that wasn't war, that was murder; and you don't go to war against a murderer.' When we went to war with Osama Bin Laden, we gave him what he wanted, we made him a war hero instead of a murderer." - Stanley Hauerwas

I want to draw into sharper focus the point and effect of the Flag in the appropriation and identification of these "We's" about which Hauerwas speaks, here. The Flag was created during the American Revolutionary War, and was to stand as a symbol of the people who were fighting for it, and eventually stand to represent their victory in the war. That is, the Flag stands for the country, and ultimately symbolizes the war which was fought in order for that country to become a country in the first place.

Later, the flag was again defended in 1812, and again in another revolutionary war in 1861. (We call them Revolutions when they succeed, and Civil Wars when they fail). You can go to Washington, D.C. and visit the Lincoln Monument where the importance of the Union, symbolized by the Flag, was worth the cost of fighting to preserve.

The interesting point of these wars, -- for Christianity -- which never gets spoken of in most circles in America, is that these wars were examples of Christians at war with other Christians. That is, the Flag becomes more important than the Body of Christ, as members of that Body take up arms and kill other members of that Body, and then justify doing it based upon the Flag and what it stands for.

This is the reality of these wars, and there are no two ways about it. The Body of Christ was forsaken for the Flags we chose to defend: British, American, Confederate.

So, in the wars in which the Flag was fought for and produced by, allegiance to that flag meant forsaking your allegiance to Christ. The right arm of Christ willingly stood up and shot and killed the left arm, in the name of a Flag.

This brings me to the next part, the idea of competing liturgies. We use a lot of religious language and liturgical ritual surrounding the flag. We are told that the flag represents those who have died to give us freedom (do you hear that?), and we place our hands over our hearts, at our foreheads, sing to it, cherish it, and ultimately pledge allegiance to it.

This is not by accident, I do not think. It is a liturgy which, whether or not consciously or intentionally, competes with the Liturgy of the Sacraments.

Both pictures represent the posture taken towards the objects of our allegiance: The Body of Christ, and the American Flag.

The two ultimately compete, but the former brings the latter into focus for us. The Eucharistic Liturgy reminds us that Christ died the only death that was ever required to win our freedom. The Eucharistic Liturgy reminds us that it is not those who share our nationality with us whom are our brothers and sisters, but other Christians, who have been baptised into Christ, and partake of his Body and Blood. Our allegiance is first to the Christians in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, before anyone else.

The problem is ultimately deeper than Hauerwas suggests. The problem is not conflating our identity with that of America. The problem is the outright trading of identities. In the wars which produced and protected the American Flag, the "Christian We" was traded in for the "American We." The "Christian We" was forsaken, and we chose, instead, to be the "American We".

It is only by this trading and forsaking that we could speak of the Revolutionary and Civial Wars with joy and triumphalism, instead of sorrow and weeping.