Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Romans 13:1-10    Mark 12:13-17

Late in the evening-or, I should say, very early on the morning of April 19, 1975, I drove with some friends to Winchester, MA. Then, we walked to the Concord Bridge on the same road that had been used exactly 200 years earlier by farmers in the area, we remembered them by the name they gave themselves, "the Minutemen..." It was a silent, powerful walk- others joined us from adjoining streets, and I think we were all wondering how those brave men and women must have felt as they prepared to fight the British they knew were coming-as they prepared to fight for their freedom...

The next year, I was present at the Bicentennial Celebration at the Charles River, with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. (Have you ever wondered why the "1812 Overture" is used on July 4^th? The composer Tchaikovsky wrote it to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon and the French- the piece couldn't be more Russian!) Boston's church bells rang, cannons fired, followed by stirring "Stars and Stripes Forever," with fireworks. I had a lump in my throat, tears in my eyes. I was proud...

Then, following the 9/11 atrocity, I had the same feelings, as I watched and listened to Wyclef Jean- a young African American man, sing Bob Marley's "Freedom Song" while his sister rapped the words to "America the Beautiful." "He's singing this for all of us," I marveled, "we really are united- all races, all people, no politics, all Americans!"

I'm sure all of us have powerful memories-powerful feelings about the love of our country-powerful feelings of gratitude, of obligation to this country of ours, which for all its faults, has provided freedom, stability and opportunity for countless millions.

As Christians, we also share a faith which transcends national boundaries- a faith which teaches us all peoples were created by God, all to be valued, because God values and loves all... Jesus says, "Make disciples of all nations," and God has no partiality to any, except for biblical Israel (not the current secular state). The Bible teaches us that God's concern is people over countries...

Our faith-our God also generates powerful feelings of gratitude, of obligation-of love. I have a hard time- I get that same lump in my throat, and tears in my eyes with "For All the Saints" as I remember my Dad- and the promise that in Christ we shall one day be reunited with our loved ones... I have the same feelings at Easter- or Christmas, when St. Luke's story of the Birth of Jesus is read. What's more, our faith makes a claim the country can't: God's love is eternal; God's love in Christ continues beyond death! God's love saves us forever!  Our government can't offer us that!

Two powerful sources pull at us: God and Country. Have you ever noticed that the most spectacular buildings anywhere celebrate one, the other, or both? Churches and government buildings are awe-inspiring!

Washington, D.C. - the National Cathedral, an incredible Gothic building, and it is not far from the temples of American Democracy: the Capital, the White House, the National Archives- and all the monuments...

Or London: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Parliament...

Or Moscow: St. Basil's is inside the Kremlin...

And let's not forget St. Paul: the beautiful and imposing State Capital and Cathedral almost square off against each other- joined, it seems architecturally.

WHICH TAKES PRECEDENCE? WHICH HAS PRIORITY? There are problems when the State makes claims that are reserved for God-or when faith demands the role and place of government...

The Church was persecuted in its earliest days: Christians could not offer sacrifice to the emperor; they couldn't say "Caesar is Lord," when Jesus was and is...
Sir Thomas More lost his head because he refused to agree that Henry VIII- a close friend- was head of the British Church...
Puritans in New England, fleeing persecution in Great Britain, persecuted Baptists and hanged Quakers in Boston in the 17^th Century, in a "religious state..."
Present day Saudi Arabia, where religious police walk around looking for young women who aren't properly dressed- or in Waziristan, where it is "un-Islamic" for women to be educated... ...

Just five of thousands of examples...

That issue- that problem: which demands ultimate loyalty, God or State, is the question posed by Jesus' opponents in our Gospel lesson today.

It's a trick question! Should we pay taxes to the emperor or not?

If Jesus says "Yes," he's agreeing to Roman claims of sovereignty in a nation which claims God is sovereign, and he's finished with the people!

If Jesus says "No!" he's a rebel, opposed to Rome and can be arrested for treason! Again, he's finished!

Jesus asks for a coin, and asks "Whose face is on it?" (His opponents are stuck: devout Jews were opposed to "graven images" as idols, even on coins, so they shouldn't have had one in the first place...)

"Whose face?" "The Emperor," they say, and Jesus says, "Give to the emperor things that are the emperor's and to God the things that are God's!"

Jesus is telling us that we have responsibilities as citizens and we have responsibilities to God: two separate things! And unless the government is making claims that only God should make, there is no reason not to participate in the political process! (And whenever that happens, there can and will be disagreements, even among Christians! Good grief, Lutherans never agree on anything!)

That's why St. Paul can say "Be subject to the governing powers," even when he's talking about authoritarian Rome. It's only when the Roman Emperor Nero begins to consider himself the god Apollo in human form, and demands to be worshipped that Christians have trouble: both Peter and Paul are accused of treason and are killed...

Or, nearly 2000 years later, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church oppose Hitler and plot his assassination because they know the claims of National Socialism and Christianity are diametrically opposed...

Or, fifty years after that, Christian Churches take the lead in bringing down the Communist governments in Eastern Europe; governments which had claimed virtual divinity and demanded the absolute obedience of their citizens.

When states make claims of divinity, then Christians are called to object. Otherwise, we are called to be good citizens.

The American Experiment, which we celebrate this weekend, has largely avoided the trap of combining church and state claims on its people. We have mostly learned the lesson of Europe- of Puritan New England- I mentioned earlier in recognizing the danger.

I say "largely" and "mostly," because I confess to being troubled when I see churches being brought into election campaigns. Folks, I have no trouble with your politics, whether we agree or disagree- it's Jesus who brings us here. People of good faith can and will want the problems of our society solved, even though we might have different priorities or different answers to the questions.

But I would be rightfully in trouble with you if I said, "Jesus supports X candidate..." or "No communion for you if you don't support the church's stand on Y issue..."  You would rightfully be in trouble with me and Bethlehem's leadership, should you give our membership list to any political party.  Those behaviors (all of them!) fracture our fellowship together in Christ! Don't misunderstand me- I'm not saying we can't have rip-roaring conversation and debate- we can talk about anything here, I hope. But we're not making anything other than faith in Jesus as crucified and Risen Savior our litmus test for participation in this community we share. We will keep the main thing- Jesus Christ and him crucified- the main thing...

And even though we're not Roman Catholic, I think they provide a helpful example. I would remind those who think that Catholics can't support a pro-choice candidate, as that misguided priest who recently refused communion to a conservative republican who is, for whatever reason, supporting Barack Obama, also can't support a pro-death penalty candidate, according to church teaching. Further, two Popes have spoken strongly and passionately against the war in Iraq. Claim the church for support on one issue and find it 180 degrees from you on another... It's a very slippery slope when you start playing those games, no matter where you stand on the political spectrum.

At our best, Church and State have served as correctives for one another. It was churches, for example, that were instrumental in leading the Abolitionist Movement to stop slavery, and then almost 100 years later, lead the Civil Rights movement in bringing a halt to legalized discrimination.

So, too, with the First Amendment to our Constitution, and the recognition of many faiths, the government has refused to allow Christianity in one of its many forms to dominate the rest of the culture, for all the false claims that this is a "Christian Nation, the New Israel, specially blessed by God over all nations," so long as we behave in a particular way...

We are a nation of many cultures and languages- of Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, atheists, you name it. Our challenge as a nation will be to remember that our freedom depends on freedom for all of us, whatever race or creed, however long we've been here.

Our tasks- as Christians and as citizens- are to cherish, honor and work for that freedom- and to pray God's strength, God's justice and God's blessings for us all in this land in which we are so privileged to live. That's what we're asking when we sing that old song, written by a Jewish immigrant named Irving Berlin during the Great Depression and as the storm clouds were gathering for WWII:

God bless America, Land that I love, Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam, God bless America, my home sweet home! God bless America, my home sweet home.

Amen.