Why Nationalism is Dangerous and Incompatible with Christianity - Jennifer Butler

Here are two fundamental reasons nationalism doesn’t work for Christians:

First, we believe in human dignity as described in Genesis and the creation story. Human beings are created in God’s image and to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of nationality, race, or religion.

Second, love of God is inextricably intertwined with love of neighbor. Jesus told us the Greatest Commandment was to love God, and the second was tied to it: love your neighbor as yourself.

The full article is available here

Nationalism Is Idalotrous - Jonathan Martin

Reflection And Renewal: Life Is Free & Abundant, Not Controlled & Limited (based on John 10:10)

God, you are the source of beauty and the maker of all good things. Your handiwork is on full display in your universe. Your divine spark indwells all of your creation.

But we don't always give you the credit that you deserve for that, especially when we don't see life as something that you've freely and abundantly gifted to your universe.  Instead, we create idols - of status, of power, of wealth, of being in control - each stemming from a fearful, constricted view of life.

You give life to all with open hands. We clench our fists to hang on tightly to what we can or to forcefully fight for take what we want to be in possession of.

Forgive us. We know that when we’re honest about our shortcomings and brokenness, you promise to not hold them against us. Instead you move within us in grace and love. Help us to be willing to let go of our fearful lenses and to begin to see your world as the gift that it is.

 Amen.

The Church and Structural Injustice - Archbishop Oscar Romero

Finding the We: God’s Grace can Transform Environmental Racism - Do Justice!

The Christian Reformed Church is one of many denominations that has taken the symbolic action of repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery. The concrete actions required to undo its horrific legacy in our hearts, minds, and society require us to follow our faith into a very counter-cultural lifestyle. It takes conscious decisions every day.

The water crises in Flint and Detroit are more universal than we readily see. In mainstream U.S. culture, we view water as a “resource.”

Rather than a gift from God which is necessary for all of creation to flourish, or a living relative with which we share kinship in God’s creation, most of us view water as a commodity. However, we don’t just do this to water: we do it to people, and to entire communities.

Commodification of God’s creation and people in the United States and Canada has deep roots in the Doctrine of Discovery, heretical teachings pushed forward through Christian institutions to justify theft, slavery, and genocide in the colonial era by putting white Europeans at the top of a Church-sanctioned racial hierarchy.

Today, those of us born and raised in the United States too often unconsciously perpetuate the systemic racism and greed with which our continent was colonialized.

The Christian Reformed Church is one of many denominations that has taken the symbolic action of repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery. The concrete actions required to undo its horrific legacy in our hearts, minds, and society require us to follow our faith into a very counter-cultural lifestyle. It takes conscious decisions every day, and only by the grace of God can we change.

The full article is available here

Benediction: We Are All God's Children Who Were Made For Abundant Life (based on Psalm 32:1-5)

Rich, poor; young, old; goody-two-shoes or scoundrel ... we are all God's children. God desires to transform all of us into the loving, giving, and life-filled people we are meant to be.  Where we are broken, we can begin healing. Where we are separated from others, we can have begin to have meaningful connection restored.

God, as receivers of your grace, help us to be grace-givers in the lives we lead in your world.

Call To Worship: The Infinite Goodness Of God Is Available To Us (based on Ephesians 3:18)

The bottomless depth of God's mercy, the infinite expanse of God's grace, and the endless wellspring of God's love: all of these are available to us as we join in God's work of restoring all of creation to the fullness of life and original goodness it was created for.

Christian Nationalism Exemplified By Pro-Trump Propaganda Film "The Trump Prophecy"

In the film’s blasphemous theology, resisting the authority of a sitting president - or, at least, this sitting president - is conflated with resisting God.

 The Trump Prophecy is more than just a ham-fisted, low-budget movie created by Liberty University.

It’s the purest distillation of pro-Trump Christian nationalism: the insidious, idolatrous heresy that implicitly links patriotism and U.S. Exceptionalism with Conservative, White Evangelical Christianity.

The Trump Prophecy wants you to believe that submission to Authoritarian Right Wing political powers and submission to God are one and the same.

In the film’s blasphemous theology, resisting the authority of a sitting president - or, at least, this sitting president - is conflated with resisting God.

The full article is available here