citizenship

I was falling asleep to 'Celebrity Apprentice' when the news anchor came on the television to announce a 'new information' in regards to the death or capture of Osama Bin Laden.  As the media awaited the presidential speech, there was about an hour worth of footage looking back at 9/11, military campaigns in the middle east, previous attempts to capture Bin Laden, etc.  One channel showed a number of people gathering in front of the White House singing 'We Are the Champions.'  It was all very odd and strange to me.

Don't get me wrong, I could hardly be considered a 'Bin Laden sympathizer.'  I did not and don't plan on shedding any tears due to his death.  In fact, my greatest hope is that in some way, this will help bring about greater peace in the world, however, I am pessimistic that it will.  If anything, my guess is that Bin Laden's death will simply act as a motivation to those people we have come to label as 'terrorists.'  

What puzzled me about the celebrations was the same thing that puzzled me when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.  When Keith Folke got Edgar Renteria of the St. Louis Cardinals to ground out to win the game, I remember seeing Red Sox fans literally crying, screaming, and celebrating like they had all just won the Megabucks.  I was very happy to see my favorite team win, but there was something about the celebration that struck me as bizarre.  At the end of the day, a group of overpaid athletes won a sports competition.  I couldn't help but wonder if the people celebrating the world series victory had ever gotten more excited and joyful over anything else in the course of their lives. They cried, cheered, and celebrated as if these games actually had lasting significance.  So when I saw the thousands of people singing, cheering, and celebrating outside the White House, I couldn't help but think to myself, 'how is it that so many Christians can celebrate like mad when they hear of Bin Laden's death and remain quiet and content on Resurrection Sunday?'  It is very interesting to see the different things people become passionate about.  Why are we so excited?  Our actions reveal what we really think and feel.

I have come to the conclusion that many Christians are far more interested and committed to pledging their allegiance to the American flag as oppose to the Kingdom of God.  We are much more likely to pick  up and carry our flag as oppose to pick up and carry our cross.  How is it that we are so fazed and angered by the 3000 innocent people who died on 9/11 and don't give much thought to the 100,000+ innocent people who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan as a result of the 'war on terror'?  While I think there are many great things about the country that I live in (and I truly mean that), it is scary how close patriotism and idolatry are related to one another.  I grew up hearing about the 'Christian principles' that our nation was founded upon, only to learn later that massacre, massive slaughter, and animalistic slavery was somehow greatly downplayed in the textbooks I read at school.

When our primary allegiance and citizenship is in Christ and God's Kingdom, it becomes far more difficult to celebrate the death(s) of the one we call our 'enemy.'