A Better America.

I am experiencing Independence Day a bit differently this year. I’ve felt deeply frustrated that it is only this year I feel as if I am carrying the weight of what many, many Black and Brown bodies have felt for hundreds of years. But I refuse to give into the shame that says I should’ve known all along. I’m grateful that I made it to this point of understanding and lament, and want to continue to get better. 

This year, I have found myself wondering how I could celebrate the independence of a country that only allowed true freedom for a portion of the population? How do we celebrate America when people are still living in bondage? A bondage many refuse to acknowledge is actually bondage. 

As a Biracial person, I have enjoyed the privileges that come with “America, the land of the free.” I have had the experience of freedom yet it has seemed like half of my identity is still enslaved by the systems of white supremacy that rule and reign in our country and world. That identity aches for my own desire to be seen as fully human by other humans and groans for the collective cry of the Black and Brown bodies that I belong to, that lie dead in the streets and even in their own homes. The anthem of our country that cries out “Liberty and justice for all” feels more like a petition--a war cry, to a God we claim to be a people united under but can’t seem to agree about the inherent Imago Dei of our own shared humanity. 

Yet, I was reminded by an incredibly wise and thoughtful pastor and friend that we can both love America and be filled with holy discontent about where we are at as a country. 

That we can love America so much that we want it to always be getting better feels less like a political statement and more like a glimpse of the gospel. 

As people who belong to God, we are called to pursue holiness. Our journey as individuals and the community of faith is to continually be transformed by the renewal of our minds and to continually seek what is true, and honorable, and good and holy. To die to ourselves. To let the Spirit cultivate fruit in our lives. We are being transformed into the image of God when we commit ourselves to walking in the Spirit of the Lord. I have a hard time believing anyone, regardless of their beliefs, would argue that as followers of Jesus, we are always called to grow to be more like Jesus. We are always called to be better, not because it will earn us salvation but because when we do, God’ is glorified and God’s Kingdom is made manifest in this world. 

Might we then, as “One nation, under God” pray for the sanctification of our nation too? Not because this nation is the best but because we want our nation to live up to the anthem we’ve placed before it? Might we be discontent with the ways all people are not experiencing liberty and justice? Might we pray hard for the Spirit to indwell our practices, systems, and leaders? 

I don’t know that to be discontent with this country is one in the same as not loving America. Oftentimes, it’s because we love ourselves, our people, our children that we push them to be the best and most holy version of themselves that they can be. You can be grateful for the experience of freedom you’ve been given and still be discontent that not everyone has experienced that same semblance of freedom. You can still be proud of the people who have served our country to keep us from being under the thumb of another country and still be an advocate for those who remain under the thumb of oppression. You can still wear red, white, and blue as a praise and a prayer that all who wear those colors would live out the call to love their neighbor as they do.

We could all benefit from a better America. There is much work yet to do. We could all benefit from a better community, a better country, a better world. We all have room to grow, to be challenged, to be transformed into the image of Christ. That is not a sign of hate, to long to be better. To long for holiness, unity, justice and liberty for all is a prayer for a people who I believe belong to a God whose Kingdom is at hand.