The first time I ever questioned the appropriateness of patriotism in worship was when I was doing mission work in Romania.
After I had learned the language and settled into ministry in a village church, I remember asking a pastor friend why we didn’t do a special service in December that celebrated Unification Day (Romania’s national holiday). I also wondered why the Romanian flag wasn’t in the sanctuary.
The pastor looked at me funny and then said: “The only way we’d bring a Romanian flag into our sanctuary is if we brought in flags from all over the world.”
“To show you do missions?” I said, trying to find a reference point from my own culture.
“No, to show we are the church.”
The pastor’s point was well taken. The church transcends the state, a truth that should be proclaimed clearly in a worship setting.
Several years later, I attended a worship service on a Sunday morning, and we were singing patriotic songs. At one point, the congregation pledged allegiance to the American flag. My wife, who was a Romanian citizen at that time, did not participate in the singing or pledging, of course. Neither did a recently converted girl from overseas who was visiting that weekend.
In that moment, the oddness of the scene struck me. We were in a worship service with fellow believers, including one just-baptized, who could not participate. Something made me feel uneasy, but it took me a while to realize why. Keep reading
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