Don Quixote of Rome: April 2008

The First Century Christians, a minority group to say the very least in the Roman Empire, refused to burn a pinch of incense once a year and say, "Caesar is Lord" as was required by Roman law. They recognized one Lord, Jesus Christ, and could not make the declaration required of them. For their trouble they were allowed to get up close and personal with Roman lions in a "sporting contest" for the entertainment of the masses. The all-time record was Christians zero and lions ... Well you get the idea.
So if one is a Christian living in the United States today what can be learned from this snippet of history?
Let me tell you a fable, a cautionary tale, a teachable moment about consequences of unthinking actions:
Once upon a time two laypersons were preparing the sanctuary in a local United Methodist Church for Lent. One was the past Worship Chairperson and the other the new Chairperson who was leaning the ropes. The parament colors had to be changed, the large cross draped in purple, and the other usual changes made to the altar area. As they stepped back to admire their work and consider if any additional changes were needed they noticed the US flag up near the front of the sanctuary. For some time, about a year, the flag had been in the back left corner of the sanctuary and the chair persons decided to move it back there for a number of reasons both practical and symbolic. Everything seemed to be in place so the doors were closed to be opened again the next day for Sunday School and worship.

Sunday arrives, the discussion in the Adult class is the usual interesting give and take, a learning experience for both the students and leader. Class comes to an end (as it turns out an abrupt one) because the Self Appointed Guardian of All Things Patriotic storms into the room, his red, white, and blue cape flapping behind him, and asks acquisitively, "Who moved the flag?" I admitted that I had done it and when I couldn't give a concise "in a nutshell " reason; another pronouncement emanated from The Guardian . "Well I'm moving it back." And he did; without regard for how things were done and only being motivated by self appointed, misguided, super patriotic righteousness, the same sort of motivation that caused members of another religion to fly airplanes into skyscrapers.

As lightly as I have treated this incident in the previous paragraph it did set off a controversy in the church because the presence of a national flag in a worship setting and the appropriateness of it being there is one of those "hot button" issues. I had always felt uncomfortable when on or near national holidays patriotic music was featured in the worship service, so uncomfortable in fact that I would not attend on those occasions. But my reasoning was not well formed at that time; it just felt wrong somehow. After the marching of the flag by The Guardian back to its former place I decided it was time that I investigated the policy of the United Methodist Church on this question. I went to Info Serve, the United Methodist information service. They provided me with answers as to the policy of the greater church. In the several months of my pondering this question I also "stumbled" across other wisdom from a variety of sources including scripture. The issue was finally confronted by a vote of all interested members one Sunday morning. (The last sentence greatly condenses the time span between the moving of the flag and the vote.) Because I felt that the congregation was not being given a complete understanding of the issue I condensed what I felt that I had learned into a letter that I mailed to many members of the church. I originally wanted to insert the letter into a Sunday bulletin but was not allowed to do that by the church pastor. The letter that I composed can be seen under the post "CHURCH AND FLAG A CHOICE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH."

Don Quixote of Rome

Saturday, April 19, 2008

But it is just a pinch of incense!