Happy 4th of July

Last night, the neighborhood behind us put on a pretty good fireworks show. I don't know why they did it on the third and not the fourth, but anyway... I was excited for my son to see his first fireworks and while he did not seem to enjoy them, he didn't cry either so I was happy! This week we have a good friend, Misael, visiting us from Peru. He brought his mother along for this trip; her first time to the states.
The fireworks did their job and soon I was thinking patriotic thoughts, star spangled banner, all that. I am generally uncomfortable with the idea of being "patriotic." It conjurs images of middle class white America (my neighborhood), flags hanging from their rooftops, proclaiming America to be the most blessed of all countries because of our freedoms. It makes me think of people who actually believe English should be the national language and that putting a giant fence between the U.S. and Mexico is a great idea. It's an attitude of superiority that makes me cringe, and I was even more aware of the feeling sitting next to two Peruvian nationals.
Mark and I were discussing a quote which appeared on the cover of last month's Esquire Magazine by Charles P. Pierce concerning Barack Obama: "What we need now is not a leader to assure us of our greatness...But one who will challenge us to reassert it." What I think (which, largely, does not matter) is that we don't need to worry about being great, but being good.
While I am truly grateful for the freedoms America affords, keenly aware that this country has made my family very wealthy, and pray daily for the safety of our troops, our freedoms can also trap us into believing being "great" and "free" are all that matter and that we should preserve these qualities at any cost. America, if we want to tout it as a Christian nation, should concern itself primarily with giving: giving money, time, efforts to making other nations stronger as well, without fear of being replaced as the super power we are.
So, this 4th, thank God for the country you live in, but also dedicate some time to thinking about people who live in other countries who may not have the same civil and governmental freedoms we do, but who have true freedom through Christ, the only freedom that matters.