Our Country, 'Tis Of Thee

(A brief note to Christ-followers)

After the flood
Before the fire
You'll find me in time
And you might find me tired
I've been on the move
I'm just passing through
To a city that's fairer
And I mean to get there
Someday
-Jesus Music, Dogwood (1975)-

So, here's the deal.

You know that long list of names that opens up the New Testament? The begats one? The one that starts with Abraham and ends with Jesus? Yeah, that one.

Abraham, father of all the faithful, Sarah, mother of nations: Wanderers and nomads all over the Fertile Crescent of four thousand years ago. (Where portions of modern Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Gaza strip, Egypt sit.) Of whom the world was not worthy.

In the middle of the list see David, King of Israel? In the strength of youth hiding in the back country and in foreign territories, running from oppressive despots. And again, as an old man on the run from a rebel king.

At list's end, Jesus ... born to migrants, no room at the inn in which to deliver a baby. Then on the run to Egypt, refugees in a foreign land. Foxes have dens, birds have nests, said Jesus, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

Displaced people. Wanderers. Sojourners. Exiles. Aliens. Migrants. Foreigners. Refugees. And when at home, not really home.

I mean, here's the deal.

Our father in faith, Abraham, with bride Sarah, sets our agenda: They sought a homeland, they acknowledged to be strangers and exiles on the earth. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God. Indeed, he builds for them a city in the sky.

And thus we: Strangers and exiles in this world. This country. This land. Seeking a city made without hands, in a set beyond this land that was not made for you and me.

By witness of the New Testament, the Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, lays it out clearly: My kingdom is not of this world. I go to prepare a place for you. In my father's home is plenty of space. And I will come back and bring you with me.

And so we: Seekers of the land that indeed was made for you and me. The homeland of our God, in the skies. Our country, 'tis of thee, O God.

But what to do in the meantime?

By further witnesses of the New Testament:

Honor everyone.
Love the brotherhood.
Respect God.
Honor the emperor.

And by witness of the Hebrew Bible:

You shall treat the
stranger who
sojourns with you as the
native among you, and you shall
love him as yourself, for you were
strangers in the
land of Egypt:
I am Jehovah, your God.

So as strangers in the land, we join with all the alien wanderers on a planet overwhelmed with labor pains, recognizing in each other respectively the yearning for communion with the Great Spirit, with God and his Christ.

This world is not my home

I'm just a-passing through

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from
   heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in
   this world anymore

-Gospel Hymn (1939)-