From Your Synod Executive...

My July 4th tradition is the Peachtree Road Race, the world’s largest 10K held amidst the heat and humidity of a summer Atlanta morning.  This is my 17th year to take part.  Note that I did not say my 17th year to “run” it, though I remember the days I was able to do so quite longingly.  I’m usually much too tired to reflect on patriotism and our faith after the race, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to do so here in my column.

The Oxford Dictionary defines patriotism, in part, as “the feeling of loving your country more than any others.”  We can love our country more than others while delighting in its virtues and recognizing its flaws.  We can celebrate its grandeur and history and also improve what falls short.  We can be overwhelmed with gratitude for what America offers while working toward an ever more perfect union.

It reminds me of God’s Word to the exiles in the book of Jeremiah:  “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).  If God’s people in exile could work for the peace and prosperity of a land they never wanted to enter, surely we can work for peace and prosperity for a country many of us love more than any other.

The Synod’s Leadership Committee is focusing our fall annual assembly on one way to strengthen our country’s culture:  bridge building with people with whom we disagree.  Our differences often define us:  generational, political, theological, geographic, financial, etc., etc., etc. A study at Standford University states that “America’s widening political divide stands out above other nations.” I want the country that I love more than all others to do better in this respect, and I’m glad that we’ll be looking at it this fall. 

Building bridges over disagreement will help us live into our oneness in Christ (Ephesians 4:5-6).  Another study, this one by More in Common, found in 2024 that faith leaders are key to handling division in American society, and that Christians are less polarized than other demographics. At our October assembly, we’ll learn about how to join those making a difference in this area.

One of our Synod partners has been helpful to me in meeting these challenges, the One America Movement, which “partners with faith communities across religious, political, and racial divides to confront toxic polarization in our society.”  Their most recent newsletter included a fascinating article about a liberal synagogue in Los Angelos and a conservative Evangelical church in Nebraska.  About sixteen people across the two houses of worship come together biweekly to have conversations across lines of faith, geography, and ideology.

As one of the leaders put it, “The goal of the group was never to solve a debate but to meet people we otherwise wouldn’t and try to understand where they were coming from.  We were perplexed and curious.  We knew they could not be monsters, but things we had heard sounded monstrous to us.”  Miraculously, they report that “it didn’t take long before we were flying across the country to visit each other’s homes and attend each other’s religious services.”  Political opinions did not change, but bridges were built an a skyrocketing rate.  (You can read more about their experience here: This Is How The Buggle Pops - by One America Movement)

Synod Commissioner Jon Carlisle helped connect their work with patriotism and July 4th for me. The article doesn’t mention whether the participants would call themselves “patriotic.”  But I know they make me love my country more than I did before I learned about them!  Happy Independence Day!

Grateful to be your partner in ministry,

Rev. Charles B Hardwick, PhD                                            

Executive                            

chip@synodofthecovenant.org

309-530-4578