Tuesday, July 29, 2008

... Torn Loyalties

I went to see the presentation of the Jesus for President tour. One of the deep messages of the presentation was to point to the problem that happens when you have loyalty to God and to your country. The speaker, Shane Claiborne, encouraged us to follow God... and to be loyal to our country only if Jesus/God/God's love/God's teachings would approve. By the same token, Quakerism, deeply rooted in divine love, should only get our energy because (and only to the extent that...) we have the opportunity to deepen God's love through it. And not because it is some special thing with any meaning independent of "that which is eternal" or God.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In the movie "A Few Good Men", they spoke of the Marine Corps' Silent "Code" - Unit/ Corps/ God/ Country/ is how they recited their Code.

I had an insight about this - the part of me that would object to such a Code, saw something differently on the day that I was watching the movie. It seems that I saw something about God being IN each of those items of order - and that indeed, to meet Gods Love first and foremost, would in fact be to put ones own considerations in just that order - Unit (the one of Gods children right there in front of you), Corps (the things that those around you think are important, so that they may find Peace in their lives), God (The things the Bible and other sacred texts might have to teach us), Country (Notions of "mine" and "yours" and borders/ 'dont step over the line unless I say you can' Must come last!)

Funny, the source of that Code, the very notion of "Code" at all, and giving another look at what it could mean, can bring something new to ones meditations.