The church and the nation
June 20, 2011
I’m reading a VERY thought-provoking book right now entitled The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God, by Timothy 
Gombis. I hope shortly to post a review/synopsis of the book, but for now I thought I’d offer a challenging quote, one to consider especially with July 4th right around the corner:
The church is always being tempted to blend and confuse its identity with that of a specific nation. This has happened predominantly in the Christian West, where European nations envisioned themselves as Christian nations, furthering the kingdom of God on earth as an inevitable part of their national agendas. Many Christians in the United States today make a similar mistake, envisioning an originally Christian nation that has been hijacked by secularists and liberals. The agenda of the church, then, must orient itself toward “taking America back” and getting it “back on track.” Paul, however, does not tie the history of God’s people to any national identity; our history goes back to eternity past, where God set of on a mission to rescue God’s people and make them a source of life for the world. . . . We do not rightly understand ourselves if we go back to a day when our ancestors came to America.
