The Civic and the Sacred

Dear Reader,

Following this past Sunday's remembrances of the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, I am compelled to reflect upon the intersection of liturgy and public life. Like many, this is an intersection that I avoid because we've all seen it navigated quite poorly. I will humbly attempt to set out the dangers of navigating this poorly as well as the dangers of avoiding it all together. I will then conclude with some thoughts on engaging this difficult intersection rightly.


You're doing it wrong: Church and state a wee bit too cozy


Much of why I typically avoid engaging public observances liturgically is rooted in seeing it done so poorly so often. What immediately comes to mind is the often onerous task of going to Church on the Fourth of July (or the Sunday nearest). I am proud to be an American, but flag-waving (sometimes literally) during the celebration taking place in the Kingdom of Heaven is wantonly inappropriate. Liturgy transcends national allegiances and raises us to the higher truth that our first and primary citizenship is found in Heaven, rather than in any nation (no matter how great) of this world. This is the first danger, of making the worship of God and allegiance to the state one and the same. I am a loyal American and a loyal Priest of the Church--but these are two separate commitments, with my commitment to Christ and His Church necessarily trumping my commitment to our great nation.


It is easy enough for the observer to discern when love of God and love of country are made to be one and the same thing, but what about a second danger that is more subtle? In some cases love of country is presented as a component, a necessary part, of loving God rightly. This can be more difficult to root out, because instead of conflating love of God with love of country, one takes the qualities of a faithful relationship with God (e.g. loyalty, love, devotion, allegiance) and then concludes that if God calls us to be loyal and loving people--which He does--we should then exhibit love and loyalty to the state as well. Of course, we cannot be loyal to the state when it opposes God, so this cannot be always true. In short, the more subtle form of this problem is presented that the kind of person who loves God rightly is also the kind of person who is loyal to his or her state.


With both of these errors, it's mostly a matter of degree of error rather than of kind. We Americans in particular need to be mindful of our collective tendency to assume that God has a special interest in the United Sates that He does not have everywhere else. It is certainly true that God has used our country for good, just as he has used rulers in every age of history for good. But we would do well to remember how absurd it would be if the paintbrush assumed that a masterpiece was glorious due to its qualities rather than the fact that it was used by the master artist. However God may choose to use America to paint a small portion of the history that He is unfolding, we are still just a brush. Love of God and loyalty to the state must always be separate, even when the state is used for good.


Where are we going? And why are we in this hand basket?


While it is an error for the Church to get too cozy with the state, it is also an error for the Church to abdicate her rightful role to proclaim the Gospel in society. I found it heartbreaking to watch some of the 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in which no clergy were involved, "meditative silence" replaced actual prayer, and Shakespeare and Scripture were both read with equal reverence and dignity. Certainly we can do better than having civic memorial events that are so blatantly secular. I much rather would have waited quietly for the Christian cleric's turn to pray in a long line of representatives from every religion imaginable than to do whatever it is I was supposed to do in the quiet of my heart after hearing from Shakespeare. The Church has a place in wider culture, and however one articulates that, there is no getting out of the fact that part of our being in the world but not of it is to be in the midst of all of the triumph and tragedy that happen in the world. We cannot permit all of religion to be pushed to the sidelines when there is a public observance to take place. On this I would gladly stand with persons of any faith and oppose the false notion that one can properly remember the dead without being at all religious.


In addition to the Church being in the public square, there is also the issue of how to observe national events within the context of a Sunday liturgy in the Church. Since the liturgy is the work of all of the people, and the gathering together of the prayers of the faithful, it would have been dishonest to have Mass on Sunday while pretending that it wasn't the 10th anniversary of 9/11. To ignore civic observances, especially one that has to do with remembering the dead and the living who still suffer, is a grave error indeed. It is good and right to situate such things within the context of the liturgy of the Church and to interpret such events through the lens of the Gospel. We cannot ignore elephants in the room, even if it means it will be a lot of work to do liturgy well on a particular day. We must deal with what is up and alive in our communities, and this will at times require us to engage with a civic remembrance.



Thoughts on the way forward: Handling this intersection rightly


Since we cannot conflate love of God with loyalty to the state, and since the Church is responsible for proclaiming the Gospel in all places, including the public square, we must sort out how to rightly deal with in intersection of the civic and the Sacred. As with most things, it seems like a great part of the way forward is to make sure our various concerns and commitments are properly ordered. I'll offer some questions to help one tease this out, regardless of what observance is being dealt with:


1. Is love of God and fidelity to Church teaching clearly seen as the highest good?

2. Does whatever Church observance (e.g. Sunday Mass) appear to be the context in which the other observance (e.g. 9/11) is situated or is it the other way around?

3. Are the main duties of the Church easily observed, or has the civic observance taken center stage? For example, on 9/11 the Church can celebrate Mass, pray for the living and the dead, and pray for peace (all part of Her primary mission) without getting bogged down in nationalistic rhetoric.


4. Is the Church proclaiming the Gospel clearly--even if this means pushing back against the state--or is She simply blessing whatever it is that the state has given Her to bless?


These are thorny issues indeed. I hope these reflections have been helpful in beginning to sort out an important issue that most of us (myself absolutely included) would rather avoid. I'd love to hear your thoughts and would welcome any and all civil interaction in the comments. What do you think about this intersection? Have you seen practices that you think are commendable? Have you been in a worship context in which you were uncomfortable with nationalism? Of course, if you wish to share a negative experience, please do spare us the name of the parish and the denomination. We can have this discussion without degrading other Christians.

As always, thanks for dropping by!


Peace to You All,

David+