Worship Beyond Nationalism

Book excerpt: The church in the United States faces a dilemma: How is it possible for Christ's followers to worship faithfully in a nationalistic environment where religion and politics enjoy a vigorous affiliation while the separation of church and state is celebrated as the standard for the relationship between nation and faith? When nationalism propagates itself through a cross-pollination of the stories, symbols, and celebrations of the nation-state and religious groups, the stage is set for a national history bearing the character of sanctified legend. Such resulting civil religious activity is likely to create dissonance for Christ's followers between what they understand to be biblically faithful and what nationalistic practices may endorse as religiously valid. Worship Beyond Nationalism explores faithful worship as a political act by which Christians declare their allegiance to God in Christ rather than to worldly empires, enabling congregations to enact the reality of God's kingdom and embody the gospel for the glory of God and for the sake of the world.