“America the Beautiful”
“You’re a Grand Old Flag”
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
“Stars Spangled Banner”
“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

These are a sampling of the songs and verses that the unique attributes of America have inspired in its devoted citizens.

Christians, across all ages and locales, have lived in countries, empires, city-states, or some type of political realm that governs public and private life. Even in the age of exploration, all the colonial powers were taking over lands that were already being governed under some type of political order, whether loosely organized like many indigenous tribes in the western hemisphere or Africa, or the more established empires like the Khmer, Mon, or Ayutthaya kingdoms of Southeast Asia. Some consider the impact of colonial history and the age of exploration for its dubious effect: it introduced an age when indigenous nations and tribes that pre-existed were decimated by disease and conquest.

Such expansion and aggression are not unique to history, for colonialism, conquest, and empire building have marked the darker side of all of humanity throughout all ages, as revealed even in Scripture.

I live in the United States, a country that has a unique history of being founded by European people who were in the throes of the Enlightenment but who had a long cultural heritage influenced by Christendom. Many of the founders sought a better and freer country in which to practice their religion. Others came for the free trade to make money without being oppressed by tyrants. Some came to start the type of religious country that they had hoped to realize in Scotland, or the Netherlands, or Great Britain, but which, alas, was lost. Many had wanted America to be that Puritan or Quaker country they struggled to defend in Europe.

There were mixed motives for sure, but in the end, a unique country was born: one rooted in freedom of worship, free trade, and Christian morals and ethics. The United States, while distinctive and attractive, is not a perfect country. Many people who come from all over the world know this and still want to come and live here. That is why my grandfather (and many of our relatives) left his homeland to settle here. In fact, many of our students are first-generation (or 1.5) Americans![1]

This Independence Day may be a good time to reaffirm the best of our singular country and push against the worst of it. Rather than highlight all the controversies of the past and present, we do well instead to remember the more noble characteristics that have been poetically and artistically recorded for our benefit and guidance. A Boston seminary student (Andover Theological Seminary, 1831), Samuel Francis Smith, wrote:

My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing:
land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside
let freedom ring!

My native country, thee, land of the noble free,
thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills
like that above.

No more shall tyrants here with haughty steps appear,
And soldier bands;
No more shall tyrants tread, above the patriot dead—
No more our blood be shed
By alien hands.

This beautiful patriotic song celebrates themes of liberty, beauty, and freedom from tyrants. It concludes with a Christian—or at least Deist—last line:

Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our king.

Yes, it is a prayer, as if to say, God, we ask you to protect us, and protect our freedom, which is our light. For you, God, are our king, and we have no other.

God has blessed Nancy and me to travel around the world for the past 50 years. We have seen some wonderful countries with beautiful people. But we should be clear as to why so many people want to come to the United States. There is much to be said for a country that believes in freedom of worship and work, and to pursue education, a place of law and order with Christian values undergirding most areas of society.

I believe it is our patriotic duty as Christians to work in our local communities to live into those promise and possibilities that are uniquely available for Christians in the United States of America. We are free to learn well, serve well, and evangelize well in our country.

Thank you, Jesus.

[1] Meaning those who came as children with their families.

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.