The Rev. Austin K. Rios
2nd July 2023: Pentecost 5 (Proper 8)
I grew up in Texas and Louisiana, states in the American South that were very much into the concept of patriotic allegiance.
Each morning before the first classes began, our teacher would ask us to stand up, put our hand over our heart, and begin reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
For those of you who didn’t grow up in this context, the words of the pledge are these:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
As a child, beginning daily studies with a reminder that what we were doing in the classroom was connected to a larger understanding of citizenship was meaningful.
However, as I grew older, and became more aware of the ways in which the flag, the nation, and the concept of indivisibility could be coopted by unethical people in power and converted into dangerous idols employed to control others, I was faced with a dilemma.
How could I pledge allegiance to a flag that claimed to stand for liberty and justice for all while my nation systematically denied liberty and justice to many of its citizens— especially its non-white citizens?
How could I pledge allegiance to a nation that engaged in wars to gain access to fossil fuels, or that brought terror and destruction to other governments and national economies when it was deemed in the country’s best interest?
These questions were very difficult to engage, and I could see how accepting blind allegiance, without asking such questions, might be tempting as an easier route for many of my fellow citizens.
But as a follower of Jesus Christ first and foremost—as a citizen of the reign of God through Baptism before citizenship in any other nation—my ultimate allegiance is to the Triune God who made me, loves me, and has freed me from the bondage of sin in order to see God’s reign emerge on this Earth as it was, is, and always shall be in heaven.
There is room in my heart for love of my country and hope for the flag for which it stands to live into its fullest promise.
But my allegiance is reserved only for the crucified and resurrected one to whom we eternally belong through the free gift of grace.
Our reading from Romans today sees our patron saint calling hearers both ancient and contemporary to make the pivotal decision about where to give their ultimate allegiance.
On the one hand, Paul sees the option of allegiance to sin, and on the other hand, allegiance to God.
His argument is that since Jesus has already liberated us from the bondage we knew under sin, we should never again go back to belonging to sin again.
Commentator Mary Hinkle Shore[1] likens the situation to going back in to work at a job you’ve already quit, or to a professional athlete showing back up to play on a team from which they’ve already been traded.
The point is that once we no longer belong to sin, which is what Christ accomplished through rising from the dead, we should not go back to its bondage but move freely into the new life God gracefully gives us.
Of course, we are all aware that even if our salvation is secured in Christ, that does not eliminate the reality of sin in our world and in our own lives.
Being a faithful Christian is not about being perfect, but about being on a journey with the Lord that allows us to access more of the reality of God’s eternal life as we repeatedly turn from sin and choose Christ’s way, especially when such choices are hard or costly.
I’m not sure how you grew up, but I think it bears saying that when we talk about sin we are talking about a lot more than the sexual sins that preoccupy consciences.
Sometimes I worry that the human fascination with sex is so extreme that the much more entrenched sorts of sins like racism, misogyny, and fear of anyone deemed “other” evade our attention.
The journey of discipleship is a long and hard one, and while the celebration of initiation we have in Baptism is meaningful and important, we need trusted companions to walk with us on the pilgrim road, to know us well enough to tell us beautiful and hard truths about our lives, and to remind us to keep belonging to the God who redeemed us instead of turning back to anything lesser.
Who are the trusted companions in your life who keep you pledging allegiance to God?
Who in this community can you trust to walk with you, tell you the truth, and to remind you of the way to the freedom for which your heart longs?
How are you connecting with others in this community in order to keep proclaiming the liberating reign of God and welcoming those who too well know the wages of slavery to sin and long for the freedom that we have glimpsed and been offered in Christ?
If you have answers to the question already, then I am glad to hear it!
But if you are looking for help in this journey, then I encourage you to reach out to one another at coffee hour today, or sometime this week, and allow your conversations and connections to develop along this shared allegiance.
We all have an individual role to play as members of this mystical body of Christ, but we are first and foremost a people, so it is important for our growth and maturity to go into our shared destiny together.
My home country is at its best and most promising when it understands and incorporates lessons that we know through our spiritual journey: That unity doesn’t arise from erasing differences but by integrating them; that freely choosing to serve others instead of looking for ways to entrap and enslave them actually leads to liberty and justice for all, and that the way we treat the vulnerable, the outcast, and the “other” reveals more about our truest beliefs than any flag or symbol ever will.
As America celebrates another birthday this week, I pray that it will more fully embrace the ways of living together that we proclaim as primary in Christ.
But whether it does or doesn’t, I pray that we might all pledge our ultimate allegiance to the God who will not fade or fail us—the God to whom we eternally belong through the free gift of grace in Jesus Christ.