Going to Church

I've been back in the States now for about 7 weeks. I've gone to church every week. Each week has been a little shocking and little disappointing. Worship seems dull, the congregation seems disinterested, and the preaching seems like dumbed down moral lessons. But my frustration came to its peak this morning as never before.

The sermon was on national pride, how christians ought to be patriotic, and we should be one nation under God because that's what the founding fathers meant when they wrote the bill of rights.

Trying to be an american missionary means that I have a certain desire to see my fellow american come to know the Lord, turn to Jesus and be saved. It means on a certain level I want my nation to be redeemed. However, I lack the faith in the Bill of Rights to get our nation to that place of repentance and revival.

Don't get me wrong, I love my country and I am very thankful of the particular freedoms that we have in the U.S. Like the rest of America on the 4th, last Friday, I went to a fair, ate a corn dog on a stick, and went and enjoyed fireworks with my family and friends. I had a blast. But there moments where it seemed as if we were encouraged to worship our Nation, and I guess it just felt a little weird (especially having lived away from that for almost two years).

Needless to say I felt like walking out but couldn't and just listened (cussing in my head) with my mouth open wide not really believing that this was actually happening.

As an American Missionary I choose not to believe that this is a great nation, but believe that this is a broken and hurting nation that desperately needs Jesus.