We the People

"Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor." - 1 Peter 2:17 (NIV)

via TJC

You can sometimes spot an American before you hear a word. The way we lean against a counter. How we walk into a room. Then somebody starts talking, and we are "made". All over the world...we are recognized. Different colors, sizes, shapes, men and women. An ocean from home, something familiar gives us away. We are a people.

Today, September 17, is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Our Constitution was signed on this date in 1787. Open it and read the first three words: "We the People."

Being an American means something specific.

We belong to a constitutional republic, with a written framework for governing ourselves. Public power has limits. We have protected freedoms, including the freedom to worship. We have a lawful way to change the Constitution itself. A passing mood doesn't replace that. Neither can the loudest man in the room.

When we forget who we are, we need to consider our Constitution. Our Constitution, including its amendments, gives our common life its governing shape. "American" cannot mean whatever any one of us wants it to mean!

Consider what people have endured to be here. Immigrants have left familiar streets and learned a new country's laws before taking the citizenship oath. Formerly enslaved people lived to see the Fourteenth Amendment recognize their citizenship. Everyone came here under outrageous circumstances and struggled to hold what we saw in our hands, here - right here in this Constitutional Republic.

The Constitution's citizenship clause speaks of birth or naturalization and being subject to the nation's jurisdiction. However, in America, the newest citizen stands inside the same constitutional order as the family that has been here for generations.

The Constitution guaruntees our freedoms and insists that "God is no respecter of persons.". Acts 10:34. At times, this may seem unfair: a "free for all". However, the constitution places checks and balances upon the individual and the group.

We are a nation of laws, rules and culture. We are a people. The Constitution is the measuring stick when we ask what it means to be an American (not the particular seasoning you keep in your cabinet whether it be salt, adobo, or harissa).

Christ tells us how to live among neighbors. Peter commands respect for everyone and honor for earthly authority. He reserves fear for God. Our love of country answers to the Lord who commands us to love our neighbor.

That reaches into the way we talk about the country, too. The person across the table has a name before he has an opinion. His or her freedom matters when they disagree with us. We can defend the Constitution and speak without contempt. Jesus Christ must be visible in the way we do both.

We may give ourselves away as Americans by the way we walk into a room. Let the way we treat the people in it give us away as His.

Daily Battle Order

Tonight, open the Constitution on your phone or in hard copy. Read the Preamble. Then read Peter's verse (above) again. Name one person whose views have made it hard for you to show respect. Before bed, pray for that person by name. Ask Christ to govern your next conversation.

Father, thank You for this country and for those who struggled to belong to it. Teach us to keep faith with our constitutional duties and to honor every neighbor You place before us. Let our words and conduct bear the likeness of Your Son. In Jesus' name. Amen.