Nations can't be Christian. (Christian Nationalism, Power, and Faith)

What’s something imperfect that still brings you joy?

Christianity here on earth will always be as imperfect as the Christians of whom it is composed - and (especially if you consider yourself among them, you know that) those Christians will always be imperfect. Despite this, there is occasionally a hope or even call for this group of people, referred to as "Christianity," to be a force for something good. The reality, however, is that Christianity isn't meant to be a force. It is not given the tools or mission to be anything that might be described as a force, because it is not given greater power as a collective.

Now that you've answered the Icebreaker, here's another question - this one, about nations and faith.

It may seem overly simple to say that "only a person can be Christian" when things like Christian books, charities, and churches are all common and it seems perfectly sensible to call them Christian because they're meant to help people who follow Jesus. However, even in those examples, the purpose of a book or charity or congregation is to help Christians, not to do their work in their place or to fulfill the mission that Jesus has given to his people when he said, in John 13:34–35:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
It won't be by books or nations or charities or churches. Hopefully that makes enough sense to get you started.

Jesus,
You are the prime example of love:
unadulterated, pure, and unconditional.
May your followers be reflections of that love.
Let your kingdom come
and your name be shown as good
through love and through love alone.
Amen.

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
- Wendell Berry

Choose one person to read the non-bolded words. 
Everyone else, read the bolded lines together.

Jesus, you came not to dominate, but to dwell among us.
You laid down your power and took up a cross.
You formed a people not to conquer, but to serve.

Shape us into your body, humble and brave.

We confess that we have longed for influence more than faithfulness,
for victory more than mercy,
for control more than compassion.

Forgive us, and teach us the way of love.

You call us your church—
not an empire, but a body;
not a nation, but a holy people;
not a force, but a light.

Let us shine with grace, not glare with power.

You gave us no armies, only the armor of God.
No thrones, only a table.
No weapons, only the Word.

Clothe us in humility, and send us in peace.

We reject the lie that your kingdom comes through coercion.
We renounce the myth that nations can be Christian.
We embrace the truth that your power is made perfect in weakness.

Make us bold in love, patient in suffering, and faithful in witness.

Until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord,
not by force, but by the slow, radiant work of grace—

Make us your people, O Christ.
Not a force, but a family.
Not a power, but a presence.
Not a nation, but a new creation.
Amen.

Spotlights about sensitive topics such as this aren't simple, and it can be easy to give a wrong impression or just plain be off. If you felt like that was the case in this Spotlight, please let us know. Thank you.

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