Celebrating the Fourth of July in church

Yesterday we celebrated the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, which happened to fall the day after the Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day.

During our worship we said several of the Prayers for National Life, including the Collect for Independence Day (p. 242 in the Prayer Book); the Thanksgiving for the Nation (p. 838); the Collect for Heroic Service (p. 839); and we sang "My country, 'tis of thee" and "O beautiful for spacious skies" in the 10:00 Eucharist.

My question: Is this about the right amount of patriotic content for the Sunday after the Fourth of July? Too much? Too little?

As the Episcopal Church, we have a tradition of praying for the nation which goes back to our roots in the Church of England, a state church. The church is to hold up the nation before God and ask God's blessing and favor.

The other side of that tradition is that the church is supposed to play a prophetic role in the nation, calling the country to account when we fail to meet our ideals. Being too closely aligned with the nation makes it difficult to speak prophetically.

So the church needs to celebrate the nation and its values, but not identify itself completely with the nation. Finding that fine line can be difficult. Let's hope we get it right.
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