One of my all-time favorite bumper stickers says, "Jesus told us to love our enemies, not kill them".  It is so simple but we get it messed up so often.  I am reminded of a recent 4th of July celebration that I am sure had echoes in other communities across the nation.  It was the last song of a night of hymns and celebration of freedom, 'Battle Hymn of the Republic'.  My verdict is still out on how exactly we are to mesh our spirituality with patriotic themes.  However, as we sang this song people were waving their small American flags that they recieved as they entered the outdoor ampitheater that night.  It was somewhat frightening to hear:

 accompanied by the waving of the American flag.  I am not quite sure if the folks doing the waving really understood what they were doing.  It seemed to be one of those peer pressure things, like when everybody stands during a worship service.  One of the more striking verses in the hymn, which I might add is not included in most hymnals, but reveals the true nature of the song is this:

'Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel' - Julia Howe wrote this song in the midst of a Union camp in the Civil war and one can only take the 'burnished rows of steel' to be the lines of artilery!  The only Gospel I know was written by the self-sacrifice of a humble man an old rugged cross.  Mrs. Howe seems to have gotten the roles mixed up and assigned the bearers of the Good News the role of those who kill, rather than those who are killed.  

Yet we seem to partner our faith with our nation all the time.  We seem to forget we are an 'alien' people.  We are citizens of a New Jerusalem and our only allegiance is to the Kingdom of God alone.  To paraphrase one leading evangelical preacher, "When our young men and women go and die for our country we call them noble, but when they sell all they have, give to the poor and follow Jesus we call them crazy."  I believe we have for too long left an 'American Idol' to have its way in the hearts of Americans and we have left it untouched for so long in the church that it has found a permanent resting place that will be painful to remove.  It is the American flag in the sanctuary, it is the pledge of allegiance at Bible school.  It is the Battle Hymn with flags waving.  

Yet, the question of Christian involvement in war and politics has been one that has never been answered to the approval of all, and I am doubtless that it never will be.  Of all the things I am incompetent at, politics is probably second only to cars and sports.  Which is why this topic intimidates me - it is unchartered waters for me.  My question comes when I try to think about the long-term well being of those in countries that have horrible governments who are turning a blind-eye to crimes against humanity or who are withholding much needed resources.  

A team from our church recently went to a country that is now being oppressed by the government.  The two weeks they were there they did not have any bread that was made in the country.  In fact, people were waiting in lines 4 and 5 hours long to get one loaf of bread for a week.  However, one of the team members smuggled some bread and other groceries into the country from a neighboring country (The very idea that you would have to smuggle food into a starving country is just crazy!).  But the point is that they had to operate 'below the radar' to help the people they were there to serve.  

So here is the question:  How do we as followers of Christ advocate for those in other countries that need outside help in moving/transforming their current corrupt governments?  It seems that to do this in an effective manner eventually military leverage would have to be used.  But this seems counter-intuitive to the call of Christ.  Is there a way to effectively be international advocates in a non-violent way?  Recently Jan Egeland gave 10 challenges to Christian relief agencies and one of them was, "We are there to change things, not just to keep people alive.  Humanitarian aid cannot become an alibi for moral and political change." My question is, are there instances where 'political change' will not come peaceably?  If so, what is the Christ-follower's response?

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