A More Perfect Union

In some Homeric poems of antiquity, Atlas is depicted as a Titan who is tasked with holding up the earth on his shoulders. The image of Atlas holding up the heavens  is a powerful symbol of commitment and fortitude. 

Is it possible for any one person or collective to hold a society together? Is it doable or simply a lofty whim of idealistic ideologues? In this, so-called 'land of the free and the home of the brave'  does the nation's  desire for ‘a more perfect union’ exist any longer?

Is it an ideal whose time has come and gone – passe? Do we understand what a more perfect union portends, and whether we do or not,  is such a  beatific state any longer a part of the once vaunted, but now vanishing, American dream?

Like most elementary school children, I learned the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution when I was in the 5^th grade. We had to learn it by rote and be able to recite every line of it, word for word, without error – all at a moment’s notice.

The only task more daunting was quoting Dunbar’s "In the Morning,"  Tennyson’s "Crossing the Bar, " or the many other poems and prose of literarture, language and lore which we also had to learn.

Those hectic yet happy, halcyon days of study were some of the most challenging and thrilling of my entire educational experience.

As I listen to the rhetoric that is bandied about on the political scene today the idea of forming or maintaining a union seems virtually implausible if not downright impossible – and you say ‘forming a "more perfect"’ one is the goal?

How did we get here and who’s to blame for this messy morass of anger, grievance, and ugliness? Some say, “the white man created it,” therefore it’s his burden to solve it. Others say, “it's avillge; we’re all culpable” and thus the solution must come from the many, whether they be the offender or the offended.

What role, if any, should the ubiquitous church play in all of this dangling discord?; for a foofaraw it certainly is not. It is well established knowledge that in matters of law that ‘any attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client.’ So, then, can the ‘physician heal himself?’ 

America was established as a representative democracy not a theocracy; and although many of the Founders were believers in God, they were more deist, possessing a belief in a higher being, than they were Christian.

In the opinion of many, the doctrine of “separation of church and state” has served the nation well. In virtually every instance where religious liberty has been allowed to seep over into the body politic some group suffered via the "tyranny of the majority" wherein the majority imposes its will at the expense of those of the minority faction – and here we speak not of race, only, but in all matters of law, rights, egalitarianism and juridical standing.  

For some, the wall or hedge of separation has proven quite beneficial to all camps – secular, religious and irreligious.

Nationalism and patriotism have their place. I speak as an ex-soldier who served three years of active duty overseas some fifty plus years ago; however, the Christian’s primary allegiance is to the word of God first, and all else secondarily.

Voting, dear friend is NOT a spiritual or sacred duty - not quite. No, it is a (birth)right and should be a highly regarded civic responsibility. The Believer mustn’t permit estate nor status regardless of station to supersede her sacred duty to ‘hold up the blood stained banner’ above all else.

Neither politics nor any other amusement or sobriety can be permitted to serve as the church’s chief platform. No, scripture forcefully reminds us that “On Christ the Solid Rock We Stand,” All Other Ground is Sinking Sand.” That , Beloved, is our unshakeable platform!

Having said that, we mustn’t be myopic, shortsighted, and overlook the fact that God has charged us himself as stewards over the earth and all of its creatures - and creations.

An amazing synergy is created and then awakened when church and individual unite for the common good of all humanity.

In his classic "The City of God," Augustine, the great 5th century theologian, reminds us that we have dual citizenship granted to us. One earthly, terrestrial, temporal; the other, heavenly, celestial, eternal.

Stephen Covey, author of  "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," reminds us  that we must  forever remember to "Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing."

A society without rules, statutes, ordinances and laws is a seething cauldron of immorality and degradation where  the denizen is permitted to do what is convenient and acceptable in his own sight. 

Without question, such unrestraint shreds the social contract festering and oozing pus from a social contagion which will ultimately lead to anarchy and Baalism (Exodus 32). Society must be moored and tethered to something greater than itself alone.

So, then, should the Believer get involved in politics? Should they vote? The answer is an unequivocal “YES!”

Will this involvement produce the long-sought  Perfect Union? “No,” not necessarily, and not within itself, alone.

But  it will produce a burgeoning bulwark standing in the hedge making a noticeable difference in a sordid world fraught with decay, decadence and death. This is exactly what keeps the fragile society from devolving into dystopian suffering and wanton injustice.

And that, dear friend, makes “We the People” the instruments and vessels of the highest order, used by God to transform the world; Perfectly!