I do not see a biblical case for America being the kingdom of God on earth. Any attempt to argue that concept as truth ends in hate, fear, and violence. If we hold the teachings of Jesus alongside hate, fear, and violence, we know the kingdom of God has entirely different standards.

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Christian Nationalists apply a narrow reading of those texts to undergird their belief in God’s establishing the United States as a Christian nation. Believing not just the founders of the United States, but the Divine had a chosen design for the United States to be the vehicle for spreading Christianity throughout the entire world.

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The term Christian Nationalism brings out my Baptist roots like few other topics can. My children tell me when I’m on the phone talking to my mother that my Southern-ness comes out on full display and suddenly you can hear without a doubt that I’m from Mobile, Alabama…Suddenly, my Baptist roots show and demand full freedom.

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See: what if the issue isn’t so much the wealth specifically. Let’s ask more questions of this conversation. What if the issue at hand is that this man could not be wealthy in a 1st century Palestinian culture without benefiting from the harm and suffering of others. Think of the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector who gained wealth by stealing from the working class and the poor. Zacchaeus is meant to represent the villains of the economic structure, and he willingly and easily gives it all back to follow Jesus.

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This is a season of re-turn for all of us, and we get to decide how we do it. I’m pulling that “re” that far out in front of the turning on purpose. It’s a turning we do over and over again. It is that conversion experience that we read about in Scripture where we switch directions, we move 180°. Or it’s when Sharon Salzburg says, “We can always begin again.” In our gatherings here, our rituals of remembering and renewal and recommitment call us to return.

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