Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day, our Nation’s birthday. It is a day of parades and fireworks, barbecue and beer. Now to be honest, I have always felt a little uncomfortable with political holidays. Maybe my Canadian half is to blame. Perhaps it feels more drawn to Canada Day (July 1) than Independence Day. Or maybe it is the profusion of semi-transcendental language that accompanies many of our patriotic events. C.S. Lewis writes about a true patriotism that loves its country even in “her ruin and degeneration.” This purer form of love for country recognizes faults and flaws, but still loves its country. He warns against what happens when this form of patriotism dies: Wars become holy wars. They are fought not for the country, but for transcendent abstractions like justice, humanity, or democracy. And because of this the death of a war hero becomes the death of a martyr. This lesser form of patriotism, Lewis says, indicates a lesser love for one’s country not a greater, for the country has been replaced by an abstraction. (Lewis, The Four Loves)

But more than these, I think the reason for my discomfort lies in something much more basic and close to home. There is a certain disparity in modern patriotism that bothers me and clouds my perception of the holidays. Let me show you what I mean. Our patriotic holidays are filled with mixed messages. On the one hand, we are encouraged to honor the soldiers who fought and died for the freedoms we so deeply cherish. And on the other hand, we are directed to honor this freedom by purchasing mattresses at a deep discount, replacing old appliances, or simply sitting outside drinking beer and playing yard games. At some level I can make sense of this response to freedom. Leisure and expendable wealth are certainly two of the good things that our nation offers (at least to many of its citizens). But there is a disproportion that I see at play. It is common to hear people passionately celebrate American freedom and venerate those who fought for it almost as if they were martyrs. It seems to me that such a deep appreciation should yield a greater response than shopping and barbecues.

The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, had a concept of “cheap grace” which was grace that required no response, no sacrifice. He wrote:

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

This is not the kind of grace that Jesus Christ came to offer, a grace which Bonhoeffer calls costly grace.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.

It seems to me that there is some parallel between Bonhoeffer’s view of grace and America’s view of patriotism. We celebrate our freedom, but object when others want to share in it. We honor the men and women who have sacrificed for our country, but cry foul when any real sacrifice is asked of us. We seek to be a moral light to the world, but drive businesses towards amoral practices by demanding low prices and 2-day shipping. One might say that we exhibit “cheap patriotism.”

I believe the root of cheap patriotism can be found in a distorted view of freedom. Specifically the distortion that we call individual freedom, or individual liberty. Such a thing does not, cannot exist. Human beings are social beings. We are inextricably interconnected. Not one of us is an island unto him/herself. Our actions are not merely our own. Whether we like it or not, what we do impacts others. Which means that our liberty is not just our own. I am not free to act in any way I’d like because those actions affect other people. My freedom to do ‘x’ may impinge on your freedom to do ‘y’. But if I am truly free to do ‘x’ then I must act at the expense of your freedom to do ‘y’. The myth of individual freedom leads to the strongest, the most powerful, and the richest being the most free and exerting their freedom at the expense of others’.

This may come as a shock to some, but the Bible does not promote or encourage the idea of individual liberty or freedom. Which, as I understand it, is a fairly modern concept. We find a much more sensible position expressed in the writings of the apostle Paul for example. Paul had a deep love for freedom. He saw paganism and sacrificial systems of all kind, including the Old Testament’s sacrificial system, as a form of slavery from which Christ came to free us. He expresses this well in Galatians 5, which he begins…

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Now if we just had that, we could easily smuggle in all kinds of ideas of individual liberty, and we could preach everything from “Paul says ‘Don’t wear masks’,” to “Paul says ‘Don’t pay taxes’.” But this would be a move away from the argument Paul is making. Because just a few verses later we find him saying…

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in sacrificial love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

According to Paul, we have been set free in order to serve one another. Actually his language is stronger. In response to our freedom we are to enslave ourselves to one another. We have been set free in order to be enslaved to something better. And this is a familiar theme in the Bible. The Israelites are freed from Pharaoh only to be utterly dependent on God in the desert. Jesus teaches that you will be enslaved to money unless you enslave yourself to God.

As humans we are not independent creatures. Nor is this what Independence Day is celebrating. Today’s holiday is rooted in our nation’s independence from another nation. It is when we celebrate the independence that our interdependent collective has from a different interdependent collective. It is a limited, bounded independence that we celebrate today. And if we are wise we celebrate it with the recognition that most other nations have similar celebrations of their own history, heritage, and independence.

But it is always limited independence that nations celebrate for we are still human and to be human is to be dependent. We are utterly dependent on God for our very lives, our every breath, our very existence. And we are profoundly dependent on one another as well. Many of us have felt this in new ways over the last several months as we have found ourselves isolated from community and/or in claustrophobically sequestered community. We were created to be in community and we are called to serve that greater community.

Do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in sacrificial love.

Serving one another in sacrificial love is actually the freest thing we can do. It is the strongest expression of the freedom Christ grants us. It is what true freedom looks like. And it is with that understanding that I say, Let Freedom Ring!