I vow to thee, my country—all earthly things above—
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago—
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
The lyrics to the hymn above were written by Cecil Spring-Rice, born in England. who served in his country's foreign service in Russia, Persia, Sweden, and the US. He died in Canada in 1918. The lyrics are set to the tune Thaxted, a lovely but rather difficult to sing melody from Gustav Holst. Nonetheless, this hymn contains what is is probably the best and most theologically accurate description of the nature of Christian patriotism: our wholehearted love of our own country is superceded by our love for and loyalty to another country, the heavenly country where we hold our eternal citizenship.
We sang the above hymn this morning in church, and I found myself profoundly as I looked around at the congregation, and thought about the nature of 'country' and what it means to the members of this parish, who gather together from the US, the UK, Canada, Nigeria, Germany, the Netherlands and, of course, Mexico. As challenging as the melody is to sing, the members of Christ Church lifted their voices with gusto -- I think they understand deeply and intrisically, perhaps better than any group of people I've ever known, the complex nature of patriotism. Many either have grown up in one country but live now in another, are bi- or tri- lingual, or are members of the expatriate community and identify strongly with both Mexico and another nation. They know better than others what it means to be a citizen of an earthly country and a citizen of a heavenly country.
Today is a national day here -- it is election day in Mexico -- some members came to church with their thumbs colored by the indelible ink that is used to identify those who have voted (this, evidently, is meant to prevent electoral fraud.) It is also Canada Day, and, of course, Independence Day weekend in the country of my birth and citizenship, the US. At the close of the service, then, after vowing our love to our home country and our heavenly country, we sang the Star-Spangled Banner -- led by our choir which is comprised almost entirely of Mexican citizens -- and then O Canada.
God, grant that I might be a good citizen.
