Celebrating Independence

Today is the Fourth of July. That's why, immediately above this entry where it tells you the date on which the entry was written, it says (of all things) "July 4, 2003". Amazing how that works. Anyway, today is the day that the United States celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence (even though it actually was signed on July 2), which declared that we were seceding from the British Empire (woe to them...). And every July 4 for the past 227 years, we have celebrated this achievement.

Independence is an interesting word. Americans carry the mindset that independence = goooood, while dependence = baaaaaad. And, in some areas, this is true. In other areas, it's not. Of course, it's worth noting that American society is completely and totally interdepedent. I have yet to meet a single person in America who is self-sufficient. But it can be really fun to watch everyone group around trying to achieve this elusive goal.

In many ways, our churches are similar. We are going to seek God on our own, damn it! I had a person once tell me that they were "independently dependent" on God. My first response to that was to squint and wonder what in the world that was supposed to mean. I'm inclined to ask, how can one be truly dependent on God apart from the covenant body that He has ordained for us? Aren't we called to be a Body of Christ and work together and love each other, and all those other things? I don't want to trek through life on my own, I want to do it along with the people God has placed around me, figuratively holding hands while we walk in (more or less) the same direction. Something for me to think about when we celebrate independence is when it's better not to be independent...

Luke