During yesterday’s sermon, I told the people of Good Shepherd about something we had considered in recent years regarding the flags of the world.
“Wouldn’t it be cool,” we thought, “if we could place on the Worship Center platform a flag for each of the different nationalities represented at this church?”
It would be a pretty impressive sight, with over 30 flags represented: USA (of course), Ecuador, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Ireland, Ghana, Mexico, Liberia, Australia, and many, many more.
But then we reconsidered. What seemed to at first to be “cool” or “diverse” would actually end up being a distraction from the One who is the focus of our worship gatherings.
Because if we put flags up in our Worship Center, people might be tempted to identify more with their nationality than with their Savior.
I call that blasphemy.
The truth is this: we are citizens of heaven and children of the King.
Remembering and celebrating the locale of our true citizenship is the best way to become an “all people” and “full color” church that I can think of.
So: no flags in our Worship Center. Our common source of identity is cross and not country.