Whatever the reason, it seemed and still seems to me that our attitude towards life can be better expressed in terms of a kind of military loyalty than in terms of criticism and approval. My acceptance of the universe is not optimism, it is more like patriotism. It is a matter of primary loyalty. The world is not a lodging-house at Brighton, which we are to leave because it is miserable. It is the fortress of our family, with the flag flying on the turret, and the the more miserable it is the less we should leave it. The point is not that the world is too sad to love or too glad not to love; the point is that when you do love a thing, its gladness is a reason for loving it, and its sadness a reason for loving it more.
G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, Orthodoxy, The Flag of the World, (Doubleday, 1959, pp. 85, 86).
Does Chesterton's idea of cosmic patriotism make sense? Can it be applied to other entities, like a nation or a church?
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I am a loyal person. To God, family and friends. I think that this loyalty is a form of love. Yet often I find myself loyal to places and people that are not loyal in return. I am not sure if that loyalty is love or something else.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from because I have faced some of the same type of situations. It is a difficult question and I do not claim to have all the answers. I do think loyalty is a expression of love and there is a place to be loyal even if the other person is not loyal back. But I also think there is a place where love has to ask whether being loyal to this person when they are not loyal to me is really helping them or me and may be even confirming them in their bad behavior. I cannot and would not judge where that line is for another person. But I believe that the line exists. Even if I not not want to invoke the full rigors of church discipline, Matthew 18:15 suggests there is a place I need to draw a line. But this is a complicated issue and I feel far from felling I know all the answers.
DeleteGreat thoughts Mike. Most difficult for me has been unreturned loyalty to church leaders. A few years ago I had the thought that I had given WAY more to the church than the church had given to me. Sometimes we can confuse our loyalty to Christ with loyalty to groups like local churches. Unreturned loyalty is a reminder to me that the is One who remains faithful when all others are faithless.
ReplyDeleteIt is my experience that there is too much tendency among church leaders to see the people as there to serve the organization, rather then the organization as there to serve the people. It really comes down to seeing the church as the people and the organization as the expression of the people. But convincing people of this is hard.
Delete"rather then the organization as there to serve the people"
DeleteWell said Mike.