Patriotism and Religion: Blurred Boundaries

Picture Book: Blue Sky, White Stars

Author: Sarvinder Naberhaus

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Summary: This book is a tribute to the beauty of the American flag and other imagery of the United States. It’s short, simple, and clever. Brief phrases are repeated once, sometimes with a little tweaking. Here are some sample pairings of phrases and illustrations:

Hanna’s Comments: Tomorrow is Independence Day in the USA so I’m featuring a new book celebrating the best of my country. The author, an immigrant at age 4, says her initial idea for this book was of immigrants boarding ships to America, hoping for religious freedom while looking up at a dark blue sky of stars. As he painted, the illustrator, thought of Abraham Lincoln’s “enduring admonition ‘a house divided cannot stand.’” Where does this book fit in the life of a faith family? The lines between patriotism and religion can be blurred (see scriptures below) so a conversation about both could be very enlightening. I encourage you to explore these 2 important aspects of being human and consider how they can be both harmonizing and in tension. If you are not American, find similar patriotic books and do likewise. Such conversations offer great opportunities for discerning our loyalties and our limits.

Original Publisher & Date: Dial, 2017

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: Digital

Scripture Connections: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12); …render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. (Matthew 22:21); Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36); But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29); But our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of tweens, teens, or adults and explore the potential blurring of patriotism and religion. You can see from the scriptures listed above, that the issue is a muddy one.

Loyalties that Go Beyond Borders

Picture Book: Grandfather’s Journey

Author & Illustrator: Allen Say

Summary: Winner of the 1994 Caldecott Medal, this beautiful story is about an immigrant who comes to the United States as a young man from Japan. 

Fascinated with the American geography, 

American industry, 

America's beauty, 

and people of The United States, 

Grandfather would walk for days just to experience his new country. 

Once settled in California, he returned to Japan to bring home a bride. 

They had a daughter. 

When she was nearly grown, Grandfather missed his homeland so much that his family returned to Japan to live. Then he missed America. 

In Japan, his daughter married and gave birth to the author who loved hearing of Grandfather’s America. 

Grandfather longed to visit America again, but WWII prevented his return.

When the author was nearly grown, he too moved to America.

Quickly he began to understand why Grandfather had loved America so deeply despite missing his homeland of Japan.

Hanna’s Comments: This story is deeply personal, but the grandfather’s emotions are shared by millions of people across the globe whose patriotism includes places beyond their country of origin. I am struck by the people all over the world who participated in The Women’s March. These beyond border connections make our world community more like family. How does this relate to scripture? Consider the loyalty the Jews always have for Jerusalem despite their distance from it. The foreign crowds at Pentecost are proof. How about the Irish? They have a contagious enthusiasm for life and unyielding love for St. Patrick, a man of God all Christians should know well. All over the world seekers find themselves on pilgrimages to spiritual places such as Iona (Scotland), the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Lordes (France), or The Vatican. These are Christian pilgrimages, but many sacred sites that are not "Christian" still summon a reverence from visitors no matter their spiritual heritage. When sacred sites are destroyed. We all lose. When we have strong relationships with people across oceans, our world is smaller. When we visit another country and see God’s creative diversity, we can be grateful. Our belief in God’s abundance leaves no room for a scarcity model of love, beauty, or loyalty.

Original Publisher & Date: Houghton Mifflin, 1993

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up 

Formats other than Book: Tablet, audio

Scripture Connections: Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people…” (Ruth 1:16); (Jesus) came that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10); every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (James 1:17)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a small group of adults in a lesson about patriotic zeal and connections across borders. Emphasize that our loyalties to multiple countries and their citizens doesn’t divide our allegiance. Instead, the love God instills in us for diverse places and persons demonstrates God’s abundant gifts and our gratitude.

One Country, One Hope, One World

Picture Book: One Today

Author: Richard Blanco

Illustrator: Dav Pilkey

Original Publisher & Date: Little, Brown, & Co., 2015

Summary: The text of this picture book is the 2^nd inaugural poem for President Barack Obama, first read on January 21, 2013. It is a celebration of the extraordinary that can be found in the USA from dawn to dusk and coast to coast. 

The bright illustrations burst with relationships via work and play. Rituals are evidence of our rich culture. Events such as MLK’s I Have a Dream speech and the violence at Sandy Hook Elementary are touched on as this book repeats the word “one” again and again: one light, one ground, one wind, while demonstrating diversity in our languages, our geography, our skin, our prayers. 

It ends with hope, as you might expect on such a day,

Hope-a new constellation

waiting for us to map it,

waiting for us to name it –

together.

Hanna’s Comments: Today is Memorial Day in the states. It’s a day when we honor those who have given their lives to defend our country so I’m offering a picture book that is a tribute to the best of the United States of America. Regardless of your political leanings, this book has potential for you. As on days like this where we all honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, there is much that we all share and value in this book.

I know some who read this blog are not American. I recognize that many of the characteristics of America that this book celebrates is true for your country as well. 

One of my favorite hymns is This is My Song. We don’t sing it enough in our sanctuaries in the USA. It is a song of peace and an acknowledgement that what we hold dear in our country is likely held dear in other countries too. The words are by Lloyd Stone. It is sung to Jean Sibelius’ Findlandia. Here are the lyrics to the first 2 verses:

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine;

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

But other hearts in other lands are beating

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;

But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine;

O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

Idea(s) for Application: Use this picture book in a teen or adult lesson on diversity or unity in which you are celebrating what makes our country great and thanking God for God's many blessings.

Scripture Connections: From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:16)

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 3 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: Tablet