Of Grace and Patriotism

For most American, patriotism comes cheap.

This occurred to me recently while reading the work of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoffer – a Lutheran pastor who had time and occasion to think deeply while detained in the Nazi prison where he died.

In a book called The Cost of Discipleship Bonhoffer criticized what he called “cheap grace.”

Through grace, Bonhoffer wrote, God grants forgiveness. We cannot hope to earn it. It comes to us free.

But this carries with the risk that we will receive the gift without behaving like truly grateful people, that we will receive forgiveness without offering back our repentance, that in the process of being forgiven we will forgive ourselves of any obligation to live differently.

In Bonhoffer’s words, “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow upon ourselves.”

Perhaps the same holds true with patriotism.

We accept our country’s bounty and opportunities – in Robert Frost’s memorable phrase, we take “the gift outright.” We say the proper things, we honor the symbols of our country’s ideals, and we embrace the attendant rituals. We do this every Fourth of July, and this one will surely be no different, particularly with our country at war.

But we can be a superficial and ungrateful lot. Do we take time on holidays like the Fourth of July to think about the priceless nature of this country’s freedoms and the rights we enjoy? Do we pause between the picnics and the softball games to ask ourselves whether our declared patriotism – our purported love of country – really costs us anything?

In 1783, George Washington found himself with a mutiny on his hands. Congress had never come up with a plan for paying the revolutionary soldiers the wages they had earned, and the troops had run out of patience. In an effort to calm them, Washington agreed to speak with their officer corps.

Washington could give powerful and inspiring speeches, but on this occasion his speaking ability did not count for much. The officers gave him a very chilly reception. In the tension of the moment, Washington stumbled over his text, paused, and famously said: “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” History tells us that Washington’s officers began to weep out of respect for his sacrifice.

Of course, we don’t have to think back two centuries to find examples of costly patriotism. In wartime we count those costs dearly and daily. We count those costs in lost limbs, lost lives, lost fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters. Whatever our other political differences, surely we can agree that those who have made such sacrifices for love of country have earned the name of “patriot.”

I love my country, even with all of its shortcomings. I respect and honor the Constitution, even with all of its imperfections and ambiguities. But I also recognize that my patriotism has come cheaply, while others have earned it by paying the greatest cost imaginable.

Costly grace, Bonhoffer tells us, “is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it, a person will go and sell all they have.” A person who would do honor to grace must be willing to give their life to it, and for it. Perhaps the same holds true for those who would do honor to their country.

This Fourth of July signals an occasion for celebration.

Perhaps it also signals an occasion for reflection, and an opportunity for each of us to ask whether we have given back enough to a country that has given us so much.