Not of This World: Seeing the "Change" from Afar

So, let's just say I have some mixed feelings about the results of the election over in the states. Well, I had mixed feeling. Let me explain.

After I stayed up till 2:30am (France time) watching the first results come in, it really made me want to be home for just a couple of days. Before I left my house the next morning, I was greeted with an enthousiastic "Obama a gange!" from my host-mom. Reading the French headlines during lunch, and then coming home and talking to my two host-family brothers had a real affect on me. Pierre-Antoine told me he has a friend who's Korean American, who told him that she's no longer ashamed to call herself American anymore. Talking with my family at the dinner table made me realize that we are the first nation to really get racial integration. Watching a video on the internet of Kenyans dancing in the streets shouting "Obama" and then a bunch of other words in Swahili really does something to you. Especially when you haven't slept much.

To get what I'm saying you have to understand that Europe and much of the rest of the world doesn't like the United States. We are the ones who still believe global warming is a myth. We are the ones who messed up international affairs by doing things as we want, when we want. And we are the nation that let runnaway capitalism ruin the world economy because we didn't stop lending companies from giving away one too many sub-prime mortgages. Just in case you didn't know. Don't get me wrong, they like our movies, TV shows, music, sports, big cities and clothes...our accents...just not our politics.

Today was the first time that I felt proud of my country since I've been over here in France. But not only that, as I watched the Obama acceptance speech, I felt for the first time like I was an American. I wasn't a white Republican college student from Indiana. Obama called the country to be a nation. Now, with a black president-elect, the whole world believes us when we say we are one nation.

But there's something wrong with that. Sure, I'm thinking through my economic policies, my views on welfare are being shaken, and I'm praying that the Lord would help me make sense of the differences between France the the US. So, I'm not saying I've become a socialist, therefore, I like Obama. Let's just say I miss America a little.

The other American who's living with me played a bunch of his favorite folk bands for me today on his iPod. It was nostalgic, and I found myself remembering all the times I've played the fiddle at school and parties, and all the time I've spent enjoying campfires in my backyard. You don't do that kind of stuff in France.

We talked about thanksgiving at the dinner table tonight. The French don't put all their food on the table at the same time and then pass it all around, piling their plates with food as they go. You have meals in courses over here. You don't have meals with cranberry sauce in France. You see where I'm going with this?

You get nostalgia on one hand and the whole world saying, "good work," on the other, and it's a little hard to feel depressed about the change on Pennsylvania Ave. I looked at all of my friends facebook stauts and kept wondering, "why is everyone so down today?" Why does everyone think the world is coming to an end? It's just Obama guys... come on, now Europe likes us.

Obama's success has come from his ability to pinpoint the common cause, the values that every American has in common: a love for democracy, a desire for opportunity, and an ability to have hope even in hard times. He won because he made everone's differences the very thing that makes America "one." You are able to look at your community and say, "that's American not French." But at the same time you can see the Latino lanscapers, the Japanese biology students, and the black kids on the playground, and also say, "that's just as American as my fiddle."

So what do you do...how are you supposed to feel?

I need to keep telling myself that I'm a Christian before I'm an American. Regardless of anyone's views on economics, welfare, civil liberties, or the environment, nationalism and patriotism are the demons of the modern era. You combine that with a sense of rugged individualism, and now you have all the wood you need to fuel the burning pride of a nation. I need to keep telling myself that I ought to be more concerned about what the world thinks of Christ's kingdom, and pray that I would have the privilege of sharing in Christ's sufferings.

The solution for Republican letdown is not to hope for another candiate in 4-years. The letdown is the result of being too outspoken about conservative politics and not outspoken enough about the nature of Christ's kingdom. I hate to break it to you, but there are at least a couple of Christians, real Christians, over here who are really excited that Obama won. Republican politics are not by fiat, Christian. The citizens of heaven have an identity more fundamental than nationality or political orientation. Societies have been ordered hundreds of ways throughout the centuries. The gospel is more fundamental to our needs, even the need to be an ordered society.

When you hope and pray that you don't have a President who bumps up the redistribution of wealth, you are bummed when that prayer doesn't come true. When you hope and pray for a President who will ban abortion and gay marriage and then you hear Obama use the word "homosexual" like it's a race of people rather than a sin, you are going to be dissapointed. When you want a President who respects "liberty" and the "original intent of the founders," you are never going to be happy with your government. Change actually does and will come to America.

Men change. Nations will come and go. Today is not a day to feel patriotic. That's huberus: an identity crisis for the Christian. Today is not a day for mourning: all things are from the Lord. Today is a day for Christians to quit placing their hope in government. Whether your hope is in Obama or in the ability of the Republical party to regroup, it is fundamentally misplaced.

Christ has come and will come again. I will be the Christian who happens to be living in France, not just the American who voted for McCain.