In our men’s group, yesterday, I heard about a new television commercial which declares, “Love is patriotic.” That makes sense to me. After all, what’s written on the U.S. Statue of Liberty?

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

In the first century, newly baptized Christians rose from the water saying, ‘no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for all are one in Christ Jesus.” As children of God, everyone was equal, differences fell away.

Lady Liberty’s poem offers the same radical invitation God offers through Jesus; all are called to come. After all, love is patriotic.

Mike
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+3%3A27-28&version=NRSV