I saw this particular flagpole on my way to work and, although I have seen literally hundreds of church flagpoles before, on this day I noticed the flag order and it stirred up some thoughts. I initially wondered what would happen at that church if the Christian flag (more on that later) were flown above the American flag. Immediately I began to think of cultural norms, like those norms that dictated, at least to this church, that they fly the flag of our country above a flag that, at least symbolically, represents the Christian faith.
A couple of helpful background notes are in order. The United States Flag Code (Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code) provides advisory codes for the display and care of the flag of the United States of America. This includes how the flag should be flown in various circumstances. This code is law but penalties are not enforced. For example, burning the flag in public has been determined to be an expression of free speech and entirely legal, even though the Flag Code forbids it.
The Flag Code is a part of our cultural norms in America, so even though it isn't enforceable law, the pull of compliance on a cultural level is strong. The code says that anytime the American flag is flown with other flags on a pole, the American flag always flies at the top. The reason for this is the place of prominence that our nation holds in the social hierarchy. To fly a state flag above it would be to symbolize the greater status of that state over and above the collection of states that is the U.S.A. It would be disrespectful and socially and culturally offensive.
Many different organizations and institutions have flags. None of them is supposed to be flown above the flag of the United States of America.
The Christian Flag is a modern invention, first conceived in 1897 in (where else?) the United States of America. It is a standard meant for all Christendom as a symbol of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. The blue square in the upper left represent the blue sky, heaven, and faith and trust. The cross upon this blue is the symbol of Christianity and is red, representing the blood of Jesus. The rest of the flag is white, representing the purity of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice.
The Christian Flag was adopted by a collective church organization in 1942 as the official flag of Christendom. There is even a pledge of allegiance in various forms. The flag is a kind of soft symbol of Christianity mostly used in the United States, but also popular in Latin America and Africa.
It's easy to imagine why the Christian flag came to be. It is, in almost every way possible, an immodest copy of the flag of the United States of America (including the pledge). The same three colors are present - red, white, and blue. The blue square sits where the blue union sits on the US flag. The red cross replaces white stars, swapping one icon for another. Visibly it is a wonderful complement to the American flag. Incidentally it also complements the Texas flag.
There is no better symbol that I can imagine that so embodies the unholy devotion of the American Christian church to the nation of its birth. We love this nation so much that we have caricatured our devotion in a copycat cultural riff on the most powerful national symbol available.
As if this devotion isn't enough, we also follow the cultural code (and the Flag Code) in how we display this symbol of Christendom. And how do we display this symbol of the kingdom of Jesus Christ upon the earth? Why, below the American flag of course.
I love the symbolism of this display for so many reasons. First there is the very fact of the Christian flag - it betrays our need to fit in while also standing out; our inability to be truly "set apart" in our actions because the very flag is a cowardly attempt at being separate while being entirely included. There is the symbol of the Christian flag below the American one, which makes every effort to avoid controversy or offense by claiming the superiority of the American ideal to that of Jesus and his kingdom. There is finally the institutional symbol of the church itself as an important cultural building in the municipal landscape, a place prominent enough to warrant a flagpole at all, much less one with so much weighty symbolism flying from it.
As I looked at that flagpole the other day I wondered - what would happen if the Christian flag flew up top? What controversy would it stir for that congregation? By extension of this question I thought about our place in American society, us Christians. We have fit in so well for so long one begins to wonder how we would even begin to look "set apart." Certainly having our own Americanized symbol one rung below our national one isn't a bold statement of faith.
As with everything I am led back to Jesus, that radical itinerant preacher who stirred up so much trouble in his Roman province that the state saw fit to kill him. The American image of Jesus is a benign, placid, and conservative one, but the descriptions of his life and teaching in the Bible don't fit this image at all. He was a tough character who refused to bend to the cultural norms of the day. In fact he often made heretical (and treasonous?) statements about the coming Kingdom of God and it's power to tear down religious institutions and whole nations. I can't imagine Jesus designing a flag for his movement; he was too busy preaching a radical message of faith, love, and mercy.
There are radicals in America these days preaching extreme messages of inclusion, love, and mercy for the Least of These. What's telling is that so few of them are Christians by confession or cultural definition. When I look around at my fellow believers and at myself, I see no radicals here. The rabble-rousing message of Jesus has been so tamed that the idea of making waves with the Gospel is not only uncomfortable, it's possibly un-Christian by our standards. But if we lose the radical truth of the Gospel of Jesus we lose the Gospel itself.
What we need is not a familiar symbol of Jesus and his kingdom, but rather his kingdom itself. His radical, life altering kingdom that according to the King is right at hand. What we need is to be as radical as Jesus was, even if it offends our cultural norms, including the norms of the church. Especially the norms of the church.
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