Loyalties 4

I live in two countries.  I live in Canada and I live in Heaven.  Although there are some who would take issue, they are not the same country.  I stand by my statement that Canada is a beautiful fiction and little more.  This country began as the colonizing powers, France and England, systematically robbed the First Nations of their land here, eventually consigning them to rot on reserves and making every effort to destroy them through the practice of cultural genocide, also known as Native Residential Schools.  Only in recent years, since the Sixties has Canada begun to make nice: publicly subsidized health care, social services safety nets, Employment Insurance, Multiculturalism.  Not quite the vicious survival of the fittest ethos that was then the dominant norm, though the lovely liberalism that was brought in by the Pearson and Trudeau administrations of the Sixties and Seventies has since worn rather thin thanks to global capitalism and we are still basically putting lipstick on a pig here (I don`t mean to be insulting to pigs) and we have only begun to make reparations with our Indigenous peoples as well as members of visible minorities.

Basically, until the Sixties,  this country was a British-Eurocentric, racist, white supremist entity that feared, shunned and hated anyone who was different from that mould.  We still have a long way to go, especially since the damage inflicted on this country by the Harper years.

I am a Christian, a person of faith.  My loyalty is to my God, not to my country.  I do not take the extreme measures as certain extreme Anabaptist communities: the Old Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish, by refusing to vote.  I may not love this country but I live here, among many other people, and, no, there are certain civic obligations and responsibilities that my Christian faith does not exempt me from.  As a Christian in a post-Christian culture I feel obligated to live out my faith and to express as clearly as possible the values of my faith.  I am not a pro-life anti-abortion crusader but I do feel called upon to speak out and live in a way that honours the environment and basic human rights and I will continue to do my part by voting for elected officials who best reflect my values and to do my level best to promote and endorse these values.  But talk, as they say, is cheap and it is much better to live in a manner that reflects the love, mercy and justice of God.

I vote, I write this blog, I sometimes exchange emails with politicians and journalists.  Mostly I pray and try to live faithfully and work well and compassionately with others.  I would never consider running for office.  Too many conflicting loyalties and my real loyalty is to Christ.  My real home is with Him.  Which I suppose makes me a citizen of...the World?...the Universe?  And, yes, of course, I am also a citizen of Canada, a sad and disillusioned one all the same, but I am still part of this country no matter how much love has been lost between us.  If I focus on loving the people who live here and forget about the patriotism crap I think I'll do okay.  Sort of.