The title of this blog is taken from Switchfoot's 'Politicians', taken from Nothing is Sound. This track came on shuffle today, and I have not been able to get that line out of my head all day. What exactly does it mean to pledge allegiance to a country without borders? Two things have happened today to clarify this for me.
I met a friend for coffee this morning, and she told me that she'd been reading a book by a guy who mentioned that a homeless man had stopped him in the street and asked him for a hug. He obliged. In the book he went on to comment that Jesus lived life like this, without borders. If asked, he always engaged with the person, and the issue. His actions were a direct measure of the worth of each person. I don't see him ignoring one person in the gospels now I think about it. One thing I realised was that Jesus lived in a way that challenges us, because he never held back because the situation at hand was uncomfortable, messy or undignified. Most of the time, he had to get involved in full view of those around him, yet this never swayed his resolve or integrity. Jesus just WAS. He was how he was. He is how he is. Being in very nature God, he is unchanging. I am horribly aware of my own inadequacy in this area, I know that I can be very fickle. Or have the best intentions but forget to follow though.
This brings me to the second thing that happened. Tonight I spent some time with someone who brought to light my lack of follow through of late. I've had a lot going on, but admittedly, that shouldn't make a difference. I want to be someone who is relentless in their pursuit of Christ, all that he is and in constant renewal to become the person he has made me to be - a person more like him. He has, and will not ever let anyone down. It frustrates me that in my heart I have such good intentions, ones that I will even verbalise in the form of promise - and then as soon as the words leave my lips, I'll forget and then it will be a week later and too late to act. I don't want to be this way. Paul, one of the leaders of the early church, puts it this way, 'I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do' Romans 7:15. This is of great encouragement to me, because Paul had some of the most mind blowing revelations, and it's humbling to realise that he too struggled in this battle with contradiction, the tension 'between how it is and how it should be' as Switchfoot word it.
The thing is, when placed in the context of my initial thought 'I pledge allegiance to a country without borders', I think that for today, and for the coming days and weeks, this will be my mission. To live my life pledging allegiance to a country without borders. A place where, if Jesus would do it, so shall I. If he would stop, reach out, make a phone call, write an email, buy a coffee for someone sheltering from the rain, give away my shoes - whatever it is, that I would try to do so. I know (and in advance I apologise for this) that sometimes I will forget. I know that I'm terribly fallible and will certainly at points let my own borders hold me back, but I want to make a life choice now - to see things from the perspective of a citizen of a country without borders.
I pledge allegiance to that country.
And it's manifesto goes something like this:
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