'God bless America'

Lutheran, The, Jul 2004 by Ailabouni, Said

Pray instead: 'God bless the world'

It's tempting to pray: "God bless America."And stop. But as Christians we know, For God so loved the world ....So we can't help but add: "God bless the world."

And we find ourselves further challenged by Jesus to add: "God bless our enemies."

Jesus tells his disciples in clear and simple language: "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.... If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them" (Luke 6:27-28,32).

Jesus' mandate raises the bar to a level most often I can't reach. Nevertheless,throughout my 25 years of ordained ministry, I've been driven by the conviction that the God I serve is a living God who loves me and the whole world unconditionally.

God's involvement with me began in Nazareth of Galilee where I was born, baptized and raised in a Christian Palestinian family. God continued to help me grow in the context of a Christian com-munity, Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., where I spent the best four years of my life-meeting Lutherans for the first time and hearing,experiencing and understanding the gospel in a life-transforming way.

Years of seminary life, pastoral ministry in two congregations and now in global ministry have taught me many things. But one stands out in a hopeful way. While the world continues to struggle with chaos, God continues to raise up in the church servant leaders worldwide who are committed to reaching the world with God's amazing message of love, reconciliation, peace and justice.

What troubles me, however, are the haunting questions I often hear:

Do Americans know about our situation?

Do they care about us, their Palestinian brothers and sisters, who live under occupation?

Do they care about us, their brothers and sisters in Ethiopia, who constantly struggle with drought and famine, HIV/AIDS and poverty?

Do they care about our churches in Eastern Europe as we struggle to re-establish ourselves?

Are they willing to be our advocates with their government?

We Christians can never, in good conscience, pray: "God bless America"-and stop.We find ourselves driven by the Spirit to add: "God bless the world, including our enemies. "For in this prayer we remind God, and ourselves, to bless the whole world.

Ailabouni is director for Europe and the Middle East, ELCA Division for Global Mission.