History Lessons

This morning in church, in celebration and acknowledgment of Independence Day, one of the elders introduced the sermon with a short recounting of America's early history, including a litany of national heroes. He brought up the Continental Army's Hard Winter of 1779 in Morristown, Pennsylvania; the Kentucky longrifles in Andrew Jackson's Battle of New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812; General Patton's fight through Italy in World War II; and Dwight Eisenhower's command of D-Day, June 6, 1944.
As a lifelong lover of American history I have always taken great pride in the heroism of American fighters and politicians, in Old Glory, in the way that We were Different from the Rest of the World because of Judeo-Christian Values, Democracy, and Capitalism. But today as I sat and listened I could only remember other things:
Like the way Andrew Jackson authorized and enforced the removal of the Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations along the Trail of Tears;
Like General Patton's racism and anti-Semitism;
Like Eisenhower plotting to execute Patrice Lumumba, newly elected president of the newly independent Congo;
it was kind of a buzz kill.
Do not misunderstand me: I love the United States. I love the stories of patriotism and hard-fought battles and adventure. I stand when I hear the national anthem and I cheer obnoxiously during the Olympics. I am acutely aware that there are places in the world where I would not be allowed to post even such a criticism of my country's past and present as this one.
And yet, knowing all of this, and knowing more (Jim Crow.Interment camps.Roe vs Wade), I cannot in good conscience say
"God bless America, because we are great"
but with gratitude, and reverence, and humility, and penitence, say
"May God, in His greatness, bless His creation, and everyone in it [Lord have mercy on me, a sinner, dwelling in a land of sinning people]."

Happy Fourth of July.