Thank You. God Bless You. And God Bless the United States of America

Words lose meaning when used over and over again.

That's simply the way it is. If you were to tell someone that you love them at the exact same time everyday, sure it would be sweet and everything. But the words would come to lose meaning over time because it becomes an expectation. They really would.

So it is with the ending of speeches by political figures. They end their speech with the title of this post every single time. And like so many other things in life, the words of this ending has lost their meaning.

I appreciate their thanking the crowd for the opportunity to speak. I appreciate them asking God to bless us. And I appreciate them asking God to bless this country. But these words have lost their meaning.

It's not that the subjects they are bringing up lose their meaning. The meaning of God has not been lost. We can do nothing to make that happen, as God is totally different, totally supreme to any of our words or actions. But as we come to expect that ending to every speech, the words begin to fall on deaf ears.

I think it would do us, and the people making the speeches, good to think about the words of Chris Rock. Chris Rock??? Yes, the great theologian, Chris Rock.

In the movie, Head of State, Rock plays a person running for president. He has a bit of commentary on the phrase, "God bless America:"
"Isn't it obvious that God has blessed America? . . . America is the richest, most powerful nation on earth. How about God bless Haiti? How about God bless Africa? How about God bless Jamaica?"

I love America. And I am so proud and so thankful to be living in the country that I do. But I think Rock is on to something here. We know the phrase "God bless America" so well that we don't even think twice when we hear it at the end of a political speech. Perhaps when we say or hear something like that, we should begin thinking about how much we want God to bless the whole world . . . and what we can do to help bring that about.

After all, that's what the good news of Jesus is all about. Jesus didn't tell the disciples, "Hey y'all (Jesus probably spoke with a Texas twang), we've got a good thing going here. Let's make sure and keep it right around here and don't spread it anywhere else." God's goal, God's intention is that the entire world come to know God's good story and that we all live in a way that God created us to.

To put it another way, and to quote an actual politician (Abraham Lincoln): "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."