Be renewed this Advent Season.

"God our Father, give to the nations of the world a new heart of comradeship, the old man of ignorance and cruelty being done away, and the new man put on, renewed in knowledge, to strengthen and to serve the brethren; that every people may bring its tribute of excellence to the common treasury, without fear, and without the lust of domination, and all the world may go forward in the new and living way which he has consecrated for us, who now lives and reigns, with you and the Spirit of truth, one God, world without end. Amen"

The above is the last part of a responsive prayer for intercession for church, state and world, from the Methodist Book of Worship. Oh, by the way, this was copy write 1944-1945, and was published again in 1952, authorized by the Methodist General Conference held in Kansas City MO. April 26-May 6 1944. If you recall history, the world was in quite a mess back then, and yet Methodist followers of Christ, were praying that not just America, but all the world would find it's way back to God.
Today, it  seems that American Christians seem to believe that God has left America and that He can somehow be wooed back if we just clean house and kick out all the people who don't believe in Him.
I might want to go out on a limb here and say that God is still here, just as God is in the presence of believers in Kenya, China, Australia and Everywhere. The problem is not that God needs to be asked back, or have a place cleaned out for God, or all the housekeeping done, so God will come back. Please..... Just as God, in Christ came and brought together men of different backgrounds and made God known to them and through them, so today it is not God's leaving that has made America what it is. It is those who allege to be God's people becoming exclusive in how they present God. If the only way to know God is my way, then the rest of you are in trouble. But I digress.
As we begin this season of Advent, I wonder just what it means to be a Christian who presents God in the way Christ intended. I hope that Christians will actually be aware, that Christ came not to condemn, but to show God's love and to offer a way to God. Jesus didn't come to institute giving gifts, or to make sure that there was a reference to Him (CHRISTmas) from Halloween to December 25. Personally, I think we are wrong if the only way we believe someone knows we are a true believer is if for 40 days we hit the mall with a message of Christ in Christmas sweatshirt. Scripture says that the believers of the new testament were known, make that recognized, not by how they dressed or how holy they were, but how they loved. The love that they showed, I believe, was not just restricted to the houses where they met. I don't think they went out looking for those who already believed, but were showing Christ enough in their lives to have others ask, "Why do you do what you do?"
In the prayer I started with I believe the "new and living way which he has consecrated for us," is not about Christians "values" or American ideas and ideals dominating the world through forcing our "rightness" on others. Christ didn't start a revolution on the political front, but He did revolutionize the hearts of a few, then a few more, then many many more.
This Advent season, I am not asking that God take back America, but that God would take back my heart and use it to God's purpose; to love others as God has loved me!
Peace my friends.