While I was flipping through channels a few weeks ago I came across a PBS documentary, “Moonshiners, Rumrunners and Bootleggers.” Without regard to my public or private image, I laid the remote down and started watching. Blame it on the time I spent during my formative years driving through those misty hills around Kentucky Lake.

At any rate, a quote from a history professor during the program provoked my interest. In explaining the historic willingness of folks in the more remote parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other sections of Appalachia to ignore some of the more inconvenient aspects of federalism, he explained, “We are a nation founded on rebellion… Independence and rejection of authority are part of our national character.” Mindful of both past and present, I couldn’t argue much with his assessment.

Ridicule of our highest officials, including our President, is standard fare on late night TV and various comedy shows. Disrespect and irreverence are increasingly infused characteristics of our society. Nor are they reserved for our highest officials. Even if we may slack off in some aspects of democracy, when it comes to scorn and insolence; we blast everybody.

In a culture that prizes freedom to the point of fostering disobedience and gives deference to no one, it is a challenge to remember that the only true freedom is that which Christ gives. And it is even more challenging in such a culture to model the submission that Jesus himself practiced. It is he who has shown us that he brought us freedom so that we might reveal that true greatness is demonstrated when we willingly serve one another in love.

H. Arnett
3/5/10