I’m reading Walter Wink’s book The Powers that Be, an abridgement of sorts of his “powers” trilogy, and came across this quote, which seems somewhat appropriate in the wake of the Obama/Jeremiah Wright flap, but also of more general application:

I love my country passionately; that is why I want to see it do right. There is a valid place for sensible patriotism. But from a Christian point of view, true patriotism acknowledges God’s sovereignty over all the nations, and holds a healthy respect for God’s judgments on the pretensions of any power that seeks to impose its will on others. There is a place for a sense of destiny as a nation. But it can be authentically pursued only if we separate ourselves from the legacy of the myth of redemptive violence and struggle to face the evil within ourselves. There is a divine vocation for the United States (and every other nation) to perform in human affairs. But it can perform that task, paradoxically, only by abandoning its messianic pretensions and accepting a more limited role within the family of nations. (p. 62)