I
love America. There, I've said it!
And I feel better already. Having
made thirteen trips to the USA in three years after 48 years abstinence, I admit
I still have the zeal of the newly converted. In fact, it was an American who
led me to a personal faith in Jesus Christ back in my first term at university
in 1973. With around 10% of Christ Church family from the other side of the Atlantic,
and growing, more and more of my best friends are American.
We
love to turn our noses up
Speaking
as a Brit, if we are honest (and why not) we love to turn our noses up at the
Yanks. After all, they invented Big Macs, big cars and got to the moon first.
In the war, they were indeed over here, overpaid and in the words of Mark Green,
"stole our most genetically advanced women with the lure of nylons, cigarettes
and chocolate." Since then, they have colonised our cinemas with their values,
filled our high streets with their products, bought many of our industries and
succeeded in persuading us that Coca Cola, that quintessentially American drink,
is actually the beverage that best captures the essence of the quintessentially
British game of football.
I
love the American, "can do" spirit
But I love the American,
"can do" spirit even more. If you have an idea in a meeting with a group
of Americans their instinctive response is to think of 10 good reasons why that
was the smartest thing anyone ever said. In contrast, if you have an idea with
a group of Brits, their instinctive response is to think of 10 reasons why - A.
That was the silliest idea in the history of human civilisation; B. You are the
stupidest creature ever to emerge from the primordial slime. A recent survey by
Gallup showed that Americans are more fulfilled on a daily basis in their work
environment than employees in any other country in the world. I think it has a
lot to do with the positive encouragement and motivation they exude and so many
British employees sadly lack.
I
also love American openness
I
also love American openness and hospitality. We have had two superb Thanksgiving
Suppers at Christ Church, hosted by our incredibly generous American families
for which we are enormously grateful. I much prefer getting invited for brunch
at Shoneys within 30 seconds of touching down on American soil than all that British
reserve that takes us years before we invite the neighbours over the threshold
for a sherry at Christmas with all the suspicion of a Trojan considering a wooden
horse.
Maybe
it's just envy
Maybe it's just envy. It's bad enough that another
nation is top nation and America is - but it's worse when you used to be top nation
and you aren't any longer, and never will be anymore. So we comfort ourselves
with a shallow disdain and romantic memories of the lost Empire. And when we see
them doing things well - and they do - we grumble about the fact that it's only
because they've got the money. Well, they do (or at least they know how to borrow
it). And many of them know how to invest it.
Imagine
a world without Americans
Think about it. Without America, there
probably wouldn't be any Jews in Europe. Or Israel, for that matter. Without America
the Berlin Wall would have been in Frankfurt. Without America, Saddam Hussain
would have a palace the size of Belgium in Saudi Arabia (well maybe). Without
America
. actually, it doesn't bear thinking about. For all her faults, for
all the scandals that have rocked that nation in recent years, the last century
was the American Century and the only Western nation that held onto it's political
moral nerve was America.
So maybe it's not a surprise, that America is the only Western nation that has held onto Christianity to any significant degree. God remains on the agenda. And if American Christianity is less influential on the national political agenda than we'd like, well, are we doing any better? This is not to say that healthy dialogue and constructive criticism of US foreign policy in the Middle East, or other parts of the world, is not justified (and it is) but at least they listen - and Tony Blair at least is one world leader who gets a regular word in.
Judging
American Christianity
Judging
American Christianity by its televangelists is a bit like judging British culture
by Benny Hill. Similarly, we whinge at what we perceive to be the average American's
isolationism or how coaches all over Europe disgorge brigades of glaringly dressed
Americans around the great cultural sites of old Europe. When you are tempted
to look down your nose at the superficiality of their tourism, ask yourself how
the average Brit spends the summer - glugging Carling Black Label and eating chips
in Benidorm. And besides, isn't it actually rather impressive that so many Americans
save up for the trip of a lifetime and have the discernment to spend their money
looking at some of the greatest artistic achievements of humankind? And then if
we consider the great mission enterprises of this century, British Christians
need to remember that 75% of Protestant mission funding comes from the US and
that half the Protestant overseas missionaries in the world are American.
Humble
Enough to Receive?
So if you're praying for God to send someone
to save the world, there's a one in two chance that the King of the Universe is
going to send an American. And when these well-funded, prayed for Americans arrive
overseas, what do they find? Under-funded Europeans. And what do the Americans
do? Sacrifice their money to make sure their fellow Christians have enough. So
lets thank God for America, and above all, lets thank God for the Americans (and
other wonderful nationalities) in Virginia Water.
With grateful thanks to Mark Greene of Christianity magazine for some of the inspiration behind this article published in Connection, the Parish Magazine of Virginia Water, January 2005.