I just finished reading two of Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, James McPherson’s books on the Civil War (McPherson was approved by David Button, but I know a historian satisfactory to a Virginian may not be so to someone from the Deep South). The books, Drawn with the Sword, and Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, are both collections of essays about the forces that shaped, and the implications produced by the Civil War.
In both books he has an essay that centers on the transition from the plural to the singular of the verb “to be” in describing our country, and the change of nouns that followed.
Before the Civil War the verb used to describe an action by the United States was, almost exclusively, “are.” “The United States are establishing a Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.” Following the Civil War the verb was, and is “is.” “The United States is sending more than 300 athletes to the Beijing Olympics.” It is a subtle but an important shift. To use the plural verb “are” is to see the basic unit as the individual state – to see our country as the united STATES. To use the singular verb “is” is to see the basic unit as the nation – to see our country as the UNITED states. McPherson posits that one person, and one person alone changed our discourse – Abraham Lincoln. This shift involved not just verbs, but nouns. He demonstrates that before the Civil War our leaders most often spoke of our country as a “Union,” but after the Civil War we referred (and still refer) to ourselves as a “Nation.” Mc Pherson does a thorough job of demonstrating from the speeches and public writings of Lincoln that he is the source of this shift in rhetoric, that led to a shift in paradigm.
Are we, together, an “are” or an “is”?
I will not enter into that discussion, as it pertains to my country of origin. But I will give a solid answer as it pertains to my primary citizenship. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3.20). We children of God, gathered together, are an “is.” The Church IS. The Church is a family (I John 3.1, Hebrews 2.11-12, Romans 8.16). The Church is a body (I Corinthians 12.12-26, Romans 12.3-8, Ephesians 4.1-16). The Church is a flock (John 10. 16, I Peter 5.1-3). The Church is.
When we come together we come, not as self contained units, or a collection of coalitions with competing interests. Our various needs do not create a difficulty in balancing priorities. The “youth group,” the “senior saints,” the “elders & deacons,” the “ladies class,” the “sunshine girls & discovery scouts,” the “homeschool moms,” the various “care groups,” the “young adults”, the “softball team,” the “Bible Bowlers”… do not represent separate constituencies competing for resources and fighting for rights and interests. We are an “is” – a family, a body, a flock – a church. What benefits one benefits all, what detracts from one detracts from all (I Corinthians 12.25-26). We are, as Smitty Covey used to always remind us, an Organism, not an Organization.
The eternal reality that makes it all so is that which we share – A Head, A Savior, A Shepherd – Jesus.
Sometimes we humans want to be a hydra – one body with many heads. And sometimes we want to be the opposite – One head with many bodies. Sometimes we want to serve a plurality of masters. Sometimes we want to serve the same master separately. The Bible rejects both notions outright as sinful. “No man can serve two masters…”, Jesus asserts unequivocally in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6.24). “Is Christ divided?”, Paul demands in his letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians1.13).
This is a model of being together our culture and our politics reject. But it is God’s way, and if we are to be true to that way, we must be so deliberately – and it will require effort – but then again it always has.
Work very hard to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4.3
