Who--or what--is center stage?

It's the Sunday before Independence Day, so in many churches across the land it's a "Patriotic Sunday."  There is nothing wrong with offering thanks that--at least for now--we live in a nation where public worship is possible.  In many cases, however, the theme takes over the service, to the point one should really pause and wonder just what, exactly, is being worshiped...

I'm not the only one with this concern, either:

Christian, your church might be guilty of military idolatry:

- If it asks veterans to wear their military uniforms to church on the Sunday before a national holiday like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or Veterans Day.
- If it applauds young men who announce their intentions to join the military with more fervor than it applauds young men who announce their intentions to study for the ministry.
- If it has the members recite the Pledge of Allegiance in church on the Sunday before a national holiday.
- If it sends more soldiers to the Middle East than missionaries.
- If it decorates the grounds and buildings with flags on Flag Day, Armed Forces Day, and the Sunday before Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or Veterans Day.
- If it has special military-appreciation Sundays.
- If it has the members sing patriotic songs on the Sunday before a national holiday.
- If it has the members sing the blasphemous "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at any church service.
- If the sign in front of the church on the Sunday before a national holiday says that as the soldier gave his life for your freedom so Christ gave his life for your soul.
- If it welcomes home U.S. soldiers from war with more enthusiasm than it welcomes home missionaries from foreign fields.

Much of this goes beyond patriotism into nationalism.  Does that really have a place alongside the Cross, at the foot of which ALL people are equal?

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments..."

Exodus 20:4-6

Love God.  Love your fellow man, too, and the communities in which you have been placed. But do not worship them, or the trappings of the State, which as an institution is at best a concession to the fallen nature of this world.