German Slogans (Photo credit: Mr. Ducke)
I heard a radio interview a bit ago with a German man-on-the-street who said that he felt European first, and German second. And at the time I thought…’what?’
As a Brit, that’s pretty hard to get. I know that I’m European, but it would probably take me a moment to declare allegiance to the concept of being European after thinking that I’m British or English.
I also think I heard somewhere that people from Texas think of themselves as Texans first, and then as Americans. I don’t know if that’s true, but I think I’m starting to understand what that German guy was on about. Someone from rural Wales probably thinks of himself as Welsh first British second, whereas I spoke to an English person recently who said they felt British first English second. And certainly I know a lot of people would identify themselves as English first British second.
European probably fourth or fifth.
But where am I going with this? It’s all about Jesus. In terms of national identity, do British Christians feel more shared identity with fellow Brits, or fellow Christians?
Surely if our identity is in Christ then being a Christian should be the national identity that we cling to above everything else; we’re ambassadors for Christ but are never going to truly understand that if our Christianity is a secondary concern after being English, or American, or Chinese, or Somali or whatever.
