Our local commentator took the position that "there is no cause great enough for any team to take the knee when the National Anthem is played." Period. End of Report. I have long admired Kaepernick for his ability to stand on a principle for which he believed, take his licks for doing it, and move on with his life, for better or worse. Yet, just today I learned in writing this piece, that NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has apologized to Kaepernick and admitted that he and the League would have benefited by listening to what Kaepernick was attempting to say. That gives me new hope for the NFL.
So, back to our local newspaper and the political sentiment around Kentucky. Admittedly, I am an import to Kentucky, here by reason of family connections and my personal adjustment as an ordained Minister and former Pastor, since 1951. Yes I am old enough to admit I have been around the block a few times. Yes; it means I am appreciative of being part of a social structure that affirms the positive side of a rather Christian society. Yes; I perceive being a born-again Christian is something that is positively assumed and affirmed in Kentucky.
Kentucky has a Governor that I believe lives a transformed personal life and publically affirms his supreme allegiance to the Almighty and tries to practice the corollary of that in his politics by loving his neighbor as himself in ways considered political. I see it verbalized on my car tag-"In God We Trust". Equally, I see it expressed in the Governor's public life.
But back to the op-ed in the Winchester SUN ... our local writer railed about Coach Cal's disrespect and raised the question of "What are we teaching our young people when they see our basketball team kneel and not stand for the anthem, flag and prayer?" That raises a question for me that you may, or may not like. I may be wrong, I am old enough to have been wrong several times in life, but it seems to me that the critics of Coach Cal, the Wildcats basketball team, and anyone else "taking a knee"; are as Pharisaical as the hypocritical Pharisees of the Bible who stood on the street corner and paraded their devotion to God with prayers that thanked God they were not women or sinful publicans.
Having grown up in a conservative Protestant Church, I have childhood memories of attending Cottage Prayer Meetings, as we called it them--informal midweek gatherings--frequently meeting at the home of my revered aunt and uncle. When it came time to pray; we neither sat nor stood; we knelt--on our knees before God. I have never forgotten that instance decades ago when, in my childhood I tired of kneeling at my seat and sat on the floor, and promptly fell asleep-- only to awaken with everyone standing on their feet singing the closing hymn. Of course, I was embarrassed ... but to this day, I cannot think of anything that better symbolizes faith and humility, prayer and worship, than bowing on bended knee--"taking a knee!"
I submit to the reader that the critics of these athletes who take a knee to protest something that seems morally indefensible to them, is to parade a Phariseeism that Jesus condemned by being nailed on a Roman Cross and left to die. Whether you stand or you kneel, I say, God bless America, But patriotism and Christianity are not one and the same, Being patriotic does not make you a model citizen, let alone a transformed Christian, but being a devout Christian will internalize your moral and ethical life and convert you into an improved citizen.
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com --loving God Supremely and loving our neighbor as our self is something we can all benefit from whether we stand or kneel.
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