There is just something about fireworks being shot out over Lake Erie. The exploding rockets reflecting off the water, hearing the sizzle when the hot embers touch the Lake and smelling the cordite as it drifts in on the breeze. If the Lake is rough with big waves, which is often the case, it doesn't reflect the sparkle so much as it seems to infuse the surf with light. You don't hear the sizzle, but the booming of the waves gives it a whole other feeling. Lake side fireworks are amazing. Which is why three communities right close to where I live have displays. The venues are thronged, the booming goes on for an hour and then everyone bolts to whatever free space they parked in and they all hit the roads at the same time. Which is why I don't go anymore. From where I curl up at night it sounds like Canada is making an amphibious assault and we are defending gallantly. All I really want is to sleep.

    All around the country this year the Fourth of July was filled with celebration. The country was two hundred and fifty years old, which is reason enough to celebrate, even though a former first lady has recently said that she is not proud of the United States at this moment. Because this is a great and mighty nation, she has the right to her opinion. That alone should make someone proud. But, I don't want to go down that rabbit trail.

    What I think is important is what we should be as citizens. Fifty years ago, at the two hundredth birthday, the country was divided. All the riots and assassinations of the 1960s were still fresh on our minds, the National Guard shooting at Kent State University was still churning in the psyche of the country and the resignation of a shamed president and the consequent pardon issued by the new president had left a bad taste in the mouth. We were divided. But we still had our big party. We woke up on July 5 with all the same problems, but we had the memory of, well, the fireworks.

    Fifty years later the problems are different, but the core attitude is the same. We are divided. We are so focused on what we believe that we can't even talk decently to someone who disagrees. And this goes for both conservative and liberal thinkers. Who is right? Who echoes the feelings of the founding fathers? Who is the good citizen? If only there was a blueprint that pointed to good citizenship.

    I don't consider myself a conservative or a liberal. I consider myself a Biblicist. The Bible covers six thousand years. During that time the Jews we governed by an assortment of kings and empires as well as periods in which they were self-governing. By the time of the New Testament they were governed by Rome. In the time after Christ the Jews were persecuted by the empire. Christians were also persecuted because they were seen as a part of the Jews. This wasn't the type of persecution we have now. Now two ICE agents walk into a Dunkin Donuts and they are refused their coffee and cream filled calorie buster and we call it persecution. The century after Christ was filled the kind of government sanctioned persecution that often led to violent death. How were Christians to handle this?

    Along comes Peter. Older. Wiser. Perhaps one the Christians could look to as the leader who could lead them in their struggle. And Peter says this in 1 Peter 2:13-25;

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

    'OK, wait a minute. Peter's time was different that our time!' Yes, it was worse. 'But Peter didn't know our times and issues!' That is true. His government leaders were absolute rulers. What they said was what went. The man in the street had no say over who the emperor was. One emperor made his horse a member of the Roman senate. Several emperors had sexual relationships with their sisters and at least one had a relationship with his mother. Not only were there ongoing wars but there were plagues and forced religion and horrible punishments and executions. Peter himself would soon go to the cross for his beliefs, asking only that he be crucified upside down so as to not be mistaken as a Christ figure to future generations.

    'There! You see! Peter went against the government! So can we!' Go back and read the passage. Peter said that our faith shows Christ. Not our belligerence, not our political self will, not the claiming of our rights. Our faith. We are to express our faith and we are to do it in love and grace.

    And only when we start to act as God's children will we be good citizens.