Thread by @JoashPThomas

A #July4th Thread 🧵:

What to the Immigrant Christian is the 4th of July?

Allow me to share a few thoughts from the perspective of a Christian who also happens to be an immigrant; one also celebrating 10 years as an immigrant in the US. 1/13

I was born & raised in a loving Christian home in Mumbai, India. I grew up privileged & patriotic.

My privileged upbringing made it easier to love my birth country. I wanted to grow up and work for my country - either in armed services, civil services or the Indian Cricket Team.

Then, my parents decided to uproot our lives & join extended family in the US. They wanted to give my sister & I the best education and with me finishing High School, the timing was right.

So we sold everything, packed up our lives & moved to a country we’d never been before.

July 4th, 2014 will live in my memory forever. Despite only being 3 years into my immigrant journey, I was somehow invited to celebrate #July4th at the White House. I felt overwhelmed - like I had “made it” as an immigrant. Only in America. I love this country. 4/13

July 4th, 2015 was also special as I got to celebrate #July4th with fellow American expats at the US Embassy in New Delhi - while on a 10 month work assignment in my birth country. Another special experience! 5/13

On July 4th, 2019, I found myself just having renounced my Indian citizenship to keep my newly acquired US citizenship so that I could do a short work trip back to India. I had to do this since the Indian government doesn’t allow dual citizenship. 6/13

Why do I share all this? To show that I love my adopted home. I really do. Yes, we have a very messed up history of oppressing the marginalized but we also have many who have sought to correct where we erred. That’s what makes us one of the greatest nations in human history. 7/13

That being said, as a South Asian immigrant who is always viewed as “an outsider” and as a Christian with a great passion for the Great Commission, I’ve made peace with the fact that this nation may not be my permanent home. 8/13

As a Christian, I actually find this to be a liberating thing because it reminds me that we as Christians are ultimately just sojourners - passing from the City of Man to the City of God (which will one day fully replace the City of Man on earth). 9/13

As an immigrant who had to renounce his birth citizenship to embrace his new citizenship, I’ve also been reminded that earthly citizenships & kingdoms are all ultimately in flux. They’re all temporary and they’ll all eventually pass away.

I cannot base my identity on it. 10/13

This is why data like this (from @joshswu) is incredibly concerning. Most US Evangelicals (across racial lines) see their US citizenship being equally / more important than their citizenship in Jesus’ Kingdom. 11/13

For the Christian - allegiance to Christ’s eternal Kingdom must always supersede allegiances to temporary earthly nations. Always. Why? Because the rulers of our earthly nations are ultimately answerable to a higher authority - the only good, eternal & just King Jesus. 12/13

What would it look like for us as Christians to reorient our citizenship views by learning from our immigrant neighbors?

Learning to love our earthly communities while always remembering who we ultimately are - an exilic people with a richer, longer-lasting identity. 13/13

Happy #4thofJuly to everyone except King George from Hamilton!