1/ Over the holiday weekend, I was thinking about patriotism & what it means to love one's country. I also rewatched Hamilton & read some of the controversy surrounding the show. Is it possible or right to honor founders who were slaveholders? I don't have a clear answer, but...

2/...I wonder if the 4th Commandment (Honor your father & your mother) might offer some guidance. I've wrestled with this commandment as an adult. What does it mean to "honor" imperfect, flawed, sometimes sinful elders? It can't mean to ignore or excuse injustice. But it also...

3/...cannot mean showing no gratitude or indebtedness for what they did right. Honoring my parents means seeing them for who they are, & choosing to emulate their virtues & to learn from their failures. It means thanking God for their love & sharing the burden of their sin...

4/...The culture warriors want to avoid this cognitive dissonance by seeing the Founders as flawless saints or irredeemable sinners. They were neither. Many of us are learning how to grow from a naive, childish love for our parents into a mature, adult love for them. It's a...

5/...love that sees more fully & therefore can honor more truthfully. Maybe we should take those hard lessons from our own families & apply them as a national family while never forgetting that the 4th Commandment never trumps the 1st.