Today is July 04, 2026– our nation’s Independence Day. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Founding Fathers of our nation, drafted the Declaration of Independence, claiming their autonomy from English domination. It was the unique blend of courage, commitment, and conviction that inspired these men of old to begin this experiment of democracy, which we are still coming to terms with, centuries later.
I felt it fitting to publish this post on today– our national birthday– because I wrote my own Declaration of Independence. Unlike the one etched on parchment, my declaration of independence is enclosed in my heart. It does not separate me from the imperialistic tendencies of another country, but signing this article of independence took courage, commitment, and conviction. I claimed independence not from a kingdom across the waters; my independence was won against an invisible kingdom from within.
For some that is a bold statement coming from a Baptist pastor. For others, it is a sound of relief. It is not lost on me that not everyone’s experience in the church has been like mine. I find comfort in church but that’s not everyone’s path. For some, church represents a toxic environment– a place of manipulation, shame, rejection, and scorn- a place where humanity has been stripped away and voices are silenced in pursuit of conformity. Church does not mean the same thing to everyone.
My need for freedom began while I was pastoring. By every religious metric, I did things the right way. I went to school. I got married. I had kids. I started pastoring a church. People were coming and the ministry was growing. But deep down inside, something was missing. People did not see it from the outside, but inside something was not adding up. I recall one Sunday morning in particular. I was in my office at church, preparing to go out and preach. I caught sight of my eyes in the bathroom mirror and was immediately frozen in place. I had looked at myself countless times before, but this time- this moment- the image was different. My eyes told a different story than my smile portrayed. I was not happy. Yes, I was doing the very thing I believed I was born to do, but for some reason the passion was not there.
It was not until after COVID that I was able to come to terms with my answer. I lacked joy because my inner being needed something more than a hymn and a holler, more than a squeal and a scoot. I needed something that the church could not offer me. I yearned for a wholeness that the church could not provide. The institutional church did its best to point me to God, but the God that my soul ached for was beyond the church. I longed for God that swelled in my bones, like the joy that rises when you hear the giddy laughter of babies. I hungered for a God of radical acceptance and relentless pursuit.
Church never gave me that portrait of God. Never. I heard of the God of justice, the God of conditional grace, the God of wrath, the God that loved you as long as you performed according to prescriptive demands. Never was I introduced to an expression of God as an abiding presence of abounding love. I heard God sacrificed Jesus to demonstrate love towards humanity, but little oxygen was given to God’s love for me– for Jeremy, as a person. Not the pastor who preaches or the father who provides or the teacher who performs. Just me– simple, sullen, scarred me.
That is the exact reason I needed my own declaration of independence. It freed me from assuming church was all I needed for my spiritual well-being. You need one too. I needed to overcome the internalized pressure to perform for others while denying my unique, God-given personhood. That was the kingdom that I needed to topple, hiding in plain sight. Religion is not all bad, but church was never designed to contain God (Acts 7:48). The fullness of divine expression cannot be localized to any church tradition. We often take the easy path of consumption when it comes to our spirituality. “Eat whatever the church feeds us. Consume it. Digest it. Repeat it.” But that practice does not produce a lasting, viable, mature spirituality. God is found in the wrestle. Church does not always give us the permission to do that. When was the last time you dared to look for God outside of church? In those unique, unexpected places?
Many of the things we claim are divinely inspired in the church have very little to do with God at all. But maybe that is the point. Church is only a sign; it was never intended to be our source. God is greater than any institution or denomination, any ritual, any human imagination or finite space. We should not become so attached to any institution that we lose sight of the divine presence that desperately calls us beyond. God is all around you, beneath you, beside you, above you, in front of you, within you.
So on this day of independence and freedom, I recite my pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the divine image within me and to the God before whom I stand,
At one in mind, soul, and body, one person, undivided.
Wishing peace, love, and wholeness to all.
Graced & Grateful,
jsb