According to the Pew Research Center, only one in ten Americans say they don’t believe in God or a higher power of any kind. That means that 90% of Americans believe in some sort of God. So, my question for all these believers is what exactly do they believe about God? Perhaps they believe in a TV god. Like the Blue Bloods god.
For seven seasons the family on the TV series Blue Bloods recited this prayer before they had their Sunday dinner: Bless us, O Lord, and these our gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen. It’s a common Catholic prayer.
It’s a good prayer. The Catholics have a lot of good prayers written out for people to recite at certain times. There’s nothing wrong with that. My grandfather used to pray the same prayer at every dinner I ever attended. It was a beautiful short prayer. But there’s something wrong with the Reagan’s prayer, and that’s this: The prayer is nothing more than a ritual, a family tradition. And the rule is that they cannot eat the meal until grace is said and they cannot say grace until everyone is present. And they all stubbornly agree that this is the way it should be and feel really good about saying that prayer. And to watch it on TV, we feel good, too. It’s a nice moment. But then they go about their lives as if there is no god. There is nothing spiritual or even the least bit “religious” about the life of the Reagans.
There were a couple of episodes where Danny, (Donnie Wahlberg) the detective son of Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) encountered people who had conversations with God, and Danny’s response was that they must be crazy if they were conversing with God. And most “religious” characters on the show are the fanatical ones who hurt people because God told them to do so. Or they are the swindlers who are leading people in the name of God but who are actually just power hungry con men.
So, Danny says grace before his Sunday meal but doesn’t ever speak to God himself or believe God speaks to people. And Frank Reagan has a friendship with his priest who occasionally has a part in the series. The writers of the show make us feel really good about Frank who has a religious friend and sometimes they have conversations about religious things but Frank’s life reflects no god at all.
My grandfather, who said the same prayer before every Sunday dinner, on the other hand, was a godly man. As a kid I was intrigued by his Bible that was well-worn with notes and pen marks and pages that were falling apart. He studied his Bible and served as a deacon in his little country church for 60 years. He had daily conversations with God.
Interestingly enough, the act of saying grace at the Reagan Sunday lunch disappeared at the beginning of season 8. Why? Well, Danny’s wife is killed. According to the writers of the show it made no sense to thank God for his “bounty” anymore. Obviously, the Reagans, educated and good people that they were, should not include or acknowledge the kind of God who would allow Linda to be senselessly killed. So, God was written out of the series.
Now I know that Blue Bloods is just a show. And it’s a good show. But I think the scene of saying grace at the Reagan table depicts the “faith life” of many Americans.
Which reminds me of those haunting words that Jesus shared with the people who had gathered to hear the great sermon on the mount. Jesus told them: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’”2
Ironically, the Reagan family, who are all hard workers and good people who pride themselves in doing good and mighty works, who honor the law, who have dedicated their lives to observing the law and enforcing the law will hear these harsh words: And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”3
And so these law-abiding folks (the Reagans and the Pharisees) are referred to as “workers of lawlessness!” Therefore, the question we need to be asking is not Do we obey the law? but Do we obey God? However, the most important question to be asking is Do we know God?
1Matthew 7:24 2Matthew 7:21-22 3Matthew 7:23
