The flag of the United States of America
'For a pair of virgin transatlantic travellers ... it was quite a culture shock.'

We hadn't anticipated a crash course in American patriotism quite so soon after our arrival in the U.S., although, I suppose, if one does attend a church service on Independence Day weekend, it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise.

We began the service with a responsorial lifted directly from the Declaration of Independence, we sang "America the Beautiful" and " My Country 'Tis of Thee", and instead of the Old Testament Lesson, we were read an extract from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Speech. Altogether, for a pair of virgin transatlantic travellers (I refer to our inexperience of the U.S. rather than the mode of transport we used to get here), it was quite a culture shock.

Then we came to the sermon - which proved to be a deeply felt, exhaustively researched and intelligently argued critique of American government, foreign policy, ethos and values (with special reference, of course, to the recent war in Iraq). Nevertheless, the preacher still managed to leave us with a deep sense of his love for his country, and the pride he took in being a citizen of the United States of America.

Now I have led and attended many patriotic services in the U.K. - Remembrance Sunday, Battle of Britain Sunday, St George's Day, and civic services with Mayor and Town Council in full regalia. But I have never, ever, in Britain, come across such an astonishing mix of all-out patriotism and profound criticism.

It is a combination I simply couldn't imagine - or ever have dared engineer myself. With some audiences or congregations one can be critical (a Greenbelt seminar, for example) and with others (a British Legion funeral, perhaps) one can be patriotic. But never both at once.

It struck me that this is a shame. Those around me at the Independence Day service seemed to share a real pride in the values of the country and communities in which they lived - even if that pride was tempered with a healthy scepticism concerning how these values are sometimes applied.

I found myself wishing that I and others of my generation had grown up with a similar sense of pride and belief in our country. It made me wonder why, as Britons, we have lost this sense of pride - is it partly because the traditional ideals of Britishness (stiff upper lip, courage, self belief and determination in the face of overwhelming odds) have become too associated with everything we are ashamed of connected with colonialism and Empire?

And it also made me wonder if our society would be healthier if we had retained some of this pride - always assuming, of course, that it could be combined with the refreshing scepticism of my new-found American friends.

I am not so naïve, of course, as to assume that my first experience of church in the U.S. was a typical one - in fact, members of the congregation assured me (with some pride), that it was not. But so far many of the Americans I have met have not conformed to the stereotypes I was expecting, and have indeed have so far provided me with considerable food for thought. Long may they continue to do so!