The Star-Spangled Banner

In 1979 my high school concert choir toured in Mexico, singing in schools and competing in a choral festival. One school in which we sang began their assembly by singing the Mexican national anthem, proudly and with gusto, to a recording on the PA system. Then they honored us by playing our national anthem for us to sing. Their recording had all four stanzas. After the first one we were all lost, and quite embarrassed at how little we knew of our national anthem.

How about you? Do you know all 4 stanzas? Do you know that it was not adopted as our national anthem until 1931? You probably do remember that it was written by Francis Scott Key while imprisoned on a British ship near Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I love our national anthem -- especially the two stanzas that I know from memory. It is very important to me, and it aggravates me when people fail to show proper decorum when it is sung at public events; but, it is not a hymn of Christian worship – even though it is in our hymnal. This Sunday in worship we will give humble thanks to God for our nation and fervently lift her up in prayer, but Communion will be our primary focus. That’s enough to think about for now.

Blogger's note: The above was all I had room for in my Wednesday evening rehearsal notes (1/2 page 8.5" x 11"), and I had to steal a little space from the other page to get that much. I didn't have room (nor perhaps the guts) to share the following:

When I have pointed out that our national anthem is not a hymn of Christian worship, people have questioned my patriotism and even my spiritual sensibility (probably why I didn't have the guts). I think our tendency in the American church to equate patriotism and Christianity probably arose particularly during the struggles of the two World Wars of the 20th century and the fervent prayers for our troops and leaders during those huge events of world-wide impact. It is not a stretch to see how that could happen. Similar emotions are evoked by both ... as well they should be. My heart should be stirred by songs of national importance. My heart should be stirred by the move of the Holy Spirit as I worship. But it is easy to accidentally allow the one to substitute for the other.

Broaden the perspective just a little bit. Imagine worshiping somewhere other than the United States (if you've never done this ... on a mission trip or for some other reason overseas, I highly recommend it). Case in point: in North Carolina one July, I played "My Country, 'tis of Thee" on my trumpet as an offertory. There was a Canadian in the congregation, a medical student studying with one of our local doctors. His question, "Why is he playing 'God Save the Queen'?" (it's the same tune, in case you're wondering).

I'm having a tough time bringing this plane down to land right now. My point is this: in worship, we do lift up our nation and her leaders in prayer. Failure to do so would be disobedient to clear instruction in scripture. We even take more care to do so surrounding days of national importance like July 4th. However, we do not give over the entire Sunday morning service to a patriotic emphasis. Our focus is Christ. None of our national songs that I can think of that do mention God (and we will sing them) mentions Christ at all. Our focus is Christ.

I have a feeling that somebody may skewer me on this one (fortunately my readership is slim). Hear my carefully again: I love my country, but our focus in worship is Christ.

Those [insert appropriate adjective here] screens

Our church staff often gets interesting feedback from the congregation when we choose to use the video projection system in the 11:00 worship service as we did last Sunday. Doing so is never a frivolous, last-minute decision. The staff weighs very carefully the pros and cons in our decision making process. We have heard myriad opinions on the screens, both against AND for; and we anticipate that we will continue to hear them. Further, we do listen to what people say … especially when they say it politely. (The 8:30 congregation has issues as well, but they are rarely about the projection system).

One of the reasons we do not use the screens more often in the 11:00 service is that we have some members who find it quite difficult to pay attention to what God might be saying to them in worship if the screens are used (or if certain pieces of furniture are not arranged according to their liking). In light of that understanding, your staff tries to apply the principles taught in Romans 14:13 – 15:6, I Corinthians 8:7-13, I Corinthians 10:23-24, and 10:31-33, seeking to enable as many as possible to worship as freely as possible and to do so as often as possible. Last Sunday we felt that the images shown would remind us of God’s work in and through this church under the leadership of a former pastor (who served here for some 27 years before retiring) … and in so doing, give us cause to praise and glorify God. Knowing that some of our members find it a stumbling block, we consider very carefully each decision to use the screens in 11:00 worship.

Some may find it interesting that the opinions on the use of the projection system do not fall along predictable age lines. It is at least important to know. I have been told, “those of us in my generation don’t want the screens” followed closely by enthusiastic appreciation from another member of the same generation … perhaps from the same Sunday School class or WMU circle! To whom do we listen? All … in equal measure.

While disunity is unsettling to me (especially over something so eternally meaningless as whether to use screens in worship), I am reminded of the wisdom of my great-grandmother passed down to me 20 years ago as my wife and I were preparing for our wedding – “If two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary.” That’s enough to think about for now.

Esse quam videri

Before moving to South Carolina almost seven years ago, I served a church in the northern foothills of North Carolina. North Carolina's state motto is perhaps my favorite. I say "perhaps" because I haven't really studied them all. At this writing I can't even recall the state motto of my current resident state. Shameful as that may be, it's quite beside the point.

North Carolina's state motto is a Latin phrase "Esse quam videri" which as I understand it translates: "To be rather than to seem." That wonderful ideal came back to the front of my mind as I began reading a new book this morning: Bob Roberts Jr.'s Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World. In the introduction (and yes, I do read the introductions to most books of this type ... it often helps me get into what the author is trying to say), Roberts writes the following:

The church has been stripped of its power and influence in the West today, not because it has lost its wealth and position in society -- it hasn't -- but because the church has lost credibility. On the whole, we can hardly change ourselves, much less the world. We cannot consistently live the message we herald to the world, but never have we been more effective at religious marketing of products that help us appear as if we are living it. As a result, the growing perception is that the church is religious but not spiritual. It has style but not enough substance. (p. 15)

Recent polls show virtually no difference in the ways in which professing Christians behave in comparison with the behavior of people with no professed religious affiliation. There is little comfort in the fact that the same kinds of tendencies we are seeing in our local situation is reflected in churches across the United States. As a matter of fact I find it even more disconcerting. We are more concerned with appearing holy than we are with actually experiencing holiness. We have turned the ideal of the North Carolina state motto around to read "To seem rather than to be."

Help us, Lord, for we cannot help ourselves.