Re: [Worship] Patriotic Events

[Dean Thomas <deanthom@sbcglobal.net>]

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Kathryn & other dear lister friends who find themselves in similar positions.

I started to make this to just Kathryn, but thought that a few others might
need or want to hear it, too.

Not to drag this topic on still further, but a practical thought or two,
perhaps...

Kathryn, what would happen if you were to take your thoughts about the need to
glorify God and add the expressed desires of those who want a bit of patriotic
flare and roll them together?

I don't know you well enough to presume to make too many direct suggestions.
Nor do I know you well enough to make sure that I don't ask insulting
questions. 8^) But I'll try not to.

Do you know what I mean when I say "ministering a song"? Reading verses.
Praying verses. Little one minute homilies on a verse or phrase or word in a
song. Pick apart some of the patriotic whizbangs of ancient days and dig out
the Glory Gold in them. YOU concentrate on that while allowing them to have
their ears tickled a bit on the other stuff. What you concentrate on will bring
eternal value while they think they're getting a dose of patriotism.

Battle Hymn of the Republic is a good one. One could preach a sermon on each
verse of that old chestnut! Verse 3: "In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was
born across the sea, with a beauty in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free! [from SIN, not from
Saddam!] HIS truth is marching on!" Those are POWERFUL words. Other verses are
also powerful. Sing the hymn, verses 1 & 2. Before the 3rd (lilies...) have the
keyboardist vamp for a minute and ask out loud, "Please, slow down the pace of
the song so that people can really read and hear the words, and think hard on
them while singing." You're instructing the keyboardist and/or band, but you're
really making an expectation on the congregation to pay attention. Then sing
v.3., but before going into the "Glory, glory, halleluia" portion, READ parts
of that verse. Ask questions about it: "Are we living in such a way and with
the intentionality of making men free from sin?" "Is His Truth marching with
our feet?" "Have we allowed ourselves to be transformed by that God-glory in
His bosom?" "Lord, I confess that I have not submitted myself to Your glory as
much as I should have, and that I am not as transformed as You have intended me
to be. I want to be transformed more and more into Your image. Please help me
to march in Your truth, to walk in Your ways, and to allow myself to be pressed
into Your mold, that Jesus can be seen more clearly in me. Amen." Then sing it
again, speed up in the latter part of it, grow in volume and do the Glory,
Glory part with zest. They get patriotic, you get the power of music addressed
and rooted in Him rather than in the glory of man.

Another tack: Look at the history of some of the older hymns that come from the
American historical tradition. Some of the hymns from the 1700s are talking
about what God did in our land and give Him full credit, but often in a rather
poetic way. Dissect the poetry and minister the song. Use the history of the
tune and the song to tell the story and to show how the writers and those
living at that time were intentional about making sure that God got the glory
and the credit. Some of the stuff written by Billings comes to mind, and other
stuff. One marching hymn of the revolution was to the tune "Chester" but I
can't remember the words just now. 

There is a LOT of good stuff buried in the wonderfully rich poetic hymnody of
our land. Even more in the Civil War era. Less in the 20th Century. Lots of
stuff around the times of the great war periods of our history. You'll have to
dig a bit. Even Cohen's "God bless America" came as a response to wartime.
Cohen was a Jew, but not one who spent every sabbath in "shul" or synagog. But
he obviously believed that there was a God was doing something remarkable with
this pretty new country of his. Play that kind of stuff up to the hilt. "If
this non-practicing Jewish man had the gumption to sing the prayer, 'God,
please bless America', how much more should we who know Him be willing to not
only pray that God would bless this land, but to thank Him for the blessings
that He's given and to ask Him to HEAL our land. Wouldn't THAT be a REAL
blessing??"

Find ways to use even the secular-ish stuff to get back to what you know to be
right and good. Pray the songs. Pray what the songs are MISSING! Encourage
folks in the congregation to pray what the songs are missing through the rest
of the day as they celebrate.

One of my favorite patriotic deals is to sing ALL the verses of the Star
Spangled Banner. ALL of them. There are at least four verses. Four verses will
take you about five minutes if you don't dawdle and if you don't talk between
verses. And be sure that you tell them that this hymn was absolutely written to
be sung to a popular tune of the time (some think that it was indeed a barroom
tune, but absolutely a secular song at the least). Tune was "To Anacreon in
Heaven". That's not true of most of Wesley's or Luther's hymns, even though
that's the story. It IS true here. The bar song was "  Written toward the end
of the war of 1812, Key (great-great grandfather of the Key in Degarmo and Key
from a few years ago) was a patriotic lawyer who was driven to verse by the
stirring sight of a flag. You can find all four verses and a little narrative
about it at:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0194015.html

Other commentary available at:

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=75468

But, in any case,check out the fourth verse:

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd 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!

The heaven rescued land. Hmm. That would be Redemption, yes? Praise the Power
that made and preserved us! HOOHAH! I get goosebumps reading it silently! God
not only was the power that made the nation, but He was the power that put
words in Frances Scott Key's heart that all but exploded onto the page.

You can do things to the music to bring the sound closer to whatever generation
you're hoping to reach, but use all the tricks that a creative God will put in
your head and heart to explode His truth onto the canvas of your congregation!

Your brother in Christ,

Dean Thomas
KCMO

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