Tag: patriotism

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Americana Journal Wisdom

Why have a 4th of July church service?

Fourth of July
I am inspired by a traditional Fourth of July worship service

Celebrating the Fourth of July in the traditional way with patriotic hymns and maybe even the Pledge of Allegiance might raise questions these days. Is it too secular? Maybe even partisan? Or just distracting?

I have always felt very positive about a traditional Fourth of July service. I even find them inspiring.

  • First, a Fourth of July emphasis keeps the Sunday service relevant on a holiday weekend in the same way that we make services relevant for other national holidays such as Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Thanksgiving Sunday.
  • A song such as “America” which I nearly always choose is itself a prayer and very appropriate for a church service.
  • The Pledge Allegiance to the American Flag seems really to be an affirmation that we will do what we are commanded to do in 1 Peter 2:13, to submit ourselves to the human authority which is over us.
  • The phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance reminds us that our first allegiance is to God. When I use the Pledge to the American Flag in a service, I also use the Pledge to the Christian Flag. And I do the latter one first, noting that our first allegiance is to Jesus.
  • A Fourth of July service with patriotic overtones pays tribute to the Christian heritage of our country’s beginnings. Connecticut was founded by the Congregationalists from Massachusetts and had an established church until about 1818. We don’t wish to return to that but we do want to remember their legacy. In 1892 the Supreme Court declared, “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind.  It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian” (Church of the Holy Trinity V. Unites States). So, there is a close interrelationship between the values espoused in our country’s great documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Christian faith that partially inspired them. A Fourth of July service reminds me of this linkage.
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Americana

The Faith of the Presidents

Five key conclusions

At this time of year we remember the birthdays of two great presidents, and because of them we think about all the presidents of our country.   It is important to think about the faith in God that has been a part of the character of most of our great leaders as well as of our great country.   To document this and help us remember it, I have taken excepts from inaugural addresses spread over the entire 200 plus year history of our country.  This limitation of source material has led to some surprises concerning recent presidents included and not included.  Reading all these excerpts and considering them as a whole, one cannot help but reach several very significant conclusions. 

  1. Many of these presidents had deep personal Christian faith that is reflected in their addresses as they chose to quote Scripture, pray or chose particularly symbolic Bibles upon which to swear the oath of office. 
  2. In most of the excerpts chosen, the big concepts such as justice, liberty, equality and peace were shaped and informed by Judeao-Christian tradition.   
  3. These presidents expected to be speaking to a people who understood, cherished and were sympathetic to such beliefs.  
  4. It didn’t matter substantially what party the president represented.
  5. The first four observations were not only true of presidents in the first few decades of our country; they were also true of presidents at various times in our history and of some recent presidents. 

As support for these observations, I gleaned these quotes from inaugural speeches from one of Wall Builders resources.  http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/inaugurals.php

From George Washington’s first inaugural address:

It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; …

John Adams conclusion of his inaugural address in 1797:

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Americana Journal

A Prayer on 9/11/11

We prayed this prayer in our services this morning for this 10 year anniversary remembrance of 9/11.

 

Our heavenly Father, source of our strength, protector of our homeland, ultimate giver of all prosperity; to you we come on this anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies in the history of our country.  We come humbly; confessing our unworthiness, our failures as a nation to follow your laws and uphold your values.  Yet we come to you, because we know you are the ultimate source of life, and blessing, and protection.  

On this day we remember again the families of the victims of 9/11.  Undoubtedly the remembrances of this day open tragic memories which only you can heal.   May your comfort and encouragement be theirs as we pray for them.

 We come to you also today on behalf of current public servants whom we remember especially on this day.  We pray for firefighters, police, ambulance personnel, and homeland security workers. We ask that you would give them strength, wisdom, spiritual guidance, and divine protection. We pray that you would grant them success in their work.  Thank you for their selfless sacrifice as they serve us working for public safety.

Our Father, we remember today also on this 10th anniversary of 9/11 that ever since that day our country has been continuously at war. We are reminded to pray for our soldiers wherever they are. We pray especially for those in Iraq and Afghanistan that they may sense your presence daily and be shielded by your power.   We plead also for the leaders of our country that they may have wisdom to guide our country out of war and into peace. 

We seek your face for your blessing on our country.  Above all others our country has been blessed.  Thank you for the safety that you have granted to our country in the last 10 years.   Thank you for the prosperity that we enjoy.   Thank you for the privilege of freedom of worship.  We pray that you would help us so to live that you would be pleased to continue to bless our country.  May our moral example and spiritual passion strengthen the fabric our nation    Help us to preserve our freedoms; and help us to be able to pass to those who follow us a nation that is even stronger than it is today.

We pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, King over all nations, AMEN