National Anthem in church?
Well! Here it is- my first official post. I submitted this post to my home congregation’s newsletter but I feel that it is important - particularly in these days. So, here we go.
Is it appropriate to sing the national anthem in a Christian worship service? The same comments apply to the Pledge of Allegiance (for our American friends) and displaying the national flag. At this point, my answer would be ‘no’.
I have no trouble singing the national anthem in secular situations. But when I am in the congregation on Remembrance and Canada Day Sundays, I do not stand for the anthem nor do I sing it. When I lead worship on those Sundays, I don’t have that option. So, I try not to lead worship on those Sundays.
What is it that bothers me about singing the national anthem in church? Partly, it is because country borders are determined by us. There is nothing sacred about them. They have been the cause of millions and millions of lives lost in battle and in the failure to deliver relief aid because we don’t trust their leadership.
‘God keep our land glorious and free!’. Is it really Christian to ask God to keep our borders secure? Shouldn’t we be asking for every land to be glorious and free? ‘True patriot love in all of us command’. I thought that our allegiance, our love was for God alone. Canada does not have the power to command our love. ‘O Canada, we stand on guard for thee’. How is it that we, as Christians, should stand on guard?
When I consider Jesus’ life, teachings and death, it seems to me that the words and sentiment in ‘O Canada’ are much too narrow to be sung in church. In the Song of Faith (adopted in 2006, to provide a verbal picture of what the United Church of Canada understands its faith to be in the context of the early 21st century ), we find:
“We offer worship as an outpouring of gratitude and awe, and a practice of opening ourselves to God’s still, small voice of comfort, to God’s rushing whirlwind of challenge. Through word, music, art, and sacrament, in community and in solitude, God changes our lives, our relationships, and our world. We sing with trust.”
Congregational singing and music within worship should help achieve this. For me ‘O Canada’ does not help us achieve this.
For the American anthem, it’s interesting to note that the Star Bangled Banner started as a poem about the Battle of Baltimore. As you might expect, it is filled with images of war and enemies.
The Lord’s Day activities of the local church focuses on worship. What brings the people to the building on that day, among other things, is their desire to strengthen their relationship with the divine and be inspired to live Jesus’ message. To have patriotic elements in worship creates a link between church and state which, I think, is dangerous.
But, that’s just what I think. What do you think?
Anglicans have a tendency to sing national anthems in church but I was dismayed when our priest-in-charge decided to open this morning's service with both the Canadian and British anthems because it happens to be the Victoria Day civic holiday in Canada. Some reflections:
1. I appreciate Sharon's theological points about the basic difference in language and identity. National anthems are not prayers to the God revealed in Jesus Christ; nor are they pointing us to our truest identity that is found in Christ. National identity is at best a secondary identity, or third, if our biological family is secondary to our Christian identity.
2. Context and timing matters here. Canada feels something of an existential threat from the US Government and the need to reassert independence is strong. But the language of the Psalms should steer us directly to God for shelter and protection.
3. Although the priest acknowledged the theological danger of Christian nationalism, the notion of Canada as a Christian nation too easily opens the way for Anglicans with a history of military service, and no doubt other Christians too, to see the nation as a locus of Christian discipleship where Canadian 'values' of dignity and freedom as seen as expressions of the Gospel. To follow this line of thinking allows the service of the national interest to be seen as a form of Christian service. What is lacking is the formation to know when the national interest must be opposed in the name of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. War is a case in point.
4. With such a fusion of Christian and Canadian values, singing the national anthems in a worship service sets the tone for the nation to become a mediator in our relationship to God. This means we look to Canada to reinforce and strengthen our collective sense of what it means to be Christian, whereby serving the interests of Canada clarifies and extends our work of discipleship, making possible forms of Christian service that would be otherwise unavailable. While serving the nation can be a facilitator of Christian service is can also be an impediment to it. And we are still left without the training to develop the skills to know how to support and oppose our nation as required by faithful Christian discipleship.
Here endeth the sermon! I'm okay with national anthems in civic settings but given the hand-wring in liberal Anglican circles about residential schools and the 'evils' of the pandemic protests in the name of Christian nationalism, we need all the help we can get to thing seriously about such matters, rather than feel proud or sentimental about Canada.
Anglicans have a tendency to sing national anthems in church but I was dismayed when our priest-in-charge decided to open this morning's service with both the Canadian and British anthems because it happens to be the Victoria Day civic holiday in Canada. Some reflections:
1. I appreciate Sharon's theological points about the basic difference in language and identity. National anthems are not prayers to the God revealed in Jesus Christ; nor are they pointing us to our truest identity that is found in Christ. National identity is at best a secondary identity, or third, if our biological family is secondary to our Christian identity.
2. Context and timing matters here. Canada feels something of an existential threat from the US Government and the need to reassert independence is strong. But the language of the Psalms should steer us directly to God for shelter and protection.
3. Although the priest acknowledged the theological danger of Christian nationalism, the notion of Canada as a Christian nation too easily opens the way for Anglicans with a history of military service, and no doubt other Christians too, to see the nation as a locus of Christian discipleship where Canadian 'values' of dignity and freedom as seen as expressions of the Gospel. To follow this line of thinking allows the service of the national interest to be seen as a form of Christian service. What is lacking is the formation to know when the national interest must be opposed in the name of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. War is a case in point.
4. With such a fusion of Christian and Canadian values, singing the national anthems in a worship service sets the tone for the nation to become a mediator in our relationship to God. This means we look to Canada to reinforce and strengthen our collective sense of what it means to be Christian, whereby serving the interests of Canada clarifies and extends our work of discipleship, making possible forms of Christian service that would be otherwise unavailable. While serving the nation can be a facilitator of Christian service is can also be an impediment to it. And we are still left without the training to develop the skills to know how to support and oppose our nation as required by faithful Christian discipleship.
Here endeth the sermon! I'm okay with national anthems in civic settings but given the hand-wring in liberal Anglican circles about residential schools and the 'evils' of the pandemic protests in the name of Christian nationalism, we need all the help we can get to thing seriously about such matters, rather than feel proud or sentimental about Canada.