Bob Bixby offers some worthwhile thoughts here (his church’s blog). You can also comment here (his personal blog).
Filed under: Ministry Musings, The Junk Drawer |
My Girls
Get GM4Missions
Get GM4Men
My Hymn Site
Subscribe to MTC
8 Responses
Leave a comment
My Two Cents
My Amazon Link
If you're making an Amazon purchase, please access the site through this link. It will cost you nothing, but enable MTC to get a small referral reward. Thank you!
Get GM4Women
Your Two Cents
Priceless
-
My Two Cents 
Can’t say that I agree with the article. To say that singing patriotic songs on the fourth of July excludes those from other countries is not right. This is America! They came here on their own free will most likely because they love this land. I would not feel excluded if I were attending church in Peru and they sang their national songs during special holidays in their church. I live in northeast New Jersey (15 minutes from NYC) and we have a very multicultural congregation, and not one of them is offended by our patriotism. Our Pastor is a Vietnam veteran and always has American flags decorating the church, etc. Again, I think Brother Bixby is being a bit unpatriotic in his stance, which to me is the truly offensive thing. No offense, but if those from other countries get offended from our singing patriotic songs then they should go back to their home countries. To go to a foreign country as an American missionary, plant a church, and then expect them to sing the American national anthem would be wrong, but not here.
Hi, Derek.
We concluded our service today with “America the Beautiful,” specifically because it offers prayers for God to “mend America’s flaws,” “refine her gold,” etc. However, the focus of our service, whether in singing or in preaching, was on God. Our special was intentionally “Almighty Father,” not “My Country, Tis of Thee.” And I think it was appropriate.
I think the issue is not that we need to be sensitive to non-Americans. Rather, it’s that we gather as Christ’s body to honor Him. To prioritize honoring America or anything else on the Lord’s day seems twisted. It’s not about patriotism; it’s about priorities.
I’m a flag-waver. Just hung one up at our house this weekend, in fact. I’ll sing patriotic songs at the top of my voice. I’ll wear red, white & blue. But this morning, my songs were pointed Christ-ward…for HIS sake, not foreigners. FWIW.
Thanks for the reply. I agree that church services are to be Christ-centered. Indeed, the gospel crosses over national boundaries. The major point that bothered me from Brother Bixby’s article was where he said he did not want to “exclude our beloved brothers and sisters from other countries” by singing patriotic songs. The way he made it sound was that they would barely even acknowledge that it was the fourth of July weekend. To me that is going too extreme in the other direction. You can have a patriotic service and still preach a God centered sermon. I do not think one excludes the other–especially when Independence Day reminds us of the Biblical principles our land was founded upon. It’s all about having a healthy balance. Thanks for the link and your thoughts.
[…] Also, after the conversation Bob Bixby started regarding churches & patriotic services (comments may also be seen here and here), I’d be interested in hearing why you did or did not make Independence Day and America a major focus of your worship services yesterday. […]
My family attended a little country Baptist church this past Sunday. It was very disturbing that the only songs sung during the worship service were patriotic. Not one song was about God. If it weren’t for my children (who sang 2 special numbers) the church wouldn’t have focused on God at all during the song service. What was even worse were the loud amens after the patriotic numbers. I still haven’t figured out what they were amening.
I’ve often struggled with this issue. My first “July 4th” Sunday as a music pastor, I didn’t plan to sing one patriotic song, and I got attacked by a man in the congregation who’s son is in the military. After that, my pastor encouraged me to go ahead and include some patriotic songs, but make sure to keep them God-centered. So what I’ve come down do is this, I always sing our national hymn, “God of Our Fathers,” which is thoroughly God-centered; I love “America the Beautiful” for the reasons that you (Chris) mentioned earier; I also usually use “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” which is a stretch until you sing the last verse which is a prayer to God. If I had to use anything else, I’d have to “hold my nose” to get through it. I think if the song leader/worship leader can focus the congregation’s attention on God through the patriotic songs, it can work. However, if it was totally up to me, I would make “July 4th” Sunday like every other Sunday of the year–a time to praise our great God!
Hey, Kris.
“God of Our Fathers” is great, as is “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” which we sang a few weeks ago here at TCBC. It’s the official hymn of the Navy, but we sang it because it has a rich presentation of God’s character and care.
Makes me think of our Trombone Choir days! :-)
Yes. I agree. I use that hymn around Veterans Day.