Patriotic service again - June 29

This was in anticipation of July 4th. As usual, I got damp-eyed when singing the patriotic songs - The Star Spangled Banner, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and America. For special music, a Ladies' Ensemble sang "God Bless the USA."

We had a fill-in pastor, as our pastor was with the group on the missions trip in Guatemala. The speaker used as his topic "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Unfortunately, I took too long to write this, and don't remember details too well.

One thing I do remember is that in the evening service, a little girl - about 4th grade or so - played "America" on the trumpet. She stumbled a little at one point, and getting ready to take up where she left off, she looked back in the congregation at her cousin (who may have been mouthing something), and said, "T____, shut up!" Then she got going again and finished the song.

Another Uplifting Patriotic Service

I am a patriot. I think I am never more aware of that as when our country and our men in the military are honored in our church services.

Sunday, May 25, we had such a service in our church. I wish someone had videotaped at least the opening. In additon to our normal "worship team" of 4 or 5 people along with the the piano and organ, 4 teenagers joined them with trumpet, sax, guitar, and drums. The first hymn was "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." As many times as I have sung that, I got choked up a bit and couldn't even sing at first. Then, when I finally got my voice under control, two men walked down the aisle, one carrying the American flag, and the other carrying the Christian flag. After they had placed them in the stands, they stood behind them for the reminder of the opening. So I "lost" my voice again. The next hymn was "America, the Beautiful." I started imagining what those words stood for, and still couldn't sing. I finally got my voice back (pretty much) for the last hymn, "America."

When the pastor called the children up front to give them a short lesson before dismissing them to children's church, he told an anecdote about Abraham Lincoln. He told how he had made an appointment with a man to meet him at 5:00 am one morning. The man arrived 15 minutes early, and asked if it was possible to see the President a little ahead of the scheduled time. The person who received him told him it wasn't possible. The man said he knew he was there, he heard sounds from his office. The secretary (or whatever he was) responded, "The President comes into his office at 4:00 every morning, and spends that first hour reading the Bible and praying." What a great example given by one of the leaders of our country!

Addendum: The special music was done by 4 teenagers, one on piano, one on drums, one on guitar, another (along with the pianist) singing "Letters from War." All 4 were wearing camouflage jackets.

Sunday, July 2

Wow, what a Sunday Service! Since it was near the Fourth of July, we had somewhat of a patriotic theme. But before the service really got started, the director of our teens’ program stood up and said they had been “instructed” (by the district director, I believe) to interrupt the service at this point. They had just returned from teen camp. There had been 5 of our teens to the camp, but one of them wasn’t there. They went to the platform, and did a song with motions that they had learned at camp, then 3 of the four gave their testimony. One of these teens was the adopted son of the director. He was adopted just recently, and had spent most of his life in “the system.”

I’m not writing this very well, but we were all blessed by this “interlude.” Then, after the teens were finished, we sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” I’ve sung that many times, but I don’t know when I was ever so touched by it. The pastor’s sermon was based on the scripture “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”
We have been blessed with a great bunch of teens and kids in our church, and I intend to back them with prayer, and whatever else God leads me to do.

(Originally posted July 3, 2006)