We stand solemnly...hands over our hearts (well, most of us, anyway)...as we sing our beloved National Anthem 'The Star-Spangled Banner'.
It is Memorial Day and we honor military service members who have died for our country.
Nary a dry eye will be found amongst 'those who truly care' about the United States of America and let those who feel otherwise while enjoying the benefits of America be but 'objects of their own shame'.
For this is a time of reflection and communion for the rest of us.
It is a time to cling to the good and pray for those who loved liberty enough to have died for it.
It is a time to memorialize those who fought for us so that we may live in freedom and thus we pray:
"Heavenly Father, hear our prayers:
We pray for those who have fought and died for us.
Is it possible that You might let them know just how grateful we are?
We remember their sacrifice and we are humbled.
We pray that we are worthy of enjoying the liberty and freedom they have presented to us.
Instill in us right-minded hearts and make us 'deserving', Lord.
Lead us to similar service for the betterment of others,
Known to care and ever-caring,
We put our trust in You, our one and only God.
For you love us...and care for us...and know that you bless America.
We pray these things with hearts overflowing with thanks in the name of your Precious Son Jesus Christ."
AMEN
Did you know that 'The Star-Spangled Banner' has four stanzas?
Although usually only the first stanza is sung, our National Motto "In God We Trust" is derived from the line 'In God is our Trust' in the fourth stanza, which was adopted in 1956...
And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
LINK:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner The Star-Spangled Banner
O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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![12]
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Reverend Barbara Sexton
"The Biblical Biochemist-Where Science Meets the Cross"
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