Pastor Phil on Memorial Day Worship

Nearly every year someone in the congregation expresses disappointment that we are no longer doing the patriotic worship services (including color guards, patriotic music, special decorations) that in years past had become something of a Trinity tradition on the Sunday before Memorial Day.  Because the issue keeps coming up, I thought maybe it's time for some sort of explanation. 

While I respect those who have differing opinions, this is a deeply-held matter of conscience for me.  It does not reflect any sort of secret political agenda, nor does it represent a lack of love and appreciation for the country in which I live.  The reason I am careful about mixing God and country on Sunday mornings has to do with developing and maintaining a biblical and God-centered understanding of what worship is and is not. 

Sunday worship here at Trinity always has as its focus the God who made us, the Jesus who redeems us, and the Spirit who lives within us.  Love of country is good, but for Christians it is a secondary good, and it is not what we are about on Sunday mornings!  This, by the way, is also why we don't do more than we do with cultural holidays like Mother's Day and Father's Day.  On those days we always pray for moms and dads, but we are careful not to exalt motherhood or fatherhood up in ways that are foreign to biblical teaching.

There are several possible problems that occur when we try to mix Christian worship with patriotic observance:

  • We disregard the sensibilities of anyone in the congregation who may not be an American citizen and who therefore does not have the same loyalty to country that we do.  Christianity is not a national religion, but a trans-national, trans-cultural fellowship of men and women who are followers of Jesus.  A church like ours that is so concerned with world missions is going to be particularly careful to avoid an "Americanized" version of the Gospel.
  • Patriotic music is written (quite appropriately) to honor the nation.  Whether or not the word "God" happens to be included in one or more of the stanzas, its primary purpose is the glorification of country and not the glorification of God.  I love to sing the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful" and "O Beautiful for Spacious Skies" at civic events.  They just don't quite fit with Sunday morning worship!
  • To mix Christian worship and nationalism is to end up almost inevitably confusing the Kingdom of God with the Kingdoms of this world.  In worship what we celebrate is our citizenship in heaven, not our citizenship on earth.  The concern of Jesus and writers of the New Testament is a freedom of the spirit that has little to do with the political realities with which one happens to live. 

The way we have chosen to observe Memorial Day in the past few years is to include in the service (as we did this year) a prayer of  thankfulness for those who have sacrificed their own lives for their country and for the good of others.  We think that's a very appropriate thing to do, and we will continue doing it.  But we will also do our best to preserve the integrity and the uniqueness of Christian worship and to distinguish it from the rites and rituals of civil religion.