I tend to have rather strong opinions about things–and patriotic music just happens to be something about which I have a very strong opinion. Patriotic music moves me to tears–and makes me seethe. I love most of it–and hate some of it.
My peeves about patriotic music? First, the tendency of people to classify certain songs that are not patriotic music as patriotic music. Julia Ward Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic is a prime example. It’s not patriotic, guys. It doesn’t mention America anywhere in it–it doesn’t have anything to do with a specific nation. It has to do with God’s righteousness and wrath. It’s about God accomplishing His purposes–and about men being obedient to the calling. Yes, it was a battle hymn of the civil war–but it isn’t a patriotic song.
Second, it annoys me that the patriotic songs most often heard are sappy and sentimental and NEW. It’s not that I’m against new songs in general–it’s just that so few of our contemporary songs actually have meaning. They’re so simplistic, so blah. They are meant to inspire tears but not to inspire thought.
Third, some patriotic songs annoy me by adding certain phrases in that just don’t fit. Take America, the Beautiful. It’s a gorgeous song, but what are you talking about “Thine alabaster cities gleam/undimmed by human tears”? I know, Katherine Lee Bates was referring to the White City of the Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago in 1892–but the “undimmed by human tears”? That’s Biblical imagery–and it refers to the New Jerusalem. America’s great and all, but it’s not heaven on earth. I’m still waiting for that new heaven and new earth–that and only that will be a city “undimmed by human tears”.
But don’t get me wrong–I love patriotic songs. Certain parts of the classic songs perfectly express my heart and my prayers.
Today, I think of our nation. I remember the revolutionary idea that sparked the American Revolution–and that still sparks revolutions around the world. The idea that men can be free. Liberty. It’s quite a heady idea. I think of it and I pray:
Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing:
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might
Great God, our King
Today, I think of the many men (and women) who have given their lives, their blood, their anguish, years of their lives to make our nation what it is. I think of the wives and children at home–giving up husbands and fathers. I think of the thousands of heroes who have served throughout the years and continue to serve now in our military. I think of them and I pray:
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self
Their country loved
And mercy more than life
America, America
May God thy gold refine
Til all success be nobleness
And every gain divine
Finally, I think now of a nation at war–of our men and women currently fighting on the front lines. They fight for freedom, for liberty, that same thing I celebrate today. I think of the many of us enjoying our picnics and barbecues today, enjoying victory and peace. I think of how quickly we have forgotten who makes this nation great–how quickly we have turned to rely upon ourselves. And I pray for my countrymen and women, both those here and those abroad:
O thus be it ever
When free men shall stand
Between their loved homes
And the war’s desolation
Bless’d with vict’ry and peace
May the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Pow’r 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
