Comments on: Do You Sing Patriotic Songs in Church?

By: Mikal Caldwell

Mikal Caldwell — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:13:00 +0000

I’m gonna probably open a can of worms here, but this whole “dilemma” is almost exclusively in predominately white congregations. Having led worship in both predominately white and predominately black (as well as mixed) congregations, I only had this come up with my white congregations and in discussions with worship leaders that ministered to predominately white congregations. I won’t get into the whole cultural significance, but “God and Country” isn’t nearly as big a deal in black churches. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, just pointing out the differences.

By: fmckinnon

fmckinnon — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:54:00 +0000

I think what you mentioned is key – use songs that are prayers for His provision and protection.

By: Sbejcook

Sbejcook — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:52:00 +0000

We do, though I’m not entirely comfortable with it. I feel that patriotism is wonderful and I am so very thankful that I enjoy the freedom afforded by our nation, but worship is for God. I do try to make sure we sing “patriotic” songs that honor God’s roll in our blessing and providence and freedom… songs that are prayers for his provision and protection, etc.

By: Nika

Nika — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:12:20 +0000

Wow I had no dea this was such a huge deal or discussion. Ipersonally have never been to a worship service where patriotic songs were sang. However I beleive that you can alot time time for these songs and tie it into worship by thanking God for the country we live in and the freedoms we have. I feel that no mattter what we allow time for once we get back into worship music service will flow just fine,, God Bless

By: Lee Rider

Lee Rider — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:36:41 +0000

This is a huge issue in many of our congregations. The issue must go beyond a discussion of Patriotism or tradition.I think as worship leaders we need to put each song we offer up in worship to a simple test. See who or what gets all the good verbs! When you do that, you often find that even though a patriotic song mentions God and His blessings the main focus of the lyric is expressing a deep love and devotion to our country. I think these songs are wonderful and are deeply needed in our country, but I think worship pastors have a job to guard the the Lord’s worship. We say that worship is for Him right? So why then would we worship him with talk of how much we love the amber waves of grain? I typically find verses in these songs that are speaking to God in a prayer and incorporating a prayer time/Thanksgiving time to God for the wonderful freedoms we have and allowing us to be a part of this great Nation. When we sing other songs duing worship….we may not be worshiping America, but we are not truly giving God all the attention that His worship requires.

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:49:11 +0000

We choose not to do patriotic songs. For too long, on the services surrounding July 4, churches have worshiped the ‘ideal’ of a God blessed country instead of God.

We do choose however to have a dedicated time of prayer divided into three parts:
*thanksgiving for the freedoms we enjoy
*wisdom for our elected leaders
*our responsibility to live and share Christ with our country.

By: Kevin Riner

Kevin Riner — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:46:32 +0000

I think there are some good arguments here for either/or. I’m not convinced to either side. But my personal preference is NOT to do them. They constrict flow if your concerned about flow. They are difficult to play along with the likes of some Christmas songs. Plus my main reason is I don’t really like to focus on holidays. I like to focus on our worship to God. Although it gives a Worship Leader more creative space to do something different.

I just don’t lean to doing them. I think musically they’re irrelevant and some of the lyrics are just too cheesy. So I’ll pass.

By: @jonwellman

@jonwellman — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:05:47 +0000

I feel like worship glorifies God, but this worship occurs on the earth He created. Therefore, we acknowledge the day but point to the Creator.

This is what I’ve programmed that day for First Baptist Church Fairview Heights (fbc-fh.com)…

Pre-Service: God of Our Fathers
Choir: While There’s Time (recognize military)
Service starts
Songs: Battle Hymn, Alive Forever Amen, Under God (choir), Made Me Glad, It Is Well with My Soul

By: Chris Moncus

Chris Moncus — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:02:14 +0000

I’d prefer not to. For the same reasons I think singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in church at Christmas – other than tradition, it doesn’t make sense to. There aren’t many good reasons that it can even be justified to be included.

By: Marcus Moore

Marcus Moore — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:05:05 +0000

You’re not WORSHIPING the USA when you sing patriotic songs! I think it’s ridiculous when people make statements like that! It’s like saying you’re worshiping another person when you sing Happy Birthday to them! You’re just recognizing with song how great our country is (and it IS great!).

By: Jason Gangwish

Jason Gangwish — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:33:40 +0000

Thank you for the question here – and all the comments. Like most, I find myself struggling with this subject. But what I have realized (and learned) is that singing the patriotic songs (or any other thematic songs – other than Christmas and Easter) is a way of connecting in a ‘koinonia’ style [of worship] as believers in a small portion of the service. I believe (even though I struggle with transitions / and ‘feel’ of the service) when we sing these types of songs we are still able to focus on who God is and what he has done for our nation…. that said it doesn’t make it any easier for me and our team to lead or pick the songs for the Holidays (excluding Christmas).

By: PostRank – Church

PostRank – Church — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:09:53 +0000

Do You Sing Patriotic Songs in Church? http://bit.ly/qgvAj #postrank #church

By: Deane

Deane — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:03:10 +0000

Bernard
This was a great comment:
“I am commanded to worship God fully every day, not just on Sunday.”

It goes right along with what I have been reading about Hebrew thinking and Greek thinking. Here are a few links:

http://www.wildbranch.org/Gkhebcla/index.html (Lesson Eight is specifically about worship and spirituality.)
http://www.disciplenations.org/uploads/8r/ze/8rzegviZXvOcQrs_LWFjtw/The-Lordship-of-Christ-Over-All-of-Life.pdf
http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/heb_grk.pdf

By: Worship Tools

Worship Tools — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:35:53 +0000

Do You Sing Patriotic Songs in Church? – FredMcKinnon.Com http://ow.ly/ghk7

By: Paul J.

Paul J. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:07:14 +0000

My personal preference is NOT to do it. My pastor has instructed us TO do it, so we’re doing it this Sunday. But very limited.
I’ll run a patriotic 5 minute countdown, and during the countdown we’ll play Chris Tomlin’s “America” live. Then a prayer for our country, followed by the first verse of “God Of Our Fathers”.
Then, it’s service as usual.

Paul Joseph
http://www.twitter.com/PAJoseph
http://www.CriesOfTheHeart.com

By: Gregg DiCecca

Gregg DiCecca — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:35:36 +0000

RT @fmckinnon: It's almost July 4th – do you sing patriotic songs in your church? http://short.to/i2rh // interesting conversation

By: fmckinnon

fmckinnon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:54:11 +0000

Hey everyone, it’s almost July 4th – do you sing patriotic songs in your church? Please add to the discussion at http://short.to/i2rh

By: Chris Gambill

Chris Gambill — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:50:00 +0000

It’s challenging. This is an important time for our people in our area, but I so much don’t want to spend an hour+ communicating and propogating the idea that God loves us because we are Americans and His chosen nation. I’d much rather use that time to again point people to Christ.

So, we seek to be balanced in our approach. Again, because this holiday is a big deal in our community, we recognize it in giving thanks to God for His blessing and the freedom He has given us here. But we then transition into and remind people that true freedom is found in Christ.

This year it’s kind of ironic that we are wrapping up a series we’ve been doing called “Just Passing Through” which has focused on 1 Peter and how we are pilgrims or sojourners in this land. Our pastor will draw some great parallels with the pilgrims who came to America.

Song wise, we try to do a song that is both patriotic, but clearly God focused. This year we will be doing “God of our Fathers.”

By: Lee Langshaw

Lee Langshaw — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:10:04 +0000

RT @fmckinnon: Do you sing patriotic songs in church? Please add to the discussion at http://short.to/i2rh

By: fmckinnon

fmckinnon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:53:26 +0000

Do you sing patriotic songs in church? Please add to the discussion at http://short.to/i2rh

By: Josh Lange

Josh Lange — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:21:58 +0000

Looks like I may be the odd man out here, but our entire service is built around Independence Day. We are coming from the perspective of bringing people to a place of thankfulness, prayer, and thinking about others. Our thought is to use patriotic elements to help produce what God would desire in our lives.

By: David Goodwin

David Goodwin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:48:41 +0000

The Oz perspective (our national day is January 26, btw). There’s not a strong heritage in any denomination to sing patriotic songs in church, mainly because there’s not a strong heritage to sing patriotic songs in Australia in general (most of us struggle to know the words to the national anthem).

And, most of our patriotic songs are a little naff anyway, quite apart from the Christian ones (like Great Southland of the Holy Spirit…mega naffness right there, despite great thoughts in the lyric. Just not well executed)

By: Steve Lowe

Steve Lowe — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:02:58 +0000

We do patriotic songs Memorial Day and Independence Day, usually at the start of the service. We’re doing “America”, and “God Bless America,” IIRC. I’m not a real fan of doing them in service because it *feels* like by doing so we’re elevating country to the same level as God. But then for weeks after 9/11, we did the Pledge of Allegiance as part of Church services, which left me sensitive to patriotic/church issues.

By: Fred McKinnon

Fred McKinnon — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:58:53 +0000

Russ,

Wow. I think that was recorded at Christian Renewal in Brunswick? (complete with the diagonal wooden siding)

By: fmckinnon

fmckinnon — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:49:49 +0000

New blog post: Do You Sing Patriotic Songs in Church? http://bit.ly/wszbl