The Patriotic "Worship Service"

I love God. I love my family. I love people (that item's fairly new on the menu). I love the privilege of living in the United States of America, and I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the men and women who have died (and lived!) to obtain and defend our freedom.

I want to know your convictions -- not your personal predispositions, but your true convictions as guided by the Holy Spirit -- on this subject (this makes a major assumption that only Christ-followers find any worth in my blog).

Speaking to Americans, what do you find appropriate for a corporate worship service when Independence Day rolls around? Thanking God for the massive, unmerited grace He's shown to the United States as a whole? Thanking Him for the sacrifice of the soldiers, both uniformed and "minutemen," who have, over the centuries, made our cushy lifestyle possible? Conducting a "normal" worship service (which would itself probably be impossible unless many had paid for our freedom with their lives)?

All of those, I believe, are appropriate.

But what I fear about a worship service focused on those things is the possibility, even probability, that America as an entity will be lifted up and put in a higher place than God Almighty. I'm not kidding -- this really frightens me. Where I seem to commit some sort of heresy in conversations with friends is the point at which I say something like, "I really don't know if My Country, 'Tis of Thee is appropriate for a worship service." Here's what I mean:

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty;
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride.
From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring!

That is an awe-inspiring, majestic song! It fills me with pride to say, "Yep, I'm an American, and I honestly don't care whether or not your country loves us OR our president!" But when I meet with the body of Christ to worship, I don't intend to praise or sing about my country. Our purpose is to praise and sing to our God (I should note that the last verse of this hymn does that). Why do I come across as the anti-patriot by saying something like that?

Does anyone see any danger in singing songs like this in a worship service?

(Note: my mom mentioned Our God, Our Help in Ages Past, among a few others, as a great song for this kind of service. I totally concur, although it may be too obscure to garner congregational participation. Be sure to click on the link and read the lyrics.)

Posted in: Patriotism, Worship