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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Patriotic Church Services
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Barefoot Friar:
Many of the smaller churches (especially rural ones) will even recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag in place of the creed.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Unfortunately this is the sort of misplaced devotion that was a hallmark of the patriotic fervour and dismantling of God that reigned supreme in the decades leading up to two World Wars. I am rushed for time here, but there is a massive contrast between that form of prayer for leaders (and yes in a British Commonwealth nation the queen could be seen as iconic of leadership, though in most countries outside England [sic] an elected leader is more likely to be prayed for) that recognize their role in embodying good and godly order (very BCP theology but adaptable to post-modernity) and sycophantic replacement of the Creator with a mere national spirit.
The latter is demonic in the true sense of the word.
Our national day, Waitangi Day, is this Friday. Most of the designated Anglican, Catholic and Methodist, and many Presbyterian liturgies will pick up the themes of unaddressed injustices being a blight upon our (tiny) nationhood.
As it happens I'll be ignoring the event, but out of busy-ness, not malice.
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Vulpior
Foxier than Thou
# 12744
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Posted
I'm far more likely to include heads of government (by name) and all parliamentarians in intercessions than heads of state. It's not that I particularly want God to smite the Governor General or anything like that, but he doesn't feature in my thinking about the government of the country and its decision-making. "Tony our Prime Minister" needs all the prayers we can stack for him and I thought we should include him last week in case he isn't around next week!
As for the queen, I've been a strong republican and ant-royalist for over 30 years. Prayers for her and her <insert ant-royalist sentiment here> brood make me choke. I get that it's about how things are, not how we want them to be, and we're not endorsing the political structure, but still. You pray for the queen, I'll ask for a resident for president.
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I've started blogging. I don't promise you'll find anything to interest you at uncleconrad
Posts: 946 | From: Mount Fairy, NSW | Registered: Jun 2007
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Michael Snow
Shipmate
# 16363
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Posted
In the US, most Protestant churches have the Christian and American flags at the front (do not recall whether Catholic churches do). The only exception I remember is in Friends Meeting Houses, though a F/friend ruefully noted that the first thing that seems to be brought into Meetings that relax the iconoclasm is the flag.
We have 3 patriotic days that get recognition in most churches that I am familiar with--Memorial Day in May, the 4th of July, and Veterans Day in November. On the first and the last of those days, veterans are often asked to stand. I avoid doing so.
The meaning of the November 11th as a celebration of the end of a war is all but forgotten. https://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/a-spurgeon-thought-for-veterans-day/
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http://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/
Posts: 62 | From: S. Dak./ Romania | Registered: Apr 2011
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Snow:
In the US, most Protestant churches have the Christian and American flags at the front (do not recall whether Catholic churches do).
My experience is that Catholic churches will have the American flag, the flag of the particular state, and the Papal flag.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
It is rare in Britain to have flags in place during a church service, except perhaps on a day like Remembrance Sunday. Most British Christians would AFAIK find it pretty weird to have them. (Yes, I know some churches have regimental colours displayed, but that's not the same).
Churches which have Scouts or other uniformed organisations will often parade their colours at the start and the end of "Parade Services". We do, although I'm not too keen on the practice. I was once at a Baptist service with a French Mennonite friend, and he created a mini-rumpus by refusing to stand when the colours were brought in, saying that his only allegiance was to Christ.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
I hope that when his money and tickets were stolen, and he got himself arrested, he stayed true to his principles and refused to seek the assistance of his consulate.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Today is the anniversary of HM The Queen's accession.
Hope you've all used the form of service in the BCP...
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Snow:
In the US, most Protestant churches have the Christian and American flags at the front (do not recall whether Catholic churches do).
Perhaps where you are, but not everywhere in the US, and not in the part of the South where I am. (The exception would be Episcopal churches, which always have the American and church flags. But then there's the question of whether they count as Protestant.)
Of the countless I have been in, I can think of only one or two Presbyterian churches with flags in the front. (The PC(USA), at least, discourages the practice.) Ditto Lutheran churches. I encounter them more often in United Methodist churches, but not much more often. Baptist and non-denominational churches seem to the most likely to have them, and rural or small-town churches seem more likely to have them than churches in larger towns and cities do, but still I don't know that I can say "most" have them.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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