A Christian view of Memorial Day

It was a normal Sunday morning. My wife and I left for church wondering what would happen that day. Would it happen?  It did. The congregation was led to say Pledge of Allegiance and to sing National Anthem. 

Everyone stood. We sat. It was uncomfortable.

This was a few years ago. I don’t remember if it was Memorial Day, The Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day, etc.  Some Sunday worship services on these holidays tend to be similar.

Was this a matter of our patriotism? After all, it was a patriotic holiday during a Christian worship service.

Wait a minute! Did you catch that? It was a Christian worship service. We gather Sunday morning to worship God and be fed by Him. To some this may be controversial, yet my wife and I were not crossing into new territory.

My father-in-law served and retired after almost 30 years. My grandfather even served, rest his soul. So, we’ve had some interesting discussions on this topic. We love them and are thankful for their service. Our objection is not to patriotism, but to the patriotic focused worship service. Our biblical desire is to be Christ centered during corporate worship.

Some may ask -Can’t you worship God by thanking Him for this country? My answer is -Yes and No.

Yes, we can certainly worship God by thanking Him for the blessings He has given us in this country. Just as Christians in countries like China or Iraq can thank Him for the blessings He’s given them. The most important blessing of them all is Jesus Christ. Having peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ is a radical thing in countries like China and Iraq. In the USA, Jesus can be found on billboards and bumper stickers. Even our poor are “rich” in a sense. We’ve been so blessed that we often don’t see it. We start to worship the creation rather than the Creator.  This brings me to "no".

No, we can’t thank God for what He’s done if our focus is not on God. We don’t need rows of American flags on the church lawn. The Pledge of Allegiance during worship service is not an act of worship towards God. It’s more like taking the bronze serpent, which was an intrument of  God's grace, and worshiping it. We sing “God Bless America” when we should be singing “God Forgive America”.  Based on what we’ve done with what God has given us we should be thankful He doesn’t remove our blessings!  Dr. John MacArthur offers a perspective on this in his sermon Can God Bless America? Even so, God in His continues to be gracious to us. 

How should we react?

I want to graciously offer another perspective on the topic at hand. I understand not all churches are over taken by patriotism on certain U.S. holidays. Though there are many. I’ve seen them and sat through them.

I appreciate our Armed Forces.  It takes certain personalities, gifts and desires to serve in such capacities. The same goes for our everyday public servants from police, fireman, EMTs, social workers, etc. As Christians in those occupations all have the responsibility to serve God through their work. God should be praised for all of these types of work. These non-military workers don’t get national holidays. This is a cultural issue to deal with which is always tough. Even for Christians.

Understand that …there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God (Rom. 13:1-ESV). We praise God for our government not the government itself.  We are to pray for …all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way (1 Tim. 2:2-ESV).  And not just general prayers, but also for them …to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4-ESV). We honor those who serve and have served in the Armed Forces by thanking God for them. We thank God that He gave them the ability to perserver in the hard times of service. Even the Apostle Paul counted his life as nothing as he boasted in the Lord.

I understand it’s not the actual people serving who are asking to be the focus. They are merely accepting recognition. I ask that God be the One Who is recognized and the praises are sung to Him and about Him. What separates our celebration from the world’s is Jesus Christ Who is the very reason we gather for corporate worship. Let’s not remove the focus from Jesus for certain holidays. There are six other days of the week to celebrate such holidays.

There is nothing wrong with a regular worship service with a simple recognition, prayer and thankfulness to God if we are to recognize certain holidays inside the church.

A Memorial Day prayer.

Heavenly Father, as an American, thank you for this great country. I am not proud, but humbled, that in Your sovereignty I was born in such a Nation. Thank You for those serving in the military that you have used to help raise up and protect America. Thank you for those men and women in our military who were willing to give their lives and who gave their lives to fight to keep this country free. It is a great service to lay down one’s life for others. Father, as a Christian, this is a great reminder of the incomparable sacrifice of Jesus dying for sinners. I pray for the American Christian, that as their heart weeps for the American military that their hearts would weep for Jesus sacrifice, not on special occasions, but on a daily basis. I pray that those Christians serving in our military would motivated by Jesus sacrifice to both share and live out the gospel among their fellow servicing men and women. I pray that they would serve showing the hope of Jesus Christ that is within them. Please protect all of those serving and give wisdom and guidance to our President to make proper and well informed decisions for our military. Father, help the church to not squander these freedoms You have provided. Forgive us for using these freedoms to indulge ourselves and to sin against You. Help us to use these freedoms for Your glory to carry out the Great Commission. Help us to be a light within our Nation that we me go out and be light among the Nations. I ask in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.