In Honor of the up coming fourth of July Celebration, a very wise man sent me this link to "The Battle Hymn of The Republic." It is being performed by four High School Choirs along with a children's choir made up of elementary school children.
Click here: Battle Hymn Once it opens you may have to click the picture to get it going
The Battle Hymn of the Republic was written by Julia W. Howe in 1861. If you are an American it is very difficult to listen to this song without a lump in your throat or a tear in your eye. This song stirs very deep emotions. It is clearly, as the title suggest, a hymn. It speaks of the power of God, His righteous word, and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. While the emotion for most Americans may be simple patriotism, the emotion for the child of God is clearly worship.
The obvious point of this video is to put God back where he belongs in our nation. Everyone I know would be united and shout a hearty AMEN to this effort. Until of course you tried to sing this song in their church on Sunday morning, or heaven forbid show this video. This video is great for everyday life - real life - but it would be condemned and banned in most every church that I have ever attended.
How foolish and inconsistent would we be if we condemned this emotion and side tracked this effort by pointing out the sinfulness of choirs, and the blasphemy of using instrumental music in worship? The very idea of turning this into a commentary on church doctrine and instrumental music would be appalling- appalling indeed!
My point is this: Real life and church life should be the same. If it is acceptable and righteous to sing this song with true emotion at the high school football game on Friday night (with the marching band and choir) then why does it suddenly turn sinful on Sunday morning?
Am I the only one who sees hypocrisy and inconsistency here?
My heart knows but my head says are you sure??
9 years ago
4 comments:
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
PEGGY
Another wise man sent me this:
"I studied feverishly the Encyclopedia of the Barton-Stone-Campbell movement a couple of years back and came to realize that a lot of residual dissention carried on many years after the war was over. Therefore, the contentiousness about music in the Disciples of Christ (Alexander Campbell movement) was actually a division of “North vs. South” mentality.(we’re not about to play a piano in church cause those damn Yankees do!!) I shutter to think that the same thought processes that were occurring back then are still prevalent today and shuttered more when I realized that I was supporting a mentality that derived from Civil War issues."
What do you think?
Gary Hollway and Douglas Foster (two restoration historians) make a similar argument in the book "Renewing God's People." Civil War tensions had more to do with the instrumental divide than we may want to admit.
I've often struggled with the double standard that music is acceptable anywhere but in a church service. It is fine to go to the local amateur Saturday night music show and hear Amazing Grace performed to instrumental music, but come Sunday morning, it would be sinful. It really makes no sense and to argue that the Bible commands is an argument that I have never bought into.
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