Today is Flag Day. Depending on how you want to measure it, it’s Flag Day’s 101st birthday. It’s interesting for me because I just repaired our flagpole and got our American flag back on the front porch last week after nearly a year of being rolled up in the garage. I just never got around to repairing it, but came upon it when cleaning out the garage and decided it was time to fly it again. I am a patriotic American and proud to post the colors, and I like seeing them out there when I come and go or sit on the porch.
The flag still, generally, commands respect. Some people will always exercise their rights to degrade it, but they are fortunately few and far between. It’s a great strength of our nation that such things can happen. But I have watched many people solemnly respecting the flag time and time again. I saw it again today.
Actually, what I saw was probably a combination of honoring the flag, but also the men and women who wear it on their uniform. As
you know, we laid Lt. Gen. Jim Thompson to rest today. As a veteran, Jim was eligible for military honors, and given that he was a general, he had full honors, including an active general to present the flag to his wife, Patti. There was a detail in place to serve as pallbearers, as well as offering the three-volley salute.
Because it is Wednesday we had our regularly scheduled healing service at noon, meaning the casket could not be brought into the church until 12:30, for the 1:00 pm service. The clergy went to the lichgate to receive the casket into the church. The burial detail was there in uniform. As the soldiers took up their places behind the hearse, the traffic on Frederica Road stopped. It took a few minutes to get the casket out and get it arranged on the trolley, and to offer the prayer of the church for that occasion. The cars simply sat, some turning off their engines, out of respect. Again, it was probably respect for the flag, and specifically what it means when the flag is draped over a casket. It was not because inside the casket was a three-star general of the US Army; they had no way to know that. It was something greater than the individual that they were reverencing.
That is the power of the flag, no matter if it flies on a pole, is sewn on a sleeve, or draped on a casket. The flag of the United States of America means something that is greater than any individual who chooses to wave it. It is full of history, of honor and sacrifice, of greatness and bravery, of hospitality and generosity; it means many things to many people. No one of us gets to claim it all for ourselves or assign the ultimate meaning, because it is a flag shared by all. It is not a partisan symbol, but a symbol of unity. We hope it invokes pride in those who live within the border of our nation and respect from those outside. We hope it is a symbol of goodness, and one that brings out the best of people. We hope that we, as citizens, can live up to the ideals that formed this nation and have sustained it for many, many years; the ideals that are the fabric of our nation and woven, unseen into the fabric of our flag.
I believe in American exceptionalism to a point, but not blindly. I think ours is the greatest nation on the earth because of our potential, but not always our reality. We are not the best at everything, no matter what we may think. But we have it in us to be greater yet, when we work to serve the greatness that the flag represents and not our own interests. I think we’re exceptional to God in so much as every nation is exceptional to God. Parents who love their children see the exceptionalism of each of them, even through their faults and failings. I think God is no different. I think God blesses us if God blesses any nation. But I always remind myself that God’s perspective doesn’t include borders, at least not the ones we’ve created and fought over throughout the centuries. For as high as we fly the flag, it will never fly above the banner of Christ, who, being lifted up on high, stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that the whole world might come within the reach of his saving embrace.
I pray that we can live up to our God given potential as individuals and as a nation. The world needs servant leadership of the sort Christ taught, from the citizens of this nation and even our nation itself. I pray that our flag will inspire us to even greater things, and not become merely a symbol to hide behind through false pride. I pray it will give us courage to pursue the ideals of our founders and our creator alike. I pray our flag will fly high; long may she wave. And may we earn and at the same time be grateful for what she represents every day.
Tom+
We beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to behold the people of this land who are called after thy holy Name; and grant that we may ever walk worthy of our Christian profession. Laying aside our divisions, may we be united in heart and mind to bear the burdens which are laid upon us. Help us to respond to the call of our country according to our several powers; put far from us selfish indifference to the needs of others; and give us grace to fulfill our daily duties with sober diligence. Keep us from all uncharitableness in word or deed; and enable us by patient continuance in well-doing to glorify thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.