Sing the Fourth on the Fourth - For American Only! :-)

Previously posted: Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sing the Fourth Verse on the Fourth of July

When I was asked to give the invocations at the Hartford Memorial Day Services - I frequently used the 4th Verse of the The Star Spangled Banner as part of my speech. [FWIW I alternated this with Psalm 144]. The Veterans loved it. They found inspiration in the stirring words of Francis Scott Key. Yet, even those who were say "anti The Vietnam War" could identify with the stated sentiment that an American war must be a JUST war. I like that kind of balance. God should help us win - WHEN our cause is just.

And despite the secularists trend to remove God from the USA under an extremist vision of "Separation of Church and State", we should note that the motto of the US comes directly from this verse below. If I could create a new MINHAG I would sing this - the 4th verse - every Fourth of July. See If you agree!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Best Regards,
RRW