"Rise Up, O Church of God!"

Isaiah 13:2  "Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop.  Call up an army...Wave your hand to encourage them as they march..."

Psalm 60:4  "You have raised a banner for those who fear You..."

Used with Permission by MJane Photography

     As I've meditated on all that has happened in America in the last couple of weeks, I've come to some conclusions that I'd like to share with you all.  By way of disclaimer, these are simply my conclusions, not the "word a God" as my Daddy used to say. You are free to comment and agree or disagree or dismiss it as the ravings of a frustrated old woman, but at any rate I hope you'll consider it.

     My contemplations went back to Charleston, not to the horrible mass murder in the AME church, but to the unceremoniously taking down of the Stars and Bars, the so called Confederate Flag.  I knew that was an important occurrence, probably even more symbolic than the flag itself.  So that's what got my wheels turning.  As a student of history, I knew that there was more to that banner than a symbol of slavery. It was a symbol of why the Civil War was initially fought.  One writer put it this way, "A major point of contention between the North and the South was the issue of the size and power of the federal government as defined by the Constitution.  Most Northern politicians supported a loose reading of the Constitution and wanted to expand the size and scope of the federal government, even if that meant giving the government powers that were not authorized by the Constitution.  Most Southern statesmen supported a strict reading of the Constitution and believed the federal government should perform only those functions that were expressly delegated to it by the Constitution. From the earliest days of the Republic, Southern and Northern leaders battled over this issue. Our textbooks rarely do justice to this important fact." (Michael T. Griffith, 2004, A Condensed Look At The Southern Side Of The Civil War)

     So the lowering of that flag was another victory for the "loose Constitutionalists", in the ongoing battle between governmental ideologies in our country.  However, it has come to mean something else.  As the South surrendered the meaning of the war as simply a fight for or against slavery, it devolved into segregation symbolized by the hated Jim Crow laws. The South became like a husband who sees his authority slipping away, trying futilely to hang onto it by becoming an unreasonable tyrant.  As the "good old boys" began flying the Confederate flag from the backs of their pick-up trucks in desperate efforts to assert their questionable manhood and their "flagging" superiority, the whole thing became uglier and uglier. The once noble symbol became a banner of hate.  The people who had once waved it from a hill top, to call up an army, waving their hands to encourage them as they marched (Is. 13:2) had given up their banner.  It had been lowered generations before.  They had lost the history of it... surrendered it to the enemy and covered it with hatred and shame.  Then to top it off, they surrendered their children to federal public schools, who would reinforce the philosophies of their opponent. So, they lost their flag because they lost it's history.  Now they watched in horror as a Southern Governor stood with pride and great ceremony and brought it down.

     As I thought about this I realized that we as Christians do the same thing when we fail to guard our banners, our symbols, our flags, which stand for our most cherished values.  I suddenly thought of a personal illustration of how this happened in my life.  I remembered a battle that waged in my home, when I was a little girl. My mother insisted that I wear a hat to church every Sunday.  I hated the stupid looking things.  I'd protest every Sunday and ask "Why?" She'd say something like "Because we're supposed to wear a hat to church!" and I'd come back with "...but why?"  Then she'd end the conversation by saying "Just put the hat on and stop arguing with me!" Well that worked until I got into my teens. No one else wore a hat so I would either take it off when we were separated at church, or I cry and throw a fit until she acquiesced and gave in to me.  It wasn't long before I was going to church hat less and the fight was over.  

     My mother was raised as a strict Methodist, who in her day believed that women should have their heads covered when "praying or prophesying" (1Cor. 11:5) The problem was, by the time the tradition got to me, it had lost it's meaning.  Her church had dictated that my mother wear a head covering to church, but they had failed to pass on the teaching, thus the symbol became meaningless.  She couldn't tell me "Why?" when I asked because she didn't know why.  She just kept the tradition without knowing the Biblical reason for it.  The symbol became meaningless to her and odious to me. In my mind I had some great reasons for my rebellion.  It messed up my hair, none of my peers had to do it, and it made me look different.  So in my mind, it became a hated, mocked, meaningless thing which I despised.  Years later when my oldest daughter came home from college advocating head coverings, because she had learned from her Greek studies that it was taught by Paul in 1 Cor. 11 (in plain Greek, even if the English is obscure). I simply said "Huh!" and began to cover my head in church.  The Biblical reasons became clear to me and the symbol precious.  "Why?" you ask?  Well briefly, because it is a symbol to the world and to angels (perhaps demons) that a women who covers her head in church, is under the protection of her spiritual authority, first her father, then her husband and if she is a widow or orphan, her church leadership.  Now the symbol is still, mocked, embarrassing, messes up my hair and makes me look different from my peers, but now it means something to me and will be honored by me until I die. Having said that, it has been almost completely surrendered by the church.

     Finally, at the end of this week we received the ruling by the Supreme Court on same sex marriage.  It was the last dot I connected as I cried and prayed and wondered in trepidation what it would mean in the life of the church and religious freedom, in the life of people who are given the freedom to pursue this destructive lifestyle, and in my life as I sought to stand against the tide of secularism in our country.  I first experienced anger at SCOTUS, then grief, then solemn contemplation, as I realized that once again we, the Christian world, had surrendered a flag.  When the church lowered the banner on sexuality within marriage and marriage alone, when it began to celebrate out of wedlock births, when it failed to stand against divorce, it surrendered the flag of the sanctity of marriage.  The reasons God gave for marriage between a man and a women are spelled out in the first writings of holy writ in Gen. 1:27 & 28. There He gave us the banner, the flag, the reason and definition of marriage. As I studied it I realized that He never even mentioned "Love" as the reason for marriage, in these verses.  Love and respect is implied and certainly nice to have if you're going to be in this thing together for the rest of your life but God didn't hold it up as paramount. So once again, sadly, the Church layed down a flag.  Through generations of neglect, it failed to lift high the absolute necessity to honor God's institution of marriage and gave up the banner.  The Supreme Court this week, like Nikki Haley in South Carolina, simply lowered the flag that long ago had been surrendered by the church.  

     1 Peter 4:17 says, "For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household.  And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's Good News?"  So as we begin to judge ourselves as His church, may God help us to do it with repentance, love and respect for all.