Remembering Our Liberty on Flag Day

Today on Flag Day, let us reflect with solemnity and civic pride that there has been and is today blood, purity and courage of brave Americans behind the red, white and blue.

"Hurrah for the flag of the free.

"May it wave as our standard forever

"The gem of the land and the sea,

"The banner of the right.

"Let despots remember the day

"When our fathers with might endeavor

"Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,

"That by their might and by their right

"It waves forever." (John Philip Sousa, 1854-1932)

"Pay honor to whom honor is owed" wrote St. Paul. Let us do that today. Let us honor our very ensign of liberty. Remember, I say again, that our symbols are outward signs of inward truths that have stirred brave soldiers, sailors, guardsmen, airmen, ordinary citizens such as farmers, businessmen, homemakers, teachers, ministers and mechanics from sea to shining sea, from dawn to dusk as they labor to employ this freedom to make our lives better. Let us also in this day of cynicism and abusive and intrusive government recall the myriad good long-serving employees of the U.S. government -- from senators to postal clerks -- who in their own way give their all for freedom's sake. Thank God for them. Thank God for the flag of the United States of America which waves free over them. If we forget, we are doomed. If we remember, then there are no dark days that can deny the light of liberty behind that flag that always shall shine again. Oh, may it be so.

Note: I salute a great American, Lee Anderson, an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, Tenn., and a great newspaperman of the older and more nobler sort, who taught me never to let patriotic occasions go by without comment. He taught me that Christianity and American liberty are linked by that freedom which is the image of God in man. It is for this freedom that people risk their lives to come to America. Thank you, Lee. You have been and are my hero. My ministry has been enriched by your life and witness. I dedicate this essay to you, Sir.