Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
This is the famous opening stanza of Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner” (1814), our U.S. National anthem.
Growing up a sports fan, then participating in sports at the collegiate level, and now being a spectating former-athlete, I have heard my fair share of renditions of this classic melody. To this day I still get emotional when I hear this song performed (well). Not because of the greatness of the artist or the magnitude of whatever event I am watching. But I get emotional because, for me, the words of this song create an incredibly vivid picture. I can almost imagine myself the moments of desperate curiosity, in the dark of night wondering if the banner under which we are fighting is still waving confidently. And only the explosions, evidence of the continuing struggle and opposition, give evidence to the fact that it is still quite well intact. Only now, the message for you and I today is not that the flag of a nation is waving in the midst of conflict, but the banner of Christ, his Kingdom and his love is still very much in tact in our lives. I know what it’s like to “proudly hail” the flag of victory before a great struggle, and then to wonder if the flag is still waving when the bombs start going off. But I am more confident today as ever, as I look up to the heavens, that Jesus is Lord, we are His people, and His victory is not only promised, but complete and inevitable.
