Pastor’s Corner – June 2024
As we enter June, we have just celebrated Memorial Day; we have
Flag Day in June; and the 4 th of July soon after that. To we who have a
few years behind us, we remember how it used to be. Every school day
started with the pledge of allegiance. Do students even say it anymore?
Jehovah Witnesses of course don’t believe in patriotism, so they won’t
say the words in class-or even fight if called upon. But what about
everyone else?
Too many younger people today do not appreciate the freedoms
they have or the sacrifice made by others for that freedom. They don’t
sing the words to the “National Anthem”-either they don’t know them or
they don’t want to show loyalty to their nation. Some would rather sing
the so-called black national anthem “Lift Every Voice”. Some after
George Floyd was murdered believe there should be no police, and that
this country doesn’t speak for them. They have no respect for their
country.
But how good they really have it! We have such freedom in this great
nation. Some of those who appreciate it the most are people who have
become citizens from other lands. They know what it truly means for a
country to be under a government that is communist; dictatorial; or just
plain mean. They have been oppressed, or worse, and some have risked
their lives to come to the Land of the Free and become legal citizens
here. They appreciate the freedom here. They respect the police who
safeguard their freedoms. They respect the soldiers who protect us from
harm. They respect the flag that means so much. We who have been
around respect these things too. Our country is not perfect, but at least it
is trying.
May we who are proud to be Americans stand for the flag and say the
words proudly when we say the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the Star-
Spangled Banner. And may we continue to thank God for the nation He
has blessed us with. May God continue to bless America.
Prayer for America
America, my native land, my home by natural birth
Is, of all the countries of the world, the grandest one on Earth.
Not many people of the world are fortunate like me,
To live ‘midst so much bounty and partake of liberty.
In spite of many weaknesses and problems that she shares,
Though I should look throughout the world no other land compares.
Lord, let me never be ashamed to stand up in a crowd
And say, “I’m an American, and for this fact I’m proud!”
May all our people ever seek to join and not to sever,
Holding high our nation’s flag, the stars and stripes forever.
And for the ones in office may I, to Thy Word, pay heed;
And meet responsibility to pray for those who lead.
May they in turn seek guidance whether home or while abroad,
And may they seek the old paths which our Founding Fathers trod.
Remind our nation, as a whole, that in the psalms we are taught:
“The nation that forgets Thee will, in time, be brought to naught.”
Dear God, I know it is through Thee, our nation has endured.
So, on this day, I bow my head and offer thanks, O Lord.
Carolyn Orr