<\/a>This week in the Better Together worship community, the conversation naturally turned to worship planning for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. I’m just going to summarize some of the discussion and then invite your participation in the discussion…<\/p>\nWe come from many different types of churches in many different parts of the country, so we\u00a0acknowledge\u00a0that there are differing histories and expectations in our congregations. As pastors and leaders, however, we are called to lead our people in true worship of the Living God. So what’s the problem? One pastor wrote:<\/p>\n
“Well. I’m not a big fan of any kind of “God and America” mash-up. But here in the Bible Belt, it’s pretty hard to avoid it on the big patriotic holidays. I am also aware that we need to be culturally sensitive. The whole country celebrates\u00a0July 4, so we in the church should celebrate it too…”<\/p>\n
We agreed that cultural sensitivity is important. A church that didn’t even acknowledge a national holiday would just seem… odd. Wouldn’t it?<\/p>\n
On the other hand, we also agreed that the nationalism that so often creeps into\u00a0Evangelical\u00a0worship is insidious and dangerous. As one pastor wrote: “I am with you all. The nationalism that pervades many of our churches is dangerously strong. The more we can focus on the Kingdom and less on America, the better. We are, after all, aliens and strangers in this world… [We] will be wishing everyone a “Happy Fourth of July” as they leave. And that’s it.”<\/p>\n
Some churches aren’t doing anything special for this worship service. Others are choosing to deliberately discuss the tension between\u00a0Church\u00a0and State.\u00a0Some\u00a0will simply pray for and express gratitude for our nation, and some will sing songs about freedom while attempting to distinguish between the freedom found in Christ and the privilege of being an\u00a0American\u00a0citizen. One church, rather than having any “patriotic” elements in the worship service itself, is choosing to focus on the community by inviting the neighborhood to a big block\u00a0party\u00a0with food and children’s activities.<\/p>\n
How does YOUR church handle patriotic holidays?\u00a0What\u00a0are your thoughts on the subject?<\/strong><\/em> May the Holy Spirit guide us as we lead our congregations in\u00a0worshipping\u00a0not a flag or a nation, but the Living Christ.<\/p>\nReport This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week in the Better Together worship community, the conversation naturally turned to worship planning for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. I’m just going to summarize some of the discussion and then invite your participation in the discussion… We come from many different types of churches in many different parts of the country, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14503,84,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-better-together","category-culture","category-leadership"],"yoast_head":"\n
God and Country: Worship Planning for National Holidays - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/07\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God and Country: Worship Planning for National Holidays - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week in the Better Together worship community, the conversation naturally turned to worship planning for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. I’m just going to summarize some of the discussion and then invite your participation in the discussion… We come from many different types of churches in many different parts of the country, so […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/07\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-01T16:46:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-19T19:11:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2011\/07\/flag_and_Bible-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ee80b5ead0b38121891731eeca726a80\"},\"headline\":\"God and Country: Worship Planning for National Holidays\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-01T16:46:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-19T19:11:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":398,\"commentCount\":11,\"articleSection\":[\"Better Together\",\"Culture\",\"Leadership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\\\/\",\"name\":\"God and Country: Worship Planning for National Holidays - 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<\/p>\n![<\/a>This week in the Better Together worship community, the conversation naturally turned to worship planning for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. I’m just going to summarize some of the discussion and then invite your participation in the discussion…<\/p>\nWe come from many different types of churches in many different parts of the country, so we\u00a0acknowledge\u00a0that there are differing histories and expectations in our congregations. As pastors and leaders, however, we are called to lead our people in true worship of the Living God. So what’s the problem? One pastor wrote:<\/p>\n“Well. I’m not a big fan of any kind of “God and America” mash-up. But here in the Bible Belt, it’s pretty hard to avoid it on the big patriotic holidays. I am also aware that we need to be culturally sensitive. The whole country celebrates\u00a0July 4, so we in the church should celebrate it too…”<\/p>\nWe agreed that cultural sensitivity is important. A church that didn’t even acknowledge a national holiday would just seem… odd. Wouldn’t it?<\/p>\nOn the other hand, we also agreed that the nationalism that so often creeps into\u00a0Evangelical\u00a0worship is insidious and dangerous. As one pastor wrote: “I am with you all. The nationalism that pervades many of our churches is dangerously strong. The more we can focus on the Kingdom and less on America, the better. We are, after all, aliens and strangers in this world… [We] will be wishing everyone a “Happy Fourth of July” as they leave. And that’s it.”<\/p>\nSome churches aren’t doing anything special for this worship service. Others are choosing to deliberately discuss the tension between\u00a0Church\u00a0and State.\u00a0Some\u00a0will simply pray for and express gratitude for our nation, and some will sing songs about freedom while attempting to distinguish between the freedom found in Christ and the privilege of being an\u00a0American\u00a0citizen. One church, rather than having any “patriotic” elements in the worship service itself, is choosing to focus on the community by inviting the neighborhood to a big block\u00a0party\u00a0with food and children’s activities.<\/p>\nHow does YOUR church handle patriotic holidays?\u00a0What\u00a0are your thoughts on the subject?<\/strong><\/em> May the Holy Spirit guide us as we lead our congregations in\u00a0worshipping\u00a0not a flag or a nation, but the Living Christ.<\/p>\nReport This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week in the Better Together worship community, the conversation naturally turned to worship planning for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. I’m just going to summarize some of the discussion and then invite your participation in the discussion… We come from many different types of churches in many different parts of the country, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14503,84,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-better-together","category-culture","category-leadership"],"yoast_head":"\nGod and Country: Worship Planning for National Holidays - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/07\/god-and-country-worship-planning-for-national-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God and Country: Worship Planning for National Holidays - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week in the Better Together worship community, the conversation naturally turned to worship planning for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. 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