The air was thick with chaos and despair in Baltimore harbor in the early hours of the morning of September 14th, 1814. As the smoke and fog rolled away and the golden beams of the rising sun caught hold of the broad stripes and white stars gleaming. It was as if God himself seemed to declare that he had plans for this fledgling nation which was founded on the timeless principles of his word. Things in Baltimore harbor have changed.
Don Feder, columnist with The Washington Times, writes this week: “Without God, America looks a lot like a bridge that lies in ruins in Baltimore harbor. The collapse of the Frances Scott Key Bridge is a metaphor for our national decline. Key wrote a poem that became the lyrics of the national anthem — including the words: “Then conquer we must when our cause it is just. And this be our motto, in God is our trust” — as he watched the British Bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. But as trust in God declines, so does belief in America.
On Easter Sunday, 43% of Americans were in church. That’s 20 points lower than the number who say they’re Christians. One-third of avowed Christians couldn’t be bothered to go to church on Christianity’s holiest day of the year. What’s more, 57% of Americans seldom or never go to church. Those who don’t identify with any religion (the “nones”) went from 13% in 2010 to 21% today.
In a recent survey, not quite 50% said they have no doubt about the existence of God, compared with 60% as recently as 2008. The rest think all blessings flow from the Treasury. The Founding Fathers had a core set of beliefs, including the conviction that rights are endowed by the Creator. You can see it in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence and the words of those who shaped our republic.”
Our second president, John Adams, declared: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” As he was leaving the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” His answer should haunt us: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Without religion, we are on a bridge to nowhere.
May we once again reach back to that September in 1814 and capture for the moment and for future generations the hope and courage of that new nation. May we endeavor as President Abraham Lincoln said on a hillside in Gettysburg Pennsylvania only 49 years later, may we “highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
May we be inspired as we remember that as the British were about to execute their plan of bombarding Fort McHenry, a young lawyer, Francis Scott Key was dispatched to the British fleet to negotiate the release of an American Doctor. Finally, the British agreed to release Dr. Beane but would not let them leave until after the battle began, fearing they had heard too much of the battle plans regarding their impending attack on Fort McHenry. The British fired 1500 bombshells that weighed 220 lbs with lighted fuses that were supposed to explode on impact, but many malfunctioned and exploded in midair. From specially fitted small boats the British also fired new Congreve rockets that would trace a small wobbly arch of red flame throughout the sky. Americans had taken 22 of their own vessels in the harbor so that the ships could get no closer. As long as they were shelling, they knew the fort stood.
Then an eerie silence welcomed the morning. What the young lawyer Key didn’t know was that there was an attack by land of Baltimore and when the British saw the resilience of these Americans, they ordered a retreat. As Key began to catch a glimpse of the flag over fort McHenry, he was inspired to pen the words that we today herald as our National Anthem.
We all know the first verse may never forget what the fourth verse reminds us, “O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand, Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation; Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! May this always be our motto and may God continue to Bless America!
Comments