Do you recognize these lyrics from a well-known song?
[recite]
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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![
That is the fourth verse of our National Anthem: the Star Spangled Banner. It was written 200 years ago this month. The words are by Francis Scott Key; the music is from a popular British song (probably a drinking song) written by John Stafford Smith.
What is interesting is that the climax of the song happens in that fourth verse (which is rarely sung) . . . with the line, “And this be our motto: In God is our trust.” It is from that fourth verse that our nation’s motto emerged, “In God we trust.” Which happens to be on every piece of money we print. If there is a kid near you, take out a coin or a dollar bill and have them find that phrase, “In God we trust” on the money. "In God we trust" first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864 and has appeared on paper currency since I was one year old (that’s 1957).
So . . . we as a country have been saying, “In God we trust” since nearly our beginning. Well, I think that we are a lot like the second son from the gospel story of today. Instead of the son saying, “Yes, I will go work in the vineyard” we could substitute and say that we, as a country, declared, “Yes we will put our trust in God.” That son never fulfilled his pledge, do we?
I mean, trusting God is tough stuff.
It means making decisions not with the goal of what we want to happen, but asking,
“What does God want?”
It means prioritizing our budgets not from what big business, insurance companies or defense
manufactures tell us is important, but asking, “What did Jesus stress as important?”
It means respecting life not from a human perspective (i.e. just because abortion is legal doesn’t make if right, or in focusing on life to not just pick one area and neglect the others) but it is looking at all life as God does . . . whether that life is physically or mentally challenged, black or white, straight or gay.
It means looking at the resources of the earth not as entitlements to possess, but as gifts of God to
be cherished and preserved.
I really do not think we have been “trusting God” well as individuals or as a country. But like the other son in the gospel . . . there’s hope. We also can change our mind and do what is right.
There is a woman in our tradition named Dorothy Day. She died in 1980 and was the one of the co-founders of the Catholic Worker Movement. Many are pushing her to be canonized (that is to be recognized as a Saint). Those pushing for it include, Cardinal John O’Connor. Anyway, from her journal is this piece:
“Certainly when I lie in jail thinking of these things, thinking of war and peace, and the problems of human freedom. . . and the apathy of great masses of people who believe that nothing can be done, I am all the more confirmed in my faith in the little way of St. Therese. We do the minute things that come to hand, we pray our prayers, and beg also for an increase of faith - and God will do the rest.”
And God will do the rest. Of course we can’t solve all the world’s problems, but we can do the little things that come our way. We do what we can . . . the little gestures of care and concern for others, then we trust in God for the rest. Maybe on this 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner we should start using the fourth verse instead of the first.
[Sing]
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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![
Play ball.