The Star-Spangled Bicentennial

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Sep 142014
 

Star Spangled Banner 1200 years ago today, a young lawyer wrote a love poem to a patchwork of colored wool and cotton. Could he have imagined that his poem would be sung by millions and ultimately, become the anthem of our nation?

In 1814 the United States of America was engaged in the Second War of Independence – the War of 1812 – fought over promises made, but not kept, by the British after the Revolutionary War. As part of that conflict, on August 24th, 1814, the British invaded Washington DC and burned the White House, the Capitol Building and the Library of Congress.

One week later, Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, rowed out in a little boat to a British Naval vessel anchored off Baltimore to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes who had been captured during the Washington raid. The two were detained on ship for over a week to keep them from warning the Americans of the planned attack on strategic Fort McHenry.

For 25 horrific hours, 16 British warships relentlessly bombed the fort, stopping only when ammunition finally ran out. Key and Beanes paced the deck all night. At dawn on September 14, 1814, exactly 200 years ago today, they strained through the mist and smoke to answer the question burning in their hearts, “Is our flag still there?”

The stirring sight of that grand symbol of victory and freedom marked a turning point in the war (just 3 months later, the British signed a peace agreement), and inspired Key to scribble the first verse of his love poem on the back of a letter.

The 36 x 40 foot garrison flag Key saw by the dawn’s early light was sewn in the summer of 1813 under the direction of widow Mary Pinckersgill by 4 teenage girls: her daughter, two nieces, and an African American indentured girl. The commander of Ft. McHenry commissioned the flag, knowing that his fort, guarding Baltimore harbor, would be a likely British target.

Despite most myths about Old Glory – including the famous tale of Betsy Ross – which arose many years after the first war of independence, the American flag did not play a major role in the Revolutionary War. The American flag was created primarily to identify ships and forts. Revolutionary patriots used other symbols—the eagle, Lady Liberty, George Washington— to define their national identity. The War of 1812 inspired a fresh wave of patriotism in the hearts of a generation too young to remember the Revolution which occurred 30 years earlier. Key’s declaration that “our flag was still there,” fused the physical symbol of the nation with universal feelings of patriotism, courage, resilience, national identity, unity, and pride. And by giving it a name—the Star-Spangled Banner—he transformed the official emblem into something tangible that Americans could rally around.

Congress made “The Star-Spangled Banner” our official national anthem on March 3, 1931 – 116 years after it was written.

New York stockbroker Eben Appleton inherited the original Star-Spangled Banner upon his mother’s death in 1878. The publicity it received in the 1870s had transformed it into a national treasure. Appleton freely lent it out for patriotic occasions. The flag’s deteriorating condition eventually led him to keep it in a safe-deposit vault in New York. In 1912 he gave the Star-Spangled Banner to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (check out the interactive flag feature at this site) with the wish that it would always be on public view. A previous post, His Star-Spangled Banner Over Us is Love, highlighted some of the stirring, godly content of our national anthem.

Young Francis Scott Key probably didn’t aspire to write our national anthem, he was simply responding to life as God presented it to him. Each day, the Thinking Christian Woman can ask herself, “What can I do today for Christ and His kingdom that will bless others and stand the test of time and eternity?”

© 2014 Melody K. Anderson All Rights Reserved

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Dec 252011
 

Yesterday morning after stretching class, my combination lock somehow reset itself (I could feel tumbler resistance when it happened) and I couldn’t open it.

Since lockers (what a fitting name!) at this all-women gym are day use only, bolt cutters are kept handy, but none of the all-women staff had the strength to vanquish my resolute padlock. At one point, me and two staffers ganged up on it, but to no avail. What a pitiful sight – all the grimacing and grunting – as we put no more than a small dent in the shackle.

The Master Lock website aptly describes its shackle: “Made from hardened steel for maximum resistance to cutting and sawing.”

Women-only gym; absolutely no men around; car keys securely in the locker; – a desperate need for some muscle! I could picture one of my brothers, or just about any guy for that matter, grabbing those cutters and, snap, the lock would be off.

My best friend and I were just about to give up and call for a ride, when we decided to try the cutters ourselves, with quiet faith in the power of two believers united in heart and purpose.

“Two are better than one,

because they have a good reward for their labor.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9

Our daily reading recently brought us to Judges 6 and the Gideon story. God’s people had fallen under Midianite oppression after turning away from the Lord and worshiping other, so-called, gods. Things got so bad, the Israelites were hiding in caves and dens.

Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my lord,if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord,how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.

Faced with an unyielding obstacle, I, like Gideon, initially doubted the power available to me. God reminds us in Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit…” God also encourages us at the beginning of that great spiritual armor passage in Ephesians 6, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

So it is never my might, and yet, sometimes, God “might” ask me to exercise His power within me, as He did Gideon.

Well, I’ve kept you waiting long enough, yes, you guessed it; the two of us, with focused intent and a unity of spirit forged over years of mutual submission and focus on God’s truths, were able to pool our might (and perhaps our ministering spirit angels pitched in too!) and snap! the stubborn shackle yielded; it was glorious!

I cleared my locker and walked away with a fresh sense of victory and power.

Who might you partner with, as a Thinking Christian Woman, to unlock the mighty power of God and break some shackles for His kingdom?

© 2011 Melody K. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

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