I will sing as I take a knee and I will bow to the people in the congregation

There are many things in the church that are expected - not necessary - yet still expected. For example it drives me nuts when a pastor tells a group of people to please bow their heads for prayer. Why? A prayer can still be a prayer when I am looking around the room or find a point of focus to still my mind. I remember when I was Roman Catholic as a person was walking down an aisle and reached the pew into which s/he was going to sit - the person would genuflect (sp) - a way to reverence the chancel. That's fine until you are like me going into the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University for Sunday worship. What do I do! I take a knee before entering the pew. It was then - with one knee on the ground - that I noticed this was not what Lutherans do.

Within the last years of my tenure as pastor prior to retirement, I decided to change the way I approach the chancel during the opening procession. Weekly, the crucifer (person carrying the cross), Assisting Minister, and I would stand in the rear of the nave and everyone turned toward the cross to in preparation for its movement through the sanctuary. When the first hymn was being played we stayed in place and sang the first verse. Then as the Crucifier carried the cross toward the chancel I would bow my head as the cross passed by me. Some folks do not bow - some folks do a full bow from the waist - most everyone turns as the cross passes on its way up into the chancel. It is what we do - fine. Most often when worship leaders reach the chancel (the place where the communion table and pulpit and leader chairs are positioned) the leaders would bow toward the table/altar - an act of reverence. But in a good conversation with our vicar I wondered why - why do we bow - to what are we bowing - we already bowed as the cross went by us. So I made a decision. No longer would I bow to the table or chancel area. I would turn to the congregation and bow to them - the visible and living body of Christ. My way of reminding me of the identity of the folks in worship.

So much for tradition and practices some call sacred and the do's and don'ts that have been put in place for many and various reasons. Just as I do not think that people need to put on their Sunday best to worship with others - so to are we free to do things in a manner that make things meaningful and yet remain in the bounds of the gathered community.

Now let me address myself to the National ways we bow and bend. One example: protocol calls for placing ones hand over ones heart (national anthem - pledge of allegiance) yet,  if we don't do that, what happens? Nothing. I don't do that. For those who do - fine. Am I less American? No. Even when I say the Pledge of Allegiance, I say the old one - the original - the one prior to the changes made by what I call the fear-filled, anti-communist days of the early '50s that felt the need to put God into the pledge. Looking at another piece of protocol, I was not in the military but I understand that the correct way to salute is with one's right hand. Never knew that - never mattered to me. Even Jesse Ventura slipped that bit of etiquette in a recent youtube post about the recent kneeling during the national anthem.

The church is not the only group of people who hold things sacred - we do that nationally - we do that with sports and other groups that claim our allegiance. Yet, holding something sacred is not necessarily because it is right or good. In fact the which we hold as sacred may be exactly that which causes us to do what is not at all right and not at all good. Wars - fights - riots - all spring from the depth of our devotion to that which we hold sacred.

Allow me to continue. Now that we have someone who started to kneel during the playing of the national anthem - we are witnesses to a religious fire storm. Whenever the sacred - no matter what it is that we hold sacred - is judged or treated in a way other than the manner in which the devotees expect, all hell is likely to break loose. As we have seen in the last few weeks - it surely is doing just that. Which leads me to this rant.

I rarely go to a place where the national anthem is played. When I do - I sing. Yet, an anthem meant to be sung usually goes unsung. Take a look at sports games on television - few folks are singing. Then we have fallen into the laziness of having someone sing the national anthem for us. This is fine when it is sung so as to nurture the rest of us to raise up our voices. But it has become entertainment - music that can only be sung by the one person - doing his/her thing - drawing attention to a voice or style of singing rather than that which is the subject of the song. Interesting. There seems to be no protest when a voice does its own thing with the anthem - when the content is made to be held as less than the voice - when name of the performer trumps character. Hmm.

So one person kneels to protest during the national anthem - then another - then another. In the land of the free and the home of the brave - there is nothing to fear - really. When I turn my back to the chancel and bow to the people of the congregation rather than to a space in the building or a table or the elements of holy communion - that may be distasteful - just outright wrong to some. Yet, how do we go forward - how do we listen to one another - how do we live together in our difference over that which we may hold so dear. I found that a simple gesture led to many teaching and listening moments that have changed my vision of all things. Therefore, when I next find myself at an event in which the national anthem is played and sung - I will sing our national anthem as I take a knee.
TRRR