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On this Veterans Day, I reflect on growing up in a small community that packed the high school gymnasium every year with a service to honor the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. The high school band would play and the community choir would sing as the American Legion Post would march in with the flag lifted high and the words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic carrying them to the front of the stage.
I vividly remember the goosebumps on my arms and the tears that filled the eyes of many elders as I looked around the gym. There was a holy reverence; a poetic symphony in our midst as we joined our voices with the ranks and sang,
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightnings of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic was written in November of 1861 by Julia Ward Howe. America was divided. Eleven southern states had seceded from the United States in April of that year fearing that the government would interfere with their right to own slaves. The states that remained in the Union went to war to end the rebellion in what was known as the Civil War. Julia Ward Howe was invited by President Lincoln to take part in a coalition that was to investigate the conditions soldiers were facing during the war.
While she was in Washington D.C., she was encouraged by a pastor to write new lyrics to a then popular tune, John Brown’s Body. The song was titled after the famous abolitionist John Brown. Julia Ward Howe was herself a strong anti-slavery activist and so she set out to write lyrics that would end slavery as well as unite North and South supporters in a common love for God and country. The Battle Hymn of the Republic proved to be just that. As the future of a nation hung in the balance, two parts of America taking aim at one another, this song would come to represent them both. It is a song that still today celebrates our freedom in Christ; our unity in Christ; our oneness in Christ.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free, Our God is marching on.
In Christ and with Christ, there is so much more that unites us, than what we allow to divide us. This is a truth that marches on. On Veterans Day and every day, let us be forever grateful for the men and women who set aside their own interest and made and continue to make great sacrifice for the pursuit of freedom, liberty and justice for all. As I worship freely today, I will not take for granted their lives laid down for mine.
Glory, glory hallelujah! Glory, glory hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
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