My dad did not spend much time in front of a television screen. (That's what they were called back then: "Televisions.") When so much of American society at the time learned to collect VHS tapes and DVDs, our living room had a blessedly minimal number of recorded films. But he did have a boxed set of Humphrey Bogart films.
One of the few times we took an evening to watch a film at home with Dad we watched Casablanca. This classic WWII film (produced in 1942) focused on Rick's Café Américain, a "gin-joint" in Morocco where Nazi officers and Resistance leaders end up dining in the same room. In one famous scene, German officers stand and begin singing their national anthem, "Die Wacht am Rhein." A leader of the Resistance goes to the band and directs them to play the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise." All the non-Germans in Rick's Café stand and drown out the song of the German officers.
(If you would enjoy a deep dive into this scene with some excellent commentary, check this out.)
The songs are just songs, right? Just like "The Star Spangled Banner" is just a bunch of words strung together and laid over a bunch of musical notes strung together, right?
Who sings which song in Casablanca, and how loudly, displays the loyalty of the characters in the film. Morocco is contested territory in a war. All wars are about loyalty and who will give their lives for one nation or another, one cause or another, one flag or another. Since flags usually represent nations, flags represent an entity in whose importance we believe so strongly that we would die for it.
Conversely, flags command responses to two questions: Will you die for this? Are you loyal to this? For many people--especially those who have risked their lives in uniforms bearing the American flag, or have lost beloved family or friends in uniform--these questions are two sides of the same coin. To be loyal to something or someone, really loyal, means being willing to risk one's life to defend that thing or person. A flag, therefore, represents a question of ultimate loyalty.
This question is not new. Quite pertinent to Christians was the need for subjects of the Roman empire to show their allegiance to the emperor. In much of imperial history, this display of allegiance took the form of sacrifices made to the imperial cult, which viewed emperors as divine. As far as we know, sacrificing to the emperor didn't change life very much; but if one did not show that loyalty to the empire, one was suspect. If nothing else, the emperor commanded loyalty.
And Christians did not show that loyalty. They would pray for the emperor, conform to imperial laws (as long as it did not violate their conscience), and treat the emperor with honor. But they would not perform the signs of ultimate loyalty to the emperor or empire. They confessed that they had loyalty to only one: Jesus Christ.
[A linguistic aside: I have heard folks attempt to make a distinction between loyalty or allegiance (which I might have for my nation) and trust/faith/belief (which I only have for God). The bible makes no distinction in its language for these things. Faith/belief/trust/loyalty/allegiance are of a piece; and each/all belong to God alone. In making a distinction without a difference we may be trying to evade a problem.]
When we gather in worship, we do so specifically to declare our complete loyalty and allegiance to God in Jesus Christ, the author of life who is also the only one to conquer death and offer eternal life. We do so in explicit defiance of all the powers in the world who would claim our loyalty, command our obedience, and divide our hearts.
I do find it strange, then, that we place a symbol in our sanctuaries for another entity which commands loyalty and sacrifice unto death. If it calls for something less than ultimate faith, why does it adorn a space dedicated to heaven and eternal life? And if it calls for complete loyalty, is it not in competition with the Lord of All?
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Next time: A first argument for flags in sanctuaries.
~ emrys
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