tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165917644636237355.post6032856664731567867..comments2023-07-24T09:25:38.171-04:00Comments on Music at Bethany: Unorthodox wisdom - part 5Music at Bethanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295230801512420662noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165917644636237355.post-52178000339829749102009-05-27T11:11:05.673-04:002009-05-27T11:11:05.673-04:00Julia Ward Howe's original words were "As he died ...Julia Ward Howe's original words were "As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free" which the Ferro family lustily sang on Sunday, ala' John Wesley. The change in wording came when the LBW was published. <br /><br />Although I think both ideas are important, do we really hear in our society anymore the call to die for something greater than ourselves? We all want to live, but the gospel calls us to pick up our crosses and be willing to die for what is right. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die." Bonhoeffer demonstrated both his willingness to live and to die to "make men free". <br /><br />Singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on Memorial Day Weekend is especially appropriate because Memorial Day grew out of Decoration Day a day to honor those who died in the Civil War. The closing paragraph of Lincoln's Address to dedicate the Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg, PA says it best: "But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate... we can not consecrate... we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."Rev. Robert Ferronoreply@blogger.com