Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
OLD GLORY
I was waiting for a bus on West 14th Street in NYC
and looked up in the windy night sky
and saw atop the Chelsea Market building
an American flag billowing majestically in the breeze
highlighted in the dark by spotlights
it was a glorious sight, attended as it was by the vision
in my mind's eye, of our military might
propelled by a national sense of outraged justice,
of our renewed feeling of solidarity as a people
under one flag.
As I watched the flag furl and unfurl slowly in the wind
lit bright against the black night
I saw the fresh blood of our young men
willingly spilled for its honor
as they pursued our adversaries on distant mountains
I saw the resolve of our people — and our leaders —
to command the respect of the nations:
"Trifle with us at your peril!"
as we unleashed fury
on those who thought to make us prey.
I couldn't take my eyes off the solemn beauty of it,
of the vision of America, great and mighty,
unified and mobilized, pierced to the heart
by sadness at our recent national wounds,
yet still swift, powerful and dignified.
At that moment I felt a love for this land
I had never felt before, saw the glory of America
as I had never seen it before, and was awed.
This is truly a nation among nations
for all its flaws.
I love the sheer physical beauty of this country,
the towering, sprawling cities, rugged remote wildernesses,
its lakes, rivers, and especially its streams splashing and sparkling
about me as I lounge mid-stream on island rocks —
the vastness and variety of this rich land!
But I felt another sadness
mingled with our own recent losses,
for although September 11th has brought out
the seeming best in us, and we love ourselves
as I have never seen before
that flag was flapping and snapping gloriously
in eternity, one among many in the long procession of nations
up through recorded time, and I saw the judgment
inevitable from on high
from an outraged justice we ourselves trifle with
seeing as we have moral cancers that have eaten away our heart
for God, and for the laws of life and of love
that are the health and glory of any nation
or individual, turning instead to mere human religions
and disdaining — casting aside from us! — His holy word.
I've seen the signs — after 9/11 — which say,
"United we stand. In God we trust."
Alas it is not so, for we are still a bitterly divided people,
and the "God" who is "trusted" is not the One true,
but men and women make gods of anything they love.
How is it now, that in its hour of greatest peril
— and on the day of my sixtieth year here in this land —
my heart is filled with love and respect for this flag
as never before?
But it is fitting.
America, I am not against you — I am your Poet! —
but for you, to plead with you to look above our glorious flag
to Him who lifts flags up and casts them down,
who draws souls to the Savior of the world,
He the living ensign of God’s justice and His mercy.
I daresay the atoning cross of Jesus the Messiah
is the banner of God's kingdom
and none who do not bow the knee
to His suffering glory there
shall enter it.
I know words such as mine here will divide
and not unite our nation, and so it is meant to be,
for not all Americans are Heaven-bound,
and some will rage at my words,
even as they raged when my King spoke His.
Love the flag I do
but I love the cross of Jesus Christ more
for great as our land is
the kingdom of God that shall replace this and all nations
is worthy of the first and purest loyalty
for it is the land of the great King
in whose heart is the spring of fathomless glory
and to be with and near Him
is worth all the lands, all the gold, even my life,
and I look beyond Old Glory to Eternal Glory.
I was waiting for a bus on West 14th Street in NYC
and looked up in the windy night sky
and saw atop the Chelsea Market building
an American flag billowing majestically in the breeze
highlighted in the dark by spotlights
it was a glorious sight, attended as it was by the vision
in my mind's eye, of our military might
propelled by a national sense of outraged justice,
of our renewed feeling of solidarity as a people
under one flag.
As I watched the flag furl and unfurl slowly in the wind
lit bright against the black night
I saw the fresh blood of our young men
willingly spilled for its honor
as they pursued our adversaries on distant mountains
I saw the resolve of our people — and our leaders —
to command the respect of the nations:
"Trifle with us at your peril!"
as we unleashed fury
on those who thought to make us prey.
I couldn't take my eyes off the solemn beauty of it,
of the vision of America, great and mighty,
unified and mobilized, pierced to the heart
by sadness at our recent national wounds,
yet still swift, powerful and dignified.
At that moment I felt a love for this land
I had never felt before, saw the glory of America
as I had never seen it before, and was awed.
This is truly a nation among nations
for all its flaws.
I love the sheer physical beauty of this country,
the towering, sprawling cities, rugged remote wildernesses,
its lakes, rivers, and especially its streams splashing and sparkling
about me as I lounge mid-stream on island rocks —
the vastness and variety of this rich land!
But I felt another sadness
mingled with our own recent losses,
for although September 11th has brought out
the seeming best in us, and we love ourselves
as I have never seen before
that flag was flapping and snapping gloriously
in eternity, one among many in the long procession of nations
up through recorded time, and I saw the judgment
inevitable from on high
from an outraged justice we ourselves trifle with
seeing as we have moral cancers that have eaten away our heart
for God, and for the laws of life and of love
that are the health and glory of any nation
or individual, turning instead to mere human religions
and disdaining — casting aside from us! — His holy word.
I've seen the signs — after 9/11 — which say,
"United we stand. In God we trust."
Alas it is not so, for we are still a bitterly divided people,
and the "God" who is "trusted" is not the One true,
but men and women make gods of anything they love.
How is it now, that in its hour of greatest peril
— and on the day of my sixtieth year here in this land —
my heart is filled with love and respect for this flag
as never before?
But it is fitting.
America, I am not against you — I am your Poet! —
but for you, to plead with you to look above our glorious flag
to Him who lifts flags up and casts them down,
who draws souls to the Savior of the world,
He the living ensign of God’s justice and His mercy.
I daresay the atoning cross of Jesus the Messiah
is the banner of God's kingdom
and none who do not bow the knee
to His suffering glory there
shall enter it.
I know words such as mine here will divide
and not unite our nation, and so it is meant to be,
for not all Americans are Heaven-bound,
and some will rage at my words,
even as they raged when my King spoke His.
Love the flag I do
but I love the cross of Jesus Christ more
for great as our land is
the kingdom of God that shall replace this and all nations
is worthy of the first and purest loyalty
for it is the land of the great King
in whose heart is the spring of fathomless glory
and to be with and near Him
is worth all the lands, all the gold, even my life,
and I look beyond Old Glory to Eternal Glory.
March 21, 2002
