{"id":884,"date":"2012-09-26T11:18:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T17:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=884"},"modified":"2012-09-26T11:18:01","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T17:18:01","slug":"why-see-you-at-the-pole-makes-me-nervous-and-how-i-would-change-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/09\/why-see-you-at-the-pole-makes-me-nervous-and-how-i-would-change-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Why “See You At The Pole” Makes Me Nervous, and How I Would Change It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Today is the national See You At the Pole prayer event. If you don\u2019t know what it is, just Google it.<\/p>\n

When I was touring with my band Satellite Soul, we played nearly every year at a See You At the Pole<\/em> rally somewhere in the states. There was always something about it that made me a little bit nervous, but for a long time I didn\u2019t have the language to describe my intuitions. I\u2019ve tried to sum it up over the years and this is why I get a little fidgety. It\u2019s the fact that Christians organize an event during which they gather around a flag pole and pray. I\u2019ve seen it at least a half-dozen times and it just seems off to me. There\u2019s simply something creepy about a bunch of young children holding hands in a circle around an American flag praying.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019m all for kids praying. I\u2019m all for them holding hands in a circle. I\u2019m all for them meeting up somewhere on school property once at the beginning of the school year to pray for God\u2019s blessing and guidance. There is also something admirable about kids in our day and age who are willing to meet up with other Christians and seek God\u2019s favor, especially on school grounds with the separation of church and state and the school prayer issues looming in the background. All of that seems good to me. But does it have to be done around the American flag? Is the flag what we want at the center of attention when we pray? It really bothers me.<\/p>\n

I think it actually goes against the concept of each Christian being first and foremost a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. I\u2019m trying to imagine what that might feel like to the Native American who is a Christian, or the foreign exchange student. I\u2019m wondering how many times the sins of our nation are named at a given See You At the Pole prayer event without ever mentioning the sins of slavery, the eradication of the Native Americans, or current economic injustices among them?<\/p>\n

Praying is something we should do, and something we should try to encourage our children to do. But, public prayer should be done with absolute humility especially in light of Jesus\u2019s teaching on prayer from Matthew 6:5-6: \u201cAnd when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love\u00a0to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.\u00a0Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.\u00a0But when you pray,\u00a0go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.\u00a0And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.\u201d That\u2019s pretty tough to get around.<\/p>\n

However, I don\u2019t think I would stop the event, even in light of Matt. 6. I think there\u2019s a way to do an event like this with humility & in a way that doesn\u2019t draw undue attention to ourselves. I don\u2019t even think they ought to change the name \u2013 the flagpole exists on nearly every school grounds, that\u2019s fine meet up there. So, once you meet up at the flagpole, just move twenty feet over to the side and circle up without reference to the flag. Allow God, not country, to be the center of our prayers. Don\u2019t make this about America, make it about the kingdom of God which is no respecter of nations. After all, the apostle Paul taught us to say, \u201cFor as many of you as\u00a0were baptized\u00a0into Christ have\u00a0put on Christ.\u00a0There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave\u00a0nor free,\u00a0there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,\u201d (Gal 3:27-28). Those national distinctions fall away when we pray.<\/p>\n

Yes? No?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the national See You At the Pole prayer event. If you don\u2019t know what it is, just Google it. When I was touring with my band Satellite Soul, we played nearly every year at a See You At the Pole rally somewhere in the states. There was always something about it that made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,97],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-prayer","tag-see-you-at-the-pole"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy "See You At The Pole" Makes Me Nervous, and How I Would Change It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today is the national See You At the Pole prayer event. If you don't know what it is, just Google it. 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