We all have our song to sing

 

 

 

 

 

“I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin’ there.
I said, “Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town”.
I said, “Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hangin’ on it”.
He said, “Have a seat”, and I sat down,
“Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town”
I said, “I think it is”
He said “I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag”

The opening lyrics to Johnny Cash’s song a “Ragged old Flag”.

A song of patriotism as seen through this flag of stars and stripes that has been present throughout the many wars and difficulties experienced by the United States of America, and after metaphorically listing the many hits it’s taken finishes with:

“She’s been abused,
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied an’ refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin’ thin,
But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

Great lyrics. Poetry. Words that if I was an American would let me raise my head when the storms of the world and life intend otherwise.

We all have our song to sing where we have hung tough against the odds. Racing towards what awaits to assist in a road accident, when in our whole self we would rather race from.

To hold firm and drop off your young child at their first day of child care or school even though your heart is breaking because of their anxious state and pleading of being elsewhere.

To see those we love in pain and sit with them in their last hours, and see your mother weeping at their grave.

We’ve all been there and we’ll be there again, where again we’ll feel those words as like Elvis Presley, that

“You know Lord I’ve been in a prison
For something that I never done
It’s been one hill after another
I’ve climbed them all one by one

But this time, Lord you gave me a mountain
A mountain you know I may never climb
It isn’t just a hill any longer
You gave me a mountain this time”

Like our physical pain thresholds differ, so to do our emotional pain thresholds differ and for some a hill may be a mountain and for others a mountain a hill and though we may through sheer personal gut wrenching perseverance and determination climb that hill, sometimes we are given a mountain that we cannot climb.

Those words of Johnny Cash: that,

“She’s been abused,
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied an’ refused,
She’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin’ thin,
Given our personal mountain this could be us. Like in our Western world so could it be our Church, the Christian churches. Yet us in the Church, and the Church in us. Yet us in Christ, and Christ in us we follow on:

But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.”

A home is not made from bricks and mortar, but from love united and pain shared.

So too is the church not of earthly structure, but of Christ received.

Christ received on our week day hills and mountains. Christ uniting Him-self to us in His love, and Christ uniting Him-self to us in our hurts.

Come what may, be we threadbare and wearin thin, Jesus Christ our Saviour 2,000 years ago was nailed to a cross that whether we be young or old we can lift our heads and see the risen Christ with us today.

With us today walking next us over our hills and carrying us up our mountains.

With us today reaching out His nailed pierced hands that though ours may be young and strong, or old and wrinkled, ours will never need be pierced for he has taken our sin on himself.

Each of us has our own song to sing, and be it of joy or sorrow-it is a song we should sing from the top of those mountains we have scaled-because on those mountains past we have come to know the Lord. To know our Lord and what He has done for us and see clearly:

“On a hill far away an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
And we love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

So we’ll cherish …….and we will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

That old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for us;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

On that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty we see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me and you.

To the old rugged cross we will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call us some day to our home far away,
Where His glory forever we’ll share. Amen.