I Pray Allegiance

Sermon for Sunday, July 5, 2009
Scripture: Psalm 48

I’m always enamored with the way we show allegiance to things. Yesterday, perhaps you got a chance to say the pledge of allegiance to our nation. Or maybe you sang along with the Star Spangled Banner. In doing so, you declared allegiance to the United States of America.
Do you have a special ringtone on your phone that declares allegiance? Perhaps it’s the theme song to your favorite TV show, one that you are very loyal to – you never miss an episode.
And we all know how to pledge our allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers. You simply wave your Terrible Towel and chant, “Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go!” The Penguins have their own chant – “Let’s Go Pens” – and the Pirates have one too – “Let’s Go Bucs!”

Perhaps you’re loyal as well to your alma maters. I’m loyal to my high school (Upper St. Clair), my college (Ohio Northern University), and my seminary (Candler School of Theology). And do you know that I can still sing my college hymn?

Ohio Northern, we love thy name,
Ohio Northern, long live thy fame.
We sing thy glories, sound forth thy praise,
For all that gladdens our dear college days.
Ohio Northern, we will be true,
Loyal forever to dear ONU.

“Loyal forever to dear ONU.” We admire this kind of passionate allegiance to something. We celebrate those who are dedicated to the well-being of this nation. We praise those who would step in front of a bullet for a friend. And maybe we take pride in our own allegiance, declaring that no matter what happens, we will always be a fan of our favorite sports team.

We are loyal to many things: our country, our favorite sports teams, our schools, our family and friends, political parties or causes, professional organizations, and civic organizations like Rotary or Lion’s Club. But loyalties are a funny thing. They can unite and they can divide. Our loyalty for the Steelers may unite us around these parts, but spend a few years in Ohio and you’ll realize how divisive that loyalty can become. Singing God Bless America may seem innocent at an Independence Day celebration in America, but sing it in the middle of Baghdad and it would probably sound rude, arrogant, and offensive, whether you meant it that way or not. And I would bet that even here in this relatively homogenous body there are loyalties that could be divisive – if we began publicly declaring our allegiances to political parties or causes right here, right now, I would imagine there is some division that would occur.

So what, then, can unite us? What loyalty can we find this morning that may reach across the proverbial political aisle? What common cause could we possibly share with a wretched Detroit Red Wings fan? What allegiance could we declare that might unite us with an Iraqi citizen?

Psalm 48 was, like many Psalms, probably sung as a hymn in worship. This one in particular was likely used as a hymn upon approaching and entering the holy city of Jerusalem, the city on a hill, Mt. Zion. Zion is often used as another name for Jerusalem, but the Hebrew root of the word “Zion” literally means “guiding monument” or “permanent capital.” Jerusalem was considered the permanent capital for God, the everlasting capital city for the kingdom of God that will one day come. Israelites in the Old Testament made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and this psalm sings praise to the presence of God in this holy capital city. So as the pilgrims approached the holy city, they would sing this Psalm: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.”

What a hymn of praise this is. As the pilgrims sing, they praise God’s greatness: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.” They celebrate God’s protection: “Within its citadels God has shown himself a sure defense.” They proclaim God’s steadfast love, protection, and justice: “We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. Your name, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with victory. Let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.” And in closing, the pilgrims declare their eternal loyalty to God: “That you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will be our guide forever.”
What a beautiful hymn of praise. What a wonderful prayer of allegiance to the Lord our God. There are other mountains – for the Israelites, there is the nearby mountain of Zaphon, where the gods of the Canaanite religion live. For us, there is the mountain where the Super Bowl Champion Steelers live and the mountain where the Stanley Cup sits. There is the mountain where our nation’s government is established – Washington, D.C. And we have other mountains in our lives as well, specific to our own passions, interests, and allegiances. What are the mountains in your lives that you declare loyalty to? And what god or gods live there?

Most of us can probably think of a lot of mountains, and that’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with allegiance to nation, school, team, cause, or organization. Thankfully, we don’t always have to choose between our loyalties. But sometimes we do. Sometimes, we must choose whether to go to Rotary or whether to spend time with the grandchildren. Other times, we may have to choose between going to school or doing community service. Or, in the rarest of circumstances, as happened this year, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals is at the same time as a scheduled worship service at Annual Conference, and we must choose between worshiping Lord Stanley or the Lord our God.

If we do have to choose just one mountain, which one will we choose? As for myself, I’m going to choose God’s holy mountain. By that I don’t mean that I will worship Jerusalem – this psalm does not worship Jerusalem, although it may appear on the surface that it does. When it really comes down to it, all my other allegiances – to country, team, school, whatever – are fleeting compared to my everlasting allegiance to God. This is God! “This is God, our God, forever and ever. He will be our guide forever.”

And so Jerusalem, Mount Zion, becomes symbolic for the kingdom of God that we will one day enter into. Biblical scholar J. Clinton McCann puts it this way: “For believers, Jerusalem becomes a spatial, temporal symbol for the reality of God’s rule in all times and in places.” These pilgrims came from all over the world to visit Jerusalem. And I suspect they all had loyalties to their hometown, to their families of origin, to their tribes, and so on. But they united in song to declare full allegiance to God.

None of our loyalties in this world will last forever. Teams will fold, schools will close, organizations will die, and nations will fall – even the mighty United States of America will one day fall. But God is greater than all those things. God’s mountain reaches higher than all other mountains. God makes all the kings of the other mountains run away trembling and doubled over in pain.

A couple weeks ago, the Brazilian national soccer team beat the United States in the finals of the Confederations Cup. After the match ended, the Brazilians celebrated, many by taking off their jerseys and running around like crazy – I think that’s become the standard post-game soccer celebration. One of the stars, Kaka, took off his jersey to reveal a T-shirt underneath with a simple message. That message was: “I belong to Jesus.” He wore the uniform of his country, and celebrated with his teammates, but when Kaka revealed his undershirt, there was no question where his ultimate loyalty lies. Kaka may be a soccer player, he may be a Brazilian, but first and foremost, he is a follower of Jesus Christ. His undershirt is a modern-day Psalm 48 – a prayer of ultimate allegiance to the Lord, who is great and greatly to be praised, and who will be Kaka’s God forever and ever.

Here’s a question you’ve probably been asked before: if you were stranded on a desert island, and you could only take one thing with you, what would it be? This morning, I ask you a similar question: if you were stranded on a desert island, and you could only take one thing that symbolized your greatest allegiance, what would you take? Would you take a terrible towel? An American flag? Your Bible? If you had to choose whether to pledge allegiance to our nation’s flag or to pray allegiance to God, which would you choose? Kaka has chosen that despite his nationality and his identity as a soccer player, his ultimate allegiance is to the Lord, the one thing that will last forever: our God, forever and ever; he will be our guide forever. Where is your ultimate allegiance? Can we allow our ultimate allegiance to the Lord our God unite us this morning? Great is our Lord and greatly to be praised. He will be our God and our guide forever and ever. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.