In a few minutes we're going to sing hymn #114, Forward Through the Ages. Now I don't know how many times I've sung this hymn, but it doesn't matter. For me, that music is always going to be the great Christian battle hymn Onward Christian Soldiers. This is one of the most stirring hymns in the Christian tradition, and it very deliberately invokes the image of the great battle between Good and Evil. For those of you who don't know it, I thought I'd share some of the lyrics with you. The refrain is
Onward Christian soliders, marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
And the verses say things like
Like a mighty army moves the church of God.
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
And
At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee;
On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
Now, usually when we think about these two hymns, we notice how different they are. In the UU version, Jesus and Satan are gone, and the battle imagery has been toned down. We are no longer soldiers in an army going to war.
This morning, though, I'd like to call your attention to just how similar the two hymns are. Most obviously, it's the same music. This is marching music; it's stirring, it's rousing, it's militant. And the battle imagery is not gone. We're still conquering or falling, and heroes are still dying in this hymn. The saints have become prophets and poets, but we're still identifying ourselves with the great ones who have come before us.
Both of these hymns serve the same important purpose. They are ways for a community of people to gather their collective courage to stand up for what they believe is good and resist what they believe is evil. And they do it the same way: by identifying us with heroes and by identifying our current struggle, whatever it might be, with the universal struggle of good people everywhere.
Now, it's easy to criticize this kind of stuff: It's simplisitic, it's primitive, and so on. And later on in the service we're going to get all analytic and rational about it. But right now I'd like you just to feel how powerful this is. I invite you to really try to cut loose on this hymn and let yourself get carried away with the idea that we represent the forces of good and we are going to stand up to the forces of evil. And it's my job to put the brakes on before we go looting and pillaging. So don't worry about that.
Let's sing hymn #114, Forward Through the Ages.