Those Who Died to Make Us Free

Those Who Died to Make Us Free

A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, May 26, 2019

Joel 3:12-13; John 15:9-13 NKJV

Tomorrow, Memorial Day, is also the 200^th birthday of American poet-writer Julia Ward Howe.  I would have missed this historic fact had it not been for Martha Hobson’s article in the most recent edition of the “Senior Living” insert in The Oak Ridger newspaper.  As Martha pointed out, Julia Ward Howe was one of the women who were responsible for giving us Mother’s Day.  But Howe was quite active in other ways and is known for contributing to a number of other important issues of her day as well.  For instance, Howe was a social activist who worked for women’s rights and suffrage.  She was also an abolitionist who fought to end slavery.

Though raised as a Calvinist Episcopalian, around the age of 22 Julia Ward became a Unitarian.  She met and married a significantly older man, Samuel Gridley Howe.  The marriage would not prove to be the best.  But Julia’s big claim to fame resulted when in November 1861, just a few months after the start of the Civil War, she and her husband visited Washington D.C. and met President Abraham Lincoln.  Her husband, you see, was a member of President Lincoln’s Military Sanitary Commission.  Dr. Howe was also a well-known scholar in the education of the blind.  The Howes were being given a tour of Union army camps around Washington, D.C.  And as they were touring the city, Julia keenly observed the Union troops encampments, a scene which inspired her to write that for which she is most remembered. During the course of their tour, they heard the troops sing some of the popular songs of the time, most likely accompanied by devotions.

Early the next morning, the words of the hymn that has come to be known as “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory,” perhaps better known as “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” formed in Howe’s mind.  As history has it, Mrs. Howe wrote the lines of the hymn on a scrap of Sanitary Commission paper.  Just three months later, February 1862, the hymn was published in The Atlantic Monthly. 

As with many beloved hymns, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” presents some theological problems for many progressive-minded Christians.  And many southerners may not realize that it was written as a northern, pro-Union Civil War hymn. 

Many of the lyrics are biblically based, drawn from a number of books of the Bible.  Phrases like “the coming of the Lord,” “trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,” “sifting out the hearts of men,” “his judgment seat,” and so on all bespeak of divine judgment, in the spirit of the prophet Joel, from which I read earlier.  The hymn links the biblical idea of the judgment of the wicked at the end of time with the American Civil War.  In other words, the hymn more or less equates the judgment day of the Lord with the overthrow of Southern armies and putting an end to the institution of slavery by the Union Army of the North.  And it portrays God as a God of punishment and wrath, which is interesting considering Howe’s Unitarian (and possibly Universalist) leanings.  (So in essence, it is a bit harsh in places.)

The first and third stanzas of the hymn speak of the coming judgment of God and the judgment of men and women before God’s judgment seat.

But the second stanza is the one that really gives the back story of the hymn and what inspired its writing:

“I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;

They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,

His day is marching on!”

In other words, Howe is describing the scene of Union soldiers gathered around their campfires and fire lamps at night, singing songs and perhaps engaging in evening worship vespers.  She saw in those Union forces the working out of the will of God, in the sacrifice of those who were fighting to free the slaves.

As already noted, the tone of the hymn in places is harsh; there is no question about that.  It presents an image of God that many of us may not be comfortable with.  But isn’t that true of a lot of the familiar hymns we sing?  If we were to toss out all of the hymns that don’t contain 100% the image of God or theology that we prefer, we might be left with a pretty skinny hymnal.  And some ministers and churches dislike the hymn and refuse to sing it because of its militant tone which depicts or at least leaves the impression that God leads into battle.  And I understand all of these concerns.  Generally speaking, I am not completely comfortable with Christian hymns that have a militant tone, or that compare saving the whole world, the heathen steeped in darkness, with a battle to be won.  They make be a bit uncomfortable too.

But if we understand and seek to appreciate Julia Ward Howe’s strong convictions and spirit behind “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory,” then we can perhaps sing it with more comfort and conviction.  This is to say:

if we bear in mind Howe’s passionate belief that slavery in all forms is wrong and that it is God’s will that slavery come to an end;

if we bear in mind that Howe believed that all men and women should be free;

if we bear in mind Howe’s commitment to the Truth which sets people free; and,

if we bear in mind Howe’s respect for those who die so as to make others free;

if we bear in mind all of these reasons for her being inspired to write the hymn, then it may frame the hymn in a completely new light for us.

Although we live 158 years removed from the time when Julia Ward Howe was inspired to write her hymn, today we resonate with the conviction that any form of bondage, servitude or slavery is wrong.  But, sadly, slavery – in various forms and fashions – is still a reality for many of our world yet today: many migrant farm workers are being held in virtual slavery, as they are being paid just enough to survive but not enough to move on and start a new life.  Thousands of adults, teenagers and children are being held in sexual slavery, even here in America, and are trafficked around the country from city to city.  And other forms of social and economic slavery take numerous ugly forms. 

Yes, we, too, believe that all people should be free; free to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

We, too, commit ourselves to the pursuit of truth, even when learning and heeding the truth makes us uncomfortable.

And we, too, have much appreciation for all those who died – in the Civil War, World Wars, Korean War, Viet Nam War, and more recent Middle East Wars – to make others – to make us – free.  “No greater love has anyone than this,” Jesus said, “that one would lay down one’s life for his friends.” 

And so, we may not agree 100% with the words and theology of the hymn, but we can appreciate its spirit of freedom, justice, and sacrifice.  And if we bear in mind our own heartfelt convictions regarding putting an end to various forms of slavery and our appreciation for the sacrifices of all those across the centuries who died to make others free, then, perhaps, we can join Julia Ward Howe in her fight to make others free as expressed in “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory.”  May it be so.  Amen.