Remembering the American War: providence, prayer, and national memory
The service was Morning Prayer from the BCP 1662, the liturgy which would have been in use in St. Michael's throughout the Revolutionary War - with, of course, the prayers for the monarch removed (as they would have been in this church in 1776, more of which below). The collect of Independence Day was used, giving thanks for the liberty secured by the Revolution:
O Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The concluding hymn was 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. The order of service also listed the names of the 'St. Michael's Patriots', those parishioners who fought in the forces of the Continental Congress.
Ο Blessed Lord, who hast commanded us by thy beloved Son to love our Enemies, and to extend our charity in praying even for those, who despitefully use us, give grace, we beseech thee, to our unhappy fellow-subjects in America, that seeing and confessing the error of their ways, and having a due sense of their ingratitude for the many blessings of thy Providence, preserved to them by the indulgent care and protection of these kingdoms, they may again return to their duty ...
Both commemorations are excellent examples of how civic and national life should be caught up in the prayer of the Anglican tradition, and thus oriented towards the Triune God. It is this understanding which brings us to understand how the differing, conflicting allegiances of Anglicans in what was known to Britons as the American War are reconciled, for God the Father "gather[s] together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him".
Meanwhile, in St. Bartholomew's the Great, London, fast day prayers would have been heard throughout the American War. As those prayers were read in St. Bart's on 13th December 1776, John Butler, Archdeacon of Surrey and a chaplain to the King, was preaching to the House of Commons:
Our fellow-subjects, in a distant part of the empire, have exchanged Peace and Order for Anarchy; or if, in wandering out of the paths of Peace, they have alighted upon some faint semblance of Government, it appears, in its immediate effects at least, to be a most miserable refuge. As if coolly determined to consummate this ruin, they have renounced the Allegiance due to the British Crown, the natural and equitable as well as legal return, for a protection, from which in great measure they derive the strength they are now consuming in vain attempts of Independency; and to accumulate evils upon us, as well as themselves, they have provoked the application of a naval and military force, so valuable for their defence as well as ours, to the purpose of restoring them to a sense of their Interest and Duty.
To commemorate 1776, whether with gratitude and thanksgiving in the United States, or with a sombre remembrance in the United Kingdom, is to hold before God formative events which have shaped our histories over centuries. It is to acknowledge that these events and all that flowed from them are not somehow apart from God's providence and purposes: indeed, it is to affirm - in war and in peace, in victory and in defeat - the providence of God.
It is entirely appropriate that 4th July this years falls in the week of the Second Sunday after Trinity, in which we pray "Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence". As John Butler declared in his 1776 fast day sermon:
Our present Solemnity is founded in the same principle, of the dependence of Nations, as well as Individuals, upon the Providence of God.
In our own uncertain times, rent by division, shadowed by conflict, we can learn a trust in the providence of Almighty God through national and civic commemorations. Mindful of how a theology of providence has all but disappeared from much contemporary Christian teaching, and is rarely encountered in contemporary liturgies, this provides good reason for Anglicans cherishing and rediscovering such national and civic commemorations, and their robust theology of providence.
Commemorating 1776 also reminds us that Christianity does not stand aloof from war and conflict, loss and sacrifice. When Episcopalians in the United States remember the fallen of the Continental Army, and when British Anglicans remember those who fell in the service of the Crown during the American War (something I urge today in The Critic), we are being renewed in an understanding that Christianity does not flee or cower in times of war, but is found praying for and ministering to those in the front lines and on the home front. Mindful that the Church of England is now considering what it means, in a time of grave international tension, to be a national Church in a context of war, we have much to learn from past experience, not the least of which is unembarrassed prayer and preaching in time of war.
As the Church of England, as part of this process, is considering suitable "Prayer and liturgical resources", we might also note that these should not be prayers devised by - as Bishop Philip North has memorably said - "middle-class clergy [who] squirm nervously during Remembrance Sunday, and excise any hymns that hint of nationalism". Rather, it would be wise to learn from older forms of prayer during war, forms which more robustly demonstrate what it is to minister to and pray for a country at war.
This being so, may I wish American readers a happy Independence Day - and trust that they will be praying the Independence Day collect.
And for those of us who are loyal subjects of the Crown, God Save The King!
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After a break for the Summer, laudable Practice will return on 4th August.
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