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What happens in Secondary Assembly each Morning?

I wanted to give everybody a quick glimpse into the Secondary Assembly time that happens each day after 1st period, and then expand upon one aspect of it.

A typical Assembly involves all 6th through 12th grade students gathering in the bleachers in the gymnasium after 1st period. Once gathered, we open in prayer and then follow that with pledges to the American Flag, the Christian Flag, and the Bible. After prayer and pledges, we then do, in varying order, announcement for the day and the week as well as a Bible Verse of the day and a quotation…the verse and quote are related to the Intellectual Virtue of the month that we are focusing on…this month is, for example, Intellectual Thoroughness.

Additionally, we’ll do a quote about Civics and then end with possible other announcements and Happy Birthdays!

Sometimes there is a little bit of expounding upon either the verse or one of the quotes for further explanation.

So that’s the abridged version of our assembly! But I’d like to focus on the pledges. Let us start with the Pledge to the American Flag first.

I pledge Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all.

So why do we say this? Why do we say it first? What does it mean? Let’s dive in just a bit.

Why do we say this pledge first?

We live in the U.S.A. We are, therefore, subject to the laws and regulations of our host country. Our pattern to follow is found in Matthew 22:21 when Jesus said, “…render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” This should make sense. We should hold to the laws of the country in which we reside.

I was a missionary in the Republic of Panama for 8 years and that same rule applied. Not only was I a citizen of the U.S., but I also had to obtain a “cedula” for Panama and obey their rules. We are to be subject to the ruling authorities that are placed over us. However, if you’ll read through Romans 13, specifically verses 1-6, it does become quite clear that governing authorities are supposed to be there for our protection. See below.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

All sorts of governing authorities are placed above us; republics, monarchies, dictatorships, oligarchies, etc. In the United States, the governing authority is a Representative Republic. And we should do our best to work within the system. Sometimes we need to work within the system to change the system! And that’s the beauty of the Constitutional form of government with the election of representatives.

Does this mean that ALL LAWS should be obeyed? Depends. I’ll give you two “flavors” of laws that actually should not be obeyed and their Biblical backing. Both of these come from the book of Daniel.

Think Daniel 3 and then also Daniel 6. These 2 accounts are examples for us in determining which laws, if any, should NOT be obeyed. Let me summarize each below…

Daniel 3…You know this piece of history…Nebuchadnezzar (the king) has a huge image of gold fashioned. This thing was 60 cubits, so around 90 feet tall! The king then commanded (a law was given) that whenever some specific music was played, all in attendance had to bow down and WORSHIP the statue. Daniel's buddies REFUSED to bow down.

Ok, read through that account again real quick and then come back here! Now to Daniel 6.

Daniel 6…Again, famous piece of history involving Daniel. He had become quite high ranking in the government and others plotted against him; here’s how the plot went down. These people that hated Daniel went to the king and said he should decree (make a law) that if anyone prayed to any god or man besides the king, that the person should be tossed into the lion’s den.

So those are our 2 examples, templates, for the KINDS of laws that we actually should disobey.

The first one, Daniel 3, gives us the example of a governing authority’s law that mandates we DO SOMETHING that the Bible expressly FORBIDS!

The second one, Daniel 6, gives us the example of a governing authority’s law that mandates we DO NOT DO SOMETHING that the Bible expressly COMMANDS!

And that should make sense to us.

Let’s move on to the words of the Pledge of Allegiance and what they mean.

I pledge Allegiance to the flag

Allegiance…that word means loyalty or commitment of a subordinate to a superior or of an individual to a group or cause. Can a HUMAN be subordinate to a flag? Obviously not. So, when we say we pledge allegiance, loyalty and commitment to the flag, it must mean something different than LITERALLY the flag. The flag itself is a symbol, a representation of the United States of America. In fact, the next 2 lines delineate this for us.

of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,

So we are saying that we will abide by the rules and regulations of the country in which we reside. See Romans 13, Matthew 22, Daniel 3, and Daniel 6, right?

one nation under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all.

This might be a conglomeration of States, yes, but it is one nation. This was very new and strange early on. Usually when one says “State,” it means “Country.” So we are a collection of States and yet still one nation. This one nation is different not just by the nature of it being a unity of a collection of States, but also because the driving principles behind our governance is “under God.”

In education, we USED TO talk about American “exceptionalism.” This is the idea that the United States is UNIQUE and different and is the EXCEPTION to the normal rules of what happens in a nation. Are you oppressed by a dictator in your country? America is the exception! Do you not have a say in your government? America is the exception! Are your opportunities limited in your country? America is the exception!

Unfortunately, this idea of American Exceptionalism has been driven from secular, public school, discussions. Most arguments I have seen have hinged on a DIFFERENT rendering of the word “exceptional.” People take it to mean AWESOME and the BEST and possibly even PERFECT! Clearly, the U.S. is not perfect. However, it remains the exception.

So we say the pledge to the American Flag. Not as some sort of odd idol worship, no, rather as our Biblical commitment to living under the authority of the governing body in which we reside, and to remind ourselves of American Exceptionalism and the roles that we play in God’s design and plan.

Thank you so much! I’d like to discuss the Pledge to the Christian Flag next!

Soli Deo Gloria