I Pledge

“Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."
After Sunday’s sermon I did some history reading.  Wow.  What I have grown up knowing as the pledge of allegiance to the flag has not always been what it is.  As Pastor Michael told us on Sunday, the version we have now started with Francis Bellamy.  But, there was an earlier one from a Civil War admiral, George Balch.  The Bellamy one included a salute that looked far different than today’s.  Reading a Smithsonian magazine article, it hit me that my father-in-law would have had to learn a new pledge while he was in school.  The words have not been the same, but the premise has not changed.  A pledge.

The Israelites were given a pledge that Jews to this day repeat, the Shema.  : שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃‎, which can be transliterated: Sh'ma Yisra'el, YHWH 'eloheinu, YHWH 'eḥad.  The Shema is recited aloud as:  Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad - "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One."  In modern Israel, this prayer or pledge can be hear from loudspeakers.

What does it mean to pledge?  A pledge is basically a promise.  An oath.  “I give my word.”  Where I am from, a man’s word defined the man.  If he was not a man that you could shake hands with and trust what he said, he was not considered a man.  Contracts and lawyers were not used often save where law required.  The word, oath, or pledge was all that was required.  The Scriptures tell us in Matthew 5:37, “But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.”  Our word, or our pledge is important.

As believers in Christ we have surrendered the entirety of our lives to Jesus.  We have more than pledged allegiance, we have laid our lives at his feet to direct as he wills.  He is worthy of far more than just our allegiance.  Given that, where do we pledge our money?  Where do we pledge our time?  Our talents?

  1. Have you given to Jesus more than your word?
  2. Where have you pledged your life and resources?


--Zine Smith

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