Songs that Shaped Me: "When Christians Sing That Nazi Song"

Did you ever go to church and hear a Nazi song in the worship service?  Yeah--me neither.  Or, at least, I never thought of it as a Nazi song when I was a kid.  But when I was a teenager, I was surprised to find that one of my most beloved hymns was also the national anthem of the Third Reich. Maybe you've sung this song as well... 

Yes, "We are Called to Be God's People" is one of the songs that shaped me as a child, for two reasons.  First, it is a musically amazing Austrian hymn by Franz Joseph Haydn.  The English lyrics by Thomas Jackson inspire Christians to understand their calling to live in unity, share hope, to work for God's glory, and shed light in the world. 

We are called to be God's people
Showing by our lives His grace
One in heart and one in spirit
Sign of hope for all the race
Let us show how He has changed us
And remade us as His own
Let us share our life together
As we shall around His throne

We are called to be God's servants
Working in His world today
Taking His own task upon us
All His sacred words obey
Let us rise then to His summons
Dedicate to Him our all
That we may be faithful servants
Quick to answer now His call

We are called to be God's prophets
Speaking for the truth and right
Standing firm for godly justice
Bringing evil into light
Let us seek the courage needed
Our high calling to fulfill
That we all may know the blessing
Of the doing of God's will

I absolutely loved singing this song in church on Sundays.  Its message genuinely shaped the way I view our calling as Christians.  But this song shaped me in another, more painful way as well.  Back in the mid to late 1980s, a dear old lady named Vida Savkovich, had a terrible time whenever we sang my favorite hymn.  She told our pastor that if we continued to sing it, she would have to leave the church.  That's because every time we sang it, her PTSD kicked in and she was a child watching Hitler's tanks roll through her country.  Yes, I found that one of my favorite hymns was also the Nazi national anthem.  Its opening words say, "Deutschland, Deutschland, over everything / Over every other land," and Vida was retraumatized every time she heard it.  Thanksfully, our pastor and music minister listened to her plea, and struck the song from our church's repertoire.  

Think my church's leadership overreacted?  That they made too bit a deal of her pain?  Listen to what this German vlogger has to say:

So even Germans (who have some sense) say you should avoid the first verse of that song, out of respect to others and out of a desire NOT to bring up painful feelings.

"We Are Called to Be God's People" is a song that shaped me in two ways.  First, it helped me to understand our calling as the people of God.  Second our congregational experience of the song taught me to be sensitive to the feelings of others, who may be offended by something that I might view as perfectly wholesome, beautiful, and theologically correct.  It taught me that just because something is right, that doesn't make it good.

Vida's story has impacted the way, as a pastor, I have tried to deal with other songs that involve hints of racism, traces of emperialism and violence, or sexist language.  This song that shaped me also made me aware of how much our musical choices affect young and old people who hear them.  It's important that the church listen to the theology in its music, and make sure it's communicating truth.  We need to be aware of the subtle social messages that are coming through in our hymnody and worship music.  And we need to be brave enough to ditch the songs that need to be cut.