“I was never more aware of the power of our national anthem than in November of 2003, when I was invited to sing the Star-Spangled Banner to open a Celtics game against the Chicago Bulls. Allowed to practice beforehand, I walked onto the basketball floor of the Fleet Center, was given a mike and told to go ahead and warm up. But the entire roster of the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics were also on the court warming up! The moment I started to sing, all motion ceased, and these incredible, legendary athletes silently bowed their heads, basketballs in hand, until I finished. That is one powerful song. I felt the power of the song in that moment and it is something I will never forget.”

Patty Clark, lower school music teacher, was invited this summer to give a sermon at the First Church in Swampscott, where she is the Director of Music Ministries. Instead of following her initial instinct to lead her congregation in a hymn sing, she took the opportunity to speak about something she has come to understand deeply, both personally and professionally, the power of a song. In her sermon, she discusses the history of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and the concurrent history of a lesser-known song recently brought into the spotlight by the National Football League when they announced it would be played this season ahead of every season-opener, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

“Our national anthem is a powerful song, and it’s a powerful symbol. And I think of this when I consider the fact that it’s being paired with “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song that is sometimes called the Black national anthem, a song considered as a hymn by its creators, a song that has a long, storied and powerful history, a song that’s #631 in our hymnal… Rising out of the incredible history of slavery’s terror and ugliness, rose these incredible lyrics of beauty and faith. That’s all expressed in this powerful song.”