I’ve been a fan of Flag Day for quite a while, although probably not for any reason you’d expect.

Flag Day, in case you haven’t thought about if for a while, is June 14. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, passed a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” The flag was quickly designed and produced. It took a bit longer for Flag Day to become a holiday.

That process began with Bernard J. Cigrand, a Wisconsin schoolteacher. In 1885, he encouraged his students to celebrate June 14 as “Flag Birthday.” He then wrote an article for a Chicago newspaper in which he urged all Americans to set aside this date to celebrate the flag. Three years later, William T. Kerr joined Cigrand’s cause and founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as the official date for Flag Day. Finally, in 1949, almost 200 years after the flag was authorized, the U.S. Congress officially established the date as National Flag Day, although it never has made Flag Day an official federal holiday.

So, what’s the big deal about picking a day to celebrate the flag? Well, my personal appreciation has more to do with family than with country. June 14 is Marge’s birthday (a day she shares with a current U.S. president). So when I see U.S. flags flying in more places than I do most other days, I’m reminded that I’ve once again forgotten about her birthday. Conveniently, the flags also remind me that exactly two weeks later, I will have forgotten our anniversary. (I told you probably wouldn’t expect the reason I appreciate the holiday!)

But, truth be told, there are other, more widely shared reasons for my appreciation. Among these, the most important is that our nation’s flag isn’t just a piece of colored cloth. It’s also a sign or a symbol. A sign, says Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) “can be said to be anything … by means of which some other thing is known.” Much more recently, Paul Tillich (1886-1965) wrote, “symbols participate in the reality which they represent.”

Although widely separated by time and theological perspective, both Aquinas and Tillich recognize that a sign points beyond itself; that a symbol is more than just a tangible object. In that sense, seeing a flag on a building or a battlefield can be compared to seeing a cross atop a church. The flag brings to mind ideals and events that characterize our country. The cross reminds us of God’s eternal plan for our redemption.

This summer, as we approach the 250th birthday of our nation, it may be time for our country’s flag to be shown more respect than it’s received in recent decades. Honoring the flag doesn’t mean America is perfect any more than seeing a cross on the steeple of a church means that all the church’s members are perfect. Like the cross, the flag reminds us who we are, how we got here, and what we’re striving to become.

I think that’s worth a day of celebration.