'Showing the colours' is a term that is well recognised from military history associated with both land forces and naval engagements. In times when the 'troops' could not read, and in times before they could be contacted by radio or phone, coloured flags were an important way to show those of the same 'troop' or 'team' where they should be, and when. It was also important in showing who was 'friend' and who was 'enemy', and for the landed gentry, whose 'household' people belonged to.
These simple 'colours' later developed into flags, some with 'coats of arms' and other symbols. A further development was to create a sense of 'bravado' among like-minded groups, as if to frighten off the enemy, which we can still experience with the New Zealand Maori 'Hakka'.
Children are introduced to aligning themselves to 'the colours' through junior sports and their colourful uniforms. My junior hockey club colours (Canberra Baptist Hockey Club) were a bright red and yellow, the same shades of red and yellow as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Organising Committee had for their armies of volunteers and officials.
In the early 1970's the Port Kembla Baptist Church hockey teams I developed from the Sunday School in order to attract more boys to Sunday School, and so many lads wanted to play hockey I hired a commercial bus every Saturday morning to transport them. One of my enginemen friends, a father of one of the lads, rode 'shotgun' on the bus so as to ensure decorum.
Obviously, the same bright red and yellow of my Canberra Baptist Hockey Club boyhood years were chosen as the 'colours'. As we had two teams in each age group one team was called the 'Red and Yellows', with red and yellow checkered shirts; and the other was the 'Red with Yellow Stripes', with a red shirt with a vertical yellow stripe on the left side.
Those lads loved their colours, and more so, they took great pride in their teams. The parents loved it as their young boys were not divided into an A team or a B team, rather by 'colours',
Christians too place an emphasis on colours, that for those within the sacramental wing of the church (Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican) there are different colours displayed for the various celebrations throughout the calendar year.
Non-Conformist Protestants (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Salvation Army, Uniting Church, Churches of Christ and numerous other denominations) have had a very different use for 'colours', as here the emphasis was on 'Preaching of Word'!
Since the Reformation the terminology within this tradition has been that of hyperbole, that of placing ones 'colours' to the mast of Christ. It has been a clarion call to stand tall with vigour and determination as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This has been a spiritual battle cry for the hearts and minds in each generation. It is this that the colours of life get matched within one's Christian commitment.