America the Beautiful

“America the Beautiful,” performed by Ray Charles, is one of the most popular songs used to celebrate the 4th of July.  The lyrics are from a poem written by a teacher named Katharine Lee Bates after she visited Pike’s Peak in Colorado in 1893.   Katharine was surprised by the popularity of her poem after it was printed in a weekly newspaper.  Her patriotic lyrics were soon set to music to over sixty different arrangements, the most popular being S.A. Ward’s “Moterna.”   Bates attributed the song’s popularity to the fact that Americans are “at heart idealists with a fundamental faith in human brotherhood.”

Can we say the same for Americans today?  Are we still idealists?  Do we have a fundamental faith in humanity?    To be honest, some days, I am not so sure.  Instead of idealism, I see pessimism.  And instead of fellowship, I see ferocious division.

Galatians 5:13 says:  For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers, and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 

Today, as we reflect on our country, I pray that we live out this verse in Galatians, and in all things, serve on another in love.  We may not always agree with each other, but we must still love one other.  And that’s not an easy task, but with God, all things are possible. 

Instead of a closing prayer, I encourage you to read aloud the lyrics to Bate’s poem.   

“AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL”

O beautiful for spacious skies,
   For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
   Above the fruited plain!
      America!  America!
   God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
   From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
   Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
   Across the wilderness!
      America! America!
   God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
   Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
   In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
   And mercy more than life!
      America!  America!
   May God thy gold refines
Till all success be nobleness,
   And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
   That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
   Undimmed by human tears!
      America!  America!
   God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
   From sea to shining sea!