Dear Friends:
As we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, I would like to share a word with you about my favorite of our National Hymns, America, the Beautiful. At the end of this letter, you’ll find two inspiring video performances of the hymn.
You might say it’s my favorite National Hymn because its music was composed by an Episcopalian, Samuel Augustus Ward, who was the Organist and Choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church, Newark, New Jersey. Although he composed the tune he called Materna in 1882 to accompany different lyrics, it was not paired with the lyrics to America until 1910, seven years after his death.
Recognizing our nation’s flaws and then calling upon God to mend them is the soul of patriotism.
And you also might say it’s my favorite National Hymn because its lyrics were written by Katherine Lee Bates, Professor of English at Wellesley College, who became devoted to the Church of England while studying at Oxford. She originally composed this as a poem entitled Pike’s Peak in 1895. It became the hymn we know today in 1910.
But it’s not the Episcopal connection of the composer and lyricist that I find so compelling (although when it comes to our dear Church I’ll admit to being pretty tribal); it’s the words themselves, along with the beautiful tune, that make it my favorite.
So let’s take a look at those words.
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 heroes proved
in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.
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.
This season of celebration of the blessings of our lives in these United States invites us to reflect on the full meaning of what it means to be patriotic. To see what I mean, take a look at the second verse of my favorite National Hymn with its call to self-sacrifice and mercy.
My father and his brothers all fought in World War II, and his youngest brother, my Uncle Shunk, gave his life for his country during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, for which he was posthumously awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in combat. As a boy coming of age in the ’60s, those men represented self-sacrificing patriotism to me.
There were others who defined self-sacrificing patriotism for me in those years too, like the heroes and martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement: Mississippi Freedom Riders, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, the thousands of young people who risked their lives to register voters in the Deep South, and Jonathan Daniels, the young Episcopal seminarian murdered by a white sheriff in Alabama as he tried to protect several young girls whom this sheriff was menacing.
To me, these are all patriotic Americans who “loved mercy more than life.”
And the second verse goes on:
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.
Does our nation have “flaws”? How could it not? Like every nation, it’s composed of flawed human beings, every last one of us, so it strikes me that recognizing our nation’s flaws and then calling upon God to mend them is the soul of patriotism.
As individuals, we must have the humility to recognize our own sinful actions and then ask for God’s gracious mercy in healing those sins. Our nation is no different.
I believe a true patriot prays day and night for the healing of our national sins, just as the Hebrew prophets like Amos and Micah and Jeremiah called out Israel’s national sins and then prayed day and night for their healing. It’s the very heart of the Old Testament’s prophetic texts.
There is a move afoot by some people these days to deny or deflect or overlook our nation’s flaws. Such a denial of reality would be a tragic mistake. Without accountability, there can be no healing, no growth in grace. This is what the prophets recognized, and this is what the second verse of our hymn points us toward.
A recent college graduate, I was in Washington, DC, on July 4, 1976, and will always remember the exuberance and good feeling of that remarkable celebration. Just two years removed from Watergate, which had demonstrated the resilience and strength of our democracy, it seemed the future of the national experiment was bright. Americans across the political spectrum celebrated together as grateful fellow citizens. We were all one, it seemed.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. I was in Philadelphia with my son and grandson to see the World Cup match between France and Iraq. On Sunday, we visited the National Constitution Center, which has superb exhibits, films, and discussions of the Founders, their work, and their times. It was inspirational.
We then walked across the street to Independence Mall and came upon the President’s House Slavery Exhibit, which tells the story of the nine enslaved persons who lived there during George Washington’s presidency.
The National Park Service has removed much of the exhibit because it tells historical truths which apparently make some uncomfortable. It was a sad reminder of the division and rancor and bitterness that plague our nation these days. We are a long way from the unity and “Spirit of ’76,” I’m afraid.
This Sunday, I’m looking forward to singing America, the Beautiful with you. I look forward to visualizing those purple mountains and those fruited plains. I look forward to feeling gratitude for those whose sacrificial love of mercy more than life is so inspirational. I look forward with hope that through the grace of God, we might once again as a nation experience a “brotherhood from sea to shining sea.”
Whatever our political opinions, my prayer is that, as followers of Jesus gathered here at Trinity, we can all join as one on this July 4 in giving thanks to our Creator for the blessings of life in this good and gracious land.
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Here are two interpretations of this beautiful hymn. The first is by Judy Collins and the Harlem Boychoir at our nation’s capital; the second is by the boys’ choir Libera.
If these don’t inspire you…
May God most abundantly bless you and all the ones you love,
Lex
