(These sentiments are more noble---and certainly more Christian*---than modern America deserves. And, yet, pockets of America still live this out beautifully.)
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 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.
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| Colorado Rockies front range (see below) |
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry 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 refine**,
'Til all success be nobleness,
and ev'ry 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! --- Katharine Lee Bates, English professor at Wellesley College around 4 July, 1893 (on a trip from the east coast to Colorado Springs)
*While "Jesus" & being "saved from sin" are not clearly spelled out in this poem/song, they underlie these thoughts quire clearly
**The work of the Holy Spirit, who works in Christians to do better things and creates a true brotherhood
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4 comments:
How surprised many might be to revisit ALL of the verses of this song. Most folks only know the first verse . . and perhaps the final one.
Who says our nation wasn't founded in faith?
May God continue to guard us all, and may He draw our hearts back to Him.
Thanks for coming by!!!
I wonder what thoughts Bates would have today if she were to make that same treck.
Hi, Carolyn. I think Bates would be surprised at all the traffic in the greater Denver & Colorado Springs area, for one thing!
I think she would be disappointed that we put material gains ahead of cooperation, too. Yes, capitalism beats the other economic systems, but its unrestrained form created our earlier Gilded Age--gilded only for a few. She was living through that time, yet saw a hopeful view of cities that were not "squalid." We've headed right back into that income inequality trap, due to choices made since the 1980s.
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I never addressed LA'S thoughts totally. We *did* have many Christians involved in the founding of our nation. But the people who talk most vehemently in our public spaces about "Christianity" these days tend to be Law & punishment oriented. It is hard for a society to carry out "grace", it's true, and a society must punish wrong doers. Yet we have other options in how we speak of our faith. We also have options in the secular realm as to how we balance "punishment" with "rehabilitiation" and "training."
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