New HOPE; Newfound Patriotism

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 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!

Around the time of America's Independence Day, I sang this song to several of my classes of Japanese junior high students. They'd never heard the song before, but I gave them a brief history of the author (a woman teacher) and story of the writing (she traveled over the endless plains to Colorado, and was struck by the beauty and immensity of our land). I love this song and cried freely as, this week in church, we sang it together as a congregation. I most especially appreciate the second verse. My prayer is that we might be inspired to work collectively for the greater good.