“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 refine,
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!”

A friend of mine wished me a happy Fourth of July this morning. Then he added, “I wish our national anthem was ‘America the Beautiful’!”

Me too! Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to “America the Beautiful” when she was on a wagon and mule trip to the top of Pike’s Peak. She arrived near the summit very tired, but was filled with joy as she looked out across the plains of Eastern Colorado.

Bates was a social reformer. She loved America, but also saw that it had its faults that needed to be mended. And she also believed that only God could mend them.

“God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!” (End of the first stanza and the fourth stanza)

“God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!” (End of the second stanza)

“May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!” (End of the third stanza)

I didn’t realize until quite recently that after addressing America twice, Bates prayed. I had always read the words “God shed his grace on thee” as a statement of fact. In fact, it wasn’t. It was a prayer that God would grant God’s grace. (This is shown be the fact that the next line of her poem doesn’t say that God had already crowned America’s good with brotherhood. Rather, Bates is praying that God would do that.)

And the rest of Bates’ poem continues that pattern. She speaks of great past deeds and even greater dreams for America’s future, but in each stanza she follows up past deeds and future dreams with a very bold prayer to God. I am especially struck by the prayer, at the end of the second stanza:

 “God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!”

I am not a very self-controlled person myself, and I fear that, as a nation, we are all becoming less and less self-controlled. If you really want evidence, I have two words for you: the internet. It’s not just the pornography or the scams that show how uncontrolled we are. It is the hateful words that even good, supposedly Christian people vomit out on a daily basis that shows the level of our lack of self-control.

There seems to be a movement afoot in our nation to pretend that America is just fine—or would be if we just elected or reelected ___________________. (Fill in the blank with your favorite choice.) There is also a movement that tries to deny that America has any systemic racism or any other serious flaws. I don’t think Katharine Lee Bates would agree. I don’t either. I don’t believe in either bashing our country or putting America on a pedestal. My wife loves me dearly and I love her as well. However, neither of us ignores the other’s flaws. We love one another too much for that kind of nonsense. Contrary to the popular saying, love is not blind.

When will we begin praying for and living out the sort of America that Katharine Lee Bates saw and sang? How about starting on July 4, 2023?