Hymn Guide: America the Beautiful
“America the Beautiful” is one of our popular patriotic hymns, sung often at civic celebrations and even before sporting events. But in the church, this hymn is a victim of its own success. Because we associate it with secular gatherings and only remember its first verse, we are often reluctant to sing it in church. However, if we pay attention to the whole hymn, we will realize that it is both deeply Christian and points the way to a properly Christian engagement with our nation.
Poet and professor Katherine Lee Bates wrote the lyrics, inspired by her 1893 cross-country trip from Boston to Colorado, which included a visit to the Chicago Columbian Exposition. After substantial revisions, she published the poem in 1905 in The Congregationalist on the occasion of the 4th of July. Samuel Ward, organist at Grace Episcopal in New York, composed the tune, MATERNA, originally for a separate hymn on Jerusalem. Text and tune were combined in 1910 and have been sung together ever since.
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Verse by Verse
Verse 1
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
The hymn opens with a celebration of America’s natural beauty. Written during her cross-country trip, Bates’ most immediate inspiration for this verse was climbing Pikes Peak in Colorado, the “purple mountain” from which she marveled at the “fruited plain.” In her revision of the poem a decade later, Bates modified the final phrase, which was initially “and music-hearted sea.” The revision, “from sea to shining sea,” conveys the sense of the entire American continent, thereby evoking a feeling of universality.
To this beauty of nature, the hymn also prays that God would add his grace. Each verse asks something distinct of God, and here the request is brotherhood, or relational unity. Notice also the powerful internal rhyme, “good” and “brotherhood,” which points to Psalm 133:
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
Psalm 133:1
when brothers dwell in unity!
Verse 2
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
It has become fashionable to omit the second verse, both out of convenience and a growing skepticism of the virtues of America’s pioneer era. Notice, however, that the verse’s opening affirmation of freedom and western expansion is balanced by a recognition of the nation’s flaws and a prayer that God would reform them. Liberty must be governed by the good, or as Paul would say:
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Galatians 5:13
From a Christian perspective, we should also remember one of the pilgrims’ chief motivations: a desire for religious freedom. Through the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, we have inherited a great gift, which enables us to worship God without fear of persecution. Christians should give thanks for this freedom and defend it in law when necessary.
Verse 3
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!
The third verse opens with a military theme, celebrating especially those who gave their life in war for the sake of the nation. Importantly, the hymn situates this theme within a broader prayer that God refine all the nation’s wealth and success to proper ends. In other words, the hymn does not celebrate the nation and its military success merely for itself, but rather situates it to a higher and nobler purpose.
This is the difference between nationalism and Christian patriotism. Where nationalism makes the human nation the highest form of identity, Christian patriotism situates national identity underneath a higher allegiance to God and God’s righteousness.
Verse 4
O beautiful for patriot dreams
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
The final verse is eschatological in orientation. Just like the Bible, this hymn begins with the natural creation and ends in a city. The phrase “alabaster cities” draws upon Bates’ cross-country trip, during which she visited the Columbian Exposition in Chicago and saw the famous white city. But the hymn’s phrasing also looks forward to the New Jerusalem, pictured in Revelation as a bride with her tears wiped away:
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Revelation 21:2-4
On Video
The first rendition is performed with organ, soloist, choir and congregation at the National Cathedral. Sung on the occasion of Katherine Graham’s funeral, this version powerfully captures the eschatological themes in the hymn.
The second video, from the 1990 NBA Finals, is Mariah Carey’s first television appearance. This performance launched her career.
Finally, for a pure shot of Americana, the third video features a scene from The Sandlot, with Ray Charles singing the hymn behind a depiction of kids playing baseball and watching fireworks on the 4th of July.
Image by Tim Speer from Getty Images courtesy of Canva. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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