Prayers for Our Nation

Many prayers have been written for our nation, among them petitions by Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, and Ravi Zacharias as well as ordinary citizens of our land. I think none are more expressive than those in some of our early patriotic hymns. They seem as fitting for Election Day, 2008, as they did over a century ago.

Some lines from “America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates, the first draft of which was hastily jotted in a notebook upon seeing “the wonder of America . . . [a] sea-like expanse” from the top of Pikes Peak. The words first appeared in a weekly journal for Independence Day, 1895.

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

America! America!

God mend thine ev'ry flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law.

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness,

And ev'ry gain divine.

A verse of “America” by Samuel Francis Smith, written while a student at the theological seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. He completed the lyrics in thirty minutes, setting them to the melody in Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3. The song was first performed in public on July 4, 1831, at a children's Independence Day celebration at Park Street Church in Boston.

Our father's God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!

The words of “God of Our Fathers” by Daniel C. Roberts, written in 1876 for a cel­e­bra­tion of the Cen­ten­n­i­al Fourth of July at Bran­don, Ver­mont. George W. Warren composed the tune we presently use for the cen­ten­ni­al cel­e­bra­tion of the Unit­ed States Con­sti­tu­tion in 1888.

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand

Leads forth in beauty all the starry band

Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies,

Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,

In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;

Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide and Stay,

Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,

Lead us from night to never ending day;

Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,

And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine

MaryMartha
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Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com