Prayer for peace on the 4th of July
I have mixed feelings about the US Independence Day, given that I enjoy any excuse to gather with loved ones but I also am fiercely not nationalistic.
Today in celebration of the US Independence Day, then, I give you this portion of one of my favorite hymns, This is my Song, sung to the tune of Finlandia. The author of these words is Lloyd Stone and it comes from the United Methodist Hymnal:
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is,
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine,
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine,
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
Happy to see you post again, Katie – and I very much share your sentiments. Thank you for posting this song!
yeah I’ve been a little MIA the last few months. Haven’t been inspired, I guess. Nice to be back though :)
I love that hymn, Katie! Thank you. During 4th of July festivities every year, I get a little earworm from Dar Williams’ song about the Catonsville Nine, “I Had No Right”–
And all my country saw were priests who broke the law.
First it was a question, then it was a mission:
How to be American, how to be a Christian
If the law is their cross, and the cross is burning?
I totally agree, that is definitely one of my favorite Dar songs. Well, really I love just about everything she sings! (One day, I WILL get to hear her live!)