Hymn of the Week: "America"

My Country 'Tis of Thee

In recognition of Independence Day, our hymn this week is the simple and stately “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” whose melody we took from the British hymn “God Save the King,” and re-named as AMERICA.  The poem, written by a young seminarian, Samuel Francis Smith, in 1831, was intended to be a hymn, and it really is a hymn.  The first stanza reminds us of the sacrifices, even unto death, that our fathers made to establish this land, so that freedom might ring “from every mountainside.”  The second stanza brings that ringing joy near to home, making it more intimate, and quiet, and holy.  It isn’t just Pikes Peak and the Mississippi River that move us.  “I love thy rocks and rills,” we sing, “Thy woods and templed hills.”  Think of the beauty of the rolling countryside of Ohio, or the evergreen forests of New England.  The hills are like temples, where you go to worship God.  And the holiness is there to touch you: “My heart with rapture thrills, Like that above.”

In the third stanza, Smit…