Today is a day we celebrate our nation’s birthday, the day of independence from Britain. It also tends to be a time when people express their pride in being American. While I think that there can be value in honoring our country and her traditions and history, we also must remember that America is not a favored nation in the eyes of God, nor should we allow nationalism to get in the way of loving our fellow humans from other countries.
That is why my favorite hymn for patriotic days like today (and one of my favorite hymns in general!) is “This is my Song,” a 1934 song by Lloyd Stone:
This is my song, Oh 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 sacred 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.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.
This post has been cross-posted to my Kataphatic blog.