My County Tis of Thee

I was sitting in church this morning as we sang the opening hymn, “My County, ‘Tis of Thee”. I can remember having sung this, not as a church hymn; rather as a school boy in patriotic celebration during assemblies. Kids are not permitted to sing it in the public schools now; all those references to God. That thought occurred to me as I sat there; the power to sing with the rest of the congregation gone, the words I could not get out of my throat as the tears ran down my cheeks. My feelings were a mix my gratitude for a country founded in principle and guided by the inspiration of our Creator and an opposite feeling of an immeasurable realization of loss for knowing that my grandchildren will never hear or sing this song at school; only in church.

“My country! ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring!

My native country, thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills. My heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

Let music swell the breeze and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song; let mortal tongues awake; let all that breathe partake; let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

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!”

Or, you can go along with the political correctness of the day and ignore the fact that the people who founded this nation had a deep rooted appreciation for God, the Eternal Father, Author of Liberty, Creator of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. While putting my thoughts to “paper”, if such can be said of a word processor, these same feelings of gratitude, this knowledge of important truths is ashamedly mixed with the sadness of also recognizing a nationwide attempt to strip these truths from history and pervert our path of righteousness to some other less worthy one. And so I will close today’s thought on this Memorial Day weekend with a prayer for all of America, “Protect us by thy might, Great God our King!”.

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.