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INTRODUCTION:

    On a summer day in 1893 Katharine Lee Bates, renowned author and professor of English at Wellesley College, stood on Pike’s Peak in Colorado.  On three sides of her—north, west and south, stretched the majestic rocky mountains dressed in the purple haze which is common to the western United States.  To the east was the fruitful Colorado plain, and just beyond the amber-colored grain fields of Kansas and Nebraska.

    As she stood on the windy mountain top, Miss Bates imagined she could see the settlers who had trekked across those grasslands decades earlier to find new homes and new opportunities.  She remembered also the pilgrims who had first came to America’s shores, expecting and finding a new life of freedom.

    She thought, as well, of those who had laid down their lives for their country in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, because they loved freedom and mercy more than life itself.  This was her beloved country—“America the Beautiful”—beautiful in nature’s gifts and in the dedication of those who had been part of its history.

    As Katharine Bates returned to her hotel in Colorado Springs, a poem began to take shape in her mind and she began to put it on paper.  She recalled, also, that on her trip west, she had visited the Columbian Exposition on Chicago’s south side.  There an “alabaster city” of classic beauty had been erected to show what America’s “cities of the future” should be like.  She closed her hymn with a prayer that our cities may be as beautiful as the landscape God has prepared for them.

I.  FOR SPACIOUS SKIES

        O Beautiful For spacious skies,
            For amber waves of grain,
        For purple mountain majesties,
            Above the fruited plain!

        America!  America!
            God shed his grace on thee,
        And crown thy good with brotherhood,
            From sea to shining sea.

    America is beautiful because of its scenery.  We have awesome landscapes and mountains and plains.
    The flowers in spring; the crops in summer; the leaves in autumn; and the snows in winter provide an ever changing panorama of God’s wonderful universe.
    America is beautiful!

II.   FOR PILGRIM FEET

        O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
            Whose stern, impassioned stress
        A thoroughfare for freedom beat
            Across the wilderness!

        America!  America!
            God mend thine every flaw,
        Confirm thy soul in self-control,
            Thy liberty in law,

        America is beautiful because of it’s history: of those who dared to cross the Atlantic and endure hardships to establish a new world.  Then there’s the legacy of our founding fathers who wrote our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence.
    America is beautiful!

III.   FOR HEROES PROVED

        O beautiful for heroes proved
            In liberating strife,
        Who more than self their country loved,
            And mercy more than life!

        America!  America!
            May God thy gold refine,
        Till all success be nobleness,   
            And every gain divine.

    America is beautiful because of our courageous military personnel who fought the American Revolution to gain our Independence; the Civil War to insure the freedom of all races; and who fought two World Wars to preserve our freedom. 
    Then, those who serve now to protect us and our Democratic way of life: the Army, Navy, Marines and Air force have a proud heritage of patriotic service.
    America is Beautiful!

IV.   FOR PATRIOT DREAM

        O beautiful for patriot dream
            That sees beyond the years,
        Thine alabaster cities gleam,
            Undimmed by human tears!

        America!  America!
            God shed his grace on thee,
        And crown thy good with brotherhood
            From sea to shining sea.
       
    America is beautiful because of her ideals: Liberty, Equality, Justice and Love for God and Country are just a few words that describe our values.
    America is beautiful!

CONCLUSION:
    America is also beautiful because of the faith and generosity of our people.  A patriot wrote
   
    I sought for the greatness and genius of America
        In her commodious harbors and great rivers,
        - - - and it was not there.

    I sought for the greatness and genius of America
        In her fertile fields and boundless forests,
        . . . and it was not there.

    I sought for the greatness and genius of America
        In her rich mines and her vast world commerce
        . . . and it was not there

    I sought for the greatness and genius of America
        In her public school system and her institutions of learning,   
        . . . and it was not there.

    I sought for the greatness and genius of America
        In her Democratic Congress and matchless Constitution,
        . . . and it was not there.

    Not until I went into the homes and churches of America
        and heard her people’s commitment to  righteousness and generosity
        did I understand the Secret of her Genius and power!

    America is great, because America is good,
        And if America ever ceases to be good
        America will cease to be great.

    Unfortunately, our greatness is not assured.  Even with all of her gratitude and admiration for America, Katharine Bates shows that she is very much aware of our weaknesses: Today, we have the highest standard of living in the world, but also the highest crime rate; the highest rate of divorces; and the highest rate of suicides.  We spend far more each year for liquor, tobacco and gambling then we do for all the work of the church, both at home and abroad.

    In terms of material prosperity and personal freedom, no nation in history has been blessed more than our own.  But, today, our nation is threatened as never before—threatened by enemies without, but even more so, by decadence within.  In our day, there seems to be many who believe that the government owes them a living, and who use the phrase “freedom of worship” to simply mean freedom from worship.  But, if we’re to survive as a great country; if we’re to achieve brotherhood, self-control and “liberty in law,” we must return to the hard work, determination and faith on which America was founded.  Only then will God shed His grace on America.

“If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; 
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”
(2 Chronicles 7:14)

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Miles E Wesner