With July 4th this weekend, we in the United States celebrate Independence Day.
Today, be stirred by this rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” by Sandi Patty. First sung in 1986, it has become one of the most electrifying performances of all time. Turn up your volume, and stay through to the exhilarating crescendo at the end.
(The video goes black for a moment after the opening screen. It is not a glitch!)
A Summer of Reading Dangerously
The fireworks will shine the sky,
delight to you, delight to me,
but recall those who came to die
because our freedom isn’t free.
The headstones stand in ordered rows
at Normandy and Arlington,
to mark the hallowed names of those
who lived and loved and now are gone,
but they will tell you, please don’t grieve,
please celebrate this day of days.
What we have given, please receive,
and offer up a hymn of praise
for a nation that asks just to keep
land enough to let us sleep.
Amen, Andrew!
Thanks, Pam.
Wow! I haven’t heard this rendition before. Thanks for sharing it, Steve!
America, bless God!!
Happy 4th of July!
This is my favorite instrumental version – Arturo Sandoval on the trumpet. He had just gotten his American citizenship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qul2B5kvaFk
Incredible! Thanks for sharing!
O BEAUTIFUL FOR SPACIOUS SKIES
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm our souls in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
Absolutely beautiful!
Wow! Thank you.
Beautiful! My daughter and I will open the 4th of July parade tomorrow in our little town in the northern Sierra by singing the National Anthem.
Wow!
Thank you for sharing.
Amazing.
Wow!
Amazing.
Thank you for sharing.
Beautifully sung, of course. Well done, Ms. Patty. And thanks, Steve.
But someday I would love to hear a rendition of the Anthem in which the vocalist doesn’t sing it as a series of declarations, but instead asks the two questions that make up the opening stanza.
If we’re honest — in ball parks across the country — most of the fans who stand and dutifully doff their caps never notice the lyrics are actually questions.
The first question is being asked by the lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. He is looking out with a sense of desperation across Baltimore Harbor on that September morning in 1814. In the moment, it was an urgent question: “We caught glimpses of the flag during the night-long bombardment of Fort McHenry with bombs bursting in mid-air and the rockets red glare, but we need to know “AS THE SUN RISES, IS THE FLAG STILL VISIBLE? Because if it is not, then our great American experiment—less than four decades old—is a failure.”
The second question is perhaps even more important and is still being asked today: “IS THAT SAME FLAG STILL WAVING OVER THE LAND OF THE FREE AND ARE WE BRAVE ENOUGH TO KEEP IT THAT WAY?”
It’s a hard song to sing. It’s an even harder song to live.
Thanks for reading. And forgive this brief sales pitch: The thoughts above are adapted from entry #250 in my new book, HAPPY SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL, AMERICA!: 250 Reasons Why America is Still Worth Celebrating.
Thank you.
I cried tears of deep sorrow hearing this song today. The dream the song inspires is not evident in the current state of America. The Statute of Liberty weeps with those who came seeking safety, work, and the chance to live their dreams, now being treated as subhuman. Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights are trampled on a daily basis. Others may feel differently. I see our 250th anniversary celebrating an America that defies the message and meaning of this musical tribute. I pray for honor, integrity, wisdom, justice, grace, truth and love to descend from above and redirect our current course. Only the most High, Holy God can save us from ourselves. In Jesus name. Amen.
Stunning!
This brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, Steve, for posting it.