In 1893 Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to write the words to the song, America,the Beautiful, when she reached the top of Pikes Peak and looked at the beauty from the top of the mountain. We will be singing this very song today at the Vaughn Presbyterian Church as we give thanks to God for the freedoms we enjoy in our country and the beauty that surrounds us.
America,the Beautiful
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!
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!
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!
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!
