The Fourth of July

It's July 3, as I write. I can hear on the nearby streets the explosions of various devices. I'm not out there because after lo, these many years, I have concluded that my fingers are my friends and I'd like to keep them attached.

A little farther away, on the Mississippi River, the officially sanctioned fireworks display is being held. The fireworks are launched from barges on the Mississippi, and I hear that the Quad City Symphony was playing. I wasn't there, either. The older I get the more I hate crowds unless it's Wrigley Field and someone else is driving. And parking.

It's July 3. One day before the date we celebrate the beginning of our independence and two days prior to the celebration of a truly blessed event - my birthday. What!? - you mean all those fireworks and all that celebration isn't about ME!!??

Gee, all of that to get to the topic of the music. I would not be surprised if the Symphony played Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture tonight. Thanks to the Boston Pops, that piece is standard fare for this celebration. Am I the only one that finds it odd that we use music by a Russian composer, written in celebration of the Russian army's defeat of the French army to observe the independence of the United States? By most accounts Tchaikovsky didn't even like that piece of music very much.

The closing hymn for the 5:00 Mass at St. Mary's tonight was America, the Beautiful. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates. Ms. Bates was an English professor at Wellesley who in the summer of 1893 journeyed across the country. She went to Colorado Springs to teach a summer session. She was moved by the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" ("thine alabaster cities gleam") and by the seemingly endless wheat fields of Kansas. The lyrics began to come together for her when she saw the view from the summit of Pike's Peak.

It has been suggested that America, the Beautiful should be our national anthem. I'd be all for that. As I write this I have, on my speakers, a rendition by the United States Navy Band and Sea Chanters. I've listened to versions by Lee Ann Rimes, by Willie Nelson and a number of friends, by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. My absolute favorite version remains the one by Ray Charles.

I can't help but notice that for every one of these artists this song becomes their own song.

And I can't help but notice that, for every one of us, America becomes our own country. And isn't that the beauty of it? We may not agree on everything. We may tire of the divisions while overlooking the freedom we have to have those divisions. It's messy, true - but I feel incredibly blessed to have been born in such a place. Thank you, God!

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!

Thanks for hanging out for a few. Have a blessed Fourth!