What do you think of when you hear the word, "America"? According to Webster, "America" is North and South America together, or the United States. I suppose that most think of the United States and so do I, but I also think of a hymn. This song has two titles; one being "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and the other, "America", which is my favorite. Regardless of which you choose, "America" brings thoughts of "liberty, noble, free, and our fathers' God, to Thee." For within its four verses is found the true expression of what America is all about. Maybe that's why many have called it our "unofficial anthem."

It was Samuel Francis Smith who wrote the words for "America' while attending Andover Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. Born in Boston in 1808, he eventually became a graduate of both Harvard and Andover and would serve several large Baptist churches throughout the East. He compiled a hymnal, "The Psalmist" in 1843, edited a missionary magazine promoting missions, spoke fifteen different languages and composed 150 hymns during his lifetime. With all these accomplishments though, Samuel Francis Smith is best remembered as the author of "America". He was 23 years old when he penned these great words.

Lowell Mason, the father of the singing school movement in America, had sent Samuel a book of German songs to translate for him. On that fateful afternoon of February 1832, while translating, Smith saw a patriotic hymn. Thoughts of his own country started to flood over him and in less than 30 minutes, the young seminary student had completed the great hymn, "America." Five months later, on July 4, 1832, greatly to the surprise of young Smith, his patriotic hymn was first sung in public by a chorus of children under Mason's direction in the Park Street Church of Boston.

The words have remained the same since the hymn's inception, even though our country has not. A young Bible scholar wrote, "Our fathers' God to Thee, Author of liberty, to Thee we sing." We would do well as a nation, to think before we sing and be willing to return to our fathers' God first, if we expect our "land to be bright with freedom's holy light, Great God our King."