O Land of Hope

O Land of Hope – Song Description

“From sea to shining sea, Your hand has guided me.” This one sits slightly apart from the rest of the collection, and I’ve left it there deliberately rather than trying to smooth it into the same tone as everything around it. It’s a hymn, written with real and unforced affection for America, and for the particular kind of hope the country has always represented to a great many people who weren’t fortunate enough to be born there. I think gratitude for something you weren’t handed automatically at birth carries a different quality than gratitude for home — there’s more wonder folded into it, and less of the quiet entitlement that can creep into love for the place that simply happened to raise you. I know a song like this sits a little outside the argument of the rest of the book, which is mostly concerned with quieter, more private forms of grace. I’ve kept it in anyway, because the gratitude underneath it is entirely genuine, and this collection was never meant to pretend I only feel one register of feeling.

Verse 1
America, so strong and bold,
A precious gift, more than gold.
Freedom and faith, our guiding sign,
A light that ever shines.

Chorus
O land of hope, O land of light,
Guided by truth through day and night.
With heart and voice we sing so free,
God bless our liberty.

Verse 2
Mountains rise and rivers flow,
Blessings fall and mercy grows.
Voices join from shore to shore,
One nation evermore.

Verse 3
Through the storm and through the flame,
God’s great love will still remain.
Courage strong, our hearts are true,
His grace will see us through.

Verse 4
America, so strong, so free,
Forever let it be.
Faithful hands and lifted song,
Together we belong.

Bridge
From sea to shining sea,
Your hand has guided me.
Through every trial and test,
In You we find our rest.

Chorus (repeat)
O land of hope, O land of light,
Guided by truth through day and night.
With heart and voice we sing so free,
God bless our liberty.

Lyrics – Michael Forty