God Bless America was written in 1918, by Irving Berlin while serving in the Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, N.Y. It was intended for a military revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. There were a lot of patriotic songs coming out at the time, so he shelved it. Two decades later, he dusted it off and On Nov. 11, 1938, Kate Smith sang “God Bless America” as part of her radio show broadcast on the anniversary of the end of WWI. It became wildly popular.
In 1940, in a rare moment of doing anything remotely like the other, the Republican and Democratic parties adopted the song as their theme. Berlin established a trust, the God Bless America Fund, which distributed all proceeds to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. It is a special song, beloved by many, and has sometimes been criticized. It’s easy to blame something we don’t fully understand.
What exactly are we asking for when we sing God Bless America? Is it extra special treatment from God?
It all depends on how you understand the word blessing. In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will. The root of the word bless means “to consecrate, to make something holy.” The word blessing also shares its origins with the word blood.
Do what? Blood? Yes, exactly, blood. Who is better than those who serve in a hospital to understand how apt it is that the word bless is derived from the word blood?
Blood is a connective tissue that is a fluid transporting nutrients and oxygen to our various organs. Blood has a role in regulating the body’s temperature. Blood has a role in removing waste from our bodies. And there are components in blood that defend our bodies from infection. Blood sustains our bodies.
A blessing is life-giving; life-sustaining, it is life itself. Abraham Heschel, the great Jewish sage, said, “Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”
To understand blessing is to know it as an invisible, cosmic bloodstream pulsating through the universe, sustaining all it moves through.
Once I understood blessing to be a life-giving, life-sustaining sentiment, my understanding of so much in scripture changed. Try it yourself, the next time you’re noodling around in the Bible, exchange the word blessed for “sustained.” It fits every time.
So, no, I don’t think Irving Berlin’s song asks for super special gifts or treatment from God. God Sustain America is a humble and reasonable prayer request.
Let us take that into prayer, now.
Eternal Presence stir our minds and stimulate our hearts with a sense of patriotism as we approach the Fourth of July. May all that it symbolizes renew our faith in freedom, our devotion to democracy, and redouble our efforts to keep a government of the people, by the people, and for the people truly alive in our world.
Grant that we may resolve on this great day to dedicate ourselves anew to the task of ushering in an era when good will shall live in the hearts of a free people, justice shall be the light to guide their feet, and peace shall be the goal of humankind: to the glory of your holy name and the good of our Nation.
Amen.
I thank you for reading, be blessed this day.
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