A Song of Peace

I recently rediscovered some 22-year old recordings of my high school church choir and have been listening to them for the last week. One that continues to be one of my favorites is called "A Song of Peace", done to the traditional tune called Finlandia by Jean Sibelius (ca. 1899).

I love it both for the amazing, powerful crescendo it reaches in the section I've italicized below, as well as its subtle but firm call not to let patriotism and national pride blind one to the fact that people in other parts of the world feel the same about their own countries - and that no one country is inherently superior to another - a thought that I fear is far too prevalent these days.

Note that I've seen alternate texts to this one, but this is the text we always used. Click on the title to download/stream the MP3 of this 1983 recording (levels are a little low).

"Song of Peace" (Finlandia), text by Lloyd Stone
Matins Choir, Plymouth United Church of Christ
Des Moines, Iowa - June 1983

This is my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace, for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is.
This is my hope, my dream, my shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams the same as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the oceans
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover
And skies are sometimes blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, thou God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation,
May peace abound where strife has reigned so long
That all may seek to love and build together
A world united, righting every wrong;
A world united in its love for freedom,
Proclaiming peace together in one song.