A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there. Come right in to visit with the Joneses at home sweet home.

Ben Jones: We're glad to have you here.

Carol Jones Saint: That's right, and there are so many friends that are coming in from so many different places and it's going to be a very, very exciting visit because we're going to do some flag-waving.

And you know, if Christians do not wave the flag, who is going to? Oh, we understand that in the United States, we have many, many problems, but still it's the best land, the land of the free and the home of the brave. And so in this visit, we're going to have just a whole half-hour almost of patriotic music.

Ben Jones: Perhaps you'd like to get your tape recorder and record this because there's going to be a lot of beautiful music.

Carol Jones Saint: Ben, I think you are 100% correct because you'll want to have this recording that you can just play at any time, enjoy some very, very special music.

And to begin the visit, we're privileged to have Anita Stewart Steva, a beautiful soprano voice who's sung for us many, many times. And Anita, you're going to do one of our special favorites to begin this visit, The Star-Spangled Banner.

Anita Stewart Steva: Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Carol Jones Saint: Oh, Anita, that was simply beautiful. Thank you so much and we will be hearing more from Anita Stewart Steva in just a few moments.

I mentioned and I will repeat, this is going to be a whole visit of patriotic music and we just want to wave the flag and rejoice in some of these songs. We'll even repeat several of them, some instrumental and some vocal. Well, right now Ruth and I would like to sing a favorite, God Bless America, and then a song written by one of our radio listeners, Dear God Keep America Free.

Carol Jones Saint and Guest (Female): God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the ocean, white with foam

God bless America, my home sweet home.

God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the ocean, white with foam

God bless America, my home sweet home.

God bless America, my home sweet home.

Dear God, keep America free,

Lead her safely through.

Stand beside her and guide her,

Watch o'er the red, white and blue.

May the stars and stripes forever wave

O'er the land of the free and the brave.

Dear God, as onward we go,

Keep America free.

Dear God, keep America free,

Lead her safely through.

Stand beside her and guide her,

Watch o'er the red, white and blue.

May the stars and stripes forever wave

O'er the land of the free and the brave.

Dear God, as onward we go,

Keep America free, keep America free,

Keep America free.

Carol Jones Saint: Ruth, you and I have just finished singing that lovely chorus, Dear God Keep America Free. And you know, I was thinking one of the most magnificent symbols to all of us in America of freedom is the Statue of Liberty.

And what a thrill to be there in the New York Harbor and to see the Statue of Liberty. Could you read for us the beautiful words that are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty?

Guest (Female): These are words by Emma Lazarus. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden shore.

Carol Jones Saint: My, how beautiful, how beautiful, and what a thrill this has been for people through the years to see the Statue of Liberty there welcoming to the United States of America.

As we are enjoying this special time of patriotic music, it's instrumental time and if you have an instrument, you just pick it up and play right along with us. And if you can sing, you sing right along. And the first number the instruments are playing, My Country, 'Tis of Thee. We'll sing two verses and everyone sing along.

My country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,

Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,

Thy woods and templed hills;

My heart with rapture thrills,

Like that above.

Oh, that was beautiful. And if you have an instrument, you just pick it up and play right along as the instruments are playing here in the living room. And the next one, America the Beautiful, let's do two verses and you sing along.

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

Oh, your singing is just beautiful, and we're enjoying the extra instruments that have been added in. Keep singing and playing right along. This time, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Everyone sing right along.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;

His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

Thank you for your singing and all of the instrumental music was just beautiful. Ben, could you read for us several very special verses about God and the nation?

Ben Jones: Psalm 144, verse 15 says, "Happy is that people whose God is the Lord." And then Proverbs 14, verse 34, "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

Carol Jones Saint: Wonderful words. We're privileged once again to have the beautiful soprano singing of Anita Stewart Steva. Anita, you're going to sing this time, O Beautiful for Spacious Skies. And could you tell us who wrote this beautiful song?

Anita Stewart Steva: It was written by Katharine Lee Bates in the 1800s. She was a professor at Wellesley College. And even though she didn't have any church affiliation, the wonder of America prompted her to write these beautiful words.

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

Carol Jones Saint: Oh, that was beautiful, beautiful. You're enjoying the voice of Anita Stewart Steva. And Anita, I wonder if you could sing for us God Bless America, a song we've already used but no one can sing it quite like you can sing it. God Bless America.

Anita Stewart Steva: God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the ocean, white with foam

God bless America, my home sweet home.

God bless America, my home sweet home.

Carol Jones Saint: Thank you so much, Anita Stewart Steva. And now for our memory time, we're going to let you hear Reverend Burt Jones playing from the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant two of your very special favorite patriotic songs. You sing along if you can.

You've been enjoying a special visit at home sweet home of patriotic music and we trust that it has been of inspiration to you. Don't forget to write and let us know as you write to A Visit with the Joneses, Incorporated, Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, and the zip code 16512. Goodbye and thank God for the United States of America.