Christians celebrated online after the popular hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” played in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The chorus to the song, which was being played on the piano, goes, “Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hast provided; Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.”
The lyrics were written in 1923 by Methodist minister Thomas Chisholm, while composer William Runyan wrote the tune.
The phrase “great is thy faithfulness” can be found in the third chapter of the book of Lamentations.
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness,” the passage reads.
Christian hymns playing in the rotunda: “For the Beauty of the Earth” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”
“Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.” pic.twitter.com/ZanyC43EZy— Christine Niles (@ChristineNiles1) January 20, 2025
One social media user responded to the song selection writing, “Beautiful hymn!!!”
Another wrote, “Praise the Lord!” Still another added, “Love it.”
Do you like to sing hymns?
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“Great is Thy Faithfulness” for the whole world to hear.
Amen.
— ReviveMind (@revive_mind) January 20, 2025
During the inaugural ceremony, the Naval Academy Glee Club performed “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was written by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe during the Civil War.
She later recounted that she was watching the Union troops drill near Washington in November 1861 as they were singing a song called “John Brown’s Body” about the famous abolitionist.
A preacher standing near Howe encouraged her to write new lyrics to the tune, according to The Kennedy Center.
“I… awoke the next morning in the gray of the early dawn, and to my astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves in my brain. I lay quite still until the last verse had completed itself in my thoughts, then hastily arose, saying to myself, I shall lose this if I don’t write it down immediately,” she recalled.
“I… began to scrawl the lines almost without looking…. Having completed this, I lay down again and fell asleep, but not before feeling that something of importance had happened to me,” Howe said.
The song quickly spread throughout the Union ranks, becoming a battle hymn with its call for an end to slavery in America.
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The first verse goes, “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.”
The chorus is, “Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory hallelujah! His truth is marching on.”
Another verse reads, “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.”
Additionally, during the inaugural ceremony, Grammy-winning singer Carrie Underwood performed “America The Beautiful” with the Naval Academy Glee Club accompanying her.
*Music not playing*@carrieunderwood: “I can just sing it” pic.twitter.com/C8bu4laFNt
— Kit Maher (@KitMaherCNN) January 20, 2025
After a technical glitch caused the music not to play, Underwood pressed on, telling the crowd, “You know the words. Help me out here.”
*Music not playing*@carrieunderwood: “I can just sing it” pic.twitter.com/C8bu4laFNt
— Kit Maher (@KitMaherCNN) January 20, 2025
She sang the first verse, “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!”
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