So, this particular blog is coming from a direction of music. Big surprise coming from the “Music Guy,” huh? I want to talk a bit about statements we often hear, like “music is universal,” “people can be unified through music,” or “people are introduced to other cultures through music.” All these are true. Still, I think we often miss an opportunity to truly embrace other cultures in our Christian faith because we never really stop to consider how God, through the power of the Holy spirit, is working in and through the music of a diverse array of people groups. And so, we never truly, as Christ followers, see the value in another group/culture/ethnicity as expressed in their music. So, let’s take a moment to do so.
In the Black or African American community (whichever descriptive title you choose to employ), there’s a song dubbed to be the BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM, entitled “LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING.” The song was written as a poem in the late 1800s by James Weldon Johnson and then put to music by his brother Rosamond Johnson. The initial purpose of writing the poem (I’ll refer to it as a song from hereon out) was to celebrate the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. For the anniversary on that particular year, Johnson’s song was taught to hundred of young people in a children’s choir. Despite having all the elements of a perfectly written hymn, it unfortunately wasn’t valued as anything significant in the wider body of Christ, namely among White American Christians. After the performance, the brothers forgot about the song and went on with their lives. But, the song was adopted by the NAACP as the National Black Anthem, some twenty years later. It has remained circling around the Black community for all these decades.
But here, things get really interesting. To actually know the song is to know the story of James Weldon Johnson and to recognize how the song lays out God’s actions in history, including how these actions relate to every community, culture, and people group.
I’m going to say a little bit more about James Weldon Johnson in just a moment, but we must first talk about our openness to receiving the experiences of the afflicted through music. We are taught in the Bible that one of the ways to give praises to our God is through the singing of Spiritual Songs, Hymns, and Psalms, as Psalms 96: 1-2 says:
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
The deeds of the Lord are seen through His Grace, His Mercies, and His Miracles. They are also expressed when He avenges the blood of those whom he is mindful of—the afflicted, whose cries He does not forget (see Psalm 9:11-12).
Naturally, most songs are written in light of a personal experience or struggle, and thus they reveal God’s faithfulness, including His redemptive plan, His unconditional love, and His comfort.
For the Christ follower, whether we experience the same struggle of a song writer or not, when we hear of, recognize, and understand God’s deeds—even His responses to a particular (afflicted) group of people, our hearts should be should compelled to be both empathetic and sympathetic. More importantly, we should be joyful in seeing how God has orchestrated a given situation so His Glory would be revealed.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” reveals the Holy and Righteous Deeds of our God as laid out in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It speaks of a Faith forged in the fires of a dark past, a Faith that can only exist in knowing how Jesus Christ encourages and helps us endure. For example, as the song says, “the Hope that the present has brought us” is revealed when God’s people (the Church) look back and see how God has brought them through and kept them. The lyrics of the song are as follows
Lift Every Voice and Sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
When we sing “God of Our Weary Years, God of our Silent Tears,” we are acknowledging God’s sovereignty when things seem at their worst. And, when we sing “Thou who has by Thy might led us into the light keep us forever in our path we pray,” we recognize that our path is according to His Plan, a Plan for our good, not evil, offering a future and a hope. This resonates with Jeremiah 29: 11-13, which says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
The song reminds us how our feet are easy to stray from the place of freedom when we first came to know Jesus. Also, We can become so drunk with the lust of worldly things that our actions are no longer guided through the power of the Holy Spirit but through the flesh. 2 Peter tells us that without being intentional in this manner we become blind, narrow-minded, and even forget we were saved. But, through the power of the Holy Spirit we can stay the course. Psalm 36:7 speaks of God’s steadfast love and being shadowed in the refuge of His wings. The song also reminds us that as Christians we must first and foremost be true to our God, our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ through faith. Likewise, we can say that the song encourages us to simply remember the truth of the past—the truth that regardless of the struggles and trials, there will be restoration and glory given to God.
Interestingly enough, although James Weldon Johnson was raised as a Christian with two parents who were believers (his mother directed a choir for years and his father was a preacher), James states in his autobiography that when he wrote the song he considered himself to be more of an agnostic. He loved reading the Bible and thought it was the greatest book ever written. He also enjoyed going to church hearing different preachers, even doing some teaching and preaching as a young man. But, as an agnostic, he just thought, as he described it, “The teachings of Jesus Christ to be the loftiest, ethical, and spiritual concepts the human mind has yet to borne.” Yet, it’s interesting when James Weldon Johnson recounts writing this particular song, he said that the first line came rather easily. He then had to grind out the next couple. Then, when he came to “sing a song” (lines 5-6), the “spirit” of the song took hold. He goes on to state that the words flowed through both agony and ecstasy until he reached the third verse. He was so overwhelmed; tears would not stop flowing. He describes it as a “transporting” experience.
Again, after completing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and seeing it performed, Mr. Johnson and his brother Rosamond completely forgot about the song, moved to another state, and continued on with their lives. But, God had a plan. All the while the song was continuing to grow in reputation and usefulness until 20 years later it was being sung across the United States and had been adopted by the NAACP. Now it’s cataloged in many African American hymnals as a song to be sung any time of the year. It was a song Johnson wrote somewhat casually, even if through agony and joy. He forgot about it, and yet the song continues to be sung to this day. I would suggest to you that the reason is due to the message of Gospel presented in the song. The same hope communicated in the song still remains today: that God will come and take us home one day. This is exactly why we “Lift Every Voice and Sing ‘til earth and heaven rings” (the song’s first line). Through the struggle of a particular group, every person who comes to know Christ will see God’s faithfulness and His redemptive love.
So, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a song that should be sung not just during Black History Month, but at every point during the year because it’s a story about the deeds of the Lord. It’s a song representative of many groups, from biblical times to this present age and beyond.