Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing!


On February 12th, the song, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” celebrated it’s 120th anniversary. A great article about the history of this song can be found here. Our Bishop has asked that 120 congregations around the Diocese of New Jersey use this song during our worship to celebrate both this anniversary and Black History Month.  I have pledged to do so at St. Peter’s and we will use it as our offertory hymn this Sunday.

The lyrics by James Weldon Johnson are powerful, haunting and, ultimately, redeeming.  As I sing this song as a person who identifies as ethnically white, I am both ashamed of the ugly truth of slavery that helped establish American and awed by the perseverance of people who rightfully claim worthiness in the eyes of God. While I cannot share in the existential pain of those descendants of slaves and the slavery system, I can stand in solidarity with all who understand race to be a social construct and racism as a grievous sin.

Since we don’t have much time to appreciate the lyrics as we sing, let me take a few lines to look at more closely.
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;
Song can express every human emotion, and many times more than one at a time.  These lines from the first stanza are brilliant in their simplicity and complexity.  To sing with faith and hope that the world will learn from its mistakes and allow justice to prevail is compelling, if not always true.  But standing up in the face of injustice and still singing these lines with gusto may reaffirm our belief that we can change for the better if we allow ourselves to be brave and dare to dream.

The second stanza offers a very bleak and real experience of what both slavery and the horrible aftermath of Jim Crow laws allowed to happen to people of color. It should take our breath away that hope could die before it even had chance to live. 
Stony the road we trod,
            Bitter the chast’ning rod,
            Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
And yet, through resolve and God’s grace, they endured to sing:
Yet with a steady beat,
            Have not our weary feet
            Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
Generations have struggled and toiled to get as far as we have, and there is still a long way to go! But as we sing and march together, we encourage each other, knowing the sacrifice of those who have given their lives for the cause (Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Abraham Lincoln, to name a few) stands for something.

The third stanza ends on a triumphant note, recognizing that regardless of humankind’s faults and shortcomings, God is ever faithful and true.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
            May we forever stand,
            True to our God, true to our native land.
I know some people might feel awkward about singing the words “true to our native land,” if we don’t consider Africa our ancestral home.  I offer two thoughts.  First, most anthropologist believe that human life began on the continent we now call Africa as it had the most hospitable climate to support humans.  Our ancestors migrated to other parts of the world and our appearance adapted to those climes.  But we can all claim Africa in our roots.  Second, our true native land is God’s creation.  Division is a human construct, not God’s. God only sees God’s children, all equally loved and equally forgiven.  Imagine what our world would be like if we saw things like God does?

In Christ,
Rev. Valerie+

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