Lift Every Voice and Sing
Lift Every Voice and Sing was written by writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnsonand set to music by his brother, John Rosamund Johnson. Both Johnsons were important figures in the Harlem Renaissance, and
The text was commissioned to celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, but Johnson wanted to add ‘something else’ to the meaning. That ‘something else’ has made it timeless and relevant to this day, one hundred and twenty years later. The song has been used for graduations, church services, civic events, and historical celebrations, such as Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and Barack Obama’s inauguration. Johnson recognized the profundity as he penned the text. For him, writing the lyrics was an emotional experience. “I could not keep back the tears, and made no effort to do so.”
It was adopted as the official song of the NAACP in 1919, and dubbed the “Black National Anthem.” During the 1960s, it fell out of favor among a small contingent of civil rights leaders who felt that the idea of a black national anthem conflicted with their goals of unity and equality, and that all Americans should unite under one anthem. The Star Spangled Banner, which theoretically is the anthem that links all Americans together, falls short of that goal, where Lift Every Voice and Sing speaks for ALL Americans. According to Dr. Shana Redmond, a scholar on race and music history, “The Star Spangled Banner is missing something — radical history of inclusion, an investment in radical visions of the future of equality, of parity. Lift Every Voice and Sing has become a counterpoint to those types of absences and elisions.”
During the Civil War, the Union army would use The Star Spangled banner as a rallying song to gather troops for battle. During the early 20th century, as it became adopted as the national anthem, the south pushed back against the idea, and shunned the song. For southern African Americans in particular, The Star Spangled Banner wasn’t something they were exposed to, so Lift Every Voice and Sing became their defacto national anthem.
As Redmond puts it, “‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ is a song about transcending difficulties — and those difficulties have never fully receded. “Black communities across the globe continue to be vulnerable in very unique and unsettling ways. To sing this song is to revive that past — but also to recognize, as the lyrics of the song reveal, that there is a hopeful future that might come of it.” While the song speaks to the unique struggles of the black community, the continued relevance and staying power of Lift Every Voice and Sing is a testament to its unique and profound portrayal of the struggle for justice in America – past, present, and future – one that speaks to the true fabric of American identity.
Lift every voice and sing ’til 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 ’til 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 ’til 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 has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has 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
Mothering God You Gave Me Birth
This hymn is an adaptation by Jean Janzen (1933-present) of musings by Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), whose life fell entirely during the “Hundred Years War.” Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), who had a series of profound visions when she was critically ill. One of these had to do with the nature of Christ as our true mother. According to Janzen’s study of Julian of Norwich, ‘Julian saw Christ as our “true mother,” saying, “The human mother will suckle her child with her own milk, but our beloved Mother, Jesus, feeds us with himself.”’
For Janzen “the rich language of these mystics and their startling ways of speaking to God and about God – when I read the words of Julian of Norwich as she refers to God as her mother… I was astounded.” Janzen is an advocate of hymns as tools for advocating for justice and progressive Christianity – challenging our understanding of the nature of God and the nature of our faith. “We carry this treasure, our hymns, with us into the 21st century, this bearer of good news, of God’s story, of our story. Next to the Bible, they are our best source for light and hope . . . and we hold them out to others with our open hands and voices, for the story is not ours to possess. It is ours to give away.”
Mothering God, you gave me birth in the bright morning of this world.
Creator, source of every breath, you are my rain, my wind, my sun.
Mothering Christ, you took my form, offering me your food of light,
grain…of life, and grape of love, your very body for my peace.
Mothering Spirit, nurturing one, in arms of patience hold me close,
so that in faith I root and grow until I flower, until I know.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Hymnologist Greg Scheer writes,”GreatIs Thy Faithfulnessis inspired by the simple realization that God is at work in our lives on a daily basis.” It expresses God’s faithfulness revealed in the nature of God, in our lives, in creation, and in Christ. [Hymn writer Thomas Chisolm] wrote, “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness. The hymn reminds us that God doesn’t only work in dramatic or miraculous ways, but also in simple, everyday ways. It also reminds us that Jesus has never failed us in the past, so we have no reason to doubt his faithfulness in the future.”
Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord, Creator, there is no shadow of turning with thee;
thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not; as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!