Tom's Message - June 16

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having an awesome day! Hope your heart is as sunny as the skies on this super sunny Friday and I hope it has a song in it that will just fill you with the thoughts you need to hold on to all through the day!

Speaking of songs that give joy and hope to those who might be having a hard time and how those who struggle are usually those who sing the loudest and best…

I WAS talking about that on Sunday!

Sometimes on Sundays I get a few more things stuffed in my thoughts than my brain can hold and I forget the end of a story. 

I told a story and here's the ending I forgot to share…

I was talking about a hymn with the most beautiful words…And melody!

It’s called “Lift Every Voice and Sing!”

It’s become known as the African American National Anthem and has been sung by the greatest choirs around the world! As well as recorded and performed by the great opera star Leontyne Price, as well as Bebe Winans, Beyonce, Ray Charles, Alicia Keyes, and loads more!

“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.”

It’s just beautiful!

But it was originally written for Abraham Lincoln’s 96th birthday!

James Weldon Johnson was a composer in Jacksonville Florida and he and his brother wrote the song and music to celebrate the special day at the school where James was the principal!

The date was Feb 12, 1900 and the special song was going to be sung by a choir of 500 African American elementary school students.

And they did!

“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.”

I’m sure there wasn’t a tearless cheek anywhere!

So the part I forgot to tell was…

James and his brother, J. Rosamond left Jacksonville shortly after to begin a new life in New York City in the musical world. They never really thought again about the song they left for others to sing. They didn’t know that it had nestled into hurting hearts and had begun to live there. The teachers at the elementary school taught it to the kids of each successive year. And many of those kids grew, became teachers and taught it to their kids. Within 20 years, it was sung in churches and in schools across the South and soon, all around the country! And then the world!!

A song that gives hope and puts words to faith for those who are holding onto both more than anything, is a wonderful gift!

(Happy birthday, James Weldon Johnson!)