Lift Every Voice and Sing (ELW 841)
Devotion
Lift ev'ry voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise high as the list'ning 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 chast'ning 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 parents 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.
Growing up in the late 1800's James Weldon Johnson undoubtedly grew up hearing abhorrent stories of slavery. He endured the brutal legacy of Jim Crow and the post-reconstruction era. He would seemingly have little evidence for faith or hope in his life. So how is he able to write such a hopeful hymn? While many songs look to the bright future of the end times ("the Eschaton") for comfort, Johnson actually looks to the dark past for hope. For him the strength to endure hardship and injustice could only be attributed to God. The ability to "stand at last" is given by the one who has "by Thy might led us into the light."
What has God brought you out of? Can you look back at the dark past from which you emerged and draw strength and hope? Are you ready to thank God for how far you have come? I dare you. God isn’t through with you yet. We are all a work in progress. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."
Prayer
God of strength, you have lifted us out of our despair and brought us to an abundant place. In the midst of our struggles you still showed your faithfulness. Allow each of our dark pasts to be a reminder of your light that has carried us through. Amen.