Were You There?: Lenten Reflections on the Spirituals
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About this ebook
Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals provide profound insights into the human condition and Christian life. Many spirituals focus on the climax of the Christian drama, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ways in which those events bring about the liberation of Gods people.
In these devotions for the season of Lent, Luke A. Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of Christs atoning death and victory over the grave. Each selection includes the lyrics of the spiritual, a reflection by the author on the spirituals meaning, a Scripture verse related to that meaning, and a brief prayer.
Luke A. Powery
Luke A. Powery is the dean of Duke University Chapel and associate professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He is an ordained Baptist minister (Progressive National Baptist) and the author and editor of several books, including co-author of Ways of the Word: Learning to Preach for Your Time and Place and a general editor of the nine-volume lectionary commentary series for preaching and worship, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship.
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Were You There? - Luke A. Powery
Were You There?
Were You There?
Lenten Reflections on the Spirituals
LUKE A. POWERY
© 2019 Luke A. Powery
First edition
Published by Westminster John Knox Press
Louisville, Kentucky
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Or contact us online at www.wjkbooks.com.
Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NIV are from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Book design by Sharon Adams
Cover design by designpointinc.com
Cover illustration: Velvet Spirit, 1994 (oil on canvas), Hoyes, Bernard Stanley
(contemporary artist) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Powery, Luke A., 1974– author.
Title: Were you there? : Lenten reflections on the spirituals / Luke A. Powery.
Description: First edition. | Louisville, Kentucky : Westminster John Knox Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018044469 (print) | LCCN 2019000676 (ebook) | ISBN 9781611649130 (ebk.) | ISBN 9780664260309 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Lent—Prayers and devotions. | Spirituals (Songs)—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC BV85 (ebook) | LCC BV85 .P695 2019 (print) | DDC 242/.34—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018044469
Most Westminster John Knox Press books are available at special
quantity discounts when purchased in bulk by corporations,
organizations, and special-interest groups. For more information,
please e-mail SpecialSales@wjkbooks.com.
For
Emittie V. Powery (Mom)
Dorothy A. Berlin (Aunt Dor)
Leitha E. Bent (Aunt Leitha)
Ura A. Russell (Aunt Ura)
These are the St. Elizabeth sister-saints who laughed,
even in their suffering.
Contents
Preface
Week One
Day 1 (Ash Wednesday): Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?
Day 2 (Thursday): Many Thousand Gone
Day 3 (Friday): Let God’s Saints Come In
Day 4 (Saturday): Hold Your Light
Week Two
Day 1 (Monday): O Brothers, Don’t Get Weary
Day 2 (Tuesday): No Hiding Place
Day 3 (Wednesday): My Way’s Cloudy
Day 4 (Thursday): Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Chile
Day 5 (Friday): Didn’t Old Pharaoh Get Los’?
Day 6 (Saturday): Heaven Bell A-Ring
Week Three
Day 1 (Monday): Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep, Don’t You Mourn
Day 2 (Tuesday): Kum Ba Yah, My Lord
Day 3 (Wednesday): Give Up the World
Day 4 (Thursday): Do, Lord, Remember Me
Day 5 (Friday): Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door
Day 6 (Saturday): My Father, How Long
Week Four
Day 1 (Monday): We Will March through the Valley
Day 2 (Tuesday): Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Day 3 (Wednesday): Wade in the Water
Day 4 (Thursday): I’m Troubled in Mind
Day 5 (Friday): City Called Heaven
Day 6 (Saturday): God Got Plenty O’ Room
Week Five
Day 1 (Monday): Almost Over
Day 2 (Tuesday): I Stood on de Ribber ob Jerdon
Day 3 (Wednesday): Lord, Remember Me
Day 4 (Thursday): Don’t Be Weary, Traveller
Day 5 (Friday): Oh, Wretched Man That I Am
Day 6 (Saturday): Tryin’ to Get Home
Week Six
Day 1 (Monday): You Hear the Lambs a-Cryin’
Day 2 (Tuesday): De Blin’ Man Stood on de Road an’ Cried
Day 3 (Wednesday): Steal Away
Day 4 (Thursday): Soon-a-Will Be Done-a-with Troubles of the World
Day 5 (Friday): Go Down, Moses
Day 6 (Saturday): I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
Holy Week
Day 1 (Monday): Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Had
Day 2 (Tuesday): We Shall Overcome
Day 3 (Wednesday): Fix Me, Jesus
Day 4 (Holy Thursday): Calvary
Day 5 (Good Friday): Were You There?
Day 6 (Holy Saturday): He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word
Excerpt from Rise Up, Shepherd!, by Luke A. Powery
Preface
There is no lack of pain and suffering in the world. Look around. Read the newspaper. Click on the Internet. Scroll Facebook or read a tweet. Suffering is always present like the paparazzi. It seems to stalk its human prey. Suffering is a part of the broken, sin-sick world. And if there is a theo-musical genre that reminds us of this, it is the Spirituals. They are musical memorabilia created on the anvil of misery by enslaved Blacks. They are sorrow songs. They are suffering songs. However, to sing can be a sting to the reality of suffering. It can be a sign of hope and the presence of God in the midst of agony. This is why they are called the Spirituals
because they are the Spirit’s song and the Spirit will not be stopped and will blow through every season of life, even liturgical seasons like Lent.
This little book of daily meditations on the Spirituals for the Christian season of Lent merges these two worlds (cultural-historical Black music with the church calendar) in order to help the reader travel the forty days of the Lenten wilderness with courage and honesty. Lent is a season of penitential reflection and repentance on the path toward the hope of Easter. That path walks in a dry desert where there is no water. The enslaved lived in their own inhumane wilderness for years, yet still sang songs of hope. From these cultural wells, we still drink.
These honest musical expressions—the Spirituals—in a Lenten mode quench our spiritual thirst and make up the main text of each day followed by a brief reflection. There are options given for daily Scripture readings as well as a portion of Scripture included. Each day closes with a short prayer. My prayer is that even in the laments, the reader will see the tiny sprout of hope springing from the page.
Furthermore, no book is an island. There have been so many influences, experiences, and people who have made this book possible. As I reflect on this, my heart is a eucharist, full of thanksgiving to God and every person who has encouraged me, especially in this work on the Spirituals. None of us are self-created, so hearty thanks goes to the great cloud of witnesses, seen and unseen: Duke University Chapel staff and community, Duke Divinity School colleagues, and all of the institutions and churches that have been patient enough to allow me to share my passion for the Spirituals. Jack Adams, my excellent administrative assistant at the Chapel, administered my schedule so I can minister through these pages. Tim Buskey, my research assistant for this project, was