Just a Closer Walk with Thee -- Anonymous

He or she may have lived in an era of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow, despite a civil war years earlier that many assumed would usher in a new paradigm. The composer of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” may have at one time been a slave, or had parents or grandparents who certainly understood the realities of life in 19^th Century America’s Deep South. No further explanation may be necessary to understand, if you’ve ever felt the sting of segregation. The system is against you. How do you respond? In bitterness? Standing and fighting? (And, how does the picture shown here – evident segregation --  make you feel?) The words of this classic folk hymn suggest a different avenue was chosen.  

The writer’s identity is anonymous, but the hymn’s apparent origin and its shared emotions give us a window into some of the character of its originator. What would make someone reach out to Him for a closer walk? The song’s popularity in the South in the 20^th Century was especially notable, including among southern black churches and their large musical conventions of the 1930s. Though a bitter war some three or four generations earlier was only a memory, the cultural divide of that time remained intact, more or less. In this person’s world, a social order that keeps you ‘in your place’, a sort of cold war between what should be and what actually is, becomes routine. That was the daily reality for millions, including probably this nameless poet. It’s no wonder that the ‘weak’ person who lives with ‘toils’ and ‘burdens’, and often dodges ‘snares’ from enemies looks above for strength.  And, not just to be a potent force against one’s foes, but to help mold and guard the oppressed person’s character. This lyricist could see the dangers of perpetual conflict to his own spirit. Evidently that’s part of why he longed for a closer walk with God, to be kept from ‘all wrong’. That’s someone with a lot of self-awareness, who knows that combat can alter an otherwise sensitive human being into a rabid animal, bent on survival. If you think it doesn’t happen, just ask the guys who’ve been in a war with bullets.

Maybe this composer was afraid of something like PTSD – post (or, in this case, present) traumatic stress disorder. Can you hear him or her calling out ‘Lord, be close, and transform me’? My challenge is to believe that I, too, am in a combat zone. It may seem mild compared to a real war, but check your gut when your suburban world of comfort and peace is upset – how do you react? Anxiety, irritation, rage? If you feel these, join the crowd. A move toward Him sorta makes sense, then. If we realize that we inhabit an underachieving planet, because it has fallen from what the Creator intended it to be, then this anthem for former slaves and their progeny can resonate a message for all of us.

See following site for playing of the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/u/s/justaclo.htm  

See following sites for brief details on the song’s suspected origin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Closer_Walk_with_Thee  

For some other background on the song, see The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.

For some background on the southern United States in the latter 19^th Century, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States