Down in the River to Pray – George H. Allan?

The traditional Appalachian song “Down in the River to Pray” is well-known, especially since Alison Krauss and the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”(released in 2000) popularized it. Yet, its composer remains a mystery, at least in some measure.

Research indicates the song was written by slaves in the 19th Century who worked in the fields. Other people believe it was perhaps a derivative of a native American tribal song that was adapted with Christian lyrics. It was reportedly published in Southern Harmony, a 19th Century hymnal, prior to many African-American spiritual songs being gathered and published during the Civil War and the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. And, what if someone told you it was written by George H. Allan in Nashville, Tennessee during slavery in the South, and was published in a slave songbook in 1867? Its appearance in “Slave Songs of the United States” in 1867, with words uniquely colloquial to black slave spiritual songs of that period, seems to point us in that direction to this song’s genealogy. The song had a different name, too, than the one by which we commonly know it today.The song as originally composed was known as “The Good Old Way”, and is attributed to a G.H. (George H.) Allan in the contents section of the slave song book of 1867. The song may also be known as “Come, Let Us All Go Down”, but has also been known as “Down to the River to Pray”, and alternately as “Down in the River to Pray”. However, as originally constructed by Mr. Allan (or perhaps some other contemporary, most likely a slave), the song entreats worshippers to go to a valley, not a river…

As I went down in de valley to pray,

Studying about dat good old way,

When you shall wear de starry crown,

Good Lord, show me de way.

O mourner, let's go down, let's do down, let's go down,

O mourner, let's go down, Down in de valley to pray.

What valley? If George Allan was a slave, or at least was a song collector in Nashville, one would suspect the valley is somewhere in Tennessee –lotsa valleys are there. As shown in the songbook, “The Good Old Way” was # 104, and was among a collection of spirituals in Part III of that book, in which the songs’ origins are the inland slave states of Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Mississippi River. So, perhaps slaves from Arkansas or the Mississippi Valley could have been the original composers, instead.

There’s lots more that’s intriguing about this song, and many questions linger. For those who changed the word ‘valley’ to ‘river’, what was significant about going to a river? And, for those who wanna go into the river to pray (and not just to the river), is that an implied message about baptism? Whatever the message, the composer was thinking of family, as mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers are addressed; I can imagine a slave family clinging to one another in this song’s embrace. And, we’re all sinners, the song’s conclusion reminds us. Isn’t it interesting that a song from some slaves still resonates in our culture 150 years later?

The following site is of the “Slave Songs of the U.S.”, edited by William Francis Allen, 1830-1889; Charles Pickard Ware, 1840-1921; and Lucy McKim Garrison 1842-1877; and published in 1867 by A. Simpson and Company: http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/allen.html. The song is # 104, listed with the title “The Good Old Way” and attributed to a Mr. G.H. Allan in Nashville. The copyright of the book in its electronic form (online) is owned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Following site indicates the song is the same at “Down in the Valley to Pray” (performed by Doc Watson), with the word ‘river’ substituted: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080427133006AATTsVN

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Harmony

See the following websites for brief thoughts about the story of the song “Down in the River to Pray”: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/History_of_the_song_Down_in_the_river_to_pray

Also see this website: http://deseretbook.com/misc/come_thou_fount_booklet.pdf And, this one: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/History_of_the_song_Down_in_the_river_to_pray

Jesus Is Lord – Jerry Sinclair?

The next time you’re in Lawton Oklahoma, or Calais or Caribou, Maine, or Orange County, California, you might consider the story of Jerry Sinclair and how he wrote a song that was published in 1972. The song as originally penned was known as “Alleluia”, a word often used throughout the Psalms when worshippers are exhorted to ‘praise the Lord’. A plain, easily understood imperative, it’s one that a Psalmist uses probably because its message is so uncomplicated. Jerry Sinclair travelled across the continent, and midway between the two coasts, or perhaps on one of the coasts, he wrote this tune, an anchor for him and other ‘Jesus People’ in the 1970s. 

If it’s surprising for you to discover this song’s composer, you’re not alone. Most songbooks mention words like ‘traditonal’ or perhaps ‘American folk melody’ in the composition portion of the byline.  (Pam Stephenson, or many other names might also be credited with the arrangement, depending on the version being used.) Other hymn researchers I have encountered enlighten us further, telling us that in fact Jerry Sinclair wrote the original notes and words while in Lawton, Oklahoma on a street ministry campaign. Others say he actually wrote it at the end of his journey from his hometown in Calais, Maine to southern California. Yet another source – Barbara Quinn (see one of the song’s comments below) – indicates he wrote the song in the early 1960s while in Caribou, Maine.  Sinclair, and many others with him, were on fire for Jesus, and wrote simply to give themselves and their hearers a pure, basic message, unpolluted by a culture from which it sprang. Another ‘Jesus freak’ who comes to mind is Linda Stassen (“Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, see entry for February 21, 2009). Like Stassen’s song, Sinclair’s “Alleluia” became popular abroad in many nations. 

Perhaps others around in the world have sung it around the campfire, as I have.  No flashlights are necessary to see the words or the music in the twilight shadows or in the pitch black. It’s so simple, the chords and words flow naturally, like walking up and down stair steps. As another researcher has pointed out, there are only four different melodic notes and just three harmonic chords to think about in the song. Perhaps that’s why so many lovers of this tune have invented different four-syllable phrases to make up the various verses that have evolved over time (up to 10? different verses in just a few sources consulted). When you love something, and are drawn to it, there’s a natural desire to have the experience grow and flourish. That’s how we might feel around the fire on a brisk night. Just look into the only light around, and let its presence and warmth remind you of Him. Maybe those words were even spoken as the song flowed at camp some evening in your memory. It would be interesting to hear what Jerry Sinclair thought about when he heard the song…but we don’t have to imagine really, because he wrote it down for us. If I sang all the verses that were ever composed for this song, perhaps they’d best be summed up this way. Jesus and Alleluia for all that He’s done and will do for me.    

  

See the following website for the story of the song “Jesus Is Lord”, which is often called “Alleluia”: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hymnstudies/565476/. Also see The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs byWilliam J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers , Inc. ,2006.

Blessed Be Your Name – Matt and Beth Redman

Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. (Nehemiah 9:5)

Thank you. It’s a pretty common phrase. Yet, it’s sometimes difficult for us to vocalize the words. Even to God, to whom a believer owes so much, a thanksgiving might be forgotten amongst other emotions. That ‘s the sense that Matt and Beth Redman convey in their book “Blessed Be Your Name”, a detailed exposition of their thoughts that are summed up in the song by the same name. How does one say ‘thanks’ to the Almighty, the eternal God? Is blessing the Lord possible?


Maybe that’s why I say it so seldom, because I think the words are so inadequate for Him. How can I, a puny human, ‘bless’ His name. Do a keyword search in your online Bible using the words ‘bless’ and’ Lord’, and it’s usually Him blessing us (depending on the Bible translation version you use), with God’s people exhorted on a rare occasion to bless Him, during Nehemiah’s time (see the passage above). So maybe that’s why it seems so foreign, this ‘blessing the Lord’ idea. The Redmans write that we need to cultivate, to nurse along the gratitude attitude, because it’s so easily ignored in a human’s heart, perhaps as rare as the Biblical phrase ‘bless the Lord’. They challenge us to consider the following which can be taken for granted: the human body – my brain, my heart, my skin, and my senses, all of which are marvels of complexity. Also, where would I be without food, and the many avenues God has paved for its provision? What about family and friends? And, the list goes on, if you just stop and look around. That’s one chapter in the Redmans’ book. The song tells us that there’s another side to ‘blessing God’ – when times are tough. What’s their advice on ‘blessing’ in the wilderness and the desert, where it’s dark? Job’s words (1:21) resonate with those who have traveled this way. That chapter (or chapters) is also part of the Redmans’ testimony, with a hint of it in the song.


 The Redmans have not discovered something novel, nor been the first to express it in song. Their 21st Century rendition has echoes from other composers, and they call out to them in their writing, to Fanny Crosby’s “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” and Thomas Chisholm’s “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. So, “Blessed Be Your Name”, though a Dove song- and album-of-the-year (2005 and 2006) award-winning effort, owes its heritage to others. Its message stands on the shoulders of so many predecessors, even since Noah (Genesis 9:26). The Redmans say that thankfulness in the temporal things around me give me opportunity to practice, to nurture my gratitude. This practice will make me more conscious of weightier matters, like salvation, God’s mercy and grace, His renewal of my existence. That’s not apparent in their song, but their book spells out this message, that this maturation will further propel my ‘blessing the Lord’. It should be a message I communicate in an upbeat attitude to others, even if there are challenges here below. An elder (Larry Campbell) I knew went on to his reward recently, after a life of blessing, of positive communication. When asked, he often replied that he was “doing fantastic…because of the Lord.” That’s blessing Him, isn’t it? You pass it along to others, in order to bless the Lord. I have the feeling the blessing will continue in heaven.

See the following sites for Matt Redman’s comments on the song “Blessed Be Your Name”, a sample chapter of the book by the same name as the song, and for biographic information on him: C:\Documents and Settings\David\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\G3OMDD06\BlessedName_Sample[1].pdf

http://www.mattredman.com/bio.php

http://www.mattredman.com/writings.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Redman

Lamb of God – Twila Paris

Ever been on a farm, or seen an animal herd? Take cattle, for instance. I rounded up Holstein dairy cattle on a farm near Belmont, Ohio just about every day during the 1970’s so they could be milked. I, a human being, did this. Ever imagine or seen one of the herd doing this instead, one of the cows or perhaps a single sheep in a flock of woolies? Not a sheepdog, I mean, but one of the herd acting very unlike the rest of its kind. It would be truly strange to see an animal calling, maybe whistling to the others to enter the barn or a fenced lot. That would be a unique animal, right? Taking this to another plane, how does Jesus manage to be a lamb and the Great Shepherd at the same time? I wonder if Twila Paris thought about this when she composed “Lamb of God” in the early 1980s.


From what we can read of the song’s composition, Twila Paris was in fact in her parents’ living room at a piano, not on a farm watching a herd of livestock. She was 22 years old, single, still living with mom and dad, and using her early-life experiences and heritage in music ministry taught her by family that day. She says ‘it was almost like taking dictation’ to write the song, an ease which she remembers God’s spirit must have granted her in those moments. It’s a route in which the follower on earth identifies with the Holy Creator in the artistic process. You catch a glimpse of His genius, and ‘Wow, did I write that?’ is one’s reaction, Paris recalls. You’re just a conduit for Him to communicate something special to His people. The song has become well-loved across the globe since it first appeared on the 1985 album “Kingdom Seekers”. Paris says “Lamb of God” is a like a child that has grown and gone off to do things totally independent of her, like when she hears of its use in another language, like Romanian. That’s more gratifying than getting some award, she tells – an attitude that says much when one recalls that “Lamb of God” was nearly at the top (# 2 on June 25, 1986) of the contemporary Christian/inspirational music charts at one time.


Was it an accident that Twila Paris thought about the Lamb in family surroundings? After all, the John the Baptist who coined the “Lamb of God” name (see John 1:29, 36) was a relative or near-relative of Jesus, through his mother (Luke 1:36). He leapt in recognition of Jesus, the Lamb. The unique Lamb. To the doubter, why would God, of all beings in the universe, need to offer sacrifice? And, how could He justify offering Jesus -- incarnate -- as a sacrifice? Wasn’t that repugnant, according to His own law given through Moses? This Lamb is so incredible, a paradox and revolutionary. And so, “Lamb of God” raises questions, draws my curiosity.“Kingdom Seekers” seems appropriate for the album on which the “Lamb” song appears, for I am drawn to Jesus, to fathom Him. The last verse of Paris’ song reminds me that I too become a lamb – to mimic the Lamb. I search for my purpose here, because of Him. Nothing has ever been before, or will ever be like Him. More clarity will come in the Lamb’s kingdom, I guess.


The source for Twila Paris’ “Lamb of God” song story is the book “Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000.

See her biographic information on her website also: http://www.twilaparis.com/. See information on her life also at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twila_Paris

A Living Prayer – Ron Block

Ron Block has seen ups and downs, ins and outs over the last 15 years, and he discovered how to maintain a healthy perspective through all of it. His music-writing is a mirror of his walk, he says, of the closeness that he’s been nurturing with God. If that process sounds like a recipe for prayer, then it’s no accident that his song “A Living Prayer” has struck a chord with listeners who identify with its lyrics. And, it’s no surprise either why it received a 2006 Gospel Music Association Dove award for the Bluegrass Song of the Year. The song was part of a record titled “Lonely Runs Both Ways”, which Block recorded with Alison Kraus and Union Station. What was Block thinking about when he wrote it? Was he feeling alone, as the record’s title and the song’s lyrics suggest?

Here’s what Block says briefly (see the link here: http://www.ronblock.com/site.php?em2643=145169_-1__0_~0_-1_3_2010_0_0&content=writings&em2642=

). Block does say that he’s alone, and that rough roads and griefs abound, but yet he doesn’t dwell on these realities. Jesus is the answer, Block’s biographic sketch relates on his website, and as he talks in detail about this song. Instead of wallowing in downbeat emotions, Block leads the worshipper to feel secure in the God-to-human relationship, to let one’s life reflect this trust. Block’s goal is to find at life’s end that he’s been ‘a vehicle or vessel of His Spirit’. And so, Block’s words ‘take my life and let me be’ are his ambitious lifelong plea to Him. This is one we seldom hear even believers say --‘Lord, just use me’. ‘Protect’, ‘heal’, or ‘show’, but not too often ‘Use’ me, are the words that stick out in my conversations with the Almighty.

Here’s something you might not expect to hear from a Christian. Block says the song’s life message isn’t that I “try to do good and avoid doing bad”, nor that I “try to be a witness”, nor “try to be Christ-like”. No, the idea is not that I try to do anything. Isn’t it strange that in God’s calculus, I become a living prayer by giving up my life? Block’s song conveys that there is true peace and contentment in giving up, in submitting to God. Stop striving, and just let God’s presence and purpose wash over and through me, I muse out loud to Him and to myself. Prayer’s heart is surrender, I’m told. Jesus did this too…another good reason to pray like this.

Glory – Geoff Bullock

From ABC television cameraman, to worshipper, to fallen hero and bipolar sufferer, and back up once again as a grace-saved and more introspective writer-composer-believer – that’s how one might sum up Australian Geoff Bullock’s adult life. Though he accepted God’s grace in 1978, he was a senior cameraman with ABC, and thought that he’d eventually be a director or producer. Ten years later though, he was part of the Hillsong phenomenon, the first worship pastor at Hillsongs church in Sydney, Australia from 1987 until 1995. It was during this time that he wrote “Glory”, one of many songs he wrote that he now says were his expression of trying to draw closer to God. Bullock’s life has come through a valley, and now he sees the relationship with God from a different direction than when he wrote the song.

The song “Glory” was recorded on “The Power of Your Love” album in 1992, the first of the live performance praise and worship albums that the Hillsong worship ministry has produced annually. Just listen to the words of “The Power of Your Love”, perhaps Bullock’s most well-known song and a companion to “Glory” on the same record, and you sense Bullock’s life was intimately directed toward the Lord. The songs were sung at a conference for 1,000 people in 1992, a conference that grew to 5,000 by 1997, and then to 30,000 in 2006. This conference started with just 150 delegates in 1986 and its notoriety blossomed under Bullock’s and Mark Zschech’s direction. Seeing one’s life purpose succeed must have been exhilarating for Bullock, to sense that God’s glory was moving among a church, and even world community. The Hillsong church went international in 1992 as Hillsong Kiev began in Ukraine, the same year of “Glory”. In interviews that now look back, Bullock reflects that the early years of Hillsong were focused on how to experience more of God. He was striving to achieve God’s grace’, rather than receiving it, a misperception he now admits.

By 1995, Bullock left the Sydney church, and he struggled in his personal and spiritual life for a time; his marriage failed, he was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, and he suspended his work in ministry. But, he’s come through all the aftermath of the Hillsong years, and now has a different slant on God’s work in his life. Now, it’s not so much trying to experience more of God, but rather thanking Him for what He’s done to extend grace in Geoff Bullock’s --and every believer’s--direction. It’s not just idle talk with Bullock. He’s taken some of his early songs and modified the lyrics (including those in “The Power of Your Love”) to reflect how he feels about this change in his spiritual walk. The key is what God has done, who He is, and not what I do, Bullock is saying. So, would Bullock revise “Glory”, to emphasize his discovery? It’s not really clear that Bullock has been re-engineering “Glory”, at least in interviews that he’s given since his reemergence into Christian music performance. And, perhaps the song’s changes would be minor -- maybe a praise of God for showing us His throne and His majesty, rather than a proclamation of what we see with unveiled eyes (verse 2). Yet, the names of God that Bullock stressed in the song’s original version are still true. He’s Lord, King, Emmanuel, Holy One, Prince of Peace…all as ‘spot on’ today as they were in 1992, and long before that. Geoff Bullock is just like the rest of us believers. Struggle might make me re-dig some wells, but God’s identity remains firm.

See the following site for information on Geoff Bullock: http://www.geoffbullock.com/

Many other links to information about Geoff Bullock via press reports, interviews, articles he has written and the album “The Power of Your Love” on which the song “Glory” appears, are at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Bullock

http://www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/interview/bullock13.8.04.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Your_Love

Above All Else -- Kirk and Deby Dearman

Kirk and Deby Dearman were missionaries in Brussels, Belgium in 1988, during the time that “Above All Else” was written and published. So, they were seeing the world, perhaps as they’d never seen it before. Placing oneself and family in a vocation with a mission for the Lord…can you imagine another profession with more commitment to the cause of Christ? There’s lots of imagery in the song that conjure up mental pictures of warfare, suggesting it was a difficult period for them, whether physical or otherwise. Here’s what they say was going on, writing in their own words (although in the third person), which they shared with me on March 6, 2010.  

Above All Else came spontaneously - at least the first part! - while Kirk & Deby were living as "musicianairies" in Europe. The dollar had dropped suddenly and they had just lost their main source of support in the same month. So they had to move out of their apartment, stay with friends, and store belongings in the friend's garage. Not long after, the garage flooded in a heavy rainstorm and most of their belongings were damaged. Among those belongings was their electric piano. Then the call came to write for a worship project. The only piano they could get to was an old clunky, out of tune relic. Kirk sat down and began to pray for God's heart in the midst of their own turmoil. Deby started praying and then singing, "You are exalted, Lord, above all else. We place You at the highest place, above all else." Kirk said, "Wait! Sing that again!" She did . . . and the rest of the song was quickly written on the spot. Kirk and Deby then began singing the song in outdoor concerts- most notably in the downtown city square of Brussels, Belgium, the capital of Europe, where they lived, as a declaration of God's sovereign lordship over every city and nation, and over their own lives and circumstances.

I have been a foreign missionary just once, for a week. It was exhausting, at least partially from the lack of sleep I got that week. But, it was also a little scary to know I was seen everywhere I went, because of the reputation of the on-site missionaries, as a visiting ‘ambassador for Christ’. A misstep wasn’t really allowed, at least in my mind. To exalt the Lord ‘above all else’, and ‘so the world will know’ who God is – that’s a pretty BIG responsibility. Can I say that every day where I live? Everywhere I stand, and everywhere I go, as the song has me vocalize? Some might say Europe has become darkened and cold to Christendom in the modern age, in contrast to earlier times. Genuine armor is something I’d be looking for, but the Dearmans’ words indicate they held out the Lord as their standard for protection. God comes through for us, the Dearmans’ song reminds me. Nothing can withstand His light and the saving blood of Jesus. In most battles I can think of (the movie ‘Patton’ is on the tube as I write this), more blood is spilled by the losers (like the soldier in the picture), while the victors try to minimize this. Jesus did the opposite. Jesus’ mighty warrior status prevails precisely because He bleeds for me. Now, how can I fail to place Him, the eternal soldier, above all else ?

Biographic information on Kirk and Deby Dearman and their music ministry can be found at the following site: http://www.cometothequiet.com/aboutkirk.cfm