The power of spirituals sung in community was brought home to me again last month as I took part in a workshop led by a dynamic African-American musician named Ysaye Barnwell. I will not forget anytime soon the way this charismatic woman conducted some two hundred of us in song.
But before we sang, Dr. Barnwell told the story of two women in the book of Genesis. Sarah was the wife of Abraham who, in her old age, became the mother of Isaac. By contrast, Hagar was a slave woman from Egypt who had borne Abraham a son, Ishmael, when it seemed that his wife Sarah would not be able to conceive a child.
Not surprisingly, bad blood formed between the two women in the household triangle, leading to a demand from Sarah that Abraham send Hagar and her son away.
Dr. Barnwell sees the Sarah/Hagar conflict as a prototype of the present-day conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel. That view leads her to raise the questions: “Could women play a unique role in resolving the current crisis in the Middle East?” “What if Sarah and Hagar were to meet and talk?”
As she explored these questions with members of the audience, Dr. Barnwell sang blues for Hagar the exile. She pointed out that, though this slave woman was forced to wander in the desert with her son, Hagar was only the second woman in the Bible to whom God spoke directly.
When she prepared us to sing, our director divided the group into four parts: sopranos, tenors, altos, and basses. And she taught us how to come in at the appropriate times as we sang each round.
In the first song, “Wade in the Water,” the refrain repeated over and over goes: “God’s gonna trouble the water.” It presumably leads back to the Book of Exodus when the escaping Israelites walked through the sea and their enemies drowned in their pursuit.
The second spiritual was “Sometimes I Feel Like a Mourning Dove a Long Way from Home.” It featured the refrain “O Lord, don’t you leave me alone.”
Next came “I Wanna Die Easy When I Die.” Here singers repeat the refrain expressing a longing for ultimate fulfillment: “Soon I’ll be done with the troubles of the world – goin’ home to live with God.”
The final two hymns we sang were “Way Over in Beulah Land” and ‘O Lord, Give Us Power.”
As we moved joyously through each of the spirituals, the words took on greater intensity. Repeating them over and over drew us into a kind of trance. That movement was helped by our clapping of hands in rhythm to the music until we found ourselves in a new spiritual place. The old saying, “The person who sings, prays twice,” seemed to take on new meaning for us all.
The themes struck by these traditional hymns give expression to a classical spirituality. The words suggests a background of slavery – that of the Israelites in Egypt but also that of people brought held in captivity in 18th and 19th century America.
Being away from home is another theme, one closely related to that of slavery. The world is full of trouble, especially for people deprived of freedom. But they have confidence in God and rely on his power to deliver them. Even at the hour of death, believers trust to God’s love. They know themselves to be going home to God in heaven.
At the same time, the faithful expect God to empower them on earth. The prayer for power expresses hope for deliverance from oppression. In a refrain from another spiritual, South African women sing “We are the ones we been waiting for.”
Americans of many different ancestries can find in the great spirituals sentiments and emotions that buoy them up. You can easily find yourself swept up into a feeling for what is most important in the spiritual life. These songs seem inspired, like the biblical psalms, and breathe the same spirit.
Returning to the story of Sarah and Hagar, one can imagine the two women, not merely talking with one another, but joining in songs like these great spirituals. Being enabled to sing together to God could perhaps do more to bring them together in peace than mere words can do.
Richard Griffin