Prayer Wednesday 2: The Most Maligned Spiritual in the World

Last updated on: March 20, 2019 at 7:23 am by Mark Shea

Prayer Wednesday 2: The Most Maligned Spiritual in the World 2019-03-20T07:23:35-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When I entered the Church, I did so as the husband of a wonderful woman who, among other things, has always loved folk music. I’m wasn’t as big a fan as Jan is, but I do enjoy it and Jan’s love for it made me appreciate it more because it is music that means a lot to the woman I love. As a result, I came to appreciate in particular the handmade nature of folk music. It comes from ordinary people and their experience and is not manufactured by giant corporations. I suspect that’s one of the reasons the Church has long incorporated folk music into its hymnody. Indeed, when you read the Psalms or several passages from Paul–heck, the Magnificat–you are reading folk music.

When I entered the Church I found some of the folk hymns to be quite moving and others not to my taste. But since I am not one of those personalities for whom aesthetics is a massive obsession, I did not have strong views about hymnody. Because of this, I was somewhat taken aback with the surprisingly bitter contempt heaped on certain songs and, in particular, for the raging hatred so routinely poured out on ‘Kumbayah’. I’ve always kind of liked it and have been made to feel for 30 years as though sticking my neck out to say that was to invite the disgust of all Right-Thinking Catholics Everywhere.

But now pal Sherry Weddell sends this along:

“The story goes that Robert Winslow Gordon, a Harvard graduate who later became the first Head of the Archive of American Song at the Library of Congress, recorded the song in 1926. Henry Wylie was the singer and a member of the Gullah Geechee community. “Kumbaya” meant “Come by here” in Gullah and was a plea to God for help. In the interim years, missionaries and folk singers including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Odetta made the song popular around the world, but if we look closely at the lyrics, we see how similar they are to Negro spirituals. Negro spirituals or as African American scholar, W.E. B. Dubois called them, sorrow songs, were a cry for help. They were an important part of the oral tradition that allowed the enslaved to share their most intimate desires and needs with God. They were mostly Christian songs but also sometimes had a subversive message. Coded language in songs were used to help runaway slaves find freedom by means of the Underground Railroad trail. As such, these songs represented their hope for freedom and better days.”

She writes:

No, Kumbaya was NOT written by Anglo beatniks or hippies in the 60’s. It emerged from intense suffering of African American long before. Kumbaya was a “sorrow” song, a plea for help. (So I refuse to waste another nanosecond of time hearing some culture war conservative heap scorn on “Kumbaya”. Don’t waste your breath around me.)

Kumbaya was a cry to God from those whom the white Americans had enslaved: a cry to God like the Psalms, like the OT prophets. And they had earned the right to cry to God many times over.

I’m done feeling vaguely unclean for liking this hymn. If we take seriously the Communion of Saints at all, let alone our Lord’s command to take the side the least of these, this hymn speaks the heart of people, living and dead, to whom we owe an unpayable debt of suffering and an equal debt of gratitude. We should pray it with them. For God knoweth that we need his help for our sins, not least against them.

Uncategorized

prayer

Previous Post

March 19, 2019

Thinking about the Sunday Readings

Next Post

March 21, 2019 A little follow up conversation with Sherry Weddell on 'Kumbaya'

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz