From Park Forums CHRISTmas Carol devotionals... Go, Tell It On The Mountain | by Bethany Jenkins We liked todays post, thinking about the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer I just finished. When Dietrich came to the USA, he loved to worship in African-Ameircan churches. From their years of suffering they have learned the freedom of heart felt/expressed PRAISE to JESUS. When our daughter and her family lived in Arlington they worshipped in an African -American church. I loved their JOYful singing. One week I was babysitting our 5 GRANDS, took them to church and loved their 3 faces that seemed whiter than ever belting out PRAISE, swaying with the choir. Born from the inspiration of a slaves Christmas, Go, Tell It on the Mountain was unique because few spirituals have been passed down about Christmas. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.-- Luke 2.20 Many African-American slaves could not read or write. So their works, including their spiritual hymns, were passed down by oral tradition. The few songs that made it to publication spread from fields to small churches to roadwork gangs to large churches to concert halls. Not long after the Civil War ended in 1865, a man named John Wesley Work became a church choir director in Nashville, Tennessee. Hoping that the younger generation of African-American Southerners would understand the importance of spirituality, he taught them songs that their ancestors sang during the days of slavery. His choir, which included several members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, traveled around the world, appearing in England before Queen Victoria and at the White House before President Chester Arthur. His son, John Wesley Work II, became a composer, a collector of Negro spirituals, and a professor at Fisk College, and his wife became the music teacher for the Jubilee Singers. Along with his brother, Frederick, the Works children preserved a large number of Negro folk songs. Frederick was the one who first uncovered Go Tell It on the Mountain. The song had come from the fields of the South. Born from the inspiration of a slaves Christmas, it was unique among the songs that the Works family preserved because few spirituals had been passed down about Christmas. Most talked about earthly struggle and suffering and the joy and happiness of heaven. Interestingly, some of the people who first heard the news of the birth of Jesus--that is, the wise men--could not go tell it on the mountain. In his gospel account, Matthew writes, After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, [the wise men] departed to their own country by another way. (Matthew 2:12) Today, of course, we are commissioned to go tell it on the mountain by some of the last words of Jesus: Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15) Go, Tell It On The Mountain (Listen: Francesca Battistelli - 4:33) Refrain Go, tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere Go, tell it on the mountain, That Jesus Christ is born. While shepherds kept their watching Over silent flocks by night Behold throughout the heavens There shone a holy light. Refrain The shepherds feared and trembled, When lo! above the earth, Rang out the angels chorus That hailed the Saviors birth. Refrain Down in a lowly manger The humble Christ was born And God sent us salvation That blessed Christmas morn. Refrain
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:01:01 +0000
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