RACIAL JUSTICE LEARNING GROUP

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

 Oh! sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

 Were you there when they crucified my Lord? –  ELW, No. 353

Included in almost every major hymnal for the last thirty years, “Were You There” is one of the most prominent and popular of the African-American spirituals. Yet, like most spirituals, the origins of “Were You There” are impossible to trace, borne not from the pen of an individual but out of the communal slave experience. As Paul Westermeyer notes in the companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, its first published iteration came in 1899 in William E. Barton’s Old Plantation Songs in the section “Recent Negro Melodies.”

The series of questions that form the basis of the song is obviously not meant to be taken literally; but rather a call to remember. It calls the community to re-member the past to the present, to bring these historic events of Christ crucified to bear on the now and make them part of our story. 

The song, like all Negro Spirituals, also calls us to re-member the African-American slave experience out of which the song arose. But unlike other hymns and worship music, Negro Spirituals were not published until after the names of their creators were long forgotten, if they were ever even known. The​y are ​both ​witness to the horrors of slavery and racism, ​and witness​ ​to a ​merciful​, faithful​, and just Christianity​ which we still aspire to live into today. 

The enslaved people who first gave voice to the Spirituals are not known by name, but their songs are. “This Little Light of Mine,” “Honey in the Rock,” “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” “Deep River,” “Every Time I Feel The Spirit,” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “There is a Balm in Gilead,” “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord,” “Go Down Moses,” “Wade in the Water,” and many others, are songs that still speak to us and through us, and they make us want to sing. They are many of the ways we learn about grace. 

About the Spirituals, Frederick Douglass said “When on their way, the slaves would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness. They would compose and sing as they went along, consulting neither time nor tune… I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do.”

Enslaved Africans and African Americans left behind a legacy of breathtakingly beautiful music. They soothe, inspire, break down walls, protest indignities, preach the gospel, show us how to pray, and lead us in the path of righteousness. Throughout the year, Christ Lutheran will regularly include these sacred art pieces within our worship services. This is to diversify what we offer and acknowledge and learn about the contributions of the black community.

To learn more about the Racial Justice Learning Group or to participate, contact Pastor Herr!