The River Beneath the River

 Our parish church of St. John the Evangelist, Strathroy ON, has a Holy Roller worship service four or five times a year.  These services, which I participate in by playing my guitar, are under the capable leadership of Carolyn Hull-Johnston.  We have music which is not the usual traditional Anglican music provided by guitars, drums and squeeze box and, of course, voices.  The service, scheduled in a few weeks, has the theme of ‘water’.  This will give us an opportunity to worship using traditional and nontraditional music which includes songs such as Down to the River to Pray, Wade in the Water, and Healing River.  These songs, and more like them, happen to be some of my favorites.  I am certainly looking forward to this service as I do all the worship services at St. John’s

My wife, Lorna Harris, did some research into the history of some of these songs and found that many of the traditional ones in the genre of gospel music had hidden meanings.  I have written recently about the hidden meaning in songs with numbers such as the Twelve Days of Christmas and the hidden meaning in nursery rhymes, so I was especially appreciative of Lorna’s investigation into this genre of music which have been called “signal songs”.  Here is what she found out:

AI Overview

"Enslaved people used spirituals as coded "signal songs" on the Underground Railroad to navigate toward the Ohio River and freedom. Songs like "Wade in the Water" advised walking in water to hide scents from hounds, while "Follow the Drinking Gourd" provided directions to the North Star. 

 

Key coded songs used near the Ohio River include:

·       "Wade in the Water": Instructed fugitives to get into the river to hide their trail from pursuers.

·       "Follow the Drinking Gourd": Provided navigational clues to travel north, mentioning the riverbank as a road.    

·       "Steal Away (to Jesus)": Signaled that an escape attempt was planned.

·       "Go Down Moses": Used by Harriet Tubman to announce her arrival as a conductor in the area.

·       "Down in the River to Pray": Believed to contain coded messages about escaping to freedom. 

These songs functioned as map, instruction, and warning, particularly for crossing the Ohio River, which was a major boundary between slave and free state."  I like the Canadian connection, as for many escaping slaves, their goal was Canada as you know!

 

I recently heard a description of the hidden meaning in such things as, “the river beneath the river” which is particularly appropriate in this case.  If you dig beneath the surface of things, you just never know what you might find – perhaps a pearl of great price.   I invite you to do some digging and see what pearls you might find.  Blessings.