Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

James Weldon Johnson is probably most well known as the man who wrote the lyrics to the song that would come to be called the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

However, almost 95 years ago, in 1925 he and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, published, The Books of the American Negro Spirituals.

They labored to compile all of the Negro Spirituals in a two volume work, and set them to the appropriate musical arrangements.

Unlike other Christian hymnals, there aren’t any authors listed for any of the songs.

That’s because no one knows who first penned the words, but they came to be embraced by a community enduring suffering.

James Weldon Johnson is probably most well known as the man who wrote the lyrics to the song that would come to be called the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” 90 years ago, in 1925 he and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, published, The Books of the American Negro Spirituals.

They labored to compile all of the Negro Spirituals in a two volume work, and set them to the appropriate musical arrangements.

Unlike other Christian hymnals, there aren’t any authors listed for any of the songs.

That’s because no one knows who first penned the words, but they came to be embraced by a community enduring suffering.

James Weldon Johnson opens the preface to the book with the words of a poem he wrote twenty years before the book was published.

The title of the poem is, “O Black and Unknown Bards.”

(A bard is a poet.

Particularly one associated with an oral tradition.)

Here is some of what he writes in that poem,

Heart of what slave poured out such melody

Heart of what slave poured out such melody

As “Steal away to Jesus”?

On its strains

As “Steal away to Jesus”?

On its strains

His spirit must have nightly floated free,

His spirit must have nightly floated free,

Though still about his hands he felt his chains.

Though still about his hands he felt his chains.

Who heard great “Jordan roll”?

Whose starward eye

Who heard great “Jordan roll”?

Whose starward eye

Saw chariot “swing low”?

And who was heThat breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,

Saw chariot “swing low”?

And who was he

“Nobody knows de trouble I see”?

That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,

What merely living clod, what captive thing

What merely living clod, what captive thing

“Nobody knows de trouble I see”?

Could up toward God through all its darkness grope,

Could up toward God through all its darkness grope,

And find within its deadened heart to sing

And find within its deadened heart to sing

These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope?

These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope?

He ends the poem with these words,

You sang far better than you knew; the songs

That for your listners’ hungry heart sufficed

That for your listners’ hungry heart sufficed

Still live – but more than this to you belongs:

Still live – but more than this to you belongs:

You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ.

You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ.

The words of this poem were on my mind because of this question Johnson asks in the poem.

“What captive thing could up toward God through all its darkness grope, and find within its deadened heart to sing―These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope?”

There is a reason why the Black American slave found a particular intimacy with the book of Exodus and the plight of the children of Israel in Egypt.

We have in our text what we might call, the audacity of hope.

The words of this poem were on my mind this week, not simply because Black History Month has come around again.

It came to mind because of this question Johnson asks in the poem.

“What captive thing could up toward God through all its darkness grope, and find within its deadened heart to sing―These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope?”

There is a reason why the Black American slave found a particular intimacy with the book of Exodus and the plight of the children of Israel in Egypt.

We have in our text what we might call, to borrow a phrase from the President, the audacity of hope.

We have two mothers in our text.

One who is groping through the darkness of captivity, with the audacity in her desperation to have hope.

The other, who is in the seat of privilege, but whom God uses to answer that hope with the most surprising form of help.

Through this help, God brings a hero.

Those are our three “H’s” today, Hope, Help, and Hero.

I want to invite you to see another ‘h’ in our message today.

It’s not one of the points, but there is a deep deep humanity that permeates this text.

Don’t just go looking for the theological facts, or the life application points.

I want us to come into the rich human experience in this story.

God is not mentioned at all in these ten verses.

He’s there, but he’s behind the scene, putting before us the people and how he directs lives for his good purpose.

Hope

I want us to come into the rich human experience in this story.

God is not mentioned at all in these ten verses.

He’s there, but he’s behind the scene, putting before us the people and how he directs lives for his good purpose.

We’re clued into this in v. 1. We’re told that a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.

This isn’t a throw away verse.

It’s significant because the Levites are going to be the tribe through whom the priests come.

It’s the tribe of Levi that will have responsibility over the holy objects in the tabernacle.

The priests from the tribe of Levi will stand as intercessors.

That is, they will stand between God and the people, offering sacrifices on behalf of the people and bringing them before God in prayer and worship.

They are specially set apart for God’s service.

And even though that hasn’t happened yet in the story, it would’ve been a clear indication to the original readers that we are about to see a man set apart by God for his special service.

We’re clued into this in v. 1. We’re told that a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.

This isn’t a throw away verse.

It’s significant because the Levites are going to be the tribe through whom the priests come.

It’s the tribe of Levi that will have responsibility over the holy objects in the tabernacle.

The priests from the tribe of Levi will stand as intercessors.

That is, they will stand between God and the people, offering sacrifices on behalf of the people and bringing them before God in prayer and worship.

They are specially set apart for God’s service.

And even though that hasn’t happened yet in the story, it would’ve been a clear indication to the original readers that we are about to see a man set apart by God for his special service.

This message comes in the midst of the most desperate of situations.

The woman conceives, in v. 2, and she gives birth to a son.

When she saw him, that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

The ESV translates the Hebrew word I translated as “beautiful,” as “fine child.”

The basic meaning of that word is “good.”

There are nuances and a range of meanings for the word, but in this context it at least communicates that this was a healthy baby boy.

There were no health issues with him that would lead to infant mortality.

The description is giving us insight into how this mother felt about her baby boy.