Singing Our Way Through December, Part 4!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Saviour, The Lord Jesus Christ! And with that said, we have come to the end of the series, "Singing Our Way Through December!"

I pray you enjoyed reading the posts as much as I did writing them! It's really very interesting learning about the person and circumstances behind a song. I believe it lends to the lyrics a much deeper and more meaningful understanding of what is actually being sung.

With Christmas over for this year, I could only think of one song to finish out this series.

The song?

"Go Tell It On The Mountain!"

African-Americans have a rich musical history through the use of passing down stories in the form of songs. These songs are called "spirituals". The slaves often sang them in the fields while they worked, as well as in their times of celebrations. These songs have a feeling of "incredible majesty and haunting beauty."

"Go Tell It On The Mountain" began as a spiritual and dates back to at least 1865, although it was probably sung much earlier. There is no one attributed to the writing of this song.

The song calls us, as believers, to do the most natural thing in the world. To spread the good news of the birth of Christ!

“Go Tell It On the Mountain” would surely have been lost a long time ago if it had not been for the hard work of John Wesley Work, III. 

Mr. Work grew up in Nashville as the son of a church choir director. Even though he earned his Master’s Degree in Latin and went on to teach ancient Latin and Greek, his first love continued to be music, and he went on to become the first African-American collector of Negro spirituals.

Since spirituals were passed down orally from one plantation to the next, the gathering, writing and recording of these songs was a major undertaking for Mr. Work, but he was up for the challenge! And I, for one, am so glad he persevered in his endeavor so that today we can enjoy songs like, "Go Tell It On The Mountain!"

In the 1920s, the Fisk Singers began to perform the song, but unfortunately it never really "caught on". The song gained its popularity in the early 20th century with the birth and growth of the blues and jazz music.

The song is very simple with just a few words, but it contains a very powerful message!

It tells of shepherds whose evening was interrupted by a holy light.

It tells of the angel’s chorus.

It tells of Christ being born in a lowly manger, and the GREAT salvation He brought to us. 

Then the song gives us somewhat of a "command"!

"Go tell it

on

the mountain,

over

the hills

and

everywhere

Go tell it

on

the mountain

that

Jesus Christ

was born!"

Will I accept the "command"?

Will you accept the "command"?

Will we be willing to tell others about the birth of Jesus?

Just because Christmas is over, we NEED to still be sharing the "good news" of the birth of Jesus!

But, friends, let's not forget to take Jesus out of the manger!

Let's remember to tell others the ENTIRE story.

Share His death, burial and resurrection so that others will hear the complete Gospel!

"And he said

unto them,

Go ye

into

all

the world,

and

preach

the gospel

to every

creature."

Mark 16:15

Let's go

tell

those

in

"our world"

The Gospel

of

Jesus Christ

so that

they

may come

to know

Him

as their

personal

Saviour!

---

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May God Bless You,

Barb