Perhaps you have heard the song, “Lord Help Me To Hold Out.” It is a call for perseverance in the midst of the storms of life. It doesn’t ask for the removal of storms, but it only asks that God would help
Something within me that holdeth the reins.
Something within me that banishes pain;
Something within me I can’t explain,
All that I know, there is something within me.
We often think of the Christian life in terms of what God will give us materially. We hear preachers speak of food on the table and a house and a job. We hear about how God will make you successful on your job or take you to the correct job if you lose that one.
[amazon cover B000000QMM]Everyone has heard of Sam Cooke. Many Gospel music lovers know that he began in Gospel singing some of the greatest songs that can even still be heard today.
From “Wonderful” to “Jesus be a Fence to Touch the Hem,” you can still hear the music made and remade. However few know of the man that influenced both Cooke and much of Gospel music. The man’s name is R. H. Harris. Cooke followed R. H. Harris in the Soul Stirrers.
Someone has put up another classic video of the very influential group “Soul Stirrers.”
Thanks to the Jazz Theologian for finding this. Pastor Wintley Phipps teaches the origins of the song Amazing Grace in the Negro Spirituals even though it was written by a white slave ship captain. Then Pastor Phipps sings the song.
I am having a ball looking at some of this classic gospel from the 60s. In this video the late great Dorthy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes sing You Must Be Born Again. Coates looks like a preacher with her expressive gestures especially the facial features. She definitely lets her excitement and her identification with the music come through.