Poor Wayfaring Stranger
On Saturdays our companions are musicians.
To accompany all those we’ve followed through Wild Places this week, I can’t think of a better song than “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” It speaks of someone wandering, far from home. And it’s sung by Rhiannon Giddens, an Afro-Irish singer whose rendition will rend your heart. Watch and listen, and then check out the brief notes and comments below.
No one is sure where “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” came from, but it was picked up by Black slaves in this country as a spiritual. The great W.E.B. Du Bois called these spirituals “Sorrow Songs,” and they worked on multiple levels. One could hear phrases like, “going to that bright world,” or “going over Jordan” as a reference to heaven. But in the Black tradition it spoke not only to eternal hope, but also to the hope of liberty now. The poor wayfaring stranger is longing to go North where freedom is possible. There is a powerful confidence in these words, that our way is leading us finally to God—even if we don’t make it all the way to the prize in this life.
Rhiannon Giddens is perfect to sing this one. Born in North Carolina, she is the daughter of an Irish-American father and a mother of mixed African and Native American descent. Rhiannon lives in Limerick with her two children, and her artistic range is breathtaking. Giddens is a two-time GRAMMY Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning singer and instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, and composer of opera, ballet, and film scores. I love what someone called her “Black Celtic soul”! I know her soulful singing of this classic will speak to your own journey in wild places.
COMPANIONS ON THE WAY
Introduction
Stories of Turning
Week One
Stories of Wild Places
Week Two
Stories of Dogged Faith
Week Three
Stories of Mercy & Forgiveness
Week Four
Stories of Simplicity & Joy
Week Five
Stories of Prayer & Surrender
Week Six
Stories of Transforming Love
Her rendition, so simply done, makes it so compelling. Just before I read your post and listened to her sing, I had read Joshua ch. 4 (I’m reading the Bible through, one chapter a day) and so I was right there with you in the Jordan. Thanks for reminding us that this is not a promise, not a deferred liberty, but a claim of liberty now.
As often happens, we need another perspective to break us into another, more immediate experience of a poem or a prophecy or a song.
Thank you David – What a beautifully rendered Lenten song.
Wow. Just wow.