Deep in my heart I do believe...

On this day, our parish had a service of readings and songs related to U.S. history, starting with part of the Declaration of Independence, including the Gettysburg Address, part of the letter written by Chief Seattle to the U.S. President, Dr. Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speech, and concluding (this time) with part of the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion, upholding the principle of same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. The Collect and Gospel for Independence Day then followed, and the Eucharist.

It is an interesting time to consider such things.

How does one begin such a service? I committed myself to an improvisation, and found it unusually difficult to even begin my work on it. With the patriotic music and themes that we were to hear, it would be all too easy to indulge in musical flag-waving.

That was easier in another time, and some have done it well:

The Star-Spangled Banner, as performed by Virgil Fox

Or this, a splendid and virtuosic piece by one the leading American composers of his generation:
Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner (Dudley Buck, 1839-1909)
Performance: Adam Brakel, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine in the City of St. Augustine, Florida.

Today was not the time, and I am certainly not the organist for such an approach. Truth be told, I am not especially proud of my country right now. The despicable shootings in a Charleston church and a series of church burnings across the South that have ensued have awakened old demons. And there are other old scars. I determined to begin with one of them, a reminder of the status of Native Americans. We were to sing the Dakota hymn “Many and great” after the Chief Seattle lesson, so I began with it, after an introduction that I hope suggested where I would eventually end up. That led to the tune Materna (“America the Beautiful,” which would shortly be the opening hymn), in minor, with “Many and great” continuing. Then, some development based on the Negro National Anthem, “Lift every voice and sing,” with the previous two tunes mixed in.

Finally, I got to what I wanted to say:

We shall overcome.
We shall overcome.
We shall overcome someday.
Deep in my heart,
I do believe
That we shall overcome someday.

I dropped a hint at about the 6:25 mark, as I had in the introduction. At about the 7:58 mark I began the great hymn of the Civil Rights movement. In my practice I had noticed that it could combine with Materna, so I put the latter in the pedals.

And that is what I think was needed as a beginning to this service, on this day.

Improvisation (organ): July 5, 2015
Photos: of Native American subjects (the old man is Chief Seattle), from the Civil Rights Movement, and from the Great Smokies National Park, a place I used to frequent.

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Footnote:
I am a Son of the South, and that has made the racial hatred of recent weeks all the more painful. The Christians who were martyred in Charleston were sons and daughters of the South, just as I am; the people whose churches have been burned are my brothers and sisters.

It has been discouraging to see the symbols of the Old South appropriated by some to represent their racism, their hatred of black people. And that is the worst of the old demons, now raging across our country as it did in the bad old days of Jim Crow and the Klan.

I revere the flag of the Confederate States of America because I remember the men who fought under it, from Lee and Jackson right on down to the handful of old men and boys who died in the defense of my home town. They were Americans too, but they believed that their duty was to defend their homes.

With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword... (R. E. Lee, after having been offered the command of the Union armies, with promotion from colonel to major general. After considering the matter overnight, he declined the offer.)

The war is over. It has been over for one hundred and fifty years. We must continue to “bind up the wounds” of our country, as Lincoln phrased it near the end of his life.

So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interest of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this that I would have cheerfully lost all that I have lost by the war, and have suffered all that I have suffered to have this object attained. (R. E. Lee)

There is still work to be done.