{"id":3304,"date":"2019-01-19T10:06:07","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T18:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/?p=3304"},"modified":"2021-01-12T16:41:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T00:41:04","slug":"shall-we-gather-at-the-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/shall-we-gather-at-the-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Shall we gather at the river?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anita Garner\"\"<\/a>When I was coming up, Southern preachers used euphemisms for death.\u00a0 The older I get, the more I appreciate them.\u00a0 People who believe in heaven may be the lucky ones because they’re comforted by specific words other believers say to them and the songs they sing.<\/p>\n

So many ways Daddy talked about death – See you on the other side.\u00a0 Crossing over.\u00a0 Passing.\u00a0 Meet you at the river.\u00a0 And what my mother said to her mother at Forest Lawn – “I’ll see you in the morning.”<\/p>\n

When Reverend Raymond D. Jones was the one speaking to the mourners, he’d get some music going behind him as we cogitated on all the ways people leave us.\u00a0 His remarks always included, “The Lord calls us home.”\u00a0 Then he’d have us stand up and sing about it. We shared many traditions with neighboring black churches and one I wish we’d borrowed is “homegoing.”\u00a0 Our preachers continued to say “funeral” or “the service” as in “the service on Saturday for Sister Ogden.”<\/p>\n

Everyone in our family sang at funerals. Daddy most often asked me to sing “Beautiful Isle Of Somewhere.”\u00a0 Mother sang “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” and “Precious Lord” and “Just A Closer Walk.”\u00a0 Daddy invited mourners to stand and sing with us, “I Won’t Have To Cross Jordan Alone” and “Shall We Gather At The River.” Two of his other choices, when he had the right singers and the right instruments, could go on for a long time: “Walk In Jerusalem (Just like John)” and “Swing Down Chariot.”<\/p>\n

The first song below is from the Kennedy Center’s “Let Freedom Ring” celebration for Dr. King.<\/strong>\u00a0 Gladys Knight<\/strong> sings<\/p>\n

“His eye is on the sparrow.”<\/a><\/p>\n

And two of our family’s favorites<\/p>\n

Elvis<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Swing Down Chariot”<\/a><\/p>\n

Harmonizing Four<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Walk In Jerusalem”<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo above and below: Little Brown Church in Studio City, California was
\nmy church home for years.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>******<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anita GarnerWhen I was coming up, Southern preachers used euphemisms for death.\u00a0 The older I get, the more I appreciate them.\u00a0 People who believe in heaven may be the lucky ones because they’re comforted by specific words other believers say to them and the songs they sing. So many ways Daddy talked about death … Continue reading “Shall we gather at the river?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1466,1468,898,1469,1470,1463,1462,1467,1461,1460,1464,1465],"class_list":["post-3304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-beautiful-isle-of-somewhere","tag-dr-martin-luther-king","tag-elvis","tag-gladys-knight","tag-harmonizing-four","tag-his-eye-is-on-the-sparrow","tag-just-a-closer-walk-with-thee","tag-kennedy-center","tag-precious-lord","tag-shall-we-gather-at-the-river","tag-swing-down-chariot","tag-walk-in-jerusalem"],"yoast_head":"\nShall we gather at the river? 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