That Lonesome Valley

When it comes to great old spiritual songs, sometimes the music is so good, it trumps the theology. That’s the case with one of my favourite spirituals, “That Lonesome Valley.”

I like the song so much that I never really thought about what it says about God and our relationship with God. That is until some turkey re-wrote the lyrics.

These new lyrics were so diametrically opposite to what we believe that I knew we couldn’t use it. (And I won’t bother pasting the words here.) So, this turkey (me) re-wrote the re-written words… and that is what we will sing today during communion.

Essentially, the song says that everyone has to walk that lonesome valley (that is, life) all by ourselves. At one level it is true—I can’t walk your journey and you can’t walk mine. But, if the Bible tells us nothing else, it tells us that we are never alone. God is always with us—that, what happened to Jesus means that we are never alone—that, in that ultimate trial, Jesus is our Advocate and God, our Father, is judge. The odds are stacked in our favour, so much so that we cannot lose, the battle has been won.

My re-writing doesn’t fit the cadence perfectly, but the theology is scripturally sound:

Jesus walked this lonesome valley;

He had to walk it by him-self.

Oh, nobody else could walk it for him;

He had to walk it by him-self.

And we have a lonesome valley

That we travel on our own

Oh, It's a life of joy and sorrow

That we will walk all of our days

We will each stand on trial

But we won't stand there alone

Oh, for we will have our Savior Jesus

By his wounds he did atone

Jesus walked that lonesome valley

One he walked all by himself

So that every-body walking through it

Knows that they are not alone

As we approach the end of Lent we cannot help but hear the distant strains of organs, choirs and tambourines preparing to sing, Alleluia!