Hymns from the Choir: There is a Balm in Gilead

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The FDUMC Chancel Choir is getting into the swing of singing hymns for you all to enjoy and (we hope) sing along to. This hymn and the next few that we will sing are part of an exploration of the legacy of the impact of Black Sacred Music on the Methodist Church. In our red UMC hymnal, there are thirty traditional Spirituals, plus other songs attributed to Black composers of hymns and sacred music.

The text of there is a Balm in Gilead comes from the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 8. The Book of Jeremiah, is part of the Old Testament, and is a sorrowful recounting by the prophet of the evils dealt upon God's people leading up to and during the turbulent times of the Babylonian Captivity, around 586 BC. It is easy to see how the words of Jeremiah describing the captivity and enslavement of the Judeans in the Assyrian Empire and their longing for home could be especially resonant to Black people enslaved in America, and the words remain resonant today to Jews and Christians the world over.

Chapter 8 is a striking description of a nation-state torn apart by sin, suffering greatly because they did not listen to the Lord, and the "Balm of Giliad" is mentioned not as a definite source of comfort, but almost a grasping at solutions at the end of the chapter:

“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?
When someone turns away, do they not return?
5 Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent of their wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.

But my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.
8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
11 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the Lord.

13 “‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the Lord.
There will be no grapes on the vine.
There will be no figs on the tree,
and their leaves will wither.
What I have given them
will be taken from them.”
[...]
21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?"

Though the authorship of the song is unknown, a version of it was printed in "The Revivalist," a book of songs published by Washington Glass in 1854, using some words borrowed from slaver turned abolitionist clergyman John Newton. The text of the spiritual assures us that there is a Balm in Gilead, there is a solution, and it lies in three things, each outlined by one verse of the song.

1. When faced with seemingly insurmountable work, the Holy Spirit will revive our souls and fortify our wills.

2. When faced with a discouraging amount of ignorance, Jesus will give us the knowledge we need to make the right choices and speak the right words.

3. Despite there being examples of fancy preaching and eloquent prayer, it is okay to keep to the basics - Jesus loved us and gave us everything and we can do the same for others.

As our own American nation-state continues to be wracked by the sin of prejudice and hate, we too can apply these three principles.

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