Photo by Ruel Calitis on Unsplash

Bloated on images, news sound bites, and internet snippets, I needed a break. I put on my headphones, closed my eyes, and played some tunes. Up came Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary singing “We Shall Overcome.” It was mellow, deep, soulful, high fidelity, and prayerful. He has sung it thousands of times and I have heard it from him, Diana Ross, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, the Morehouse College Glee Club, Mahalia Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and others, but this tune and prayer by Peter Yarrow grabbed me once again and led me to a spiritual oasis. I cannot get it out of my head:

We shall overcome

We shall overcome

We shall overcome some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

 

We’ll walk hand in hand

We’ll walk hand in hand

We’ll walk hand in hand some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

 

We shall all be free

We shall all be free

We shall all be free some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

 

We are not afraid

We are not afraid

We are not afraid some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

 

We are not alone

We are not alone

We are not alone some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

 

The whole wide world around

The whole wide world around

The whole wide world around some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

 

We shall overcome

We shall overcome

We shall overcome some day

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

The song became associated with the Civil Rights Movement. Seeger and other famous folksingers in the early 1960s, such as Joan Baez, sang the song at rallies, folk festivals, and concerts in the North and helped make it widely known. Peter, Paul and Mary have been singing it for half a century. Since its rise to prominence, the song and songs based on it have been used in a variety of protests worldwide. It has been a civil rights song heard not just in the U.S. but in North Korea, in Beirut, in Tiananmen Square, and in South Africa’s Soweto Township. 

The song has deeper roots. Slaves in the fields would sing, “I’ll be all right someday.” It became known in the churches. A Methodist minister, Charles Albert Tindley, published a version in 1900: “I’ll Overcome Someday.”

The song has been the battle cry of the civil rights movement. It is the song of every oppressed person. “We shall overcome” is the heartfelt prayer and song of every marginalized person, every group that has been the target of hatred, bigotry, and of every symbol of inequality. Martin Luther King, Jr. sang it in Selma and Montgomery. It has been sung at Washington D.C.’s mall and monuments as well as in the halls of Congress.

“We shall overcome” is the prayer and the hope of every woman, man, and child who longs for justice, goodness, truth, and the fair treatment of all people. We’ve been singing it for a long time. Today some wonder if, in terms of justice, we are making giant strides… in reverse. Is the song doing any good? Is it true? Has it lost its power?

Consider a small revision: “Good shall overcome.” That is the message of the gospel, even under rulers who seem led by evil. Herod radiated evil in his heart in Jesus’ day. Today we witness the lack of goodness, truth, kindness, and justice in some of our rulers. And yet, we cling to the hope that good shall overcome some day. 

I do not want to give up on this song. I do not want to give up on the hope and the light that shall overcome the darkness. John 1:5 tells of Jesus, who was with God at the Creation, coming into the world: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” 

There was deep darkness in Jesus’ culture when he came into the world and there is deep darkness today, which stands in contrast to everything which God holds dear. It feels like we are not overcoming. It feels rather like a tsunami of harm against God’s beloved children and planet which is powerful and cannot be stopped. And yet, those who cherish the good cling to the light and seize the hope of the gospel that good shall overcome some day. “Seize the hope set before us,” says Hebrews 6:18. In God’s world and in God’s time, the darkness shall not overcome the light and good shall overcome some day. And so, we continue to sing with gusto our faith that “We shall overcome some day.”