Four Hymns & Gospel Songs By St. James Missionary Baptist Church (Detroit, Illinois)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents four videos of hymns & Gospel songs that are sung the old school way by the St. James Missionary Baptist Church's Mass Choir [Detroit, Illinois]. The lyrics to these songs and some comments from these videos' viewer comment threads are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
FEATURED VIDEOS

Example #1: St. James Choir - The Lord's Prayer



Marcel West, Uploaded on Nov 25, 2008
-snip-
Click http://www.lords-prayer-words.com/lord_traditional_king_james.html for the words to the Lord's Prayer.

This prayer is found in these passages of the Holy Bible: Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Prayer

**
[This comment was posted in response to the question "What was this service?"
Marcel West, 2008
"it was a reunion/homecoming service for past and present St. James members."

****
Example #2: St. James Mass Choir - Jesus Is The Light Of The World



Marcel West, Uploaded on Nov 25, 2008

sing yall!!
-snip-
Here are some comments from that video's viewer comment thread:
[Lyrics to this hymn posted by Marcel West, 2009; reformatted for this post]

JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
When darkness comes,
don't fret or cry
Just call on Jesus and do as I
He'll free your soul remove your sins
Just opening up your heart and let the light shine in.

The night was dark The way was drear
But I could feel his presence near
The Storm was high the road was dark
But I have a light Shining in my heart.
The lord is my light and my salvation
Whom shall I fear He's ever shining in my soul.

The night was dark The way was near
But I could feel his presence near
The Storm was high the road was dark
But I have a light Shining in my heart.
The lord is my light and my salvation
Whom shall I fear
He's ever shining in my soul.

**
posted by John Carter, 2012
"This is some good Sanging... You don't hear too much of this sound in CHICAGO... DETROIT Is leading the list.."
-snip-
"Sang" (Sanging) is a present tense African American English vernacular form of "to sing" that means "to sing very well". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/02/linguistic-alert-another-comment verncular.html for a pancocojams post about this word.

****
Example #3: St. James Mass Choir - Lift Him Up



Marcel West, Uploaded on Feb 9, 2009

Mass Choir sings the hymn Lift Him Up
-snip-
Here are some comments from that video's viewer comment thread:
[Lyrics to this hymn posted by San47di1, 2010; reformatted for this post]

LIFT HIM UP
"How to reach the masses
men of every birth
For an answer Jesus gave the key:
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth
Will draw all men unto Me.

Lift Him up, Lift Him up
Still He speaks from eternity:
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
Will draw all men unto Me.

Oh! the world is hungry
for the Living Bread,
Lift the Savior up for them to see;
Trust Him, and do not doubt the words that He said,
“I’ll draw all men unto Me.

Lift Him up, Lift Him up,
Still He speaks from eternity:
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth
Will draw all men unto Me. "

****
Example #4: St. James Mass Choir - We Are On Our Way/Praise The Lord



Marcel West, Uploaded on Feb 10, 2009
-snip-
Here are some comments from that video's viewer comment thread:
[Lyrics to "We Are On Our Way" posted by Marcel West, 2009, reformatted for this post]

WE ARE ON OUR WAY
we are on our way,
to a land of endless day,
we are on our way,
we're on our way to glory.

when we get to glory,
we will shout and tell the story,
how we made it over,
we're on our way to glory.
-snip-
A number of commenters wrote that they remember church choirs "marching in" to the church service to the song "We Are Our Way". Here's one of those comments:
Deontaye Clay, 2009
"Yess!!!! This is church, choirs marched in to this with their right hand up, and the lefted behind their back, in correct uniform. (Robes) Marcell, you are an angel that is heaven sent!!"

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/marching-for-jesus-black-church.html for the first post in a four part series on Black church processionals.

**
[Words to Praise The Lord, reformatted for this post ]
Marcel West, 2009
"Praise The Lord,
Praise The Lord,
Everybody Praise The Lord,
For He Understands,
When No One Else Can,
Everybody Praise The Lord.

****
Thanks to the pastor, choir director and choir members of St. James Missionary Baptist Church.

Thanks also to Marcel West for publishing these videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.