Common Ground Song 139 ‘We are marching in the light of God’
Words / Music: South African traditional.
YouTube recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi-zd2k8wgQ
Featured image: South Africans at a public worship event. © GovernmentZA/Flickr cc-by-nd-2.0

The second South African song in a row. This one is better known, in fact it has spread around the world. There are many performances available on YouTube, some of them by perfectly polished and uniformed choirs of white people led by a conductor. I have selected one that perhaps reflects better the spirit of the original: chaotic, joyful, multilingual and apparently spontaneous (though no doubt rehearsed before filming it).

The arrangement in Common Ground just has the original words (Siya hamba ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos) and the English translation: ‘We are marching in the light of God’. The editor’s comment is ‘People are tempted to add verses … [this] is to be discouraged. Songs like this were born out of a people’s struggle and were sung as they moved during funerals and on demonstrations, repeating one statement with unaccompanied voices’.

So what is achieved by repeatedly chanting that we march in the light of God? To me, it means that whatever struggles we face either personally or corporately, God knows about them, and if we turn to him will light the way through the darkness for us. Whether that is bereavement (as I am experiencing at present), or terminal illness (as faced by various people I know), or the oppression and injustice faced by so many in Africa and other parts of the world, faith in God means that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Either in this life, where communities come together to support each other in times of difficulty using the gifts of compassion and generosity that the Holy Spirit gives us, or as a promise of eternal life to follow. As Christians we can hold both these promises at the same time.

My next sermon, which I am starting to prepare for next week, will be based on John chapter 15: remaining in Jesus as grapes remain in the vine. ‘You cannot be fruitful without living in me and letting me nourish you’ is the message. May the light of God shine on your path today, and the love of Jesus flowing through his vine (his body, the Church) give you strength not only to survive but to flourish.