“Get On Board, Little Children”–A Thought for the New Year

Every so often, God gives me a song early in the morning. It typically is running through my mind just as I wake up. Sometimes the origin is pretty obvious. It may be something that I have heard or sung recently. During this season of the year, it is not surprising for me to awake with a Christmas carol (or even an Advent hymn!) echoing in my thoughts!

Some time ago, it was a song that I hadn’t called to mind for quite a while. It was the traditional African-American spiritual, “Get On Board, Little Children.” This song about “The Gospel Train” was first published in 1872 as one of the songs of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The first verse and the chorus of this African-American Spiritual goes:

The gospel train is coming,
I hear it just at hand,
I hear the car wheels moving,
And rumbling thro’ the land.

Get on board, children,
Get on board, children,
Get on board, children,
For there’s room for many a more.

One of the things about trains is that, while they may wait at the stations or on the siding for a length of time, there comes a point when they begin to move—not quickly at first but almost imperceptibly. But when the train reaches a certain speed, you better already be on board!

I think that God may be getting ready for us to move as a congregation. Perhaps it has already begun—not quickly but almost imperceptibly. Who’s on board? There’s “room for many a more!”

As we begin 2011 together, may we be “on board” with what God has in mind. May we build on the momentum God has already given us. And may we make sure to invite and involve others in the journey!

Grace and Peace,
Mark Conard