A respite during war and COVID-19, this song stirs hope: ’No sickness, toil or danger’

I am a poor wayfaring stranger

While traveling through this world of woe

Yet there’s no sickness, toil or danger

in that bright world to which I go.

I’m going there to see my father

I’m going there no more to roam.

I’m only goin’ over Jordan

I’m only goin’ over home.

I know dark clouds were headin’ around me.

I know my way is tough and steep.

Yet beauteous fields lie just before me

Where God’s redeemed their vigils keep.

I’m going there to see my mother

She said she’d meet me when I come.

I’m only goin’ over Jordan

I’m only goin’ over home...

I first was captivated by the words and the song sung in the 2019 war movie “1917,” which depicts a lance corporal in the British army during World War I who, on orders from his general, risks his life to warn a regiment of soldiers that the German army is luring them into a trap — only to be decimated by superior forces. Exhausted and injured from his journey on foot, he comes upon the company of fellow soldiers sitting in the woods listening to the haunting melody of this time-honored classic American folk song sung by a comrade in arms.

I cried when I first watched this scene. The camera shows the faces of all the soldiers during the singing. They, too, are exhausted and afraid of death. They, too, are wondering what will be as they anticipate the forthcoming battle against the German foe. But for the duration of this beautiful song, one could also feel not just the fear, the angst, but the hope and humanity that one does not give up, even in the worst of situations.

According to music historians, the song originated as an American folk and gospel song published about 1858. It has been recorded by great stars like Burl Ives, Emmylou Harris and Johnny Cash. Clearly this song touches something deep inside the soul.

I do not equate my feelings to a combat warrior who gives his life for his country. But I feel God’s presence in my mind as I sit in the woods with many like me who have watched another kind of war going on. Many of us are running like the young corporal to save every life we can as COVID-19 ravages the country. People are dying by the thousands each day, and even more contract the virus. And still, I imagine this young corporal running through enemy lines, carrying the vaccination to stop this tragic slaughter in our own country and across the world.

I am thinking about the clergy who minister to those in pain, the medical professionals who risk their lives as doctors and nurses, and everyone else who cares for the wounded souls and casualties of COVID-19. They are all sitting in the woods of this war taking a brief respite, wondering what is next. Are they not reaching deep inside themselves for the strength to carry on to the next patient?

I am thinking of the Americans who can’t go home to their mothers and fathers. They cannot sit beside them as they take their final breath. They can only hope that when they cross the Jordan river, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, sister and brother, child or grandchild, will be there to welcome them home.

Millions of us have seen that “world of woe,” and have looked up to the sky to watch those “black clouds headin” over us. But despite the carnage of this war against the virus, which makes us rush to save any and every life we can, there is hope. We know that the way home means that our way is “tough and steep,” but we cannot lose the faith that “beauteous fields lie just before us where God’s redeemed their vigils keep.”

When I light the Hanukkah menorah candles each night for eight nights, I shall keep in my heart the souls we have lost and those we can save. I will remember, even though my bones and my spirit are tired and sometimes feel depleted, that we all have more inside us to support those who have lost loved ones.

We have more inside us to shield ourselves and others in our community from the perils of this war. Hanukkah means dedication and reminds us that we are all soldiers fighting for freedom and religious liberty.

This year we are fighting for life itself. What are we willing to sacrifice so that others may taste the sweetness of another day and enjoy the fruits of our destiny?

“I’m only going over Jordan

I’m only going over home.”