{"id":8197,"date":"2011-02-18T14:22:48","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T19:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=8197"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:08:18","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T19:08:18","slug":"february-18-2011-listening-to-the-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2011\/02\/18\/february-18-2011-listening-to-the-song\/8197\/","title":{"rendered":" Listening to the Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read an excerpt from \u201cThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman\u201d by Ernest J. Gaines:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"post01-gainesexcerpt\"<\/p>\n

It was \u2019Termination Sunday. \u2019Termination Sunday is when you tell the church you still carrying the cross and you want meet them \u2019cross the River Jordan when you die. You start out singing your song. Soon as you have sung a little bit, no more than a chorus, the church joins and sings with you. You can keep your song going long as you want, if it\u2019s a good spirity song, and the church will follow. Yoko used to sing and sing and sing: \u201cFather, I stretch my hand to Thee, no other help I know.\u2019 Then after you get through singing, you talk to the church little bit\u2014tell them you still on your way\u2014then you shake hand with everybody\u2014you can just wave to them sitting way back there\u2014and then you got sit down. Then somebody else get up and they do the same. But he sing a different song. Everybody got his own song. You better not sing somebody else\u2019s song before he do or sing it better even after he do, because you might have trouble on your hand. Sometimes when I don\u2019t feel well enough to go to church, or I want stay home and listen to the ball game, I can sit on my gallery and tell who is telling their \u2019Termination just listening to the song. And in the years I\u2019ve been living on this place I\u2019ve heard a many songs, I tell you.<\/p>\n

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