Sister Rosetta Tharpe was amazing. She and Willie Mae Thornton were the mothers of rock & roll. Shame that I never knew of her until recently. I sang this song in 1960 too, in Sunday School. “This little Gospel light of mine”. It was much less rousing because the rest of us Lutherans had never heard of her either, and because, well, just Lutherans. (German Lutherans at that. Oh, the horrible singing!) Sure, it’s a missionary song, but we were taught that the important message was to testify for love & justice in the way we went about our daily lives. Church people went to the South to join the struggle. Does this happen any more? Sign of the times.
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