Stand By Me

Mary Patricia Trainor 

If  you’re one of those showing up at mainline Protestant churches yesterday, there’s a good chance you heard about Jesus walking on water. It was the Gospel selection from Matthew.

Maybe your preacher rolled it into his or her sermon, as I did at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Coolidge, Arizona.

Walking on water is Jesus’ splashiest miracle yet. Not only because no one else can do it, but also because many of the thousands of people he has just fed in the wilderness are watching. Talk about an eyewitness list!

As spectacular as this aquatic miracle is, I am especially moved by how a hymnwriter in 1905 incorporated it into the words of Stand By Me, not to be confused with Ben King’s 1961 popular song of the same title. King’s work was essential to the popularity of the 1984 movie, also of the same title. It is also a soulful song that speaks to this same human need for human companionship and loyalty.

But—for me—it doesn’t have the power of the hymn. Charles Albert Tindley wrote his Stand By Me, with a heart for the broken, the lonely, the aging. Everyone who has encountered defeat, loss of purpose, and discouragement.

My favorite version is performed by Elvis Presley. Album: How Great Thou Art,Track 5.

See what you think:

https://ElvisPresley.lnk.to/listenYD

Then choose YouTube.