Things to Come: Final Destination
I hope you've been watching Ken Burns' documentary on country music. Especially compelling to me was a segment on how difficult life was, even in the early decades of the 20th century. One of the tributary streams of country music was church and gospel music. For many people, their only hope the life to come. Plus, contact with death was much more intimate. One of the early country hits was "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" by the Carter Family. (Yes, I know we know it as "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," but "Can" was the original!) The song is a lament about the passing of a person's mother, the dearest person in her life. The grief of the song is deep, but the hope is high. The chorus says: Can the circle be unbroken, By and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home a-waitin' In the sky, Lord, in the sky! The people in Bible times had even tougher challenges. In addition to the harshness of life, they also ...