Come and Go With Me to That Land

            For whatever reason, a song I learned when I was involved with a college group of believers crossed my mind, called, “Come and Go With Me to That Land.”  It seemed as if it had an interminable number of verses, which I felt that I couldn’t remember, so I tried looking it up on other places on the net.  That told me that it was an old Southern spiritual, of which versions were used by Peter, Paul, and Mary and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.  Those versions were similar, but didn’t have the distinctly Christian meaning of the verses that I was thinking of.  Therefore, before continuing, I’ll write out how I learned it, to the degree that I can remember it.

(Chorus)

Come and go with me to that land,

Come and go with me to that land,

Come and go with me to that land where I’m bou-ou-ound,

Come and go with me to that land,

Come and go with me to that land,

To that land, to that land, where I’m bound.

Gonna be lovin’ in that land,

Gonna be lovin’ in that land,

Gonna be lovin’ in that land where I’m bou-ou-ound,

Gonna be lovin’ in that land,

Gonna be lovin’ in that land,

In that land, in that land where I’m bound.

Milk and honey in that land,

Milk and honey in that land,

Milk and honey in that land where I’m bou-ou-ound,

Milk and honey in that land,

Milk and honey in that land,

In that land, in that land where I’m bound.

Gonna see Jesus in that land,

Gonna see Jesus in that land,

Gonna see Jesus in that land where I’m bou-ou-ound,

Gonna see Jesus in that land,

Gonna see Jesus in that land,

In that land, in that land where I’m bound.

Coke and pizza in that land,

Coke and pizza in that land,

Coke and pizza in that land where I’m bou-ou-ound,

Coke and pizza in that land,

Coke and pizza in that land,

In that land, in that land, where I’m bound.

            I’m see from the net that the artists above didn’t use the verses with overt meaning for believers in Jesus (which, of course, may or may not be correct), and I’m also certain that the last verse didn’t come from the old Southern (don’t we love political correctness!) spiritual.  I am also certain that it came to my mind due to yesterday at church, after our worship, we had pizza and, although there were many choices, I, for one, had Coke.  Part of the reason was that one person there had a birthday, and enjoys pizza (as most of us), so that was featured in the meal.  In other places, I and many others I either have or will link to have pointed out that communion is a synonym for fellowship, and enjoying a meal together is an act that accommodates fellowship, via which the Holy Spirit works, in my experience, far more regularly than any ritual, including theological teaching.  Also, I look back to when I was in college, and one of the campus ministers (as they were called) shelled out to take everyone in the group I was part of over to a local pizza place once a year.  I can now look back and see that, in my spirit and those of my brothers and sisters in Jesus on that campus, that simple act was teaching us something more strongly than if the campus minister tried standing up and saying the point in words (although he would not have described the fellowship as I just did).

As much as that last verse looks at first glance as a throw-in of a creative youth worker, I feel it to be a significant statement about true fellowship, at least in this subculture at this point in history, at least to the point that it was worth a blog post.