It’s me, it’s me, O Lord (Standing in the need of prayer)

It’s me, it’s me, O Lord (Standing in the need of prayer). African American spiritual*.  ‘It’s me, it’s me, O Lord’ reveals the intimate nature of prayer. Groans and moans were among the early utterings of enslaved Africans that formed the basis of the later spirituals. Sister Thea Bowman notes:  When African Americans met or congregated, they consoled and strengthened themselves and one another in sacred song—moans, chants, shouts, psalms, hymns, and jubilees, first African songs, then African American songs. In the crucible of separation and suffering, African American sacred song was formed (Bowman, 1987, p. i).  Eileen Guenther has identified over forty primary themes that...