By Olga Sibert
For 95 years, the Grand Ole Opry has showcased the best in country music talent, both rising stars and old favorites. Playing at The Grand Ole Opry House is typically the height of any country or bluegrass singer’s career. Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Reba McIntyre, Vince Gill, and June Carter Cash are just a few of the megastar singers who have taken the famous stage.
One classic country song played often at the Opry is “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” This 1907 hymn isn’t popular with singers just because it’s in the public domain and holds no copyright. Rather, the song, whether in its original form or in the form sung by the famous Carter Sisters, is such a staple of country music that the Country Music Museum dedicated an entire room of its exhibit to just this one song, an honor not held by any other title. The song’s emphasis on tradition and eternity are yet another example of the perfect match Orthodoxy is to the Southern soul.
The original lyrics begin by reflecting on loved ones lost and on the destination of our own souls:
“There are loved ones in the glory
Whose dear forms you often miss.
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?
The chorus then asks:
“Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
Is a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?”
These opening lyrics bring to mind the words of Saint Ambrose, “You must not be greatly troubled about many things, but you should care for the main thing — preparing yourself for death.” Ever preparing ourselves for death, to make every effort to “join them in their bliss,” as the song says, is the paramount focus of every Orthodox Christian (or, at least, it should be!)
The song continues:
“In the joyous days of childhood
Oft they told of wondrous love
Pointed to the dying Saviour;
Now they dwell with Him above.”
The theme of the song is laid out when we are posed the question, will you keep the traditions you were taught as a child by righteous souls now in heaven? Will you carry this unbroken circle forward as you make your way toward eternity?
Ironically, even though the Protestants who both wrote and oft preform this song would tell you their Christian beliefs are based solely on the Scriptures, the Word of God alone, here, they clearly make the case for Paul preaching in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 when he tells the Church to rely upon the traditions they have been taught: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”
That theme continues:
“You remember songs of heaven
Which you sang with childish voice.
Do you love the hymns they taught you,
Or are songs of earth your choice?”
We Orthodox strive to care nothing for “earthly songs” or “earthly pleasures” and “comforts.” We seek to look toward Christ and Christ alone as the song advises. St. Ignatious tells us, “All the ends of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. ‘For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?’ I long after the Lord, the Son of the true God and Father, even Jesus Christ. Him I seek, who died for us and rose again. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me in attaining to life; for Jesus is the life of believers. Do not wish to keep me in a state of death, for life without Christ is death. While I desire to belong to God, do not ye give me over to the world. Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I have gone thither, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of Christ, my God. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened.”
The song closes by again emphasizing the ever-present reality of death. Using the image of the family fireside and words of reuniting in Heaven to teach its powerful, Southern-based, cultural, and theological message.
“You can picture happy gath’rings
Round the fireside long ago,
And you think of tearful partings
When they left you here below.
One by one their seats were emptied.
One by one they went away.
Now the family is parted.
Will it be complete one day?”
The song’s message of faith and strong tradition was so powerful that the counter culture of the ’60s and ’70s was almost forced to address it and it did when Jim Morrison of the The Doors sang a version in which he said, “Oh, the circle has been broken, me oh my Lord, me oh my.” He wasn’t kidding.
Don’t forget we Southerners fought a war for our right to keep our traditions. They’re important. Very important. So, whether it’s the Union over States Rights, Reconstruction, or a faith system built on protesting (Protestant) the traditional one, it’s in the Southern spirit to just say, “Hell no!” to all of that. (We just have to let Southerners know more about that last one! *wink*)
Updated and adapted from the Sibert’s essay originally published May 24, 2021, at Eastern Chestnut.
Olga Sibert is a 14th generation Southerner born in Appalachia. She is the mother of 7 children. Her line was reunited to Orthodoxy in 2019 when her family was baptized and chrismated. Every Sunday, Olga turns down the Alan Jackson before whipping her minivan up the gravel driveway to her ROCOR parish. You can follow her at her blog Eastern Chestnut: Restoring Strength to the South Through Orthodoxy and on Instagram.
