Prayers From African-American Traditions

Reprinted from "Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Celebration of Black Prayer" from the Schomburg Center, published by the Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster.


Free at last, free at last,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.

The very time I thought I was lost,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last;
My dungeon shook and my chains fell off,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last,
This is religion, I do know,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last;
For I never felt such a love before,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.



May he support us all the day long,
till the shadows lengthen
and the evening comes
and the busy world is hushed
and the fever of life is over
and our work is done-
then in his mercy-
may he give us a safe lodging
and a holy rest
and peace at the last.


Princes shall come out of Egypt,
Ethiopia shall stretch forth her
hand unto God. Oh thou God
of Ethiopia, thou God of divine
majesty, thy spirit come within our
hearts to dwell in the pasts of righteousness.
That the hungry be fed,
the sick nourished, the aged protected,
and the infant cared for. Teach us
love and loyalty as it is in Zion.



Oh yes, fix me, Jesus, fix me.
Fix me so that I can walk on
a little while longer.
Fix me so that I can pray on
just a little bit harder.
Fix me so that I can sing on
just a little bit louder.
Fix me so that I can go on despite the pain,
The fear, the doubt, and yes, the anger,
I ask not that you take this cross from me,
only that you give me the strength to continue carrying it onward `til my dying day.
Oh, fix me, Jesus, fix me.

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