Down to the River to Pray

As a hymn, Down to the River to Pray (with Allison Krauss on lead vocal) is the best thing on the O, Brother, Where Are Thou? soundtrack:

As I went down to the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown,
Good Lord, show me the way...

As something you might actually do, going down to the river has historically meant the Jordan River. But it can also mean the Tiber River, and sometimes even the Mississippi River.

"Internet Monk" Michael Spencer hews to the tradition of the Protestant Reformation, but used the river metaphor rather deftly (hat tip to Flos Carmeli):

It was in this bookstore that I also discovered something that is intangible, but quite real to me, even to this day. The best way I know to describe it is with an illustration. The Catholic church was deep. Deep in history. Deep in spirituality. Deep in its appreciation of culture. Deep in its engagement with human life. The Catholic church seemed like a great river, the Mississippi perhaps. Deep and wide, with the accumulated brush and trash of many years, but with such a depth and volume of water that it was still majestic and powerful.

My own tradition seemed shallow. Like a creek or a stream. Yes, it might contain purer water (or not), but it was not deep and did not want to be deep. It bubbled and gurgled on the rocks of excitement. It seemed to want to be far away from the world, a small stream unconnected to the river. It was not, however, a river. The fact is, of course, the stream and the river are connected. They cannot deny the connection, even if they do not want to talk about it. If nothing else, both are headed for the sea.

Spencer's post is worth reading in full. And speaking of rivers, I wrote something related last month.