If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold, 
And you have to get along with meager fare, 
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird, 
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. 

Refrain: 
Leave it there, leave it there, 
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. 
If you trust and never doubt, 
He will surely bring you out, 
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

My mama used to sing this song to me when I was little, but I never knew anything about the man who wrote it, Reverend Charles Albert Tindley. In this picture book biography, written in verse, and illustrated with beautiful paintings of scenes from Rev. Tindley’s life by Caldecott Honor illustrator Bryan Collier, I learned a little about the African American preacher and self-taught musician who wrote that song and many more standard gospel tunes and lyrics.

One sign of a great picture book biography is that it gives a child a snapshot of an admirable person’s life and work while engaging an older reader and causing him to want to know more. After reading Carole Boston Weatherford’s poetic biography, I immediately turned to my computer to find out more: more about Tindley himself, more of his songs, more about Tindley Temple where Reverend Tindley pastored and sang. I learned from the book and from my further researches:

• Tindley was born in 1851 to an enslaved father and free mother, making him free by the standard of the law at that time.
• As a boy he taught himself to read, and later he studied Hebrew at a synagogue and Greek by correspondence with Boston Theological School.
• Tindley became pastor of the East Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, later (after Tindley’s death) renamed Tindley Temple United Methodist Church.
• Tindley wrote at least 46 published hymns, lyrics and music, and is known as the Father of Gospel Music.
• “Tindley’s wife Daisy passed away on the day [his] congregation moved to a larger sanctuary. He was reportedly heartbroken at her death, and later admitted about her death that ‘one day I will understand it better by and by’. Several of the children Tindley had with Daisy would help him publish his hymns and compositions.” (Wikipedia)

Tindley’s songs and hymns include We’ll Understand It Better By and By, Leave It There, The Storm Is Passing Over, What Are They Doing in Heaven?, and I’ll Overcome Someday. That last hymn is credited as the inspiration for the civil rights anthem, We Shall Overcome. Weatherford quotes snippets from several of Tindley’s songs embedded in the text of her picture book poem. I only wish that I could sing those lyrics as I read the book aloud to children, just as Reverend Tindley broke into song in the midst of his sermons.

By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music by Carole Boston Weatherford and Bryan Collier is a book well worth introducing to your family and leading to further exploration as you appreciate the music of this talented, God-educated man.