I have selected the hymn you have just sung to bring back memories of Sunday School. Imagine this image: a little girl in a white Sunday School dress, in a church pageant, holding a little candle, singing, "This Little Light of Mine."

That is the image that most of us, I imagine, have in mind when we think of this hymn, "This Little Light of Mine." It is so sentimental, and cute, even. Which is the danger of using diminutives like "little,"...."This Little Light of Mine." It is like "dear" or "sweet." It tames it, sentimentalizes it, takes the power out of it.

Actually the song is an African-American spiritual. In was sung, as I understand it, in black churches many years ago, just as they were preparing to leave the church and go back out into the world. But most significantly, this son…