Editor's Note: originally published on RLC blog on August 23, 2022.
”The Kingdom Is Yours is a song for everyone who thought God left them when he was needed the most. The opposite is the most true. God sh...
Rev Otis Moss III, founder of Unashamed Media Group, asked Common Hymnal to contribute music for "Otis' Dream," the Get Out The Vote film he wrote and produced for the 2020 election. More specifically, he asked them to produce a new arrangement of the old spiritual 'I Want Jesus To Walk With Me' for the final credits.
I can’t understand much of what he’s saying, though I desperately wish I could. In this small way, I catch a glimpse of the culture shock that awaits the luckiest of these boys.
But the more I’ve consumed content by artists like Lil Nas X, the more I realize the church and some of the puritanical standards I parroted end up creating a special kind of hell on earth for those on the receiving end of that condemnation.
There's lament - “Why are things so broken – again and again – where has all the mercy gone.” But also this gratitude – "again and again"– in the midst of it all, "God’s love remains."
What can the "look for the helpers" advice do for us in these times? I suggest that, while it doesn't diminish the painful realities of our corporate life, it does offer us one path through the valley of cynicism.
There is nothing gratuitous about the arts right now. They are not added, they are essential—like spirituals in the hell of cotton fields, anti-war songs of the 60s, AIDS blankets and inner city murals and poetry that says what everybody’s tired souls are feeling.