“I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” Duke Ellington
“Is it too much to ask that we be more honest about the pain, disappointment, doubt and abandonment that are part of our lives?” Brian D. McLaren
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me?” Psalm 22 (Sung by Jesus on the cross)
I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is a bishop. He was a bit frustrated because one of his churches had tried to re-write their baptismal liturgy to remove all references to evil–you know, trying to “keep it positive.” God knows we’re done with evil in the world, and God forbid we should acknowledge it, oppose it, renounce it, and try to kick its ass! I suppose this congregation should also substitute the outward symbol of water with a wool blanket pulled over the candidate’s eyes, lest he or she get all washed up or wet during the service. And don’t get me started on the whole “re-birth” metaphor, as if we need to talk about death and resurrection anymore!
Which brings me to the blues, and its importance for our spiritual journeys.
It is good for the soul to tell the truth and acknowledge that we got problems, issues, challenges, pain, and disappointments. Yes, even in church, or perhaps especially in church, it is important to sing the blues. God gets the blues (especially when God observes my behavior). Virtually all the Biblical writers had the blues. My momma had the blues. My girlfriend gets the blues (especially when she observes my behavior). My bishop gets the blues (especially when, oh, never mind). I got the blues. We all got the blues. And that ain’t bad. In fact, it’s good!
Bono, the singer for U2, once wrote in an Introduction to The Book of Psalms (Canongate), that King David was able to write such moving poetry (laments are really blues lyrics) because he had “taken a beating.” Bono says this about the best blues lyricist in the Bible (other than Jesus): “David was forced into exile and ended up in a cave in some no-name border town facing the collapse of his ego and abandonment by God. And this is where it got interesting. He composed his first psalm, a blues by a man shouting, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!’”
Jazz pianist David Arivett poignantly places the blues in the context of worship: “When we try to contain, control, or limit the lyrical content in songs to only express the positive experiences of humanity, we only end up denying a large part of reality. But whenever we articulate and express our pain, our longings, or our frustrations as finite human beings, we find healing.”
But leave it to one of my favorite blues musicians (other than “Howlin’ Airedale, Muddy Paws, Damn Right I’ve Got a Tail” Sam) to find just the right way to phrase it. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown got his name from a high school teacher who said he had a “voice like a gate” (as in open the floodgates of tears, emotion, sorrows and pain – letting it all out!). Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana, but grew up in Orange, Texas. He was good friends with Roy Clark, and the two of them used to jam on “Hee Haw” (the thought of which gives me anything but the blues!) He lived the blues, dying of lung cancer and having his home in Slidell, Louisiana, washed away in Hurricane Katrina. Although he could have sung it, Brown said: “For me, the blues is a positive thing and not a negative thing, which it is for a lot of people. They callin’ for help and tryin’ to tell people how much problems they’ve had in life… When I write the blues, I try to help everybody, from little children up to grandpa and grandma. It should be positive. It don’t have to be sad.”
In other words, we got the blues. And that ain’t bad.
Join us at St. Michael’s on Sunday, February 8th at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. for “The Spirit of the Blues” Mass!
