Rick Church
December 15, 2006

We make dozens of decisions each day. It is doubtful that we think that many of our daily decisions are of any consequence at all. Conditioned by a bombardment of choices and freedoms of all sorts, most decisions are considered to be solely up to our pleasure or whim of the moment. “Would you like this one, or that one? If it doesn’t work out, you can always exchange it for another.”

Unlike our shopping purchases, some decisions matter. Some things cannot be easily exchanged or un-done.  In 1937 five students at the Talladega Blind School in Alabama started singing Gospel songs together. They were not supposed to leave the campus, but they did just that on a few occasions to sing for soldiers training at a nearby army base. The troops loved their inspirational music and these secret forays into the wider world encouraged the group to keep singing. In 1939 they became the “Five Blind Boys of Alabama” and made a decision to dedicate themselves to singing only Gospel and spiritual songs. They labored on the Gospel circuit for decades with modest rewards. In the 1950s and 60s, when many Gospel singers nurtured in the church began to defect to secular music, the Blind Boys were in the same studio with Sam Cooke. Cooke had been a Gospel singer but had turned to popular music and had reaped wealth and fame. When a producer heard the “Blind Boys” sing along with Cooke during a break, he produced his checkbook and asked them “How much?” implying that he would pay any amount for the group to sing secular songs. The leader of the group, Clarence Fountain, remembers saying: “Can’t do it.”

In the 1970s, Paul Simon, with the song “Love Me Like A Rock”, and other popular musicians, began to season their music with gospel-like sounds. However, the message of these gospel-sounding songs was decidedly secular. Gospel sounds became in vogue and many groups left their spiritual roots to back secular bands. It seemed like Gospel choirs were leaving the church and going into show business.

In the 1980s, with the group members averaging 70 years of age, “The Five Blind Boys” were asked to sing in the off Broadway musical: “The Gospel at Colonus”. The musical was award winning and it opened new venues to the “Blind Boys”. This breakthrough event was followed by five consecutive Grammy awards for the singing group.

What was different about the “Blind Boys” was that the group consistently remained true to the message of faith in Gospel music. Not only did they sing the old Gospel songs, they began recording secular songs they had changed to reflect the spiritual inspiration that motivated them. They recorded a Stevie Wonder song, but changed the lyric “lovers keep on loving” to “prayers keep on praying”.

In December I was privileged to be able to attend a “Five Blind Boys From Alabama” concert in Santa Cruz, California.  The standing room only audience in the Rio Theater relished the enthusiasm, spirit, rhythm and excitement of the hard driving Gospel music the group sings. I wondered if many of those present believed the words. This group mentioned “Jesus” more times than I had ever thought the majority of Santa Cruzans, who are known for their libertine inclinations, would feel comfortable hearing. To be fair, I imagine many present were people of faith, but I suspected that many more were not.

I saw one couple raise their hands to cheer and yell in support of the music one minute, then begin passionately kissing the next. Since I was in close proximity to this expressive an affectionate couple, I could tell that one or both had been drinking hard liquor before the concert. While they enjoyed the music, I wondered if they understood the music’s message. At least on the surface, it appeared that message being sung had not impacted the immediate behavior of this couple.  All the while, Jimmy Carter, one of the 80-plus- year-old lead singers, continued to give glory to God and sing to His Savior. Carter would shout, “Do I have a witness?” to the crowd. The crowd would respond with the high-pitched “Whoo Whoo” heard at rock concerts. The word “Amen” was conspicuously absent. I thought, “none of these people have been to church, and certainly not to a Gospel church”, because that is not the way church-goers give a “witness” to the saving grace of God. But the group sang their hearts out, and many enjoyed their expression of joy, talent, and enthusiasm. I wondered if those present realized the fountainhead of the Blind Boys’ passion? Birthed from their faith, forged by physical adversity and years singing in the Jim Crowe South, shaped by their commitment to remain faithful to God no matter what, the notes they sang no doubt reflected a deeper love than that of just a love for blues, rhythm and rhyme.  They had decided to follow the God that loved them and their music reflected their passion.

In an interview in “Christian Music Today,”* Clarence Fountain, leader of the group, was asked: “I’d say the Blind Boys’ songs of faith have always been a great source of the gospel to those who may not have otherwise been exposed to it. Would you agree?” Fountain replied, “ I agree with that, but people have to make up their own mind when it comes to (faith). I think we bring audiences something they never felt before. That’s why we continue to sing with inspiration. Even after doing it for so long, we’re still just as excited for them to feel the Spirit of God.”

In the same interview, Fountain was asked if he had any challenges or struggles to slow him down. He answered: “I have no struggle because God makes it just right. He knows how to do it. He is the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. Since He is all if this, surely He can straighten little old me out.”

Near the end of the concert I attended, the audience started to react in anticipation when they heard the opening, unmistakable, strains of the “House of the Rising Sun.” But instead of the rhythm and blues ballad about a New Orleans gambler, the Blind Boys sang the words to “Amazing Grace,” a song written by a repentant slave trader who found forgiveness from following Christ.

We all cannot sing like the “Blind Boys of Alabama” sing, but we all can decide to receive the love of God demonstrated in Jesus Christ for us, as they have, and we can decide to sincerely give God praise. Some decisions matter beyond this life.

*Excerpt from Copyrighted material: “Christian Music Today”, used by permission.

What is fuss all about? It’s just a baby, or is it?
By Rick Church

God’s invasion of human history at Bethlehem both threatened the established order and at the same time, promised deliverance for those who were powerless. The birth of Jesus was anything but a benign, sweet story. It began a spiritual and social upheaval that continues today.

Nothing can change one’s life like the birth of a baby. If one doubts the truth of the foregoing statement, simply ask the mother or father of a newborn.

First, a newborn changes the parents’ sleeping schedules. Then, the newborn changes the parent’s mobility and forces lifestyle changes. As the child grows, financial priorities start to change along with the way decisions are made in the family. Ultimately, after the birth of the first child, everything is seen from a different perspective. In fact, people can completely change because of the birth of their children.

The other day I entered my home and immediately knew there was a difference. I heard the cooing of our two-week-old grandchild. Later, that would become the unmistakable cry of a newborn. My wife’s daughter Erica was visiting with her little daughter Brynn.

Over the course of the afternoon, I noticed how everyone changed to accommodate the baby. That little child had us at her beck and call, and, we were happy to oblige. Brynn had an affect on our teenage daughters and on our 12-year-old. Even the dog noticed a difference and was relegated to unhappily stay on the outside looking in.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He must have been seen as small, powerless, sweet and non-threatening. In fact, for many, the birth of the Christ-child was the most threatening event ever to occur. For others, Christ’s birth was the greatest event ever to occur. This dichotomy remains true even today.

Biblical scholars tell us that the Magi – Gentile astrologers probably from Babylon—who dabbled in astronomy, philosophy, diplomacy and religion, recognized that the “King of the Jews” had been born. Through an unlikely mixture of pagan and religious wisdom literature, these representatives of a royal court wanted to pay homage to a new king. Almost immediately King Herod, the one who held the title: “King of the Jews”, (albeit illegitimately – he was a Idumean/Nabatean by bloodline, installed as a vassal king by Roman authorities) believed the birth of Jesus threatened his power. From the start, Jesus began to challenge the status quo.

While Herod became nervous and anxious about the birth of the Christ-child, the angels proclaimed that the people now had a savior! The birth of Christ inspired passion and worship for some but was met with fear, defensiveness and outrage by those who had something to lose. “When King Herod heard this (the birth of Jesus) he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:3.) Herod wanted to eliminate the child who was seen to have a claim on his throne and he would go to any length to do it.  The Bible recounts the effort of Herod to inquire of the chief priests and teachers of the law to determine where the Christ was to be born. Then, Herod tried to trick the Magi into leading him to the Christ-child. Outwitted by the Magi and angered, Herod ordered the death of the boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger.

When I was growing up the birth of Christ was most often seen in positive, glowing, almost warm and fuzzy terms. The Catholic Church in my town had a plastic Jesus in a manger and I remember curiously watching Catholic worshippers kissing the Jesus doll when I was visiting the church with Catholic relatives at Christmas. This was new to me, a Protestant. In the thoughts of a pragmatic child, I remembered thinking: “Don’t they know that is not Jesus?” Even so, I thought it was a quaint and harmless ritual, although I secretly wondered if my parents and my pastor would see kissing a doll in church to be silly at the least and maybe even idolatrous at the worst. As I matured I began to respect and honor the devotion exhibited by those Catholic believers, even though it is not the way I worship.  In any event, in those childhood years, everyone – from Catholic to Pentecostal to Baptist to religious, to spiritual, to secular people—seemed to accept Christmas as Christ’s birth and Jesus as Good News, not bad news. No one appeared to be outraged.

Not so today. We seem to be experiencing the range of reactions common to the type that happened when Jesus was born.  Many have become riled at Jesus again. The polite opposition carefully tries to insert “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” in an attempt to distance themselves from anything so personal, specific, direct and clear as “Merry Christmas.” The reason? Not to offend. But the reaction doesn’t stop there. In a recent issue, Time magazine devoted its main story to “God vs. Science”. In the article, some scientists were described as reacting with “unprecedented outrage at the perceived insults to research and rationality ranging from the alleged influence of the Christian right on the Bush Administration science policy to the fanatic faith of the 9/11 terrorists to intelligent design’s ongoing claims. Some are radicalized enough to publicly pick an ancient scab: the idea that science and religion, far from being complementary responses to the unknown, are at udder odds—or, as Yale psychologist Paul Bloom has written bluntly, ‘Religion and science will always clash.’” (Time, Nov. 13, 2006).

There are articulate voices on both sides of the debate. The scientist recognized for his pioneering work on the Human Genome and who is a Christian, Francis Collins, speaks convincingly of seeing God as the source of all that is in his study of the human genome.  On the directly opposite end of the spectrum, Oxford professor Richard Dawkins believes close reading of physical evidence should lead toward atheism. Many books, mostly touting the victory of science over belief in God, are currently flooding the bookstores.

From leaving the word “Christmas” out of our greeting to “unprecedented outrage”, Jesus seems to be stirring the world up again. Nothing can change your life like the birth of a baby – and nothing can change the world like the birth of the Christ-child.

God’s invasion of human history at Bethlehem both threatened the established order and at the same time, promised deliverance for those who were powerless. The birth of Jesus was anything but a benign, sweet story. It began a spiritual and social upheaval that continues today.

My hope is that we would all pause and reflect as to what the fuss is all about. And, if we dare to believe that Jesus is who the Bible said He is, did what the Bible said He would do, and cares for us like the Bible says He does, then we will experience more than just the cold, vinyl texture of kissing a plastic doll, or the threatened fear and anger of one whose intellectual beliefs are challenged by miracle. We will experience our own miracle: the re-birth of the hope-giving joy of the birth of a Savior and our lives will be changed forever for the better.

I recently became acutely aware of the importance of balance—physical, emotional and mental balance. What follows describes my “Aha!” moment: A few months ago, myself and members of my church family did something we don’t normally do.  We scaled ladderrs and spent a Saturday on the expansive roof of our church, stripping off 40-year-old roofing consisting of16 tons of red gravel, to prepare the building for a new roof. The labor was tough. We used muscles we don’t normally use. All of us had aches and pains the next morning.

However, while we were on the roof, everyone seemed to adjust amazingly well to these heretofore unfamiliar tasks.  By noon we looked like a seasoned crew. There was just one task that some of us seemed to never really get used to doing. It was when we had to descend the ladder from the roof. Many of us moved cautiously, carefully, tentatively, and tried very hard to keep our balance.

In the late 1960s the band Creedance Clearwater Revival, a Rock and Roll band, had a surprising Country music hit. The song was the story of rising music star who — in between the interview with the “man from of the magazine” who said he would “go far” and reality — “ran out of songs to sing”. The chorus said it all: “O Lord, stuck in Lodi again.”

I am not sure if you have ever experienced Lodi, but I have. After experiencing Lodi, I can understand why so many people liked the song. The song captures the “in-between” of day-to-day life everyone experiences. Much of the time we feel like we are “stuck in Lodi again”.