The late great Aretha Franklin wrote, “Be your own artist. Always be confident in what you are doing. If you are not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.”
Thank you Aretha for singing and living from a place of inner confidence. Don’t we benefit from the way she sang RESPECT?
Be your own artist! The Soul Queen surely was. And her words invite us to reflect on life itself as a stage for us all to be confident artists.
Jesus was a confident social artist for love. The stories he made up, the sermons he preached. and the miracles he performed; all point toward a new realm in the midst of our standard operating procedures. The way he interacted with everybody even people who got him in trouble. The Gospels reveal that the Pharisees were mad at him because he healed on the Sabbath day, the disciples frustrated by his relationship with women and children, others rebuked him for making company with tax collectors and other sinners. Jesus confidently invited all people into a loving creative community where everyone is lifted up.
Jesus strained to bring his followers into a new way of viewing their social roll. You can hear him. Don’t be like lords or slave masters; don’t govern, enforce, judge, control others instead be like servants, watching, waiting, listening, and ready to support.
This is a song that Christians sing.
We are servants of one another, we are neighbors, we view others as sister and brothers. Jesus called us to be social artists for love.
Go out of your way to invite and welcome someone this week. Invite the new family to dinner, reach out to the neighbor down the street, call your aunt, or write a note to your cousin. Let your life be a blessing by its confidence to reach out beyond your normal boundaries and let God’s loving melody play through you.
The Soul Mass on October 20th is a perfect time to invite someone to church. The Rev. Alonzo Pruitt is preaching.
Our opening hymn will be Your Love is Lifting me Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson. May our communion ever remind us that the sacred melody that we celebrate at church is the Spirit of the living God who continues in our generation to lift us up higher and higher.
With you on the journey,
