Sunday Playlist - 1/17/2021

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrVlXh4mc1M8ICS6xDHpaq0ii-mSEzNQ

When I listen to Mavis Staples sing “Precious Lord” or “Sit Down Servant,” or when I hear Lucille Clifton read one of her poems, I am persuaded that there is something greater than we can understand or adequately name moving through their art. Consider the Heavenly Gospel Singers. They could not have imagined that their inspired performance, 40 years later, could cause a soul in New York to tremble and smile with joy. In the midst of a pandemic, with people who profess to be both Christian and patriotic attacking the Capitol and threatening the republic itself, I’m grateful beyond words for that recording, made by a group of men who actually had reason to be angry at the country that treated them as second-class, men who had good reason to be skeptical of the promises of their faith, but who sang about being so inspired that they couldn’t sit down.

And we end with the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., who, unlike those who violated the capitol building, had cause to protest and invoke freedom of speech, a man whose witness and courage should humble all of us into action.