Hell exposed in the voices of others

I have always had a really tough time remembering lyrics to songs. I often wrote my own songs to use as sermons or in education - but I could never even remember the words I wrote. So I'd be standing there playing the guitar and I'd be stuck behind a music stand. When I sing along with some of the great hits over the year, there is always a time when I have to simply hum or harmonize or throw in words that sound correct - but they are usually way off - even nonsense. At a bar in L.A. last month we were listening to the people taking part in karaoke. The guy running the computer flashed up the words to the songs in order to let everyone see the lyrics as they came up. I was amazed at the words I did not know. During a CCR song I said 'Damn, those are great images.' Duh.

So what does hearing lyrics have to do with Hell? Well - it is more about listening - learning about what is being said - stepping into the milieux of the text. After a minor medical procedure a week ago I was sitting upstairs and finally gave myself the permission to watch Straight Out of Compton. I'm an idiot when it comes to Rap music. If following the words of CCR or The Beatles is tough for me, Rap had me and still has me spinning. The movie was good for me because it tied together the music - the words - the context - the world - the powers - and the Hell some folks must go through - while most of us dance our way through our thoughts and wants and self-indulgent ways.

To be quite frank, I actually thought about Soren Kierkegaard and wondered if his rage against the church of Denmark would make make him a noted rapper if he was here today. SK had the ability to pull down the pants of the mighty and proud and expose the absolute devilishness of all things considered 'respectable' to the masses. And yet, the masses only see and hear one story - the one that keeps them as they are - the one that has mastered stories that keep whipping up a hell of a life for everyone. Imagine SK being yanked out of a chancel because of his brash - truthful - unveiled words piercing the comfort of our congregations.

When Hell is so close - when Hell binds up every part of your life - when  Hell touches you with the intent of taking your life - your home - your family - your friends, and it also reaches out to bring you into the hellishness of its life, what can be done? Most of us - me included - go the other way. We close our eyes and do not look back. We stop listening to the voices of truth and we do whatever we can to drown out that 'noise.' The 'Songs in the Key of Life' usually carry the tunes we know and recognize. And then - sometimes deliberately - sometimes by accident - sometimes when we hear the rhymes and feel the rhythms, our lives are touched by the wonderful yet raw reality of others.

It is my intention to pull up lyrics of rappers of the past and present so that I can hear the key of life in which they write. It is my thought that in, with, and under those words I will be confronted with the Hell in which I live. Yes, the Hell that is made up of turning around and going away from life that is not just I have it. It is Hell because Heaven is the daily experience of all of us being at the table and everyone sharing the lyrics of life so that we can each have a more realistic picture of what we do to one another when we do not hear the voices of others. When we listen to the voices of others we gain the meaning of the expansiveness of God's Reign - God's love - God's justice - God's mercy.

Once again, I will be judging the poetry slam this Saturday for the Columbus Public Schools - it is the closest I come to hearing the poetic fury - confusion - imagery - honesty - verbal dancing - love unbounded - hatred unveiled, that offers a invitation to hear something more than  my own kind of voice. I find it to be a time listening to Heaven pushing back at Hell so that we all can have our hearts and minds open to the wideness of our humanity - the image of God.
TRRR