Aretha + God = Preach!

September 24, 2015

I’m listening to Aretha Franklin sing “God Will Take Care of You.”  It is a gem of a song on a gem of an album, the 1972 “Amazing Grace,” which was Aretha’s biggest selling album and the best-selling gospel album of all time.  The song gets to me because I love Aretha, I love God, and I love choral gospel music.  Good choral gospel music.  It stirs up the old-school Baptist in me.  I grew up musically feasting on the likes of Bob and Connie Bilyeu, whose relationship with music was, in my estimation, wholly Biblical:  only God could invest that much talent in one family and allow me to grow up in their midst.  My dad will testify without hesitation that the last song he ever wants to hear is “Hide Thou Me” sung by his dear friend Bob Bilyeu.  Who knows, perhaps Bob & Connie can provide Dad with daily concerts (hopefully long from now) on the other side.  

This particular song, “God Will Take Care of You," testifies that it IS true:  God will take care of me.  Hey, Aretha said so!

Honestly, the lift and the unity of voices and the message all combine to remind me that the good Lord has my back, even when I am least deserving.  It is the scrutiny, judgment, and lack of understanding among His believers that sometimes make me scratch my head and grip my heart, wondering if all those scriptures about love and forgiveness and mercy and grace escape my fellow brethren.  The crazy thing is that I’ve been a Christian since I was 7 years old, but it took me until year 41 to feel that “peace that passes understanding:”  see, I finally decided to take God at his Word.  He loves me.  I’m a big screw up in a lot of ways, and I still feel his watchful eye and his unmerited favor.  (I’m also a firm believer that God has a remarkable sense of humor.  That has nothing to do with the “take care of me” business…wait…yes, actually, it does…)

On the flipside, there are Christians and non-Christians aplenty in my life who have shown me the care and love I think Christ intended when he stated in John 13:34-35: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

There is no asterisk in this command: no *if you do ________; *if you are ________.  It’s also terribly interesting to me that our capacity to love one another is the mark by which we may be recognized as followers of Christ.  Hmmmm…

So I’m having a little moment on this Thursday afternoon.  A dose of Aretha does the heart good, right alongside a reminder of the power of faith. If you really know me (and chances are, you know me on some level if you are reading this little nugget), you know how deeply flawed my hyper-critical, cuss-too-much, sin-too-much, often troubled soul can be.  That’s why, my friends, it’s a good thing it’s not all up to me or to my fellow man.  For that, my dear God, I give thanks eternal.

In case you want to hear the Queen sing, here you go:  https://youtu.be/SDroNc1-RzE.  It gets a tad tedious for me toward the end, but the core of it is without comparison.