August 20th, 2020 Program Introduction:

Deliver Us From Evil

They told us as children that rather than be enslaved, some Africans jumped into the ocean. One child asked the elder why. The elder said, "because they saw what was on the other side." I have always wondered what that meant. What did they see? Maybe they saw what happened to Ahmad Arbury, George Floyd and Christian Cooper and decided death was a better option?

It has been said that if the United States of America did not have racism, it would be the most equitable and successful in the world. In a world of theoretical data that might perhaps be exciting. However our lived reality in the United States is one that says, the American identity requires the violent killing and economic exploitation of Black people. Without it, the nation does not know who it is.

Denial: (Patriotic Hymn) Lift Every Voice & Sing

Composer: James Weldon Johnson (1871 - 1938)

John Rosamond Johnson

(1873 - 1954)

Written in 1900 in Florida, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was meant to be a Black American patriotic song for school assemblies, civic association meetings, church activities, political rallies, festivals and commemorations. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has served that purpose very well. James and John could not foresee that their song would embrace and endure every form of Black political and economic thought the United States has ever had. As Black Americans participated in international gatherings and congresses, the song has been sung and embraced by people of African descent across the world. This might be the first international song written on the shores of America that the United States has.

Beginning this program with “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a protest statement of dual denial. Part of the denial is a refusal to acknowledge that America needs a new national anthem. The beginning and founding identity of America is tied with slavery. The Star Spangled Banner is not a song that uplifts the Black experience in America. It celebrates enslavement. The fourth stanza in The Star Spangled Banner “No refuge could save the hireling or slave” is Francis Scott Key’s way of saying Black American slaves who joined the British to fight against America should be killed. The other part of the denial is the message within the song. It is a lesson about what it means to be a nation. This sense of America’s refusal to define nationhood from the point of departure of the Black experience is the internal salient struggle Colin Kapernick’s kneeling unearths.

Anger: (Classical) Meditation on Psalm 137

Composer: Dayvin M.A. Hallmon (1985 - Present)

Dayvin M.A. Hallmon is the musical grandchild of Jascha Heifetz, Dr. Thomas Dorsey and Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. Since the age of 9, Mr. Hallmon has been building ensembles in churches and helping congregations craft a strategic vision for their music ministry. Perfectly at home in both Gospel and Western Classical, Dayvin was Assistant Concertmaster of the Church of God In Christ International Orchestra for seven years. Mr. Hallmon has been studying music since the age of 5. He plays Violin, viola, clarinet, piano, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute, and pipe organ. Dayvin was born in Chicago, grew up in Racine, Wisconsin and is currently a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Psalm 137 has resonated with many people throughout the history of the world. The psalm text is about being taken captive, mocked by those who have taken you, then your captors demand that you entertain them by singing joyful songs...all while they destroy you, your family and your culture. Psalm 137 is used for the Jewish day of mourning. This lament is so significant, it is the source material for Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermon “God Damn America”. It is the source text for Frederick Douglass’s most famous speech, “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”. It is the text used for Verdi’s famous Hebrew slave chorus from Nabucco. That particular piece of music is so significant, it is the unofficial national anthem of Italy.

During Hurricane Katrina, someone in the media used the word refugee to describe the masses of mostly Black and Brown bodies rightfully expecting their government to come to their aid. Many people saw the Black and Brown bodies struggling to survive drown in water. With the most recent video of the Aurora Colorado Police Department forcing Black women and girls to the pavement and the killing of Elijah McClain, Black Americans are not refugees in their own country. However it can be hard to argue that Black Americans are not treated as refugees by the United States of America. Psalm 137 is a text about being a refugee. The most frightening part of the text is a lesson for us to internalize. When we treat others with extreme cruelty, someone else will come and do the same against us and when they do, they will kill our children eliminating any possibility for hope and a future.

“Before the musicians gave this a first sight reading, I said to them think of the Aurora Colorado Police Department. One of our violinists replied by saying he remembered the time his body was slammed on the hood of a car and asked if he spoke English.” - D. Hallmon

Rev's Comments: Associate Chaplain Rev. Molly Doreza

“I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind. . . Yet I do marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing!” (Countee Cullen) 

Slowly, they came out of their houses. As police roamed with dogs and set the yellow tape, the sound of soft strings wafted over the scene of a recent shooting. It was strange - this bizarre intersection of sweet sound and terrible violence. People began to surround the musicians, awed by a “concert” at such a time. What could it mean? “No one has ever done this for us” a man said, listening to the healing music. 

Front line health care workers strained to look out the second-story windows of Children’s Hospital - as a fellow worker filmed live video from her phone at the ER door. Quarantined and afraid for their lives, nurses and doctors, technicians and janitors watched and listened - amazed by the music of the Black Strings Triage Ensemble below. “No one has ever done this for us” said a masked nurse, eyes glistening with tears. 

“What are the words you do not yet have?” Writes philosopher and poet Audre Lorde. . .what are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you sicken and die of them, still in silence?” 

The Black String Triage Ensemble and the African American music they play, bows salvation’s voice into the broken hearts of neighbors affected by gun violence and into the ears of front line workers selflessly caring for others amidst of pandemic. It’s music gathers together the collective sense of suffering, and gives voice to the pain of people still oppressed, still afraid. Their music is not a postlude to the events of suffering, but a song sung in the midst of it - an astonishing testimony to the vision of Jerusalem Justice, even at the rivers of Babylon.

Bargaining: (Jazz) Come Sunday

Composer: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899 - 1974)

Duke Ellington wrote three sacred masses. In this particular selection from one of those masses, the text asks God to come down to earth and save humanity. “Dear Lord above, God almighty, God of love, please look down and see my people through.” In making that request, the person acknowledges that there is some pain in life that they must endure. The text contains the line, “I don’t mind the gray skies cause they’re just clouds passing by and by.” Bargaining is always a conversation with God or the universe. It is a human questioning the trade off between how much suffering is necessary and when divine intervention begins.

Depression: (Blues) Wall Street Blues

Composer: W. C. Handy

(1873 - 1958)

W. C. Handy has been called the father of the blues due to the number of Blues pieces he wrote in his lifetime. Born in Florence, Alabama his family discouraged him from playing instruments. Handy’s grandfather was a African Methodist Episcopal pastor. Handy’s parents passed on that strict religious upbringing to their son. He was promised music lessons but only if he stuck to religious music. Handy started playing the organ and took lessons for a bit. As a teenager he joined a band and was able to purchase a cornet from one of his band mates and started practicing it. At 19 He was teaching music. Around the age of 30 Handy had settled himself and his wife in the Clarksdale, Mississippi/Helena,Arkansas area. It was there that Handy came in contact with the Blues. Ten years later Handy moves from playing the Blues, into composing and then into publishing. This allowed Handy to profit and distribute his music all over the United States.

The “Wall Street Blues'' was written in the wake of the 1929 wall street market crash. The lyrics speak to the depression of that reality. “I can sing the blues from the bottom of my heart, I can sing the blues from the bottom of my heart, All my profits gone 'fore I even got a start. Never had the blues like the blues I'm blue with now,Never had the blues like the blues I'm blue with now, Oh! what I recall of the street called Wall and how! Wailing Wall, Oh, Jerusalem! There's one in New York, too, Where I got a-whaling Now I'm ailin', Wailin' cause I'm blue. Margin callin' brokers, miles of ticker tape, Got a many poor old sap-head wearin' crepe, Wailin' Wall Street, I just can't enthuse, Boo-hoo-hoo-in', I've got the Wall Street Blues. More margin that's the broker's call, More margin, I can't meet his call, No more margin, Now he's got it all. No more margin, now he's got it all. Oh Wall Street you've got me depressed, Down-hearted, you can guess the rest, River's East end, graveyard's at the west.”

We are in the midst of a global pandemic. The idea of working and the ability to we may or may not have to work all become complicated because it is intertwined with our physical health. It is a healthcare problem and political problem that has caused an economic one. Nearly everyone is in some way concerned about jobs, finances, food, shelter, and water. Economic downturns are unique to the circumstances that give rise to them. Whether it is the stock market crash of 1929, the savings and loan crisis of 1980, the housing market crash in 2008, or the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, the depression that results from shattered life dreams, delayed plans and anticipations is very real.

Rev's Comments: Associate Chaplain Rev. Molly Doreza

Of the stages of grief, depression is the longest and most dangerous. Anger, bargaining, acceptance and faith are active responses - but depression is the place of helplessness and despair. St. John of the Cross,16th century Spanish mystic, referred to depression as the “dark night of the soul.” 

But It is also the place from which the miracle of the human spirit arises and becomes most brilliantly manifest. 

Paul Tillich, one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century tells a story which came to light during the Nuremberg Trials after WW II. During the Occupation of Poland, several Jews in the town of Wilma tried to escape the Nazis - by hiding in graves of a nearby cemetery. There, in that unlikely place, a young woman gave birth to a child. Analogous to this brutal narrative, Tillich explained that true faith and hope aren’t disembodied from despair - but born there. 

The blues is the sound of hope arising from the grave. From the depths of the black experience comes what Richard Wright calls “the endemic capacity to live.” The blues echoes a spirit stubbornly clinging to hope. It’s sultry sounds arise from despair, and insist that distress and mental anguish do not have the last word. 

It is curious that the blues have for so long been vanquished from religious gatherings and the so-called sacred community. Perhaps instead the “holy” and honest places have been the juke joints where despair’s hymns “confront the most unpromising circumstances and make the most of what little there is to go on, regardless of the odds.” (Albert Murray)

Acceptance: (Soul) A Change Is Gonna Come

Composer: Sam Cooke

(1931 - 1964)

Sam Cooke was also the son of a preacher. He was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the age of 2 his family became part of the great migration to northern U.S. cities settling in Chicago. With Black Americans coming to Chicago from the east and south of the country, Chicago was quickly becoming a hub of American musical innovation. As a teenager Sam Cooke led a gospel group. Before he was twenty, Cooke instead of making the typical crossover in genres from Gospel to secular, blended the two styles. As a songwriter the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was impressed with Sam’s work. The Rev. Dr. King felt that Sam had a gift for writing songs with deep humanity.

One of the most iconic songs of the civil rights era of 1960, “A change is Gonna Come” is a song written by Sam Cooke after an incident at a hotel. Sam, his wife and members of his band had booked a reservation at a hotel in Shreveport Louisiana. When the hotel clerk found out they were Black, they were not allowed to stay at the hotel. Naturally, screaming and yelling occurred. When Sam and those accompanying him got to a hotel where they could stay, the police were waiting for them to take them to jail.

The only thing we can be sure of in life, other than death, is change. It is the one constant thing that we as humans can be sure of. It matters little if the change is bad or good. We almost never know the details of when that change will come, how it will come or what it will feel like. The challenge for us is to dwell in the tension that all those unknowns create. Living in that space requires some degree of acceptance. Acceptance does not mean settling. Cooke makes it clear our tomorrow does not have to be our today.

Faith: (Gospel) Redemption Song

Composer: Bob Marley (1945 - 1981)

Bob Marley was born in Jamaica. His father was a White man that was captain of a ship. Capt. Norval Marley was a superintendent of lands for the British government. Bob Marley’s mother, Cedella, was a descendant of the formerly enslaved Cromantee tribe. Capt Marley promised the young 17 year old that he would marry her. Once she became pregnant, Capt. Marley abandoned her and the child. Marley and his mother moved to Kingston in a neighborhood called Trench Town. It was there that a young Bob Marley found friends that were insistent on making music. American R&B and American Funk had become of interest in Jamaica. Locally, calypso and mento had been popular. Local people were starting to experiment with the sounds of those styles of music. Marley joined a popular local band called The Wailers. The outgrowth of this new sound became what we now call Ska and Reggae.

Some have described “Redemption Song” not as reggae, but as an acoustic spiritual. Marley’s body was in severe pain from cancer that had started in his toe and eventually spread throughout his body. At the time of writing “Redemption Song”, Bob was constantly reflecting on his mortality, upbringing, Jamaican history and colonization. “Old pirates, yes, they rob I. Sold I to the merchant ships. Minutes after they took I, from the bottomless pits. But my hand was made strong. By the hand of the Almighty. We forward in this generation, Triumphantly. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourself can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy. 'Cause none of them can stop the time How long shall they kill our prophets, While we stand aside and look? Some say it's just a part of it. We've got to fulfill the book”

“Redemption Song” could be seen as Bob Marley’s ultimate prayer petition. By singing together we are collectively transported and taken to a different place where full freedom is possible. Song, as part of the human soul, comes from within us. The voice that we have is as ephemeral as life itself. Once our life force permanently leaves us, the voice that gives that life shape, color, texture and dimension, goes too. “Redemption Song” is an exhalation of the soul, seeking and inspiring unity as the sound rises and drifts above our heads, to the heavens like smoke. Setting that in motion as the sound leaves our bodies is an act of faith.

Rev's Comments: Lead Chaplain Rev. Ronald Ballew

It continues to be an honor and a privilege to serve as the lead chaplain for The Black String Triage Ensemble. On the other hand, I continue to be surprised the God has called me into this exciting Ministry.

The scripture that guides me is I live in to this call comes from 1st Samuel 3:1-12. When the Lord called Samuel, he did not recognize God's call the first or second time. With the third call, Samuel realize God was speaking to him. This summer I have had many opportunities to watch and listen to The Black String Triage Ensemble as they go about their work. One particular experience that comes to mind happened during the second taping session of the music video that The Black String Triage Ensemble has been working on, a family stopped to watch and listen to this outdoor event. The 6 year old African American Girl said she was excited because she had never before seen black ballet dancers nor heard black string musicians. This young lady said she wanted to be a dancer. Her family a firm her passion in her desire. It seemed as if The Black String Triage Ensemble gave her permission to dream her dream and hope that one day it would come true. In closing, The Black String Triage Ensemble is answering a call from God on so many fronts. Most impressive to me is the mission to educate the public they black and brown musicians can and do play and enjoy classical music. I hope and pray many more black and brown young people will catch the spirit.

Lead Chaplain

Reverend Ronald Ballew