'Zat You, Santa Claus?

I guess, as a Christian, I am supposed to be going around pointing out to everyone that Jesus is “the reason for the season,” but I almost think that would be kinda grinchy, right? And I think I’m supposed to hold some sort of grudge against Santa for stealing the Baby Jesus’s thunder, but frankly, I just don’t have it in me. 

As Christians like to point out, Santa was born from a combination of traditions, including the legends of Saint Nicholas, a Turkish 4th-century Christian bishop with a penchant for secret gift-giving. So he’s got that going for him, as far as grinchy Christians go...

Santa – what's not to like?!

I actually kind of like Santa. I mean, what’s not to like? He’s jolly, he gives presents... and for some reason, this year, I’ve begun to see something else in the anticipation of his coming... It seems to me like an echo of our longing for Christ’s return. I mean, the whole first half of the Bible Israel is waiting, waiting, waiting... “How long?!” they would cry out... waiting for God’s Messiah... like we are during every Advent. Fortunately for us, our waiting is merely symbolic. We’re just lighting candles and reading passages every Sunday at church. The promised Messiah has already come! 

So instead, we wait for a fat man in a red suit to bring us an iPod or, as the irritating kid in Polar Express says, some "stupid underwear." The anticipation now starts before Thanksgiving, thanks to modern retailers and their over-enthusiastic advertising. “Hey, kids! Let’s go ahead and start waiting for Christmas!” But the truth is, I’m always waiting for Christmas. 

Saint Nicholas

Not the coming of the jolly old elf, or even the coming of my Deliverer - because that’s already happened... No, I’m waiting for... something I can’t really put my finger on... For ALL of God’s promises to be fulfilled in every way...? Or maybe it’s just heaven I’m waiting for? To actually see God face to face? One of the “waiting” Psalms actually says, “When will I see God?” and I have to say, I know exactly what that guy meant. I have a fantastic life down here, with much to recommend it, but frankly, the anticipation of what’s to come is always kind of lurking in the back of my mind. Not in any morose or suicidal way, just... I’m looking forward to what comes next. To being back in the arms of Jesus, Lover of My Soul, as the old hymn says.

Our life on earth is full of signs and symbols, and I have decided to crown Santa the symbol of joyful waiting – also known as "hope." On the other hand, I also realize that not everyone has the same experience with this jolly generous soul. To some people, maybe he’s a symbol of disappointment. In another song on that album A Very Special Christmas 3, Run DMC and a bunch of other rap artists weave together a bunch of Christmas in the ghetto tales, to produce a poignant song of Christmas disappointment... The blessing is, though, the artists who made this song know where to turn in their disappointment.

Our Advent Calender dispenses chocolate!
Christmas is about a lot of things –
waiting is one of them.

“Santa Baby, are you really real? / Chris Kringle /Let me see you make my pockets jingle  / We need some jobs in the ghetto / Too much gangbanging where kids are playin / I hear the church bells ringing / On Christmas Eve / I believe / Jesus-calling me / Forget the gifts and the shopping lists / And the new kicks / Your just falling for tricks / (you better praise him)”

You see, if Santa is all that you are waiting for, it’s possible you will be disappointed. Because, of course, the version of Santa you get depends largely on your economic means. But if it’s a Messiah you’re waiting for, well - 1. He’s already come and 2. He’s coming back. 3. He doesn’t care how much money you have. 

In fact, this is one situation where all the money in the world will not help you. In fact, Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Fortunately, for the rich, He follows it with this: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19) To which I say, “Whew.” Because Jesus came to shepherds... and also to kings.

Everybody Wins!

If you are my friend on Facebook (and if you’re not, send me a friend request!) you know that I have been posting a YouTube video of a Christmas song every day since December 1. I love traditional Christmas carols and sappy seasonal songs like Have A Holly Jolly Christmas, and There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays, though I admit that this is the only time of year that I would listen to this kind of music. But even more, I like when MY kind of music takes a Yuletide turn.

I have no problem at all finding songs to post - lots of my fave artists have gone Yule: XTC, U2, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Cockburn, The Pogues, The Pretenders... There’s one record, though, that I tend to keep in my car throughout the season, and I’ve had to practice quite a bit of what Oswald Chambers calls, “sheer determination of the will” to keep myself from posting every single song off it: A Very Special Christmas 3. As its number indicates, it’s the third in a series of compilations of festive tunes recorded by current pop stars and sold to benefit Special Olympics. This edition is loaded with great tunes by 90s standouts, and nearly every song is AWESOME. 

It’s got Sting, who Saw Three Ships, Steve Winwood, who sings a gorgeous, albeit slightly judgmental Christmas Is Now Drawing Near At Hand, Blues Traveler having an existential crisis, Rev Run & the Christmas All Stars featuring Mase, Puff Daddy, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Salt N’ Pepa, Onyx & Keith Murray giving us a taste of Christmas in the ghetto, and Natalie Merchant or 10,000 Maniacs, doing Children Go Where I Send Thee (which I can’t listen to without thinking about how a friend of mine was at a party once where Natalie Merchant took off her top and danced around.) Also, Patti Smith sings an eerie, exotic version of We Three Kings. My son says she sounds like me – I’m not sure whether to be flattered or insulted! And the guy from Soundgarden does a stunning rendition of Ave Maria – not quite grungy, not quite sweet, but a little of both.

No Doubt

But this year, the song that has been on endless “repeat” in my car for Bill – and for me, is No Doubt’s cover of the Vandals’ Oi to the World. This song has EVERYTHING. A searing bass intro, a groovy ska beat, great trumpet riffs on traditinal Christmas songs, a great story, and a happy ending. It goes pretty fast, but if you can concentrate on the lyrics, it’s about a “punk” named Haji, and a “skin” named Trevor. See, Haji starts an “Oi!” band. 

Here’a a little background (according to Wikkipedia): “Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths (sometimes called herberts).” Britain’s recent history is full of periods of unrest between gangs of its disenfranchised young people. Ever seen Quadrophenia? It’s the Who’s awesome film (featuring Sting!) about riots in the 60s between Mods and Rockers. There were riots in the early 80s and again this past summer. The sharks and jets change, but it’s something that is always just simmering under the surface. Oi! was a shortlived movement that urged young people to "just get along."

So in the song, Haji’s band is playing in a pub on Christmas Eve, which makes Trevor and his friends super mad. You see, they like the music, but not the implication that everyone should get along... A rooftop rumble ensues in which both gangs beat each other to a pulp with nunchucks and “a sword like the guy in Indiana Jones.” Most of the guys flee, leaving our principals suffering on the roof in their injuries. Here’s the best part... While laid out flat on his back, Haji spies a star – ostensibly the Christmas Star, gets up and wraps Trevor’s wounded head with his own turban. Happy Christmas ending: they climb down and buy each other a drink.

See? Perfect. And VERY Christmassy... with the Christmas Star as the herald of a new world order, where racial conflict is disintegrated, and harmony is achieved. The first Christmas star attracted dudes from “the east,” most likely not Jews. See, up until then, the Jews were all about keeping “clean” from Gentiles. But Christ came to bring PEACE ON EARTH and GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN. Not just Jews... His salvation is available to ALL men (or humans, to be politically correct). So, in the words of the Vandals (or Gwen Stefani): If God came down on Christmas Day / I know exactly what He’d say / He’d say “Oi to the punks and Oi to the skins / and Oi to the world and everybody wins!”

Foxy Lady!

This boot - it's what's
for dinner.

It’s a little hard for me to talk to you right now - I’ve got a foot with giant platform boot on it in my mouth... Yes, it looks like some words are going to have to be eaten... by me. 

You see, my mom, who is going to be 81 years old in a week or so, is getting her very first computer. That’s right, you heard me... While she certainly can take care of herself in many areas, personal computing has not been one of them. Back in the early 80s - or was it the late 70s? - she took a class at the local community college in computers... back when they had those cards with the little square holes in them. Well, she did NOT take to it at all, and has been computer phobic ever since.

My mom as a young'un,
or is it Jackie Kennedy?

And so she spends her idyllic days gardening, making collages, reading The New Yorker, taking walks and doing water aerobics, cooking her low-fat, low-salt, yet nonetheless pretty good-tasting meals... Basically, anything that is off the grid, internet wise. She writes letters on pretty notepaper, balances her checkbook with a pen, watches basic cable and listens to WCPE on analog radio. 

Not that there’s anything wrong with that...! She has, though, missed being able to e-mail her kids and her sisters, see the photos we post online, read blogs... MY blog, in particular... which is where me putting my foot in my mouth comes in.

I mean, I know that I have not always been 100 percent kind when I spoke about my growing up years. And I wonder, now, if the things I wrote, I wrote with the confidence that my mom would never ever read them. Oops. Now, I really don’t think I wrote anything THAT horrible, so I’ve got that going for me... but just to cover my tracks, I’ll write some really flattering things. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making this stuff up – it’s all absolutely true. I just think I ought to correct any impression that I may or may not have given regarding the woman who gave birth to me.

Young Jackie Kennedy,
or is it my mom?

First of all, she’s a fox. When she was young she resembled Jackie Kennedy, and even now, she is always trim and well-dressed. And if that makes her notice how her kids look, what are you gonna do?! She studied art at UNCG (called Woman’s College back then) and continues even now to learn and grow creatively, taking classes in an array of subjects at Duke’s Continuing Education program and the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Her artist/design sense carries over into many areas – her home, her clothes, even the packages she wraps... They’re masterpieces in tissue, paper and ribbon. 

And my mom, well, her life has not been a piece of cake. She lost her husband when they were both just 49 years old - THAT’S HOW OLD I AM NOW!!! She was left with five children between 10 and 20 years old, in a big house full of reminders.

She turned 80 year,
but she's only just begun.
I look like an elf in this pic - 
see my pointy ears?

Needless to say, she was a tad depressed. Well, really depressed. Staggeringly depressed. Yet she carried on... Straightened out what had to be a financial mess, went back to school to earn her masters in Library Science, worked at the local library ... and sent all five of us to college and out into the world. And whether it was her successes or her failings that made us who we are today, we all turned out pretty damn good if I do say so myself! And now that I'm a mom, I see what a feat that was. 

Could I have as much... guts? Or whatever the word for that is? I don’t know. And now she’s once again exploring a new frontier – the computer age and the world wide web. I think she’s a bit leery, but willing to give it the old college try. And I know it may take a while, but eventually she’ll make her way to this blog, where she’ll read this and know how awesome she is! Hi Mom!

Oh Sweet Mystery of Life...

Just one volume
of the giant
book of things
I don't know

At the end of John’s gospel, he writes: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” At my first job out of college was at my hometown newspaper, The Oxford Public Ledger, the editor said a similar thing about me... except, it was more like, “If they compiled a book of all the things you don’t know, it would be so big you couldn’t lift it.” 

Now he said this because I was fresh out of college, had not lived in Oxford for four years, and when I did, I was a child/teenager and had no clue about local news or politics. So, yes, I did NOT know many things that the paper existed to address. 

Real or legend?

And I will come right out and say that I still have a stunning amount of ignorance about many, many things. Besides the regular facts and skills that I have neglected to learn in my life, such as how photosynthesis works and how to scramble eggs (because I hate them), there are the real mysteries of life that cause me to scratch my head whenever they pop into it.

This is the kind of thing the writer of Proverbs was talking about: “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.” (Proverbs 30)

Here are just a few of the many things that stump me:

What happened to
these guys?

1. Free will? or Predestination? This is one of the age-old mysteries that the thinkers in churches chew over... “Did God choose me or did I choose God?” I don’t know. There are a lot of arguments either way in the Bible, and lot of people will say they know, but I can’t imagine that they really do.

2. What happens to people who have never heard of Jesus? No clue. I do trust the God I meet in the Bible, though... Whatever he does will be nothing but right and good.

3. Did King Arthur exist or is he just a legend? Will I get to meet him in heaven?

4. What happened to the Lost Colony? I’m definitely asking God this one when I get to heaven.

5. Did OJ do it? (My husband laughed really hard when I brought this up one time. He said, “Of course he did it!” But for some reason it’s still a little blurry to me.)

6. Big Foot, UFOs, the Loch Ness monster, ghosts. Do they exist? I don’t know.

7. How do I avoid ruining my child’s life? I know crummy parents whose kids have turned out great, and good, sweet parents whose kids are terrors... and everything in between. I just want to make sure my kid is kind, loves God and can take care of himself. How is this accomplished?

Hitler - what a jerk

8. What was up with the Nazis? I mean, how could they be such jerks?

9. A bigger mystery than that: How can Christians be so mean? Not all Christians are mean, of course, but some are. How do they reason this out? I saw a movie once called The Magdalene Sisters about girls in a Catholic boarding school in Ireland. The nuns that ran the school were just... cruel. (I was going to say “crazy-ass bitches,” but I’ve probably offended enough.) Although I am not always a perfect joy to live with, I try to be aware of it when I have been mean, and try to make amends, and not make it a habit. But systematic cruelty among Christians? I just don’t get it.

The nuns in The Magdalene
Sisters were so not nice.

10. Will wearing black really make me look thinner? Or is that just a myth too?

So, what is someone who knows so little doing writing a blog? Well, I’m not trying to tell you what I know or how to think... it’s more like I am pondering the mysteries of life with you. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1) And to begin to seek wisdom, you have to first admit you don’t have any... right? I hope so, anyway... but what do I know?

Confused and Confusing, But It Was On My Mind

I might as well just set myself up in a pulpit... Not that I’m qualified in any way, it’s just that I keep writing these entries that sound like I’m doing Bible exposition... I don’t really mean to, and it’s not going to become a thing, but right now it’s what’s on my mind.

Anyway, the other day I read Genesis 47, which, to me was a real headscratcher. You see, it’s all about how Joseph dealt with the famine that ploughed through Egypt when he was Pharoah’s right hand man. 

Since he knew it was coming, he had already stored a bunch of grain... so when the people ran out of food they came to him and bought food. When they ran out of money, they sold him their animals, and when they ran out of that, they sold him their land. Finally, when they had nothing left to sell for food, they sold themselves to be slaves in exchange for seed to plant food. And even then, they had to give Pharaoh a fifth of what they grew. So... then Joseph / Pharaoh owned EVERYTHING. The people had NOTHING. Not even themselves.

“The land became Pharaoh’s, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.” Reading this, I thought, “What?” It just didn’t sit right with me... I’m not sure why... maybe because as a modern American, the whole idea of slavery appalls me. And the fact that they actually OFFERED it all to him doesn’t make me feel any better because he was their only source of FOOD. It seems a little like extortion or something. 

Remember when WHAM! wanted
us to choose LIFE? 

But I guess the key is, while he accepted all they had, he gave them the only thing that really mattered - LIFE. Had he not known about the famine and been proactive, they wouldn’t even be ALIVE. 

Last week our pastor said, to paraphrase, "Jesus is the Word, the Bible is the Word and they cannot be separated. So, when you read the Bible, imagine that JESUS is telling you the stuff."

Well, I thought about this when I was reading the passage about Joseph taking everything the Egyptians had and enslaving them... and then I allowed it to come up alongside of some stuff I have read in the New Testament... like Jesus saying: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16) Here, Jesus asks us to give up all that we have and are to follow him. Voluntarily, like the Egyptians did with Joseph. I guess the difference is, they could actually SEE that it was a matter of life or death. Sometimes it’s not that obvious to us.

But here’s what’s interesting: Jesus did this very thing for us. I mean, He was God – with the sparkly throne heaven and everything. But... “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” And all so WE could have LIFE. 

If we superimposed the Joseph story onto this, it would be like if we were dying and tried to buy food from Joseph and he said, “You don’t even have enough money or value to buy food from me...” Then Jesus went to Joseph and said, “Look, dude, I’m God. I’m perfect. I’ll give you everything I own, and be your slave if you give them the food.” 

Big Star

So, if Jesus has given His life for ours, why do we have to give our lives to Him? In Paul’s view, it's because God and His grace are so AWESOME. That’s why, in Romans 11, he says “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.”

The beauty of this is that being “slaves” to God is actually freedom. But what kind of freedom requires people to give themselves away?  Well... freedom from constantly having to trying to save our own souls. Because it can’t be done. And what kind of life is that anyway? And then, after we’ve lived this life of freedom, we get to have that freedom from death that Jesus promised us. And so we’re back to that... LIFE. I think it’s a pretty good deal.

And now I’m going to let Big Star play us out with this awesome song. Please click on it, because it's really worth the listen.

Christmas All Over the World

See how Christmas-y we are?

In our house we loooove Christmas. You know those houses you pass that are covered with lights and blow-ups and candy cane path lights and life size nativity scenes... Well, ours looks kind of like that, only it’s all on the inside. We have a tree with about a thousand lights and ornaments, those dancing, singing table-top things that use a lot of batteries (like the Homer Simpson in a Santa suit that sings, among other things, “Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly, fa-la-la-la-la...”) We have nutcrackers on every surface, stockings hung by the chimney with care, lights around the windows, Santa nesting dolls, seasonal throw pillows and quilts, Christmas coffee table books... Bill even has his own little tree in his room. 

At the Christmas parade

It’s all kind of insane, I know, but I do love it. We are a relatively young family, but we have established our own traditions already... mostly involving regular events like marching with the cub scouts the Chapel Hill-Carrboro parade (one year we saw John Edwards!), and our families, like our annual Sneed-Moore throwdown the Saturday before every Christmas... during which we manage to “throw down” a large amount of traditional holiday vittles and try to tell each other everything we wanted to say during the previous year. 

Even though I am creeping up on fifty, I have never really gotten over the sweet magic of Christmas, and I love passing it on to Bill. I know that as a Christian, I am supposed to be appalled at the commercialization of it all, and freaked out by how the secular world has co-opted the celebration of the birth of Our Lord... but I’m just not. I mean, I think you can have Christmas without spending a ton of money, and it doesn’t to hurt to go to church on Christmas Eve and get into Advent, which is a good way to remember and anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth... because then you’re on board to remember what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown... 

In my opinion, there is no such thing
as too many Sneeds (or Moores!) at a party...

Yes, instead of seeing it as the world stealing our celebration of Christ, I prefer to see it as the time when our celebration of Jesus invades the world! When else do you turn on commercial radio and hear someone singing about adoring Christ the Lord? We Tivo’d the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center the other night and were surprised to see Neil Diamond, a Jewish fellow, singing Christmas carols... and not just the ones about snow and chestnuts roasting on an open fire! It's like everything is turned upside down... in a good way!

I have a great Christmas album called Christmas Time, which has a bunch of local (North Carolina) artists on it – including Peter Holsapple singing O Holy Night. It is a mellow, non-pompous, very earnest rendition, and I just love hearing it. The sad thing is – whenever I hear it, my head is filled with questions like, “Does he believe what he’s singing? Or does he just think it’s a good song? Or is he just singing it to help his friend and fellow dB Chris Stamey who is putting the record together? Or is he just hoping to make some money from it?”

What's a nice Jewish fellow like Neil
Diamond doing singing Christmas songs?

But really, who cares? I mean, whatever his reason for singing it, at least for the time it took to rehearse and record it, he was actually conscious of Jesus. And then all the connoisseurs of local music who bought the album, whenever they listen to it, THEY will be aware of Jesus, even if they’re not listening to the words, and it’s just creeping through the back door of their minds... Because God can be sneaky that way. ("But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached." Philippians 1)

Peter Holsapple and his friends, the dB's –
great '80s power pop from Winston-Salem

I once heard a Christmas Eve sermon by a man named Jim Thomas, who, while speaking of Jesus’ birth, also talked about an incident at Jesus’ death. See, when He was on the cross and breathed his last breath, the temple curtain split in two. I’ll give a little background here: in the Jewish temple, there was a secret area called the “Holy of Holies” and no one was allowed in there except a priest, and he could only go in one time a year. And even then he had to have a rope tied to his ankle in case something happened to him in there – that way they could drag him out without having to go in there. That’s where they kept the 10 Commandments... and the Mercy Seat... and where the sins of the whole nation were washed away on the Day of Atonement. And anyone who went in there other than the appointed priest on that special day, would die... I’m not sure why – maybe because God is so great and wild and glorious, no one can stand to be that close to Him.

Jim Thomas – he fights 
AIDS in his work at the UNC 
School of Public Health 
and gives amazing sermons 
in his spare time

Anyway, Jim Thomas said (and I paraphrase): “It is usual to think that the curtain split because Jesus death made it possible for ANYONE to come into God’s Presence. But I like to think it was so God could spill out.... out into the main temple area, into the court of women, farther out into the court of the Gentiles... and then across the world...” As Jesus told his disciples (Acts 1): “You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” And Jesus’ message – His birth, life and death are for everyone – all over the world... as we sing in Joy to the World, "far as the curse is found." The shepherds were itinerants... the Wise Men were Gentiles – possibly sorcerers, but they got the message...

And even if Christmas as we know it is busy and gaudy and Mariah Carey in a sexy Santa suit and Justin Bieber singing All I Want for Christmas Is You, it’s also a time when the name of Christ is OUT THERE... invading the airwaves, our schedules ... and our souls, if we let him!

The Amazingness of Grace

Remember those touring rock and roll shows back in the 50s with like a ton of acts, like Chuck Berry, then Little Richard, then Buddy Holly... Well, I don’t either - how old do you think I am?! Anyway, I’m bringing them up because that’s exactly where I felt like I was the other night... ‘Cos I was at the Carolina Theatre watching Aaron Neville’s Christmas show.

Well, they billed it as a Christmas show, but there wasn’t much Christmas a about it. Just a couple of Christmas songs – My Christmas Prayer and White Christmas, which was, note for note, a copy of the Drifters’ arrangement of the old Bing Crosby chestnut instead of his own wistful soul version. 

I highly recommend Aaron Neville's
Christmas album. Soulful indeed.

If you haven’t heard it, Aaron Neville has a really sweet Christmas album... none of which was sampled at this “Christmas Show.” Not that I’m complaining - I’m just saying... What it WAS like, was one of those 50s revues that I mentioned earlier – with a bunch of different bands. Except that it spanned several decades of music, and every group had the same, albeit fantastic, singer with the same breathy voice, loaded with vibrato and emotion. 

He wrapped his soulful vocal stylings around Sam Cooke's Cupid, Stand By Me, A Change Is Gonna Come, Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are, Hall and Oates’ Sara Smile, Bob Marley's Stir It Up, Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face AND Killing Me Softly... his own hits like Tell It Like It Is, Everybody Plays the Fool, and Don’t Know Much, which he did back in the late 80s with Linda Ronstadt. Honestly, I really can’t remember all the tunes – there were just so many, and all over the map: Doo Wop, MOR, Reggae, Blue-Eyed Soul, Gospel... And some of these songs are not really songs I would listen to on purpose, but I have to say, each one was great showcases for that perfectly angelic voice he has. 

The two highlights for me: a Neville Brothers song called Congo Square... which made me feel like I had just jumped into an episode of Treme. Aaron’s brother Charles Neville wailed on the saxophone on this wild number. The other highlight... Aaron’s beautiful heartfelt and humble delivery of Amazing Grace. Because I am pretty sure he knows about the amazingness of grace firsthand. I mean, check out this little video of him working with Alan Toussaint, another New Orleans legend, on a couple of gospel songs including: I Know I’ve Been Changed. And how about this footage of him on Later with Jools Holland doing the Merle Haggard gospel tune I Am A Pilgrim.

Aaron Neville is hot!

Here he is, this wild tattooed and pierced man (who, by the way, I find quite attractive – but that’s a whole other issue) with a weightlifter’s body, a silky, angelic tenor voice, a long history as a touring musician, and a prison record... and the grace of God pours out of his mouth whenever he sings. His faith is preeminent, even as he sweats and grimaces his way through a set of songs that span decades of time and an array of styles. Just like the gospel of grace... It crosses all boundaries... “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galations 3). The gospel belongs to this wild Cajun man, and it belongs to me, a little boring white woman... And all God’s people say, “RIGHT ON!”