I was listening to a rerun of This American Life a few days ago. The episode, Talking While Black, was released in after the racial tensions of the 2020 summer. It was a good episode and sadly still relevant today. Go listen! But what caught my attention was a song they used in the background during the closing credits. I couldn’t completely make out all the lyrics as the hosts were listing names of people who contributed to the episode… a few lines stuck out to me because I was not expecting to hear a prophetic critique of the church on a non-religious podcast — and in the music of the closing credits no less!
It echoes so much of my recent discussion with friends and neighbors over MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. I went out and found the song and am putting the lyrics below.
Oh, yeah, yeah oh, oh, oh
Well, well, well
I'm 'bout to set my sail (Sail)
Find me on the water (Yeah)
Or gone with the wind (I'm gone)
Something just ain't right (right)
I see the falling lights (I do)
I don't know
But I ain't never coming back again (Yeah)
Ain't tryna argue with 'em (I'm not)
They talkin' Marxism (Stop)
Critical race theory
Yeah, yeah, I'm gettin' weary
(Say they names)
But a man died (George Floyd)
Did that move you? (Breonna Taylor)
And all the church could do was debate news
There's gotta be more
Thе people that's suppose to bе
Light on the hill (For real)
We just sit back and chill (For real?)
We get on our Twitter and say how we feel
Pushing the propaganda of a tyrant
Look at them people protesting, they violent
Popular preachers, they seem to go silent
That's why I noticed we stuck on the island
We suppose to be an embassy (Embassy)
Heaven on earth, a remedy
Fightin' the white supremacy
Serving our neighbor with empathy
Now that I know what I know (I know)
I can't stay right here no more (No more)
Feel like you're caught in the church
On a boat sayonara to the shore (Oh)
Well, well, well
I'm 'bout to set my sail (Sail)
Find me on the water (Yeah)
Or gone with the wind (I'm gone)
Something just ain't right (Right)
I see the falling lights (I do)
I don't know
But I ain't never coming back again (Yeah)
I started connecting the dots (Dots)
Finding out who is the ops (Ops)
Preaching American Christianity
As if it was biblical, stop (Stop)
Is 2020 like a test? (Correct)
Am I being finessed (Yes)
By institutional Christianity?
They really nationalists
So what does it mean to be Christian, huh?
Just focus on personal piety? (Right)
Get my theology right
And ignore the injustice in a society?
(That's right)
They call it the social gospel
When you speak out on police brutality
(That's right)
But in reality, it's a political agenda
They pushin' mentality (That's right)
I'm settin' my sail, leaving the island
I feeling like I am myself (I'm not)
I'm feeling like Bonhoeffer
Mr cornel or Ida B wells (Yeah)
If our good works glorify (They do)
Our God in Heaven, lift them high (True)
The true church will arise (They will)
While the institution of them dies
Well, well, well
I'm 'bout to set my sail (Sail)
Find me on the water (Yeah)
Or gone with the wind (I'm gone)
Something just ain't right (Right)
I see the falling lights (I do)
I don't know
But I ain't never coming back again (Yeah)
Oh, oh, bye, bye, bye
Oh, oh, well, well, well well, oh yeah
Bye, bye
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