From the spiritual underground

Love & justice for Nov. 20 and beyond

Monday, January 20. The inauguration of Donald J. Trump. And Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the day the nation sets aside to commemorate the man who led the movement against racial discrimination through nonviolent activism. It’s quite the juxtaposition.

Whether or not you decide to tune into the now trimmed-back inaugural events, I’d encourage you to take some time to reflect on Beloved Community, the source of spiritual and communal strength that propelled the Civil Rights movement to triumph over daunting odds. (Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize winning author of King: A Life, will be speaking at Calvin University’s January Series tomorrow; register here to view remotely.)

As an academic, I tend to focus on the information side of things. It’s my specialty. I like people to know as much as possible about the forces shaping our society so that we can individually and collectively make wise choices in pursuit of the common good. But building a movement for the common good requires more than good information. Truth is about having an accurate sense of things but it’s also about tapping into something deeper—to a sense of goodness and beauty. It’s about maintaining your ability to love in a world filled with temptations to mock, belittle, and hate. It is about staying generous in a world that baits you into resentment.

How do we maintain this posture when there are so many reasons to be frustrated, and even disgusted, with those around us? How do we maintain our moral and emotional grounding in an age of polarization when ridicule and rage are rewarded with clicks and dopamine surges?

This is where the arts come in. The arts remind us of beauty and truth, of a reality we want to create, of values we hold to and with which we want to realign ourselves.

One of the things I’ve committed to doing in the coming months and years is seeking out works of beauty and truth. This is not an escape from the challenges of the day to day; rather, it’s providing strength and spiritual grounding for each day that comes.

As a Christian, I grew up listening to Christian music. Some has held up well, some…not so much. As I hear “worship rallies” using praise music to rile up hate and division, I’m tempted to walk away from it all.

Enter Common Hymnal.

Common Hymnal is an online platform that has been set up as an outlet for creatives on the outermost margins of the Christian faith. One of the consequences of the dramatic shifts in culture in recent years is the displacement of a generation of gifted artists and thought leaders who are writing songs and telling stories that do not fit the religious industrial complex. In making a home for these people, Common Hymnal has been able to curate an intriguing catalog of music that centers life, justice and underground spirituality, covering a wide range of subject matter in a broad range of styles. As such, Common Hymnal has recorded and released a fresh collection of songs each year since its inception. All the while, the clamor for this music to be brought into live spaces has been on the increase. The ecosystem is full of dynamic performers, and different combos of artists are traveling out to do shows on a regular basis. Because of the intentionality of the lyrics, the project has gained significant traction in the justice movement. The aspiration is to become more and more a part of the zeitgeist of the culture at large.

I’d been hearing mention of Common Hymnal from people I respect, but I was too busy to find out what they were talking about. Then, as part of our Faith & Democracy tour in the months leading up to the election, I had the opportunity to meet Tommy Sims. Depending on where you’re coming from, you might know Tommy as the bassist for White Heart. Or as Bruce Springsteen’s bassist on his 1992-93 world tour. (Tommy did background vocals on Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia,” a favorite of mine.) Or, as the Grammy-winning co-writer of Eric Clapton’s “Change the World.” (If you’re a fan of Clapton’s “Change the World,” you owe it to yourself to listen to Tommy’s version):

On Friday, Tommy and Common Hymnal released a new song in honor of the King Center’s Be Love movement, a movement inspired by MLK’s words: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love withotu power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everythign that stands against love.”

Listen here to their new release:

To learn more about Common Hymnal, I recently chatted with Malcolm du Plessis. A music executive in Christian circles for decades, Malcolm worked with “Worship Together,” Promise Keepers, and the Maranatha Singers. A South Africa native, he was also an activist in the anti-Apartheid effort. Bringing together his activism and his music, he established Praise and Protest. Here’s how he described the project:

Each of us activists played a small part in a massive project. My contribution was to help build a library of socially conscious worship songs to enable the church to become a credible prophetic voice in our corrupt and inhumane system. I gathered a multi-ethnic, multilingual community of creatives, and misfits from the margins of our society, to join me in the work. And the songs that we wrote juxtaposed the integrity of the kingdom of God and the injustice of our country. They touched a nerve ending and gave a spectrum of the church language to participate meaningfully in our national march to freedom.

Then, Malcolm ended up moving to the United States. Here’s what happened next:

I always knew that my experience in South Africa was going to help me when I moved to America, but, honestly, I did not expect for it to feel like I would be moving from one South Africa to another. Hence, I am once again in the trenches helping build a musical catalog under the banner “Praise And Protest.” Just like at home, the church here has a long history in the practice of racism. With very similar justifying propaganda, and with white Christians being extremely susceptible to it.

Listen here to Malcolm in conversation with Nontombi Naomi Tutu, Desmond Tutu’s daughter:

Nontombi: Whites, including white Christians, seem unable to contemplate the catastrophic impact of a multi-century traumatic history on blacks and other people of color, while promoting psychological care for much lesser wounds amongst the privileged.

Malcolm: Just like in South Africa, when racism is brought up, White Christians all too often respond by stressing their preference to stay out of politics, yet freely jumping into political discourse about select issues that they deem more important or that affect them personally. When someone comes up with a simple and compassionate statement like “black lives matter”, White Christians responses are often shocking and very revealing.

Nontombi: White Christians often feel comfortable, publicly supporting and voting for white politicians who have racist histories, rhetoric and policies, when those politicians’ policies safely protect them and their interests….

Malcolm: All this said and done, white people here easily feel victimized when their feelings are hurt, with very little consideration for the way that racism threatens non-whites’ survival and not just their feelings.

Nontombi: The list of similarities goes on and on and on.

Malcolm: I know it well. I grew up in it.

Nontombi: There is, however, one massive difference.

Malcolm: In the South Africa in which I grew up, the white community knew we had an issue. We were known for racism. It was our national brand. Our government legislated it and the majority of the white community were HONEST and downright indulgent about enjoying the benefits that they were afforded. Everything was out in the open.

Nontombi: In this South Africa in which I now live, it’s hard to find a white person who will be honest about the way that they have leveraged their privilege against others. The sense that many portray is that racism ended in the sixties, yet you will be hard pressed to find any Black person, or, in fac any other person of color, who feels this to be the case, yet the overwhelming majority of white Christians voted for our current President, displaying a tone deafness to his racist history, rhetoric and policies. The dissonance is blaringly loud.

When I talked with Malcolm, it was not lost on either of us that three of the billionaires who have Trump’s ear hail from South Africa.

Now, Malcolm has brought his Praise and Protest project to the United States, producing music from and for the spiritual underground. As the organizing force behind Common Hymnal, Malcolm describes its mission simply: “Fuse praise and protest, Jesus and justice. Our project is based on the idea of God’s people being an independent kindom of priests, a collaborative culture where everyone has a part to play.” In an era of corporate music and powerful CCM gatekeepers, he’s gathered an array of musicians singing and writing from the margins, songs “that fight back against racism, lament over injustice, prayers for the hurting, and a longing to see true justice for the black and brown.”

I can’t think of a better way to observe MLK Day this year than to listen to the work of Common Hymnal. Do this for your own spiritual grounding and resilience, but also consider supporting this endeavor. You can find them on Spotify, Apple Music, and even better, support them here through Patreon. With a small monthly contribution of $5, you can directly support the creation of beautiful and sustaining music and stay connected to the creators.

I’d love for you to share in the comments works of art that ground, sustain, and inspire you, works that remind you of truth and beauty, compassion and justice. May we all drink deeply from this well and find ways to support those offering this sustenance.