Spirit take us home
Take us home by another way
Take us long way ’round the tyrants
and their schemes
Give us strength to walk
Show us dreams of a better day
and we’ll pave the way with justice
Goin’ home by another way
(Christopher Grundy) https://soundcloud.com/christopher-grundy/take-us-home-by-another-way-live-demo
We sang this refrain (plus three verses sung by Solveig Leithaug) at the “Southern Lights” conference this weekend (January 12-14, 2024) at St. Simons Island. GA. The song was an allusion to the current season of Epiphany, which celebrates the defiance of the tyrant Herod by the Magi, when they “went home by another way.”
As you may know, Herod intended to kill the infant Jesus, an apparent threat to his dominion, as prophesied by Micah.
Micah 5:2, “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity”
The Gospel of Matthew (2:16) tells us,
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Thus Herod proved himself the most ruthless tyrant in the Christian Testament, and an archetype of all tyrants, as conveyed by the song lyrics. That’s a lot of unpacking of a few lines of music, but no one had to explain it to the participants at the conference; they were largely of retirement age or older and knew their way around the Bible. A shoutout to the younger generations attending. No disparagement intended.
If a summary of the weekend was needed, the lyrics of “Spirit Take Us Home” would do it. It was about dealing with injustice in an inhospitable world.
From Cole Arthur Riley [ https://colearthurriley.com/ ] we learned “How emotional truth talking can be recognized in an oppressive world.” Cole helped us see that, by-passing the necessary lament, middle class “niceness” could discount the real emotional damage of racism.
From Simran Singh[ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2470676/bio/ ] we learned to “Burn the practices that take you away from love,” as he recounted the hate he encountered as a Sikh growing up in San Antonio, TX.
From Elizabeth Schrader Polczer [ https://www.elizabethschrader.com/ ] we learned how Mary Magdalen was the second Mary in the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead: “He [Lazarus] was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.” This was a false transcription of “Mary and her sister, Mary.”
Papyrus 66 recorded Martha as the sister of Mary of Bethany, but Elizabeth discovered that the scribe of this text had scratched out the name of the second “Mary” and substituted “Martha” in several places: Why would this matter to us? Because the “Martha” in this chapter was the only person in the Christian Testament, other than Peter, to declare “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” It indicates her prophetic understanding of who Jesus truly is.
Libby gave us a lesson in manuscript analysis by projecting the Greek text on a screen to show where the scribe had substituted “Martha” for “Mary.” She accomplished a very technical explanation of textual analysis in layperson’s terms to show us the significance of a tiny manuscript editing choice. Amazing job.
After these extraordinary speakers, we heard an equally stirring concert Saturday night from Brian McLaren, Solveig Leithaug, Ken Medema, and Libbie Schrader. Brian shared a whimsical take on terrible times on the guitar, Solveig sang of her ancestors’ entry to Ellis Island with electric guitar, Ken Medema wrote an imaginative ballad about the prophet Ananias and Apostle Paul and played it on keyboard, and Libbie Schrader sang the tribute to Mary Magdalene she wrote, which started her exhaustive research on Magdalen’s role in the Christian scriptures.
Most wondrous of all: the stupefying improvisation of Ken Medema, as he responded to each of the speakers with a jazz rendering of their major theme. The unique talent of synthesizing a response to complex expressions of faith extended our understanding of “gifts of the Spirit.” Ken is a visually-impaired keyboardist who accompanied the singing of the entire weekend, blessing all of us with his creativity and love.
I apologize if this cataloging of an amazing weekend gives a shallow understanding of glory. It’s pathetic to say, “You had to be there,” because it just stirs up regret or envy. I only give a superficial appreciation of how much blessing was shared by many eloquent and talented people. Perhaps also an invitation to join “Southern Lights” a year from now.