Mary by Patty Griffin

Mary by Patty Griffin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOxpvKuEruk

When I was about fourteen, I was at some Methodist campground in Tennessee, I'd been running a vacation Bible school with my youth group. One night near the end of the week, in a big circle of kids around a campfire, I prayed aloud for God to be a mother to me.

You see, my mama was really sick at the time. She had a brain tumor and she was losing her memory. My dad was doing the very best that he could—trying to be a dad and take care of my mom at the same time. But I needed a mama, and, well, I didn't see why God couldn't do that.

Some minister came up to me later that night, and told me that it had taken him years to realize that God could be a mama. He encouraged me and praised me for knowing this so young. It just made sense to me.

I was enveloped in church life and god-language, and, well, if God was really all that we claimed then being a mother shouldn't be too hard.

Right?

I'm still amazed at how hard it is for us to allow God to be a woman. I am blessed that I got to see this at fourteen.

Because for me, God "is covered in treetops, [she's] covered in birds." She is the very holy ground we walk on—covered in roses and ruins. She stays behind and starts cleaning up the place, and always she stays.

Now, my mama kept getting sicker, and she died when I was seventeen, but I was surrounded by a community that loved me. In all my little girl sadness, I knew that I was loved. When I stopped being mad at God, and looked back at my sad little girl self, I saw that I had never been alone. Casseroles came to my house, and I was held on Sunday mornings by mamas who had watched my mama grow up.

Church can be an incredible thing—the very body of the very living God, and she will always stay. I believe this—give my very heart to it. It comforts me and sustains me. Our bruised and broken God knows what it is to mourn, to grieve, and we are not alone.

peace, and all that jazz,

~Mary Rachel

Mary you're covered in roses, you're covered in ashes

You're covered in rain

You're covered in babies, you're covered in slashes

You're covered in wilderness, you're covered in stains

You cast aside the sheet, you cast aside the shroud

Of another man, who served the world proud

You greet another son, you lose another one

On some sunny day and always stay, Mary



Jesus says Mother I couldn't stay another day longer

Flys right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face

While the angels are singin' his praises in a blaze of glory

Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place



Mary she moves behind me

She leaves her fingerprints everywhere

Every time the snow drifts, every time the sand shifts

Even when the night lifts, she's always there



Jesus said Mother I couldn't stay another day longer

Flys right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face

While the angels are singin' his praises in a blaze of glory

Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place



Mary you're covered in roses, you're covered in ruin

You're covered in secrets

You're covered in treetops, you're covered in birds

Who can sing a million songs without any words

You cast aside the sheets, you cast aside the shroud

Of another man, who served the world proud

You greet another son, you lose another one

On some sunny day and always stay

Mary, Mary, Mary

I Get Out - Lauryn Hill MTV Unplugged

I Get Out by Lauryn Hill MTV Unplugged

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF_a1q2FdBs

Writing this devotional on this song was a struggle for me. Speaking honestly would upset some, which I’ve quickly learned is not the Mid-west way. However, holding back goes against the message in the song and who I feel God is calling me to be. So here goes…

As a young adult in the church I think that I have a little more freedom to be a radical because most see this as a phase that one “grows out of”. However, I don’t think we grow out of rebellion, but grow into complacency. As a seeker of justice I am constantly questioning why I stay in the United Methodist Church. Why waste my time fighting the system? Why not go to a church that welcomes all in word and deed? Can I as one person really make a change?

Milky makes me stay. Milky was a camper at Waterstreet, an inner city youth camp I worked at while in college. Milky was one of the most thoughtful, gentle children I’ve ever met and as a result was picked on by his fellow campers hoping to beat masculinity into him. Whether or not Milky was questioning his sexual identity (or rather being forced to question by a society that forces us to fit a norm) he was mocked daily when I was not there to protect him.

Milky’s picture hangs in my office calling me to fight for a church that affirms his gifts. No matter how tired I get fighting the psychological locks our church attaches to “open doors”, Milky’s smile keeps me going.

I pray that one day Milky and I will both be able to stand together where he isn’t loved through abuse, victimized and expected to stay hurtin, kept a slave through material crumbs of inclusion thrown his way, or held hostage by others hurt feelings. One day we’ll get out of this social bondage and stand together as the kin-dom of God knowing that we’re loved because we are both of sacred worth, victorious and full of joy, validating our tears along the road to freedom.

~Rachel


I get out/ I get out of all your boxes/ Il get out, you can't hold me in these chains
I get out/ Father free me from this bondage/ Knowing my condition is the reason I must change

Your stinking resolution is no type of solution/ Preventing me from freedom / Maintaining your pollution/ I won't support your lie no more/ I won't even try no more
Oh If I have to die oh lord that's how I choose to live/ I won't be compromised no more
I can't be victimized no more/ I just don't sympathize no more/ Cause now I understand you just want to use me/ You say love, then abuse me/ You never thought you'd lose me
But how quickly we forget/ That nothing is for certain/ You thought I'd stay here hurtin
Your guilt trips just not working/ Repressing me to death/ Cause now I'm choosing life yo/ I'll take the sacrifice yo/ If everything must go then go/ That's how I chose to live

No more comprises/ I see past your disguises/ Blinding me through mind control/ Stealing my eternal soul/ Appealing through material / Oh just to keep me as your slave
But I get out, oh I get out of all of your boxes I get out/ Oh you can't hold me in these chains, I'll get out/ Of this social pergutory/ Knowing my condition is the reason I must change/ See what you see is what you get/ And oh, you ain't seen nothing yet/ Oh, I don't care if you're upset/ I could care less if you're upset / see it don't change the truth/ And your hurt feelings no excuse/ To keep me in this box/ Psychological locks/ Repressing true expression/ Cementing this repression/ Promoting mass deception/ So that no one can be healed/ I don't respect your system/ I won't protect your system/ When you talk I don't listen/ Oh let my Fathers will be done/ And just get out,/ Oh just get out of all this bondage/ Just get out, oh you can't hold me in these chains/ Just get out/ These traditions killing freedom/ Knowing my condition is the reason I must change/ I just accepted what you said/ Keeping me amongst the dead/ The only way to know/ Is to walk then learn then grow/ But faith is not your speed/ You'd have everyone believe/ That you're the sole authority/ Just follow the majority/ Afraid to face reality/ This system is a joke/ You'd be smart to save your soul/ And escape this mind control/ You spend your life in sacrifice/ To a system for the dead/ Where's the passion in this living/ Are you sure it's God you're serving/ Obligated to a system/ Getting less than you're deserving/ Who made up these rules I say/ Who made up these schools I say/ Animal conditioning just to keep you as a slave/ Oh just get out of this social purgatory/ Just get out/ These traditions are a lie- just get out/ Superstition killing freedom,/ knowing my condition is the reason I must die/ Just get out, just get out, just get out, lets get out, lets get out, / Knowing my condition is the reason I must die.