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.
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