FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
I have heard enough of the criticism being directed at Beyonce for her latest release, “Church Girl.” So while I am not a Beyonce fan and know very little about her, I was tempted to read the song’s lyrics for myself. And I need to confess that before I could finish, I had to stop because most of the language is against my understanding of faith, values, and cultural upbringing.
I did not mean to tell you that “I am old school” and that the words “respect,” “decency,” and “uprightness” are of exceptionally high value to me. But I am not able to appreciate anything that seems sacrilegious.
Let me offer a minor criticism, like some that I have read. I argue that the song reflects the cry of the heart of someone living on a “precarious edge.” Yes, when I started to read the first lines of the lyrics, I felt that there is a place in Beyonce’s heart where she is aware that she is living amid the curse of a covenant that needs to be renewed. I quote just the first lines that brought me to my conclusion:
Ooh, ooh (I wanna be centered)
Ooh, ooh (I wanna be centered, I wanna be centered in thy will)
I’ve been up, I been down
Feel like I move mountains
Got friends that cried fountains, oh
I’m warning everybody, soon as I get in this party
I’m gon’ let go of this body, I’m gonna love on me
Nobody can judge me but me, I was born free
I do not know whether Beyonce’s phrase “I’m gon’ let go of this body” is a contemplation of her temporality; I am assuming it is. Thus, I wish that instead of turning to the self, she would have turned the focus on God and also understood that her judgment is in the hand of God and not in herself. I also wish that she would realize that while there is a judgment at the end, there is also the daily judgment on whether the covenant of God is broken individually, communally, or nationally.
Let me turn aside from the talk about Beyonce and wish that, as a reader, you might agree with me that all of America (and the world) is under a present judgment of God for the covenant that is being broken. The Covid pandemic, the Moneypox, and all of the climate, economic and political tragedies that we are facing might be telling us a story about our breaking of the divine covenant. I hear more and more comments that “America has broken its covenant.”
And without going into what is meant by “covenant,” let us agree that those speaking thus are seeing the curses coming on the land. It is biblical that when humanity breaks its covenant with God, it faces curses written even in the Covenant as stated to Israel. I have looked at the curses in the Covenant as listed in the first five books of the Bible, and I am profoundly struck by how much they resemble much of what we are facing today. Just look at the following list and see how much it fits with what you see about yourself.
I credit Dr. Joseph R. Nally, Jr., D.D., M.Div. the Theological Editor at Third Millennium Ministries, for his extensive biblical research in the following list that comes with breaking the Covenant.
- Anger/rejection from Yahweh
- Rejection/destruction of the cultus – that worship experiences
- War and its ravages
- Fear / terror / horror
- Occupation and oppression by enemies/aliens
- Agricultural disaster/unproductivity
- Starvation/famine
- Illness / pestilence / contamination
- Desolation
- Destruction by fire
- Harm from wild animals
- Decimation/infertility
- Exile/captivity
- Forced idolatry in exile
- Futility
- Dishonor/degradation
- Loss of possessions/impoverishment
- Loss of family
- Helplessness/stumbling
- Psychological afflictions
- Lack of peace/rest
- Denial of burial
- Becoming like the cities of the plain
- Death/destruction
- General / unspecified
- General punishment / curse / vengeance
- Multiple punishments
Have you seen any of the above in the present conditions? Have you experienced any? If you have, it means we are dealing with the curses of the Covenant and other covenants as well. So, my great reminder to you is what the writer of Proverbs states, “As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.” (Proverbs 26:2 KJV)
As I noted with Beyonce, my point is that we need to be on a path of covenant renewal rather than living as if we do not care about our covenant curses.
