Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Let Your Soul Lead the Way

I give you Afrika Bambaataa.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A horned singer and a covered man (what a shame!) performing in front of an audience making the sign of the Devil...
You cannot be serious!

jdaviddark said...

I'm not sure how to respond.

Anonymous said...

Wow. SoulSonic Force. This reminds me of other times... fire hydrants, fat steve, youssef, the gap band, kenyeh(sp?) walking around on his hands, Schwinn stingray, stolen lawnmowers, cherry trees, kangaroo boots, max julian, cat walking, jumping off garages...

I haven't forgotten one beat of this song... or the block parties where it was blasted... so good

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

Is your name Mike Warnke?

jdaviddark said...

Kingdom of God AS Block Party. This is how I see it all playing out. I believe our man Beck would place his own self on the Bambaataa continuum come to think of it. And I thank you, Mark, for channelling those memories and associations. This is how the good work gets done. I thank you.
And if Mr. Warnke is tuning in, respect to you, sir.

Atar Jacob Kashat said...

WHERE is Bambaataa in the Bible, with respect to the Kingdom of God?
Do you think that the Kingdom of God is all 'smoke and mirrors' and that it is played out on a stage with an audience?
No, I am not Mike Warnke. You call me anything you like, it doesn't matter, for we live in an age of 'relativism'. Nothing really matters, now, not even The Truth.

And the truth, for I must come out with the truth about me, at some stage... I am just extremely saddened that most of the churches today do not endure sound doctrine which is found in the Scriptures.

I must apologize to you, David, for being behind a mask, and showing little grace and mercy. I know this is not good. But, I hope that you will listen to not my 'opinions', for they aren't mine, but listen to what God's likes and dislikes are, from the very source from which you can know: The Word of God, which is sure and lasting. No other words will do. He even has elevated The Word above His Name, imagine that!

Please accept my profuse apologies.

jdaviddark said...

Good to hear from you, Stephen. And there's absolutely no need to apologize.
To the first question (and I don't intend this as a provocation), I see Bambaata in Galatians 3:28, the second chapter of Isaiah, and the last chapter of John's Apocalypse, to name a few spots. I see it when I hear Mahalia Jackson sing "Study War No More." To the second, I wouldn't limit bearing witness to God's kingdom to smokes or mirrors, but I would say it's often played out before an audience (I have in mind the lunch-counter-sit-ins that occurred here in Nashville, S. Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that sort of thing. Very fragmentary, we might say, but nevertheless instances of kingdom witness. I view this sort of thing as live enactments of God's word. Deeply biblical. Of the Lord. Any biblical sounding phrase anyone can intone is, to my mind, applicable here.
I hope my opinion on these matters bears witness to the Word of the Lord as you understand it, but if you think I'm irredeemably off and want to say so, feel free to e-mail me.
best,
jdd

Anonymous said...

i often wonder if 'relativism' is really so pervasive. i'm hard pressed to name a single public figure who would go on record against all forms of objective truth. many would note, however, that when we speak, we can't help but say not the truth but our opinion about the truth. the truth itself is always more than we mean by what we say. i resist that notion that anyone can speak totally devoid of their own assumptions, psychology, opinions. even our reading of scripture is colored by nationality, class identity, race, generation, etc.

here's hoping that the spirit-filled community is always at work to correct our words when they don't deserve god's approval, or to affirm them when it happens that god has spoken through us.