Blog : Give Me Grace

Give Me Grace : A Song for You

Posted on by lisha epperson

 

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“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” – Bob Marley

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”  – Maya Angelou

I need the healing work of good music to soothe what ails me. Whatever it is. It’s the centering work of my souls compass and singing along brings me to the cross, singing along show me my true north. I liken the lyrics, at least some of them, to the wisdom of proverbs, the love poetry found in Song of Songs.

I sing at the top of my lungs and cry or smile over the special lines I’ve memorized. Often it’s Christian praise music. Today it’s not.

My not-yet-a-woman self remembers Saturday clean-up time well. My mother played records and sang the joy and pain of love with Nancy Wilson and The Fifth Dimension. I’d sing along. Before I knew what the words meant. I knew what they meant. You know what I mean? I’m spiritual, romantic and a little melancholy because of it. Good music shaped me.

Today I’ll clean my refrigerator and fold the laundry while listening to the likes of Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway. I’ll wash my hair humming a little Stevie or Nina and end the day with a full heart,  remembering God – for the gift of music.

How do you unwind? Tell me about the music that moves you.

Enjoy a few selections from my weekend groove/inspiration list :

I Told Jesus – Roberta Flack

I Told Jesus be alright if you change my name
I Told Jesus be alright if you changed, changed my name
I Told Jesus be alright be alright be alright
I Told Jesus be alright if you change my name
if you change my name
mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm

A Song for You – Donnie Hathaway

I love you in a place where there’s no space or time
I love you for my life
You’ re a friend of mine

Donna Wood dancing to Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” – because if you watch it you’ll know what I mean when I suggest dance as an opportunity to meet God in ecstatic, euphoric liturgy. Music is an important part of that.

And Gladys… always Gladys – Make Yours a Happy Home

I get full of pride and so sanctified
You don’t have to be for me
No superstar
I love you just the way you are
So won’t you make yours a happy home
Make yours a happy home

Let your handmaiden find grace in your sight…#GiveMeGrace

♥

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Grace Table : An Invitation to Dance {the hospitality of art}

Posted on by lisha epperson
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photo credit : Brandee Shafer

Before sunrise on 125th Street, before the vendors and employees arrive at the buildings along the boulevard, two men greet each other with a hug. They begin to unload vans and unfold tables, arrange incense and small colored bottles and soaps, accessories for small electronics and hand crafted beanies. While doing this music plays. The men stop when they recognize a communal favorite and finish their morning routine stepping together, in tune and time to the music. They dance.

Like the ring/shout dances done by Africans during slavery, Serena Williams invoked the Holy Ghost when she performed her joyful crunk-style dance after winning the U.S. Open in 2012. Or the Sunday morning shout festivals that usher in the spirit of Pentecost when a congregation lends itself in physical worship. The call and response to the feel good atmosphere is what happens naturally when we answer the cry for worship. More often than not, we’re compelled to join the dance.

When we use our bodies as instruments to express the beauty of God – our offering brings the gospel to life. Dance is sacred, a basic, intrinsic way to bring glory to the God of creation. With our bodies…we become the prayer. The temple come to life as the word becomes flesh and dwells among us. Jesus in me. Jesus in you. Each gesture, step or turn is an opportunity to meet God in ecstatic, euphoric liturgy.

In May I attended the Jumping Tandem retreat in Lincoln, Nebraska. Hosted by Deidra Riggs, the theme “grace” opened the door for thoughtful contributions from a delightful gathering of speakers and presenters. I had the opportunity to minister in dance and lead a movement workshop. My students would be women of various ages and abilities, some confident from experience…others determined to break free from deep-seated insecurities.

I’m at Grace Table today with Kris Camealy and friends. We’re discussing the hospitality of art . This is how I do it.

Give me Grace : The Gospel of Immanuel {bearing witness}

Posted on by lisha epperson

IBeleiveImmanuel

 

Grace means bearing witness to the faithfulness of God which a man has encountered in Christ, and which, when it is encountered and recognized , requires a corresponding fidelity towards God. – Karl Barth

Though I didn’t grow up in a church going family I sense the woman I’ve become is shaped largely by a heritage of believers. Faith is in my blood. I’ve carved out a years long life of trust in God…just because. My spiritual mother would use words like unshakeable to describe the faith of my southern born and raised maternal and paternal grandparents. Theirs lives tell the story of “how they got over.” It is a testimony to the strength of their resolve that generations later what remains – is faith. I am the remnant from all those years.

And I resisted it.

I rejected what I imagined to be blind faith – the kind of faith that left no space for questions. Doubt, in this arena, is a weakness to be overcome and the word, the word is infallible. You approach the bible as a red-letter believer and stand on the truth of His word. Period.

Believing it inherently weak, I fought this legacy.

Today I call my inheritance the gospel of Immanuel. In it I find rest in the tension of knowing and unknowing. I have been called and I live the truth of a personal revelation. I know, because I know – that I know.

Faith is trust in a God who’s shown himself. It is believing beyond the hope of the veil to the horizon of a third day. It is believing in a Christ who exists as a perpetual homecoming – the spirit of revival, in the hearts of his people.

Sojourners of the past (my ancestors included) didn’t turn a blind eye toward injustice or the clear and present danger of indoctrination. Theirs was an allegiance born of a calling. Their faith was a response to the blessed assurance of Christ revelation. He was real. He still is.

This is the gospel of Immanuel. God with us.

The gospel of Immanuel is a history of trust in the presence of God, the glory of hope in a divine encounter. That encounter demands we bear witness. That we, in turn remain faithful. That we continue to tell the story of his radical love.

Let your handmaiden find grace in your sight…#GiveMeGrace

♥

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On Being Held : a guest post for She Loves Magazine

Posted on by lisha epperson

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He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. – Colossians 1:17

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

– Psalm 139:9-10

I watched a mother and child holding hands as they walked along Park Avenue recently. From behind I noticed their fingers gently but securely entwined. My eyes followed their connection which despite the typical overcrowded sidewalk choreography, never wavered. She never let him go. And the boy, maybe aged 6…held fast to his mama. I don’t know the details of their steadfast pairing but God whispered in my noticing – you are held. Hold on, I won’t let you go.

I knew in that moment the complete security of a mother God who never leaves.
God will bear, God will carry, God will sustain.

God’s love never fails.

My spirit knows things my heart struggles to comprehend and my mind knows things this flesh never will – but God holds me. His shepherding of my spirit is a fearfully and wonderfully made gift. Oh that I’d not be too afraid to receive it.

I hear God saying rest. Trust.

I’m learning to live the trust I experienced in my first encounter with the Bible. My first wild, outrageous introduction to God as Most High, the great I am – when I simply believed enough to trust Him with my life. When I gave God permission to fill me, to reveal himself to me – when I said “yes” to the divine truth of Christ revelation.

Draw near, God sits in the middle of your every day life. In shadows and confusion, in the hopeful promise of selah. We are held in the center of our situations because Jesus is there. We don’t have to chase down a spiritual experience to know the forever of His covenant.

This writing is more hopeful prayer than post, that each reader might feel the security of being held. Join me at She Loves Magazine to read more.