Ancient Christianity & African-American Conference

I was so involved in a conference from Thursday through Sunday of last week, that I forgot I had today off. . .until yesterday evening. It was like being a kid and waking up to 8 inches of new snow, knowing that school was out. Time to get the sled out and go tear up the hills! But I'm so sobered from the conference I attended, that I don't have any desire to tear anything up. My soul has been shredded enough over the last few days. That's not exactly right. . .it was more like surgery. I didn't feel too much pain, but the recovery is going to take a while.

I attended the 11th annual Ancient Christianity & African-American Conference here in Portland. I encourage you to click on the link and read a little about this conference, and also explore some of the other links provided at the website. I'm not inclined to "summarize" the conference here in this Blog. But, I am hopeful that as I integrate many of the things I heard, the things I saw, the conversations I had with people of color as well as other white folks like myself. . .it will color my future Blog entries. . .no pun intended. However, since this website is all about music, I would like to mention one thing.

All my life I have been profoundly affected by the music of African-Americans. It's probably a matter of taste, but more formal forms of music have never appealed to me the way that early Delta Blues, Jazz, some Rock, some Pop, Bluegrass, rootsy Country, and Folk music has (no order intended). There is something real in this music that comes from the heart. . .usually a heart seasoned with suffering. Now, not all of the music I listed came from African-Americans. Bluegrass, for example, seems to have formed in the Appalachian mountains and has some connection to the folk music of the poor and struggling Eastern European immigrants who settled there to mine coal, etc. But the Afro-Americans didn't come to this country as immigrants, but rather as slaves. Their suffering was more profound and it seems God has given them an even greater consolation in the music they have managed to create. I'm no student of Jazz, but I know enough to know that it is an art form created largely by African-Americans on this continent. . .perhaps the only music that is extant today that can make that claim. I've always wanted to thank the African-American people for this music, but how do you thank a "people"? As a Christian I should have known the answer to that question. . .the key is in the Incarnation of Christ. That is, when God appeared in the flesh, he took on the body of a single man, Jesus Christ. When I worship and bow down before Christ, the Icon of the Holy Trinity as it were, I am worshipping God. The same applies, in a much smaller scale of course, with people. That is, each of us are representatives, or icons, of larger groups. Being in a conference where this sort of thing is made clear made it possible for me to say to a small group of African-Americans, "Thank you for creating such real, soul-stirring music that has benefited my soul for many years." It felt good to say that. . .and it felt even better to hear, "You are welcome."