Mists and Lemonade
You must have been living under a rock if your weekend was not peppered in some way with the announcement of the death of the musical legend and artist known as Prince. Shortly after this announcement, his body was autopsied, returned to his family, cremated, and an intimate ceremony was held for his close family members and friends.
Just like that we are all quickly called to ponder a profound question with a simple truth:
What is your life?
You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Within a couple days of this announcement some were visually, spiritually, emotionally, artistically, physically awakened again with the dropping of Beyonce’ new album, Lemonade. I do not consider myself a fan, nor am I am card carrying member of the Beehive. Yet, as an African American woman who has navigated a life of suffering, healing, love, and forgiveness in this mortal body, I found myself renewed, awakened, refreshed as I watched the transitions of visual album take place.
The short scenes follow the themes of intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation. Several times, I caught myself taking slow and steady exhales out loud. I could breathe again. It was a celebration of life after death of the unexpected.
A stand out for me was the track titled, “Freedom” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Over a heavy drum beat and bluesy guitar, Beyoncé belts out the lyrics:
Freedom! Freedom! I can’t move.
Freedom, cut my loose!
Singin’, freedom! Freedom! Where are you?
Cause I need freedom too!
And I sit and ponder the shifts that are taking place in our own country and in our world. The past couple weeks have been filled with days of words, intimate conversations, internal wrestling, and the desperate need for a truth that liberates…a truth that does not constrain or choke the life out of an already starving people.
Continue reading at Missio Alliance.
A SISTA'S JOURNEY 