Like the heartfelt laments in the Psalms, blues artists openly engage in life issues. The lyrics are straightforward and sometimes suggestive, but they capture the life experiences of listeners. While gospel music promises peace in the hereafter and the promise of God’s presence, the blues are of public theology, communal inquiry, and a critique of prevailing norms.
Most of the blues sing about alcoholism, family support, and incarceration, issues that never come up in the weekly sermon unless it was to scold against sin. The blues gave musicians an opportunity to sing their lived theology.
Under every stanza is the silent and unspoken question, “How long, oh Lord, how long will your people continue to suffer?” Art also carves pathways toward our inner isles of spirituality. When we decide to live in our heads alone, we become isolated from the God who is closer than our next breath.
Subjecting everything to rational analysis reduces awe to ashes. The restoration of wonder is the beginning of the inward journey toward a God who people of faith maintain but is always waiting in the seekers’ hearts.
John 11:33-36 “When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. ‘Where have you put him?’ he asked them. They told him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, ‘See how much he loved him!’”
