final days forum

Memo from the 'Man In The Mirror'

Today I am heartbroken to learn about Michael Jackson's death. I'm not a rabid celebrity tracker, but  I remember the boy with the earth-stomping voice who made me giggle and squeal as a girl. (And often as a grown woman too!)

The man Michael Jackson confounded me at times, but his musical artistry was always there, a potent, unmistakable gift. But Michael's unexpected death sends a sober message: What God gives as a gift, release it and work it for the kingdom.

I feel like there was more for Michael to give to the world, despite the disturbing allegations of child abuse and the reports of his unorthodox behavior. But he's gone now, and his life, which will be examined for years to come, will continue to remind me of the explosive and influential  nature of God's gifts.

"You Are Not Alone," "Got To Be There" and "Man In The Mirror" may have hit the pop charts and made my dancing toes curl, but these songs reflect bits of the expansive love God has for us. It may not fit a religious paradigm to say that, but yes, God's love song can be discerned in the lyrics and melodies of Billboard hits. God just has it like that!

But like any public figure with an exceptional gift, we, too, can be thwarted from fulfilling our life purpose. Our personal issues can block us. We can be unforgiving, we can live for years estranged from family and friends, we can clothe ourselves with grudges, we can choose victimization instead of recovery from setbacks, we can be more at ease with our past accomplishments than in the courageous pursuit of new ones, we can wither away in the spirit of complaint, and we can look for God in all of the wrong places.

Ah, but if we would live life with the end in view! Death's touch is sudden and irreversible. Didn't you feel the pain of that today? The King of Pop's voice is silent and we will not hear him deliver that "Michael-whoop" or watch him dreamily moonwalk again.

As people around Texas and the country gather to memorialize Michael's trail-blazing music, may we remember that God's passion for us is not that we finish a life and earn a public postscript. The One who made us for himself  and not for ourselves wants us to finish well -- and that means doing all he created us to be.

Judy Howard Ellis

Bernie Mac and 'Hot Buttered Soul'

We won't be able to replace the two icons of African American culture -- comedian Bernie Mac and singer Issac Hayes -- who died this weekend. Newcomers may arrive on the scene and follow behind them, but they will be the branches of the tall trees these men rooted among us.

Both men were to be featured this November in a new movie, "Soul Men," which is named after the song, "Soul Man," which Hayes wrote with David Porter, according to TVGuide.com.

Bernie Mac, born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, had that gift to dig insightfully into the cracks in human nature and find humor in it. "The Bernie Mac Show" on television, and the film, "Guess Who?" and the "Ocean's" film series display his gift at its best. How Bernie Mac intrepreted parenting is refreshing and authentic in his television series. TV Guide named him #47 among the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time"  in 2004, according to The Internet Movie Database. In "Guess Who?," Bernie Mac is the face of Americans across the country, growing in his understanding of his daughter's choice to pursue an interracial marriage, yet, by the end of the movie, displaying fatherly wisdom to her fiance. In the Ocean series, he was a fitting player that helped give the films their comic strength.

Issac Hayes will always remind me of growing up in East St. Louis. I remember days cleaning up the house while his album, "Hot Buttered Soul" played on the stereo, a melodic accompaniment, a soundtrack for my adolescence in the 1970s. Hayes represents what I miss most now in contemporary music. So many singers then (think Marvin Gaye, Nancy Wilson,  Dionne Warwick, Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield, and Donnie Hathaway, just to start the list!) sang of angst, loss, hope, tenderness, and struggle. Play songs like "Walk on By," the theme from "Shaft," or "Soul Man" and I'm immediately transported to my teen years and home.

Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes, thank you for planting such tall trees for us.

Judy Howard Ellis

Links courtesy of www.idmb.com, www.groovesharklite.com, http://www.ninasimone.com/, http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Donny%20Hathaway.html, http://classic.motown.com/artist.aspx?ob=ros&src=lb&aid=1, http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/curtis-mayfield, http://missnancywilson.com/, http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Todays-News/Bernie-Mac-Dead/800044883?rssDate=12345678, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Man_(song)

Tina and Beyonce: a classy act

Tina Turner and Beyonce Knowles took the stage at the Grammys tonight and it was a lovely moment in music history, particularly for the lesson it taught.

As the pair boldly sang Tina's signature song, "Proud Mary," the routine resonated with the sense of the older artist honoring the younger artist. Not many veterans in any field always are willing to shed egos and share the spotlight. Keeping up appearances matter too much. Holding onto past glory is so precious that little strength is left to celebrate the talent and gifts of the young.

But onstage tonight, Tina showed us how to do it. More performances of "Proud Mary" lie behind Tina than before her, but her generosity to Beyonce -- and an entire generation of younger artists -- was beautiful to behold.

I couldn't find video of tonight's performance at the time of this posting, but here's Beyonce giving a tribute to Tina a few years back: