A Call to Action – to Make a Difference for Love!

The song was written by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr and released in 1942 by Billie Holiday.

It begins with a version of a Biblical quote that comes from either Matthew or Luke’s story – both have verses that are similar. It says that those who have get more and those who don’t lose what they have. Whilst the Biblical versions are in particular contexts around wisdom, faith etc, the song takes the line quite literally in the context of their lives as African American people in America.

The refrain that recurs through the song and part of which forms the title, says: ‘Mama may have. Papa may have. But God bless the child that got his own.’ The song was formed around these words and their meaning. Billie recalled them as words she used in a fight with her mother. She’d given her mother money to start a business but when her funds were low and she wanted to borrow money from her mother, her mother said: ‘No.’ They fought and Billie stormed off saying, ‘God bless the child that got his own!’ The one who has, seems blessed. Blessed by God, by life and is happy. The one who doesn’t have, doesn’t get and is not blessed. The song moves forward speaking into the reality of the impoverished of America, contemporary to their time.

This reality was exemplified by black song writers and musicians who created and recorded music, but white owners and producers claimed rights over the songs, added their own names and paid the black composers and musicians minimal amounts. In so many ways people of colour were impoverished and discriminated against, and this song speaks into that reality. In that time the black church had it spirituals that named heaven as the place where justice and peace would come – the next life – and the blues spoke of the reality of life in this world. This song spoke into the reality of their life and invited a response – now! There is a sense of questioning faith that speaks of hope and justice but stops short of struggling for it and believing it can happen now and to ‘us,’ here in this life. It invited, no insisted, that the black church and community stand up and struggle for the justice of God! It was a call to action, now!

Commentators suggest that this song, and others by Billie Holiday, were the beginning of the movement that became the Civil Rights Movement a few years later. Billie was outspoken through her music and followed by the FBI through her life. They kept her under observation, fearful that she might overstep the line and challenge the status quo in ways that might cause people to rise up in ways America didn’t want. The eventual Civil Rights Movement was grounded in Christian Faith and the call for justice, equality and everyone having a seat at the table; of not being judged by the colour of your skin, but the quality of your character. This vision is God’s vision of everyone having enough and no-one having too little, of people sharing resources for life.

This week in Luke’s story of Jesus (Luke 12:13-21).  There’s a story about a man running up to Jesus and asking him to make his brother deal with the inheritance issues fairly. It was normal for a Rabbi to be asked to interpret issues of law for other people. Jesus refused and told a story about a man who was rich because he had many lands, probably gained by creating indebtedness in poorer people then foreclosing and taking their land as payment. His lands produced a good yield, and he probably determined to store it away until prices went up in seasons of poor harvest. Therefore, he built bigger and bigger barns to store everything up so he could relax and enjoy himself. It was at that point, says Jesus, that he died. He continued, asking, what it has achieved for this man that he has everything but loses his life? He encourages us to be rich in the things of God, rather than the kinds of things we are encouraged by our society to cling to – wealth, power, status and so on. It is interesting that this man, in the story dialogues with himself – there is no-one for him to speak with, no person and not even God. He has cut himself off from everyone else! I pondered whether his death was symbolic and metaphorical or physical. When we hoard and accumulate and then isolate and protect ourselves and what we own, we separate ourselves from and break relationship with others. Is this isolation and aloneness, what is life is all about? This passage throws up questions such as: ‘What gives meaning to our life?’ What is it that defines our lives and to what do we give ourselves? What is a good life? Is it in the accumulation of power, status, wealth, possessions, experiences, education etc? Or is it something else?

Life, as Jesus proclaims, and as we know in our own deep yearning, is about relationship. It is relationship with other people, with other creatures and with God! It is about being in relationship in a community where we share what we have, and people have enough to live and find joy and hope together.

Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog were defined by the colour of their skin, their culture, their language and were kept impoverished in many ways, excluded from sharing in much of the communal life that white people took for granted. The relationship between people of different colour skin was broken and there was pain, struggle and hopelessness. In modern America, various accounts suggest that most wealth rests with the top 10% of people (somewhere between 66-80%) and the bottom 50% has access to under 5% of the total wealth. This inequity is observed across the world, where far too many people have access to far too little resources for their families to live fully and well. This is the world we live in. It is a world where indigenous peoples across the world struggle to maintain culture, language and connection to land. Lost in the colonisation and abuse of indigenous peoples, is the wisdom to live well in connection with the land, in relationship and the ability to live together as people, humans sharing life on this Earth with each other and the creatures and Earth itself. There are people this day who are dying from lack of food, water, medicines and somewhere to live. We can make a difference by living into this way of Jesus, this way of love and hope!

Jesus’ life and teaching is about relationship – relationship with each other, with the Earth and its creatures and with God. It is about sharing and generosity, where those who have capacity share with those who don’t, and everyone has life that flourishes. It is about learning to live into the way of love, of justice and to live with hope in peace and joy – together.

Jesus’ invitation is to cast off the things that falsely define us and find deeper being and reality in the source or everything, the One who gives and sustains all life. It is an invitation into a life that is rich in God’s grace, love and generous abundance, shared with all people. Billie and Arthur call us into action to make a difference. What will you do this week?