Day 6: Music as a Barrier Breaker

Today marked a tri-state journey from Alabama to Tennessee and Mississippi. It was a much more lighthearted day with some fun stops for photos, walking through a drive-thru to order, exploring the vibrant Beale Street of Memphis, and most notably experiencing the Stax Records Museum of American Soul Music.

I am not fluent in my soul music, and that’s a generous way of putting it. I learned an extraordinary amount today about the importance of Soul and the influence it had on communities. Music has been shown to be a powerful stimulus in the movement but seeing Soul in the public sector helped to show me the transcendence of music.

Booker T. & the M.G.’s was a prevalent band that worked with Stax Records throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Not only where they widely acclaimed, but they were also an interracial band, with two white men and two black men comprising it. In a time of segregation, their love of music inspired these men to overcome the social norms and work one developing a genre that celebrated African American history with their melodies which were incorporated with secular lyrics.

I recognize now then that music not only a bringer of joy in the face of adversity, but it can help to inspire people to go beyond their own culture. These four men were all clearly not segregationists, but the fact that they could find popularity in a segregated society speaks to the power of music.

I pray that we may continue to have these joy-bringing moments in life that serve as a catalyst to deconstruct social barriers. I pray that music will continue to fill our hearts and that it will continue to let us feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. I pray for those who have hardened hearts to find that which softs their resistance to love and the transformative power of the Gospel.

Matt Jenkins

Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)