Performed Word Transcript

Performed Word Transcript

- [Minister] E.E. Cleveland] How many knows that there's something in that message found you, and you want to be remembered in prayer?

- [Congregants] Oh, yeah.

- [Minister] Thank you, brother. If don't but one, that'll be a blessing. I'll thank God if I got one. The Bible says, the scripture was written by the Lord, without reproof, without correction, without example. Noah preached 120 years and didn't get nobody but his family.

- [Narrator] All preachers perform sermons.

- [Narrator] And most congregations tend to pass judgment on sermons and preachers. But the way we evaluate the sermon, or for that matter, any performance depends largely upon the culture with which we most closely identify. In an African American community in Berkeley, California, Bishop E. E. Cleveland, pastor of Ephesian Church of God in Christ is regarded as a master artist because he is more than a preacher. He is the embodiment of his culture. He is a bearer of African American tradition. By understanding why a preacher such as Bishop Cleveland is so highly esteemed by African Americans, one may begin to see conscious patternings of African American culture. One can begin to understand the power of the African American performed word.

- [Minister] Let me try to get over to you. He say here, what you be concerned about is you don't get this, you ain't got nothing. You shall receive power. You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And then you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and Judea and in Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. And you miss that, you missed it all.

- [Narrator] All human beings have prejudices and values. For those of us who do human and cultural studies, we are confronted by this major problem because those values and prejudices affect the ways we see, and see other people and the ways in which we make sense of things. Further, to complicate matters, we have difficulty communicating our understandings. For one reason, we want to speak from our hearts as well as our minds. For another, we have learned historically that to render an entire culture or group is impossible, even if we are members of that culture or group. We have also learned that it is less frustrating and more honest and productive to identify one area of a culture which may shed light, significant light, on other areas. I'm a folklorist. More importantly, I'm an African American folklorist. I have my master's degree from the University of California here in Berkeley and my doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Folklorists study expressive performance. In a broad sense, almost everything one does can be considered as performance. The way you dress, the way you fix your hair, the way you walk and the way you talk and the way you move and gesture. Performance is a form of expression. It is a way we communicate information about ourselves, both as individuals and as cultural entities. ♪ You came into my life ♪

- [Choir Director] And when the sopranos sing, then altos

♪ There's been a change ♪

♪ Do it.♪

♪ There's been a change ♪

♪ You said... ♪

♪ Change ♪

♪ Do it. ♪

♪ Change ♪

♪ Change ♪

- [Narrator] In a more restricted or formal sense, performance such as music, dance, poetic speech and drama is always structured, and it requires systematic preparation and training, in part, because an audience is usually present and that audience knows, at least implicitly, what a good performance is.

- [Choir Director] Okay, let's do it You say-- This is of particular interest to the folklorist since it is a point of entry to a culture to know what is valued by people and what is not and why.

♪ You came into my life. ♪

♪ You came into my life. ♪

♪ There's been a change, ♪

♪ Change, great change in me, ooh. ♪

♪ Ooh. ♪

♪ You came into my life. ♪

- [Choir Director] - Very good!

♪ You came into my life. ♪

- [Choir Director] There's a change.

♪ There's been a change, ♪

♪ Change, great change in me. ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh. ♪

- [Choir Director] I want Just do it.

♪ You came into my life. ♪

- [Choir Director] Do it again change.

♪ You came into my life. ♪

♪ There's been a change, ♪

♪ Change, great change in me. ♪

♪ Ooh. Ooh. ♪

- [Narrator] Relationship between performer and audience changes from culture to culture and changes over time.

♪ High time. ♪

♪ Blue skies. ♪

- [Narrator] In contemporary African American performance, one is likely to see some elements of European standards. The star system, for one, has in some ways changed the nature of Black performance. Black performers have become separated from their audiences, either by the physical presence of a stage or by European propriety.

- [Skater]

♪ Oh, yeah. ♪

♪ Make it feel real good ♪

♪ With your body. ♪

♪ Oh, so long ♪

♪ Been so high. ♪

♪ You turn me on. ♪

♪ Baby, I wanna get that. ♪

♪ You making me, ♪

♪ You making me, ♪

♪ You make me wanna put my thighs into the sky with you. ♪

♪ Thigh's high ♪

♪ To the sky. ♪

- [Narrator] In traditional African American performance, the separation of performer and audience is less distinct.

- [Minister] And of all your attainments and all your success and all your blessings, every good and perfect gift come from the Father above. Would you just lift your hands and just thank Him? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Praise. Praise God. [- Narrator] The audience is active and will often participate in the performance. The performer is not a star, but oftentimes, a member of the community with a particular ability. A performer, however, must also be a virtuoso and achieving virtuosity in African American performance, as in any culture, requires training and experience. [- Minister ] Experience is the greatest teacher. And He said you'll know Him as you follow Him to know Him. And Caleb, one of the followers of Moses, And he prayed and said to God I wants my mountain. He and all the children been in the mountains in Canaan He said, I want mine. Says, I'm 85, but I'm just as strong as I was when I was 40. So, he lived. I haven't contributed nothing to it to break it down. So it has just seasoned and grown solid and harder. And experience, you know. I can preach now maybe and never raise my voice much, and the people receive it just to be standing up, you know, because experience is a teacher when you're -- all you're seasoned, like anything else.

- [Narrator] Training for performance begins at an early age, much of the training taking place on the playground. Play teaches us rules, not just the rules of the game but the rules of a culture. We learn fair play or what a culture considers ethical and appropriate in interaction. And we learn good play, which is not unlike learning why a performance is good. It is a matter of aesthetics, of personal creativity and styling.

- Hey, old boy! Hey!

- [Narrator] This aesthetic aspect in play is why play can also be an adult activity. It is why play becomes performance. Verbal skill is acquired through play, and it is a hallmark of African American expressive performance. Just as a good thinker, a good artist, a good writer, a good athlete gains status in an African-American community by his level of publicly acknowledged skill, so does a good talker. Young African-Americans with resolve play on words and experiment with the power of words.

♪ Hey, hey! ♪

♪ My name is Anta and a one, two, ten. ♪

♪ I took my baby to the Holiday Inn. ♪

♪ Hey, hey! ♪

[- Minister] And I used to play, me and my sister and other kids would play church, and I'd always be the preacher. And I'd get in the wagon. They'd have a boxed-in thing go around the town. And I'd be up in the wagon preaching. And I'd feel it just like I do now. Just feel it was taking me over, and I was getting where I couldn't stop, and I'd get afraid and I'd have to, 'cause some of this scared me, and I would keep trying.

- I know.

- What is that? What is that? How you-

- Y'all want me to say it?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Okay. Okay. Y'all gonna do it with me?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Okay. Okay. Every eye closed and every head bowed.

- Okay. Y'all doing it? Okay here we go. Father, we come to the hour of prayer. Thank you, Father!

- Hallelujah.

- Help me, Lord.

- Realizing that you hold all the powers in your hands. Father, we thank you for being a God above all. We thank you for being a God that sits high, but you look down low. And Master... Okay, we close, he gone. And Master, when it's all over-

- [Group] Well, well.

- So we pray for rest, Lord.

- Yeah.

- Amen.

- A child is, he is a imitator of the older people. He just do what he see them do. So. if they sing, why then, he'll be inclined to sing. And He said train 'em up. So then music is a important part. What I said before was the choir in heaven is the melody makers.

- [Narrator] Imitation is a form of play. But imitation in Black culture is like child's play when invention is the expectation and the character of play and performance. In African-American musical performance, one can clearly see that music is played. Its outcome is often unforeseeable. Anyone can be an extemporaneous composer, at least for one's own voice.

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me. ♪

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me. ♪

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me, ♪

♪ For the Bible tells me so. ♪

♪ Jesus loves me, He who died . . .♪

But music is difficult to master. It is not enough to learn the principles of rhythm and harmony. Stylistic excellence is required for music to express successfully the ethos of the culture.

- Jesus.

♪ Jesus loves me, I know. ♪

♪ The Bible tells me so. ♪

♪ Little ones that Him belong. ♪

♪ They are weak, but He is strong. ♪

- Training and cultivation often take years, but when there is support and encouragement from the community, the task of learning need not be a burden.

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me. ♪

♪ The Bible tells me so. ♪

♪ God has smiled on me. ♪

♪ He has set me free. ♪

♪ God has smiled on me. ♪

♪ He's been good to me. ♪

Sound and sentiment of a culture's music is like a signature of that culture. That signature in Black music is unmistakably African based. It is rigidly structured, yet within the structure there is considerable room for individual expression.

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good. ♪

♪ He's been good to me.

Now listen, you know, there's been many times when I didn't have one friend. I didn't tell nobody but the Lord. He heard my plea. He came to see about me. He my all and all. When you crush me down, Jesus picks me up, and he sticks by me when the going gets rough.

♪ Ooh, Jesus. ♪

♪ Ooh, Jesus. ♪

♪ Ooh, Jesus. ♪

♪ Ooh, Jesus. ♪

♪ Ooh, Jesus. ♪

♪ Ooh, Jesus. ♪

♪ I've got a . . .♪

- [Narrator] When African American musicians reach a certain level of excellence, a particular song will sound a little different each time it is performed. One can hear this characteristic clearly in the 12-bar blues. The blues, and particularly the 12-bar blues, have been around a long time. The blues have spawned both jazz and rock and roll and have influenced many other forms of American music. But the blues is not like an old-used-to-be from a faded past. Its popularity in many areas has not waned. Certainly the blues have gone through a lot of changes over the years, but its signature has remained intact. There is an explanation for its longevity. The blues is not so much a product of a composer, although blues are written by individuals, as it is a process of African American culture.

♪ And it brings tears to my eyes. ♪

♪ Yes, daddy looks over at sister, ♪

♪ But sister don't even smile. ♪

- As an example, in the 12-bar blues, the basic pattern is always the same, a pattern that seems to repeat itself over and over again. Yet each instrument, including the human voice, is free to improvise its part as long as the pattern is not violated and the other instruments are not interfered with. What transpires is a spontaneous interplay of lead and backup sounds, a composite of major and minor harmonics and is largely unrehearsed interaction on an aesthetic level. This process in the blues, as in other forms of African American music, is among the most distinguishing elements of African American expressive performance.

♪ If you ever down in Louisiana, ♪

♪ Look up my friend, he'll be around. ♪

♪ If you ever down in Louisiana. ♪

♪ Look up my friend, he'll be around. ♪

♪ Well now, the first chance I get, ♪

♪ I'm gonna be Louisiana-bound. ♪

- The sentiment of the blues, however, is not uniformly shared by all African Americans.

- As a musician, no, I don't see any differences between, you know, blues and gospel 'cause they're all structured around the same chords and progressions. It's all music, you know. It's just a matter of, you know, where it's being played.

- They say that our music is kind of bluesy, and sometimes it has been said that we feel the blues, but we don't feel the blues. We feel a different kind of, of an experience. Rather than the sad feeling, we get the happy feeling.

- With my music, I have been accused of playing some, maybe some blues or jazz or ragtime or the use of walking bass. But I would say all of my music is played by inspiration. So I say it's God-given, but sometimes Satan steals the blessing that the Lord has and use it for himself. And sometime I believe that's why the blues are played. Most should be played for the world and not for Christ.

♪ He's going up ♪

♪ He's going up ♪

♪ He's going up ♪

- Whoo!

♪ He's going up ♪

♪ Don't you worry ♪

♪ He's going up ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ He's going up ♪

- [Narrator] Celebration is a way of expressing joy. For people turned inward by custom and historical circumstance, acts of celebration became stylized within the sanctuary of the church. Ecstasy as a form of celebration is not emotional abandonment. It is expression. It is affirmation of sound psychic health. Ecstasy is a manifestation of an insight into one's life and one's humanity.

♪ Don't you worry. ♪

♪ He's going up. ♪

Ecstasy in the African American church is historical. It is not an accommodation to an unrelenting feeling of ill will between peoples of differing races. It is rather a quiet voice made thunderously spontaneous in millions of African American collective minds reminding folk of an elegant humanism already old in Africa when imputed Europe thought but it was the first to discover the power of the celebrating spirit.

♪ Do you love Him? ♪

♪ Do you love Him? ♪

♪ Don't you love Him? ♪

♪ Do you love? ♪

♪ Don't you love Him? ♪

♪ Don't you love Him? ♪

- Whoo! Call His name. Said I feel alright. Said I feel alright. Said I feel alright. If you feel alright, let me see your hand. Come on and your head wave your hand. Wave your hand for Jesus. Wave your hand for Jesus. Come on and leap for joy. Come on and leap for joy. Just a little bit higher. Just a little bit higher. Just a little bit higher. I'm looking for a witness. Can I find one more witness? Can I find one more witness? Somebody that know God been good to you. Woke you up early this morning. Clothed in your right mind. Can you say, it's alright? Oh!

- [Narrator] Gospel is the celebrating spirit in musical form. It, too, is processed. It, too, is interaction. As a mode of communication. It is a means through which the sacred becomes apparent and accessible.

- With gospel music, actually what you're doing is telling people about the Lord in musical form. Historically, songs have been a source of comfort and a source of joy and a source of all kinds of good things to people. When there's a problem, sometimes a song will come to your mind and that song will kind of help you through that problem. So I look at my work here at the studio in that light,

- I was very elated when Bishop Cleveland asked me to be the song leader for the services because in order for you to project something, you have to feel it. And I really feel my singing when I'm ministering. And I don't call it like a talent, I think it's a ministry. And I think that when you're in any capacity in singing, whether it's a solo or whatever, you have to feel what you are up there all about if you intend to reach a soul. And the praise service is just as important as, well, I won't say as important, but almost as important as a minister because where a lot of people can't relate to a message, they can certainly relate to singing.

- [Narrator] The preacher's art is speech music, not music in the sense that it is chanted or has a musical quality, but that it is organized in much the same way that one composes music. It has rhythm and pacing, it has highs and lows, it has intervals. And there is orchestration. The musicians, the congregation, and the preacher in stanza and refrain are the instruments of sermon performance. Sermon performance is as familiar to African Americans as is Black music. And like the music, it is rigidly structured, but seemingly spontaneous. Sermon performance, however, is more than music. It is words, words that have a particular potency and power to move others, to share with others, to extend knowledge, to transmit knowledge. Words that are crafted as in an epic poem. Words that are limited only by the preacher's ability to use all of his resources--songs, folk tales, everyday expressions, and of course the Bible. Words that are fashioned on the spot. Sermon performance is a feat of major proportions. And when a preacher masters his art, he is deserving of the high esteem paid him by the members of his church.

- I'm happy to be part of this service with my very fine pastor, Bishop. Bishop Cleveland--my God, a man of God! He's our Moses, he's our Jeremiah. My God, he's our Paul. Jesus! And I'm glad that God has brought him where he has been able to help and to save many in his ministry. And I'm glad to be a part of this staff. I'm glad to be a part of the member of Christ, and not only member Christ but to be in the body of Christ.

- [Narrator] As culture changes, so does performance.

- I care.

- [Narrator] Bishop Cleveland's daughter, Pastor Ernestine Cleveland Reems has incorporated many of her father's style elements into her preaching. The form and structure are there, that musical quality, the rhythmic tonal delivery are there. The orchestration and the interaction are apparent. The spontaneity is obvious. But there is a significant difference. Pastor Reem's sermons are designed to reach beyond her culture. In her own words, she says there is no race in grace. As a result, her words are directs and literal. She makes every effort to say it like it is.

- They believe in sin. I do not believe in committing sin.

- [Narrator] Pastor Reems is a performer in the contemporary star sense. She is no less an accomplished preacher, but she understands the demands of public media. Reems is concerned for the whole man, as she says, and she would minister to economic man, to social man as well as to spiritual man. Consequently what Pastor Reems loses of the traditional, she gains in near dazzling displays of verbal technique.

- [Pastor Reems] When you really care, there's a warmth and a love in saying, I'm glad you're here.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- I'm glad you're here. Don't you know that goes out from the heart when somebody say, I'm glad you're here? Oh, I'm so glad to see you.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Amen! Most Christians walk around trying to look deep and holy and consecrate.

- [Congregant] Amen.

- [Congregant] Come on. Some of 'em walk around like zombies. Sometime all a person need is a good smile. Oh, I'm so, I'm so glad to see you, that alone-- A million dollars couldn't put what you have put into that person's life. Nobody in here know what the other one is going through. Some people really came in here tonight going through some rough--today going through rough things. Some of you come through some real hard things. Amen. You left things in a terrible condition at home. You came with your heart very burdened. You came with a real need. You came asking God to do something for me. Then when I get here, I see a lot of people looking down on me like I smell and like I'm no good. And the devil telling you that all the time at home. And then when I get to church, I meet the same thing. But if I could meet some people that with arms wide open as Jesus said, Come unto me all of ye that labor, all of ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come, come. Thank you Jesus. I just, I just wanna, amen, to get, get, amen, Center of Hope sensitized to the really needs of people, because I feel as a whole, many of us cannot, amen, understand what brother Paul was saying. Paul was writing to the church at Corinth and they were, praise God, baptized believers. But Paul said, now listen, who comforted us in all our tribulations? Thank you Jesus. Oh Lord, you wouldn't be here today, hadn't God comforted you, hadn't God had understanding for you, hadn't God had love for you? Oh, Lord. Thank you Jesus. When he received you, some of you were prostitutes. When he received you, some of you were dope addicts. When he received you, some of you were staying with men. When he received you, some of you were bar hoppers. When he received you, some of you were backsliders. Oh, Lord. Hey, hey! Thank you, Jesus. He picked me up. He picked me up. He said, I care. He said, I'm concerned. He said, I'll help you. I care. And lo, He cares about me. Said, I care for you. He's a calculator. He's a comforter. He's a keeper. He's a deliverer. Oh, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. I got to close. But I wanna show you a parable. And in this parable you can see Jesus. I can remember there's a young man by the name of Joseph. And Joseph had 11 brothers, and they fought him. They lied on him. They put him in the dungeon. They shipped him down in Egypt. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I can hear brother Joseph, saying, even though my brothers kill me, even though my brothers wanted to get rid of me, even though my brothers wanted to, just drop me, when he went down, when he was down in the dungeon, when he was down and promise was found, When he was down, down in Egypt. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. I can see Joseph, I can see Joseph in Jesus. And I wanna see Joseph in you today. I don't care what your son have done. I don't care what your daughters have done. I don't care what your husband have done, I want you to remember that he's a human being. He's a human being. And when Joseph, when he saw his brethren, when he saw them, the Bible tell me that Joseph was so glad, he fell on their shoulders. He wept and he cried. He said here is my brothers, my brothers my brothers my brothers. They put me in prison. My brothers, they hated me. My brothers, they lied on me. My brothers, they mistreated me. I care. I care. I love you. I love you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I want you to love today, I want you care today. Don't hold nothing against nobody. I don't care what they do to you. Forgive 'em. Forgive 'em. Forgive 'em. Forget it. Wash it away. Tuck it away. And say, Lord. Lord! I know He cares. I know He cares. I know He cares. Hallelujah. He was wounded! He was wounded! He was wounded! Hey!

- Thank you, Lord!

- I got to close. But I can see Jesus. I can see Jesus saying, I care. I care. He said, Father, Father. Forgive them. Forgive 'em. Forgive 'em for beatin' me. Forgive 'em for putting me on the cross. Forgive 'em for spitting in my face. Forgive 'em. Forgive 'em. For piercing my side. Forgive 'em. I found out the greatest deliverance came, comes into my life. I never will forget I was home on Balboa street and I was going through such terrible persecution. I was having such a hard time. Looked like life itself was battering me from one side to another. And I was sitting there, amen, musing in my mind just what to do, what step to take. I, I'd always been strong and never wanted to commit suicide. But I don't care what you say, the devil tell you all kind of crazy stuff. He tell you all kind of ways to try to get out of it. I never decided to do that. Never thought about doing it. But I ain't gonna say the devil didn't present the idea to me. I never will forget, I went out with this fella. My heart was so broken and I was so hurting. I was so embarrassed about the whole situation 'til I just thought maybe taking a whole bunch of sleeping pills would get rid of the situation. And I can, amen, understand people that go through those kind of things. But as I was going through this situation, my father called me on the phone and said, there's a young lady here in trouble and I'm gonna send this young lady to your house. He said, I'm sending her right now. I'm gonna give her bus fare. And he said, I want you to come over--want her to come over there, and I want you to minister to her. He didn't know right then I was sitting there crying, saying, Lord, I wish you'd send somebody to minister to me. I wish you'd send somebody to help me. Lord, looks like I can't take no more. Looks like I can't go no further. Looks like it's getting worse and worse, but oh glory to God. I started to say, daddy, don't send her because I don't feel like talking to her. I don't have nothing to say, but the Holy Ghost held my peace, and the girl came over, and as I sit in the kitchen and began to minister deliverance to her. As I began to read the scriptures to her, God came in and delivered me. God came in and healed my broken heart and lifted my heavy burdens, and gave me a peace that I never experienced before. Many times God is sending people into your life, but you don't care enough to forget about yourself, forget about your situation, forget about your heartache. And say, God, heal her heart. God, lift her burdens. God, make her whole. God, save her! Amen. Amen.

- [Congregants] Amen.

- Amen.

- [Congregants] Amen.

- [Interviewer] From the time you were a boy, did you want to be a preacher or did you wanna be something else?

- No, I, I didn't want to be a preacher because most of the preachers I, I saw--Well, you know, times was hard then. We didn't have nothing much. They seemed to be rather old, you know, and they'd have one of them foxtail coats, and the button would be done peeled off. And I said, no, I don't be no preacher.

- [Narrator] Bishop Cleveland has been accused of being old fashioned, but to his congregation and to the thousands of others who hear his word around the country, he is the embodiment of a rich and colorful, valuable tradition. Extemporaneously, he composes almost entirely in the symbol system, one that is shared by his congregation, but not well known to non-African Americans. It is most apparent in Bishop Cleveland's use of humor. In his preaching, he will make references to songs and folktales only known to some African Americans. As a result of their shared language, his relationship with his congregation can be deeply intimate and his words can play on the acknowledgement of the awesome temptations of a secular world.

- And I want you to know I got the word in me, and I, I can sing it, you know, I got the word in me. And I don't have to wonder who's with me. I don't care if none of you ain't with me. I don't have to worry about it because I got the word in my heart. If I got the word in my heart, He walks with me. You can go on outdoors, go to the park. He walks with me, He talks with me. He tells me that I'm his own. And you look fat and mad if you want to. But all the joy that he and I share and we carry there, none other have never known. He's joy, he's joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Oh, Lord. That's where speaking in tongues come in. That's where speaking in tongues come in. When you get the Holy Ghost, you got so much joy until it panics you. It overflows you. And the Bible says, he the joy of our salvation. And then when it gets so you can't, you can't express it. When you get so burdened that you can't pray. God got the Holy Ghost to help you out. And so when you can't pray, say get on your knees and just go to groaning. And the Bible say you don't know how to pray like you ought to, no how. So the Holy Ghost would take your groans and carry 'em to God and say, God, Here's what he meant when he said mmmm. Said that's what he meant when he said mmmm. Said that's what he was asking for. So I said, when you get the Holy Ghost and it's so much joy that you can't speak it yourself, then it's just like, well you put a jug in a tub of water, fill up your water, fill up your bath tub with water and get a jug and take the stopper out of it and put in the water and go to pass. Go to mashing the mouth of the jug till the water start going in it. And the more water get in that jug, the lower that jug sinks in the water. The more water get in it, the more it sinks. And when that jug gets full, it speaks in tongues. It says goog-a-looga and go down. Hey...Lord! Now you hear me. You hear these school teachers like Mother Gardener, like Mother Dawson. She teach school and youngsters at Thomas. When you hear them speaking in tongues, don't think they're fanatics, don't think they ain't got no education. They got the degrees, you know, and may have better'n you.

But when they get full of the Holy Ghost, then they do like the jug goog-a-looga and the Bible said the Holy Ghost is joy unspeakable. Unspeakable! And overflows, Hallelujah. And the Bible says, the Bible says he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, he speak not to man, but unto God, who have given him his Holy Spirit. Ohh...Lord! And the Bible said, when he speaketh other tongues, no man understands. No man understands how then in the Spirit, he's speaketh a mystery. Didn't he say so? Lord God! Hallelujah! You better get with the Word. If you don't get with the Word, you'll never get with God because God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost ain't never been apart. Hallelu! The Bible said in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh. Jesus , and Jesus said Me and my Word is the same and said, The words that I speak they are spirit, and they are alive. God is a spirit. And everybody worship God must worship in the spirit and in the truth. The Bible say, any man have not the spirit of God, he's not of His. Ain't that what the Bible says? Isn't that what the Bible says? You know what torments you? You are a drunkard, and you want somebody to drink with you. And the folk come said they don't drink. We don't drink. Give me some soda water. Gimme some lemonade. At the , you said, Man, come on and drink with me. If you drink with me, you'll talk with me. All I'm trying to say, you can't enjoy nobody if they ain't got the spirits you got. You know, I'm telling the truth. Women that want, wants to shack up and have two or three boyfriends and all and got a husband, cashing his check and all. She don't want no woman coming be her company. Say, you know, it's not right for a woman to have a husband and then have a boyfriend letting that boyfriend wear her husband's clothes. It is just not right. Won't cook for a husband. And always cooking for that boyfriend, cooking him up, that man's t-bone steak and everything. And if the woman in there is doing it, she said, Well, I'll be seeing you. What's the matter? She don't like the spirit that's there. That's all. That's all salvation means. Amen. Them old folks said, where can I find somebody? Amen. I went to the valley, and I didn't go to stay, but my soul got happy and I stayed all day. And said--and I don't think I'm crazy-- You wasn't there that night, that day. If you'd have been there when I come through, I believe to my soul, you'd have shouted too. And so now you sit down, but come ye that love the Lord. You come on with me. You love the Lord, and let your joy be known.

Join in with me the song, A sweet accord while thus surround the throne. Says, accept your mouth. "Let them refuse to sing that never knew our God." 'Cause you pour cold water in a pot that's boiling to stop it from boiling. So you ain't got nothing. You're killing me. "Let them refuse to sing Who never knew our God, But children of our heavenly king. Let's spread His joy abroad." Let's spread its joy abroad. Let's spread it 'broad. Joy abroad. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! All I'm saying, when you lose the spirit of God, you done lost God. When you lose the spirit of lies, you quit telling lies and go to telling the truth. When you lose the spirit of chasing you'll go home to your husband, or marry and get you one, or live holy till God give you one. Praise God! Praise God! When you quit drinking, it will go to stinking in your nose. Them old folks said, I hate to see it. That made me moan and drove God from my bed. Hallelujah! Say, well, testify and tell what you think about God. So I'll tell you what I think about Him, and why I think about Him, because I got a testimony.

Before I found Him I was a wayward child. I did love I did love my Father's voice. I loved the Father's home. But He said, I -- Before I found Him I was a wandering sheep. I did love. I did love the Shepherd's voice. I would feel it told. There was one day, one day I heard, I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come to Me and rest. Lay down. lay down. Say, what you doing? I'll tell you what I'm doing. I came to Jesus. I came to Jesus. Just as I was. I was dirty. I was beat. The Devil had beat me. He trapped me. He raped me. He robbed me. He stripped me. He knocked me down. He made me sick. He made me mad. He gave also, he gave me heart trouble. He gave me high blood pressure. My God, he gave me a stroke. Yes. But I came to Jesus, weary, and born in judgment. So what happened?--Said, I found, I found! in Him a resting place. A resting place. A resting place. And he, have laid me there. Praise God. Whole lot of folks, they get in church, say they got religion, and they, they don't quit drinking with getting beer and stuff. They say, well, I don't get drunk like I used to before I got religion. Say 'course if I want to drink some, I'll go buy me some good stuff and go to bed and be decent. So you ain't resting, you just drinking in the bed. Some say, I used to curse near 'bout every word I say. Curse at the drop it in the hat, drop it myself. But since I've got religion, I don't curse that-a-way now. But I curse if you make me mad. Make me mad. Make me mad, I curse, can't but save my life. You ain't rested. You just rationed on your cursing. Of course shackin' done got to be a big thing going now, but years ago it wasn't so. But there always been some shackers. You know what some say, you know, before I got religion, that man--Why, I lived with him. We lived together. But what, since I got religion, we've never lived together a night since. 'Course he come to see me sometime. So you ain't, you ain't resting.

- I don't know if Black urban kids today are more fascinated by the magic of expressive words than any other group. But as a kid, I spent some of my adolescent years in Harlem, in New York. And for me and my friends, words were powerful and important. We used to make fun of preachers, in part because they fascinated us. I mean they were the word, the word magicians in the community. Some Sunday mornings when my sister and me used to go to a pretty respectable church for Sunday school in New York, St. Mark's on Convent Avenue. If the day was nice, I would get her to-- Well, we would both spend our carfare home and buy ice cream cones. Breyer's. It had, you could see the real vanilla specs in it to look like dirt. But part of why we used to walk home, I suspect, was so we could walk by Holiness churches, Holy Roller churches, and laugh at what we heard, the yelling and screaming coming through the walls. 'Cause I recall very distinctly, as we walked home I would pretend to heal my sister and she would pretend to be healed. And I'd get home and I'd do the same thing for my parents and my friends. And they'd all laugh. Yeah. The Black preacher. I recall certainly what I felt about the preacher was very different from what I felt about the priest who said requiem mass for my grandfather when he died at the Catholic church. And certainly I felt differently-- the priest was also deeply involved in discipline at the Catholic school I went to for a while. But Donald's father in that strange church over Macomb's Place was Holiness. And I was drawn to that place from time to time and fought it. The church has remained an important symbol in my life. And the preacher has always been very real and very present. And I'll continue to be drawn to and fascinated by by the magic of the preacher's sermon singing.

♪ When God shall come ♪

♪ With shouts of glory ♪

♪ To take me home, ♪

♪ What joy shall fill my heart! ♪

♪ Then I shall bow ♪

♪ In humble adoration ♪

♪ And there, proclaim, ♪

♪ My God, how great Thou art. ♪

♪ Then sings ♪

♪ my soul, ♪

♪ My savior ♪

♪ God, to Thee. ♪

♪ How great Thou art, ♪

♪ How great Thou art! ♪

♪ Then sings ♪

♪ my soul, ♪

♪ My Savior ♪

God, to Thee.

♪ How great Thou art, ♪

♪ How great Thou art! ♪

Everybody jump to your feet and say, we got a great God We got a great God. Woo! Ain't He great? Call me crazy.

♪ Then sings my ♪

♪ Soul ♪

♪ My Savior God ♪

♪ to thee. ♪

♪ How great Thou art, ♪

♪ How great Thou art! ♪

♪ Then sings my soul, ♪

♪ My Savior God, to Thee. ♪

♪ How great Thou art, ♪

♪ How great ♪

♪ Thou art! ♪

Woo! Woo! Adjust your seats. If you can. If you can't, just do the best you can.