“We Belong to Each Other”
The last two Sundays of Lent, and now into Holy Week, we are singing a new round called, We Belong to Them. It serves as our response to times of confession. The music is by Minnesotan songwriter Annie Schlaefer, who read these words, by Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill, who in turn was inspired by writer and Civil Rights activist, James Baldwin.
Every bombed village is my hometown by Nikita Gill
“Every bombed village is my hometown” - James Baldwin
And every dead child is my child.
Every grieving mother is my mother.
Every crying father is my father.
Every home turned to rubble is the home I grew up in.
Every brother carrying the remains of his brother across borders is my brother.
Every sister waiting for a sister who will never come home is my sister.
Every one of these people are ours,
Just like we are theirs.
We belong to them and they belong to us.
I’ve been blessed to sing this in song circles, prayer services, and church services, since it made its way from the burgeoning “Singing Resistance” of Minneapolis, across the country. Nikita Gill recently shared that “I wrote this poem as an homage to Baldwin’s line “Every bombed village is my hometown” and to hear it being sung across the world or read in protests has been my own guiding light of hope.”
At first I had to ask myself, “what does it mean to be people of God, and then say ‘we belong to them, and they belong to us’?” Additionally, what does it mean to sing “they belong to us” in a city where chattel slavery was legal 160 or so years ago?
The first answer came quickly. We are God’s, and they are God’s, indeed all are God’s, and the responsibility of being God’s is that we are also each other’s. I am reminded of Galatians 6:2
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
And isn’t “the law of Christ,” but another way of repeating what Jesus called the greatest commandment?
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37,40).
The second question is a bit more challenging, as I contend with the long, interconnected history of slave patrols and immigration enforcement. The answer is much less clear, and I welcome conversation on it. I don’t want to handwave it with an easy, “well slaveowners would never say ‘I belong to them,’ so this is clearly different”-even though it may be that simple. I wonder if there is something to be said about submission to God, and all those we want to be in right relationship with. Submission is a dangerous word, used, abused, and indeed used by abusers, so I want to be careful here. I do not have the answers, just more questions. If there is an answer, it hopefully comes from singing and listening more.
If you care to hear it again, you can listen to our service from Lent V where I taught it to the congregation, beginning around 28:40. Please note, I misidentified Nikita Gill as being a poet laureate of Minnesota, but after doing further research I realize that whoever I learned that from was incorrect. I apologize for my mistake.
If you want to learn more about the “Singing Resistance” movement, you can check out Singing Resistance Twin Cities on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/singingresistancetc/
Or the National Movement : https://www.instagram.com/singingresistance/
Or local RVA: https://www.instagram.com/singingresistancerva/
Blessed singing, my friends.