The Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress

The blues can teach us to have a sense of moral seriousness, a steely ethical and spiritual backbone that continues to hope without collapsing into a giddy, almost pre-teen naivete about spiritual matters, in which all is victory, glory, and joy, which requires a selective, edited memory of ourselves and each other that the world around us scorn as hypocrisy that remembers your sins and forgets mine.  The final episode in this series, "Feeling the Blues," originally given in 2009. Support the show

 These little boys were in the daycare that I would go to every now and then; we had a member of the church that ran this little daycare, it was just called Miss Henrietta's. And I went down to Miss Henrietta's one day and the little boys came home, Justin and Luke—I don't know which one said it—but they ran home and said, "Mama, guess what? God came to see us at Miss Henrietta's today!" Well, that's about the highest compliment I've ever gotten.  Support the show

"Son House was a Baptist preacher that lost his way. Fact is, I've been doing these sermons, I've been very disturbed at how many Baptist preachers turned into blues people. Or they were children of Baptist preachers who went bad. I don't know what to make of all of that. But hard times are that place where we have the temptation to fall into despair of life—to give up on life—instead of finding genuine trust."From a 2009 series, "Feeling the Blues."  Thank you to supporters Alyson Sears and Mark Ashworth. Their support makes this podcast possible for everyone. Support the show

As a part of the 2009 series at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church, Dr. Beth McGinnis, Assistant Minister of Music at the Church and Professor of Music at Samford University, led a conversation with church members to better understand the connections the blues have and what it can help us to better understand about our own humanity and its relevance to faith. Support the show

"Don’t ever say to anyone who has lost someone, “This is God’s will” or “I know God has something wonderful in this.”  Let them have their loss.  Do not put a band aid on a deep wound.  What God has in this, God does not need your anxiety to show them.  Just be there.  Sing the song with them.  Lament, weep, and wait."  Sermon 2 from my 2009 series, "Feeling the Blues" Support the show

A sermon preached in 2009, a series about the blues. We were in the midst of enormous economic distress, if you remember, and it seemed fitting to revisit these words about blues music and troubled lives at the intersection of the stories of the Bible. David, Jeremiah, and Robert Johnson in conversation with the reality of human existence. Support the show