On the Occasion of the Run Up to the 5th Anniversary of Sadie's Homegoing and the 50th Anniversary of my tribe of CHOICE, THE NORTHWESTERN COMMUNITY ENSEMBLE, or I'll have what "That NorthwesternNews Guy" is having.
The morning after the night before started with me basking in the afterglow of my first NCE Reunion. That was followed by an encounter with a video about a man returning from Hell. In the video, Hell stood for, " meant" a place of separation from love and all that he remembered as unconditionally loving, kind, and good. Then, as the best short stories making long-term life- changing points always do flawlessly, it completely flips the script.The people remember unconditional love the minute he fights to " shake things up" and remind them about how easy, free, never dying unconditional love is and they respond by trying with extreme prejudice and deadly force to kill him. [ My "why is this happening"/ "why is this happening to me"? phase]. Then the video abruptly ends, and I read a gay man's emotion-and-memory-triggering share about coming out to his mother and her immediate rejection of part of who her son was and is and will be for all forseeable future,as follows:
I came out to my mom today. She told me I was going to hell, but she loves me unconditionally. Let’s just say a myriad of mixed emotions this evening.
%%%%%
My proffered response:
I am glad you were brave and pushed through the definitely mixed messages ( i.e., you say you love me without conditions, yet you reject one of many things that will always be a part of me, the same "me" that you say you love without conditions. A perfectly circular argument. Because this is the same person who nurtured, gestated and cared for "the you who came out into the world through her womb, it really bends, twists, or blows your mind. That this whole person who you believed had always loved a whole you would prefer anything less than loving all of you is a double bind.
Meanwhile, you look in the mirror and see all of you. Your emotions are there yelling like the "who" in Horton Here's a Who, WE ARE HERE, WE ARE HERE! WE are whole, we are complete, and the LOVE that created us called us GOOD. This I would offer as a possible reply to your mother. Mother, how can you not love all of me that LOVE said is GOOD AT ITS POINT OF CREATION? Sure, our relationship history may be(?) complicated, but I would never think of denying or rejecting you because of any complication. At the end of the day, coming out of a place where you were trapped in a space that never fit all the things you are has allowed me, mother, to be viewed by you as the living embodiment of unconditional love. You chose those specific, inclusive, and engaging words when you could apparently have rejected me outright. I choose here and now to accept your words because those words renew a life-affirming hope that all of your behaviors can and will come to match the invocation of the language " UNCONDITIONAL LOVE^^. Then, a hug and a kiss until we meet again speaking of and acting in LOVE WITHOUT CONDITIONS.
[ As a BONUS, a briefer reply that I also liked:
I admire your courage to be authentically YOU. Religion can cause enormous trauma in people's lives, as it has in mine. However, you can bet on change, that's for sure. Follow your heart, be wise, be courageous.
( hello young lovers, once you have found her never let her go)^
Last night, Wednesday, March 11, 2021, at 5:15 pm Pacific, 7:15 pm Central, all of the above was my lived reality. I went back home again to my tribe of choice. The door flew open. There was my Grandfather Robert A. Moore ( RAM to me, Bob to everyone in the tribe, from elders to newborns) , a dear friend of his And my Great-Grandfather Bishop, my Father/once-and-future vocal coach, vocalist, writer/director Walter Owens, my Grand Aunt Jacqueline Lott ( everyone calls her Jackie), and a host of Aunts ( Cheneesa Roberson(?)), Uncles ( Warren Lawson) , cousins, sisters (Lauren, the youngest to me, Naomi, Sharon, Cherise, Felicia) and brothers and nieces and nephews of their families. At one point, their were almost 60 of us in the room, including my "twin" brother, Preston Cropp ( he is better looking and wiser, my opinion, but I digress.
Like all the best family reunions, I immediately felt loved, welcomed , and embraced. ( when i think of home)^^
Now officially, our family has always come together in the service of prayer, praise (the sacred vocal performance aspect of life), and worship/ practice of unconditional love. So, during the seriously jam- packed introduce 3 songs known and remembered note-for-note by some subset of my family members who have done the heavy lifting ( THANKFULLY) of going through a half century of paper and digital records, when I forgot to mute myself before responding to my father's call, the vocal trilling warmup with a lame but loud attempt at trilling, he broke out laughing and it spread throughout the room. Our Elders, as you might expect, were not amused ( spoken with somber looks-- "unspoken" channelling the OG's OG, the Original Queen Victoria), so my father and his father and some others reigned us back in and we got back to hearing and singing.
Our repertoire consists of one new arrangement and two other gospel classics that we will mostly be singing as originally written. Chicago, Illinois in particular and the midwest(America's heart-land)as the birthplace of gospel music in general were recognized, honored and acknowledged in the music selected. The southwest " branch" of the family tree was acknowledged as well with one particularly " uber-extreme- LEGATO piece. Having embraced legato as a core value and motive force in my life-after-attempting an early departure from said life, I was thrilled with all 3 songs selected!
( here are two of them)
Over and over and over, Total Praise^)
Okay, nine hours after a totally tubular fun romp down memory lane/ networking/ festival of humor , here is what I remember, unconditionally loving every minute of reunification and fellowship.
1.) The genders were equal, a core value demonstrated by the accomplishments of all present; all achievements and history-making across a cornucopia of professions.
2.) There was racial/ denominational/ political(?) diversity, equity and inclusion BECAUSE an unconditionally loving family came first, last, and always.
3.) God is Unconditional Love. 4.) Jesus said it and I believe it LOVE IS A SPIRIT.^
5. ) Unconditional love is always right there beside me, no one is left out or behind. He's always right there with me, and I am no longer afraid.^
6.) A statistically significant majority of us have worked and continue to work, even in so-called retirement, for a world that works better BECAUSE it grows STRONGER TOGETHER
7.) ALL of us add value and are determined to make a difference, wherever and whenever we are.
And there's more, such as the fact that many of us have had and continue to have rewarding job experiences in engineering, journalism, vocal performance, special populations education, social work/ family therapy, theology, and deep engagement with all of the fine and performing arts. My tribe/ my family are influencers here in the USA and around the world.
Whatever good human beingness I am and or am Becoming in the Caste system of Winners Take All in the Angrynomics of 2021 America at the dawn of the New Human Rights Movement and The A,B,C,'S(/ building blocks) of Socialism after the last wrenching gasps of Bull s%%t! ( the book)* it is because I am part of the Legacy of Praise** of MY FAMILY, a.k.a.The Northwestern University-Kendall College-National College of Education-Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary-Community Ensemble.
NCE birthed me, I lived sometimes crazily thinking I was separated from it. How silly and naive in retrospect. Nothing can or shall ever separate me from its Unconditional Love. Neither height, nor depth,
[ Romans 8:39 NIV; neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord]
( what shall separate me)^
Children will listen,^ and grow and hopefully will always STAY WITH GOD ( unconditional love), have ( just a little more faith) in God. We will fall down,^ But , GLORY! TO GOD, we get up. By the way, our Jamaican cousin, y'all know, the outrageously famous one, Donnie Mc Clurkin is comming to minister at our Fiftieth Anniversary Concert ( play Hawaii 5- O music here). It will, continuing in my family tradition, be all the way live^, fresh, brand new^, virtual and intimate at the same time. Saturday, May 8, 2021 online at (4pm pacific/( 6pm (CST))/ 7 eastern
There will be an after set immediately following, hosted from right here in the Los Angeles Metroplex by my virtual neighbor, brother beloved and renknowned tax and Estates Attorney Terrence Franklin. I extend an open invitation to worlds known and unknown, seen and unseen to join The Northwestern Community Ensemble featuring an appearance by Rev. Donnie McClurkin from Jamaica, Queens, NY, NY ( one of our famous cousins) and a host of other guests and surprises my Grandfather Bob is keeping secret.
Truth to tell, he really has always looked younger than me and my siblings- thats part of the reason I love referring to him as NCE Ambassador & Elder Statesman.
Hail to the chief^
He actually gave me my first paid professional internship as a Grant Researcher when I was at University. That internship led to me being hired by Siruis Communications in Minneapolis, MN where I helped Readers Digest Foundation earn a multimilliondollar grant to help New York City public schools. But my journey away from home is a great hero's "wilderness" journery for another day and time.
On Saturday, May 8, 2021, the Northwestern Community Ensemble invites you to please Be Our Guest At its Half-Century Milestone Anniversary, Legacy of Praise, NCE at 50! AT ( (4pm pacific/( 6pm (CST))/ 7 pm eastern , SHARP! JOIN US AS WE FLOOD THE INTERNET with unconditional love!
Its IN THE STONE! , EWF^
(C) VernonNickersonSchoolcoach 2021
