Author: mgayle

all love no war

mgayle

(a worldview)

we humans
are one family

born of God
daughters of adam
sons of eve

born to exist
in God
as one

caring for the earth
flora
fauna

caring for humanity
one
with God

separations have come
from God – babel
from humans – babylon

sin has caused a rift
in the oneness
between God
and humans

of sin – there is no good
no fitness
for life
or living
only death
only pain

sin is not of God
and not human origin

sin was introduced
by the enemy of God
the enemy of humanity

sin causes division
separation
from God
from humanity

our lives are marked by pain
because of sin

choose God
not sin
live in Christ
who reconciles us
to God

strive to be at peace
with God
with humanity
with all creatures
with all things

pain comes with the striving is rejected
by self(ishness)
by (in)human(ness)

live to be at peace
with God
with humanity
with all creatures
with all things

our lives are fulfilled
when we are at peace
with God
with humanity
with all things

depart not from peace
depart not from love
depart not from goodness

only love
only God
all love
not war

may the glory of the Lord, God
be in all
and through all
both now
and forever
as it has been
from forever
from everlasting
to everlasting

one God
one love
from eternity
to forever
without end

a knee on your neck

mgayle

a knee on your neck is exactly this

why don’t you get up and do something
you people are lazy

if you work hard you can do anything
the reason you don’t have anything
is because you don’t work hard

my parents came to this country with nothing
i came to this country with nothing
we worked hard for everything we have

my parents were here hundreds of years
before your parents
and they worked hard
with a white knee on their neck

the reality is that black people have worked harder
than anyone else
the greatness of the american economy
is built on black labor

work, work, work
excluded from education…a knee on your neck

work, work, work
disenfranchised…a knee on your neck

work, work, work
jim crow…a knee on your neck

work, work, work
redlined from housing and finance…a knee your neck

work, work, work
resumé with black name, no hire…a knee your neck

if you work hard you can do anything
the reason you don’t have anything
is because you don’t work hard

my parents came to this country with nothing
i came to this country with nothing
we worked hard for everything we have

what?
you can’t breathe?

stop making excuses

-msg

Mother’s Day

mgayle

It’s getting late now and I hear the melody. It whispers in my musical imagination. It is the melody of bedtime, the melody of my mother singing, the melody of a time long past yet ever nearby. I am so very thankful for my mother and the sweet memories of childhood that she has given me.

The Field Suite

mgayle

Over the past several years God has carried me on a reflective journey. Much of the journey has been me, the urbanite, walking thought forests and fields, both literally and metaphorically. It has been a tremendous growth process.

Parts of the experience are captured in a suite of four short pieces, recorded and released as an EP. The music is more melodic and more predictably rhythmic than is typical of my compositions. It characterizes the learning that I have experienced: be regular, work in a rhythm that people can feel, enjoy predictability.

Like the trees of the forest and the grass of the field, this music is quiet, melodic, rhythmic. Thank you, Lord for carrying me through!

The Field Suite: quiet, melodic, rhythmic music

Also available on Apple Music at:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-field-suite-ep/1461421951

Back in town

mgayle
Broad Street at night.

I am “back in town.” After a nearly four-year retirement, I am taking up creative life again. There are so many gifts that God has provided, not only to me but also to the people around me. It is a great privilege to engage those gifts. Thanks be to God!

All that lies ahead remains to be seen. However, to be sure, there are several projects waiting in the wings. Among those projects is “The Field Suite,” a contemplative musical celebration of freedom and purpose. The work is planned for release next week. Look for it online wherever you get music.

I have also, quite literally, dusted off my camera. I hope to share beautiful photographs to inspire you.

The truly beautiful aspects of life help to connect us more deeply to Divine goodness and to people. The wisest people I know are very busy keeping things in order and trying to maintain healthy priorities. They understand that relationship is what truly matters. Relationship to God and relationship to people.

My hope is to be in good relationships. My hope is to share creative experiences that will enhance and strengthen our connections, our relationships. As Matthew Hoffman has reminded us in big and small ways: “You are beautiful.”

So I am back in town. I raise my hand to God in thanks. I leap for joy.

” I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you. “
– Psalm 139:14-18 (NIV)

May you be blessed to know the joy of the Lord God Almighty as we journey together.