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What Motown taught me about faith and religion

Here are a couple of true statements:

  1. There is probably no more solidly Democratic city in the nation than Detroit.

  2. Democrats have not found a convincing voice that can deliver God-talk to an electorate that wants to hear it.
That said, I was interested to read this article in the Detroit Free Press this morning:
Fifty thousand people are expected to crowd Ford Field [home to the NFL's Detroit Lions] this weekend for the free two-day, multiracial and multidenominational worship service. And it's not only about music and praying.

On Friday morning, 12 semi-trucks will unload 10,000 food baskets outside Straight Gate's doors. They'll go, first-come-first-served to the needy.

In the Christian world, the event is being billed as the "Spiritual Super Bowl XL," complete with slick ads.

Last year, the church picked up the tab for renting Ford Field. [Pastor Andrew] Merritt [of Detroit's Straight Gate International Church] won't talk about the cost, but it was obviously money well spent. The event's wide popularity helped draw corporate sponsors this year such as McDonald's, Comerica Bank and Compuware.

"The Super Bowl and the All-Star Game are wonderful events for the city of Detroit," Merritt said. "But this is a call of hearts that doesn't cost anyone (the public) anything."

One in Worship is not the first or only conference to bring top Gospel talent and renowned religious leaders to Detroit. Pastors across the region do it, many of them showcasing homegrown stars.

But only a select group has the pull to be broadcast live internationally. Through agreements with Total Christian Television, Christian Television Network, Daystar, the Miracle Network and Trinity Broadcasting, 400 million people will have TV access to One in Worship.

That may be due to the multitude of faces that will take the stage.

"Diversity is a reflection of the core of Christ, out of one blood made he all nations," Merritt said.

"Arabs will participate, Greek, French, Hispanics. But no cultural names, no denomination will get in the way of what people are coming here to do, and that is to worship as one body."

Reading this article, I was further reminded of two things I experienced in just the last few days.

One was a drive down the back roads of Utica, MS. We passed small homes by the side of the road that had signs in the front yard, signs that looked like the old "Burma Shave" signs (remember those?) The signs had Old and New Testament Bible verses on them. The homes were owned by African Americans.

Then a few days later, I found myself touring the Motown Museum in Detroit. Among other things, I was moved by a short documentary wherein Smokey Robinson recounted what Marvin Gaye told him during the recording of What's Going On: "God is helping me write this album."

As if that wasn't enough, Berry Gordy spoke of the spirit of Motown, all those years ago: "There's a little bit of you in me and a little bit of me in you." You might think it sounds quaint now, but I found it a very powerful reminder of things that are better remembered than forgotten.

Now comes Pastor Merritt, speaking of diversity and one-ness and helping the poor, and (in case you didn't get it) getting the participation of large corporate donors.

The writing is on the wall, people.

If Pastor Merritt and his flock are not part of the Democratic base, then the Democrats have no base.


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