My Apocryphal Musings.

Apology for St. John: Understanding Sacred Jazz.

2010-07-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

“Jazz.....if you want to call it that,

to me is an expression of higher

ideals,” -John Coltrane

“This anointed sound that leapt down from

the throne of heaven out of the very mind of God and incarnated in the

one John Will-I-Am Coltrane and we

heard the sound as the beauty of

holiness and the very living Word of God” -Archbishop Franzo Wayne

I think many are surprised by the idea of a “jazz” church and the Coltrane Church’s insistence on using John Coltrane’s music in a church setting. Some may even have doubts about the spiritual quality to be found in John Coltrane’s music. I believe there are people who labor under certain misguided ideas about “Jazz” music and musicians. They, for instance might believe that a “jazz man” could not have had holy musical aspirations and sacred musical attainments. Another idea that some people might hold is that “Jazz” of all musical genres is some how unsuited to be used in the legitimate worship and praise of God. This is unfortunate that many have these ideas when just a casual look at John Coltrane's life, and music and the repeated listening to his recordings would dispel such false notions.

Why should “Jazz” be exempted from having higher ideals and indeed the highest ideal which is prayer and praise to God? We have seen European classical music, American popular music, American folk and even rock and roll and hip hop all accepted as musical vehicles to worship and praise God and recount the biblical narrative.. Why would the genre of “jazz” (if you want to call it that) or African American Classical Music (the term the Coltrane Church prefers) be exempted from existing as a musical vehicle of divine purposes?

At the Coltrane Church we use three terms that expresses the congregation’s experience of the “Jazz” music of our patron saint, John Coltrane. These three terms point to the higher ideals that are apart of the music. These three terms are “Sound Praise,” “Sound Baptism” and “Sound Deliverance.”

In general we call our whole liturgy “The Sound Praise,” but more specifically the sound praise is the portion of the service where the Ministers of Sound (the church’s choir and band) leads the congregation in praise and worship through the performance of John Coltrane’s sacred “Jazz” compositions and the singing of John Coltrane’s psalm to God which is found in the liner notes of his album “A Love Supreme.” More broadly all of John Coltrane’s recorded music is considered by the church as sound praise and worthy of meditative and repeated listening.

The other term “Sound Baptism” is the immersion in the music of John Coltrane where the dear listener experiences directly the sacred intent of the music and can give personal testimony to the music’s sacred content of spirituality and praise. The Church have had testimonies from people who have come from all over the world that they have come to the realization of this special quality of praise and spirituality of Coltrane’s music and many of them have made pilgrimages to the church to testify of this. All those that have had this awakening to the intent of praise and to the attainment of spiritual expression in St. John’s music be that they have had this awakening in another country and by listening to a recording in the privacy of the own homes, or if they have come to the church and have come to understand the true nature and power of the music directly through the performance of the Ministers of Sound,whether here or there, the church endearingly consider those that “dig it” and are blessed by Coltrane’s music as those “baptized by sound.”

They and the church testify that the sound praise as revealed through St. John Coltrane is uniquely qualified and perfectly suited to the worship and praise of God and is in spiritual harmony with God’s purposes, process, and plan for our lives.

Sound Deliverance is the act of dispelling evil spiritual influences and menacing spirits through the Sound Praise. As a result people are more happy and free during and after the Sound Praise. Sound Praise can be also seen as spiritual warfare and is of great benefit to our spiritual health, restoring and increasing our communion with God. The music of St. John is a fulfillment of scripture...For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) How is this so? For God dwells praise. The Bible says that God inhabits in the praises of His people (Psalms 22:3). In other words, God “dwells” in the atmosphere of His praise. Even if that praise is clothed in "jazz."

In regards to the possibility of “jazz" music having higher ideals and affirming beliefs John Coltrane writes: Otherwise, how could (the) founding fathers (of Jazz) have produced this music in the first place when they surely found themselves (as many of us do today) existing in hostile communities where there was everything to fear and damn few to trust. Any music which could grow and propagate itself as our music has, must have a hell of an affirmation belief inherent in it. Any person who claims that the exponents of our music of freedom are not guided by the same entity is either prejudiced, musically sterile, just plain stupid or scheming.”

John Coltrane who lived in the pre-civil rights era had harsh words for those that denied the affirming quality of the music in general and his own music in particular

Even though many things have changed. Many things have stayed the same. There is still “scheming” going on by those that delight in denying the worth and contribution of others.

And also in the above quote from the Dear Don Letter John Coltrane uses the term “our music of freedom.” Freedom is the goal of truth. Jesus said “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” and the bible says, “Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.”

How aesthetically pleasing is a music of innate freedom dedicated to “A Love Supreme" (God)?”

In the Dear Don Letter John Coltrane writes about “jazz” music in general. But the "dear listener" who has perceived the sacred quality of John Coltrane music will see in his words an insight and perhaps even a prophetic word about the master’s own music as realized at the St. John Coltrane Church in San Francisco where we have so purely perpetuated the intent of Coltrane’s music as praise to God. John Coltrane writes that he cannot imagine “an artwork with out implied convictions.” In regards to Coltrane the implied conviction is obvious. For John Coltrane has said, “Let us sing all songs to God to whom all praise is due.”

The Coltrane Church believe that John Coltrane during his earthly life had an understanding of the need for a new kind of place to play his music of freedom and higher ideals. John Coltrane said, “Yes I think the music is rising into something else, and so we’ll have to find this (new) kind of place to be played in.” and he said, “I don’t feel the situation in clubs is ideal for me.” Could the Coltrane Church be this new kind of place?

In the Psalms it says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord.’ So even our noise can be sanctioned by scripture. Also in Psalms as mentioned before it is said that, “God dwells in the praise of his people.” So according to the testimony of scripture there is a special anointing of God’s presence anytime we praise him, even if it is “noisy”. So this being true, are we exempted from achieving praise because the musical genre is “jazz”? No. God forbid! Is John Coltrane who in his life demonstrated great humility and skill and is one of the greatest composers and musicians that has ever lived, is he exempted from being a vessel of sacred music and praise to God as is his expressed conviction and intent? No.

John Coltrane writes about the denial of the worth and the contribution of others that is still so prevalent in regards to certain groups of people in our society. In the Dear Don Letter. He spoke about those who “seek to revitalize, extend and reconstruct the status quo.” He said that, “Quite often they are the rejects, outcasts, sub-citizens, etc.., of the very societies to which they bring so much sustenance.”

Finally in the words of the master himself, John Coltrane said, “When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups. I think music can make the world better, if I’m qualified, I want to do it. I’d like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls... To inspire them to realize more and more of their capacities for living meaningful lives. Because there certainly is meaning to life.... My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music...” My music is the spiritual expression of what I am... my faith... my knowledge... my being...

All quotes of St. John are found in the book John Coltrane Speaks ed. Franzo Wayne King (San Francisco Sunship Publishing Company, 1981,1993)

The Busybody's Dream: The Holy Mammy and Child and the Instruments of Their Passion.

2008-11-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

This icon depicts Ain't Jah Momma and Saint Sambo as a child. It is based on the traditional icon of the Virgin and Child and the Instruments of Passion. In the traditional prototype the Christ child is frequently looking up and afraid of the angels who are carrying the 'instruments of his passion' which are in orthodox Christianity, the cross, the spear and the sponge filled with vinegar.

In the Icon painting in my 'instruments of passion icon' there is the burning cross, the chain and shackles, the rope and noose, the bull whip and shotgun. It is called "The Busybody's Dream" because this is a image from a dream that was had by a person who is only designated in the narrative as 'a busybody'. Here is an excerpt from the narrative....

She dreamt that Ain't Jah Momma was sitting in her cabin on a rickety wooden chair and her son Anon Amos was there on her lap. And angels had come to them. One angel had a burning cross in one hand and chains and shackles in the other. The other angel had a shotgun and a bull whip and a rope that was noosed. And they said to them, "Fear us and honor us and give us our due. For we are called the trainers of black kind and have been sent here to purify many. In this way were black kind grafted into western civilization and became forever linked to its history. For you were slaves in the land of the free. And these things we carry are merely instruments of your great passion."

And the boy who would grow up to be a saint boldly spoke up and said, "I will never fear for fear is the opposite of faith. And even the fear of God is just the beginning of wisdom but love of God is the end of it. And with love I cast out all fear. And one of the angels said, "Very wise." And the other said, "Very good."

Then the angels turned to the busy body who trembled in her sleep for she greatly feared them and they pointed to Ain't Jah Momma and they said,"Do you not yet know who she is that sits on this rickety wooden chair like it is her throne and who is that holy thing that sits on her lap? Listen to them."

And Ain't Jah momma looked at the busybody with compassion in her eyes and spoke directly to her in her dream and the busybody saw for the first time that there was a small American flag in Ain't Jah Momma's hand. And Ain't Jah Momma said, "I am and always will be proud of my country. And I am indeed sorry and greatly grieved that some of us have had the American Dream beaten out of them. But I pray that you are not one of these and that you continue to hope and learn silence, my dear for it is surely golden."

Then the busybody looked again at Ain't Jah Momma's face and it had changed for now she noticed that Ain't Jah Momma's mouth was covered by a dollar bill and that it seemed that not with her own mouth that she spoke these great things but she talked with the mouth of the founding father who is on the dollar bill.

And then one of the angels spoke and said, "Behold her face. Do you not understand the holy silence from whence she speaks? It is a blessed and pleasing thing and it is called the green muzzle of the golden tongue, and being of the highest wisdom, it represents both eloquence and patriotic devotion and even it's reward, which is financial favor."

And then the other angel said. "Behold! Behold! Another vision!" And it was as if the busy body was translated away in space and in time. And she was in a manger and it was night. And the angel said , "This is the birth place of Jesus and a short time of ago was he born and he is now feeding." And the busy body looked and was astonished for she saw that Ain't Jah Momma of God was there too and she was wet nursing the baby who was Christ. And the Busybody said, "How can this be so?" And a woman who was there said, " The whole world will call me blessed but her sanctity is hidden from many and she is secretly called the Mammy of God even of Our Holy Racial Reconciliation and few men knows it but in heaven is she is most revered."

And the busybody said "I did not know this thing was so. And who will believe my report?" And then she woke up and pondered all the things that was in her dream and that was shown to her. And wisely she told no one for she was afraid that they would think she was a lunatic.

I plan to paint three icons from this section. Besides "Ain't Jah Momma of God and Saint Sambo and the Instruments of Passion" I plant to paint "Ain't Jah Momma of God and the Green Muzzle of a Golden Tongue" and "The Mammy of God and of Our Holy Racial Reconciliation."

Saint Gregory's Dancing Saints Icon

2008-11-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

I have two expressions to my iconography; my personal and my liturgical. My liturgical work I have expressed chiefly through my Neo-Byzantine icon project The Dancing Saints Icon of St. Gregory's Episcopal Church, San Francisco. This is a 2500 plus square feet icon mural that decorates the rotunda of the church's sanctuary and consists of a depiction of 90 oversize traditional and nontraditional "saints" from diverse times and cultures from all over the world. (This project was brought to a level of completion in Dec. of 2008.) The saints are all dancing with an even larger size Christ. Among the selected 90 saints are people like Malcolm X, Queen Elizabeth, Rumi, Ella Fitzgerald, Gandhi, Anne Frank, Cesar Chavez, John Coltrane (of course) and Sorghaghtani Beki, the mother of Kublai Khan. The artistic challenge was to translate the ancient Byzantine stylization and bring it to fresh and contemporary places while still honoring the ancient tradition. The iconographic difficulties of recognizable likenesses, culturally diverse costumes, ethnic diversity and different spiritual traditions, all brought together in a large scale work has given this project a unique place in the history of art and religious iconography.

Saint John Coltrane Church

2008-11-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

I have also done numerous icons for the St. John Coltrane Church also of San Francisco. Some depicting a black Mother of God and black Christ and others depicting the church's patron St. John Coltrane with the fire of sound baptism in his horn. This church uses Jazz in general and John Coltrane's compositions in particular along with Black Gospel music in their Liturgy. It is the coolest place to be on Sunday mornings.

The Burning Cross of Liberty

2008-11-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

In Jest, I call my current body of visual work "The How We Got Over Icons of Patriotic Devotion." This is the finished line drawing for an Icon that I am presently working on called "The Burning Cross of Liberty." This drawing is taped to the handcrafted icon cross that I have had specially ordered for it. Most of the icon boards I use are painstakingly created by master craftsmen in Pennsylvania and are sculptural in quality with recessed areas for the painted iconographic image. This recessed area is called in Russian 'kovcheg' (the ark.) The above image will illuminate the end of my book in progress, which is called, "The Gospel of St. Sambo and the 'N' Word of God: An Extremely Trying Tale of Much Existential Wonder and Dubious Authenticity" and depicts Saint Sambo's presentation of himself on the burning cross of liberty . Here is an excerpt from the end of the book describing this event.

-----

And Saint Sambo stood up and took off his outer garment and spread wide his arms and he floated a few feet above the floor. And he looked down upon his disciples and smiling said, "Behold the burning cross of liberty that we bear. Behold an image of the founding of this land of liberty which is now past!"

Now each and everyone of them saw a vision of a burning cross that did appear behind him and the cross had on it the colors of 'Old Glory'. And on the cross Saint Sambo appeared to be hanging there and chained there both hands and feet and the holy spirits of the founding fathers hovered around about him and they said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

And Saint Sambo said, "Verily, I say, this cross is not our burden but it is our throne, for if one of us say that we are proud of our country it means a lot more than those who might say it and had had an easier time here in this great nation. It is this throne that we Niggahs rest upon until all is completed. And if you believe in me, the whole world will come to believe in you, and you and your progeny shall take part in a glorious resurrection yet to come and which is even around the corner."

And after saying this Saint Sambo ascended upwards into the heavens and disappeared there riding the burning cross of liberty that he still bore into the divine darkness , even that which is called the Eniggerma, this is from whence he has come, and from whence he shall return full of glory some day, with the power to tear down many walls, and level many fields, and destroy the unseen foundations of the plantation of this present world and where he shall grow flowers instead of cotton, and forever more will he grow them. For yea, he is Hella-lujah, and that glorious 'a man' of all that believes in his name.

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My revaluation of Aunt Jemima and the Dear Thomas Letter

2008-11-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

The following is a letter I wrote to a friend. I am publishing it here because I think it succinctly talks about my new icons from a viewpoint that I think conservatives can understand and explains from that viewpoint how my personal work conceptually came into being and what it is about and even though I consider myself not to be a conservative in my spirituality I can talk their talk and have gotten to understand them more through a dialogue with Thomas. Thomas is a conservative friend of mine who didn't quite understand my intentions and thought they were based in "resentment" (a catch all word) rather than a perception of an under considered and overlooked spirituality and struggle.

Dear Thomas

I knew that when I sent this to you that you would probably say something in response that I had no way of anticipating. I hope I can convince you that my work comes out of years of wrestling with iconography in prayer even though some of it falls into the category of satire and other parts allegory and other parts just my apocryphal musing. But there is little doubt in my mind that the questions that I have faced as an iconographer and maker of sacred images is also wrapped up in my struggle to realize the narrative and the visuals of my present personal work. I’ve read some where that effective art disorients and then reorients a person perceptions. I see that you have been disoriented but not reoriented.(Smile.)

I guess that may be the function of the artist talking about his work, this reorientation process. I know some artists are particularly able to make their work seem more than is first sensed through their interviews and talking about their work. I have always been some what suspicious of such abilities but now I recognize its usefulness. So please bear with me.

We have a challenge as sacred artists in how we are to depict divinity. I can show you historical evidence from the writing of the desert fathers that like the ideals of America the ideals of the Catholic/Orthodox Church has also have been a challenge for people to live up to in regards to race which is I grant you a preoccupation of mine being a black iconographer even "a holy obsession" as Donald Schell has said who is one of the founders of St. Gregory's .

Most artists has their preoccupations in their work that they go deeply into more then other artists and think about more then the average person. Even people from different discipline like medicine and science has their specialties and go deeper into certain things than a general practitioner. My preoccupation/specialty has been threefold for some time. Spirituality and Art and my own experience of being black in America. Christian spirituality in particular and also Byzantine Iconography and black existentialism and I combine all these into my present personal work. There are many things that I have thought about within these areas of interest but what has brought me to this body of work that you say is beyond your comprehension is based squarely within my Christian and Iconographic concerns.

There were a time when having a black Christ would be an outrage. The Christian traditions coming through Europe had through many centuries created a canonical look and image of Christ and the mother of God. But now we see how different cultures have assimilated the image and story of Jesus into their own cultures. So now we have African looking Christs and Asian looking Christs and etc. Most people are not shocked now a days by them and understand and respect where they are coming from. I think my present work come partially out of that same sense of seeking a greater cultural relevance in my own iconography.

In the Byzantine iconographic tradition Mary the mother of God is not portrayed as a Virgin dressed in native Palestinian garments of her era and even with the skin tones of traditional Byzantine icons that are darker there is a decidedly European look to most of the figures portrayed. The Byzantines looked around about them at their culture like Europeans have and Africans and Asians for visual symbols to talk about their faith. They decided that a person dressed as a Byzantine noble woman would do nicely for their message of faith. And even Christ in the colors and dress of Byzantine royalty would do nicely for him. I too have used these outer garments of signification in my icons of the Black Christ and Madonna. I laughingly call these icons Jesus and Mary dipped in chocolate. But sometimes we desire more than just sweet confections and a person desires real meat. Where is the real meat and substance in icons from a black perspective? I think I have answered these questions for myself by looking at our culture and history.

I can in myself understand my desire for something more real and pertinent then my hocolate coated Jesus of past icons; and probably you can also understand this and it is not beyond your comprehension. And I think you can also understand Asian depictions and African depictions and these are apart of your Catholic church with the doctrine that we can depict divinity because of the incarnation and in Orthodoxy they say we must do this because to deny this sacrament of iconography is to deny the very incarnation and that God become man. We can portray an image of man as being an image of God because God became incarnate. But what type of man? Any type? Or just white or light people of noble breeding?

Because Jesus came to die for all that would believe. He is the death substitution for every man. He became a symbol for all flesh. Black people are not excluded. Indeed many scholars believe that the term ‘son of man’ that Jesus frequently used in regards to himself is not an honorific but actually, ‘son of Adam’ and means in that culture something like,"this guy" or "this dude” or "regular Joe".

This is my understanding that icons are symbols of faith and that every culture have used elements of their culture with tradition and scripture to create relevant symbols of their faith. Should I as a person (as you have put it) of African slave ancestry be excluded? Many have desired to make Jesus relevant to their lives through symbols. Some have made him black. I have made him a slave and even the lowest point of humanity that our culture agrees upon, a nigger. Why would I do this? What scriptural foundation do I have? Many.

Jesus though king of all identified with the lowly even the very least. And as is said in my narrative when this fact is pointed out. "You can't get no more lesser than a Niggah! " Now I think we can agree upon this. That niggerishness is considered to be the least. In so much that the supreme court in the past had decided that Black people were only three fifths human. Now true spirituality can look at the facts and not be resentful. But I don't think being in denial is good spirituality either. Here is a passage from the bible that Jesus identifies with the least.

Matthew 25:33-40 (King James Version)

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Jesus also said that the first shall be last and the last first. If this is true. The niggers are going to be first. Because You can't get no more last than a niggah.(Smile.) Does this shock you? I think you have just not thought about it. I am going to cut and paste a passage from my book so that you know that I am really dealing with these issues and simliar stuff. Remember St. Anon Amos/St. Sambo is talking to a black crowd.

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And Saint Anon Amos said, “But there is Jesus who many of you consider to be God in the flesh and he had a body, did he not? And when you dream, does he ever come to you as being black? Oh ye of little faith. All I am saying is that there is Jesus and there is Jes’ us and between these two is the eniggerma of your existence. For behold I tell you a mystery, if you can bear it and verily I say unto you, the Jesus that they gave you was Jes' us and it came from them and so was really Jes’ them, but our Jes’ us must be your true Jesus. For I say that even though many of you consider that he was not black, if you want to understand the truth of the eniggerma of your existence, you must see him that way. I say that even though you consider him not to be black, still Jesus must be to you as I am, a nigger.”

Now there were Christians among the crowd and they grew upset. They shouted, “We have heard others of this crowd say many things about you. But now we know for ourselves that you are a indeed a heretic and a blasphemer and most likely possessed of the devil!”

But there was a wise man in the crowd and he was well versed in the scriptures and therefore he raised his voice up and said, “Wait! Wait! Don’t you see what he might be saying? That only in niggerishness can the true Jesus really be seen for us? For it is written of him in Isaiah, “He had no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and they hid as it were their faces from him; he was despised, and they esteem him not.” Now if this is a description of Jesus as many of us have been taught, be we black or white, and of the Christian faith,” the wise man said, “It sure don’t sound like a description of white privilege but like unto an extreme form of humility even like a nigger thing going on up in the life of Jesus to me!” And when he said this the spirit of remembrance came upon him and right there he had a vision and fell to the ground. In the vision he saw someone that looked very much like Saint Anon Amos but this man had a white crown and his hands were tied with white rope and he wore a wooden coffin for pants and spiritually dwelt in a prison that was strange beyond measure and that strange prison was a symbol of great liberty to the whole world.

And a voice came to him and said. “ Behold an image of the eniggerma of the past. Behold this icon of both the land of the free and the home of the slave. Behold Jes’ us Christ’s American passion that some call just a pity party for all the darkies that would be kings!” And the man versed in scriptures wept for he was overcome by his vision and its meaning. And many people saw him weeping but not seeing the vision they wondered why this man wept. And he said to them all , ”Now I know the meaning of Hella-lujah!”

But then the spirit of remembrance fell on others of the crowd and some had similar visions and wept openly and some quoted scripture also. One said, “In the bible does it not say, ‘Cursed is every man that hangs on a tree’?” Doesn't this refers to the cross? And wasn’t Jesus lynched and wasn’t the authorities and the higher ups and the police against him too?”
Another said, “ Yes! Doesn’t he identify himself with the bottom rather than the top and of those that are the oppressed rather than the oppressors? For he said, ‘What you have done to the least of these you have also done unto me.’ Then he laughed and said. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! NOW WE KNOW WE CAN'T GET NO MORE LESSER THAN A NIGGER!"

And many from the crowd said. “Amen brother preach it!”

And another said, “Did not when the disciples came to Jesus inquiring who was the greatest among them did he not say that the greatest is he that serves and not he that is served?” And another said “ And he said the first shall be last and the last shall be first!”

And another said, “Didn’t Jesus say if the world hates you know that it hated me before it hated you.”
And many others were inspired to speak of the niggerishness of God in Christ Jesus and confusion settled upon the crowd and a ruckus formed. “This man is a blasphemer plain and simple! And can’t you see he is clouding your minds with some mystical power and causing division with his lies?” said one of them of full pockets and who had authority and that was of the Christian faith, "He proposes two heavens and two Christs and we are a good people and our country is great for our founding fathers knew Jesus and none other!”

And the many black Christians said in their hearts, “We don’t want a jet black Christ. We want a white or a light one instead for that image is pleasing to our eyes and we want him to look that way, even like a movie star.” And the many Christians outwardly opposed him.
And because many of them could no longer stand Saint Anon Amos’s teaching some of them tried to lay hold of him to do him bodily harm. But Saint Anon Amos withdrew himself from them for a little time and went out to the suburbs of the city in solitude to pray.

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So if I have the right as others do to cast about into my culture for symbols that makes sense of my Christian faith and that might be relevant to others of this culture then how could I not gravitate toward the suffering servant of Isaiah 53? Now I am not including all black people automatically under sanctity. But surely even the ten brothers of ill intent have the chance to receive grace for God became flesh, their flesh, the one flesh of humanity. And for those who have been excluded for so long and to be considered beyond the pale of humanity and even God's grace to depict Jesus as themselves is proper and right or they risk denying the universality of salvation and even the incarnation. But I think the chocolate covered Jesus of black kitsch is little more than positive thinking.

But surely you can see that if you have the symbol of George Washington and a slave side by side which one more clearly matches up with Isaiah 53. Yet both are servants and that is why George Washington gets a halo too on the burning cross of liberty icon. I think in the icon I am making a point about human dignity.
I think the work can be convicting. I have had people get upset after seeing this icon because this challenge their safe view of God and exposes their "whiteousness." But not only them but black people also who would seek a chocolate covered Jesus as a form of a black middle class nobility who you know also has an Ivy league education to boot. (For there seem to be no love for niggers in the whole land.) Yet Christ identified himself with the niggers. And this ever present challenge is a pertinent act at this very time when the gates of opportunity for blacks has been busted wide open by the election of a multi-racial president that identifies himself and is identified by society as being Black. Powerful also is the sight of seeing a black family in the White House representing America as the first family.

Now what is up with Aunt Jemima of God? Mammies were used as wet nurses and nannies and cooks and housekeepers. Aunt Jemima was an almost magical figure in our culture as portrayed through advertising. Definitely a mighty symbol of motherhood to both white and black people alike.

I think a question that I can not answer but each and every thoughtful person must ask themselves when dealing with this and similar work. "Can God be served through satire? I think another why of phrasing the question is, "Can sincerity and integrity be served by satire?" I think the work sticks with people and opens a possibility of seeing God where they had not before.

peace and blessings

Mark

Obama and the Plantation of God

2008-11-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

I have a friend I have met through St. Gregory's church who has been out to my studio and I had had face to face time over tea. He saw the beginning of my present personal work many years ago before I had developed a narrative. This guy is a wonderful person who in those days took out time when he was in town to hang out with me. You see he is a nationally known person. (Even more now then then.) I googled him just to make sure I got things right. I wanted to be precise and accurate because he being a man of record I didn't want to say something untrue.

So in one entry about him it said that he "is a widely published writer, diligent community activist, and renowned world wide speaker." It said that he has been featured on the cover of Newsweek. He has advised both the Bush and the Clinton administrations on their faith based initiatives (he also is a pastor and reverend) and domestic and foreign policy issues and has provided commentary for ABC (Prime Time, Nightline, and ABC morning News), NBC (Hardball and MSNBC), CBS (CBS Evening News, Sixty Minutes II), PBS (Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers Show) and FOX Television (The O'Reilley Factor). So like I said he is a heavy hitter. And being so I wasn't overly surprised seeing him as a commentator on MSNBC for the presidential election day coverage a few weeks ago. And he said something that stuck with me. He said,"If Obama wins then the politics of racial grievance is off the table and forever changed." I would love to talk to him about what exactly he meant by this statement. But I think I know and was anticipating this in my work all during the primary.

I like many black people didn't take Obama seriously until after Iowa for we know it takes more then the black vote to make a president no matter how great a person's chops are. And I knew after he won the Democratic nomination that I was going to learn something about my country and it would change my art and my narrative forever. I learned that we have come a long way, baby. We have a ways to go but we also have come a long way. Longer than I had thought. Yet though we do not have a perfect union, we definitely have one that works, because many blacks felt that there were parts of America that were broken down and forever in need of repair especially in regards to us, the black people of America.

So what does this all have to do with my personal project of "The 'N' Word of God: An Extremely Trying Gospel of Existential Wonder and Dubious Authenticity?" Everything. Because the cornerstone of St. Anon Amos preaching is on the plantation of God. How can the plantation of God be here with Obama as president? Isn't Obama as president proof that we have no more problems with race? Or so little problems that the race problems is de facto dead? And that not only the politics of racial grievance is off the table but the very fact of racial grievance is also a thing of the past. Because we all be cool.

Phil the guy that is interviewing me for Tikkun Magazine said that he likes art that poses good questions rather than give good answers. I agree. Another friend Jake said "The reason why so many political poems doesn't work is because the writer already has the answers and this prevent the reader from experiencing discovery," He then started to talk about music and about being in a band and how the audience brings their own stuff to the music. And as a writer and a rock star I guess he might know a thing or two. So having said this let me segue into the narrative where St. Anon Amos refers to somethings that I think is pertinent and he answers a question with a question.

Someone from the crowd said,"What about Obama is he not black and the leader of the free world? And Saint Anon Amos said, "Verily, he is the whiteousness that I mentioned before that we all should seek for our children. But is he black? Yes, he is! Because we have made he so. But how have we made him so? Isn't it because we deny that he is equally white? But the bigger question is this, "Since he is equally white then why have we made him black?"

This was my question all during the primaries. I brought this up with friends some of whom were not supporters of Obama and that thought I might be supporting him primarily because he was black. I would remind them that he was equally white. And I would ask them,"Why have we made him black?" I know that Saint Anon Amos is always prodding people to consider an unseen realm of the fundamental existing heirarchy. The very fact that what we see is a 'black' President is a clear instance of the long shadow of the eniggerma. The very fact that we have a 'black' president doesn't negate the unseen white half that speaks of residual rules of the past and the plantation of God. This leftover of which is called the one drop makes you all black rule. And it appears to be still in place.

I have another friend who has a step son who's father is mostly black and who's mother is Asian American and European American. He looks like he and Obama could be from the same tribe. He says he is white. Because that is what he believes he is mostly. I have a son and his mother is of European American heritage. He is six. I know he is wondering just what he is. He doesn't look like mommy or daddy but both. Is he black too?

Chris Rock says,"You are what you have to defend."

There were discussions during the primary about if Obama was black enough. I heard few similar discussions about if he was white enough. I personally think that is more to the point and on most people minds.

Let us go to scripture. As it is written in the 'N' word of God....

But let us reason together. Can the night say that I am not night when the day appears? Can the darkness say I am not dark in the presence of light? Can a slave say that I am not a slave in the presence of them that have forced him to serve? Have you ever wondered If all were white who then would the niggers be? And if all were rich who than would be the poor? If all were the master who then would be the slave?

And...It is given to black kind to wonder about the eniggerma of their existence but denial of the'N' word of God is sin. For the 'N' word of God is true- truth.

(Smile.)

Saint Sambo meets the Ten Brothers of Evil Intent.

2008-11-28T04:14:00.000-08:00

This is an excerpt from the narrative part of the book that I am working on. The book's title is "The 'N' Word of God: the Illuminated Gospel of St. Sambo of Americoonia." This portion is called "Saint Sambo meets the Ten Brothers of Evil Intent."

----

Now there were some in the neighborhood that did not like his preaching. And they had decided to do something about it and they were ten in number. Now these ten at their meeting felt that they needed to find Saint Sambo to converse with him and if they could to also do him bodily harm, even unto his death.

And as it would happen, Saint Sambo, met these ten brothers while traveling to and fro and preaching the good news of the plantation of God as is his want and his burden.

And upon seeing them, Saint Sambo said to them, "Greetings, brothers! A piece be unto you!" And he offered them a slice of the sacred fruit even that shining watermelon that he always had with him. Then each of the ten brothers raised a hand above their head, and in each hand that they raised there was a gun.

Saint Sambo said, "I perceive that you are ten brothers of evil intent."

And they replied, "No shit? For we be bad and cool as hell. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! We be gang members, even ballers, dope dealers and thugs and even call each other dawgs. Moreover, we consider ourselves players in the great game of life. And everyone of us has taken a vow to neither eat or drink until you are dead. For we perceive and know what you truly are and the doctrine that you teach we can not stand!"

Saint Sambo said, "You think you know but you don't know as you ought, but I fully know of what I do. For the wisdom I teach has come down from the ancestors who endured much suffering and from them comes the word I preach, and it is older then hip hop and more enduring then thug life. For verily I say unto you, when the ancestors were still on the plantation and in so called slavery where they were first introduced to the veneration of the Divine White Booty of God and was diligently taught it even at the tip of the master's whip; I was there. Now I come a preaching that which I know endures and what I have experienced in it's fullness.

And the ten brothers were surprised at his words and they began to laugh. "Oh My! My! My! My! Check this old 'G' out!" They said to themselves. "Isn't he one off the hook mutherfucka and crazier than hell?" Then they said to him, "Tell us this. You crazy ass mutherfuka you! How can you have lived with the ancestors during slavery? Nobody living is that old."

Saint Sambo looked at them and smiled and said, "Verily I say unto you before Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Fredrick Douglas and even Kunta Kinte was, I is.

----

The meeting continues from here to a surprising and illuminating conclusion. To read what happens next you need to buy the book .....when...... it is published. (Smile.)

The Ten Brothers of Evil Intent

2008-11-28T01:50:00.000-08:00

Here is a sketch with details of St. Saint Sambo and his confrontation with the Ten Brothers of Evil Intent. The final line drawing for the icon I will produce at some later point using some of the visual information that I have gotten from starting on this sketch. There are certain elements here that I think have worked and will carry over to the final drawing and icons. I like the Diego Rivera crowding of the Ten Brothers and the seeming disparity of strength and the meeting of two different stereotypes based on different views of the possibilities of black manhood. One 'bad' and one 'good'. One 'old and one 'new'. One ultra masculine and another decidedly feminine. One angry and one beyond all anger.

In black culture the word 'bad' can surprisingly mean 'good'. Why is that? I think it partially comes from the dehumanizing relationship that blacks has traditionally had with the mainstream culture that had made an openly antagonistic posture to society both a morally suspect venture and from a survival viewpoint foolhardy but also secretly lauded by many who saw dignity in resistance. I could see how many black people can have a love/hate relationship with those who heroically or anti-heroically has stood up and didn't follow the imposed rules , many of which were there to further oppress black people and prop up the status quo. But we also know the rule of law benefits the functioning of civilization and society and the common good. I remember reading an article about a man in his eighties that was beside himself with disbelief that Obama had won the White House. He had been trying to get blacks the right to vote in the south before the civil rights era of the 60's when white people would refuse to register blacks because they couldn't pass the 'test' questions. One of the 'test' questions was, "How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?"

Are we to follow these rules too? When the rules has been used against you even the 'good' rules become suspect. Also this man said that he got resistance from fellow blacks who felt threatened by his actions to register them to vote because they felt that he was making it harder for them because of the backlash from white people.

Certain questions and attitudes like that which are passed down generationally are alluded to and brought up in a winding fashion in this portion of the narrative and among these issues is the proposed difference in meaning between 'nigger' and 'niggah'. At one point in the narrative the Ten Brothers say to Saint Anon Amos....

Saint Anon Amos, to us you aint not saint. We don't recognize you for you bad mouth our gods and disrespects our pimps and preachers. You talk as if we still live in a past when we had no choice but to be good coons and niggers or cease to exist. But we now all say, "Fuck that shit!" and "That we be not coons and we be not niggers, but we be cool and be niggahs."

"For as one of our very own prophets has spoken; "A 'nigger' is a black man with a white rope around his neck and he is hanging from a tree. On the other hand, a'niggah' is a black man with gold chains around his neck hanging out at the club."

(The prophet that they speak of here is 2Pac Shakur and that is a direct quote of his.)

The Ten Brothers is an important section in the narrative and in my apocryphal iconography and I want to get it right. I think I would like to take pictures of young hip-hoppers in their gear and pose them to get a splendid iconographic realization of the Ten Brothers. But this sketch is definitely a basis for a good painting I think. I would love to be commissioned to do it or to find a way to produce it in between other commissions in a manner that honors my vision of the complex subtleties I find in the written and in the visual portions of the work..

Pan Deaconos

2008-11-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

Working with certain black American stereotypes is a crucial part of my apocryphal musings. I use them as the visual basis for symbolizing a past that echos into the present. I intentionally complicate the image and sabotage it by alluding to the true spiritual struggle of those who has and is presently laboring under the weight of misrepresentation of their worth and identity. Through this complication and intentional sabotage I attempt to move the stereotype into the realm of an archetype. This duality of stereotype and archetype is consistent with the idea inherent in 'eniggerma' my made up word of black existentialism that combines both the meaning of the words 'enigma' and 'nigger' which I think is apt.

One of the archetypes of my Apocrypha is Ain't Jah Momma of God. (The holy Mammy and mother of St. Sambo.) Her stereotype is of course Aunt Jemima. The archetype St. Sambo's stereotype is the smiling black Sambo. Here is an early image of a sanctified sambo saint called Pan Deaconos which in Greek means 'all serving one'. He is a divine bell hop. And like Jesus who says "Come to me all you that labor and are heavy ladened and I will give you rest." Pan Deaconos (or Panny as I like to call him) takes all your baggage and gives you rest. But please do remember to tip him. He has to keep body and soul together and has a family with kids!

The writing on the icon is from the early versions of the narrative before I knew what it was becoming. At one time I thought it might be a one person show of surreal and existential ranting and it still has a performance aspect to it. I love to read out loud the portion from 'The 'N' of God' called 'St. Sambo and the Ten Brothers of Evil Intent. The Ten Brothers are ballers and hip hop gangsters and pimps and drug dealers and runners and thieves. They come to kill St. Anon Amos because he preaches a doctrine of being good and accommodating white power. His only weapon is a slice of watermelon or so it appears.

My Apocrypha

2008-11-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

The other side of my art and iconography is my own apocryphal fable which is more of a personal statement of my life and spiritual experience and existential wonderings about meaning and black life. I have developed a narrative which is called "The 'N' Word of God: The Illuminated Gospel of St. Sambo. The main charater is Saint Sambo who is called by some Jes' us Christ and by others the Coon Christ. In the narrative he is the light of the Eniggerma (the enigma of black life). He is also the shine of the world. (As opposed to Jesus who has first dibs on being the light of the world.) Saint Sambo is the 'N' word of God made flesh and teaches the wisdom and the way of whiteousness. He calls this true-truth and ancestral wisdom. By the way whiteousness has a twofold path. One path is acting white or appearing whitish. The other is being pleasing to white people as in being entertainingly black. Sometimes these paths intersect and sometimes they don't. (This is part of the eniggerma and mystery of being black.) Whiteousness as with all things black is also influenced by a pervasive cosmic force which is called 'the long shadow' of the eniggerma.

With all wordplay and signification aside, St. Sambo and the work as a whole represents the complicated spiritual experience of Black America seen through the lens of my own subjective and creative attempts to portray something of its reality through words and pictures. The term used in the narrative for this complicated spiritual experience is "eniggerma" a created word that combines both the meaning of the word "enigma" and the meaning of the word "nigger," which I believe is particularly apt.

St. John Coltrane and the Fire of Sound Baptism

2008-11-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

This is the most famous single image I have produced. (As of yet.) The entirety of the Dancing Saint Icon may be running a close second. Many people have seen this icon in various places from the Wall Street Journal to Spin Magazine and the New York Times. But alas for the most part there is hardly ever a byline telling the name of the artist who made it. Me!

And when they do give the starving artist a break and recognize him, sometimes it comes out kind of strange, like when the New York Times Magazine did a short piece on the Saint Gregory's Project and they said that it was being done by 'Mark Dukes a painter.' A painter? ("Maybe ah can do yo trim mam'?") Not 'the painter Mark Dukes' but ' Mark Dukes a painter'. Maybe they wanted to make sure that I didn't think I was special. And that just any ole' person could do what I was doing. (At least any one that could pick up a paint brush that is.) Maybe they thought they would help me by assisting me in managing my over inflated ego. Or helping me toward sanctity. I don't know what they were thinking. I do know that I wasn't alone wondering about this. Archbishop King of the Saint John Coltrane Church also wondered about this thinking that there was a sneaky dissing going on. But then again he is old school and hung out with the Black Panthers in his day.)

I am probably over sensitive and at this point I believe there was no conspiracy. It was just a little bit of bad writing just a misunderstanding. For I remember having a conversation with the writer of the piece (who was black) and how he insisted that he couldn't call me an 'iconographer' for it wasn't a real word and his editor at THE New York Times Magazine wouldn't allow it. (I am proud to be an iconographer and prefer that term rather than 'painter'.) And I prefer 'the painter' over 'a painter'. Maybe he has since learned that 'iconographer' wasn't something that I made up but it is the agreed upon and precise word for a sacred artist in my lineage and is used widely in the religious world.

And maybe 'a painter' knows something after all. Who knows?