Last Friday February 26^th, 2021 we commemorated Jamaica Day under the theme ‘Celebrating Jamaica: ‘Reggae the Message of Resilience and Triumph’.  Reggae does express the resilience of the Jamaican people.  this theme provides us with an opportunity to theologically reflect on where God is in our culture. While many will say God is counter-cultural, today, I would like to delve more into the theology of our indigenous music being an authentic expression of the divine spirit within us.  

The first Genesis creation story tells us that God made everything. It lists all life forms as being made by God. chapter 1 vs 29 says: ‘God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.  The second creation story in Genesis chapter 2 tells us that God blew God’s breath into us. We should therefore understand that God is the source of all life. As Marcus says God gave us a mind to use. It is this mind that give rise to creative expressions such as reggae.

Resilience and triumph smacks of resistance and transformation, which is the life that our Lord Jesus Christ led, while on earth.  They also speak to recognizing that all is not well, be it with us as individuals, as a community or as a nation.  We stop, take stock and take corrective action. Theologically we refer to this as repentance and redemption.

Music is a cultural art form that shows the authenticity which we are called to show as children of God. Yes, I will admit that not all music is reflective of God, but we shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water, but seek to understand where is God in the music.

Reggae music represents the struggles of the people as they lament and seek an understanding of what is happening to them. No different from some psalms which were the songs of the Jewish people. For example Psalm 22:2 I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.   

Reggae has placed Jamaica on the world stage and causes persons to come in droves to study our culture.  Bob Marley’s album Exodus was declared by Time magazine the album of the 20^th century. His One love song reflects the openness of the Jamaican people and is reflective of how Marley understood the bible even though the word God is not in the song.  It says everything will be alright. Our challenges with COVID 19, online learning, money worries, we will be overcome. Love of fellow man is a central theme of the Bible. Jesus gave the Commandment to love one another. He said in Matthew that every relationship in life stands on loving God and our neighbours as ourselves. One love seeks to bring peace and harmony, exemplifying love as a transformational tool that is redemptive and doing as Jesus would have done.

Queen Ifrica’s Daddy don’t touch me there reflects the incest which is rampant in our society and is taken as normative in some communities.  Judy Mowatt, I think in the movie Children of Babylon, sings, “I was born a woman accident of birth. Learn to cook, leave the books, I’ve got to prove my worth”, This reflects how women have been generally viewed and is still being viewed in our very patriarchal society.

Derrick Morgan’s Betta must come was so expressive that it was used as a political slogan in the 1970’s. Better mus’ come captured the mood of Jamaica in 1971.  One writer says  “it gives voice to the long-suffering Jamaican populace, and the rhythm expresses in music the toughness and tension simmering in the island.” Since independence, the masses were seeing little improvement in their lives. Betta mus’ come reflected the suffering of the large numbers of poor who though they worked hard saw little or no change in their economic situation. The music reflected the anger being felt at that time and the urgent and desperate desire for a life where they are valued. The song says “I’ve been trying a long, long time, still I can’t make it, Everything I try to do seems to go wrong, It seems I have done something wrong, But they’re trying to keep me down, Who God bless, no one curse, thank God I’m not the worst Better must come one day

 Couldn’t these be the words of a modern day Jeremiah or the psalmist who says in Psalm 27:9 Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation. Or Luke 18:7 Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help? How does this song differ from the song made popular by Martin Luther King “We shall overcome, deep in my heart I do believe that we shall overcome some day”.

The book of Hebrews starts using the translation that remains popular among in Jamaica (King James) says “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.” In chapter 12 it refers to a crowd of witnesses living and departed who help us to see God and understand our lives as a reflection of God in the world. Reggae is representative of a cultural form that bears our crowd of witness. The witnesses are our forbears, coming from our Akan, Coramante and other African traditions, our Kumina which we have allowed those who choose not to understand to promulgate a false doctrine about it, through to mento, our digging songs,  our folk songs, ska until it morphed into Reggae, giving us the greats of Peter Tosh, (if we are able to look past the expletives), Bob Marley, and Buju Banton,  

Shine head’s Strive encourages persons to do their best, which Jesus says he came to earth to do – show us the way to a better life. Sly and Robbie who have played for several musical giants. These are people on whom reggae stands – the crowd of witnesses. I once said Bob Marley is a prophet and there was silence in the room.  But I do not think we truly and really understands that God sends persons with various talent to point the rest of us t God. As Hebrews 1:1 says speaks to us through others. Bob Marley looked at what was happening around him, sang about it and gave the rest of us insight and hope.

Reggae is creative – it is the rhythm of a people who understand God as referred to in the pledge in which we promise to work diligently and creatively. This is what our reggae artists and musician have done. They have been and are using their talent thinking generously and honestly, sometimes speaking about the harsh realities of life, other times speaking sweet melodies which encourage and give hope so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, as they play their part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race.