Sunday, Sunday, bah da bah da da da..

Sunday!

It's my favorite day of the week! Sunday means family, good food, relaxation, laughing and smiling.

Things I love about Sunday -

• A Big Sunday Breakfast!
• A Big Sunday Dinner!
• No Traffic!

Except the "Sunday Drivers". And on Sunday, I don't mind a bit the "lil old whom ever" cruising below the speed limit in the far left lane. No traffic makes going around them a simple notion. Usually I would shout "Jesus"! then groan out something like "why do people drive like they got their license out of a "Cracker Jack" box". But not on Sunday.

Easy Like Sunday Morning. Click here


Sunday we have -

• Gospel Radio and Sports!

I must confess I am a fan of sporting events, not a Sports Fan. I love sports for their entertainment value. A live venue is my favorite way to watch sports. My first trip to a professional sporting event was to "Wrigley Field". It was a Sunday. I am so thankful it is still called "Wrigley Field".

No value in History makes me sad.

But not on Sunday! On Sunday I Smile :-)

Smile - GP are you with me? Click here

It's the God in me. Mary Mary

Those two songs are from a short list of Contemporary Spiritual/Gospel music I enJoy! Coming from a rich Louisiana Baptist background practically everything other than those old moaning and whaling hymns of my youth are contemporary.

EnJoy! The Gospel of my youth.

Mahalia Jackson - Move on up a little higher. Click here
Mahalia Jackson-Move on up a little higher lyrics. Click here

We did not have "the greatest gospel singer of all time" in our Sunday services at "Greater King Solomon" or "Jackson Chapel", but the Sunday music rotation in our home made her number one on the Sunday playlist. My NOLA Grandmother was a total Mahalia groupie. Truly Mahalia was loved by the people in New Orleans, Chicago and all over the world. There is a video on line that shows her singing "The Lords Prayer" and the audience giving her the standing ovation is all white. I love that.

Wikipedia says-

Born as Mahala Jackson and nicknamed "Halie", Jackson grew up in the Black Pearl section of the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. When she was born Halie suffered from genu varum, or "bowed legs". The doctors wanted to perform surgery by breaking Halie's legs, but one of the resident aunts opposed it. In 1927, at the age of sixteen, Jackson moved from the south to Chicago, Illinois, in the midst of the Great Migration.

Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel". Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist; entertainer Harry Belafonte called her "the single most powerful black woman in the United States".



Mahalia Jackson died in Chicago on January 27, 1972.

I was six years old and will never forget that day. My school announced her passing over the loud speaker which could be heard in the school courtyard where we were halted to listen. When I close my eyes and remember this day, I am taken back to that courtyard and can still smell the pinto bean aroma in the air from our lunch menu.

Mahalia had funeral services in Chicago and New Orleans. It was a true media sensation.

Instead of the sweet sounds of Mahalia in service, our service was more...
It goes a lil something like this... and a 1 and a 2...Click here

The unison clapping, stomping, rocking rhythmic melding of voice and spirits soothed my soul. It was as though someone hit the reset button on life and everything was made new again.

"Rocking was a term first used by gospel singers in the American South to mean something akin to spiritual rapture". - By Dr. Frank Hoffmann

Even without regular Sunday service and certainly no music like this. I still love Sunday for family, for music, for food, for Joy!

Sunday, Reset!

Now for Monday....
Monday, Monday bah da bah da da da..