Thank you for celebrating life . . .

Last Sunday night everyone was anticipating Bey's performance . . .

For the record, I wasn't.  I think Beyonce is an incredibly gifted singer and she has become a political and spiritual voice for a lot of people in our culture - but I was really getting tired of the 'Queen Bey"- styled hype.  It just seems so overplayed.  I know, "how can you say that?!"  Yes, she is a talented singer - it is the hype-machine around her that makes it so overdone.

So as a non-fan - a Beyonce-skeptic, I gotta say, I was captivated.  

Ok - so maybe not totally.  I could have done without the whole half-naked-pregnant-woman-thing.  Kinda creepy.  But the symbolism was fascinating.  Lady Guadalupe, Mary Queen of Heaven, Shiva,  Kali, Oshun, Mami Wata, Venus, Artemis, Aphrodite - the list goes on.  I felt like I was in Cultural Anthropology all over again.  She displayed the power of a woman without cheapening femininity.  

We saw womanhood respected, not cheapened.  When is the last time we have seen that as a culture?  I think any believer can get behind that.  

She sang from Love Drought and Sandcastles and then whispered verses from Somali poet Warsan Shire:

Baptize me, now that reconciliation is possible.
If we're gonna heal, let the healing be glorious.
1,000 girls raise their arms.
Do you remember being born?
Are you thankful for the hips that cracked?
The deep velvet of your mother and her mother and her mother?
There is a curse that will be broken.

For all the times that the Grammys exploit women and their sexuality, this was finally something we could at least talk about and consider - to wrestle with meaning and symbolism.  

And it all centered on the miracle of life.

So thank you, Beyonce:  

Thank you for ditching the repeated dancing-toward-the-camera with your shoulders lowered and that determined look on your face.  It's old.  Thanks for letting it go.  

Thank you for talking about the power of femininity and not just the power of seduction.

Thank you for addressing everyone - not White, Black, Hispanic and Asian.  We get so race-focused for goodness sakes.  This was for all humans who have ever been born.

Thank you for reminding us that life is a mysterious gift - so much more profound than a choice. 

Thank you exalting life - for reminding us of the miracle of being born.