“Notes on faith” is theGrio’s inspirational, interdenominational series featuring Black thought leaders across faiths.
“What if we considered being a musician a type of sexual orientation?”
This was the question I posed during a recent episode of “Beyond the Gatekeepers” livestream with Bishops Yvette Flunder and Vanessa Brown, the open and affirming platform of two same-gender-loving (SGL) clergy from The Fellowship of Affirming Churches. Despite the fact that church folks can be very hesitant to discuss these topics, the viewing saints and friends went marching into the stream and concurrent chat, eager to explore the connection between how they worship and their sexual, sensual, and culinary appetites. For many musicians, especially, making and experiencing music are sensual and sexual activities in which their entire body and soul are engaged, regardless of whether in the sanctuary or in the club.
Our discussion was inspired by training I facilitated based on new gastro-musicology research to be released in the Yale Journal of Music & Religion later this year. In Afro-Protestant worship, participants are typically encouraged or expected to fully engage in their worship by openly singing or dancing. As their bodily participation increases, so too, does the circulation of blood and happy hormones throughout the body. Some worshippers learn to harness that blood flow musically or through preaching — methods understood to be worshipful when in spiritual communion. Yet, some preachers have admitted to me they feel they have not preached a good sermon until they have literally climaxed while delivering it. Similarly, there have been recording artists who have confessed they become sexually or sensually aroused — or fully satisfied — depending on how intense their musical emissions were.
The principles explored in my research illuminate the divine purpose behind our physical and emotional connections, teaching us…
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