A pastor’s perspective on Madonna’s Cross performance
Pastor Laurene Lafontaine has written the following interesting article about the Live To Tell scene form the Confession Tour. We invite our readers to read it and we want to congratulate with pastor Lafontaine for having both her heart and mind open.
Article by Laurene Lafontaine from the North Denver News:
Recently, I received a forwarded email, which had been circulated by the American Family Association with the subject line reading “NBC, Madonna Set To Mock The Crucifixion of Christ.” I generally delete forwarded email, but this one was sent from someone I knew and I was curious about what AFA was saying. The advice, within the email, was in big bold red letters encouraging the reader to “Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire email list of family and friends.” The email claimed that Madonna was mocking the crucifixion of Jesus by performing while on a mirrored cross, and that Rosie O’Donnell, ABC and NBC were bashing Christians. The claims were so outrageous I decided to see for myself.
It was easy enough to find a video clip of her performance and the lyrics online. After viewing the Madonna‘s concert video clip on YouTube.com, I was livid. Her performance, which is drawing so much attention, is anything but a mockery of Christianity.
The reality is she is expressing the quintessence of Jesus’ teachings through her performance. She sings “Live to Tell” (below are the lyrics) from the cross, then at one point, the curtains close slightly, Madonna is lowered to the floor with the cross in the background. Behind her, the cross is flanked by video images of African children, a written message stating, “12 million children are orphaned by AIDS.” Followed by “For I was hungry, you gave me food” “I was naked, and you gave me clothing.” “Whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers,” “you did unto me.” “Matthew 25”
This powerful and very reverent performance calls the world to take notice that there are 12 million children who are currently orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. 12 million! Madonna is trying to wake us up to the fact that we are called to care for those who are most often forgotten, in this case, the growing number of children who are now alone because of their parents have died of AIDS. She is reminding each one of us, especially Christians, of the central message of Jesus. Jesus has called each of us to not only to identify with the suffering, but more importantly, to follow his example of providing active care, support and healing to those who suffer and then to do all that we can to end their suffering. Madonna’s very poignant and dramatic performance is a powerful call to action.
I invite you not to just take my word for it, go and view the scene online for yourself. Read the words of the song. Go to YouTube and watch the video. Copy the following link into your browser. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NiNNBveTDI
I can’t begin to express just how furious I get when a so-called Christian organization makes such outrageous accusations, in this case misrepresenting Madonna’s performance in such a perverse manner, in order to promote their agenda. American Family Association, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, among others, have a very clear political agenda, which is predicated on rewriting the Gospel so as to fit it into their goals of a fundamentalist Christian theocracy. This is the very religiosity that Jesus was condemning for he was very clear about legalistic and rigid religious expression.
My hunch is this is the latest ploy to add to the AFA mailing list and money-raising machine for the extreme wrong wing of the Republican party. My hope is that Madonna’s Confessions Tour is educating millions of concert-goers to the AIDS crisis in Africa which will create an active humanitarian response, which would make Jesus proud! May we live to tell it!
Live To Tell Written by Madonna and Pat Leonard I have a tale to tell Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well I was not ready for the fall Too blind to see the writing on the wall
A man can tell a thousand lies I’ve learned my lesson well Hope I live to tell The secret I have learned, ’till then It will burn inside of me
I know where beauty lives I’ve seen it once, I know the warm she gives The light that you could never see It shines inside, you can’t take that from me
A man can tell a thousand lies I’ve learned my lesson well Hope I live to tell The secret I have learned, ’till then It will burn inside of me
The truth is never far behind You kept it hidden well If I live to tell The secret I knew then Will I ever have the chance again
If I ran away, I’d never have the strength To go very far How would they hear the beating of my heart Will it grow cold The secret that I hide, will I grow old How will they hear When will they learn How will they know