Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul, was a Gospel woman for generations of men and women. Cradled in her church in Detroit, she never left it, but rather carried it with her all over the world. She sang "Precious Lord" at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral 50 years ago in 1968. Her music and her dedication supported the civil rights movement right through to her singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at President Obama's inauguration in 2009. Amazing! "Respect" was her anthem. Amazing woman. Amazing Gospel Grace!
P.S. I googled the Queen of Soul singing "America" at President Obama's Inauguration. Just to listen to her and to watch the crowd listening to her was wonderful. To watch President Obama watch and listen to her and be inspired by her inspired me again. Then I scrolled down briefly to see the comments. This was all within a few hours of her death. They were all in gratitude. Except one. What? One by Donald J. Trump: "Gotta Thumbs down on this one." I don't tweet things to or about Trump, but this time I did reply to his tweet. I wrote: "Thumbs down on America? Thumbs down on music? Thumbs down on Freedom? "Don't gotta!"
I know even more today how much we need Aretha, and Martin Luther King Jr., and President Obama.
I know how much we need the Gospel. I know how much we need to sing. All of us.
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