Tuesday, February 16, 2010

We Are the World 25th Anniversary Edition for Haiti!

25 years ago, I was a Student Teacher at Walla Walla Valley Academy. An amazing event happened during that time that I had the opportunity to share with my Bible students. A song, an event called "We Are the World", a collaboration of rock stars, pop stars, and other well-known singers and musicians came together as one to create awareness of the plight of those in Africa who were struggling with devastating hunger and poverty.

I was captivated by this movement and embarrassed to hear the response from some of the Christian community. How dare they condemn what we ourselves "Christians" were NOT doing! This group with this song were doing OUR job and some "Christians" were complaining?! I was shocked! I was reminded of the statement Jesus said (Luke 19:39-41) when the Pharisees complained about Jesus' Disciples making too much noise: He said, if I shut them up, then the stones will cry out! Stones cry out indeed! Since many times rock musicians were referred to as "Stoners", I applied that to this text and came up with, "If my people--Christians--are silent, then the Stoners will cry out!" For that is what was happening! The "Stoners" were doing the work of the Church because most of the church had its head in the sand (and that's the polite way of saying it!).

Now 25 years later, We Are the World has been revived for the terrible situation in Haiti. I am proud that the Church has grown over the last 25 years and has a better sense of what is important and is more embracing of this cause. Both Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, Executive Producers, openly gave credit to God for pulling this song together again. It would be a sad thing for Christians to ignore this cause or throw stones at it again!

Here, without further ado, is the official video: We Are the World


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