Cry from the Wilderness

In the large and empty after-school hallways of Murphy High School, you'll hear them. Their voices float from a large classroom with small stadium seating and a slightly pitchy piano, worn from use. At their helm is a kind-eyed man named Joel, just out of his twenties, a man who has spent his career changing Mobile lives through music. Joel is teaching at Murphy now, where out of the sky came a miracle he is currently fine tuning: the music from the group in front of him. The group's name is Elements of Difference. 

    You wouldn't know it from these young men's faces. You wouldn’t know the hard stories buried deep beneath their smiles, beneath the melodies and snapping fingers. You wouldn't know about their street upbringing, the drug addictions and prison sentences their family members have faced, or as Joel puts it, that they wake up every morning and will to live. But that's the beauty of the music. Right now they can step outside the brokenness of street culture, the empty nights and sallow mornings. Right now they can just sing. And boy can they sing.     

    As a fly on the wall you could see the eager faces, the occasional missed note, the blossoming of vocals like the talent of a street basketball player, raw talent just waking to find its place. And if you were there, you'd see the miracle begin. There is the initial low energy take that just misses its mark. Their energy is slightly nervous. You can hear how life has beat them down, you can feel the nervous energy, the question just below their surfaces, the What if I mess up? the deep desire of affirmation, and the worry it won’t come. But Joel is there to work with them. Make it fun, he says; enjoy yourself. He gives them some instructions, and suddenly you can see them come to life, suddenly things really begin to change.  There it is. There’s the miracle. 

    They are all lined up, backs facing an imaginary audience. Suddenly emerges a hum, a popular and well-known melody. It is Lean on Me, and in that classroom just off the empty hallway in Murphy, a sound from heaven wakes. The humming continues, and one young man, Alon, turns around and steps forward. He's got a good arch to his back and slender frame. With the thick-rimmed glasses on his face, you'd think he was Temptations' David Ruffin come back from the dead. He sings. "Sometimes in our life, we all have pain, we all have sorrow”... a sweet baritone. He's got a coolness in his walk, and its gripping, this freshman in community college. He finishes the verse, and suddenly his voice is overtaken by a tenor from the one non-minority in the group. This is Justin. He flanks Alon. “Lean on Me”, comes Justin’s piercing note, an octave above Alon, “when you're not strong”… and it means something more than just the music. This is their story, these Elements of Difference. 

    This group, who named themselves Elements of Difference because of their various backgrounds, have unified to create one sound.  And in that one communicated voice, the harmony states their message: “And I’ll Be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. For it won’t be long, till I’m gonna need, somebody to lean on.”  And they hold the harmony out, and then suddenly... they break it down. 

    All of them begin their own kind of dancing, and their character, their charm really comes out. The song bursts into doo-wops, snaps, dancing. And the song is at once fun, exciting, and you really want to dance with them. And as they finish the harmony, finish the song, when you hear a gospel climactic ending, equipped with an out-of-the-blue gospel high-note, you can't help but beam. It's like a movie, these kids who have come together, these Elements of Difference; and when they hear Joel's reign down praise, you watch them burst into unified smiles. They don't hear "great job" much, not from home, not in general. But here in this empty classroom where they are featured, they are stars. The nervous energy returns. Their miracle again is hidden, just like the pain under their smiles. 

    And this group, Elements of Difference, will appear on stage at vivace. They are one in a slew of talented groups and individuals who have a chance to put their talents together for good. It is a difficult artistic community, filled with an endless amount of temptations and destructive encouragement. But on the night of vivace, Elements of Difference will step forward on stage and tell the world what God has to say to everyone: Lean on Me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your strength, I'll help you carry on...