New Review of Orphans and Kings

Of Orphans and Kings
Review by Pastor Dave Hutchinson
Pastor of Christ the Shepherd Church, Danbury CT There is one thing I have come to expect from any new recording by Mo Leverett: it will be both honest and authentic, filtered through current life experience. It will be grounded in reality which means that there will be more grit than just a tip-of-the-cap to the ugliness of life. There will also be heavy doses of hope in a Mo Leverett recording, because Mo’s Reality is grounded in the God for whom “hope” is a household word.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (I Peter 1:13).
The 2005 offering, Blades of Love, (Mo’s seventh album) was accurately described as “Mo’s most optimistic record yet.” It mirrored the life and ministry of a man who was basking in the Lord’s blessing. Nearly two decades of risk-taking, heartache, faithfulness, goal-setting, goal-achieving, people-investing, and hard work was paying off. Mo Leverett’s life’s work, the ministry to the poor of New Orleans, was successful by all accounts – new facilities, new school, new athletic fields. Ministry convergence! The pieces falling into place! Most importantly, lives were being transformed. A lost generation had been found! Not only that, but God was using the work in New Orleans to inspire others to step out and take their own risks in their own cities among those formerly forgotten people in pockets of poverty. Mo was an Influencer, an Inspiration.

Then came Hurricane Katrina.

The city was flooded, the people were scattered – and Mo seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

What had happened? People who had prayed for the Leverett family wondered what they would look like (if and) when they resurfaced. Many imagined we could relate to what Mo was going through – the grief of losing loved-ones, of the devastation of ministry buildings that had been painstakingly constructed, of losing a home, of losing every single possession in that home (a line in one of the ministry updates about the loss of Ellen’s collection of earrings that had commemorated every anniversary was poignant). We imagined that we felt the same pain that Mo was experiencing. It turns out we were wrong. The only person feeling that level of desperation and hopelessness was the one actually walking through it at the time – and the One walking through it with him.

In Of Orphans and Kings we get an album to tell us Mo’s story of the past two years. It doesn’t tell us every detail of Mo’s life but it tells us what we need to know and it gives us a point of reference for our own struggles. Of Orphans and Kings was nearly named Like Hell Inside. A little time spent with the album reveals why it was such a tough decision between these two potential titles. (I’m glad that Of Orphans and Kings won out – the worst is behind and God is moving Mo forward.)

Musically, this is what one would expect from a Mo Leverett album. Like other craftsmen, from The Innocence Mission, to James Taylor, to John Hiatt, to the late Rich Mullins, you know what you’re getting – a few but not a lot of musical surprises, because with Mo’s music there’s something better. A conversation with an old friend who has a new tale to tell. Mo is not going to musically “weird out” on his long-time listeners. What we get is a well-organized, with great musicianship (including backing vocals from the great Ashley Cleveland), collection of songs – a body of work – that demands to be heard several times for the themes to work their way into the listener’s soul. This is not a made-for-iTunes album where one can lift a favorite song or two out of their context and throw them into some randomly generated “music mix.” It’s an album that tells a story. What sets this album apart from its predecessors is not the music, which is reliably good and listenable. Rather, the most jarring thing about this album is that the lyrical content is even more personal and disturbing than the pictures of the Desire Street neighborhood that Mo painted on prior albums.

Picture yourself by a comforting fireplace, sitting down to have a conversation with an old friend whom you haven’t seen for awhile, looking forward to a familiar conversation. You’re expecting to enjoy the conversation, to be challenged theologically and practically, to listen and to be heard…. And you’re eager for the hours ahead because you know what’s in store; it’s the kind of conversation that you don’t get to have often enough.

It starts on that familiar note – “Thank You Lord.” And you nod your head and you think, “Yes, there’s a lot for which to be thankful. Thank you, Mo, for reminding me to be thankful to the Lord for being my shelter. Yes, I’m thankful that the Lord saved my life. Yes, I’m thankful for the family the Lord gave me. Etc. Etc. Etc.”

All of a sudden, however, the conversation takes an unexpected turn and you sit up and listen. You lose track of time and your coffee gets cold as your mind is forced to process phrases like these:

…walls collapsing in….
…men with masks and rubber gloves were claiming all I’d lost…..
…the commotion and rage inside of me….
…when a hole up in that levee blows a hole up in your heart….
…Do you know how it feels to wound those you love, to wound them and then to wipe up their blood?
…Do you know how it feels to give up your power for vapors and mists that fade in an hour?
…never thought friends would abandon him there and leave without words or even a prayer….
…poisonous tears from an embittered face….
…I’ve lost everything I worked to keep….
And you keep listening even though a part of you would rather not hear what you’re being told. You’d like to give advice or interrupt the flow of pain by giving consolation. You’d like to lambaste those who left your friend in the ditch. You’d like to protest that you wouldn’t have done that if only you’d known he was in the ditch (at least, you don’t think you would have done that; not intentionally, anyway). But you just keep those thoughts inside your head and you simply listen. You silently pray and you try to learn something about God and pain and suffering and redemption and life. You think, “This could be me someday. No, it will be me. Listen up!”

This album is painful for those who want to dive in and explore it. I could only think of Ecclesiastes, especially 7:2-5:

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

In the midst of the pain, however, there is Hope. The theme of prayer runs throughout the album. Mo’s plea in “Pray for My Home”, in which he asks us to pray for his child, his wife, his friends, and the poor is convicting. While I want people to pray for me, how willing am I to return the favor? The song, “Watch and Pray” picks up where the title track left off: So I turn now to higher things and seek my solace there. The storm has made of orphans kings when they return to prayer.
My current favorite song is “The Ditch,” mostly for its abrupt ending of grace. The man in the story is surprised to find himself in the ditch. He’s abandoned by his friends, he’s helpless to get up even though he tries, and he is bleeding internally though continuing to feed his dark (and hidden) sin. The man has descended into hell.

The picture gets worse and then God intervenes:

Poisonous tears from an embittered face Darker the fears from a darkening place But startled by light that broke from above Startled within by a vision of love
So what’s next for Mo Leverett? Phase One, the Desire Street Ministries phase, is behind him. At least, it is as behind him as it will ever be. God did great things in and through Mo and Ellen and then God shut the door. Phase Two, the Rebirth International era of Mo Leverett’s life is beginning.

God used Mo to teach and inspire many of us who serve as pastors and teachers, even as Mo was God’s tool to reach into a pocket of poverty and draw people to Himself. I can only hope, pray, imagine, expect, celebrate, and anticipate that God will take this version of Mo Leverett – the one who is older, more tired, mature, wizened, and more dependent on God than ever – to do even greater things. And it will be all the more glorifying to God because Mo will always have the identifying limp of a man who has wrestled with God and has won and lost at the same time.

When will the next album be released? How will it sound? What lessons will be embedded in great-sounding music? That’s up to the Lord. Right now, I’m going to be impacted by this one, and I know you will be, also.

For those who entrusted their trust unto me
May they turn around now and trust only Thee
And help me to learn how to patiently wait
And see the return of reward and estate