I pray to God a lot. People can mock me. I don’t care. I was born with a heavy heart and my heavy heart compels me to pray a lot. For the most part, whenever I pray, I inevitably get around to talking to God about Marvin Gaye. I ask God to please tell Marvin I want to thank him for all his music, especially “What’s Going On.” I often say to God, “Please tell Marvin his song brings me closer to you than any church hymn. In fact, tell him listening to his song is for me the equivalent of going to church. Tell him I always knew music brought beauty to the world, but not until I heard ‘What’s Going On’ did I know music could deliver that much beauty. One more thing, God. Underneath the infinite beautiful layers of ‘What’s Going On’ is essentially a prayer. It is a prayer so deep and so beautiful that I feel ashamed whenever I come up with my own prayers. Tell Marvin he has written the Prayer of Prayers and that everything that comes out of my mouth feels trite and trivial. Tell him that, would you? And tell him I miss him. Tell him I want to meet him someday and thank him personally. I hope that day comes soon, God. Things are terrible down here. Evil is spiking. Evil people are flaunting their evil. We feel abandoned down here. Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ feels more urgent and relevant than ever. You tell that to Marvin, also, please. Tell him we all want to know what is going on. We need Light, a Guide, a Benevolent Power to get us out of this darkness. We miss Marvin greatly. Thank you, Lord.”
