From My Living Room

the title song — where the whole house began

Regina Monae in the studio

I don't go to church the way I used to. I used to sit on the front row, hand raised, tithing on a paycheck I didn't really have — because I believed in it.

Then I saw too much that didn't sit right: preaching about giving from a thousand-dollar suit while a sister in the back couldn't afford food. I watched a woman call a church because her baby needed milk and get turned away with excuses smooth as silk — and it was a mosque, and one small church, that finally said yes. I sat there asking God what we were even doing.

So now my church is wherever I am. From my living room, I still pray. He said He'd be with us always — He never put a building on it.

From the lyric sheet
Used to sit on the front row, hand raised high Tithin' on a paycheck I ain't even have, but I'd try Heard that predatory tithing from a thousand-dollar suit Meanwhile sister in the back can't afford no food Watched a woman call the church 'cause her baby needed milk Most of them told her no — gave excuses smooth as silk But a mosque said yes, and a small church too And I sat there askin' God, "What we even doin'?"
✝ Matthew 28:20 — "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
✎ A note to journal on

Where do you feel closest to God right now — and does it have to look like anyone else's idea of church?

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