The Futureʻs on Fire
Reflections on the Mass for the 21st Century
Mahalo for showing up, for reading this humble offering. 529 views - thatʻs how many read my post last week. And as I said in last weekʻs post, I came back from a short break with greater clarity about my commitment to writing. After months of wandering, I found my Lost Voice and realized that the Year of the Snake reminds me of why I write here: it is a time for “growth, renewal, adaptability, encouraging people to reflect on their paths, embrace change, and seek personal growth” - which is exactly what my hopes have been and continue to be for this Substack.
I did have a sequence of topics in mind before my fall interrupted that flow. They Keep Telling Me I Should Write My Memoir began with the 30 year anniversary of a time of rapid change and personal transformation in my life1. One of the key moments was the evening I first encountered the Mass for the 21st Century - Dedicated to the New Millenium , and its brilliant composer Carman Moore - my Big Brother/Best Man.2
As the year 2024 turned to the year 2025, it would be 25 years after the dawning of the 21st Century, and I wanted to pay tribute to the prescience and continued relevance of the message of Carmanʻs opus. What I write this week is not what I would have written the last week of 2024. It needed to wait until today, when my conversations and emails and text messages and social feeds are filled with some variation on the words “the world/the future/my home is on fire.”
To introduce the Mass for the 21st Century, I wrote, “For those who might not be familiar with the classical form of a Mass, it sets the required components of the Catholic/Anglican liturgy to music.” In between the first Kyrie Eleison and the Confessional, just before Intermission, Carman inserted a Morality Play. To summarize, Manchild has a beautiful balloon. But he wants MORE BALLOON - and it keeps inflating until it pops. Then Mr Robotoy encourages Manchild to wind him up, and wind some more, until suddenly he becomes DR TECH!
(Transformed:)
l'M DR. TECH, AT YOUR COMMAND! l'M DR. TECH, AT YOUR COMMAND!
ANYTHING I DON'T CARE
WHAT I DO IS PROGRESS
FEELINGS THAT ARE NEVER HURT
DO YOUR DISH OR DISH YOUR DIRT
SING A LULLABYE FOR YOU OR BLACK YOUR NEIGHBOR'S EYE FOR YOU
l'D COMMIT A CRIME FOR YOU
THINGS THAT YOU WOULD NEVER DO
Honestly, I donʻt know whether to laugh or cry. Dr Tech has indeed been unleashed.
And so the words of The Futureʻs On Fire keep running through my brain. Here are the first verses:
Master of War:
I AM THE DREAM I AM THE FLAME
PUT TO THE TEST
I’ll LIGHT YOUR WAY VIOLENT WAYS
SAFE IN THE STORM FOLLOW THE FLAME
IʻLL KEEP YOU WARM
Children:
THE FUTURE'S ON FIRE
SAVE THE CHILDREN. SAVE THE CHILDREN OHHHHH. WE'VE GOT TO SAVE OURSELVES
Child Rapper:
THE FUTURE'S ON FIRE. SAVE YOUR KIDS.
OR TRY TO MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND JUST WHAT THEY DID
TO MAKE THE WORLD REJECT THEM, ABUSE AND SUBJECT THEM
TO A WORLD OF GREED AND HUNGER
AND NEVER PROTECT THEM
THE FUTURE'S ON FIRE YOUR SEED IS ON FIRE
MOTHER EARTH IS ALWAYS BURNING
FATHER SKY HAS STARTED TURNING GREY AND SICKLY YELLOW
IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT
ANIMALS ARE PASSING RIGHT INTO EXTINCTION
ELEPHANTS THEY'RE SHOOTING DEAD
AND THE EAGLES OVERHEAD
PEOPLE PUMP THEM FULL OF LEAD TO GAIN DISTINCTION
MIGHTY WHALES AND BUFFALO
SPECIES THAT WE HARDLY KNOW
IN THIS HUMAN UNDERTOW
HOWARETHEY SUPPOSEDTOGROW?
MAYBE WE WILL ALL HAVE TO GO
THE FUTUREʻS ON FIRE
Ultimately, the second half of the Mass for the 21st Century brings a message of hope. But I am not quite ready to take you there yet. It would be dishonest. Because I am not living there yet, in that place of steady hope and faith. Not all the time at least. I just know I am full of fire. I am full of sadness. I am full of gladness for those who surround me, in person and virtually, who know we are in this together, and who burn with the commitment and love that burns inside me.
See you back here next week. If we dare.
My apologies if you follow this link and find it difficult to follow - the posts appear in reverse order, newest to oldest, in Substack categories. They are numbered if you want to read them sequentially.
This whole piece of writing will make much more sense if you read the link about my and Carman first meeting in 1992. Please. And as a follow up, the one about the performance of the Mass I co-produced in 1994. Allow me, remembering that, to also note the passing of Cissy Houston in October 2024, thirty years later.