In a stunning turn of events, the Hip Hop star MIA recently won a Dove Award in the new category: non-Christian Hip Hop. Her song, 20 Dollar, was played in her honor, but incited the audience to run out of the auditorium screaming in fear. Miss MIA, who did not attend the award ceremony, was very surprised to have won, as she had never heard of the Dove awards. Deep breath. Then I woke up. 

I’ve been listening to MIA a lot lately. You heard some of her music in Slum Dog Millionaire. She is a young refugee from Sri Lanka, where her father was part of the Tamil Tiger movement. She and her family fled to London and she eventually ended up in Brooklyn. Her music has coarse edges, while artistically blending cultures, styles, and beats. Her lyrics usually touch topics that are far removed from most of our lives, such as poverty, African war, and the life of refugees. As I sat on the swaying subway with MIA rapping in my ears, I started to wonder. Why don’t churches and Christian radio stations play MIA? Isn’t God all about the outcast? The poor? “The least of these?” Could He be sick of me singing songs in church  . . . about me? Wouldn’t He love for us to be thinking about what He thinks about?