GloRilla faces heavy criticism after Baltimore preacher used lyrics from her song ‘Tomorrow’ during sermon

Social media went wild when a Baltimore preacher referenced rapper GloRilla in one in every of his Sunday sermons, linking the Memphis resident’s hit “Tomorrow” to Psalm 30:5 as an encouragement to persevere while waiting for higher times which are sure to are available in the longer term .

The Rev. Melech E. M. Thomas, the twenty fourth senior pastor at Payne Memorial AME Church, posted a clip from a recent sermon he delivered titled “I’m Tired of Being Seen!”

On Tuesday, March 5, under a video post on the platform, X wrote: “Gloryla’s lyrics >>>>.”

“I love good gospel music,” he begins to say within the clip. “And there’s this new gospel artist… Some of you may know her, some of you may not, but her name is Gloria Hallelujah Woods… She’s from Memphis… some of you may know her as ‘GloRilla.’

He continues, “GloRilla has a song called “Tomorrow” and he or she makes such a press release that blesses me. She says, “Every day the sun doesn’t shine, but that’s why I love tomorrow,” and I seek advice from some those who life hasn’t been the nicest for you, but you understand what Big Mama said… “Crying may last one night, but joy will come in the morning. (You understand) not every day is a good day, but as long as I live to see tomorrow, something can change.

This is a reference to the verse in the Psalm that says, “The wrath of God lasts but a moment; for his benefit is life: weeping may last through the night, but in the morning there is joy.”

Within a day of posting the video, the clip on his profile had been viewed over 1.6 million times.

Pastor Thomas then explained why he used the rapper’s lyrics: saying“I rarely post my own sermon clips because I have trouble commoditizing Black sermons, but @GloTheofficial’s music consistently inspires and affirms.”

GloRilla, the preacher’s child, reposted the sermon saying, “PREACH! Yes, Glo. He replied: “I LOVE YOU, BIG GLO!!! If you are ever in Baltimore, you have a seat reserved at my church!”

Fans also responded. One person suggested using the clip for a brand new project, writing“Glo, we need a church remix directly from you!!! There is great energy in this intro from your story of why you were named, and fire choir!.”

One joker added: “Look at your neighbor and shout Yea Glo!” Other he wrote“I almost started screaming!”

However, not everyone was glad with Reverend Thomas’s use of some words from the song.

User

“Glorilla is a devil worshiper, she sold her soul, and the fact that she had the courage to publish this is beyond me. “There is nothing ‘churchy’ when her music degrades the black community,” another person wrote.

GloRilla is also known for songs like “Blessed,” the “Tomorrow 2” remix with Cardi B, and her 2022 breakout hit “FNF (Let’s Go),” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance.

After less than a year in his position, Howard Grad (who also attended the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University for his Master of Divinity degree) also shared on social media that this is not the first time he has used rap lyrics in his sermons .

“The crazy thing about all this is that I quote rap lyrics in almost every sermon I have preached for the last 17 years,” Thomas wrote in X. “Rap has ALWAYS been a major part of my preaching and my hermeneutic. I actually wanted to be a rapper before I wanted to be a preacher.”

He added Later“I preached my first Sunday morning sermon in August 2009 on David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 and the theme of my sermon was “Ain’t I?”, using the song Yung LA with Young Dro and TI as my anchor” .

He’s not the primary person to make use of GloRilla’s lyrics to evangelise the gospel – though he’s probably the primary to noticeably attempt to get the message across.

Reverend Thomas just isn’t the one preacher who has gained popularity by injecting popular culture into his sermons, speaking from their hermeneutic perspective and trying to succeed in a more secular population.

Bishop William Murphy Jr. faced heavy criticism from the media after playing Fast Life Yungstaz’s “Swag Surfin'” during a New Year’s Eve service at Atlanta’s Dream Center Church.

One person wrote on social media: “If you want a club, just go to a club. “Do not defile the temple of God.”

Murphy said he does no such thing.

“We had to be very creative in terms of engaging the culture,” he said in an interview after the service, stating that “there was no swearing in our church. There was nothing that defiled the house of God.”

He went on to acknowledge that his congregation is multi-generational, but not rigid: “It’s not your grandma’s church.”