Home Before Heaven

This thesis presents an ethnomusicological study of Brotherly Love Ministries' Gospel Sing service, focusing on the interrelated dynamics of salvationist belief, familial community, and worship rooted in individual musical performance. Demonstrating that the Gospel Sing holds special attraction for individuals whose life histories are marked by an experience of social marginalization, I emphasize the potentiality of the Gospel Sing to promote a sense of inherent value in participants who have, in large measure, lost their sense of value. Further to this line of thinking is the idea that the primary function of the Gospel Sing is to validate participants' belief in salvation by creating an experience of celebration, which I define simply as the embodiment of joy. Such celebratory experience is created through devaluating standards of performance and promoting individual musical creativity, in whatever stages it may be, as a highly valued activity. In this manner of creating celebratory experience, the Gospel Sing cultivates an overall sense of self-worth and well being that serves to strengthen self-efficacy beliefs in the face of life's difficulties. It provides participants an opportunity to create for themselves their own joy, thus allowing them to recuperate a sense of control over the quality of their lives.