Beyoncé and The Red Lip Theologian invitation to celebrate womanhood and Authenticity
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Before “Church Girl” made its debut to our ears from Beyoncé ‘s pen . I have to rewind to January 24, 2022 when I first laid hands and eyes on Red Lip Theology by Candice Marie Benbow. Candice Marie Benbow is a multi- genre theologian and the author of Red Lip Theology. Red Lip Theology gave voice, perspective and words to the very thoughts and questions I was having as a black Christian woman. Now, not only is Candice serving MAC’s Ruby Woo realness on the front cover. She took the title of her first book a step further . Get into the full title : Red lip theology: “For church girls who’ve considered tithing to the beauty supply store when Sunday morning isn’t enough” *Clutch pearls*
As soon as you open you will read words on the inside cover like “Radical authenticity , thelogican , reimagining faith as a tool of liberation and “transformation for women and girls”. “ A theologian” and words like “sexuality , “embracing alternative spirituality, “ “womanist theology” , “body positivity and LGBTQIA+ rights. “
As a bonafide Church Girl reading all those words together on one page told me, I may have found somewhere to lay my burdens down like the old saints would say. It was time to buckle up and get ready for the ride to finding freedom in my scared body and humanity as a black woman.
It makes sense that when listening to Beyoncé ” Church Girl” which comes on after “Break my Soul” her anthem to self freedom and denouncing everything that tries to break our soul but can’t, …that Candice M. Benbow came to all of our minds that know her work. Before Red Lip Theology, it was “The Lemonade Syllabus” giving us a SOLID collection of words celebrating black womanhood using Beyonce’s lemonade album as its focal point.
Red Lip in my opinion is the groundwork to “Church Girl”. So much so that Candice’s folks (me included) just knew when Beyoncé released the track list , and we saw the title “Church Girl”, that Candice would make a surprise visit on the track. Woven throughout, Red Lip is the theme of sacredness , real life and our growing pains and victories, forgiveness, freedom, faith , authenticity and how this is tied into the saving grace of God in our humanity. Candice was raised by a single mother who did a phenomenal job to raise a young lady to find her voice even if it didn’t quite reflect her own. However, Candice noticed different conversations were being held behind her single mother’s back that didn't quite match the sermons being preached from the pulpit. This caused Candice to question a lot of what she saw and believed. This early exposure opened the door to her finding her own voice about faith , freedom, womanhood and what that means to her outside of the church.
Candice found her own authentic voice through a series of events such as heartbreak, saying “peace out to her Ph.D” ,breaking away from the institution of the Church , graduating from Duke divinity School , forgiveness , mistakes , community , the loss of her mother and if you follow her you know God speaks to her through baking! We can find a bit of us in this black woman who continues to challenge us to find our own faith and invites us to take this lifelong journey with her while discovering our own.
Besides the connection to Lemonade Syllabus and Shifting our whole perspective on what it truly means to walk radically with authenticity in Red Lip Theology. Candice's sentiments around freedom of sexuality and Beyoncé s sentiments in “church girl” encouraging and supporting us to “drop it like a thotty” , AND“ bring the life up in your body” . I can’t help but stan and have deep appreciation for being a black woman. They both allowed us to be OK with sitting in the duality of our womanhood.
The church and the government are obsessed with our bodies. The bodies that we carry yet feel burdened by the pressure of what and how we should carry it and with whom we should carry it with. Candice's authenticity with liberation and womanhood includes freedom to make choices about our bodies matching the same lyrics of Beyoncé “ drop it like a thotty “ and “bring the life up in your body.”
It’s both freeing and our birth right to experience wholeness. Wholeness … with our bodies. Wholeness also includes the foolishness we have the emotional and mental bandwidth to support that is justified by free will. Even if that includes what Beyoncé says ” getting that name tatted if we want to” because that is your business.
Candice in Red Lip says “Any intentional act meant to disrupt our flourishing and block the light from within us is what is sinful.” So, me choosing to agree with Beyoncé to “Let go of this body and ..love on me “ ain't blocking the light for me or you. It is indeed giving our light permission to shine. On the other hand, striving for perfection however , is a sin.
“God doesn’t expect perfection from us , yet we place that expectation on ourselves .”
Beyonce encourages us to “let it go girl”.. Let it go on the dance floor but also, I think she is encouraging us to let the false narratives go, let the self doubt go, let the fear go, let the perfectionist go.
Candice and Beyoncé remind me, that the church girl can be both “poppin it like a thotty, while also loving a good grey sweatpant print that fit just right AND fully understand and embrace Christ consciousness . Jesus wasn’t hanging out with perfect people nor was he forcing them to be perfect. Jesus showed us that he was about his fathers business , walked in that truth in that purpose and the people pulled up. Pulled up with their humanity however beautiful or ugly it was. Jesus held onto that Truth in allowing the people to be exactly who they were because if we all bear the image of God and to live the life God gave us. Jesus knew no matter how much the people were peopling, God still got me. That includes the embodying of all our characteristics. Jesus was always on assignment and showed us how to move when we are on assignment.
In our flaws , God trusts and loves us still. Will we fall short ? yes ,every time. Guess what?Jesus didn’t judge yet we find ourselves being judged right in the places that we say is led by the spirit, Especially when it comes to our bodies.
That’s not to take away from humans being humans. Because US people be peopleing” Candice said it best “God also knew creation would be triffling, Humanity. People. People would be trifling. People are trifling-doing the most with the absolute least.”
Yes WE can be trifling and still authentically whole and worthy.
Beyoncé and Candice both encourage us to find authenticity within our bodies. We can be both holy and ratchet . We can find God and connect with God outside of the church. We can find our community outside of the church ( random drunk girls in the bathroom on a Saturday night can become your family ) We can question , we can dig into our ancestral spirituality . Candice shared
“The reclamation of our right to healthy sexuality and true intimacy is the work our ancestors could not complete. It is our Sankofa” and I believe that.
This resonated with me when Candice wrote, “I think God cares whether I’m a fundamentally good human being. Beyoncé shares that same sentiment reflecting on the importance of being a good human being , when she said“ Don’t hurt nobody” and closing it with .”I aint trying to hurt nobody, trying to bring the life up in your body”.
We can’t experience “life” if we don’t embrace our body. Our healing. Mind. Body and Soul. For our bodies are a manifestation of God and if you honor your body everything will change. Honoring your body can look like you poppin it like a thotty or not…
Authenticity is your truth , seeing the good in ourselves just like God does. Even though God knows FULL, GOOD and WELL we are still going to be human. But God loves us deeply. Authenticity is a lifelong journey . As Beyoncé opened up with, “We can be centered in thy will” and in the completion of that, we can also be fully fully flawed. “Bringing the life up in your body” is God’s will for your life and how you get there is rooted in you being true to yourself. The truth also holds that it won’t be perfect , it won’t be easy , it will be scary , you will have to unlearn and relearn forever. When we begin to embrace that we have always been whole and worthy we can finally learn how to “release the wiggle” and embrace the experience in which Beyoncé describes as “I’m finally on the other side.”
Candice has wrote about her experience with this song in this article “Beyoncé invites church girls to celebrate their freedom”
Red Lip Theology
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Lip-Theology-Considered-Tithing-ebook/dp/B09287G18Y