Whitney Houston and faith

The last song that Whitney Houston sang in public before she died was “Jesus Loves Me.” She sang it with fellow singer Kelly Price during a celebration of rhythm and blues music within the week before the Grammy Awards.

Reports also surfaced that Houston discussed Bible passages a couple of mornings before she was found dead in her Beverly Hilton Hotel suite tub for still unknown reasons.

The passage that the songstress referred to was Saint Matthew’s account of the Baptism of Jesus. This would not be so coincidental since Houston in the course of fighting the demons of drug addiction and alcoholism once visited the Holy Land, and among other things took a dip in the Jordan River.

Quite apart from being a world-renowned, multi-million selling singer, actress, producer and model, Houston was—for all the darkness her persona was associated with especially as narrated by yellow journalists—also an important figure in Christian gospel music.

Her album, “The Preacher’s Wife,” soundtrack to the movie of the same name, is the biggest-selling gospel album to date and features such stirring numbers as “Who Would Imagine a King” — a meditation on the Blessed Virgin Mary after the Annunciation. For this album, Houston also produced a version of Psalm 23 sung by her mother Cissy.

Houston’s religious roots ran deep. She grew up singing in the choir of the New Hope Baptist Church, where her mother was the choir director. While the Houstons were solid Baptists, Cissy sent her daughter to the Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a school run by the Dominican Order, because she was impressed by the school’s values and conservatism.

The causes that Houston lent her talent to can also be traced to the faith she clung on to (how successfully so, no human being can judge). These included the pro-life movement, which benefited from her song “Miracle,” a clearly anti-abortion song, with lyrics as “Nothing should matter/ Not when love grows inside you/ The choice is yours/ There’s a miracle in store…/ The voice of love is crying out/ Don’t throw love away.” Houston also helped raise funds to fight AIDS and help poor children get an education.

Houston and her friend Mariah Carey put faith on the charts with the theme to the animated movie, “Prince of Egypt,” “When You Believe,” which they sang and and won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.

One of Houston’s most beautiful tracks is the prayer-song “I Look to You.” Written by R. Kelly, the song is like a psalm from someone who has discovered the all too fleeting nature of everything—including people—in the world and now only looks to God for help:

As I lay me down,

Heaven hear me now

I’m lost without a cause

After giving it my all

Winter storms have come

And darkened my sun

After all that I’ve been through

Who on earth can I turn to?

I look to you

I look to you

After all my strength is gone,

In you I can be strong

I look to you

I look to you

And when melodies are gone,

In you I hear a song

I look to you