The Future of Jazz

Let’s start with a joke.  It’s a lame one, but a standard one used to poke fun between musicians of different styles.

Question:  “What’s the difference between a rock musician and a jazz musician?”

Punchline:  “A rock musician plays three chords to thousands of people, and a jazz musician plays thousands of chords to three people.”

I’ve been getting more interested in Jazz music in the last few years, starting to get to know the history of the art form, who the movers and shakers were that pushed the envelope and developed it into what we know today.  I’ve been learning of the traditional giants such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong.  I’ve been checking out the Bop era with Dave Brubeck, Coltrane and Miles Davis.  I’ve also been listening to the expansion of Jazz, through artists like Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. It’s all really great stuff.

Just recently I got my hands on a jazz music documentary.  Whereas most inquiries on the subject of Jazz dig back into the history, and into the great traditions that have been handed down, this documentary took a very different angle.  This documentary was about Jazz music today, and who the current artists are and what they are trying to say with their music.  What I found interesting, as they unfolded the narrative in various interviews of these artists, was the determination and drive that they had to find meaning in the music they are making.  They looked back on their Jazz roots, and instead of finding giants that can’t ever be topped, they find inspirations to become just as great.  There was optimism and a confidence (that honestly bordered on the arrogant) that the future for their music is very bright.  These are artists with something to say, and nothing is going to stop them from saying it.

Needless to say I found this all very inspiring.  When I look at the world around me, and my ability to engage with it, I want to have this kind of optimism.  And for us as followers of Jesus, it’s not just optimism, it’s about faith.  This is what I think the writer of Hebrews was trying to get at.  In Hebrews 11 we’re given this great overview of the tradition handed down by the patriarchs of Israel, and there’s this survey of all these heroes of faith.  And the end of this mighty list kicks off into Chapter 12:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne. (Hebrews 12:1,2 NLT)

You get this picture of someone looking forward with faith.  It’s important to understand that the book of Hebrews was written to encourage a group of people grappling with what it means to take faith that has been handed down through history, and live it with strength and vitality in their present day.  And the author isn’t even for a moment considering going backwards.  It’s about running full on forward.  And we should also remember that the situation wasn’t easy.  There were so many reasons to turn back to the safety of religious tradition or settle into the anonymity of secular life.   Life can be so much easier when you give people what they want.  But no, the choice here is to keep focused on Jesus.  Jesus is the model who with purpose walked forward, into the world announcing God’s kingdom, and in his death showed just how significantly things had changed with God’s message of freedom for the captives.

After watching a documentary like that I immediately go to the piano and practice, and I love every minute.  I desire to be challenged and to grow in my skills as a musicians, and exposure to models like that pushes me on.  Yet this journey into jazz music is so far beyond inspiration and my modest musical ambitions.    I hope, or rather I want to have a deepening faith, that extends into my practice of living.  Christ is my daily focus, Christ is my model.  He came to change the world for the better, and now has left the commission on my life.  Nothing should stop me from pursuing that with my heart, soul, mind and strength.

Pastor Lorn

 

Mamas, Don’t Raise Your Boys to be Nice…

Just got home from a week out at Ranger Lake Bible Camp, where I had a chance to teach at their DIRT  CAMP, which is a week of paintball with 20 high school guys.  ”Nice” would not be a word I would use to describe the behaviour of 20 young men running around trying to shoot each other, northe condition of my person, as I returned home with 120 individual welts and bruises (I have delicate skin.).  That whole “girls dig scars” thing?  Melissa just laughed at me.  (Granted, I do look like a dalmatian.  She used the term “leper”.)

You don’t win at Paintball by playing “nice”.  Your team does not benefit by saying “you know, we did better than them last round, lets take it easy, and let them have some free shots, so they can feel included and better about themselves”.  That might actually get you shot by your teammates.

So why do we place so much emphasis on being “nice” as people?  Is the focus maybe on the wrong thing?  The two key passages we worked through during the campfire times we’re 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 and Psalm 15.  I’ll save you the time of clicking a link–here’s what they say:

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (ESV): “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.”

And here’s the Psalm:

Psalm 15 (ESV):

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? ²He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; ³who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; ⁴in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; ⁵who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

Worship and Confession

Psalm 15

Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Those who refuse to gossip
or harm their neighbours
or speak evil of their friends.
Those who despise flagrant sinners,
and honour the faithful followers of the Lord,
and keep their promises even when it hurts.
Those who lend money without charging interest,
and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.

When the people of Israel came to worship, they were well aware of the fact that they were not a sinless people.  Even the most devout realized that God’s holy and righteous nature was so far beyond their ability to attain.  And so that meant that somewhere they had to deal with their failures.  Psalm 15 is one of the ways in which the priests would remind the people of their need of God’s grace.  Traditionally titled “a liturgy at the gate”, the priest would list the conditions required of those wanting to enter into worship.  The unasked questioned behind this psalm being, “who can ever claim to live this perfectly?”  The purpose of this list then is to break down self-righteousness, and the illusion that we are doing pretty good on our own.  Instead it draws attention to the little, everyday offenses and helps to bring out the reality that there is a profound need for humble repentance.

As a church this summer we’ve planned to delve into Nehemiah, and this past Sunday in Chapter 1 we find Nehemiah falling on his knees and confessing his sin and the sin of his people.  Nehemiah is a long way from the source of the problem.  You could justifiably say that he really had no responsibility at all.  Yet before God realized that he too could not ignore what was going on around him.  By implication we must look at Saskatoon and see the social, moral, ethical, and spiritual breakdowns in our city.  As worshipers of the one true God, and as the hands and feet of Jesus we must acknowledge somewhere that we may not be living up to what God want us of.  As Psalm 15 points out, we need to be a repentant people as well.

This is a fundamental and I believe transformational concept for us in our worship.  God in his lavish generosity of grace towards us will also motivate in us a joyful and generous spirit as we live an active life involved in our community.  Allen P. Ross in his book Recalling the Hope of Glory says it like this:

Worshippers who were spiritually motivated
would be in the sanctuary at times other than
those prescribed by law – it was their life.
They so enjoyed living in communion with
God that they would go to the temple anytime
they could to offer their freewill offerings and
in the process provide food for the poor and
the needy who would be there (Lev. 7:15-16).
When separated from the sanctuary, they
felt a genuine loss (Ps 42:1-1; 63:1-8)…

I wonder if this spirit of generosity is missing in our hearts today.  Is the worship of God our very life, or is it a law and a ritual in which we meet the minimum requirements?  Do we enjoy giving to help others, or do we instead focus on what we’ll lack as a result.  Do we even acknowledge that there is room in our lives for the orphan, the widow, or the foreigner, and do we make efforts to build community and communion?  The confession of our sin is beyond the things we’ve done wrong.  We also have to acknowledge that the omission of doing the right thing, when we are instructed in the Bible to do so, that is sin.  True worship in the Bible is never associated with the services and programs of the religion.  It is always connected to the life lived day to day.  In fact, there is no separation between religion and daily life in the Bible.  Every moment is an opportunity to live a spiritual life.  This is what brings life and meaning to the worship gatherings of the church.  So let us rebuild the social, moral, ethical and spiritual breakdowns in Saskatoon.  And that just might mean we have to look at Psalm 15 and at ourselves first.

I’ll close with this final scripture from Hebrews 13:15,16 -

Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

Lorn Gieck
Music & Arts