Weekly Words

Spiritual Jazz

I have previously detailed why I like Hip-Hop Culture and how I believe that in some ways it serves as a metaphorical paradigm for how we can live more spiritually. However, jazz is another musical genre that serves as a means to provoke thinking about how we can make sense out of life and live life more meaningfully.

One of the characteristics that makes jazz so notable and unique is its penchant for improvisation. While classical music may be unpredictable as one listens, it is set to a musical score which is fixed and takes the musician from beginning to end. From the first note to the last, it takes us on a journey with highs and lows, crescendos and decrescendos. On the other hand, rap, rhythm and blues, and even most rock is marked by a circular beat with a lyrical formula of verse, hook, verse, hook, with a bridge here or there. Of course, this is an extreme over simplification of these genres, but it does outline them generally. Yet jazz, at its best is a musical movement that improvises and moves according to feel, mood, and response to other musicians.

Many of us attempt to make our lives “classical” by making plans, writing scripts for ourselves, or determining where we will be and when we will get there. Yet, we soon find out that the forces in the world do not always cater to our desires or our designs and life offers us curve balls, detours, roadblocks, and obstacles that place us in situations and circumstances that we never imagine. I mean how many of us growing up just knew that life would be as simple as going to college, getting married, having kids, working until retirement, and living happily ever after. Yet after heartbreak, children, career changes, fall outs with friends, family, and/or lovers, or any host of other occurrences we are working a job our college education did not prepare us for, with or without a person we never imagined, or living a lifestyle that did not fit the high expectations of our childhood. Others of us are living “rhythm and blues” lives full of routine and regimen that find the beat of our lives moving in the same daily, weekly, or monthly circles. Whatever the case, as we continue to pray for progress in our lives, we may need to ask God to help make us spiritual jazz musicians. We should petition God, TODAY, to give us the audacity to stop the lackadaisical loops, break the myopic molds, and interrupt the regular routines that hold us hostage and keep us from flying. When things change around our lives, we need God to help us change notes in our lives, while still being able to make beautiful music out of our lives.

The good news is that as we peruse the profound pages of the Bible we find a God just like this. Whether it is the slavery of Joseph, the fall of Sampson, the lustful greed of David, the trials of Hagar, the unwanted pregnancy of Mary, the betrayal by Judas, or the crucifixion of Jesus, God continually shows the improvisational skills to turn something out of nothing, make blessings from burdens, and bring life out of death. So, jazz up your life and don’t live a life of stagnation when you have a God of improvisation.

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson