Christian Improvisation

I discovered jazz during my seminary years in New Orleans. Ah ... the Big Easy, the Crescent City. Of course, I had heard jazz before, either played well on compact disc, or played poorly by live bands in my hometown of Pensacola. But nothing prepared me for the spiritual encounter that was live jazz in the clubs of New Orleans. It was not just an auditory experience, but a whole body involvment. I found my legs and hands moving to the zig-zag rhythms without conscious thought, my astral body merging with those of the performers, feeling their heartbeats played out on the drums, guitars, piano, sax. My love affair with jazz wasn't a simple tango with the music, but a surrender to the culture surrounding the music: all types of people, from all walks of life, actively participating in a common mystical union around the players.

Recently, I've begun thinking about the relationship of jazz culture with the Christian life. Rather than Christianity being a set of creeds to which assent is expected, I think a more real Christianity will look like a hodge-podge of people gathered around a common Person experiencing life in so many different ways. So, how is Christianity like improvised jazz to me?

1. Real Christianity isn't boring! Who knew? It's an active, full-body experience to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and physicality.
2. Real Christianity is rhythmic, but in myriad ways. In other words, it ain't just done one way. The person is my brother who prefers easy listening jazz, though I prefer funky, innovative jazz. The rhythms all lead to the Performer. Please do not think I'm talking about worship styles here:)
3. Real Christianity is about community. The joy of joining others in mututal worship of the Performer, whether by foot-stomping, hand-clapping, or crying is so much more fun than just listening all by myself. Yes, I said FUN (see # 1).
4. Real Christianity is about people. Jesus ate with everybody - usually with the people Christians won't even talk to. He didn't prefer the Samaritans over the Jews; the prostitutes over the married women; the dishonest government workers over his disciples. He welcomed every single person to His table, or asked if He was welcome at theirs.
5. Real Christianity is about imagination, about telling a story. The story is the greatest one ever told, and it's told in so many different ways. The story characters have different faces, different voices, different lifetsyles. But the story is always told, and the Performer is always recognized.

Live an improvised, invigorating Christian life. Follow the rhythms into the gracious arms of Christ. Don't let your journey with God grow stale.

Peace & Blessings.

Wrestling With God

I can see it now. The lights dim, people in their pews (chairs, whatever) waiting with bated breath for the ultimate smackdown. The mic descends slowly from the ceiling overhead the ring, a minister wearing black spandex waiting to make his announcement. D-Generation X blares over the multiple Panaray MB-4 modular bass loudspeakers strategically located around the periphery of the sanctuary. Mic now in hand, the ministers yells, "Let's get ready to rumble", drawing out "rumble" for maximum effect. Ah, I can only imagine.....

What if we approached God, more often than not, with an attitude of confrontation rather than submissiveness? What if we did this not just within the Community meeting, but also individually? I don't know about you, but sometimes I just get plain lethargic in worship services and in my personal journey. I am so used to saying "OK, God, have it your way", rather than "I don't think so. Let's go outside." I am not suggesting an attitude of defiance; rather, I am bemoaning our inability to question in order to discover. Take a look at the story of Jacob's wrestling match with God in Genesis 32: 22-32.

22The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

What has happened to this ancient tradition of fighting with God? It's not an avant-garde suggestion. All the prophets did it, and the wisdom books of the Bible are filled with questions, not answers. Why have we become so laissez-faire when it comes to following God? Jacob wrestled with God, breaking his leg in the process, and threatened God with continued fighting if he did not receive a blessing. How much more rich our journeys would be if would just learn to be comfortable with "fighting" God! It'd probably make His life a lot more interesting too.