All That Jazz

Bill Carter stopped trying to separate his two worlds and found a perfect union in sacred jazz. Bill was a professional musician as he entered seminary and is now an ordained minister and pastor of a church in northern Pennsylvania. His jazz quartet Presbybop is finishing their eighth CD, Psalms Without Words. Once he gave up the pretense of having to split his interests he realized there was much in common between the principles of jazz and the foundation of his theology. In an address to Princeton University he shared some lessons learned from his understanding of jazz and faith. “I truly believe there is a realm of beauty and joy which is just out of our reach. An artist aspires to touch these things without clinging to them. That is why we make music with the tips of our fingers or on the edge of our lips. We can touch the music beyond us but we can never possess it. We can be transformed by some higher power but it’s our task to work out the implications of that transformation. We can strive for a lifetime to play the one note that really counts but ultimately we have to find words to proclaim what we hear.”

He likens the preparation of sermons with the embodiment of jazz tunes:
full of improvisations, re-creating and re-telling old words and tunes, giving up control to allow the art to speak, and the necessary response of the community to bring fulfillment. “Like sermons (at least, like my sermons), jazz tunes are unfinished. Both sermons and jazz performances are completed, not on the bandstand or in the chancel, but in the lives of those who have ears to hear.”

He imagines a church acting with the freedom and imagination of a jazz session, playing with the give and take of invested, attentive, active co-creators. “The shared reality we create brings up even more surprises than our individual work…. Trusting someone else can involve gigantic risks, and it leads to the even more challenging task of learning how to trust yourself. Giving up control to another person teaches to give up some control to the unconscious.”

In addition to the willingness to be open to new ideas and chords, Carter also cautions, “like most acts of God, the inspiration is revealed only in subtlety through hard work and flashes of unpredicted brilliance.”

My prayer for the congregation?

God of Creation, you are like an unchained melody: open to new participants, welcoming new voices and finding harmonies that compliment and complete each chorus. As one tone diminishes you pick up the rhythm and lead into the next refrain. God, in our music may we find an opportunity to loosen our control and meet you in the openness of praise as the songs lift our souls. May we welcome the Spirit as guide and composer and enter into the holy symphony with passion and clarity as we are presented opportunity.