(The readings will include Isaiah 11: 1-9 with "Take Five" being played; followed by Mark 10: 17-27 followed by "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." )
Introduction
Everywhere around the world – from
Istanbul to Indianapolis, in Cairo as well as Caracas, Moscow, Mumbai,
Melbourne and Memphis – the hearts of all of God’s people ache for peace. All of the world’s religions teach
peace. Most of the world’s leaders speak
of peace. And all of the world’s
children cry for peace.
· And yet today there are over 26 active wars
taking place across God’s sweet creation including Syria and Sudan, Nigeria and
the Philippines, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya as well as the drug wars of
Mexico and Colombia.
· Political realists like to remind us that war
and violence are as old as creation itself; they always have been, they tell us
and always will be – so grow up and deal with it because human nature is not
going to change.
And I must confess
that in my heart of hearts, I too am a realist.
Like the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said: “The
sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.” He went on to observe that in the world as it
is – and always has been – “goodness, armed with power, is always corrupted;
and pure love without power is always destroyed.” And that means there will always be conflict
– there will always be the unintended and sinful consequences of even our best
intentions – and there will always be war and sorrow and unnecessary suffering
for people and animals and even the earth itself.
And – at the very same time – often within the very same
broken and discouraged heart – is another song – an alternative vision: a deep and authentic yearning for Shalom –
Salam – Baris in Turkish – God’s peace – that can move people and creation into
balance and harmony with one another just as God intended in the beginning. One of the early poets of Israel - a pre-figurative jazz man in my view – put
it like this in a song Christians sing every year in anticipation of Christmas:
A prophet shall shoot up from the stock of
Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.The spirit of the Lord shall rest
on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit
of knowledge and awe of the Lord.
In fact, the prophet shall delight in sharing the awe of the Lord. He won’t
judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear – and that’s good
news for all of us – but rather with compassion he shall judge the poor, with
equity he will advocate for the meek of the earth… And the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie
down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together and a little
child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie
down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They will not hurt or
destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of
the Lord.
Now let’s be clear:
this poem and vision is the minority report in history – and sadly in
religion, too. It requires constant
practice to sing and play well. And most
of the time, like contemporary jazz, it is pushed to the sidelines of popular
culture so that something sexier, dumber and less challenging might fill our
heads with distractions and empty our checking accounts in the process. The poetry and music of peace – like jazz –
is usually ignored, belittled and hidden in our era of bottom line living.
Insights
We met these two dear friends on a tour of Istanbul in the
summer of 2011: they greeted us on our
first night in town, told us where to get some good eats after our first
concert in a strange town and took us into their homes and hearts. They shared with us wisdom and insight about
their beloved country, were the very essence of hospitality for strangers in a
strange land and I came to think of them as the embodi-ment of God’s servants
in the words of Jesus who spoke of peace-makers like this:
When was it that we saw you, Lord, hungry
and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it
that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it
that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king
answered them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of
these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Now on that first night in Istanbul, something amazing happened: traditional people and hipsters, gay and
straight, men, women and children, very religious people and those with a truly
secular bent ALL got into the groove when the Jazz Ambassadors hit the stage. They clapped – they cheered – they danced and
welcomed us as we shared American jazz in many of its varieties. And here’s what I have come to believe: They did so because the songs we played
touched something in their hearts that is universal: the longing for peace – the aching for common
ground – the cry for connection with all that is good, true and pure.
There is a jazz standard you might know called “When You Wish Upon a Star.” It was written in 1940 for Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington. It is beautiful and tender – it has a romantic melody line – and evokes the innocent heart that exists in all of us no matter where we live or how experienced or jaded we’ve become, ok?
But here’s what I think is truly incredible: over the years this American jazz ballad has become a Christmas song of peace throughout the world. In Japan as well as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, it is known as “The Star of Bethlehem” song or “Did You See the Light (or Star) in the Darkness?” Listen to it for a moment now and see if it doesn’t speak to you of Isaiah’s vision of peace...
That’s the first reason I think jazz can cut through fear and culture and language and religion in a unique way: it speaks to the heart. It is all about beauty and yearning and simplicity – dare I say peace, too? As our Bible puts it: deep speaks to deep – and jazz does this in a way that I have seen build bridges. Not that these bridges are permanent – they need constant care and attention to strengthen and fortify because they are fragile – but they can be built.
That’s one of
the things the first great ambassador of jazz, Louis Armstrong,
discovered: he played “When You Wish
Upon a Star” all over the world and used to say: What we play is life – life as it is – and
life as it could be. Everyone
all over the world understands the yearning of this song and sings it in their
own way – in their own language – and jazz gives us a way to share what we all
know and yearn for in our hearts.
The bandstand is a
sacred place... (and there is a) soulful thing about playing: you offer something to somebody. You
don't know if they'll like it, but you offer it... What’s more, what you offer
looks a lot like freedom and democracy only in sound. Jazz means working things out musically with
other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if
you don’t agree with what they’re playing. It teaches you the very opposite of
racism and anti-Semitism…
And I would add war and hatred, too, right? It isn’t accidental, you know, that
during the Cold War with communism jazz was banned from the Soviet block
nations – and Radio Free Europe filled the airwaves with it for decades. The great Duke Ellington once said:
Put
it this way: Jazz is a good barometer of freedom… In its beginnings, the United
States of America spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through
which, eventually, jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that many people
say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet
produced in this country.
Our gospel reading for today says something similar when Jesus tells a young man who wants to go deeper that he has to learn to get over himself first if he wants to be free in the Lord:
Our gospel reading for today says something similar when Jesus tells a young man who wants to go deeper that he has to learn to get over himself first if he wants to be free in the Lord:
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and
knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is
good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You
shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false
witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since
my youth. Jesus, looking at him, loved him with a pure and compassionate heart
and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away
grieving, for he had many possessions.
Now let’s be clear about something:
· Jesus wasn’t saying money was bad – he couldn’t
have conducted his ministry without it – and he depended upon the generosity of
many people just like this church does today.
No, the issue wasn’t money; it was this young man’s obsession with
it. He was addicted to it – it ruled his
heart – so he had to learn how to live without it in order to be free.
· You see, his money made him think he was special
– better than others – more valuable and important. And Jesus said, “Brother, that ain’t
necessarily so... see what it’s like to have to live in communion with the
poorest and most vulnerable. Dig how to
live in cooperation and harmony for a change... and then, maybe, you’ll get
what God’s grace is all about.”
· It takes a traditional African-American musical
form – the blues – and plays with it in creative and unexpected ways. It became the musical foundation for Dmitri
Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony and was also the inspiration for Oscar Brown,
Jr. – a freedom and civil rights artist – who wrote a poem to accompany the
groove.
· When we play it we’ll add the lyrics – and lots
of room to improvise and listen – hoping that it will be both playful and
beautiful at the same time.
For me “All Blues”
is the epitome of Brother Marsalis’ confession that: The bandstand is a
sacred place... (because) there you offer something to somebody and you
don't know if they'll like it, but you offer it still... and what you offer looks a lot like freedom
and… working things out musically with
other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if
you don’t agree with what they’re playing. It teaches you the very opposite of
all that is hateful…
Conclusion
Over the years I
have come to believe that one of our vocations as people of faith is to keep
the dream of peace alive. Politicians
pay lip service to peace, but they have other agendas, too. Businesses know how important peace is for
stability, but often they make a lot of money for their shareholders with war.
And God knows
religious leaders keep themselves propped up all over the world appealing to
our worst fears and prejudices – and this is as true for Judaism as it is for
Islam and Christianity – like Jesus said, “Not everyone who cries Lord, Lord is
about the kingdom.”
Israel’s poet of peace, Isaiah, went even further: For the spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, a spirit of
wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge
and awe... and the prophet shall delight in sharing the awe of the Lord. He won’t judge by what his eyes see or decide
by what his ears hear – and that’s good news for all of us – but rather with
compassion he shall judge the poor, with equity he will advocate for the meek
of the earth…
… and with beautiful music shall set our souls free in pursuit
of peace. Blessings of peace – Shalom –
Salam – Baris – be upon you dear friends.
And may the Lord of the dance add blessings and peace to us all.
credits: debra hurd abstract jazz art @ http://debrahurd.blogspot.com/
credits: debra hurd abstract jazz art @ http://debrahurd.blogspot.com/
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