Witness (Page 40)
“I wish there were some way we could understand how important dietary law has been to the people of Israel. Most of us have eaten bacon all our lives, and we do not think twice about combining milk and meat, but if we were first century Jews, the very thought would make us break out in a cold sweat. It would be like coming to church one morning to find pork chops and whiskey on the altar instead of bread and wine.”
Acts 11:1-18 notes From Feasting on the Word by Barbara Brown Taylor
The summer before 6th grade my family moved me from a town in the Central Valley of California to Berkeley, California. This move exploded my world. Before Berkeley I lived a life that was well-defined with clear rules and roles surrounding me at every turn. Constrained. This was most obvious to me at school. In Berkeley, I could not find the rules. My elementary school had broken windows and no grass. The children cussed on the play yard. The teachers seemed to have no control. It was shocking to me. So it may surprise you to hear me say that the move to Berkeley was the best thing that could have happened to me.
I had lived a life of constraint before Berkeley but I did not know it. I was “safe and secure from all alarms” but I was not free. It took time to grow into my freedom. The language was different. The music was different. The city pace was so fast I could hardly keep up at first. I believe that because of that move I am able to love persons who are different than me. I believe that freedom ushered me into situations that I otherwise may have never found as a young person. Freedom tasted like Pete’s coffee, black, in 10th grade. Freedom looked like the Golden Gate from the parking lot of Lawrence Hall of Science. Freedom had a Lesbian/Gay Student group at BHS in 197 7. Freedom was the ocean. Freedom was grits. Freedom was Led Zeppelin and Herbie Hancock. Santana and Pete Seeger. Marvin Gaye and John Denver. ~Linda
Constraint and Freedom. How has it been for you? What would be the most shocking thing for you to find on the altar instead of bread and wine?
“I wish there were some way we could understand how important dietary law has been to the people of Israel. Most of us have eaten bacon all our lives, and we do not think twice about combining milk and meat, but if we were first century Jews, the very thought would make us break out in a cold sweat. It would be like coming to church one morning to find pork chops and whiskey on the altar instead of bread and wine.” Acts 11:1-18…
“A different type of fusion, represented by a mixing of jazz and classical music, also emerged as an important movement during the 1970’s….No artist better exemplified this powerful synthesis of disparate styles than pianist Keith Jarrett. The influence of classical music is, at times, as pronounced as the jazz ingredients of his playing…The calling card of (Keith) Jarrett’s achievement is…his ability to blend these various sources of inspiration into a coherent, persuasive whole. Nowhere is this clearer than on his…
We continue with week 4 of our worship series: Yes to the Mess: Surprising Lessons from Jazz & Acts. This series is structured around a book called Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz by Frank J. Barrett. Throughout this worship series we will hold Barrett’s reflections on jazz in creative tension with the development of the earliest church as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. This week worship at The Table will explore the balancing of freedom…
“Jazz improvisation assumes that there is affirmative potential waiting to be discovered from virtually any utterance, any chord, any note.” from Yes to the Mess by Frank J. Barrett, p. 44. What are some affirmative potentials waiting to be discovered from practicing your faith? How might you act on one of those potentials this day?
This week our worship will be rooted in Acts 9.36-43. “Peter knelt down and prayed – Tabitha opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. (9.40) I have known many folks who have died. Some of them my close friends. One of them my father. I prayed next to the lifeless body of my father. He didn’t come back to life. I believe my prayers went unanswered. With his death part of me died too. The part of me…
Classically trained pianist, Friedrich Gulda, said that Jazz offers, “the rhythmic drive, the risk, the absolute contrast to the pale, academic approach I had been taught.” (from NYT) Watch Gulda improvise with the brilliant Herbie Hancock. Watch for the interaction between the two men. What do you observe? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toZdvTBMvOk]
We continue with week 3 of our worship series: Yes to the Mess: Surprising Lessons from Jazz & Acts. This series is structured around a book called Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz by Frank J. Barrett. Throughout this worship series we will hold Barrett’s reflections on jazz in creative tension with the development of the earliest church as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Outline for Yes to the Mess April 7 Jazz: Mastering the…
“Evangelical friends of mine are always trying to trim the corners and smooth the rough edges of what they call My Witness in order to shove it into a tidy, born-again conversion narrative. They want an exact date, even an hour, and I never know what to tell them. The dateable conversion story has a venerable history. Paul, the most famous Jew to embrace Jesus, established the prototype of the dramatic, datable rebirth. He was walking on the road to…
“Most of what goes on in this world is unseen. Planets orbit, flocks migrate, cells and organs work in the darkness. And love does its work. Skeptics look for proof of God, as if God were Bigfoot, as if The Holy One were any more provable than love or humor, as if paparazzi could somehow catch Spirit taking out the trash. No, God is The Unseen One. The closer we come the more there is only mystery. Fools never realize…
Our passage for this week tells the dramatic story of Saul’s conversion. He receives a new name, a new passion and new life grounded in sharing his witness of Jesus. I’ve never had a religious converson like that. A conversion that changes me instantly. Not yet anyway. I have had other sorts of reversals in my life; changes in which I am instantly different. The first time I had great sex. Becoming a mother. Losing my father. I know that…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlTeCe30m84] In this recording of a live performance of “Moanin” by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers from a concert in Belguim 1958, listen to each solo improvisation. Notice how each musician begins from the point where the previous musician leaves off.
We began a new series yesterday! Yes to the Mess: Surprising Lessons from Jazz & Acts. This series is structured around a book called Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz by Frank J. Barrett. Throughout this worship series we will hold Barrett’s reflections on jazz in creative tension with the development of the earliest church as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. This week worship will be rooted in Acts 9.1-20. This is the story of…
