This week was an historic week. I find myself consumed by the 24-hour news cycle with a sense of being whipped back and forth, side to side by the info that blasts out at me. After talking with a parishioner about resistance art forms, such as jazz, she sent me this beautiful piece.
I think the message of turning from our broken ways toward a loving and inclusive way ahead is an important message to keep in our hearts and minds. I hope you find a moment of stillness in your hearts this weekend, perhaps listen to this song and take a moment to reflect on its meaning for you.
Music often has the ability to touch our hearts and minds in ways that ordinary language can not. The sound of certain chords combined with one another can elicit an emotional response that isn’t as easy to access in everyday life. This is why music can be such a powerful form of art.
On this Indigenous People’s weekend, I am going to talk about the origins of Jazz. Its original context is black resistance art in American history and I hope you will come along on this journey with me as we appreciate a different story from our own history. There is danger in a single story, because we miss out on nuance, different perspectives, and understanding what it means to be truly human.
Trinity is a place where we put on our Sunday best, we brandish our best smiles and try not to cause much trouble. But what could we accomplish together if we did cause a bit of good trouble? What if we shared our deepest pains, our most raw expressions, and our most dearly held convictions with each other? What causes would you invest the most time and energy in? What are you passionate about?
Dear friends, this Sunday might feel like a different kind of sermon to you, but I hope you will journey with me through new stories that can have the power to shape us. I pray that you might consider Christ as an example of resistance and perhaps even learn something from his resistance.
Blessings,
Julia F. +