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During this time of mandatory stay home/lockdown due to the coronavirus, churches are scrambling to adapt their Sunday worship into an electronic format. More and more, the cast of liturgical participants is getting smaller to avoid contagion. Worship during this time is falling on the shoulders of a precious few—quite often solely on the pastor, who may or may not, have practical, internet broadcast skills.

As we traverse this unusual time, I freely offer the gift of music and accompanying information for your use—in worship or as personal/group meditation. The music was recorded by my group, the OÎkos Ensemble. Except for an arrangement of one hymn, all the songs are original and have been performed countless times in jazz worship services and sacred jazz concerts. 

You are invited to freely use the music in your worship streaming or for personal and group meditation.In the next series of blogs, you will find the following for each musical selection:

• Link to the musical selection on You Tube
• Brief reflection about the music
• Prayer for personal use or in worship

I encourage you to listen carefully to each song and read the reflection and prayer before incorporating it in your worship. This time of online streaming calls for a simplified approach to worship on the internet. In this spirit, consider using the music as a worship prelude or postlude, an introduction to scripture or homily, as a creative punctuation to the Word, or even as a musical foundation for a time of personal prayer. The reflection and prayer can also be shared as part of your streaming liturgy.

If possible, please give credit to Rev. Cliff Aerie, The OÎkos Ensemble, and Worship Jazz Resources. Feel free to share this with others. My hope is, that together, we can form an international bond of healing and hope for everyone, everywhere.

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The CD (“Dreams and Visions”) was recorded at the University of Denver, Lamont School of Music. In addition to myself, the musicians include: Dr. Christopher Bakriges, piano, Arianna Aerie, vocals, Kenneth Walker, bass, Chris Lee, drums, and Gabriel Mervine, trumpet

For several years Chris Bakriges and I were musical partners, traveling around the country leading jazz worship services and presenting sacred jazz concerts. At each city we would perform with local musicians, thereby giving a new and fresh feeling to our music. That’s what happens with jazz musicians. Each brings his or her artistry to the music and through improvisation, new and exciting expressions are created. Our goal for OÎkos was simple: “Music and Stories to Change the World.” I hope this music will touch you in profound ways as you discover the hidden stories behind the music that can have a tremendous impact on the listener, and the world.

For more information about Chris’ music please go to his WEB SITE.

We now live in an era of social distancing. The coronavirus has spread across the continents and speculation is that once consistent and significant testing begins, we’ll discover that the number of infected people will be far greater than anyone considered. The hope is, however, that the virus is not as prevalent as many fear it to be. But we just don’t know. 

These are precarious times and those of us with compromised health find ourselves significantly socially distanced. At the very least the goal is to keep six feet away from others, in groups 10 or less, washing hands frequently, sneezing into elbows and, sanitizing surfaces around us, being vigilant as we try to evade contagion. 

This is a difficult time for many congregations as they are forced to cancel public worship. Church identities are built upon their affirmation of being a family of faith and worship is a central component of fellowship and ministry. The church I belong to initiated web streaming this past Sunday—something new for us. Fortunately, we have a tech savvy pastor and supportive laity. This week we will stream a jazz service. No one will be in the sanctuary except the jazz quintet, our pastor, a lay leader and video tech guy. We’ll pre-record the service on Friday morning and stream it on Facebook at our regularly scheduled worship hour on Sunday (10:00 am CDT). It’s a little tricky getting all our ducks in a row, but we have the basics to pull it off technically and the talent to support the pastor with our music.

If you’d like to check our web streaming efforts just go to Facebook and search for First Congregational Church Webster Groves.

 Tim and I wish you good health, courage and an adventurous spirit as your church explores new ways to worship during this global pandemic. Remember to keep reaching out to one another with compassionate support and love.

Cliff

“The Old Rugged Cross” is one of the most beloved hymns in the traditional Christian community. A country gospel favorite, it was written by George Bernard, a Methodist Evangelist, in 1912. It has been performed countless times in worship and recorded by some of the most influential vocal artists—Al Green, Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson—also by Mahalia Jackson and Ella Fitzgerald, just to name a few.

As popular as the hymn has been, I must admit that I’ve never been a big fan of the song. In fact, it’s a hymn I very much dislike. From the sentimental melody to the blood and atonement theology, it has never resonated with my spiritual or artistic sensibility.

In deciding on which hymns to arrange for our upcoming Volume 7, titled “Still more of our favorite hymns,” I was perusing the hymnbook and quickly thumbed past it. For some unknown reason I stopped, turned back to page # 195 in the New Century Hymnaland reread the words of “On a hill far away,” and once again began turning the page. But I was compelled to stop, go back and look yet again at the hymn arrangement. Hmm, I thought. Perhaps there could be some neat possibilities here. And I began to re-imagine it. What if it began in a slow, blusey way, with two horns evoking a long-ago gospel feel. That made me think of the New Orleans second-linestyle used in funerals. And the idea struck: after a slow, almost mournful feel why not have the drummer break into a Dixieland beat followed by a syncopated, toe tapping melody. And thus emerged the inspiration for the arrangement I created for volume 7.

I suppose some folks may feel that this is a sacrilege—taking a hymn, beloved by millions, and jazzing it up. And that’s entirely the risk Tim and I take with every arrangement. In trying to contemporize the hymn through jazz we often take a lot of liberties: changing meter, syncopating the melody line, reharmonizing the chordal structure, and transforming a staid hymn into a swing tempo, a jazz waltz, a Latin beat, a funky groove . . . almost any style found within the broad umbrella called jazz.

Has the “Old Rugged Cross” become my new favorite? Not really? But it’s made me appreciate its theological beginnings and its historical legacy. As Tim and I like to say—these jazz hymn arrangements create something uniquely modern: worship in a new key.

In 2011, when I was the Artist in Residence for the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the UCC, I had an idea. More like a vision. I call it Follow That Star, a Jazz Nativityand I explained it to the Conference Minister as: 

A contemporary re-imaging the Christmas story through jazz . . . a 90-minute holiday concert featuring the Oîkos Ensemble . . . presented as a gift from the Conference . . .  with a free-will offering to benefit local charities.

I concluded with: This will hopefully become an annual tradition. We’ll keep it simple the first year – just music and stories. Next year we can add dance, drama, media, etc.

Actually, we didn’t keep it simple that first year. We featured one of the country’s finest jazz vocalist, Denise Thimes, local TV anchor, Gina Kurre as our host narrator, and five wonderful actors to portray contemporary interpretations of the prophet Isaiah, the angel Gabriel, the innkeepers wife, the reluctant shepherd and the fifth Magi. Our two performances were a huge success.

When I created the first program my hope was that it would become an annual tradition, even though I was still living in Cleveland and commuting to St. Louis in my role as Artist in Residence. Little did I realize it would actually happen, beyond my wildest dreams. Since 2011, there have been 19 concerts in eight different churches in St. Louis, Kansas City, Belleville, IL and Cleveland, OH.  Jazz Noelhas been performed for more than 4,000 people raising nearly $10,000 for community service organizations.

It’s been challenging to raise the funds and it has taken countless hours behind the scenes to produce and promote each year’s concerts. Not to mention envisioning new ways to reimagine the story, develop new artistic approaches, and write a new script every year. Jazz Nativity is now Jazz Noel and the ninth annual performances are just a month away.

This year the Oîkos Ensemblewillbe blending contemporary jazz arrangements, with early music madrigals by the Terra Nova Singers. The story will be told byLogos, an interpretive readers theatre quartet. Our theme is “A Christmas Journey” and will focus on Mary and Joseph’s perilous journey to gain insight into the complexities of contemporary journeys undertaken by immigrants and refugees, as well as understanding our own life journey in search of home.

So, if you’re in the area I invite you to join us as we creatively reimagine the Christmas story for today. And, move a year closer to our tenth anniversary. I wonder what we’ll be doing next year?

Saturday, December 14 at 3:00 pm at Parkway United Church of Christ (2841 N. Ballas Road, St. Louis 63131)

Sunday, December 15 at 3:00 pm at First Congregational Church, UCC (10 W. Lockwood Ave., Webster Groves 63119)

This is the seventh annual jazz nativity performance in St. Louis with the Oikos Ensemble. It’s one of my most favorite playing opportunities of the year. Christmas is such a magical time and seasonal carols lend themselves to cool jazz interpretation. It’s always a treat to see audiences experiencing the Christmas story through jazz and the arts. Re-imagining the Christmas message has taken many different forms through the years and the jazz nativity stage has featured actors, dancers, poets and visual artists.

Performing with me will be my friends Kim Fuller (vocalist), Tim Osiek (trumpet), Carolbeth True (piano), Glen Smith (bass) and Dave True (drums). This year’s guest artist is photographer Phil Shoulberg. His vibrant images will accompany our jazz carols and storytelling by the Logos Readers Theatre. Local choristers will also perform with the band. As always, the performance is free and open to all. A free-will offering will benefit Every Child’s Hope.

Join us for another year of great jazz, stellar art and inspirational storytelling.

Can you believe it? It’s almost Christmas! Well, not exactly, but in church planning circles two months is a brief window to accomplish program planning. So, it’s past time to put the details in place for the 7^th Annual Jazz Nativity, this year titled Jazz Noel: A Child is Born. Actually, the preliminary planning has been in place for months. Now it’s time to get specific. I’ve written the first draft of the script and my good friends Tim Osiek and Ray Landis will meet with me tomorrow to finalize the details for choral arrangements.

What’s different this year? We’ll have three choirs performing with Oîkos, a grand opportunity to write new arrangements of some of our favorite carols. Our guest artist will be Phil Shoulberg, one of the finest photographers I know. He and I will be meeting soon to create an interactive image palette for the production. The band once again features one of the great vocalists in St. Louis, Kim Fuller and our outstanding rhythm section, pianist Caolbeth True, bassist Glen Smith and drummer David True with Tim on trumpet and your truly on sax. The only difference this year is the absence of our other fine vocalist, Arianna Aerie who is spending a year in Oxford, Great Britain with her husband and daughter.

I hope you’ll join us on Sunday afternoon, December 17 at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Webster Groves, MO for another re-imagining of the Christmas birth narrative. As always, the performance is free and we’ll take an offering for a local mission project.

Is you’re considering planning your own jazz nativity, we have some great resources for you—four scripts of previous programs plus our volume of Christmas Carol jazz arrangements. The scripts ($12 each) can be purchased now for just 2 for $20. Use the coupon code JAZZNAV2 when checking out. Or purchase all 4 for $30 (use JAZZNAV4). The collection of 12 carols (C, Bb, Eb and bass clef arrangements) is still only $20. Order Here.

Let us know about your jazz nativity performance. How was it received? Was it performed in a concert setting or in worship? Will you perform another version next year?

Best wishes for a jazzy Christmas.

My wife and I have been on a life-long spiritual quest for oneness with the Creator seeking guidance for living a lifestyle grounded in Truth, lived in Faith and shared with Integrity. For many years we have been exploring Taoism and how this ancient Chinese philosophy complements Christianity. We often begin each day together by reading from the Tao Te Ching or commentaries based on this amazing book. One compelling author/interpreter is Deng Ming-Dao. In his book 365 Tao he shares a word a day and unpacks its meaning and how it conceptually adds to the depth of personal wisdom and spiritual growth. His meditative thought process provides insight into The Way by which we can wend our way through life’s journey with authenticity.

This morning’s word is clarity. Den Ming-Dao begins with a question: “Can you see a sound . . . hear light . . . unite your senses . . . turn inward?” He continues, “True clarity is more than just being smart, more than just being wise. Clarity manifests from meditation. It comes when you can unite all the faculties of the mind and unify them into a magnificent light of perception.” My mind immediately raced to the meditation achieved through music, specifically jazz. There is a truth—a wisdom—inherit within music, and in jazz there’s an active evolving of spiritual questing that invites the musician (and the listener) into a deeper realm of reality. That’s why I’ll often refer to jazz as subversive. For me jazz is not a party music, even in all its exuberance. Rather jazz is a meditative discipline that explores and interprets deep truths. And those truths can often upset the applecart of simplistic, superficial understanding. Playing jazz is a process of self-development on every level, allowing me to plumb new depths of awareness. Listening to jazz illuminates new pathways that both challenge and enrich my journey through the craziness of our world.

Deng Ming-Dao concludes his entry on clarity: “If you unite sound with vision, then you will create light. That light is the concentrated force of the mind. It is by that brightness that truth is revealed.”

Jazz unites music and vision into a force for illuminating truth. It’s not just a one-time revelation, but an ongoing invitation for the performer and listener to embark on a subversive journey—a rebellious journey, seeking hidden truths that come to light in the brightness of Divine encounters, and then living in ways that affirm the wholeness and sacredness of God’s creation, and every living thing within it. There is a Yin and Yang to jazz, a creative tension that can propel one outward by going inward. By finding the center the boundaries are expanded. It’s in the exploration of the interior that the exterior gains meaning and purpose.

Ask the average churchgoer what their favorite hymn is and you’ll get a myriad of responses based on age, gender, theological viewpoint and religious denomination. A recent informal survey elicited this response from a variety of church friends:

• How Great Thou Art
• Amazing Grace
• All Things Bright and Beautiful
• For the Beauty of the Earth
• Blest Be the Tie That Binds
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• I Love to Tell the Story

The list goes on and on and is limited only by the longevity of one’s church membership. Ask the same question to a church musician and you are likely to hear a slightly different list of names:

• Ode to Joy
• Slane
• Beach Spring
• Hyfrydol
• St. Anne
• Passion Chorale
• Picardy
• O Waly Waly

Those, of course, are the original names of the hymn tunes, many of which are slightly more harmonically complex than the Old Rugged Cross (Toplady). We all have our favorite hymns. Some of us base our favorites on the words, while others of us judge our hymns by melody and harmony. It seems clear thought, that the more time you’ve spent pew sitting, the stronger your opinion will be regarding the top ten greatest hymns of all time.

Our latest collection of hymn arrangements (volume #6) include some of our personal favorites. Each one crafted in the genre of jazz to make it even more compelling. So, whether you refer to the hymn as Beecher or Love Divine, All Loves Excelling . . . Vienna or Take My Life and Let It Be . . . our arrangements will provide you with a new twist to an old, beloved tune. And, as always, if you download one of our volumes, please let us know how the arrangements were received in your congregation.