Dave Mackey and I talk about music often. If you don’t know him, Dave is a drummer at Lord of Life who is also a voracious consumer of music. We regularly chat about new releases, old favorites, and share memories as we mourn the recent loss of a legend. You can find us musing on social media, in texts, after worship moments, and – pre-COVID – in our living rooms and area concert venues.
Since there aren’t any live shows to attend right now, we’ve been exchanging some of our favorite jazz albums over the last few months. Each Sunday, we swap a handful of vinyl beauties and gush about the new discoveries.
A week or so before Ash Wednesday, Dave invited me to his car after online worship. Before opening the trunk, he said “I want this to be your Lenten discipline, this year. Drink deep from the well of jazz.” With that, he popped the back of his car and revealed a plastic crate filled with more than sixty 12” vintage platters of goodness, including names like Miles, Jaco, Coltrane, Cobham, Shorter, Hutcherson, Hancock, Adderley, Lateef, Fitzgerald, and more. Woah! I was thrilled to jump into this Lenten discipline! It was just what I needed.
Growing up, my family observed the forty days of Lent and attended midweek worship, but I don’t remember it as a season of sacrifice and giving up stuff. We still snacked on chocolate and drank caffeine. I also don’t recall being encouraged to add some kind of discipline, kindness, or service to my daily rhythm for those weeks leading up to Holy Week.
For some reason, when we hear the Lenten admonition to “return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” from Joel 2:13, we often associate it with solemnity and sacrifice. We assume that reorienting ourselves to God will be a joyless burden. I get it. There is a long and rich tradition in the church of using this season leading up to Easter for fasting and repentance. But there’s more.
Over the last eight months, a small group at Lord of Life has been intentionally talking about race. Little by little, we’ve been excavating our biases and assumptions, even as we confront the lasting trauma, inequities, and despair of racism. We’ve delved into slavery, reparations, incarceration, redlining, voter suppression, and many other components which continue to fuel systemic racism. Returning to these subjects over and over remind us that we have much work to do. But there’s hope. Courageous and innovative leaders are leading us into new territory of repentance, reconciliation, and renewal.
As we wrap up this February, when many have added some reading or listening of Black History to their daily rhythms, let it not end here. There are plenty of opportunities at Lord of Life and beyond to learn and grow. Like a good jazz record leads us to new ways of thinking and listening, may the Spirit of God continue to stretch us into fresh perspectives and daring conversations.
Still learning to love God and my neighbor,
Pastor Lowell