Lent | St. Patrick's Day Community, Prayers, and Celebration

"What Does St. Patrick Teach Us about Lent?" by Bette Dickinson

A Snapshot of St. Patrick's Day

As the weather warms up (ever so slightly and sporadically) and our hearts turn to celebration in March, the story of St. Patrick ignites us again on how to provide priestly patronage to friends and strangers alike in fresh ways. 

There is great joy to be found that St. Patrick dynamically exuded himself. Patrick experienced miraculous liberation when he was a Roman Briton slave – that's right, Patrick wasn't Irish! – and after his escape from slavery, he willingly brought back to the island of his captors Jesus' bigger and better party so that Ireland might be introduced to the Light of the world during dark times. 

St. Patrick of Ireland Block Print Art devotional prayer icon by Kreg Yingst

 

St. Patrick's Freedom Story

For a quick intro to his story, St. Patrick was trafficked as a child, a mystic in spirituality (i.e. a person who sought by contemplation and self-surrender to lean into unity with Jesus in every away), worked to create an indigenous Irish faith, and planted new communities who followed Jesus in all areas of life. But I'm getting ahead of myself ...

In the Confession of St. Patrick, written in the early 400s A.D., Patrick wrote that when he was sixteen years old, he was captured by a group of Irish pirates in Britain and brought to Ireland as a slave for six years. Patrick wrote that this time in captivity was where Jesus met him and showed him how he could be forgiven and set free. 

While he was working as a shepherd in his enslavement and treated like one of his sheep, St. Patrick was strengthened through praying during his darkest moments. These times of prayer eventually led him to faith. Patrick wrote: 

There the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God who … comforted me as would a father his son.

After escaping his captors, he later returned to Ireland as a servant and witness to the joy and justice of the Kingdom of heaven with the people of the island where he was first brought as a slave (the International Justice Mission also has a great write up of this story on their website entitled, "St. Patrick's Day: A View on Suffering & Slavery").

IJM: St. Patrick's Day: A View on Slavery & Suffering 

Love & Friendship w/ St. Patrick

While St. Patrick's return to love and serve those who enslaved him is a pretty amazing story in and of itself, there's more. By God's grace, Patrick became the first church planter in Ireland. Thousands of individuals and families were introduced to Jesus and baptized into His family name of the Father, Son and Spirit, many of which were royalty throughout the island. This had massive impact to transform the people socially, culturally, and spiritually. And this all happened while Patrick's life was under the threat of death.

Bette Dickinson shares how he prepared for this in her wonderful Visio Divina reflection: "What Does St. Patrick Teach Us About Lent?"

I can’t think of a better figure to model for us the Lenten practices of prayer and fasting than St. Patrick. On Ash Wednesday, Patrick, the beloved apostle of Ireland, ascended Croagh Patrick and spent 40 days in prayer in fasting, mirroring Christ's time in the wilderness. On that mountain, he wrestled in prayer, contending for the spiritual renewal of Ireland.

His fasting was an act of surrender
to make space for God’s presence.
His time of fasting and prayer
became a form of spiritual warfare,
clearing the wilderness of his soul
and the land he served.

This wilderness was a place of encounter — a sacred space where God met Patrick in his weakness and filled him with divine strength. Lent invites us into our own wilderness, where we step away from the noise of life to face the deserts of our hearts. It is in this quiet, untamed space that God can reveal what needs to be healed, pruned, or released — in us, and in our world.

Through St. Patrick's humble and faithful prayer, fasting, and discipleship efforts, hundreds were ordained as servant leaders and more than 600 churches were started throughout Ireland. The churches and monasteries planted on the island became mission centers for calling, equipping, and sending people to declare and demonstrate what it means to be reconciled to God and each other, and to begin to provide glimpses together of Jesus-centered communities of grace and love that informed every area of life. 

The four keys (like the four leaves to a four-leaf clover) to Celtic discipleship and mission that Patrick taught and embodied include:

Doing Ministry as a Team

Growing a Holistic Faith

Joining God's Mission in Community

Practicing Christian Hospitality

You can read more about God's amazing work in St. Patrick and Ireland in Winfield Bevin's excellent article:
Learning from St. Patrick: 4 Celtic Virtues.

Learning from St. Patrick: 4 Celtic Virtues

St. Patrick's Lorica

Below is a poem attributed to St. Patrick known as his lorica. It was written some time in the 5th century (early 400s A.D.). In the early Church in Ireland, loricas were numerous with some written in Gaelic and some written in Latin. "Lorica" is Latin for shield or breastplate. 

This ancient Gaelic prayer of Patrick's is often recited in the morning as a praise to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is also a prayer for protection. I invite you to pray this prayer today, for yourself, your friends, neighbors and family, and for our city of Worcester.

I. 

I bind to myself today

The strong power of an invocation of the Trinity,

The faith of the Trinity in Unity,

The Creator of the Universe. 

II. 

I bind to myself today

The might of the Incarnation of Christ with that of His Baptism,

The might of His Crucifixion with that of His Burial,

The might of His Resurrection with that of His Ascension, and

The might of of His Coming on the Judgment Day. 

III. 

I bind to myself today ...

In the hope of Resurrection unto reward,

In the prayers of the Patriarchs,

In the predictions of the Prophets,

In the preaching of the Apostles,

In the faith of the Confessors,

In the purity of the holy Virgin,

In the deeds of righteous men. 

IV. 

I bind to myself today

The power of Heaven,

The brightness of the Sun,

The whiteness of Snow,

The splendor of Fire,

The speed of Lightning,

The swiftness of the Wind,

The depth of the Sea,

The stability of the Earth,

The firmness of Rocks. 

"Our Church Speaks" featuring St. Patrick by Ben Lansing

V. 

I bind to myself today

God's Power to pilot me,

God's Might to uphold me,

God's Wisdom to guide me,

God's Eye to look before me,

God's Ear to hear me,

God's Word to speak for me,

God's Hand to guard me,

God's Way to lie before me,

God's Shield to shelter me,

God's Host to secure me.

Against the snares of demons,

Against the seductions of vices,

Against the lusts of nature,

Against everyone who meditates injury to me,

Whether far or near,

Whether few or with many. 

VI. 

I invoke today all these virtues

Against every hostile merciless power

Which may assail my body and my soul.

Against the incantations of false prophets,

Against the black laws of heathenism,

Against the false laws of heresy,

Against the deceits of idolatry ...

Against every knowledge that blinds the soul of (humanity). 

VII. 

Christ protect me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

That I may receive abundant reward. 

VIII. 

Christ with me, Christ before me, 

Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, 

Christ above me,

Christ at my right, Christ at my left,

Christ when lying down, Christ in sitting,

Christ in rising up. 

St Patrick Surrounded by Christ by Kreg Yingst

IX. 

Christ in the heart of every (person)
who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every (person)
who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me. 

X. 

I bind to myself today

The strong power of an invocation of the Trinity,

The faith of the Trinity in Unity

The Creator of the Universe. 

XI. 

Salvation is of the Lord,

Salvation is of the Lord,

Salvation is of Christ;

May Your salvation, O Lord, be with us forever.

Bonus Songs

Canticle

Inspired by St. Patrick's Lorica

5th Century

Adapted by Taya Smith + Jon Guerra

2023 A.D.

Christ, as a light,

Illumine and guide me.

Christ, as a shield,

Overshadow me.

Christ under me,

Christ over me,

Christ beside me,

On my left and my right.

This day, be within and without me,

Lowly and meek, yet all powerful.

Be in the heart of each to whom I speak,

In the mouth of each who speaks unto me.

This day, be within and without me.

Lowly and meek, yet all powerful,

Lowly and meek, yet all powerful,

Lowly and meek and all powerful.

Christ as a light,

Christ as a shield,

Christ when I'm standing,

Christ when I kneel,

Christ here beside me

On my left and my right,

Christ all around me,

All my days and my nights.

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

The Porter's Gate

Released on St. Patrick's Day

Friday, March 17, 2023

When my work takes me places
I don’t want to go,

Christ before me.

And my heart aches with sorrow 

As I hit the road,

Christ be with me.

When the care of my family 

Takes all that I have,

Christ within me.

When I’m worn and exhausted, 

Ashamed that I’m mad,

Christ defend me.

I rise up today in a strength 

That is not my own,

I’m held by the promise of God 

That I’m never alone.

When I’m tossed to the side 

And I want to give up,

Christ beside me.

When I’m busting my a%! 

But it’s never enough,

Christ beside me.

When I work hard 

But someone else gets the reward,

God’s eyes see me.

And I ask for promotion 

And they shut the door,

God’s ears hear me. 

(Chorus)

When I climb the first steps 

Toward a long held dream,

Christ above me.

I leap out in faith 

And I hope to find wings,

Christ beneath me.

Bonus Lent Post: 

The Cross Over Cravings

Bonus Irish Saints Posts:

 Ireland & 1,000+ Years of Faith

Solidarity with St. Kevin

Bonus March Saints Post:

Honoring Saints Perpetua & Felicity

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us

Hispanic Heritage Month | Hermanas Pursuing Misión Integral

Hermanas by Kristy Garza Robinson, Noemi Vega Quiñones, and Natalia Kohn Rivera (pictured left to right above)

"Walking together, en conjunto, is the leadership style that best confronts the power and principality of isolation and pride. We were created to belong to one another, to walk with one another, and to be en familia with one another."

One way to enter into Hispanic Heritage Month is to read the powerful and prophetic book, Hermanas: Deepening Our Identity and Growing Our Influence. Hermanas has become one of my favorite resources in relation to Jesus and His interactions with people in the Gospels. 

Our Hermanas Latina Family Table book is written by Mexican sister, Noemi Vega Quiñones, Mexican-American sister, Kristy Garza Robinson, and Argentinian-Armenian sister, Natalia Kohn Rivera. These strong women speak from the margins they have experienced in bold and beautiful ways in light of the suffering their families and communities have endured (listen to the need for "Justicia"), as well as the victories they have found with Jesus and His multiethnic family. 

I need to hear their voices again. Perhaps you do, too. Included below are some excerpts of what they have to say. Let's hear from our beloved Latina community who we continue to need to lead us and serve us. And if you like what you read, please purchase Hermanas and champion these faithful followers of Jesus who we desperately need to help light the way forward. 

This last post features again the powerful words of Mexican-American Noemi Vega Quiñones.

Chapter 9 | Tabitha: Misión Integral Y En Conjunto

Philip's faithfulness in sharing the gospel led to a community of believers in Joppa. Tabitha was a part of this community and took seriously Jesus' message to love the poor and care for their needs (Matthew 5, Luke 4, Isaiah 58). For Tabitha, following Jesus went hand in hand with caring for the poor and doing justice (Micah 6:8). She exemplified misión integral, holistic mission that was deeply Jesus and deeply justice. The idea of misión integral emerged from South American theologians like Ecuadorian René Padilla and Peruvian Samuel Escobar and Latin American liberation theologies from priests such as Peruvian Gustavo Gutiérrez and Brazilian Leondardo Boff. Tabitha was so integrated that when crisis hit, her whole community – both those she served and those that she served alongside – cried out for help.

One day while Peter was around nine miles south of Joppa in Lydda sharing the good news, Tabitha became tremendously sick and died. After "her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room," the local widows and community that had been impacted by Tabitha's leadership wept over her body. They sent two local followers of Jesus, fellow disciples who were impacted by her leadership, to run to Peter and plead for him to "please come at once!" (Acts 9:36-39). The entire community, from the recipients of her ministry to those who had heard of her ministry, cried over her death.

I wonder if Peter, moved with compassion, recalled Jesus' power over death both for Mija and for Jairus's little girl (see Mark 5:21-43). I wonder if recalling these moments with Jesus reminded Peter of God's power for Tabitha. With all of that faith, Peter, the Rock, followed Jesus' lead and sent everyone out of the room. "Then he got down on his knees and prayed" (Acts 9:40). Peter looked at Tabitha and said, "Tabitha, get up," and at that moment she opened her eyes and saw Peter with Luke, the author of this story recorded in Acts, striking the echo of Mark 5:21-43 and his own writing in Luke 8:40-56, particularly in Mark 5:41 where Jesus speaks Aramaic and said, "Talitha koum," translated as "Little girl, arise."!

This is beautiful and good. How does one know when ministry is beautiful (Tabitha's name means a beautiful female gazelle; see Song of Solomon 2:9 for the combination of a gazelle and beauty in Scripture) and good? When there is misión integral and the whole community experiences the reviving fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The early church and Peter witnessed the beautiful power of the gospel as they saw personal and systemic revival happen in this moment. Tabitha was literally revived; she was brought back to life by the power of God. She was able to continue her ministry to marginalized. Revival happened when Peter took newly revived Tabitha to the community of believers, and "especially the widows, and presented them to her alive" (Acts 9:41). Revival happened when they saw this miracle with their eyes and shared this good news with all of Joppa. Revival happened when many believed in the Lord as a result of this testimony. Revival happened as Jesus' resurrection power embodied itself in Tabitha and as Tabitha continued in her ministry.

Tabitha's story is deeply rooted in Jesus and deeply rooted in justice, goodness, rightness, and shalom. This kind of good news is impossible to stop.

An Example of Misión Integral with Villaluz, a Spanish-Speaking Missional Community with the Underground Church, and The Wise Old Owl Tutoring Program 

Lauren Fernández is a second-generation Ecuadorian and Irish Latina who helped lead Villaluz for a season, a Spanish-speaking missional community of the Underground Church Network in Tampa, Florida. I love Lauren's explanation of the tension between caring for our families and caring for our communities. Lauren sees her time with Villaluz as a way of extending her family and helping to be family for people in her city who were forced to leave their home countries. To this day, Lauren's Honduran friend's daughters know her as tia, auntie. Not only was this experience empowering Lauren's Spanish-speaking immigrant community in Tampa, it was also healing for understanding her own family's marginalization and story. Mutual blessing and healing come when we accept the call to extend who we receive and welcome as family and care for our families. 

For my own story in California, I would drive a car full of Fresno State students and myself to Fresno's inner city and spend two hours a week on Wednesdays with the children in our after-school tutoring program. Like Tabitha, this work of service to the marginalized was anchored in Jesus. After the children were walked home, the tutors would sit in a living room together and hear Scripture read about God's heart for the poor, the widow, the foreigner, and the oppressed. I vividly remember the good news from Isaiah 58 and Luke 4 spoken over that living room and prayed over our students and ourselves. This was misión integral like I had never seen. This was holistic mission because we were not just providing a service; we were also establishing friendships with the children's families and hearing their concerns over city policies, hearing their landlord's threats, and seeing their unjust living conditions. 

Some years later in a different tutoring neighborhood, the children's moms would eventually become my own sisters and teachers, showing me more of their stories. Furthermore, I now saw my students through the eyes of faith. Their parents knew Jehovah Jireh ("The God who provides") in a way I had longed for and forgotten. The Wise Old Owl Tutoring Program grew my heart for Jesus as it introduced me to his heart of compassion and justice, goodness and shalom. In this neighborhood I saw the beautiful community of God coming together from different ethnic groups and socioeconomic backgrounds. I even saw Fresno State students fall in love with Jesus as they came to know and understand his heart for the poor and widowed.

Tabitha's Leadership Style is Contextual, Beautifully Integrated, En Conjunto, and Influential

Contextual: Tabitha's is known in both an Aramaic Chaldean context (called her Tabitha) and Greek context (called her Dorcas). This is the first characteristic the text points out (Acts 9:36). Her value for contextualization was such that some people knew her name in Aramaic and others knew her name in Greek. She was Tabitha to some and Dorcas to others. Given that names are personal and significant sources of identity, Tabitha chose to enter into crosscultural spaces.

Modeling Tabitha, I seek to learn the context of my area for at least one year before I start anything new. It allows me to serve with humility, love, and listening ears to learn from the community first.

Beautifully integrated: Tabitha chose to make not just robes, which are worn on the outside, but also other pieces of clothing. The words robes and outer clothing are translated as "tunic" and "garments" respectively in the NRSV Bible. These words are translated from the Greek words for a tunic cloth, which typically goes on the outside of clothing (like a jacket), and for clothing that typically goes next to the skin (shirts, for example). I take this to mean that Tabitha thought about taking care of the whole person (Isaiah 58, Luke 4). As much as she could, Tabitha's ministry was beautifully integrated.

From Catholicism's liberation theology to the protestant misión integral, followers of Jesus who have a Latinx heritage incorporate a beautifully integrated mission. As a Guatemalan missionary once told me, "Caring for our pueblo's physical hunger is as important as we care for their spiritual hunger. If our friends come to church hungry, they cannot concentrate on the message." In some sense, if people attend our churches physically hungry and all they hear is a message, without being given compassion and some food, they are not being blessed with the full gospel. This is not a social gospel ideal, this is a lived fruit of the gospel, which has material and spiritual impact. 

René Padilla developed the idea of misión integral. In his Ensayos Sobre el Reino y la Iglesia, Padilla points out three challenges for Christians today:

(1) To integrate sharing the good news of God (evangelism) with deep discipleship and not neglecting one for the other,

(2) To collaborate together across ministries and work in a unified way, and

(3) To ensure that our ministries are leading toward development and justice for that community, based on the desires of that community and not on United States ideals. 

En conjunto: Tabitha's cries for justice were met by the cries of the widow. I have been struck by the powerful role of the Holy Spirit to cry with us even as there is much pain to mourn in the world. We mourn the political reality that many of our brothers and sisters are at risk of being deported because of racism and biases against Latinos and Latinas and other people of color. We mourn the reality that our men have been called "bad hombres" and our children have been called dirty or lazy or dumb. We mourn the thousands of child immigrants that were and are separated from their parents. We mourn and cry out saying, "This is not right. This is not good. This is not just!" We mourn these things together, en conjunto, and not alone. Our Espíritu Santo cries out for justice and mourns with us and cries with us. The Holy Spirit does not leave our side, but fully understands the pain of our people, the pain of loss, and the pain of the present. Thank you, Jesus, for your Spirit that cries with us, en conjunto entre nosotros.

En conjunto is a term I borrow from Latina theologians that embody a partnership of togetherness and solidarity. This is derived from the idea of comadreando, of having long-lasting, healthy friendships that partner together in life and ministry. Comadre is translated as midwife, but is colloquially used when referring to a strong friend. "Listen, comadre, have I got some news for you!" In a society that highly values competition and success, it is refreshing to meet hermanas and comadres that desire each other's best and not our failure. The term frenemy has to end among us if we are to help one another walk together toward Jesus and justice. Tabitha had many comadres and compadres that felt empowered by her. Can you imagine being the kind of leader that rises above the gossip, petty jealousy, and the need for personal success? Can you be the kind of leader like Tabitha that empowers others as she embraces her resources and agency, that gives to others as she blesses their voice and leadership? Walking together, en conjunto, is the leadership style that best confronts the power and principality of isolation and pride. We were created to belong to one another, to walk with one another, and to be en familia with one another. Leadership en conjunto is a powerful testimony against a self-absorbed, narcissistic leadership style that permeates a lot of this world. 

This is why I was excited to write this book alongside two other women whose voice and leadership I respect. En conjunto, our diverse perspectives point toward Jesus because our love and friendship are anchored in Jesus. 

Influential: Tabitha's leadership was high on impact even as it was high on justice because it emerged from her life with Christ. Interestingly, Tabitha was mourned by her whole community. She was loved so much that her community sent two disciples to Peter to urge him to come. Tabitha had already died, and her body had already been washed, but her community wanted to do everything possible to restore her life. The significance of this passage for the early church is important. Not only did this occasion solidify Peter's role as the rock of the early church, showing how he was anointed by God to do similar works as Jesus, but it also showed the early church that the gospel has spiritual and material consequences. 

When the good news is preached to a town, that town will live into the beauty of the kingdom of God as taught by Jesus. When the good news is embodied, the people in that place will care for the least of these, for the poor, the widow, and the marginalized. This is a natural consequence of the good news. This is high impact. Revival breaks out when stories from death to life are shared, much like Tabitha's story. There are many places in our communities that continue to see death and that must be brought back to life. This resurrection power is only found in Jesus. Our bodies will fail, and our time on this earth is limited, but our life with Christ and fellow believers is forever. Let us speak that resurrection hope and life over these places of death and oppression. Let us be women and followers of Jesus who are so in love with him that works of compassion overflow into what we do and empower us to embody lives of justice, goodness, righteousness, and shalom.

Next post: The Ultimate Exodus

Here are links to previous posts:A Meal with Jesus; The Art of Neighboring; A Praying Life; Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church; Family on Mission; Encounters with Jesus; The Rest of God; Letters to a Birmingham Jail; The Pursuing God; Yawning at Tigers; Moving Towards Emmaus; Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal; The Eternal Current; Tattoos on the Heart; Drop the Stones

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us 

A Love Supreme | Jazz-Shaped Faith in Tension Transforms

Tension

created one of the

greatest albums of all time,

A Love Supreme,

in which John Coltrane

faces his inability

and simultaneously shows us

that we can use tension

to lead us to places with God

we never would have gone

if all of the tension were to be resolved.

+ Robert Gelinas

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship is famous for the title, but in his introduction he also writes about the tension and sacrifice of following Jesus that ...

“ ... Discipleship means joy. ... 

... If we answer the call to discipleship,

where will it lead us?
What decisions and partings will it demand?
To answer these questions
we shall have to go to Him,
for only He knows the answer.
Only Jesus Christ,
who bids us follow Him,
knows the journey's end.
But we do know
that it will be a road of boundless mercy."

Complementing this quote from Bonhoeffer, I continue to come back to a powerful story from the life of world-renowned jazz musician, John Coltrane.

In Robert Gelinas' rare find of a book, Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith, he shares about a pivotal moment in Coltrane's life that continue to help me live into moments of tension with more humility, patience, and joy, trusting that God can use desert times full of unknowns with Him and others to reveal more creativity that might have been missed otherwise.

Talkin' 'Trane:

Intentional Discipleship

Can Help Us Live

in the Creative Tensions of Our Faith

and Be Transformed in the Process

To talk 'Trane is to recognize: not only John Coltrane's musical talent but his soul; see both the tension that his deep struggles with substance abuse brought to his life and the divine deliverance that came his way; understand how his spiritual seeking and music making were interconnected; listen not only to what he played but why he played the way he did; lament the fact that we in our own lives don't allow God's overtures to truly transform us.

Musically, Coltrane was a genius and trendsetter. Practicing hours a day, he developed an unprecedented speed that awed all who heard. But why? What drove him to play the way he did? What pushed him to play scales at such ear-boggling, manic speed? By doing so, Coltrane was on the cusp of changing the way jazz was played by removing the melody line as the core of the song and making sure that each artist in the ensemble had the opportunity – and the time – to do their thing. But that's only part of the story. Though Coltrane was reared in his grandfather's church, alcohol and drugs became a part of his young adult life. Playing gigs in nightclubs gave Coltrane ready access to these substances. Gradually, his addictions became his deities, and he eventually moved in with his mother, playing less and abusing more. The many substances in his system produced much of the frenzy that he displayed on his instrument.

The year 1957 is the key to understanding Coltrane's paradoxical life. During that year he had an experience that was his defining moment as a man and a musician. It would change the very way he stood before a crowd, played a song, and approached life itself. We must first understand this profound experience in order to appreciate his music and – even more so – to see what jazz-shaped contribution he might make to our faith. Simply put, it was in 1957 that John Coltrane said he heard the sound of God.

One day, with the support of his wife and mother he sought the sanctuary of his room and began praying, seeking God's help to withstand the pain of the withdrawals. The presence of God and water sustained him. Four days later, he emerged a changed man, for – according to him – God had met him in a most unusual way. It was a sound, a droning resonance, a reverberation, unlike anything he had ever heard. To truly "hear" Coltrane we must know what happened to him in that room. "It was so beautiful," he told his wife as he hopelessly tried to reproduce it on a piano. This sound transformed Coltrane into the "Soul Trane" and launched a search that would last for the rest of his life.

Talkin' 'Trane:

Intentional Discipleship

Can Help Us Be at Our Weakest

and Somehow Become Our Strongest

After that year, the titles of Coltrane's songs began to make divine references that hinted at his spiritual seeking. The main difference, however, was in the speed at which he played. He still possessed the skills to play with the quickness for which he was renowned, but his reason for playing changed so that he became more methodical and measured. He would stand before audiences and solo for thirty minutes or more – slowly ...  searching ... listening for the sound of God as he performed. He came to believe that if he could play that sound for others, then they, too, could experience what he had experienced during those four days in his bedroom. 

What was 'Trane doing?
He was hunting
that magnificent murmor,
that melody, that met him
when he was at his weakest and yet
somehow becoming his strongest.

He deeply desired
for the sound of God
to play through him
as a witness to his audiences.

When you listen to Coltrane's music,
the question is not
"Do you like what he is playing?" but
"Can you hear why he is playing?"

He never found the sound again. That's jazz ... searching ... yearning ... unresolved tension.

I am captivated by Coltrane's knowledge of the sound and his inability to find it again because what it produced in this man's life I've felt in my own life: tension – more specifically, creative tension.

The curious paradox of this musician's life is that he searched for something he knew existed, and yet he couldn't find it again, despite his remarkable talent. The contradiction of this man is that with his saxophone, he made sounds that crowds applauded, but he couldn't produce the one sound he was trying to play. Even so, this tension produced one of the greatest albums of all time, A Love Supreme, in which Coltrane faces his inability and simultaneously shows us that we can use tension to lead us to places with God we never would have gone if all of the tension were to be resolved. 

+ Robert Gelinas,
Finding the Groove:
Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith

The Sound of God:

Welcoming Tension from God

Can Help Us Grow with Others

in Transformational Communities

A Missional Community Example

: Life on Life :

Coltrane lived in the craze of alcohol and drugs seemingly enhancing his music, but destroying his life. So he became vulnerable with his wife and his mother, returned to his mother's house, and engaged the tension of detoxing in his old room with God (and with his family praying for him those four days).

In life with Jesus and the people He has brought close to us, we can be free to be vulnerable, too, knowing that we need change. Sure, on our own, life might seem easier, faster, and more exciting for a time, just like Coltrane's substance-fueled earlier years seemed to be, but when we slow down with others and peel back the layers, we have the opportunity to encounter God while we rest and wait to receive from Him and from others.

A Missional Community Example

: Life in Community : 

After the experience Coltrane had with God, his story tells us that he said to his wife, "It was so beautiful." And even while he tried to reproduce the sound on piano with her and couldn't, he invited more people into searching for the beauty that had been revealed to him.

He didn't lose his talent in this journey with others, but it was changed, and the music he played with his band was reflective of his longing and his search. He wrote and played A Love Supreme with them, inviting them into his yearning, allowing them to complement his playing with their talents and sounds, and preparing to share it with audiences that were waiting to hear from him. Even in the midst of a lack of repetition of that sound he heard in his bedroom during those four days, God helped Coltrane produce with others in community many other sounds that would dramatically impact them and people throughout generations ahead (for example, just check out the link to the full album of A Love Supreme on YouTube, and the first comment is "This album helped me survive a Dark Night of the Soul. Thank you John Coltrane and band."). 

Sometimes the testing, trying, longing, and searching for what God wants with others in community, even when it seems like it's not found, can produce something through Christ which may provide a greater impact than we could think or imagine.

A Missional Community Example

: Life on Mission : 

"The question is not 'Do you like what he is playing?' but 'Can you hear why he is playing?'" Those two questions could not only be about Coltrane and A Love Supreme, but also questions that we can ask ourselves with others about God in the moments of silence and tension and longing when we are joining Jesus in His work to love those He sends our City Groups to. 

The searching, yearning, and unresolved tension that Coltrane engaged every time he played A Love Supreme for others invited himself and all present into a beauty that crowds of people couldn't help but applaud even as Coltrane's own efforts couldn't replicate the exact sound he was looking for. This tension drove him to keep playing before God with others, and God led him and others to places they never would have gone if all of the tension had been resolved. 

This can be the same for us when we join with Jesus and others to share His Good News in words and actions. 

It might not look
exactly like we want it to. 

It might not sound
exactly like we want it to. 

There may be more tension
than we hoped. 

But if we keep moving forward 

with God and others, 

if we keep our journey open
before Jesus and others as we walk, 

the Spirit of God will grow our faith 

as we step into the tension. 

And what we receive in those strange, dark, desert moments may produce something more needed and more wonderful in the end than what we hoped to accomplish in the beginning. And in the process and in the finale, we will have joined in the soundtrack of The Story of God, the melody and harmony of which all great compositions are tapping into, ultimately bringing forth the sound of God that rings, "For God so loved you and the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have abundant, everlasting life now and forever."

Bonus saint:

St. Philip Neri, the "Saint of Joy"

"Prayer and communion
are not to be made or desired
for the sake of the devotion
we feel in them,
for that is seeking self,
and not God;
but we must be frequent
in both the one and the other
in order to become humble,
obedient, gentle, and patient

(and joyful)."

Bonus Posts

 
+ Rootedness:
Forestry, "Ubuntu,"
and the Family of God

+ Smailović's Song on

Spot of Scorched Earth

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

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