Jazz in the Round 28 May 2017 at 11:00 in the Morning

The Worship of God The Seventh Sunday of Easter Jazz In the Round 28 May 2017 at 11:00 in the morning

Myers Park Baptist Church Heaton Hall

Please silence your cell phone.

GATHERING Silent Meditation Jazz speaks for life. The blues tell the story of life’s difficulties — and, if you think for a moment, you realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., opening address at Berlin Jazz Festival 1964

Gathering Music

Welcome Inspired by the radical hospitality of Jesus Christ, MPBC welcomes all of God’s children into the life of the Church regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical limitation, educational background, or economic situation.

*Call to Worship Leader: We need your presence on the long road, Lord. People: The road between fear and hope, Leader: the road between the place where all is lost People: and the place of resurrection. Leader: Like the disciples walking the road to Emmaus, People: we are in need of your company! Leader: Jesus, stand among us, in your risen power; People: let this time of worship be a sacred hour.

*Opening Song “Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus” Gospel 1. Woke up this morning with my mind 3. Walking and talking with my mind stayed on Jesus (repeat 3x) stayed on freedom (repeat 3x) Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah. Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah. 2. Singing and praying with my mind 4. Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom (repeat 3x) stayed on Jesus (repeat 3x) Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah. Prayer of Confession Holy God, as we journey with one another and with you, we recognize those moments when we have failed to live as you have called. We have created idols of our possessions, instead of relying on you to provide for our every need. We have failed to learn from our past and those who have gone before us, and from those who are around us. You have called us your beloved, yet we forget to live the way you have called and created us to live. Forgive us, renew us, and remind us again of your deep love and eternal mercy. Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness Leader: Friends, believe the good news. People: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

*Passing of the Peace Leader: As beloved children of God, let us not be strangers to one another but family in Christ. Please stand and greet each other with the peace of Christ.

All are invited to stand and share the peace of Christ with one another.

HEARING AND PROCLAIMING THE WORD

The Epistle Lesson 2 Corinthians 4:1-15 (NRSV)

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

2 *Congregational Song “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” Traditional Folk Tune “Gospel Plow” 1. Paul and Silas bound in jail, 4. But the one thing we did right Got no money for to go their bail, was the day we started to fight. keep your eyes on the prize….hold on. keep your eyes on the prize….hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. 2. Paul and Silas thought they was lost, 5. Got my hands on freedom's plow, dungeons shook and their chains fell off. wouldn't take nothing for my journey now. Keep your eyes on the prize….hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize….hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. 3. If there was one thing we did wrong, stayed in the wilderness too long. Keep your eyes on the prize….hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.

During the Congregational Song, 3 and 4 year olds will leave with their teachers and may be picked up in Room 107 after worship. Children in grades TK-5 will remain in worship as we celebrate Communion as a Church.

Testimonies from the Deep South Pilgrimage

RESPONDING TO THE WORD Musical Reflection “Alabama” John Coltrane (1926-1967)

Prayers for the People

Congregational Response See page 10. “Precious Lord, take my hand” Precious Lord

Sharing of Gifts Please place gifts and member/guest cards in the basket as it is passed.

Offertory Music “Tryin’ Times” Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson

*Doxology Lasst Uns Erfreuen Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God, all creatures, here below. Alleluia. Alleluia! Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts. Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

3 THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Invitation to the Table

The Great Thanksgiving Leader: The Lord be with you. People: And also with you. Leader: Lift up your hearts. People: We lift them to the Lord. Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. People: It is right to give our thanks and praise!

The Lord’s Prayer Our Father/Mother in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.

Serving of Communion All are welcome at this Table. There are no requirements of creed, denominational affiliation or age. Come, bring all the faith you have to this table of grace. Please come forward to receive Communion by Intinction. A gluten-free station is also available.

Communion Music “Thank You, Lord” Traditional

Prayer After Communion In gratitude, in deep gratitude for this moment, this meal, these people, we give ourselves to you. Take us out to live as changed people because we have shared the Living Bread and cannot remain the same. Amen.

SENDING *Closing Song “Somebody’s Hurting My Brother” Yara Allen Somebody’s hurting my brother, and it’s gone on far too long, it’s gone on far too long. (repeat twice) Somebody’s hurting my brother, and it's gone on far too long, and we won’t be silent anymore.

Somebody’s poisoning the water...

Somebody’s hurting my sister...

The Benediction

Sending

4 Following worship, you are invited to coffee fellowship in Heaton Hall Foyer. We invite our guests to the Welcome Table in Heaton Hall Foyer for a more personal welcome.

Leading worship this morning with The Reverend W. Benjamin Boswell, Senior Minister, are The Reverend Joseph D. Aldrich, Associate Minister, The Reverend Chrissy Tatum Williamson, Minister of Faith Formation, The Reverend Carrie Veal, Minister of Children and Families, and Frances L. Morrison, Minister of Music.

The Jazz Ensemble leads worship through music: Greg Jarrell, saxophone, Philip Howe, piano, Ocie Davis, drums, Tim Singh, bass, Dawn Anthony, vocals. ______

We give God thanks for the ministry of Danielle Hilton, Pastoral Assistant, who joined our staff on June 1, 2016. ______

5 Program Notes on John Coltrane and “Alabama”

John Coltrane was the grandson of a preacher. From his early days in small-town North Carolina, he heard the music of the church. Even as he became a musician of world renown, the music of the church was always there. He was one of the most sophisticated improvising musicians the world has ever seen, but his roots always remained. He was connected to his people through music.

Coltrane must have learned songs, in those early days after his birth in 1926, that had been passed down for generations. It is easy to imagine that the oldest members of his grandfather’s congregation had been enslaved, had been emancipated, had lived through Reconstruction, and had witnessed the rise of Jim Crow. Through all of those historic moments, they would have kept adapting their songs, improvising new lyrics, adding new embellishments, and being sure the songs took roots in the hearts of the children around them. That legacy took root in John, becoming the building blocks for his world-shaking career.

Neither is it hard to imagine that John Coltrane as a child went to Sunday School more than a few times. He surely knew the energy of a Sunday morning. The play of children. The sound of the choir rehearsing before service. The laughter of menfolk telling stories from the week. The moans of grief and gratitude in the ladies’ prayer circle. And, importantly, he would have known the safety of it all. The feeling of being in a physical and cultural sanctuary set apart from the cruelty of Jim Crow America.

Bombing a Sunday School is impossibly vicious. The bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, and the permissiveness with which the white power structure in Alabama received it, became yet another example of the moral decrepitude of white society in the South. The bombing did help to galvanize energy towards the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Law could not stop white terrorism of black communities and people, but it could at least make it illegal. As a North Carolina native who had for years traveled the country making music, Trane knew what the fear of this sort of terrorism felt like. He felt a deep grief for his country and for his people. So, during a November 1963 recording date, only two months after the bombing, and four days prior to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he introduced a new piece called “Alabama.”

“Alabama” stands in sharp contrast to almost all of Coltrane’s other recorded works. Trane was a relentless innovator and a fearsome improviser. His playing was dense and complex, happening in rapid fire. At nearly impossible speeds, he would explore ideas in every possible permutation and inversion. He was always searching, looking for new sounds and new ways of linking sounds and ideas together. This typically meant lots of notes, sometimes going on for many minutes as he worked an idea around his horn in every conceivable way. But “Alabama” is different. It is sparse, plaintive, and uncertain in a way that no other of Trane’s recordings is.

The first note to sound is a drone that will persist through most of the piece. Bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner sound it together, with Tyner filling out a dark, brooding C minor chord that will sound on through the entire first and last sections of the work. On top of this chordal drone, Trane enters with a somber melody. He is singing a song of lament. This is a new song, written in response to another new act in a history of cruelty, but the song comes from a specific place. It has been born from the tradition of field songs and blues. It has risen through jook joints and hush harbors, through Coltrane’s bones and out of his lungs. Out of his soul.

The composition of the song reinforces this connection to the Elders. The melody is built entirely from a single scale, called “pentatonic” because it has only five notes. The songs of the hymn choirs common in African-American tradition, the chants of enslaved workers and chain gangs, and many of the songs common in the Civil Rights Movement are built from the pentatonic scale. It is the basic building block for folk music of all sorts, across many cultures. It lives deeply inside the bones and the souls of people for

6 whom singing was one of only a few available survival strategies. In other words, Coltrane had learned a musical language he could turn to in moments of grief and trial. His people had passed down the knowledge of how to sing about the death of children. The existence of such knowledge testifies to how long they had suffered brutality visited upon their bodies and the bodies of their loved ones.

Coltrane acknowledges this as part of the influence in his work. He states that the black musician does not need a justification for his art.... It’s built in us. The phrasing, the sound of the music attest to this fact. We are naturally endowed with it. You can believe all of us would have perished long ago if this were not so…. You see, it is really easy for us to create. We are born with this feeling that just comes out no matter what conditions exist. Otherwise, how could our founding fathers have produced this music in the first place when they surely found themselves (as many of us do today) existing in hostile communities where there was everything to fear and damn few to trust? Any music which could grow and propagate itself as our music has, must have a hell of an affirmative belief inherent in it.

Following the beginning section, featuring mostly sax, piano, and bass, the band moves into a more typical jazz setting. They take up a steady tempo. They “swing,” to use the language common to their colleagues. The tempo is measured. The swing is light. But something more normal has returned. The drums join in, coloring the track and pushing it forward with work on the cymbals. But this brief move into a more normal formula does not last long. “Alabama” finally sounds like it falls apart after less than a minute, with Trane dropping out first, and the rest of the musicians coming to an abrupt halt shortly after. It falls apart in such a way that it sounds like a series of mistakes on the first few listenings. While conventions of their genre are taking place as usual, something interferes. The musical landscape is ruptured, and then falls apart.

And then, it happens. The drone returns. The melody sings the lament again. And now, Elvin Jones joins in on the drums. He plays with mallets, striking the toms with increasing weight and intensity. The sound is not unlike an explosion heard in the distance, like what Paul from Birmingham might have felt rumbling up through the foundations of the city on that September morning. The plaintive cry keeps sounding, and the rumbling refuses to cease.

The critic Leroi Jones, writing in the liner notes to the album on which “Alabama” was released, said, “I didn't realize until now what a beautiful word Alabama is. That is one function of art, to reveal beauty, common or uncommon, uncommonly.” Coltrane here has revealed both lament and beauty in a brand new, yet traditioned, way. He writes a beautiful lament, titles it with a beautiful word, and sets it within a context that gives this particular event universal echoes. He draws from the long tradition that the elders of his community know and have passed along, one they found echoed in the Psalms. Those elders and the psalmists knew that beauty often possesses us in a minor mode. It grows too often from suffering that cannot be explained. Places that we grow to love with intensity and passion are also the places of our deepest grief and aching. Even the most beautifully named places are comprised of gardens of suffering and hills that we might come to know as “the place of the skull” (Matt 27:23). Every geography has at one time been watered with tears, and more than once. To be connected to a place, and the people who inhabit it, is to join in the shedding of those tears. It is to build markers of memory that can wrest beauty out of despair and spaces of patient grief while grappling with a long, dark night.

There is a coda to “Alabama.” It is one last attempt to resolve the lament. It builds quickly, growing louder and more intense in just a few short phrases. The tension mounts. The search for resolution grows. Then Trane makes the leap, on the penultimate chord, landing high above the band in an attempt to change the mode from minor to major. It is the musical equivalent of moving from grief to joy, from night to day. “Joy comes in the morning,” the Psalmist promises. But the move falls empty. Underneath the wailing saxophone, the harmony is just a cluster, a series of overlapping dissonances. The last try to move from weeping that has endured for many nights to a long-awaited joy only furthers the dissonance. And so the last chord returns home to its dwelling in deep lament. It winds down in a flurry and settles into itself. There is nowhere else to go. There is no other chord to sound.

7 DRAW NEAR TO GOD

8 DRAW NEAR TO GOD

9 10 EVENTS THIS WEEK

For more information about these events and others, please visit our website at www.mpbconline.org or email [email protected].

Sunday, May 28 The Seventh Sunday of Easter | Jazz Worship in the Round | Communion 11:00a - Noon Jazz Worship in the Round | Heaton Hall Noon - 12:30p Coffee Fellowship and Guest Welcome| Heaton Hall Foyer

Monday, May 29 • The Church Office and The Cornwell Center will be closed for the Memorial Day Holiday • Reminder - There are only a few days left for our Cereal for the City Drive

Wednesday, May 31 The Cornwell Center Summer Hours Begin (visit www.cornwellcenter.org)

Thursday, June 1 10:00 - 11:30a Prayer Group | Parlor 5:30 - 7:30p Families Managing Media Seminar | Heaton Hall 6:00 - 7:30p Charlotte Community of Mindfulness | Room 27 --- NO Chancel Choir Rehearsal

Friday, June 2 7:30 - 9:00p “Sing to Love” | Todd Geer and Friends Benefit Concert | Sanctuary

Saturday, June 3 10:00a - Noon Music Together Classes (registration required) | Room 29

Sunday, June 4 (Summer Worship Schedule Begins) Pentecost Sunday | Volunteer Appreciation Sunday | Rice Bowl | Reverend W. Benjamin Boswell Preaching 8:30 - 11:00a Charlotte Community of Mindfulness Meditation Group | Room 27 9:00 - 10:00a Coffee Fellowship | Heaton Hall Foyer 9:20 - 9:30a Childcare for infants - rising TK/K | Preschool Wing 10:00 - 11:00a Worship | Sanctuary 11:00a - 12:30p Congregational Brunch, Meeting, and Strategic Plan Vote | Heaton Hall 11:30a - 12:30p Childcare for Congregational Meeting | Room 107 1:30 - 4:00p Faith Formation Ministry Meeting | Cornwell Conference Center 4:45 - 7:15p Childcare for Parent Social | Preschool Wing 5:00 - 7:00p Children’s Ministry Parent Social | Off-Site

11 OUR COVENANT

We, the members of the Myers Park Baptist Church, are a people on a journey of faith. By God’s grace we are experiencing God’s love through Jesus Christ and in the community of the faithful. We are discovering in this experience our freedom to become new creatures and our responsibility to be faithful stewards of our lives and of this world.

We will be open to all new light, strengthened by God and each other in our faith. We will sustain a critical examination of Scripture, belief and ritual as interpreters of God’s active presence in the world. We will accept controversy as a reality of life together and an opportunity for growth toward maturity. We covenant to be a community of God’s new creation and affirm that we are open to all and closed to none.

We covenant to nurture this Church as a community of faith and as an instrument for reconciliation in this world: by worship, by Christian education, by the dedication of our personal and material resources and by all the other ways we express the significance of our lives with God and one another.

We covenant together to be priests celebrating God’s presence in community and in the world, believing we are participants in God’s kingdom on earth.

Ministers As priests to one another, all members of the congregation are ministers. Some are called out for particular places of service:

The Reverend W. Benjamin Boswell, Senior Minister Frances L. Morrison, Minister of Music The Reverend Joseph D. Aldrich, Associate Minister The Reverend Chrissy Tatum Williamson, Minister of Faith Formation The Reverend Barry Zane Metzger, Church Administrator The Reverend Carrie Veal, Minister of Children and Families Dr. Matthew Manwarren, Organist Charlotte Judge, Associate Director of Music Allen Davis, Interim Director of Youth Ministry Jenny Yopp, Director of the Cornwell Center Belinda Geuss, Director of Through-The-Week School

J Printed on recycled paper CCLI License #1864926