Listen to our Jazz liturgy.

Although our aim is to provoke and to support all manner of liturgical creativity, our first setting of the mass is an original Jazz composition. Why a Jazz liturgy?

Jazz rises out of nowhere, like God’s creation ex nihilo, or creation out of nothing. Suddenly there’s a groove, like the incantational chant of our Kyrie. The music gathers inchoate sounds and patternless rhythms and shapes and gives form. Sometimes the form is ugly, sometimes beautiful, but definitely organized (even if loosely). And the Jazz Liturgy helps us feel organized too -- if only for a little while. Chaos is organized and managed and kept at bay for a bit.

Long ago the people Israel gathered once each year to re-throne their king. But the king was only a symbol for the being they were really enthroning, Yahweh. They believed that by re-throning Yahweh each year they were defeating the forces of chaos again for the following year. Those chaotic forces were personified in the chaos dragon or sea monster, and you’ll see remnants of those chaos myths in the Hebrew bible. Anyway, by celebrating their annual enthronement liturgy, Israel defeated the forces of chaos again.

That’s what we’re trying to do in our own way – keep the chaos at bay. What we’re partially about here is finding meaning, wholeness, organization, detachment, serenity, groove – whatever you want to call it. What we’re all about here is connecting with the Triune God. That’s the path and the goal.