Reality, Jazz AND Faith with John Patitucci

If you are a jazz fan, you don’t want to miss this. If you
aren’t, get ready to learn from an amazing man accomplished in a
lot of ways. Today, bass virtuoso, John Patitucci. 


PREFACE: Reality, Jazz, AND Faith


If you grew up in a church traditional at all, you will remember
a worship component called the “offertory.” To me it seemed
simply to be a time for the music director to show off his
high-brow classical taste, sometimes with a soloist belting out
with too much vibrato in a foreign language. With a little more
reflection it seemed to be a programing sleight of hand designed
to cover the exact amount of time it took the ushers to collect
the offering before the organ abruptly broke into the Gloria
Patri shaking the very foundation stones of the church with a
refrain all knew and were able to sing along without looking at
the words.


Modern liturgies, which some would consider not liturgical at
all, a conclusion with which I strongly disagree, lean toward
something less repetitive. I remember one time in a mid-week
service the offering was the last thing done before I was to get
up and teach. That is the time for a preacher to compose himself,
double-check that his zipper is up, make sure the notes are in
order, and grab a moment of prayer remembering it isn’t about
him. “Get out of yourself turkey,” my spirit would hear.


But this Wednesday evening the music director introduced a guest
musician to do a solo instrumental piece for the offering.
Doesn’t sound too unusual, right? But the guest’s instrument was
a bass. “This should be interesting,” I thought. And the bass had
six strings, not four. Thankfully I would be getting up in a few
minutes to save things if it was a flop.


A few minutes later I walked up to the lectern, wiping tears from
my eyes, wondering what had just happened. Nothing I could say
would reach the heart of people like what they had just heard. I
would teach humbly, knowing God had shown up already, thankful to
be a part of the body of Christ.


Let us welcome today to Church Hurts And, that bass player and
renowned virtuoso, John Patitucci.  


If you have benefitted from this radio show/podcast and would
like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do
so by visiting https://churchhurtsand.org. Donations are
tax-deductible, needed, and appreciated more than you know.


For more about our guest, you can check him out at:
https://www.johnpatitucci.com