“Christmas time is here, our favorite time of year,” When the Lord puts a song on our family’s heart for the season it’s invariably from A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi Trio. Popular, original, sometimes trivialized as children’s music, the soundtrack of the TV special is one of the greatest evangelical cultural achievements of our time, and a great jazz record.
Jazz and Jesus is not a natural connection for most people, but Jerry Coker, noted jazz educator, writes in The Creative Nudge, “All beautiful, innovative music, from complex to simple, is from the Creator of creativity. Everyone of us is creative innately, and this energy is always seeking expression. In music, much glorious sound comes to life, in the mind’s ear, audibly, from God.
Whether it is for God alone, our self , or an audience, the creative nudge should be nurtured. Acknowledge it, encourage it, express it . It will enrich your life immeasurably even if, like a tree falling in a forest, God and His creation are the only listeners.”
Christmas carols, even the great hymns, strike a chord of nostalgia, as if the best part of this miraculous time of year has already happened and the most we can hope for is to echo it for the next generation. The birth of Christ is a continuing mystery, especially as we ourselves are born again into Him. Could it be that the best Christmas music is yet to be discovered? What a gift that would be!
1 Timothy 4:9 encourages us, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you,” something as simple as snapping your fingers to Jingle Bells, or humming Away in a Manger in your car might suggest that gift could be music.
As you open your ears to the sounds of the season check out The Christian Jazz Artists Network,http://www.songsofdavid.com/christianjazzartists.shtml, a growing, and blowing, community that spreads the Good News Of God’s gift of Salvation through Jesus in creative, overflowing music. If you’ve ever been bored by the follow the bouncing ball style of music that passes for worship at most churches these days, it’s time you invited a jazz musician to church. Choirs of angels will be glad you did.
