Blue Like Jazz

The first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a music birthed out of freedom. And that is the closest thing I know to Christian spirituality. A music birthed out of freedom. Everybody sings their song the way they feel it, everybody closes their eyes and lifts up their hands.

I think Christian spirituality is like jazz music. I think loving Jesus is something you feel. I think it is something very difficult to get on paper. But it is no less real, no less meaningful, no less beautiful.

I think the most im‍­port‍­ant thing that hap‍­pens with‍­in Chris‍­ti‍­an spir‍­itu‍­al‍­ity is when a per‍­son falls in love with Jesus.

I loved the fact that it wasn’t my responsibility to change somebody, that it was God’s, that my part was just to communicate love and approval.

The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money.

Many of our attempts to understand Christian faith have only cheapened it. I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me.

The little we do understand, that grain of sand our minds are capable of grasping, those ideas such as God is good, God feels, God loves, God knows all, are enough to keep our hearts dwelling on His majesty and otherness forever.

The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me.

I think our society puts too much pressure on romantic love, and that is why so many romances fail. Romance can’t possibly carry all that we want it to.

Jesus said to feed the poor and to heal the sick. I have never done very much about that. Jesus said to love those who per‍­se‍­cute me. I tend to lash out, es‍­pe‍­cially if I feel threatened, you know, if my ego gets threatened. Jesus did not mix His spir‍­itu‍­al‍­ity with polit‍­ics. I grew up doing that. It got in the way of the cent‍­ral mes‍­sage of Christ. I know that was wrong, and I know that a lot of people will not listen to the words of Christ be‍­cause people like me, who know Him, carry our own agen‍­das into the con‍­ver‍­sa‍­tion rather than just re‍­lay‍­ing the mes‍­sage Christ wanted to get across.