Let's Talk
Living Theology inthe Metropolitan ChicagoSynod
Volume 9, Number 1
Spring 2004
The Vocation of the Laity
Jazz and OurCalling
AndrewTecson
Inhis congregation’s newsletter, Pr. Peter Marty of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa, describes being struck bythe way a summer camp counselor spoke of her role as a “memory-maker forkids.” He comments that this young womandid not have a summer job, she had a calling—a wonderful experience that canhappen to all of us. Pr. Marty goes onto quote Frederick Buechner who wrote that Godusually calls us “to the kind of work (a) that we need most to do and (b) thatthe world most needs to have done…[Such work] is the place where our deepgladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
For Christians, vocation arises out ofa response to a call from God to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit, allowing thecompassion and mercy of Christ to shine in a dark and troubled world. It follows that to be faithful in vocation,one must listen for God’s call. One mustalso be prepared for Christ to come charging into our lives with a newopportunity for service at a time which we might consider inconvenient, ordownright implausible and impractical. Our response to such a call will not always be carefully rehearsed. At times, the call may come in the midst of atime of suffering or sorrow, and our response may force us to reach to thebedrock of our faith.
Each of us has a wayof speaking about call and response. Music—especially jazz—provides the metaphor I need. One of the essential elements of jazz isthat it involves improvisation. Whilemuch jazz improvisation involves a “soloist,” the giants of jazz are alwayslistening and responding to each other. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as being like the wind; you can feel it,but you neither see it nor know where is came from orwhere it’s going. Similarly, bothcreator and listener in a jazz improvisation are equally on an adventure offeeling the joy or sorrow that is being expressed in the music, yet neitherknows where the next phrase will end, or what flashes of harmonic color mayemerge.
My personal faith journey has beenfilled with the call and response of jazz and vocation. Virtually all of my composition projects forthe church are a response to a call expressed through the ideas and experiencesof friends and family.
I met Joel Marty, one of my close friends, in thirdgrade. We enjoyed activities at school,on the cross-country teams, at church and in the community. Joel played baritone horn and I played tenorsax in the school band. Joel’s mother,Elsa, welcomed his friends in their home, and she gracefully found room to addone more place setting to a crowded dining room table. When visiting with Joel’s family, his fatherMartin would make it a point to put on one of his favorite jazz records. Martin’s collection ranged from Stan Getz andJobim to Bill Evans and Lenny Tristano.
During high school, a member of my family’s church, Ken Jandes, started giving me lessons in music theory andcomposition at the American Conservatory of Music. One of Ken’s favorite composers was CharlesIves. The career of Charles Ives was aninspiration to Ken because Ives composed some of the most creative music inhistory (e.g., “The Unanswered Question”) while he was, at the same time, asuccessful businessman. Ken (at thattime a principal, now a superintendent) made it clear that a person can becalled to be active in many spheres of life, and that “avocation” might, infact, be part of “vocation.”
David Haas’ gospel hymn, “We Are Called,” boldly proclaimsthat we are called to justice to and to serve. This call to justice was evoked throughout my youth by the activism ofmy parents, Joe and Caroline Tecson, in our churchand in politics and government. Betweenthem they served as elected officials at state, county and local levels ofgovernment. Because of their example, oneof my callings was to contribute time and energy to efforts to help those mostvulnerable in our society. Althoughmusic is deeply imbedded in my soul, the legal professionheld the promise of being able to comprehend, work with, and in some small fashionimprove our social and governmental institutions. Both music and law are components of myvocation. I can best talk about that byrelating it to events and people.
When Elsa Marty was fighting cancer, thePsalms were a source of comfort and strength to her and her family. During that struggle, her faith and spirit ofhope led to one of my first jazz compositions for the church, the “GracePhoenix.” The “Jazz Psalms,” firstcelebrated on June 19, 1982 at Valparaiso University, were aresponse to the memory of Elsa’s faith and love. The Jazz Psalms subsequently were celebratedin numerous settings, including New York, St. Louis, Chicago and Minneapolis.
The Psalms arefilled with a pattern of call and response, which I have tried tocapture in their jazz setting. Psalm 42tells the story of an individual (perhaps a cantor) who thinks back to leading the crowds into the temple, wild with joy. This section evokes a Dixieland jam on thetune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” In another section, the Psalmist’s enemies revile him,the full chorus taunting “Where is your God?” while a strident cacophony ofatonal instrumental improvisation builds to a cathartic climax. Yet throughout, the choir sings a steadfastantiphon of faith, “Trust in God, I will praise Him still, my Savior and myLord.”
Community Care Options, a mental health agency, and LutheranChild and Family Services of Illinois have provided a call to use my legalskill in supporting the extraordinary individuals who devote their lives toproviding counseling, foster care services, and adoption services. For the past twenty years I have served ontheir boards. During this time our jazzband has been privileged to participate in worship services, most of which werededicated to raising funds for those agencies and for Lutheran Social Servicesof Illinois and Bridge Communities. Wecollaborated with Paul Manz, Senator Paul Simon,Bishop Paul Landahl, and Pastors Martin Marty, DavidAbrahamson, Don Hallberg, Linda Lee Nelson, JanErickson Pearson, Mark Bangert, Fred Aigner, Dean Lueking and others.
In1985, Pastors David Abra-hamson, Jim Wind and LeeRosenthal met with me to discuss the possibility of a jazz mass. The word “liturgy” means “the work of thepeople.” To sing the liturgy is tointensify the participation of the people in the mystery of the Eucharist. Musically, the goal was to create somethingsimple enough for a congregation to sing, yet without losing the sense ofswing. Additionally, it was important torespect and incorporate the tradition and text of the liturgy.
Out of those discussions came the “ChicagoJazz Mass,” which was first celebrated at the Evangelical LutheranChurch of St. Luke in Chicagoon Ascension Day, 1986. Since then, ithas been celebrated hundreds of times. One special celebration is an annual Jazz Sunday as part of the Bix Beiderbeck festival inDavenport, Iowa, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, with Peter Marty as presidingpastor. Each year 600 people cram intoeach service on that Sunday morning to sing, tap their feet, and smile on theway up to communion as we break bread together, musically, literally, andspiritually.
For two decades, the master jazz musicians of our churchjazz ensemble have answered the call to sing God’spraise with their skills: Bobby Lewis, Bobby Schiff, Jerry Coleman, JohnWhitfield, and Ken Jandes. These artists have performed and recordedthousands of times with jazz greats such as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and TonyBennett. They usually work late onSaturday evenings, and Sunday morning comes all too quickly. Yet without fail, each has risen early andattended the Sunday services. They havegone out of their way to travel to many cities across the country for specialworship services. Bobby Lewis, in arecent interview with Rick Kogan on WGN, said thatfor four decades he has always felt called to bring his art into a worshipsetting.
More recently, five of our jazz ensemble arranged fifteenChristmas hymns for soloists, jazz band, and choir. The resulting music has been recorded as“Holy Night,” a CD available at Churchjazz.com, a ministry of the EvangelicalLutheran Church of St. Luke. Thisproject brought together our core group of master jazz musicians, my wife,Nancy Hagen, my son, Luke Hagen Tecson, singer Joanie Pallatto, and Adolph Bud Herseth, principal trumpet for the Chicago Symphony.
Recently, another opportunity to serve presented itself in Soli Deo Gloria, a charitableorganization that promotes the composition and performance of sacredmusic. Its principal mission is toprovide donors who desire to commission sacred music with the opportunity toconnect with the leading composers of symphonic and opera music of ourtime. Although centuries ago the churchcommissioned great composers (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Haydn…)to create extraordinary works to the glory of God, such commissions are raretoday, and the number of sacred compositions by the leading composers of ourtime has diminished radically.
Jazz/law/church/social service – the specificcombination is not important. Eachperson, whether lay or ordained, has the opportunity to listen continually forGod’s call. Each person will sense God’scall in a different fashion, and respond in a different way. Like the great jazz improvisers, when we hearGod’s call we simply need to be prepared for surprising new endings, directionsdifferent than we could possibly have imagined, and a continuous sense ofexcitement and challenge as we celebrate Christ’s love and mercy in our lives.
SDG!
Andrew Tecson
Member,Gloria Dei, Downers Grove