* Is your faith in the groove---an infectious feeling of being perfectly centered. Using sparkling metaphors, Gelinas invites Christ-followers seeking alternatives to "corporate structure" church to experience the breathtaking possibilities of a freer, jazz-shaped faith! Discover a passionate, biblical, and integrated view of life that will help you find your unique place in God's kingdom. 208 pages, softcover from Zondervan.
Picture the possibilities if American churches operated like jazz combos instead of slick corporations. Drawing brilliant parallels between the body of Christ and the qualities inherent to jazz, Robert Gelinas points us beyond the ordinary to the often overlooked freedom, beauty, grace, unity, creativity, and power that are our birthright as believers.
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5 out of 5 stars)
1 of 1 Reviews Showing:
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Wesley Vander Lugt (St Andrews, Scotland), December 21, 2009
Syncopation. Call-and-response. Creativity. Listening. Freedom within constraints. Gelinas harnesses powerful jazz metaphors to cast a vision for a Christian faith fully alive, embracing creative tension while playing in concert with others. Here are a few highlights that may pique your interest to read the book:
Improvisation. Our Christian lives progress not by playing predetermined notes, but by improvising in the company of others. Improvisation is not just about spontaneous originality, because good improvisers draw on rich traditions and practice “in the woodshed.” Improvisation is an apt description of our Christian practice, and church is our rehearsal studio.
Playing the blues. All jazz is blues. That is, pain and suffering are the native soil of jazz. Gelinas includes fascinating reflection on the nature of jazz, and how jazz is more than music, but an entire society full of “red, white, and the blues.” A jazz-shaped faith, therefore, is a blues-shaped faith, expressing joy through suffering.
Ensemble. You can’t play jazz alone. You can’t be a Christian alone. Both require practicing and playing in ensemble, which means listening to others, needing others, becoming who we are because of others. We need to find our own voice, but that means playing in concert.
Finding the Groove is a creative, inspiring, vision-casting book. The jazz metaphor is packed with potential for shedding new insight on our Christian lives, and I look forward to future “jazz notes” from Gelinas.
Write a review of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith
Catalog Shopping
Membership
