Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

• Deuteronomy 6:4-9

pray continually,

• 1 Thessalonians 5:17

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

• Matthew 6:9-13

“The modern church has forgotten the rhythm of prayer needed to nourish the spiritual life because we’ve bought into the illusion that spontaneous, memorably experiential prayer is the only authentic variety. But that view of authenticity is unrealistic and dysfunctional, not pure and discerning.
“Prayer is like jazz. Jazz music is improvisational. jazz bands don’t stare at sheet music; they get lost in the music and let it carry them. A saxophonist in an orchestra sits with perfect posture in a refined, formal opera house. A saxophonist in a jazz trio plays with their back arched, their eyes closed, and an expression of deep satisfaction spread across their face inside a smoky, loud club. He is ‘feeling’ the music, not reading it. The interesting thing about jazz, though, is that it requires a firm understanding of the instrument. A wealth of knowledge and hours of practice makes improvisation not only possible but enjoyable. In short, if you want to play jazz, you’ve got to learn the sheet music first. And if you want to pray with passion, spontaneity, and freedom, you’ve got to learn the sheet music.”

• Tyler Staton, Praying like Monks, Living like Fools

Rev. Staton makes a beautiful point here.  My son played tenor saxophone in high school and college.  He was excellent in sight reading music.  It took him a long time before he could let go of the sheet music and just simply feel the music.  But he could echo Rev. Staton’s analogy.  I gave him a rough idea of what I was going to write about and he was really interested.  The best of the best knew how to read the music and how to feel it.

And he also knows that to truly have a good prayer life, you have to know the sheet music of prayer and how to feel it.  And that takes praying constantly.

After our final prayer, I will give my son’s top saxophonists, and one he dislikes – good music, but not really pure jazz in the jazz sense.  Funny, before my son learned too much, he loved him.

But to know how to pray, we need to know more about God, and we need to do like a jazz musician does.  Feel the beat.  Know the tune.  And then, within the parameters of the music, cut loose.

God is tapping His foot already, are you ready to pray?

Lord, guide me. Point to the right sheet music.  Give us the downbeat.  And Lord, help us to cut loose, praying like we have never prayed before.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

When I asked for who the greatest saxophonist ever, my son mentioned Charlie Parker.  Then he said, since Parker was only 34 when he died, John Coltrane was his next choice.  He said Cannonball Adderley wasn’t bad on alto saxophone, but I needed to introduce myself to Leo P, the tops in bari sax (nee Leonardo Pellegrino), in his opinion, and he is performing now, while the others are no longer with us.  Who is the one he loved and then hated?  Kenny G, at soprano sax.  We will start the jam session with Charlie Parker and then move from the low baritone sax to soprano sax.

What?!  Too Saxy for you?

For the best, here is Charlie Parker playing the Bird.  Charlie Parker (alto sax), Hank Jones(piano), Ray Brown (bass), and Shelly Manne (drums).

Now for the modern look, and modern dance moves while never missing the beat, Leo P (baritone sax) as a guest with Grace Kelly (alto sax), Julian Pollack (keys), Julia Adams (bass), and Ross Pederson (drums).  The song is Fish and Chips.  Beware, it gets pink and wild, and you’ll love the dance moves.

And here is John Coltrane with Equinox.  John Coltrane (tenor sax), McCoy Tyner (piano), Steve Davis (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums)

Now for Cannonball Adderley with Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.  You will probably recognize the tune.  Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Nat Adderley (cornet), Joe Zawinuf (piano), Victor Gaskin (bass), Roy McCurdy (drums).

And the one that I put in this jam session, much to my son’s groans of pain, but it is one of my favorite Kenny G songs, Sentimental.

I hope you liked the jam session.  And however you pray, keep doing it and keep studying God’s Word and the rhythm will come to you.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.