Blue Note Theology – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode unfolds a vision for leadership in post-Christian church communities. Our guest is Wynston Minckler, a top acoustic bass player. Mark and Wynston show how jazz bands are “leader-full” communities, offering a fresh and exciting pathway for church leadership.  

Check out: Mark’s book, Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter two, “Leader-full.”

Produced, written, and edited by Mark Glanville

Associate produced by Daniel Melvill Jones

The Blue Note Theology podcast offers a fresh vision for the church in post-Christian neighbourhoods. Blue notes in jazz and blues music create tension and some of the deepest creativity is found in that space. In this trailer, meet your host, Mark Glanville, a professional jazz musician, theologian, and author, as he introduces the concept of blue notes in jazz and blues music and sets up for the first season of Blue Note Theology. The first full-length episode launches in early December.

Produced, written, and edited by Mark Glanville

Associate produced by Daniel Melvill Jones

The nature of preaching today is badly out of date. To illustrate, the top selling preaching text booking today (by H. Robinson) was written in Jimmy Carter’s America. It is any wonder that many preachers struggle to connect with their listeners. In this episode Mark explains how people experience faith today. And he outlines an approach to preaching in Post-Christian contexts that connects with people and nourishes faith in Jesus—an approach called reversing the flow.

Mark and his guest, Dr Drew Hart, suggest a cure for the culture war. . . Really! At the heart of the culture war is our inability to look at evil for long enough to heal. Can we look long and hard enough to learn, to repent, to stop harming, and to heal?

Dr Hart works as Associate Professor of Theology at Messiah University, Pennsylvania.

 Show Notes:

·      Opening tune: “My Trolley,” by Mark Glanville

·      Closing tune: “Things Aren’t What They Used to Be,” by Mercer Ellington

Check Out:

·      Drew’s books: Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism, and, Who Will Be A Witness?: Igniting Activism for God’s Justice, Love, and Deliverance.

·      Mark’s book, Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter eight, “Creation.”

In this episode we chart a fresh and deep course for worship (on a Sunday) in post-Christian communities: worship in polyrhythms. There is so much potential for fresh, deep, and biblical creativity in corporate worship. Yet worship leaders often lack a rich understanding of what they are doing. Our guest is professional percussionist Jillana Nickel. Jillana and I play Cuban music, and she teaches me to play the cowbell.

Check out:

·      Jillana’s website: Jillanacreative.com

·      Mark’s book, “Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter five, “Worship in Polyrhythms.”

In this episode we trade jazz piano for graffiti. We ask: “What if we reframed the witness of your church as receiving Jesus’ healing, and extending Jesus’ healing, in your neighbourhood?” In this episode, Mark walks the streets of Canada’s poorest postal-code with philosopher and pastor, Dr Jamie Hellewell. Jamie has been a resident of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side for twenty years.

 Check out:

·      Mark’s book, “Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter three, “Local.”

Music played in this episode:

·      Opening tune: A blues improvised on the spot

·      Closing tune: “Cherrywood,” composed by Mark Glanville

Our kinship with the creation is crucial for the life and witness of the churches in post-Christian neighborhoods. Our guest is leading horticulturalist, Sage Kosa. Learn how gardening can be a decolonizing practice. Hosted from the grand piano, alongside a potted sword fern.

Sage Kosa owns and operates Kindred Gardens (Vancouver), a garden design, install, care, consulting, and coaching business.

Check out:

·      Mark’s book, “Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter eight, “Creation.”

Mark’s guest, Dr Drew Hart, is an author, scholar and activist. Mark asks Dr Hart what he expects of him, as a White jazz musician who plays Black American Music. Sitting at the piano, Mark shows why the blues sounds like it does. Mark and Drew discuss the origins of the blues and the way the blues is the foundation of almost all contemporary Western music. Can music be a pathway for finding our way home, as a culture in crisis?

Check out:

·      Drew Hart’s book, “The Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism.”

·      Mark’s book, “Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter eleven, “The Sins of Our Kin.”

Music played or referenced in this episode:

·      Opening tune: “My Trolley,” composed by Mark Glanville

·      Strange Fruit, composed by Abel Meeropol, performed by Billie Holiday

·      “Oh Freedom,” authorship unknown; passed down orally

·      “Someday at Christmas,” composed by Stevie Wonder

·      Closing tune: Cherrywood,” composed by Mark Glanville

The great tenor saxophonist John Coltrane said: “I Practice Scales to Become a Saint.” Artists and Christ followers walk a similar path, as those who discern the truth about the world. The artistic gift of intuitive discernment, of expressing reality with clarity and soul, relates to the Christian gospel. Mark explores a woven kinship between artists and Christ followers while playing the grand piano.

Sign up for a free lecture.

Learn more about Mark!

Things to check out: 

Makoto Fujimura’s book, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making.

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (1963)

Mark’s book, Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul, chapter four, “Beauty.”

Wesley Vander Lugt’s book, Beauty is Oxygen: Finding a Faith that Breathes.

Produced, written, and edited by Mark Glanville

Associate produced by Daniel Melvill Jones