1st Annual Jazz and Race Symposium
On Saturday, September 16, the Racial Healing Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina hosted the 1st Annual Jazz and Race Symposium. The event held at St. James Episcopal Church, Wilmington, was open to everyone and around 200 attendees came to the inaugural gathering. Folks listened to keynote speaker Dr. Catherine Meeks’s address followed by a Question and Answer session. Dinner was served. Next came jazz from Rev. Skip Walker and a six piece band. Plans are in the works for a 2nd Annual Symposium next year. Here are some stories from participants:
This is Holy Love.
Tamara Dossin - Our quest toward human wholeness is revealed in listening for the Holy Spirit's ever evolving call to that which is worthy of our time, short as it is, to make a difference. How do we find what we’re being called to do? Dr. Meeks recommends that we take a year apart and listen with intention to our own unconscious fears, chaos and brokenness before identifying where to enter the outer world, rather than projecting them on others. Paying attention to our shadow prepares our heart for seeing oneself in the “other,” through empathic connectedness, so that we can become fellow pilgrims supporting one another through difficult circumstances.
I had the good fortune of sitting at a table with our black neighbors, each of whom found Dr. Meeks words both riveting and affirming of their own lifelong struggles living in a society of white privilege. This prompted their sharing some of their journeys; lucky me, isn’t listening to one another’s stories the first step? Dr. Meeks had set the stage for this kind of encounter, leaving no doubts that dismantling racism would not happen in the political arena. Instead, she challenges us to create beloved communities where everyone has what they need. After more than 50 years, her dedication and truth telling has advanced racial healing through the power of imagination and thoughtful resistance. She has modeled the work of becoming more authentic in both our inner and outer lives through decades of experience and speaking out. I found her confident presence empowering me to believe I can make a difference. Now the real work begins!
Karen Sorenson - I had a commitment to another event for most of the day yesterday, so I arrived late at the Jazz and Race Symposium. I just missed Dr. Meeks' talk, so I attended the morning service at which Dr. Meeks delivered the homily. She spoke to a full congregation of how our self-unawareness inhibited our public lives; how not knowing our "shadow" impulses we present the public with a less-than-whole persona. She referred to Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, who she said told her to treat criticism and compliment equally. She did not understand, until she learned her core self; once she knew her own heart, neither criticism nor compliment could sway her opinion of herself. Dr. Meeks also talked about those who would legislate education so what we teach does not "disturb" children. She wondered how one might live an entire lifetime without being disturbed and addressed the value of disturbance to individual growth.
Dr. Meeks closed with a poem, "Kindness," by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Here is a brief excerpt from the poem, which you can read in full at https://poets.org/poem/kindness.
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth. . . .
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow. . . .
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore . . .
From Words Under the Words: Selected Poems. Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye.
I did arrive at the Symposium in time for dinner and the jazz presentation by Rev. Skip Walker. The jazz musicians were a new assemblage; most had not performed together before a warm-up practice that day, but they knew the music and improvised. Rev. Walker equated improvisation to prayer and emphasized the spiritual elements of jazz. The group opened with a rendition of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" as recorded by Cannonball Adderly, and closed with "Mister Magic" by Grover Washington, Jr. Between those markers, the musicians were joined by Rev. Walker's wife, who sang "Girl from Ipanema," "My Funny Valentine," and "Misty." Rev. Walker led the closing prayer, and the musicians supported the closing hymn, "Lift Every Voice and Sing."