When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Horatio Spafford
What could cause you to give up on life? What is your worst fear?
Most of us don’t even dare think about this until something bad happens to us, and then we wonder if the foundation of our life has been taken away. My grandmother lost her oldest son, and said it was something she never recovered from. My wife and I lost a son at birth, and to this day I still get flashbacks of when I heard the news from a phone call. I was practicing my clarinet when it came. I still get panicky when I’m alone and the phone rings, 28 years later.
Saxophonist Jimmy Greene has been one of the most impressive sax players around. Runner up in the 1996 Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone competition, he was named in 1999 one of the “25 Young Rising Stars in Jazz” by Downbeat magazine. He’s released some impressive albums on his own, Overcomers Suite and Mission Statement which feature his impressive tenor and soprano not only making lyrical and muscular sounds, but combining it with his Christian faith. “Everyone expresses their faith through their work. I am a musician, so I use music to show my Christian faith. My mission statement in life comes from the story in the book of Mark where one of the teachers of the law came and asked Jesus what the most important commandments were. Jesus answered ‘Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The second is the love your neighbor as yourself.’ This has been my “mission statement” as a musician and a Christian.
His mix of faithful zeal and exciting music was infectious, but then something happened which tested his faith as a man, father, husband and follower of God. On December 14, 2012, Greene’s 6 year old daughter Ana was one of the students senselessly killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School In Newton, Connecticut. “I got a text message from the school,” he recalled. “It’s important for me not to look back at what happened as much as to go forward.” Still, he admitted he still gets twinges of nervousness occasionally when he gets a message on the phone, reminding him of that fateful day.
Did he get angry at God? “No, I just realized I don’t understand his wisdom. I wasn’t angry at God; I just asked Him, “Why Ana, Lord? She was such a good girl and loved you.” The shock of the entire episode effected Greene physically. “I got very weak for awhile. I didn’t drop out of society and music; I just became physically and emotionally tired through the trial.”
Healing has come over time. “I got over 10,000 letters and emails from people. People that I knew and didn’t know. Many of them had gone through something similar. We had just moved to Connecticut from Manitoba, but our old church really reached out to us and prayed for us.” Musicians and friends came out the help him heal. One of the most practical forms of help came from David Chesky, who co-owns the high-end quality sound label CHesky Records. “He had heard me through my Mission Statement album and not only produced my next album, but gave me all of the rights to the music. He then found Mack Avenue Records to distribute it. He did everything for me.”
The next album that he recorded, Beautiful Life, is a deeply personal album which will reach deep into your heart as not only a music fan, but as a parent. The opening song includes a recording on daughter Ana singing the hymn “Come Thou Almighty King” with a youthful vigor that only the innocent are capable of delivering. It’s mixed with some wondrous music provided by Pat Metheny, while the tune “Ana’s Way” is a love song delivered by vocalist Kurt Elling, himself the father of a young girl. The lyrics are work as a healing balm to remember all of the joy that Ana gave. “There’s another song I wrote, but is not on the album,” Greene points out. “It’s about my wondering about what heaven will be like. Will I be able to recognize Ana? What will she be like? I have so many questions about heaven now .”
The album closes with a couple of songs that will stay with you long after the music is over. “Prayer,” which includes piano work by Cyrus Chestnut, himself a worship leader at his church, includes a wish for us to live as God would want us, and “Little Voices” reinforces the fact that it is children who indeed can easily enter the kingdom of God with such a simple faith.
It’s when you think you understand God, and then get some major trial in life, that you really find out if your faith is real. Greene admits that for awhile it was hard to get back to a regular pattern of prayer and reading the bible, but after he did, he felt God speak to him through his word. “What gave me the most comfort,” he reflects “is the verse in John 16:33 where my Savior says ‘in this world you will have many trials and sorrows. But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ Without heaven, none of this would make sense, but knowing she is there, and I will see her again gives me great comfort.”
This sorrow, which never completely abates, is also able to have him give comfort to others with difficulty in their lives. The Bible talks about being able to give others the comfort that God has given us. Unfortunately, the only way for us to give that comfort is for each of us to go through a serious trial. “Before this happened, I would have been the type of person who would have gone up to someone and given them advise, just like so many well meaning people have done to me. Now, I realize that the best thing that you can do is just be near them, say nothing, and let them know you care.” Only someone who has that hurt can be sensitive enough to help someone else.
A wise friend once told me that “evangelism is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread.” It is the same with sorrow and comfort. Only one who has deeply felt sorrow can know how to give a long lasting comfort. Jimmy Greene, with his eternal perspective on life and death is expressed with open nerves and soul on this latest release. The music itself is a balm from Gilead, as is the God who has brought him out from the valley of the shadow of death.