I have found improvisation a life-changing spiritual practice - a space of exploration that invites me to trust my intuition and lean into the grace of listening and learning rather than perfection.

So when I woke up before sunrise on Easter morning and felt drawn to the keyboard, I followed my heart and found inspiration in singing birds, rain, and rumbling thunder as a storm passed through. I read a translation of Psalm 46 by Norman Fischer. And Easter hymns found new life for me, not trumpeted out in festive pageantry, but offered in the hushed, sometimes ecstatic improvisations you can hear below.

Greeting the dawn...Easter dawn improvisation on hymns from the Eden Theological Seminary Chapel. Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today / This Joyful Eastertide Psalm 46 from 'Opening to You' by Norman Fischer Now the Green Blade Riseth Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus Alleluia, Give Thanks to the Risen Lord Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Interim/transitional music ministry and consulting is Easter work. And by ‘Easter’ I don’t mean the focus is solely on success, positive change, or growth. While some might offer churches a quick path to transformation or Seven Easy Steps to Worship Renewal, experience is showing me that healthy congregational processes require an encounter with loss and death.

Cycles of renewal and rebirth are visible all around us should we open our eyes to them. Like the Easter carol proclaims, grain rises out of wintery soil; the rich humus of what has died is a seedbed for new life. Perhaps we intuitively know that the church (the literal Body of Christ) will experience transition, metamorphosis, and even death. But we do not always live as Easter people and even resist what is inevitable, even as we praise the One who died and lives again.

easter morning improvisations

now the green blade riseth