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Vibrant worship draws in newcomers, keeps younger members coming back
Jazz 5:30 service in Harvard Square

June, 2004

“Jazz 5:30 is free space! It is totally welcoming, and, we hope, accessible to all. We never know who will come, how many, where from, or what will happen,” says Mary Luti, pastor of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC, where a trio has been playing at these Sunday afternoon services for four years.

“Because of our location in Harvard Square, we welcome all kinds of people – professionals, street people, children and youth, visitors and academics from around the globe, the developmentally challenged – Jazz 5:30 is a genuine ‘highways and byways’ community,” she said. The congregation is, as a result, often multiracial, multilingual and intergenerational.

Carolyn Wilkins and her trio provide the jazz and gospel music. Wilkins, a professor at Berklee College of Music, is a skilled musician with a pastoral presence who contributes both original compositions for the service and jazz and gospel standards. Lay leader Nancy Weil, alternating with Rev. Luti, leads the simple service and offers a brief homily each week.

Jazz 5:30 unfolds according to a reliable, easy-to-decipher format that is not a barrier or a “mystery” to newcomers, according to Luti and the team, and uses “simple, classic, familiar congregational music that affirms God’s radical welcome and unending mercy.”

New people feel wanted and welcome at the service, said Dick Harter, a layman who helped found Jazz 5:30 four years ago with the Rev. Dave Grishaw-Jones. There is a core group of faithful “regulars,” some of whom also attend the morning service, and we frequently have visits from pastors, confirmation classes and youth groups of other congregations from around New England.

“The founders really thought through what they wanted to accomplish with this service. It’s all about God’s Welcome and the new age of justice and reconciliation that God is bringing in. That’s why from the beginning we have celebrated the Eucharist every week. That practice has really shaped us as a community of welcome, mutual care and service,” said Luti.