Taken from the paper 'Rockfax', January 1989   Vol 3 No 1

Church spreads message through drums

By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer  ( Greenwich Time )
Article Launched: 04/14/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT


Raising his arms high above his head, the Rev. Chris Tate punctuated the psalm he was reading with short fills on his djembe drum, exhorting the small circle of worshippers to follow him on cowbell, bongos, maracas and other percussion instruments.

"If you feel moved by the spirit in some way by the scripture let us know and play a little riff on your drum," said Tate, a clergyman at Second Congregational Church.

The thunderous musical accompaniment was part of  "The Heartbeat of God and God's Children"  , a percussion worship service at Second Congregational Church, one of the unconventional musical worship services held the second Sunday of each month at the East Putnam Avenue parish.

During the service, blasts of drums and chimes accented a reading of the parable of the talents, the story of three slaves who are given money to invest by their owner.

Two of the slaves invest the money and double it, pleasing their master, but the third, is condemned by his master for playing it safe by burying the money and returning it.

"The moral of the story is not to be faint hearted," Rev. Robert Naylor said. "If you have one talent and work with the master you can't lose."

Naylor said many of the percussion instruments used in the service were given as gifts by his old friend Rob Fried, the late percussionist for the well known New England jam band Max Creek.

When Fried passed away he donated much of his collection of thousands of drums and percussion instruments to the church and the Hartford public school system.
"I've always loved percussion," Naylor said. "He added a wonderful color to their music which many bands don't have."

Naylor said the monthly Second Sunday services also include blues and jazz services as well as silent taize meditation services, a type of worship which includes repetitive songs and chants and scripture readings