Harvey Cox, in his book, "Fire From Heaven:  The rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century."  Makes the following observations about this form of our faith.

"In recent years I have heard some of the finest jazz improvisations and chordal innovations to be found anywhere in Pentecostal churches, and I have come to believe that there is a special kinship between the religion that was born in America and the music that was born here too,  between Pentecostalism and jazz."

"…for the truth is that just as the nineteenth century was turning into the twentieth, not one but two powerful and interrelated American cultural expressions–one musical and one religious–came to birth.  Pentecostalism and jazz are undeniably siblings, with all the consanguinity and rivalry such a blood link always brings with it."

"Each sprang from the obscure underside of the society…Each was despised and ridiculed at first, but both then went on to become major vehicles through which the American spirit–or better, the Universal Spirit with a distinctly American accent–would reach virtually every corner in the world."

What do Pentecostal spirituality and Jazz have in common?  Whatever it is, they both have allowed for an amazing amount of convergence.  Some of the most diverse churches in America have a Pentecostal bent…find the connection and find the groove.