The Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota

In the spring of 2024, Bishop Andy Doyle of the Diocese of Texas was at Camp Allen for a clergy retreat. He and another cleric began talking about music, and soon the bishop was chatting to a colleague about how his banjo lessons were progressing. He had only been learning this instrument for the last two and a half years, and said that he’s out of his comfort zone because of the challenge of mastering the finger-picking and clawhammer techniques—“real banjo style”—that requires a different mindset than learning to play guitar.

The conversation is absorbing. How many other clergy might be moved to practice music as spiritual care? How might it connect with their vocation?

Skip Walker, Alicia Hager, Erika von Haaren, and Paul Jacobson are four priests, out of many, for whom the creativity of music plays a large part of their sabbath life; it’s also an integral part of their call to ordained ministry. They told TLC about how they use their craft as a way to deepen their relationship with God, which in turn augments their priestly vocation.

The Rev. Skip Walker, who played with the legendary R&B group the Fatback Band as a teenager and studied at the Berklee College of Music, found his way to the Episcopal Church through his passion—jazz music—after spending much of his life trying to reconcile his call to music with his call to ordained ministry.

Often it seemed an either-or option. The Baptist church frowned on a young pastor playing gigs at clubs, so Walker laid down his music. But his “call to music and to ministry had to be fed,” and he became a priest in 2018 in the Diocese of East Carolina after discerning that “the Episcopal Church would accept all of me.”

He is now the diocese’s ministry coordinator with peoples of African descent and priest in charge at two historically black congregations in Fayetteville. Walker may be one of the few priests to release an album, Tina’s Contemplation: A Reflection on the Genius of Tina Brooks (2022), that made it to No. 25 on the music charts. Walker is a firm believer in using improvisation in music and to enliven the church.

The Rev. Alicia Hager, whose grandmother sang to her at night when she was little, is dedicated to using her voice to serve God and the church. In her role as rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Hastings, Michigan, Hager writes and gives sermons; as community and communications curator for the Gathering of Leaders, the written word is her tool.

Vocal music, though, is where her passion resides: “singing equals praying.” Like Walker, her path to the priesthood wasn’t straightforward, yet practicing this aspect of her vocation helped her spiritual growth. She enjoyed disobedience, but singing “taught her to be obedient” in the way the church asks—it empowered her for priesthood. Yet her vocation as a musician manifests itself largely as a member of a chamber choir, outside of the church, that sings sacred chorale music—motets, madrigals, and Masses in secular settings.

Like Hager, the Rev. Canon Erika von Haaren is a voice musician; she’s been a member of the Phoenix Women’s Chorus since August 2023. She grew up in a musical home in the small rural community of Redwing, Minnesota, where both she and her twin brother chose choir over band while in high school.

Singing and church have always been a part of von Haaren’s life. As with the others, God called her to priesthood in the Episcopal Church through her music when she was earning her undergraduate degree in theater arts at the University of Minnesota. Von Haaren spent a semester of her M.Div. studies in General Theological Seminary’s schola, under the guidance of beloved composer David Hurd. After ordination, she served as vicar to the rector of St. Barnabas in Scottsdale, Arizona, for 14 years before discerning a call to interim ministry. She is now priest in charge at Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix.

The Rev. Dr. Paul Jacobson is an accomplished organist, known as “Mr. Music” by his parishioners and others, an epithet he earned at a young age through his involvement in the high school music program. He, too, had a strong Lutheran musical childhood; piano lessons began when he was 7. Not only did he train at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, but also at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music; these are not his only musical accolades.

Jacobsen is well-grounded in music therapy. The Episcopal Church has been his home for about 20 years, though he walked away from his music for a time, returning only a couple of years ago when the Holy Spirit called him to start playing again—one of his joys is playing for his congregation at Grace Episcopal Church in Muncie, Indiana. One can discern his love for music when he speaks of tasting words when he sings and of a moment at the organ when the “light changed, room transformed”; it was not “performance but presence.”

Now, about Bishop Doyle: Why the banjo? Bishop Doyle says he wanted to be like Steve Martin when he grew up—he loves Martin’s comedic sense and intellect. Staying connected and in creative community after he retires (still a long way off) is another reason Doyle added learning a musical instrument to his creative repertoire—keeping his mind and spirit active. He doesn’t play yet in public spaces and not often with others; worries about perfectionism keep him from that place for now.

“Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord / That David played, and it pleased the Lord.” Those are the opening lines of Leonard Cohen’s ballad “Hallelujah.” The song may be moody and intense, but these words exemplify the connection between creativity and spirituality, between music and God, between creator and created. All five fulfill this in similar ways, connected by what Bishop Doyle names the “real”—that holy mix of the spirit and the body that is at the heart of creativity.

This story corrects details about the lives of Erika von Haaren and Paul Jacobson.

Related feature

Listen to “Music, Performance, and Priesthood,” a TLC Podcast interview with the Rev. Jon Jameson, a priest who doubles as a bassist in the indie rock band Delta Spirit.