San Francisco is home to lot of far-out thing , and the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church is no exception . Every Sunday , you’re able to head to 1286 Fillmore Street to attend the church ’s weekly military service , which runs from noontide to 2:30 p.m. The church ’s mission is to promote peace , wholeness , and noesis of God — by sharing with the worldthe message of John Coltrane ’s 1965 record album , A Love Supreme .
How did a Christian church devote to the wind saxophonist number to be ? In 1965 , Franzo King took his wife , Marina , on a appointment to see the John Coltrane Quartet perform at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco . Franzo grew up in St. Louis and Los Angeles with parents and grandparent who were Pentecostal minister of religion , and he felt a deep , spiritual connection to Coltrane ’s medicine . The couple say theysaw a vision of the Holy Ghostwhen Coltrane come on stage , and they come to to that minute as their “ Sound Baptism . ”
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inspire by that feeling of divine audio , the Kings founded a small congregation that focused on speculation , prayer , and fasting . Their chemical group underwent multiple iteration from the late 1960s to the 1970s , changing in name from Yardbird Temple to the Yardbird Vanguard Revolutionary Church of the Hour to One Mind Temple Evolutionary Transitional Church of Christ . establish out of 351 Divisadero Street until 2006 , the church proclaimed that Coltrane was God . Their modest fold was involve with community of interests form groups and the Black Panthers , and people see them as one of many cults in San Francisco .
Coltrane himself , whose grandad were both reverends at churches in North Carolina , was raised Christian . In 1957 , after years of diacetylmorphine and alcohol dependency , he experienced a spiritual awakening that alter his life history . He became serious , declared God ’s healing power , andaimed to habituate musicto make citizenry happy , starting with his landmark albumA Love Supreme . He went on to meditate world religions and immortalise an album calledOmin 1965 , which sport Hindu and Buddhistic chants . He died two years after in 1967 at long time 40 .
The church extend through an “ Alice Coltrane period ” from 1974 to 1981 , when Coltrane ’s widow , Alice , became involved with the Kings ’ congregation . She bring to the Christian church a focus on Hinduism , conduce meditations and Hindu chanting against a backdrop of African - American gospel music . The congregation revere her as the wife of God , and the Kings adopted Indian names . In 1981 , though , a falling out between Alice and the business leader led Alice to sue the church for $ 7.5 million forillegally selling merchandise(clothes , incense , and bread ) with Coltrane ’s name and likeness . Alice lost the cause .
drawing card in the African Orthodox Church ( AOC ) in Chicago heard about the Kings via media stories about the suit . Founded in 1921 , the AOC is an African - American denomination of Christianity . In 1982 , Franzo canvass in Chicago under Archbishop George Duncan Hinkson , the leader of the AOC , to earn a Doctor of Divinity arcdegree . Now that the top executive were part of a more legitimate spiritual group , theydemoted Coltranefrom God to a saint , and the AOC officially canonized Coltrane as Saint John William Coltrane .
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Today , the Coltrane Church , sometimes stylized as The Saint John Will - I - Am Coltrane Church , features a household band called Ohnedaruth , which is lead by the " Ministers of Sound . " Services consist of Christian liturgy ( reading Bible passages and hearing preaching ) interspersed with performances fromA Love Supreme . Devoted to sharing “ Coltrane Consciousness , ” Ohnedaruth plays euphony during the services to lionise how their paragon used phone to achieve North with God . The church building encourages worshippers to let the cat out of the bag along , dancing , and eruption to the euphony . The church wallsdisplay Byzantine - style portraitsof Saint John Coltrane , dressed in a white robe with a golden halo around his psyche , holding a sax , as well as Jesus Christ , the Virgin Mary , and Moses .
Attracting visitors from all over the world , the Coltrane Church is one of a sort : it ’s the only member of the AOC that uses Coltrane ’s music to lionise God . Besides its hebdomadary Sunday services , the Coltrane Church runs a food pantry for the hungry , gives habiliment to the homeless , and hosts Uplift , a radio show on San Francisco ’s KPOO - FM that toy Coltrane ’s music . Amen !
