Better Get It In Your Soul was written in response to these questions underlying contemporary worship: "Are we a diverse community? Do we wish to be? If so, how then shall we worship God, especially through music?" Our response to these questions determines whether people of diverse backgrounds feel genuinely welcomed into the congregation. Authors Reid Hamilton and Stephen Rush offer practical advice not only for music selection and performance but also for arrangement of space, seating, lighting, and sound in order to make worship truly welcoming, diverse, and respectful of both ancient traditions and contemporary sensibilities.

Writing as practitioners of the "Jazz Mass" and relying on their experience in a successful and thriving campus ministry, the authors provide a theological and musical basis, deeply rooted the music and spirituality of such composers as John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and Albert Ayler, for conducting worship that is meaningful and attractive to contemporary congregations. Better Get It In Your Soul compares liturgical planning and execution to the performance of modern Jazz, with reference particularly to Ornette Coleman's Harmolodic Theory. Through an in-depth discussion of improvisational techniques in Modern Jazz, Better Get It In Your Soul explains how to develop and perform liturgy in context, responding to the needs and using the resources of the community in which the liturgy is conducted, including how to find musicians who have both the musical and spiritual capacity for such an endeavor.

The book offers an index of over 1500 pieces of music categorized by worship themes; Psalm Tones composed by Stephen Rush, suitable for singing each of the 150 Psalms, as well as Stephen's complete Blues Mass; and sample services from Canterbury House, the Episcopal Campus Ministry at the University of Michigan, where Reid and Stephen have built a diverse community engaged in deep, meaningful, contemporary worship.