‘We can’t change the world tomorrow — but we can show up for people today,” observes singer and pianist Benjamin “Benja” Mertz, director of Sonoma County’s Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers. “We can change ourselves, and then we can change our immediate community.”

Best known for his work with Joyful Noise!, Mertz has been singing all his life, and building the choir for 12 years, working from its home base at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sebastopol. Last month, the group moved its base of operations to Petaluma, and has already begin singing and hosting public events at the First Presbyterian Church, near downtown Petaluma.

“We love St. Stephens,” Mertz said. “We had a great relationship. I was even the music minister there for a while. But I ended up moving to the East Bay, and it’s over an hour’s drive to Sebastopol. Petaluma was a good middle ground.”

Mertz describes the Joyful Noise Gospel Singers as “a non-judgmental, non-denominational and non-dogmatic choir with its roots in the Black church,” and adds that the organization has always been open to anyone who wishes to join, regardless of race or religion.

“Everyone needs a space like this,” he explained, noting that many people who love Gospel music are more than a little nervous about joining in to sing it. “The number one thing people tell us is that they can’t sing,” he said. “At some point in their lives, somebody told them that they couldn’t sing — and people need healing from that.”

Mertz, for his part, was raised around music. His mother was a professional opera singer, and his grandfather was a jazz pianist. When he was 17, the music director at his church left, and while the board of elders searched for a new director, they asked Mertz to step in “temporarily.”

“After three months, they stopped looking for a replacement,” he laughed. “I was born to sing in community — and born to inspire others.”

One of the things the choir is known for is its benefit concerts. Together, they have raised money for earthquake relief in Haiti, fire victims in California and homeless veterans, among other beneficiaries. Most recently, at the choir’s inaugural concert in Petaluma, the ensemble raised money for World Center Kitchen.

Considering how strongly WCK and its founder, Chef José Andrés have been involved in the Gaza relief effort, Mertz wasn’t surprised that some people questioned why they would support a politically oriented nonprofit.

He has a straightforward answer.

“Starving children,” Mertz said, “shouldn’t be political.”

To foster more conversation and understanding on the topic, during that concert, Mertz brought a progressive rabbi and a Palestinian poet onto the stage to discuss their experiences and engage in a dialogue.

“It’s important to create spaces for people to talk about their experiences,” Mertz said, adding that the concert went very well. “It was really successful,” he observed. “A real community-building event.”

Mertz, clearly, is not afraid of tackling complex topics through his music. As a mixed-race Black man, he says he has grappled with many of the hot-button issues of our day.

One of those is whether it’s appropriate to teach Black spirituals to white singers, who will perform for white audiences. He recalls asking his mentor, the multi-talented musician Melanie Demore, about how to approach the topic.

“’Teach them about Kumbaya’ she said. ‘Teach them about the Gulla and Geechee people,’” Mertz recalled. “We think of Kumbaya as a happy moment around the campfire. But it was a ‘field holler’ song, a spiritual wailing during tragedy. In the lyrics is the phrase ‘someone’s wailing, lord, come by here.’”

Mertz explained that when he teaches such songs to the choir, he explains that they are a gift.

“I remind them that there is a sacredness to the songs,” he said, “because of the long, hard history and legacy of black gospel music.”

Asked what is next for the choir, Mertz is not shy about his plans.

“I’m particularly keyed in on ICE, right now,” he said. “All religious texts teach us how to treat foreigners — and this isn’t it.”

When asked if he’s worried about how the contentious politics of topics like immigration and the Gaza/Israeli war might affect the choir’s relationship with its new community, Mertz answered thoughtfully.

“Most people understand,” he said. “If all human life is sacred — and I believe it is — then we should be there.”

For now, Mertz’s primary goal is simply to encourage local folks to join the choir and sing along with some of the most stirring and uplifting music ever composed for groups to perform together.

“I hope people come ready to be changed,” he said, noting that there is no religious proselytization within the Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers. “It’s like church,” he promised, “but without the dogmas or religion, without the baggage.”

Returning to his original point about changing the world by showing up for the people who need us, Mertz added, “The world is the way it is because we let it be that way. The problems may not be our fault, but they are our responsibility.”