INDIO, Calif. — Some days Kanye West is sacred, and some days he is profane. Sorting out which ones are which can be a slippery challenge, shaped by one’s tolerance for dissonance, appreciation for the tension between spirit and action, and capacity for forgiveness.

The last couple of years have been among West’s most difficult. He has divided his supporters with his public support for President Trump, and started firestorms with his intemperate statements about slavery and mental health, among other things. Beginning last spring, he retreated to Wyoming to complete a cycle of albums for himself and others, and recalibrate emotionally. But by the fall, he was back in the headlines for a disquieting meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.

[Into the wild with Kanye West: read our most recent interview with the hip-hop firebrand.]

In the months since, he has apparently been searching for calm. An urge toward purification has seemed to be at work in the intimate, invite-only sessions — Sunday Service, they’re called — he’s been leading in Calabasas, Calif., since January. Clips of the performances have trickled out into the world via social media, primarily on his wife Kim Kardashian West’s Instagram. The aesthetic is one of healing — dozens of performers dressed in all white reimagining popular songs as quasi-religious balms.