RICK’S BLOG

December 2025
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Here’s a story from a few years ago: I have a friend, let’s call her, “Dawn” (because that’s her name). She and her family don’t live in Anderson, they live in a smaller town in close proximity. She used to come to Anderson only to do her grocery shopping at PAYLESS. So, if she wants to find anywhere else in Anderson, as happened a few weeks ago, she asks…

“How do you get there, from PAYLESS?”,

…because THAT is her point of reference; her “portal” to all the other wonderfulness that is Anderson.

It is a funny story and we all laughed about it…AND I told her that I’d be using it in an upcoming blog…because, what she is finding now that she travels to Anderson for other reasons (like attending a CHURCH FILLED WITH AWESOMENESS), she relies less and less on her “first frame of reference” and sees the relationship of places and neighborhoods within the town. Some of those places are actually easier to find and reach if you don’t start from the parking lot at PAYLESS.

There is nothing wrong with having a point of reference. Without it, Dawn would not have seen or found quite a lot…but now her mind-map is expanded, she has a clearer idea of the layout. Her point of reference is always there, and may help her in the future, but she is less reliant upon it…as a portal to the rest of the world of Andersonland, it has served it’s primary purpose…and now it has a secondary one: to be there when she needs help discovering something new and can’t find it using the other places she has discovered.

I know you’re all wondering where this is going, and what possible life lesson I learned from this. Well, there are probably many, but the one that keeps coming back to me is that PAYLESS is (for Dawn) to Anderson, what ritual is to relationship (for Believers & Followers).

When I was in college and running out of classes that I HAD to take, and looking for classes I needed, to fulfill credit obligations…I found a fascinating class: “RITUAL FOR ARTISTS”. This class, taught by a psychologist and musicologist, was all about the human need for ritual, and the places it serves us well. When I’m talking “ritual” I’m not necessarily talking about spiritual ritual, I’m talking about what we do as individuals and in groups that form a “comfort level” of sameness for us. For instance, most of us do the same things in the morning, to get ready for the day, in the same order as we have done them for years…with additions of pill-taking (for those of us grown-ups) and care items for others, it pretty much stays the same.

And what about “pew-sitting”…I know for a fact that most of the people reading this, who attend Central (and probably any other church) sit in the same place, approximately, every Sunday…these are individual and corporate rituals. Rituals are comforting because they are something we control, and because they don’t change…but they are not, at least in the church, anything more than a “portal” and “point of reference” for the greater things.

The positive point about a worship service that offers something new every week is “interest”…but when the liturgy (definition: a form or formulary according to which public religious worship, especially Christian worship, is conducted”) is taken away, people become so tense and uncomfortable that the new thing is often seen as something not of “interest” but of “danger”.

“Ritual” in the worship of God, is a doorway that leads us to a place where we can seek out what we need. As we find ourselves more and more comfortable with the places we’ve found, the new knowledge of God and how that connects each of us together…we find that our “point of reference” changes, and ritual (which is always there) becomes less and less important…or more precisely, becomes exactly what it should be.

The problem lies when the only place we go is PAYLESS. In other words, many churches rely so much on ritual that IT becomes the destination, not just the point of reference. Don’t be fooled, this happens in high and low churches. This even happens in churches that don’t believe they have ANY ritual. I grew up in a congregation that believed “ritual” to be a bad word…but we had our own ritual in worship, and people learned quickly how important it was, if it was ever strayed from: Pre-Service Music, Opening Prayer, Opening Hymn, Special Music, Pastor’s Prayer, Sermon, Closing Song, Altar Response, Postlude…in that order, every Sunday of my life growing up! It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I hope that I learned to look beyond the ritual and find the relationship with God.

Rituals – point of references – and portals are something all of us need. For those who attend worship, the rituals of Central Christian Church give us comfort, like a big front door, or a fire in the fireplace…but we are not defined by our rituals. All of them; the times and places of songs, scriptures, prayers, thoughts, communion, are only the points-of-reference to a greater thing, to more knowledge, to a larger community. They are doorways to the heart of God. Hopefully, we ALL take the journey from RITUAL to RELATIONSHIP.

A philosophy I follow says this, which I believe is Truth from God:

When one does away with God, one is left with goodness.
When one does away with goodness, one is left with morality.
When one does away with morality, one is left with ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith, and the beginning of chaos.
Therefore, God concerns Himself with the depths
and not the surface,
with the fruit,
and not the flower.

Thanks to Dawn, for her unwitting lesson in finding God’s heart;
from RITUAL to RELATIONSHIP…

…and all from the unlikely place of the PAYLESS parking lot in Anderson, Indiana.

One lunchtime, during my college days, I was seated in my favorite corner of my favorite neighborhood café, around the corner from the school, when a friend of mine walked in. She came over to my table, leading another girl I didn’t recognize. My friend introduced Sali and I asked them to sit down. Thus began a “school-year-long” friendship with Sali and our small group of friends.

This was a circle of promising singers, actors, dancers, etc. and Sali was a pianist. My kind-hearted female friend had introduced our little group to Sali because she saw Sali sitting alone those first couple weeks of September and thought she could use a friend.

Sali was quiet, but funny, humble but a piano virtuoso. No one would describe her as a “classic” beauty, but behind her large glasses were large, dark eyes. In her somewhat dull and baggy clothes she had a very gracious way about her. When she wasn’t with us, we guessed she “came from money”. As awkward, socially, as she might have been, she obviously had some good breeding…better breeding than most of us.

The school year went through the seasons. After each recital, or performance, we had the obligatory party and Sali was always a part of it. We liked her, and she liked us. She didn’t speak much, perhaps thinking her English wasn’t great…although it was. We couldn’t tell from her accent where this dark-skinned, dark-haired, girl, was from and any question about her family or background was always met with a tactful change-of-subject.

Then there were the little “gifts”. Each of us experienced, from her, a quiet moment when she would present us with a little token; a scarf for one of the girls, a poetry book, a flower for a teacher…always something thoughtful and unexpected. We were, in that little circle of friends, happy to be around her although, many times, it was difficult to tell she was even there; always quiet, always in the background.

At the end of the year she was, surprisingly, leaving. She had been there only that year, and her family was coming to take her back home, she told us. Then she handed each of us a small invitation, hand-written on simple card-stock, an invitation to a dinner party her parents were having for her before they took her back home with them…they wanted her to invite her “school friends” and she considered us to be her ONLY friends. She informed us that it was formal. We must’ve looked a little shocked. The two of us guys especially. The girls, of course, were thrilled. The other male and I “borrowed” school tuxes.

The address for the party was downtown at a large hotel. We arrived and were, shockingly, ushered to a large banquet hall on one of the upper floors. The doors opened and we walked in, looking very much like we were there for the prom….while everyone else we saw looked like they dressed this way every day.

The place was filled with well-groomed, obviously important, adults. There was a champagne fountain, lots of food, and a string quartet. As we stood there, an elegant woman with a thick accent, and dressed in purple velvet, smiled as she approached us. She asked if we were the school friends she’d heard of. We were, we said. Then she said words I will never forget and still hear ringing in my ears as I write down this story:

“The Shahzadi is over there, she’ll be so happy to see you.”

Yup, that’s what she said: “The Shahzadi…”

With mouths open, we all turned to see where she indicated, and there was Sali, dressed in shimmering blue, her glasses gone, her hair up…and fixed with a small-but-extremely sparkly Eastern-style tiara.

In a flash we all understood, and we were all befuddled. Our friend, Sali, the girl who was reluctant to share about her family or background – just happened to be the “inheriting” daughter of some Sultan (we soon discovered). We met her Dad (the Sultan) and her Mom (Mrs. Sultan), and some of her parents’ friends/dignitaries.

It seems Sali had been given a year of freedom; a year to do what she would like to do, before returning home to marry. She decided to take one school year, studying the piano (an instrument she had played since early childhood) within the context of a “college”…something she wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. She wanted to make some “normal” friends, (‘Couldn’t get more NORMAL than us), and she wanted to experience America. Her aunt lived in Washington State and hosted her there. I know, it sounds like the plot of a Disney film, but there it was.

One of our circle said it best, as we all sat in the corner table with Sali at the end of the evening – like so many nights at our café: “All this time, you were wearing a hidden crown…and we never knew.”

She was a “Princess among us”. Yes, ours was a school of the very wealthy and the very not wealthy, of Americans and International students. But a “Sultana”? Really? We were shocked AND started thinking back on our friendship over the year – wondering if any of us had committed some slight that would end up with us losing our heads. But Sali, with tears and hugs all around thanked us for being her friends, for allowing her to experience “American” college life, and for drawing her into our little circle. Would we have treated her differently had we known?

I started looking at everyone I knew differently after that: “Alright, wh else – are any of the rest of you sultans, or queens, or…?” If Sali, this quiet, shy, funny, warm, giving, awkward, girl was a “Shahzadi” or “Sultana”…then anyone could be anything!

And isn’t that the TRUTH? In the Kingdom we are asked to look upon everyone as if they were wearing “hidden crowns”, to treat all strangers with hospitality in case they are “angels”. (HEBREWS 13:2) We are to look at others as if they were “better” than us. (PHILIPPIANS 2:3-4) I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that many people tend to look at others, and treat them, in just the opposite way. Often we are taught by the WORLD to make sure WE have good self-esteem, that WE know our own self-worth, that WE are to be cared for first.

But God didn’t create the world to work that way. He honors us when WE see the hidden crowns everyone else (the good, the bad, AND the ugly) is wearing; when we treat OTHERS (no matter who) as if THEY, and not we, were royalty deserving of respect and love.

Imagine how different this last year would’ve been if we saw everyone else’s hidden crowns. But let’s not look back, let’s look forward and start seeing those crowns now…that alone, quite possibly, could change the world.

What is it about PIZZA?

I know that I’m not in college, nor am I in my 20s, anymore but PIZZA still seems to be “God’s Perfect Food” (aside from bacon and M&Ms). I just had some with friends the other night and thought once moe: “What IS it about “Pizza”?

At first, I thought it was the compact design. It’s meat (sometimes), cheese, tomato and grains…really, not a bad combination. I LIVED and SURVIVED on PIZZA in college, and not just PIZZA, but PIZZA at 9:00pm, midnight, and sometimes for breakfast. I love pepperoni, but THAT’S not draws me to it. I really have always loved cheese…but even THAT isn’t where the “magic” is, necessarily. How about the crust? Well, it IS a bread product and I always crave more of that – but even THAT isn’t what calls to me.

Then I stepped back and took a look from a distance. I saw that PIZZA isn’t only a food, it is a common denominator for getting together with people…relaxing, visiting, and connecting with friends and family.

When I was a high school student in the 70s pizza parlors were a very popular thing – even in my small-ish hometown. It was during those years I was introduced to not only the “superfood” that would keep me alive in later years, but the entire societal structure of “Pizza”.

There were a group of us who met at a great place I can still see in my minds eye. It wasn’t really about the pizza, although delicious, it was the moment...it was the time together. We would laugh (if you can imagine any friends of mine gathering for laughter…I know, difficult to believe) at the big, highly-glossed wooden tables, to the sounds of “PONG” (remember THAT video game?), “GALAGA”, OR “PACMAN”. In the background, the latest BILLY JOEL or ELTON JOHN single would be playing. And we all knew we would pay for this time away from homework, or studying for a test, the next day.

In college, the pattern continued: friends together actually DOING homework, or meeting after an event, or late, late at night (sometimes working on papers THROUGH the night, and more often than not, cold PIZZA was my breakfast of choice) but always, laugher, love, friendship, work…together, in a community where we got to know each other and became involved in each other’s lives. It wasn’t in class that this happened, it was around…

…a pizza. Its round shape/wheel/hub, connecting all of us…it is more than food, it is “LIVE”.

Isn’t that sort of thing what life is all about?

As strange, as flip, or as funny as it seems, the answer is probably, “YES”. Jesus wants it that way…not PIZZA particularly, but ANYTHING that will get us connecting with each other.

Being a BELIEVER & FOLLOWER (sometimes labeled as, “being a Christian”) requires us to understand that OUR faith journey with Jesus is not ABSTRACT, but ACTION.

It is not CONTEMPLATIVE, but COMMUNITY.

It is not SOLITARY, but SOCIAL.

Our faith is NOT faith unless it is PRACTICED WITH OTHERS.

Why do you think that the most significant lesson about Jesus’ connection and gift to you and me is a meal? Because it’s not supposed to be ONLY between He and you (or me), but with you, me, and others…that’s why it’s called “Communion” (as in, “community”, “commune”, “communist”- OK, maybe THAT’s not the best word…but the other two work well).

PIZZA: It’s a communal food. All great chefs will tell you that there is a difference between “eating” and “dining“. “Eating” gives you nourishment, and can be done alone. “Dining” is an event which transcends the meal itself. “Dining” is an event to be shared between people around you, around a table, perhaps around a pizza.

As Jesus shows us: We are in THIS place and time to realize the only true and eternal “currency” we have is our connection, in love, with one another. If PIZZA will get you to look in the face of another person – to laugh, cry, love and share with them – then Jesus’ words “Love one another” will be realized AND practiced...and HE will be known and loved.

We who BELIEVE & FOLLOW the One God need more “pizza” in our lives…because we need more of each other in our lives, so we can “see” Jesus.

(P.S. – I am not a paid spokesperson for SCAMPY’S ANNEX, simply a happy customer wishing you more, quality, “Pizza Time”)

Because ”RICK’S BLOG” is always written on Wednesdays, and Wednesdays used to be “garbage day” at my old house, and because I’m always the most sensitive to what God is showing me on Wednesday mornings prior to my writing; I have learned a lot about God from taking out the garbage. What does THAT tell you about me?

In any case, as I was wheeling my garbage cans down the driveway to the sidewalk one morning and I saw some garbage sitting on the sidewalk, close to my garbage can. That inner dialogue began almost immediately,

“You should pick that up and put it in your garbage can.”

“But it’s not MY garbage…I don’t even GO to MacDonald’s! It’s the responsibility of the Neanderthal who either threw it out of the car or just dropped it here on their way back.”

”You should pick it up and throw it away AND you should walk around the sidewalk and pick up all the garbage you see and throw it away…since you DO see it.”

“But it’s not MINE.”

“But didn’t YOU just say that if you see it, it’s YOUR responsibility to change it?”

“Yes….but I was preaching to the flock, not to myself. (smiling). Am I really and truly responsible to clean up after others…after people who are thoughtless and tasteless and lazy?”

“You tell me.”

And then I remembered a “Principle of the Kingdom”: we are all here for each other and, yes, it IS my responsibility to clean up after others…just as it’s their responsibility to clean up after me. It is my responsibility to put up with others – as it is their responsibility to put up with me. Each of us will make mistakes, act foolishly, and leave a trail of garbage sometime in our lives. None of us live in a bubble, we are ALL connected. As a citizen of the Kingdom it is my responsibility to provide for others what they cannot or will not provide for themselves, both inside and outside of the confines of “the flock”. If everyone did that job, we’d ALL have someone looking out for us…that’s the ideal design for the world we live in, and it’s up to the Church to reinforce that behavior.

I picked up the empty burger bag, a couple of cigarette boxes, an empty Coke cup and an empty tube of eyeliner (that WAS mine…just kidding). As I did, I realized that God is right…if we only look after ourselves we have a very limited and unfulfilling life…if we only take care of our own lives we live in seclusion and our solitary existence benefits no one…not even ourselves…and it certainly doesn’t promote growth of the Kingdom of God.

We are all connected, whether we like it or not. Sometimes we mourn with each other, and dance, we share more than we understand…and yes, there are moments that call for us to clean up one another’s garbage. No one has penned it better than one of my favorite poets, the priest, John Donne:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

A few years ago someone, in a moment of weakness, asked me to participate in a community fund-raiser based on the popular, “Dancing With the Stars” show. I was supposed to be one of the celebrities…which means I was the one being judged and no one expected me to be very good.

My wonderful, professional, partner and I chose to do a tango. I was instantly hooked. I enjoyed the experience quite a bit…but, most of all, I have to say that learning the history, style, art, passion and essence of Argentine Tango is what I am truly thankful for. Expecting to walk into the studio and “learn some new steps” was a major underestimation on my part, I had no idea what all Tango encompasses.

For the body, Tango requires one to learn, memorize and get “into one’s limbs” certain, specific steps, stretches or “lines”, embraces and cues from the other partner. Once learned, these steps are improvised, joined together in seamless phrases, depending on the music.

For the musician, Tango is an amazing thing, because the Lead listens to what is being played and decides/improvises the combination of steps and hesitations depending on what he hears. His partner, the follower, responds to his lead and, in essence, becomes an instrument on which the Lead plays. Through all this there is the technique, much like instrument-playing, of specific turn of body and foot, hand and arm placement…particular to Tango.

For the communicator it is a lesson in subtlety and “listening”. Once the dance has begun, the partners don’t talk to each other. So how does the Follower know what the Lead is going to do? How does the Lead know that the Follower will respond in a complimentary (sometimes unexpected but always complimentary) manner? They must “touch”, be close and anticipate each other’s moves. It is a very intimate dance, and for some it is just too close for comfort. At most melongas (Tango Parties) the dancers are strangers to each other, most are there as singles, and so it is without introduction that one is immediately with someone they don’t know, who must communicate to them clearly, and they in turn with the other…it is a constant act of listening and breathing with one’s partner.

For the Christian, Tango is continuing physical illustration of spiritual Truth. If LIFE IS A DANCE, then for MY money at least, life with God is a Tango. Sometimes the beauty in a tango is the “opposite” nature of the dancers, they pull apart from each other to give them the energy to suddenly be flung together Their bodies are sometimes mirrors and sometimes in opposition, depending on the phrase. Sometimes the steps are simply a “walk”, sometimes their legs are intertwined, sometimes quick, sometimes slow. There are times when the Follower seems to fall and is caught, held and brought back up by the Lead. And there are even times when the Lead rests and simply spins as the Follower pulls Him around…but there is rarely, if ever, a time when they aren’t touching and aren’t looking at each other. It is a dance of connection, like life with God. There is no such thing as “solo” Tango (remember the old Ella Fitzgerald song, “It takes TWO to tango”?)…and the Follower is dependent upon the Lead. Even when stepping away from the expected and adding something extra to the line, the Follower can only do that within the complete trust of the Lead, after following him enough to know that trust.

You can see why I fell in love with Tango, and why I’ll continue to make it a part of my life.

In our effort to know God in this life, it is obvious that He is constantly finding ways to reintroduce Himself to us, in our language, and through our passions…my prayer is that each of us will RECOGNIZE when God is giving us this opportunity…and in the “tango” is life, that we will be sensitive and intimate Followers to His Lead.

My favorite Broadway musical of all time is “THE MUSIC MAN”. There is something about the combination of the setting: America at the turn of the century, the story-unique boy-meets-girl, the music-ballads, dances, barbershop quartets, bands. But I also know that I’ve been influenced by both the movie AND the fact that it was the first musical I ever performed in, as a sophomore in High School.

Robert Preston, as Professor Harold Hill (even though Jack Warner asked both Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant to do the role before it was given to Preston) is definitive as the con man who changes his life through the love of a good woman. In the story, however, he must “sell” the Iowa town folk on the idea of a Boys Band (not the Backstreet Boys, something completely different). He isn’t a musician, can’t read a note, but he sells them instruments and uniforms and “cons” them into believing.

The technique he uses? He reveals a serious “issue” in the town that they’re not even aware they have, and who can save them from this seed of degradation that has infiltrated their little prairie town? Prof. Harold Hill, of course! And so we have the song, TROUBLE; “O, ya got trouble…right here in River City, with a capital-T, that rhymes with P and that stands for POOL” – not a swimming pool, mind you, but a pool table.

Here Professor Hill has actually CREATED trouble, this pool table could’ve gone unnoticed except for the Professor’s sermon. He needed to CREATE trouble so that he could be the “hero”, and make out, literally, “like a bandit”!

It’s an old, old technique, a technique that Advertising Gurus have been using for years: create a situation that can only be solved through our product. Who has heard of “ring around the collar”, or “cellulite”? Before advertising, these things were just called “dirt” and “fat”!

TROUBLE comes in all forms, and TROUBLE comes to all people. Churches experience all kinds of trouble: economic trouble, growth trouble, a leaking roof here, not enough teachers there, sickness in the winter, simple-minded preachers, etc. The Church doesn’t NEED any help, when it comes to trouble. In other words, the Church doesn’t need any “Harold Hills”; someone to CREATE a problem so that he can solve it. The Church doesn’t need a hero to save them from trouble, the Church needs a pilot to steer them through trouble.

Being a Believer & Follower of Jesus has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let’s be honest, in some ways, being a disciple is not an easy choice OR an easy thing to do. There are troubles from within and without, many of which cannot be avoided.

But what every Believer & Follower has, and what the Church has, is not a “Harold Hill”, but a “Captain Von Trapp”! A Captain/Pilot who can lead us through the dangers, who knows where the rocks are, who knows when the wind will be foul, who knows the currents and tides like the back of his hand, who knows what we will face and promises to guide us through it (“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me…”). We have someone with us always, who has been there before.

As I’m writing, I can’t help but hear the voices of my home congregation sing one of my father’s favorite hymns:

Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life’s tempestuous sea
Unknown waves before me roll
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal
Chart and compass come from Thee
Jesus, Savior, pilot me

When the darkling heavens frown
And the wrathful winds come down
And the fierce waves, tossed on high
Lash themselves against the sky
Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life’s tempestuous sea
(words by Edward Hopper)

You don’t need “Christians” who create trouble so that you will believe they are being “persecuted”.
Nobody needs a person to create trouble so that their own egos are inflated by making others look bad.
And we certainly don’t need anyone to create trouble so they can appear to be our “hero”…

…we HAVE a Hero.
He doesn’t take away the trouble, He goes AHEAD of it.
He stands with us in the MIDDLE of it.
He marches with us THROUGH it…

…and He covers the scars left by it.

I saw an interesting “post” on the internet a while back: “The 38 Most Haunting, Abandoned Places On Earth”. I decided to scroll through these beautiful (and yes, haunting) photos of everything from abandoned asylums (creepy), to old subway stations, churches (one with the chairs still standing in rows and an infant’s coffin still in its place next to the altar). All in all, each photo begged for a story. Then I came to Photo number 22…an old ocean liner, wrecked, beached and rusted…but still somehow beautiful with the waves crashing near it.

Then I read the caption: “Wreck of the SS AMERICA – Fuerteventura, Canary Islands”. The SS AMERICA was an American ocean-liner that, in the 50’s, sailed from New York to Europe and back, as part of the old “United States Lines”.

A few months after I was born (1958) my father returned to Frankfurt, Germany, where he was a part of the Army Band. My mother and I stayed in Richland, Washington until the end of July 1959 when we boarded a train from Washington State to New York City…Pier 86 on West 46th Street, to be exact. And there we boarded the SS AMERICA and sailed to Bremerhaven. We sailed Tourist Class, sharing a stateroom with another mother and her young daughter. My Mom kept a bit of the memorabilia and so I’ve always known about this ship, and our time aboard. We sailed (as opposed to flying) because of my Mom’s fear of flying (she only flew once, that I know of, and that was our return trip to the States…because there was no room on the liner when we were to depart…they drugged her up).

It was on board this ship that I learned to walk…with the aid of the Cabin Steward and some of the crew. This ship holds a special place in my life and my heart…now a shipwreck at the Canary Islands, home to fish and a beautiful photographer’s model of “haunted abandonment”.

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?…”

What is the good of “remembering”, when the things of the past even those things that mean something to each of us, are nothing but skeletons or memories? There IS some good to looking back, and like everything, there is some bad as well. I’m a bit sad to see the hull of what was once a “majestic lady on the seas”, and one that had a place in MY history, abandoned and decaying.

But on the other hand, God speaks of “memories” in terms of strengthening the present day. And in those terms I can look on this photo and remember that Mom had a great time aboard, and I learned how to walk (undoubtedly fostering my love of cruising in the Caribbean). I can thank God that we traveled alone across the country on train and then across the Atlantic without trouble, and in fact MADE new friends along the way. I can thank God that the SS AMERICA gave 54 years of splendid service to families like mine. There should be nothing bitter about those kinds of memories…and God understands that some things are best forgotten…and that is why He promises, when we ask, to forget the times we hurt Him, abandoned Him, made stupid, stupid mistakes and turned our backs on Him and our birthrights.

God REMEMBERS His promises/covenants even when we forget, and He asks us to remember the times when He rescued, saved, healed, fought…for us. (EX 13:3…example) When we remember THOSE times, we can feel the power of faith surging back through our needy limbs. God will never forget us or our His love for us (IS 49:14-16).

How then should WE live? The answer is obvious and simple. (PHIL 4:8) Don’t expect to be happy if you constantly think of the “sad” and the ”bad”…don’t expect to be at peace if you dwell on discontent. “Think on…” and remember the things that give you strength TODAY. Life moves on, the universe is expanding daily, people change…God, in His own way, has “moved forward” so that He can meet us where those things that are new to us exist. This is a new year, and yet ANOTHER CHANCE to turn and walk in a different direction…let the good things of the past empower you to walk forward.

The flip side, and the difficult side, is to do with ourselves what God does by forgiving our imperfections and sin (PS 103:12). God forgives and forgets…sometimes we don’t. We don’t forgive others and more often, we don’t forgive ourselves. Remembering all of the wrong things one did, all of the mistakes one made makes one depressed, cynical and angry…often filled and motivated by regret. This is where the new year raises her head again…turn around, walk forward…you are not who you were, and YOU and GOD define how your past dictates your future…God won’t force the issue. Don’t expect your sins and indiscretions to be forgiven if you don’t ask Him, and don’t expect God to take care of any “repair work” that you need to make in your relationships with others, just because HE’s forgiven you. But you CAN move forward.

No one sails on the SS AMERICA now…but it is obvious to me that many people go nowhere because they’ve “stayed aboard the shipwreck”…thinking their past defines their future.

Whatever it is in 2021 that you need to do…do it. God has promised His power, through the “Breath of God” to strengthen you in any Godly purpose…and His people are standing beside you almost every week, at least. And in case you need a little reminder of exactly what CAN be done…remember the good things, the true things, the beautiful things that God has already done.

Happy New Year.

I am, as I do every Christmas season, reading my favorite Christmas book, Charles Dickens’ “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”. Through the years I’ve had several copies of this story, one is in a collection of Dickens’ classics, one is in a collection of other Christmas stories, and this year my copy is on my IPad (backlit with big letters…yeah!). No matter what the setting or context, this story continues to amaze and inspire me. It was my privilege to be involved with a production (as script and songwriter) for the North Anderson Church of God (now Madison Park) production of “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”. THE ALLEY THEATRE will premiere the new production of my script and music next Christmas!

It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of Christmas season I’m having, or when or where I’m reading, Charles Dickens uses his words to reach down into the soul where he communicates that best of all messages to the child that is still hiding inside of this old shell.

The great question of the story for me is; how can Scrooge, with all of the resource that his world can offer, miss completely the joy…while Tim Cratchit, sick, poor and facing a certain and early death, seems to not only understand but “embody” the joy of Christmas? And what is that “joy of Christmas”?

In the story, it’s perhaps easier to see what the “Joy of Christmas” is not. When one observes Scrooge, it’s easy to understand the JOY does not come from wealth or power. Scrooge has an abundance of both and neither has given him joy. One can also see that “memories of Christmas”, though fond and perhaps filled with warmth, love and kindness, are more often a reminder that Christmastime now does not fulfill the memories of what it used to be. For Scrooge, his past memories of Christmas only filled him with despair at all he had lost or cast aside.

So what is “The Joy of Christmas”? At its core, it is the knowledge that our Great God cared enough to save us through such elaborate and sacrificial means as placing His Son in this “God-forsaken” world, where he “put on our skin”, felt our pain, walked our path…just so that we would trust and follow. We no longer need to fear the grave, we no longer are victims of our circumstance, we are no longer prisoners of our past, our present or our future.

Tim Cratchit “embodies” the idea that despite our circumstance, Christmas and its Joy transcends all, life is not totally encompassed in this Age, but lives beyond…and “life” is not defined solely by heartbeat and breath. Christmas Joy is greater than the sum of our surroundings, our memories, our hopes. And what finally makes Scrooge happy, what fills him with a joy that sets him dancing? Giving. Because Christmas Joy is “outside” of ourselves, we find the physical manifestation of that joy is also outside of ourselves.

Isn’t that just like God? We must GIVE to GAIN. The percentages will always remain the same, in the Kingdom of God; the more joy you give, the more joy you receive, whether it’s smiles, time, talent, cash or love.

“I have come that you might have life…and have it more abundantly”! JOHN 10:10

“God bless us, everyone.” TINY TIM

If you are a connoisseur of “A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS” you know what today is…as Schroeder pointed out, it’s BEETHOVEN’S BIRTHDAY! “Schroeder” is a role I played in the musical, “YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN”, and enjoyed it immensely…years ago, when I could actually sit on the floor of the stage, playing a toy piano, and just spring right up on my feet without taking an hour to do so.

Anyway, Beethoven is not one of my favorite composers. I don’t dislike his music, it’s just not my favorite…but oddly, he IS one of my favorite people, aside from his music. I learned quite a bit about him in college, we spent an entire semester researching, learning, getting to know old Ludwig. I also found out so much more about him in a book by Russel Martin in 2001: “BEETHOVEN’S HAIR” (highly recommended if you haven’t read it.)

But one interesting “Beethoven thing” happened in college. I attended a small art conservatory on a hill in Seattle, filled with the greatest combination of people, art, and night-life. There was an older man who was seen frequently on the main drag by my college. His hair reminded me of photos of Einstein, he wore a trench coat, always. He carried around a portfolio, which I later saw filled with handwritten music manuscript. He appeared to have a “girl-friend”, about his age (late 50s?…it’s hard for me to remember now because when I was 21 everyone older than me seemed to be ancient) who would pretend to meet him for the first time at a bus stop (we witnessed this often) and they would strike up a conversation as if they had never met.

In any case, one morning I walked into the front door of the school and into the office…to see him bending over the copy machine making copies of the hand-written music in his well-used satchel. The secretary noted the look on my face and pulled me outside the door.

“Have you not met Ludwig?”

“That guy’s name is Ludwig? No, I haven’t.”

“We don’t know what his actual name is, but he believes he is Ludwig Beethoven. He comes in and the President of the school has authorized him to use the copy machine when he wants to copy his music.”

“He thinks he’s Beethoven.”

“Yup.”

She was right…he did, and everyone just went along. Partly proven by an event that happened just the next week.

The school had a small choral ensemble, and we were prepping a performance of a Beethoven piece, “CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES” (SIDE NOTE: our Chancel Choir has sung the “HALLELUJAH” from that work) and our Director informed us, at rehearsal that day, that a special guest would be coming into class that day to “give us notes” on performing (wait for it) HIS piece.

I was REALLY looking forward to this.

He walked in the door. Everyone stood. Our Director welcomed him, introduced him and gave him the floor. Graciously, warmly, and lucidly, “Ludwig” smiled, began informing us of his “vision” for the piece, finishing by opening up the time for questions, while reminding us to speak up…since he was going deaf. Shockingly, our Director asked the first question, and “Ludwig” answered astutely.

I have to say, everyone “played along”, our Director never indicated in any way that he didn’t believe this man wasn’t Beethoven. And as for “Ludwig”, I think the actual Beethoven would’ve approved of his answers and demeanor.

Were we cruel or loving to “Ludwig”?

I ask that, as a BELIEVER & FOLLOWER, to see what you think? You see, we propagated his “untruth”. We played into his “delirium”. We pandered to his “illusion”. Was that OK? As far as I know I was the only person in the room who identified as “Christian”, but I have to say: I was SO impressed by the love shown to this man…and must add that moment to all the times I have learned more about Christian behavior from non-Christians than from people who identify as “Christian”.

What I learned was: “Truth” (in the life of a BELIEVER & FOLLOWER) should always be defined through the filter of love. Was it more important to make sure he understood he was not who he thought he was OR important to make a “relationship connection” with him?

I have acquaintances (who identify as “Christian”) who believe we should’ve prayed over him and his mental healing. I have acquaintances (who identify as “Christian”) who would’ve at least believed we shouldn’t call him “Ludwig” (because that’s not really his name) or continued to let him use the copy machine because that’s not really “loving him”…it’s only helping him continue to live a “lie”.

It’s sad, to me, because I don’t think Jesus said, “the facts shall set you free.” I think He said, “the Truth will set you free”, and Jesus, the way I hear Him at least, says over, “love one another”.

The Truth is: relationships are the only currency you can take with you.
The Truth is: “consider others greater than yourself…”
The Truth is: no matter whom HE identified himself as, MY business was to show love to him. And MY business was to know that whatever was going on in his brain was none of my business.

I learned the truth about acceptance of others, no matter what, without compromising Jesus who lives in me…from people who took him for who he said he was.

“Ludwig” reminded us that day that “CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES” was not a “concert piece” but a sacred one. That it should be treated and sung as a sacred work: it was not about RELIGION (he told us), it was about the person of JESUS. That person who, on the Mount of Olives, cared more about us then Himself.

“Sing,” Ludwig said, “as if you owe Him your life.”

I never did actually learn his real name, but that year I learned LOVE is the greatest thing, and THE TRUTH certainly does set you free.

(PS – And a HAPPY 250^TH BIRTHDAY today, to the real Ludwig Van Beethoven.)

A few nights ago several of us “caroled” for folks who came by the church. It was a blast to actually see people mask-to-mask, to laugh, and just to hear their voices. It was also another chapter in a tradition I love, “caroling”.

I’ve caroled every Christmas most of my life – and one of my very first memories was my Dad lifting me up so I could see over the balcony of our American apartment in Frankfurt, Germany, and see the carolers in the courtyard singing German carols. (It’s still not Christmas until I hear some German carols reminding me of my earliest Christmas memories.)

A few years ago some “musical friends” had a large Christmas party filled with all sorts of food and drink that had no nutritional value in the least, and at the door handed us a customized bound book of carols. The guests were all singers by profession, and all we did was eat, drink, and sing…it was a glimpse of my personal heaven. As I sat and looked at and listened to the variety of singles, couples, and groups, all ages, all types, I smiled and listened as everyone sang along. Some songs were familiar, others were not…and no one cared. It was a great evening!

I was especially taken with the thought that we all were singing the same song, but not all were singing the same notes, some were singing the same words, but maybe not at the same time as everyone else…on purpose, or not. Some were singing the melody, and at one point we sang a duet and the ladies sang one part, and the men the other. It was beautiful and the differences in voice, range, dynamic and polyphony (singing various moving lines of music simultaneously) still created a unified thought and the sense that ALL of us were “journeying” together to the same conclusion, along the same theme, but at different paths.

The phrase, “many paths to God” is one that Christians have avoided because it seemingly conflicts with Jesus own words, “I am THE way, THE Truth and THE life…no one comes to the Father except through Me.” I don’t think the “many paths” idea conflicts with Jesus at all…I may be “splitting hairs” but I believe that Jesus is stating there is ONE DOOR…but it is also obvious to me, in the scripture and in life, that each of us comes to that door through a variety of ways. It also seems evident, by virtue of the scripture, that each of us feels, sees, hears and experiences things in a different way. Our journeys of faith have different beginnings, but the same end, have different twists and turns, but the same arrival point, have different tempos of transport, but the same destination.

I don’t believe that God wants us all to sing in unison, because we couldn’t…we are all as different as Soprano is from Alto, and Tenor is from Bass. Jesus has a song written specifically for each of us. Also, the scripture reminds us, there are “a variety of gifts, but One Spirit”. We also have differences built into us, and we begin our journeys at different times. Our perspectives of God are different depending on what He has done for and to each of us, and where we are in our maturity as Spiritual beings. We couldn’t and shouldn’t sing in unison. It is not the church’s job to make it’s congregation “toe the party line”, but to know the breadth and depth of the love of the Father…nurturing the Spirit in each person to “lead into all Truth.”

We are made to sing the song together…but without the beauty of our individual voices and parts the song would not be so rich, so full, so moving…it is the combination of ALL of our “journeys to Jesus” that makes the voyage so wonderful…and the destination cadence so breath-taking.

We were created to sing in HARMONY.

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Meta

CATEGORIES

CALENDAR

Instagram

February 10, 2021

ENCOURAGEMENT, SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT, THE CHURCH

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

February 2, 2021

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

January 26, 2021

THE CHURCH, Uncategorized

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

January 19, 2021

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT, THE CHURCH

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

January 12, 2021

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

January 5, 2021

ENCOURAGEMENT, THE CHURCH

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

December 31, 2020

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

December 23, 2020

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

December 16, 2020

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale

December 9, 2020

No Comments

Written By:Rick Vale