A BLOG by PASTOR KEN RICKETT

In the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) the month of October is designated to honor the ministry of both pastors and congregations. This BLOG will focus on acknowledging with appreciation the ministers who serve our congregations throughout the world.

Our minister, Rick Vale, has brought to this congregation a wide range of creative gifts and talents as well as a treasure-trove of knowledge, insight, and wisdom through his sermons and teachings—and we at Central Christian Church have benefited immensely by the uniqueness of his diverse gifts and talents in music, theatrical arts, and skills in public speaking.

Sermons highlight scripture as well as offering us, the listeners, a wealth of theological but relevant insight for this day and age. Those seeking depth in their understanding of biblical passages have welcomed Rick’s studies and discussion groups. THE ALLEY THEATRE offers a community-enriching series of dramas which Rick has been instrumental in the creation and support of this vital connection of our congregation to our city and beyond.

One occasionally wonders how a minister fulfills both the duties of a minister as well as the expectations of parishioners and the community. How does a minister prepare and deliver quality sermons week after week–especially when one of those weeks is filled with a funeral, a wedding, counseling sessions, visitations, community endeavors (ie, ministerial associations, various local boards that have asked the minister to serve a term, dealing homelessness and poverty in the community, etc.). Frankly, it takes a lot of ingenuity and wise use of time to preach well each week. One way a minister “stays ahead” in sermon planning is the use of a sermon series on topics or selected scriptural themes so any study time allows the preacher to work on several sermons simultaneously. Or a minister will plan ahead for several weeks, perhaps using a lectionary (a 3 year planning system in which the same scriptural passage is not repeated; then the cycle begins again) the purpose being to allow the minister to make wise use of study time to cover several weeks in case a week becomes exceptionally busy. Another reason to plan is that musicians and music directors must also plan for choir anthems and special occasions. Rick has consistently woven our worship services into a unity of theme and music each week–not an easy task!

Yet, does anyone recognize the impact of the covid pandemic on ministers? Some congregations, like ours, did not hold worship services for several consecutive weeks. Goodness gracious! Talk about a radical and massive shift in how ministers provided weekly worship services! Our congregation relied heavily on the internet or electronic media. Pastor Rick provided sermons with music and lay participation through that media. Families in homes read scripture and this was incorporated into the service and soloists (or others) provide “recorded” music to enrich our online worship. Rick readily mastered the challenges, and our congregation was blessed. During the pandemic, our online worship gained support at a level that Rick continues to provide weekly online worship.

How does a congregation say “Thank you” to its minister(s)? I can only speak of my experience in the congregations I have served in our denomination as I have no knowledge of the practices of this congregation. I have been richly rewarded with a variety of “Thank-You-s” during the month of October, including heartwarming words of appreciation given in a worship service by the personnel committee or board chairperson who spoke on behalf of the congregation. One year I moved to a new congregation in mid-October. That congregation had a rich history of expressing appreciation to its pastors during the Month of the Ministry in our denomination. Did they ever surprise us—on Halloween night many, many families in the congregation brought food items, baked goods, staple groceries, etc. to “treat” us (in the south, it is called “pounding the preacher”) and the warmth and laughter of the evening with a parsonage full of folks still resonates today! I have received “free” dinners for two (includes spouse) reservations at a favorite or esteemed restaurant within a reasonable traveling distance, or tickets for an event (movie, drama, etc.), or an overnight “package” including meals at a resort or B & B (Bern, IN or Metamora, IN which were Indiana places of interest that we had never been), or tangible items (ex: once Della and I received an elaborate serving set for hosting events in our home), modest cash gifts, among other tokens of appreciation. Even though the congregation presented these tokens in worship on a Sunday in October (or at a board meeting), the date of the meals, events, or overnight trips would usually be in early to mid-November to offer Della and I some time to re-adjust our schedules. I cannot think of a single year in my 40 years as a Disciples of Christ minister in which there was not some form of appreciation in October. Funds for these expressions of appreciation were not taken from the church treasury because of tax issues, but I was seldom aware of the method(s) by which the congregation selected or provided for these welcomed expressions of appreciation.

May I encourage each of you to voice your appreciation to Pastor Rick, whether in person, or by social media? With a busy thanksgiving and Christmas season rapidly approaching, let us remember that “giving thanks with a grateful heart” to Pastor Rick is “a gift that keeps on giving.”

So, it started out as a good idea: a quiet, few days with friends in Florida between Sundays.  We would visit familiar eating and shopping places, see some Florida friends, sit around the pool, on the boat, and stare at palm trees in the sunshine.  That was a plan a few months ago when we planned last week’s trip.

Then, as the days drew closer to last week’s planned vacay, the weather started looking a little icky.  There was a storm brewing just south of Florida, “Ian”.  Well, let’s see what happens. The storm moved slowly, when it moved at all, still no news from our airline that our flight was cancelled, so that was good news.  And so, on Monday, (after all, they’d cancel if it was going to be awful…wouldn’t they?) we lifted off from Indianapolis for the 110-minute flight to central Florida.

We landed under a beautiful cloud cover at sunset (see the photo above) and walked off the plane to an airport with a different mood than usual.  First, there were hardly any people there. Second, everyone was in “prep” mode for the storm.

This must be a little more serious than we thought.

It was nighttime when we arrived at our hosts’ home, to find they had secured all their poolside furniture inside.  The next day we went into the little town we’ve been visiting several times a year for about 10 years, and found shops either closed, or saying they would be for the next two days, a larger-than-normal police presence and emptier-than-normal streets.

Well, you know what happened.  IAN hit with force and moved slowly across the state.  Where we were was 45 minutes inland from the west, and situated north of the “eye”, but we got hit. Our little town didn’t suffer too much structural damage, although you’d be surprised what sustained 60-mile-an-hour winds and almost 20” of rain WOULD do.  But our neighbors to the south were battered, where WE were inconvenienced.  By Friday, in our little town, things were incredibly back to normal: shops and cafes open, streets filled with tourists (and those moving inland seeking shelter). 

I noticed some very moving moments in all of this.  The most striking to me at the time were the things I saw before the storm. 

People were getting ready, they were “putting on the armor” as it were (EPHESIANS 6:10-17). Just like the scripture commends, they were getting ready: “…so that they would be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take their stand.” (paraphrased) 

There are all kinds of people, who had all kinds of opinions about the impending storm:

1.There were residents of long-standing who could not remember a storm ever being that bad in their town, so this one wouldn’t be either.

2. There were residents of long-standing who decided to not ever take a chance and be fully prepared, and/or get “their butts the heck out of Dodge.”

3. There were those who believed the storm would be a “non-event” and all the hype was a product of the media.

4. And there were those who felt they had no choice but to stay and hold on.

One common thing I observed was how connected everyone in the community was.  They contacted each other. They planned to shelter one another. They shared food and water with one another. Those who were out-of-state had their homes secured by neighbors who were in town.  Despite how many felt about what had yet to happen – and many of their feelings (as all things seem to be these days) were colored by their “political paradigms” – all these diverse people came together.

And, within the context of this EPHESIANS verse, I saw something I’d never thought of – every knight has at least one squire (“a young nobleman acting as an attendant to a knight”) 

Knights, in the age of knights, couldn’t put on the full armor they needed by themselves.  They needed help as more and more weight was placed upon them.  This idea is even illustrated in the EPHESIANS verses.  The one preparing for the “battle of life” and the “evil day” is told what they should wear, and implicitly instructed to “accept” the shield of faith, and “take” both the helmet of salvation and the sword: Jesus, the Word of God. 

Ultimately, these pieces of armor we need to wear in preparation for upcoming storms are given to us by our Father in heaven.  But He always works in partnership with us.  So we, in turn, can only put on the armor as we are helped into it by “squires”: those God has placed around us to help us prepare. 

We do not fight the battles alone.  In fact, God suggests time and time again that the battle is HIS, but we still need to be there, and be prepared. However, our preparation is done in “community”, in “fellowship”, and in “friendship”.

I have been prepared and armed for certain storms because someone else (being an agent of God) has watched out for me, has helped me arm myself.  And I, hopefully, in turn have been a “squire” for someone else, in their preparation.

Last week taught me many things.  It was a new adventure for me to check off my list.
But the things that will stay with me are:

Nothing is forever, enjoy the moment.

“Things” are not “life”.

Don’t be lazy or cynical. Be practical. “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”…

…and, when putting on the armor as you prepare for inevitable spiritual hurricanes
that may take everything you have,
the people you love…
…and displace your life,
seek for good “squires”.  BE a good “squire”.

We are ALL here for each other.

Last week, as I was organizing, I ran into an old, battered, paperback Bible that I received in my “youth”.  On the cover, in some 1970’s-type font, were the bold words, “GOOD NEWS”. 

I looked at it, and said the words aloud, “Good News”. It’s all supposed to be GOOD news.  Everything I do as a teacher/preacher at my church is supposed to be about GOOD news…hmmm.

Ironic…would Jesus recognize what we, as churches and ministers, offer as “good news”?  When He walked the earth with us, He spent much of His time reminding that church leadership of the day that His Father was all about GOOD NEWS.  He then reminded them that the church shouldn’t take it upon themselves to make up new rules to try to HELP God, because they just make things more difficult.  It’s really quite simple, He insisted, it’s GOOD news.  Everything my Father does is about GOOD news. The end result of everything I teach you as about GOOD news.

So why does it often seem like just a bunch of rules, traditions, regulations, and fences?

A few years ago, I was traveling for business, and was put up in a small, but nice, hotel for a few days, close to my work (I could walk everywhere I needed to get to).  The place was popular with families, and there were children all around.

The day I checked in I watched as a young father played with his two small girls, laughing, running, playing “tag”.  I could see them clearly. From the front door of the lobby, I could see through and past the lobby into a small grassy, tree-shaded park, filled with sandboxes and swings.  I could see them through the floor to ceiling glass windows at the back of the lobby. I checked in at the Front Desk and entered the elevator. I found my room, unlocked the door, and went in.  I was on the third floor (the TOP floor of this small hotel). 

I could hear the laughter of the father and daughters, and realized my room was on the same side as the little park outside the lobby. I walked to the window, parted the drapes and looked out where I could see them playing.

From my vantage point on the third floor, I could see something that they could not see. The small playground/park was surrounded by a tall, beautiful, eight-foot solid wooden fence, which (if you were in the small park) one couldn’t see beyond. What I could see, just beyond the high fence, was a construction site where jagged pieces of metal lay about, along with concrete forms, wooden planks, deep trenches, and electrical wires – a dangerous place for children, just a few feet away from where they were playing.

GOOD NEWS sometimes comes in the form of “fences”.  Jesus offers freedom to choose, even to play beyond the fence-line, but when and if we do play, and live, “outside some boundaries” there may be danger.

Some people see God and think of the fence, and not the park it surrounds.  The GOOD NEWS is declared when we realize that if we DO find ourselves outside the fence, God is there to rescue and restore us back to the healthy environment on the green grass where we are free to run, laugh, live, and love.

The Church, and Her Pastors (including this one) are sometimes more prone to speak of the fences and not of the parks they surround.

One day, we will be in a place without fences. In that place, there will be no danger.  There will be nothing to fear.  The new earth and heaven will be ours.

God’s entire “reason for being” is us.  He lives for our joy.

So, remember, it’s supposed to be…GOOD NEWS.

A BLOG by PASTOR KEN RICKETT

Have you ever “rubbed elbows with history” – meaning that you know or have personally met someone who “made history?” Certainly, most of us have attended a speech or concert or an event (state fair, political gathering, church conferences, etc.) in which we have seen, or possibly heard, a well-known figure speak or perform. But I am talking about interacting with someone who has rubbed elbows with history.

My freshman year in college (Mars Hill University) my roommate, Alan Buckner, had a dream of becoming a military chaplain. Yet, we both majored in history. After graduation, Alan went to a different seminary than I. In 2006 former President Ronald Reagan died and my brother phoned me saying, “If I didn’t know better, I would say that your old roommate was ushering the Reagan family during a portion of the ceremonies.” I could find no collaboration. There was nothing about it in the Mars Hill alumni magazine about it. There was no newspaper article about it. Finally, eight years later in about 2014 I met an old Mars Hill friend when he was in Indianapolis leading a seminar.

After a while, I thought to bring what my brother told me about my old roommate to his attention, adding that I had not found any confirmation. He replied, “Your brother was right. Not only did Alan Buckner become a military chaplain, he rose through the ranks to become Head Chaplain of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard with an office in the Pentagon. It was a responsibility of his office to plan and lead in any State Presidential Funerals. In fact, he is retired and lives in South Carolina where I now live, and I have spoken to him recently.” And I recall that in college he and I chose to short-sheet each other’s bed on the same night, and each of us was waiting for the other to go to bed! And I remember both of us getting a notice to appear before Dean Lynch at a certain time. We did. And we both had to pay half of the cost of replacing the door to our dorm room! You see, he locked me out one evening, and I could hear him laughing like a hyena. Infuriated, I backed a few feet away and charged the door with my shoulder–and the door split in half horizontally–the lock held the bottom half of the door and the top half swung back and forth! Talk about rubbing elbows with history!

During the summer of 1974 I was attending summer school at the seminary in an effort to finish by the end of the fall semester. One Friday in July I got a message from the seminary’s field office, asking if I would come by there. I did so, and I learned that a minister serving at a church about an hour and a half drive away had to leave for an emergency and the church needed someone to fill the pulpit. I was one of the very, very few seminary students on campus that weekend so no one else was available. I agreed to go, and I was given instructions to find the church (years before GPS was available). Della and I left early that Sunday morning. Once we got to the church, a white-headed lady met us and told us that she would be hosting us for lunch after worship. From her appearance, we assumed that she was a farmer’s wife. She informed us that she would go straight home after worship services, but after we greeted everyone following worship, we were to come to her house which would be the first brick house on the right as we headed back to the seminary. When Della and I left the church, the first brick house was a mansion, located about two miles away. We turned around, went back to the church and headed back the way we came, and sure enough, that mansion was the first brick house on the right. We pulled up in the driveway and she opened the door before we got out of the car and motioned us to come in. Della and I stepped into the house, and I looked to the left and there was a long dining room table with a fabulous chandelier hanging over it. I looked to the left and there was a huge living room with two grand pianos in it. An older man using a cane hobbled up to us, and this lady said,
“May I introduce my husband, Dr. Arp?” and we greeted each other.
Della and I, and Dr. Arp were asked to go into the huge living room and dinner would be ready shortly. Dr. Arp asked, “where are you from?” and we talked about growing up near the Great Smoky Mountains. Fumbling with what to say next, I asked, “Dr. Arp, what field do you have your doctorate?” In a slow drawl, he replied, “Medicine. For many years I was Chief of Staff at Philadelphia General Hospital.” Then I remembered. A few years earlier, when he retired, I saw his picture on the face of a major weekly news magazine. I had been awed with the story about a farm boy who “went to the top of his chosen profession.” We spent the afternoon with them! What a delight! Talk about rubbing elbows with history!

An older member of one church I served in Chattanooga, Tennessee (from 1988-1994), was an elder and sang in the choir. I knew that he had not retired because his company needed him. Then, several months later, in talking with another church member, I got the “rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. He had worked all his life with a carpet-making company. Before the 1970s carpet manufacturers used a tedious and slow process to put color into carpets. Then the company had an employee who invented a new process by which carpets could be woven and dyed various colors in a relatively simple, but greatly expedited method. As textile manufacturers around the world installed this invention in their plants, their advisor and trouble-shooter (if need be) was the inventor…who happened to be this active and dedicated church Member! Now I knew what he meant when he missed a couple of Sundays now and then to “go abroad.” Talk about rubbing elbows with history!

Albert Schweitzer, missionary to Africa, was an amazing man, holding a Doctor’s Degree in Medicine, Music, Theology, and Philosophy. While serving as a medical missionary, this man who loved to play the great pipe organs of Europe made a “make-shift” organ with bamboo and although no music could be heard, he would practice playing major compositions. He wrote several books, including “The Historical Jesus” in which his major thesis was that Jesus was a historical person, able to be closely known by any follower. In our Chalice Hymnal, page 69, is a quote from that book, a quote that I treasure its insight and its truth.

“Christ comes to us as one unknown, without a name, as of old by the lakeside he came to those who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: “Follow thou me,” and sets us to the tasks which he has to fulfill our time. He commands.
And to those who obey him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in his fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery they shall learn in their own experience who he is.”

And so it is. Those who follow Jesus and learn of him will rub elbows with history as we discover in our very presence the greatest man who ever lived, full of truth and grace, sent from the Father.

So Let It Be!

It was March of 1983.  I was living in Seattle, working as an actor and in my church when a golden opportunity arrived…Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were visiting!  Now you know how much I love the Queen, so you know I had to go and catch a glimpse.  One of the places they were visiting was THE SEATTLE CENTER; a cultural park in the center of town that was, originally, home to the WORLD’S FAIR of ’62.  Since I performed and rehearsed there, I knew all the best, secret, parking spaces…so I made my way (with thousands of others) to that space, early on a cold day.

I ended up right on the rope along a trail that had been marked.  I was thrilled to think I’d be seeing them that closely as they passed by.

I’d been there maybe 30 minutes, when someone gave me a tap on the shoulder.  I turned around.  Standing there were two impressive-looking gentlemen in “official dark suits and coats”, smiling, and with genuine British authority and accent, asked if I would come with them.  The one speaking presented his I.D. and badge, and as he did I could see that he was, discretely, “packing”.  He took me in a friendly but firm manner into the building while his buddy stood where I had been standing.

As I tried to question him about what was going on he quietly said, as we moved swiftly, he would take my back so I wouldn’t lose my place, if I could (once inside) show him some identification and answer a few questions.  Baffled, I followed him…optimistically hoping he was clearing me for a special “tea” with the Queen for random people plucked from the crowd.

Nope.

Once inside I presented my drivers license and business card, he made a call and seemed satisfied.  He apologized profusely…”doing his job” and all that, and then said, ”…but you must admit, the way you look might draw suspicion.” 

What?!

Then I saw myself, through HIS eyes: lots of black, curly (yes, curly) hair and big mustache (some of you have seen the photos from then, if not, think of John Oates or Tony Orlando), mirrored sun glasses (it was the early 80s), black leather jacket, jeans, and boots…my normal “uniform.” But of course, to “007” I looked like a threat.  Hmmm.  He took me back to my place, to the bewilderment of the ever-swelling crowd, while his buddy (“006?”) stood discretely somewhere behind me…keeping an eye?  And then, just a few moments later, they arrived.

Standing to my left was a little girl holding a bouquet of daffodils…she caught Her Majesty’s eye and here came BOTH the Queen and the Prince over to me!  I could sense the tension of “006” behind me as the Queen stooped to speak to the little girl and accept the daffs.

Again, I’m not sure what I expected, but the person who stood right in front of me was small, no…tiny.  If I had run into her any other place or time I might not have ever realized she was a Monarch.  The Duke, on the other hand, was tall, gigantic, blonde, and every inch royalty…in any other place or time one wouldn’t have had to ask if he was royal.

Then it happened.  As I was soaking it all in, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, looked directly at me (“006: is having kittens at this point) and said something like, “Remarkable crowd, eh?” (or something close) and stuck out his hand.  In a moment that seemed to last forever I took it, shook it, and then they both moved on.  (When I called my mother and told her about the incident, she asked me not to wash my hand until she could touch it.)

What a moment in time.  What a lesson in identity. Who are we, anyway?

British Secret Security saw me as someone I wasn’t.
The Queen & Duke were not what I expected.
My perceptions, and everyone elses, were false, or incomplete.  

Are we who SOMEONE ELSE thinks we are?  Are we defined by our TITLES, our jobs, spouses, wealth?  Or, are we defined by place and time?

I believe we are ALL and NONE of that.  ALL, because everything that is temporary in us “tempers” us.  Who I was then, defined by age, place, and clothes, is not at all who I am now.  Their Majesties were only a year into being grandparents…look at them now.  But our “temporal” identities change, and that’s probably why we are always so insecure about “who we are”.  That’s probably why the more insecure we are the more we look to others to define us, not always getting what we want.  That’s why many posts on social media are really just Insecurities looking for affirmation. 

But we are also NONE of those perceptions. The only identity that doesn’t change is our permanent one, our immortal one: the identity first given to us by our Creator. 

 Gods love FOR us, and knowledge OF us precedes our very creation.  We were in his eye before we were in his hands. We are, and always will be, completely enough for God, perfect enough to be called His child, good enough to inherit a lifetime with Him as an heir, a Consort, a friend. HIS feeling for us don’t change. 

I know this much about INVESTMENTS: I need to invest in something sure, and lasting: I should invest in who GOD thinks I am.  What HE thinks and how HE feels about me takes precedent over what anyone else thinks…and My experience with Him is based on my choice to accept He is who He claims to be, and to live as I was designed to live; following His lead. 

God walks beside us as we pass through each moment in our lives.  He watches as we gain jobs and lose jobs, marry, have children, lose family, lose youth…and all the while He says, “…these are phases, these are “coverings”, these are temporary…the REAL you is being polished, trimmed, strengthened THROUGH those things, but they don’t define you.”

That moment in time, when I stood beside the Queen of England, her Prince Consort, a small girl with flowers, and a nervous British Secret Serviceman, was fleeting…but also eternal.  Time stopped when we all stood there, none of us were the people everyone around us perceived.  We were all MORE and LESS: it was simply a new grandmother chatting up a little girl with flowers, while her husband shook my hand and made small talk.

That scene may be repeated with the same cast one day in The Age-To-Come.  In that place, all the temporary labels will be gone.  All the perceptions others have of us will have faded to memory, and we will just be the children of God, in His garden, enjoying each other’s company and the company of our Father…from whom all blessings flow, and from whom our true identity comes.

In 2013 my parents passed away within months of each other.  Being an only child (which was wonderful, by the way) I had the task of going through things when my mom passed, and I moved my Dad back here with me to Indiana for the few months prior to his passing.

I had the singular joy (sarcasm emoji here) of going through photos, documents, memories, and deciding what to take with me and what to sell in the “Estate Sale” (a pretentious word for items contained in a rented ranch house).  Most things were items I had grown up with, things that brought back some good memories, things I had forgotten about, things I hadn’t realized my folks had saved, things that carried good and true memories of the wonderful life I had with my parents.

When I finally got to mom & dad’s personal things; wallets, stuff they kept in the top drawer of their bedroom dresser, etc. I discovered things I didn’t know about.  There were the wedding rings and wallet photos, etc. but there were other surprising things.

In context: both of my parents worked for the U.S. Government, in a town that was owned and run by the government until 1960 when it became the independent town of Richland, Washington.  Dad was an Army MP at Camp Hanford, the guardians of “Area 300” which held the secret “Button Factory” (that’s what the public was told) which made plutonium buttons for “the bomb”.  My mother, after graduating from business school, was hired as a secretary for the government-sub-contracted, General Electric Company, and then the Atomic Energy Commission (eventually re-named the D.O.E.).  I tell you all of this because I knew they began their lives together working for secret things, in a secret town.

So, I wasn’t surprised to find my dad’s army dog tags among the personal items, but I was surprised to find that Mom had dog tags also…issued to her, not because she was married to Dad, but because she worked for the government, sometimes in secret, to ensure the safety of the U.S. during the cold war.

Dog tags’ purpose is to identify the “wearer” when they become a casualty of war.  To wear a dog tag means that you have committed to “give over your life” and you wear that commitment around your neck.

Also, in my mom’s wallet, was the ragged card she had carried around since 1950.  It is the government-issue directive to any agents of the government, post-war and during the cold war.  It is printed bullet point directions for surviving an atomic attack, an artillery attack, and a chemical attack.  One was to carry it with them all the time…just in case.  In each scenario the last bullet point said, “Continue with your mission.”

I recently ran across these dog tags again.  I thought about the commitment my mom & dad made – which they really never spoke about to me – to live out to the point of death for service to their country.  Would I be willing to do the same, to “put on the dog tags” making a commitment to not only live, but die, for something?

And yet…

That is exactly how Jesus describes the type of LIFE and LOVE offered to us, and expected from us, when we agree to live in the Kingdom.

 “No one has greater love (agape) than this, that someone would lay down (tithemi) his life (psyche) for his friends.” John 15:13

This too-familiar verse speaks exactly to this concept.  I say “too familiar” because we sometimes misinterpret, or assume, it’s meaning from having heard it so often.   AGAPE is the “love that is given despite feeling”.  It is, in effect, “love by choice” to those who cannot or will not love back.  TITHEMI is translated to “lay down”, but also means “to present” or “to commit”.  But the key word here is PSYCHE, which is simply translated to the English, “life”.  This isn’t the “full life in Jesus”. That word is ZOE.  It isn’t our “physical” life/body, that word is BIOS.  No, this word could be translated as “life force/mind/heart/soul”; OR everything that a person truly is.

In other words, the verse may be more accurately translated to: “No one chooses a greater love toward others than this, that they live out their entire lives, even to the point of pouring it out completely in death, for their friends, neighbors, circles of influence.”

It’s about choosing to “put on the dog tags”; committing to not only DIE, physically, but to SERVE while living.  To “put on the dog tags” is to say good-bye to one’s physical life even before death.  It is a commitment to serve the “country” of THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

There is no half-way.  To BELIEVE Jesus is the Son of God, who died, rose, and is coming back…but not FOLLOW Him, is not much of a commitment.  To FOLLOW Him, ignorant of the price, or unwilling to “put on the dog tags” is something that Jesus Himself teaches against many times – “count the cost” He says again and again.  And so, we must BOTH BELIEVE AND FOLLOW if we are to have any life at all.

Mom & Dad’s dog tags contain their identities, their birthdates…and their “religion” (so they could be buried appropriately, when their bodies were found…after they “completed their missions”).

 MY prayer is that my “friends” will know…without having to SEE my dog tags…that I am committed to “live out my very life-force, to the point of physical death” for them.  If I have to advertise it, I’m not doing it very well.

What about you?  Are you willing to put on the dog tags?

Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s something else, but lately I’ve been obsessively fantasizing, and even had dreams about, going back and starting over…beginning with my Freshman Year in High School.  Like I said, I’m not sure what prompted this thought process, but I’ve been imagining what it would be like to know everything I know now, including my life as it has played out, and return into my 14-year-old body with my 64-year-old mind AND know my future, as it played out once.Think of the confidence, wisdom, and knowledge that would come from the years of experience that wasn’t there when I actually ATTENDED High School.

I’ve imagined those differences, and how much better my life would’ve played out, because of my knowledge and experience now:

1. My friendship with God would be much improved, and my confidence in His love and sacrifice for ME would be stronger…which would affect everything, and every choice…and chisel my identity.
2. I would give my parents a break.  I wasn’t a bad kid, but I sure would appreciate them more.  I’d love my mom more, I’d build things with dad.  I’d “help”.
3. I’d love my friends more and adjust my life to make them happy.  Having no siblings (which I would NOT change) I counted on my friends too much, without allowing them the ability to count on me.  As I’ve aged, I have realized that “relationships are EVERYTHING”.
4. I would do less “church” stuff and more “school” stuff. I realize now that I allowed my home church to “sequester” me, when Jesus really would’ve had me BE the church myself: to my friends, “salt” and “light”, if you will…as opposed to using the church as a “club” of “haves” and viewing those outside of my church as the “have-nots”. I know, a weird thing for a Preacher to say, but I would’ve gone to church less, and gone to football games and dances more.  At the same time, I would cultivate my personal doctrine, practice my faith and recognize Jesus when I see Him, personally.
5. I would’ve found one adult, not one of my parents, to trust and to whom I could be open. I wanted to be honest about what I felt, and who I was, with someone who was old enough to listen and wise enough to know they didn’t need to fix it…just so that SOMEONE would know me and hear me talk it out.
6. I would start lifting weights at 14, and not stop…wow, I’d look good by this point! But I’d also not shy away from eating the great junk food that crowds into a teenager’s life.
7. I would learn more instruments and read more books.
8. I would buy the same first car.(1972 Plymouth Duster, Army Green…slant six, four-on-the-floor).
9. I would’ve used more hair product, grown it longer…and worn my puca shells in my Senior Picture, despite my mom’s warning that it “would make my Senior look too dated, years from then”
10. I would fall in love more and allow my heart to break more. I now know that love is everything and heartbreaks heal. (“It is better to have loved and lost….” and all that)

…and then I got to:

11. I would make different choices…

And that’s where the epiphany happened.

Different choices would mean different consequences,
which would lead to different paths,
which would lead to a different future and lead to a different “me”.

Of course.

All of those choices were things like:

I wouldn’t have jumped into that parking lot fight, to help a buddy, in college (where I walked away bloody and should’ve gone to the campus doctor, but was afraid to because the fight was about something less than legal and we would’ve ALL been suspended)…or…

…I shouldn’t have hooked up with my friend, Mitch, who led me and some others into a world where we were constantly dodging “the law”.  I wouldn’t have chosen the first college I attended, but rather spent all my years at the college I graduated from…

…I would’ve chosen to be honest about myself and lived my life for God alone to judge.

HOWEVER…It is precisely through (not BECAUSE) of those choices that I am where I am today…which is a GOOD place. 

It was THROUGH my choice of colleges that I not only gained much needed “transition-from-home-to-my-own-life” education, but where I discovered God in other denominations, other people, and other ways, and made lifetime friends.  It was precisely BECAUSE of my first school that I landed an acceptance into the Music Institute from which I graduated.

IN FACT, looking at my entire life, even my poor choices (ones that led me to disaster, failure, or at the least, bumpy roads) brought me… 

…here.

On the other side of the journey, there is knowledge to be gained, beauty to be appreciated and love to express.  The Spirit never abandoned me, always protected me, and always turned my “straw to gold”.  There are many, many parts of my life I would not wish on anyone, and decisions I would hope no one else would make…but the place I am NOW is a destination I would wish for everyone.   And the Spirit of God has used every person, every moment, and the consequence of every good and bad decision…to get me here and now.

And so, though there are things I wish I knew then, and confidence, knowledge, and wisdom I wish I had…the blessings I have received, the life that I have, I would not trade for all the bacon in the mid-west…or all the bourbon in Tennessee.

Again, I say what the Spirit has taught me:

Every moment has its time.
Every person has their place.
Do not brush aside, or rush by, either.
In doing so, you may miss God’s wish for you
To either ENJOY a miracle…

…or BE the miracle.

He walked in through the doors from the narthex of the church, where I had just started working as Music Director, and he looked grumpier than usual.

“Oh, good.” I thought, sarcastically.

I looked up from the piano where I was arranging my pages of music before the service that day.  I had not been with this congregation very long and was just beginning to put names with faces, and dispositions.  This man’s disposition, face, and name was a combination I learned quickly.  He was never happy about anything.  From the building’s roof to sugar cream pie, he had a opinion, and it wasn’t a good one.

My bad habit of labeling a person (and in some cases then writing them off as someone not worthy of my time…forgive me, Father) had quickly labeled this guy as someone to avoid, someone whose opinion I guessed with every decision I made, whether he was present or not.  And so, he crippled me.  For every fifty or so people who thought I was wonderful, there would always be him.  It was his review, imagined or otherwise, that judged me.

And here he walked, down the aisle, quite possibly to let me know of another disappointment he had in me.

In a moment of weakness, and displaying a rare attribute of “agape” (love actions, despite how one feels), I said: “Hey, how’s it going?”

“The day could’ve started better.” Was his succinct, grim, reply.

OK, here we go.

“I have two identical-looking tubes in the medicine cabinet,” he continued, as my thoughts tried to imagine where he was going with this, “one of them is hemorrhoid cream, the other is Polygrip…I’ll leave the story right there.”

At this point I had an epiphany: this guy was funny (which meant he was intelligent), and suddenly I saw him in a different light.  It happened in a millisecond, but it happened.

He passed me, on his way to take care of something (it turned out to be a leaky baptistery) and as he passed he said one more thing.

“You’re doin’ good…don’t let the b*&%+ds get you down.” (as it says in the Scripture…somewhere, I’m sure).

That was one of three compliments (assuming THAT was a compliment) he ever directed toward me, always in private.  I have remembered it all these years.  He and I also shared some memorably irreverent moments during board meetings, when we sat in the back, side-by-side.

He taught me that I cannot judge any person, based on a first impression.  I cannot make choices based on an uncomfortable or painful moment. He also taught me that irritating people aren’t what they seem…and we never know anyone’s “backstory”…

…there are many people who are “lonely porcupines”, afraid to get close and determined to keep you away.

Every moment has its time.
Every person has their place.
Do not brush aside, or rush by, either.
In doing so, you may miss God’s wish for you
To either ENJOY a miracle…

…or BE the miracle.

It’s no secret one of my favorite places to hang out after a rehearsal, performance, church, or to write and work (while eating and drinking) is SCAMPY’S ANNEX.  For those of you not from around Anderson, Indiana, SCAMPY’S is a local, family-owned “pizza/pub” with a rich and generous history.  It’s a local “watering hole” and a great place to eat, drink, meet people and have a great time…owned and operated by some pretty cool people.

I’m there quite a bit; an average of twice a week or more, during the theatre season.  I love the staff, they’re like family now, and I always see some other patron I know. When I lived alone I used to retreat there to work and eat by myself. I liked being out of the house eating something I didn’t need to make, and I enjoyed the chatter around the place while I worked (the quantity of sermons written there, over the years, is astounding). Whenever I’m there, whether with friends or alone, I sit down and “exhale”.  It is usually the end of the day, and I whisper a “thank you” to the Spirit. It has become a place that is comfortable, hospitable, and familiar.  

Against a back wall of the room is a JUKEBOX.  Now, I say JUKEBOX, and that is “technically” what it is, but JUKEBOXES have changed even since I was young.  This one doesn’t require you to stand in front of it and push buttons, unless you want to.  It doesn’t even require change – you can use APPLE PAY or your credit card (handy).  But the awesome thing is the JUKEBOX APP, for my iPHONE, which connects me to the JUKEBOX, from wherever I am…over the internet.  I put money in the APP on my phone, select the music (from a vast catalogue of virtually every style), and the JUKEBOX plays my song.

So, imagine this scenario: there I was, the JUKEBOX and APP were new, and it was my first time using it.  I go to the APP on my phone, choose the JUKEBOX I’d like to activate (There it is: SCAMPY’S), and I begin to choose some music which will then mysteriously play throughout the room, and no one will know who has chosen the songs. I chose my first, inaugural, song to be played on the new-fangled JUKEBOX – “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN” which I thought was appropriate, both as a patron and minister.  It didn’t play.  I waited, waited, waited…still nothing.  So, I told myself I had done the whole process wrong.  I lost a little bit of change, but “purchased” another play of “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”…still nothing, even though my phone was saying the first song I ordered was already playing.  So, I thought, “third time’s a charm” and set it to play once more.

AFTER I had hit the button to play a THIRD TIME, on my phone, I noticed there were TWO listings for SCAMPY’S: there was the listing for SCAMPY’S ANNEX (where I was enjoying my pizza in silence) and a listing for SCAMPY’S (the full bar next door, part of the same place) – and suddenly dawn broke over my head – they had another JUKEBOX in the bar…WHICH MY PHONE WAS CONNECTED TO.  That’s right, while I was sitting in the silence of SCAMPY’S ANNEX, the bar patrons next door were enjoying THREE ROUNDS of one of the longest songs in history: back-to-back performances of, “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”! 

Now, I’m sure that was more than irritating for them, though I didn’t go over and check.  To this day I’m not sure anyone understands what happened. 

That experience, however, started me on a journey to “alter the mood of my fellow patrons in the ANNEX” with music.  I’ve walked in where various families, groups or couples are quietly talking over their meals when all of the sudden an energetic song that I’ve stealthily placed in the JUKEBOX queue fills the room.  I like to guess, as an observer of human nature, what kind of songs would “speak” to the people present – though I don’t personally know them. It’s amazing to see the power of music to change the mood and sound of a room.  People become filled with energy: the sounds are not just louder (probably trying to be heard over the music) but also filled with laughter and a little more energy.

 I’m not making this up, the power of music to alter the essence of a place and person is like seeing the change when a light it turned on in darkness, or a smile appears on a face, or someone you love walks into the room.

While I’ve had fun choosing music at SCAMPY’S, the Spirit takes advantage of that time, once again, to teach.  Though music is a more powerful example, I have seen how a small thing makes big changes.  How a kind word shifts an entire day for someone, how a smile to a stranger, will change the way they walk as they pass, and how a “thank you” to a server is the “icing on the cake” for someone who may feel transparent to the many customers they have served that day.

Jesus is right.  We are, or I should say we have the choice to be, “the salt of the earth”.  Connecting to Jesus is achieved by our connection to each other, and visa versa.  When we “do unto others” we “do unto Him”.  The person who makes others laugh, who lifts others up with their words, who smiles, who thanks…who gives, is a person who connects us with each other, and connects us with God.

Our spiritual ancestors understood that God’s commands (mitzvot) were centered around creating connections with each other and forming or maintaining community, with the understanding that God is loved when we love each other.

If you have a regular time, or place, to exhale and give a little “thanks”, also take the time to “turn on the music” in someone’s life.  It doesn’t take a special skill, “you ARE the salt of the earth”, you don’t need the JUKEBOX APP on your phone.  All you need to do is remember what it was like when Jesus Himself, or through someone else, turned the music on for you – and do that: smile, thank, embrace, give, and love.

“Money spent on a JUKEBOX is never a wasted investment.”
Famous quotes by RICK VALE 

“Above all, put on love — the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful. Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
COLOSSIANS 3:14-17

YOU are the JUKEBOX of the world.

a BLOG by Pastor Ken Rickett

Just a few days ago I started a 3,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. When I opened the box and put all the pieces in 5 separate containers, my task was to bring order to the chaos.

First, I searched all the boxes for the straight edges that formed the perimeter. Then I studied the picture of the puzzle, and decided my next project was to find the pieces of the windows in two houses and put the windows together…since the two houses were different colors, I then searched for the pieces showing these dwellings and put them together. Then I did the same for a barn. The puzzle was a fall scene, so I found the pieces and put together the pumpkins, etc. Mind you, I haven’t yet finished a complete house, barn, or all the pumpkins. I haven’t even started putting the sunset sky nor the trees in the yard. It is that big of a chaos, and it will take a while to bring order to this awesome chaos. The family has no idea how long they will be without a dining room table as this massive puzzle awaits completion.

When God created everything, God brought order out of the existing chaos, first creating the heavens and the earth, then all living things. Primitive Hebrew language has no past tense, but a past perfect tense which implies ongoing action. The first verse of Genesis 1:1, in most Bibles, reads “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” but the better translation would be “From the beginning God was creating the heavens and the earth.” Creation continues. Actually, God brings order out of chaos. And bringing order is a basic function of everyday life.

Bringing order out of chaos is messy. If you don’t believe it, just look at my dining room table where I am attempting to put together that 3,000-piece puzzle. I literally have hundreds of pieces lying all around the few bits that I have already put together–let alone what is in the boxes. As I look at many of those pieces I laid out, thinking it might fit into that section of the puzzle (houses, barn, pumpkins), I now wonder what in the world I was thinking to lay some of those pieces out. You see, part of the chaos is that pieces that fit elsewhere in the puzzle can look incredibly like the pieces I really needed. Not all orange colors are pumpkins—have you ever seen a sunset scene that didn’t glow orange in paintings and color photos?

Bringing order out of that chaos is not only messy, but also slow and patient. A teenager dreams of becoming a medical doctor. What a huge puzzle that must be put together! College, med school, residency, and finally a medical practice. Throw in the financing of many years of schooling, obtaining dorms or housing, and putting food on the table. Talk about a slow process that needs a ton of patience to put such a puzzle together! Yet, invisible in this puzzle will be those moments of joy and celebration as well as disappointment and anguish, but bringing order out of chaos has those mental, emotional, and psychological highs and lows.

Life is about bringing order out of chaos. Not only in choosing a career path (a puzzle requiring much work and sacrifice), but also in marriage there is chaos seeking order. About the time a couple get a bit of order established, children come! Rearing them requires a constant, patient, and slow ordering of chaos if the children are to become mature adults. I like to think of the story of Job in the Old Testament as a glimpse into everyday life for all of us. There are times that we “lose” much that may be dear to us, bringing chaos and a need for re-ordering life. The three counselors of Job, faced with the task of helping Job re-establish order, were basically ineffective because they could not help envisioning a new picture of life (i.e., a new puzzle to be put in order). But eventually, with God’s help, order was restored but not “back to the same family and circumstance.” The task of putting life’s chaos in order is never about “going back”, it is about creating anew.

Ministry makes a huge difference in life, but sometimes ministry is “messy, chaotic!” You see, good intentions do not always have a good result. I once took a person to a facility that would feed, clothe, and help find a job. I thought, “Boy, this is ministry at its best!” Imagine my plunging “good feelings” when, just three weeks later, this person apparently decided that his unstructured life was not to be shaped by “providers of food, clothing, and jobs.” For some people, a re-ordering of life is “going back.” I learned that painful mental, emotional, and psychological scars can and will block all “helpfulness” and ministry. On the other hand, I once went on a mission trip to help re-build after a tornado. One lady who lived alone had some damage to her house, but it was salvageable. Her house had been built around an old log cabin that had been in her family for generations. While we had to cut and re-shape some of those old hand-hewn logs, we did not re-create what had been, but we re-created her house, including the part that was not the old cabin, with modern wiring, roofing, and even some appliances.

Bringing order out of chaos is always an act of creation.

So, what will happen to my 3,000-piece puzzle once I complete it? Well, I can congratulate myself and then take the puzzle apart piece by piece and put it back in the box, returning it to a state of chaos (maybe permanently if no one puts it together again). Or I can glue it, build a frame, and place a stiff backing on the backside so that the oversized puzzle will hold together, and then hang it on the wall (or give it away). BUT will my family let me “hog” the dining room table for a few more weeks so that I can do all these things–otherwise, I can’t even get the puzzle off the table without creating chaos (taking the puzzle apart)! And above all, I must decide if I really want to keep a 3,000-piece puzzle that will require that I remove from one entire wall all pictures and re-arrange furniture just to accommodate this monster! To put that thing on the wall is chaotic in itself! AND WHAT IF. . .once I hang this big puzzle on the wall, no one likes it! Even more chaos comes!

CHAOS! IT IS A PART OF LIFE! And so is creating anew!

What if a huge part of our spiritual journey is not seeking a higher spirituality, but what if our higher spirituality comes from our lifelong effort to bring order out of chaos and transforming life for ourselves and others into God’s kingdom on earth? After all, isn’t that what Jesus taught us to pray. . . and seek?