Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
@#$%
Counting time in
the womb which I do because God does, I turned 60 about two months ago.
While you won't
find that listed in Parade or
even The Boone County
Journal, Boone County Shopper, or Belvidere Daily Republican, it's
kinda significant to me; 'cause I never thought I'd, uh, you know, ever be, uh,
this old.
I mean I still
listen to Jimi Hendrix.
When Paul and I
got together to bury our friend Paul in Kansas City back in 1994, we looked at
each other and asked simultaneously after comparing notes before the
service, "Who's gonna speak at the next funeral?"
Now more than
then, I know the time left ain't as much as what's been spent.
@#$%
@#$%
Now that my
wife's been hired/called as CE/youth person - she's lots younger despite people
who believe in reincarnation thinking I'm Peter Pan - I figure folks will stop wondering
if I'm staying at First until I'm assassinated, die, or retire.
Parenthetically,
I'll never retire.
I'm not the, uh, retiring kinda guy.
Psst.
People who've
left the church during my tenure have already figured that out. That's
why they left. They realized they couldn't outlast me 'cause my call is
stronger than their, uh, uh, uh, whatever.
Again, unless someone pulls the trigger or Grandpa Jacob's cancer
is in my system, I'm counting on more than a decade or two to keep scratching
on the surface of my relationship with Him/His.
Really, I feel so
fresh and new and, uh, born anothen.
I'm learning more
and more and more every day; again, just scratching the surface of an expanded
exciting adventure with Him/His.
I love Jesus more
and more and more every day and thank Him for the privilege to share Him with
others and join, uh, forces with everyone/anyone who gets it/Him.
@#$%
@#$%
Certainly, He's
in charge; and like Jerry described fidelity for me so many years ago
before I only got it/Him recently, "I'll go wherever He wants me to go,
say whatever He wants me to say, and do whatever He wants me to do; depending
upon His grace."
Yeah.
More than less.
Trying more than less.
I don't have an
updated resume/dossier/PIF on file with www.pcusa.org
or anybody else; but media stuff related to I
Just Wanna Ride (FTW) has forced me to update my vita which is
symbolic/representative of my, uh, evolving relationship with Him/His:
Vita
The Rev. Dr. Robert R. Kopp
Pastor Bob
Dr. Kopp
Chaplain Bob
Professor Kopp
Bobby
There are many other names given to me
by antagonists!
While you can read what I really think
about this on page 161 of I
Just Wanna Ride (FTW)
or go to the egotistical version on pages 234-235 of my non-best-selling Fifteen Secrets, here's a real
brief summary for the curious,
suspicious, distrusting, and cynical...like me:
Born on March 2, 1952 in Washington,
D.C.
Non-distinguished graduate of Wyoming
Valley West High School (1970), maxima cum laude (Wow!) graduate of King's College (1974),
M.Div from Princeton Theological Seminary (1977), and D.Min. from Drew
University (1982).
Lots of studies in Germany, Rome,
Geneva, and Israel.
Is this getting impressive or what?
Stints as Professor of Homiletics at
Nazarene Seminary and Carolina Divinity School.
Pastor of churches since May 8, 1977
(ordination) ranging in size from just over 100 to a shade under 3000.
Those last two paragraphs are really
important to clergy who are into size and status regardless of what Jesus or
Paul said or people figure out sooner than later.
Five non-bestsellers before I Just Wanna Ride (FTW) which, uh, I think is more important
than anything so far that's come, I think, from Him into my noodle.
Lots of other stuff to impress those
impressionable posing clergy; but I'm most proud in a Christian kinda way of being a police chaplain for
Belvidere and Boone County (Illinois) and just completing five years as P of a
big junior tackle football league.
Of course, my day job is undershepherd of Belvidere's First
Presbyterian Church.
Seriously, it's about who you are more
than what you do or have done.
I'm still working on the first part of
that last sentence; meaning I'm just scratching the surface of...
I have a really, really, really big
family; and if I have to explain that to you...
First Presbyterian Church
221 N. Main Street
Belvidere, Illiinois
(815) 544-6402
Sorry, don't text, twitter, or
Facebook; and once I get your e-mail address, you'll...
Back in October
when I was with my covenant brothers in Montana and blessed to spend so much
time with Eugene, I got caught up in his/His disdain for religion about Jesus
more than relationship with Him and his/His disgust with clergy who are often
more religious about Him/His than relational with Him/His.
Maybe that's why
my vita has...
Anyway, I was
overwhelmed by an inspiration/indigestion.
You decide.
Does anyone
really think Jesus would wear the funny kinda stuff (vestimentum) that
clergy often wear?
Does anyone
really think Jesus would lead worship with one of our bulletins in hand or
liturgies in mind?
Yeah, I can just
see Him now in Genevan robe with collar and tabs and...
And, surely, He'd
get out our directories, rubrics, ceremonies, rites, a good bulletin cover
service, and...
Barf.
This section has
been a metaphor for...
@#$%
@#$%
Speaking of my
latest book, one of our elders who gets it/Him sent one of his recent prayers
to me: "Dear Father God, may Bob's book be a major tool for people to be
pointed to Jesus. Open up all avenues for it to become a best-seller and
be a blessing to multitudes for Christ's sake. Amen."
Of course, my mom
hates it.
That's because
it's so direct/candid that she keeps asking, "What do people in the
church think about it?"
She's asked me
that almost as much as she's bantered and moaned about me not wearing a helmet
to give hope to people who hate me in
a Christian kinda way.
Essentially, she
doesn't like some of the language and personal confessions; and despite
countless explanations of the genre/art of reporting, quoting, and
incorporating reality into, uh, reality redemptively and that I don't use
the language personally because I try to be more creative in a Vonnegutian,
Buechneristic, and Daliesque kinda way, she still hates it.
O.K.
I didn't write it
for her; and I didn't write it for "religious" people who care more
about, uh, posing stuff than an authentic relationship with Him/His that would
disrupt their, uh, "religion" scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally
related to Him.
I wrote it to
distinguish posers from authentics and encourage everyone/anyone to experience
the real Jesus who loves so lavishly, graciously, and unconditionally.
I wrote it for
people who have not been reached by the
conventional/religious/Jezebeled/posing/pathetic/polluted/nauseating-to-Jesus church
that's scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally related to Him.
Or something like
that.
Actually, as Bill
so masterfully explains in one of the better reviews archived by www.bnnsradio.com, the book has more to it
than its author can grasp.
A recent review
from a Presbyterian "bishop" (aka Executive/General Presbyter) in
Kentucky comes to mind: "Just finished I
Just Wanna Ride (FTW)...Several observations...I wish it didn't, at
least to some degree, condemn me as a poser...poop...I realized I don't like to
read/hear/consider the word ___ no matter what it might cause me to
consider...poop...I'm not sure whether the biker's journey is a metaphor for
the Christian's or vice versa...I'm going to buy a copy for my daughter-in-law
(Presbyterian minister/Army chaplain/HD owner) and son (clergy kid and Kawasaki
owner)...I'll probably buy a copy for my other son (Jeep fancier) and
daughter-in-law...Will ask my wife to struggle through the book - ___ or no
___...I'm not sure whether I should say 'good work' or not...poop."
Excellent!
That's why I
wrote it.
Inspired/Indigested?
Selah.
@#$%
@#$%
After six
decades, I'm still trying to...
God knows I have
regrets.
I haven't always
been a good-or-even-mediocre-more-often-awful son, brother, husband, dad,
friend, pastor, presbyter, or...
I've
tried/failed/tried/failed/tried/failed/tried...
I'm still
trying/failing/trying/failing/trying/failing/trying...
And while it
always helps to remember that cycle is exactly why Jesus came/remains/reigns -
to bridge the gaps - I have regrets.
No doubts.
It's more than
the conditioned Calvinist in me.
It's a Romans
8:thing.
For anyone who
gets it/Him - and I'm just scratching the surface of it/Him - it's/He's all
about redemption.
Restoration of
relationships with Him and His.
My regrets are overshadowed
by no doubts about His redemptive purposes for me/you/us.
That's why I
still...
@#$%
@#$%
Though I've
poured my heart into it to encourage people to get in touch with the real not
religiously created Jesus who's so lavishly, graciously, and unconditionally
loving, some won't like/get I
Just Wanna Ride (FTW).
Though I don't
pretend/expect to have it/Him all together in my life or ministry and need to
confess and repent and depend upon His mercy as much as anybody else despite
being paid to be holy, some, even those closest to me, will pretend/expect...
Though I've been
around a while now, I know I'm just scratching...
And, I guess,
that causes some around me along with me to itch...
Simply, I'm not
satisfied with what I've done or what I'm doing.
I'm at peace
about it because I know He knows I'm...
But I want more!
I want to be more
faithful to Him/His.
I want to love
Him/His to...
@#$%
@#$%
Why this birthday
confession?
While I don't
know everything - again, just scratching the surface - I have learned we never
arrive until we, uh, arrive if
you know what I mean.
And it's O.K.
That's a big part
of His message in Jesus.
Nobody gets
it/Him completely right...now.
He saves us from
that delusion/damnation.
Part of my call
is to admit it for myself to free others to...
@#$%
@#$%
Well, that's
whatever you judge it/me to be.
It's a
lot/nothing to think/pray about.
More or less,
it's my birthday confession.
@#$%
@#$%
BTW, I'm heading
out for a few days after Sunday's service for book stuff; so no new KDs for a few days.
What a ride!
Looking forward
to the next...
@#$%
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
4 comments:
Bob
Don't get me wrong. I understand. I've heard lots of young folks and Army guys and others. The comments were about ME! The books audience ought to be more of us from the pews than will likel read it and should read it. The most telling part of the book was the comment about languages. Spanish is a better choice!
I should have just said I like what you're saying IN SPITE of myself!
The language thing is a symptom of an old, white guy / church that really doesn't know about people who aren't real.
Poop.
Bob,
After reading "My Birthday Confession" I read the Vine daily devotional and knew that you both are listening to the same God.
Here's Today's Devotional from The Vine...
Daily Duty
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them. - Luke 2:20
They might have been so enraptured with the sight of the Christ-child that they would not have cared to go away again to their own dull work in the fields. Some people in their ecstasies feel disinclined to devote themselves longer to the prosaic things of this common work-day life. Peter wanted to stay on the Transfiguration Mount; earthly life, with its toils and struggles, would be too tame, he thought, after such ecstatic visions. And surely no human eyes ever gazed on a more glorious vision than that these shepherds beheld that night. Yet they went back to their lowly toil, and no doubt they were just as faithful shepherds after that as they had been before.
We need to learn a lesson here. All our spiritual enjoyments ought to make us only the more diligent and faithful in the duties of our ordinary callings. It is not a true devotional experience which draws us away from our daily duty. The nearer we get to Christ the better should we do all our work. Our love for communion with God and with His people should never make us negligent in the doing of the tasks that the common days bring to us. After our most heavenly experiences on the Sabbath or in the closet of prayer, we should return to our work ever with fresh earnestness and zest.
God gives us our spiritual raptures, our glimpses of His face and His glory, our foretastes of celestial joy, our fragments of heavenly vision, for the very purpose of making us stronger and braver for duty. It will be sad indeed, then, if they make us less fit for life here with its burdens and cares. We should seek to bring the heavenly visions down and give them reality in our lives, that others may see the beauty too, and be cheered by it. Our hours of communion with Christ should leave some gleams of brightness on our faces as we come to walk again in life's dusty ways.
Have a good trip with/for the book.
Confirmation is always a blessing, brother!
All I have to say is welcome to the 60+ club ... ;)
Post a Comment