Getting Started on the Bucket List

Not only has AARP (American Association of Retired People) been on my case to join them since I turned fifty, the Medicare Administration has gotten me in their grip, and now I receive the regular reminders I am old enough to draw my full Social Security benefits. I don’t mind the help with medical expenses, but I am not ready to retire and do nothing.

That is not to say I am not ready to leave this full time job and devote myself to other interests of a less frustrating nature. I have that proverbial bucket list containing a long list of goals I want to pursue when I have the time. One of those goals is embodied in this blog, the urge to write. At one time I sought to make this a weekly event. That has retreated into a hopefully once a month event. The writing interest also finds expression on a facebook page, a life log (for my eyes only), and in generating children’s stories and novels.

Beyond that the bucket list contains education in the form of earning another master’s degree, learning Spanish, and getting involved in a local archaeological dig. There are hospital volunteer responsibilities to assume, getting dirty with Habitat for Humanity, and becoming more involved in helping others to live better in this next part of life.

If you are not familiar with the movie, The Bucket List, I encourage you to see it before you reach retirement age. Morgan Freeman, one of my favorite all time actors, and Jack Nicholson are two terminally ill men who decide to live out the dreams on their bucket lists, things to do before they “kick the bucket”. Make up your own bucket list to avoid dropping dead from boredom the day after you retire.

All of this is to say just doing stuff to keep busy is hardly worth the effort. Watching television eighteen hours a day can keep you busy. Doing crossword or word search puzzles eighteen hours a day can keep you busy. Involving yourself in activities that will make you a better person and most of all make the people around you better people, those are activities worth putting on a bucket list.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I have another motivation. I want to make my Lord glad that he choose me to be one of his disciples. It is not the personal credit that is important; rather the knowledge I have pleased the One who has given me so much already.

As the Apostle Paul records in his letter to the church in Colossae:

Col 3:23  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.

If your priority is to please the Lord in your work, then it makes no difference in what stage of life you may be or the difficulty of the task. The important goal is to give God the best you have. This involves not only the effort you are willing to put into the job, but also the attitude with which you do it. The world may see none of what you do or only part of it. The Lord, however, will see all of it, and he deserves your best.

Taking Necessary Risks

Recently I watched the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, one of my favorite actors. When a person realizes time is a limited commodity, using it well should become a priority. Unfortunately what all too many don’t seem to realize is that time is always a limited commodity. We shouldn’t have to be told we have six to twelve months to live to understand every moment is precious and should be used accordingly.

When does life become so precious it can be filled only with the events that make it worth living? Only when we reach a point where we no longer fear death can we truly begin to live. Only those who have faced death seem able to value the important things of life such as family, friendship, and self-sacrificing love, relationships and not materials objects.

A follower of Jesus Christ more than any other person should see the importance of living each moment to its fullest. The gift of life assumes its greatest power as it is given back to its Giver in service that glorifies its origin. Life reaches its pinnacle of value as it is used for the glory of God and his Kingdom. A believer’s bucket list has this purpose as its priority.

When we read the story of the three servants in the Parables of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the response of the master of the house to the three is what grabs our attention. We dream of hearing the response of “Well done” to our own lives. None of us want to hear, “you wicked and lazy servant.”

Looking closer at the story, we note the servants were given no instructions on how to use the money placed in their responsibility. They were told to go and make more money! This was at a time when there were no loan guarantees, no investment insurance, and little recourse to civil suits in case of fraud. They were on their own.

Perhaps the greatest difference in the three servants was the level of risk they were willing to take. Two stepped out and doubled their money. The third buried his responsibility fearful that he would lose what he had. We can say his bucket list, if he had had one, would not have included sky diving or muscle car racing!

Those first disciples of Jesus were faced more than once with the choice of playing it safe and walking away from Jesus. In the end we know of the eleven who remained faithful, ten were martyred and one endured only through a long exile. Their bucket list contained one primary item, remain faithful through death itself.

On one occasion, as the crowds decided the message of Jesus was too costly, he asked his close associates of their plans. (John 6:66-69, also consider Luke 18:28) Their response was to say they had nowhere else to go to find the words of life. In spite of his reputation as the Doubter, it was Thomas who said as the brave band faced that last trip to Jerusalem, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16)

A bucket list for a believer should begin and end with the effort to fulfill one great command from God, “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness.” That will include seeking to reflect the nature of Christ and serving as a member of his Body. There will be no easy path to follow, no social acceptance, no praise from the world, no masses of adoring followers. To place the Kingdom of God and living according to his holy righteousness above all else is to face a life of high risk and potentially deadly confrontation with the world. And there is no vacation from it once the decision is made. (Luke 9:61-62)

Does your bucket list contain dreams involving risks, or does it consist of watching paint dry and grass grow? If you had hours or decades left to live, when it was over, would the Lord of life say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

Don't Waste a Perfectly Good Summer

You would never have believed that the program you are watching on this hot summer evening is a rerun you have already seen at least seven times (to use a good biblical number!). Stop for just a moment. Look around you. Is the scene in which your life has been momentarily captured also a rerun? Is this summer becoming a repeat of last summer, and the summer before that? My advice is not to waste a perfectly good summer by turning it into a rerun.

Near the end I'll get to a few sage words for the pastors in my association, so be warned you non-pastoral readers. Before then I intend to point my finger at myself and tell me what I had better do to keep my own summer from being a boring repeat. Some reruns are both entertaining and enlightening which explains why I like to rewatch The Lord of the Rings (all twelve hours!) ever so often. Likewise it never hurts me to read the same passage from the Bible over and over. However, as time grows short for me to experience every item on my bucket list, I cannot afford a rerun summer.

1. Learn something new. No, I don't mean how to keep from getting lost while driving in Raleigh or Charlotte though that is helpful. I do mean taking advantage of the internet, the local community college, or visiting one of the many fine local museums to gain knowledge on a subject in which you have an interest but have never taken the time to study.

2. Read a book, and not just one book, but at least one each month, and at least one of which will have nothing to do with my ministerial vocational career. History and archaeology, biography, writing and literary classics, and politics are all subjects that grab my interest.

3. Meet a community leader. Living in a community as I do, there are lots of them around. Every one of them knows something I don't. Every one of them has a perspective on this community different from my own. Every one of them can enrich my life by spending even a little time with them.

4. Grow something. Sure my garden is already well under way, but there is plenty of time to grow something else and experience the wonder of life increasing. This need not be a plant. If blessed, I can find the opportunity to help an individual grow by investing some time in that person's life.

5. Invest quality and quantity time in those people most important to you. Do it during the summer and every other season!

Each of these ideas is as applicable to a minister as it is to anyone sitting in the pews on a Sunday morning. The first step is always the hardest. Change is not always intentional, but it can be a lot more productive if it is. Deciding to make this summer different is that important first step. As for you pastors,

1. Meet your church members. I mean meet them somewhere other than at church or at a church function. Meet them on their terms on their turf. Let them show you how they live when not in Sunday best, either clothing or attitude.

2. Meet the administration at the public school closest to your church. They are a part of your community. You should know each other on a first name basis.

3. Celebrate a community group. Begin planning this summer to have a special recognition service this fall in your church for one of those public servant groups: police, firefighters, social services, emergency medical team, military units, local school administration and faculty.

4. Volunteer for a community project. Habitat for Humanity, a local thrift store, or a free medical clinic always needs volunteers in the summer when so many of their regular helpers are taking vacations. Such an experience sets an example for your church members.

5. Innovate. Give yourself some time to consider completing the question: "What if..." Dream beyond the normal, the average, the expected, or last year's events. Don't limit yourself to material resources as you dream. Let reality spoil the fun after you have dreamed, written those dreams down, outlined their purpose and the good they could do, and then think about how they could still be brought into reality with the resources you have in hand. Perhaps God will show you that you have more resources at your disposal than you had considered. God can do that with dreams.

Summers only come once a year. Don't waste it when it does.

A Recommitment to Life

This week I turned 62. The AARP has been sending me greetings for about twelve years. Golden Corral has been giving me senior discounts based upon hair color and lack of hair for about five years. Uncle Sam says that I am now old enough to collect social security checks. My financial advisor says I need to keep my retirement portfolio in more conservative investments. My doctor reminds me, needlessly, that I cannot do what I once could do.

It is not time to die, however. I figure that in the will of the Lord I could have at least 30 years of living to fill with meaning and purpose. My "bucket list" is long enough to keep me busy for at least another fifty years. I'll probably add more to the list as time goes by. Rather than ever retiring in the traditional sense of the word and sitting back all lazy like, I intend to retread and begin another part of the journey. I intend to recommit myself to life.

Life offers opportunities. We may have to look for them, create them, or sacrifice to participate in them. They are there waiting nonetheless. I want to see every outdoor drama that North Carolina has to offer. I want to read the complete Shakespearean plays. I want to learn how to play the recorder (that's about as complex as I can get with a musical instrument) and how to speak Spanish. I want to raise and sell 35 varieties of violets. I want to work in adult literacy classes and teach English as a Second Language. I want to write four fantasy novels, a trilogy of historical novels, and a pair of semi-autobiographical books. I want to write a collection of poetry and compile a selection of my favorite quotes. I want to be active in my church as long as mind and body will allow me, and when they won't, I'll commit my time to being a prayer warrior to support those who can still get about. I may have to retread several times.

A congregation must make the same re-commitment to life. The Church in its pilgrimage to be the people of God face a new set of hurdles every day. If the congregation doesn't recognize that, then they need to get out of bed occasionally and see that the world around them is changing on a regular basis. A new setting demands a renewed commitment to service in the name of the King of Kings. The reason the Church exists has never changed. We exist to glorify God. We have a multitude of methods to do that, but all methods should still result in glorifying God.

The renewed commitment demands a reevaluation of priorities and the actions related to those priorities. The commitment should always be to keep God on the throne and his Church in faithful service. Generations move into new roles and their previous roles are assumed by the next generation. The design of tasks change, the resources needed for those tasks change, and sometimes the cost of those tasks change, but they all lead to one great goal: God is glorified.

The Church must make a renewed commitment to the life purchased for it through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ every day. The temptation to compromise, grow complacent, or change priorities is always waiting. Our society demands that we allow it to set our agenda, determine our methods, and define our goals. The God of Jesus Christ usually gets modified, transformed, or left out completely when this happens.

Without a new commitment to life on a regular basis, an individual will lose purpose for life as changes within and without take place. Helplessness, despair, and a withering of the soul can be the result. Much that could be offered is wasted because change could not be accepted. The goal was so tied to the methods that the goal died with the old vision. Life need not be like that.

Likewise for the Church. As we face the changes in our world, we must make a renewed commitment to the purpose undergirding our existence. We must stay focused upon our Lord and his commission to us. We must bring glory to God. We must seek to make him proud of our efforts. We must stay faithful to our high calling.