Current Thoughts

Jesus People I
Bethel Church–Jackson, MI
Ken Pierpont
April 28, 2019

Some things are impossible to forget. I learned one such lesson 20 years ago and it is seared indelibly into my memory.

He was on an Easter Sunday afternoon. I was hurriedly preparing to return to preach in the Sunday evening service. I wanted something to eat—something with a bit of protein—and noticed there were some hard-boiled eggs on the counter left over from the morning Easter festivities.

I peeled two or three of the eggs, put a bit of salt on them, then I got to thinking they might be tastier if I warmed them up in the microwave. I popped them in a bowl and warmed them up for a few seconds in the microwave.

I pulled the eggs out of the microwave. They looked great and that’s when things got really memorable. I put a little extra dash of salt on one and bit into it. That is when it exploded in my mouth burning my tongue and creating an unforgettable Easter memory.

So just this: Jesus is alive. Boil eggs. Color eggs. Hide eggs. Decorate eggs. Eat hard-boiled eggs, just don’t warm them up in a microwave and bite into them. That will create a memory you won’t be able to forget, even if you want to.

Happy Easter;
Ken

Good Morning Garrison.

Every day I listen to your rich voice with the soft piano playing under the words, “Be well. Do good work, and keep in touch.”

I’ve been well, and I’m doing my best work to the best of my ability. You mentioned you wanted me to keep in touch and I’m not sure you text, I guess I will keep in touch with you the way you keep in touch with me, by posting my writing publicly. I hope that works for you. Let me know if you would like me to correspond or communicate in a different way.

I want to report on a happy experience. A few months ago I realized that you were consistently blogging, creating fresh new material in the form of a brief personal essay/journal article every week. Paying attention, I began to realize it came into my in-box every Wednesday… Today I discovered that it is posted sometime on Tuesday, so I get up and find it and read it every Tuesday morning. It is a part of my routine as sure as listening to the podcast of the Writer’s Almanac on the way to my study at the church. The essay and The Writer’s Almanac are some consolation for not being able to listen to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio every Saturday night as I did for over thirty years.

The other night I was talking to my youngest son, Wesley. He has moved to Texas and he had a long drive ahead of him from Austin to Dallas on a Saturday night. Remembering his childhood, he looked up old recordings of the News from Lake Woebegone and listened to them on his dive. I laughed when he told me that because I have the same instinct. Often on Saturday nights I reach for the radio dial and then realize things are not now what they used to be and it takes some getting used to.

This week, when you reported on your moving experience of worship at church on Easter Sunday and your hope in the resurrection of the dead, I was heartened. I know you have moved away from the sect of your childhood, but I had always hoped that did not mean you threw the baby (Jesus) out with the bathwater (narrow sect claiming to be the only true understanding of the church). Apparently you have not, for which I am glad and my heart is warm.

Keeping in Touch;
Ken Pierpont

The Jesus Story–The Resurrection
Easter Sunday-April 21. 2019 AM
Bethel Church-Jackson, MI

I saw a man walking on a county road yesterday. He was wearing a yellow cap, using a walking stick. The birds have returned. The daffodils are nodding in the cool, spring breeze. The trees are about to open into bud and there he was; a man on a backcountry road pausing to peer down into a stream on a spring morning.

To show my regard for walking people I slowed my car and gave him lots of room. He waved a thank you back my way without looking away from the stream.

I’m suffering from an attack of gout and for the last two weeks walking across the room has been a painful ordeal. The sight of the walking man moved me to tears.

By God’s grace in a few weeks I will be able to walk again. I will be the walking man and I will savor every single blessed step.

Six Ways to Deepen Your Intimacy With God. (Psalm 42, 63)
Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan
April 7, 2019 AM
Pastor Ken Pierpont