From my earliest memories church was family for me. That was because my dad was in
the Navy, and we never saw my extended family except a few times a year. We moved
often and church was home. As I became interested in the Bible everyone said I should
be a minister. I knew ministers and had seen the job up close in church music, so I said
no. I’d eventually find my position in worship on a piano or organ bench, moving from
choir member to choir director and serving in church music for nearly 40 years. But I
loved God’s Word and finally, while I was on staff at Colorado State University working
for the Theater and Dance department, I quit running away from where God wanted me
to be. Don’t get me wrong, it was better that I entered the ministry later in life because
along the way I learned that non-regular church attenders, like I met in bars and other
places while doing music, were very loving, caring people who had thoughts about God
that didn’t fit what I grew up with.
Along the way I minored in religious studies, diving into learning other faith traditions
and seeing things from other perspectives. I also moved among many different Christian
traditions, mostly to wherever the money and the music looked promising ��. I became
a religious mutt, like my future wife, so that I valued many things from different versions
of Christianity and saw that there were things to be learned from other traditions that
helped me reevaluate my own spirituality.
When I finally did answer the call to ministry in later life, I was surprised to find myself
drawn to Lutheranism. But in this branch of the Christian family, I found way to
appreciate how God moves towards us way before we move towards God. I found a
new way to see life transformed by the Spirit for the here and now, and not just what is
to come.
I still find myself helping out with worship music, so my early gifts and experiences are
still serving the Lord, but I love sharing both sides of my journey, musical and spiritual.
After marrying another spiritual sojourner, Lisa, we have found Lutheran Church of the
Cross a perfect match–a church made of Christ’s people from all different faith
backgrounds.
So from playing music in everything from biker bars to orchestras, theater to church, I
now am blessed to share my life with a cat lover who has had to adjust to a bird owner
(I have a macaw), but most importantly, another person dedicated to making this world
a better place, while we still try to navigate a household mixing cats and a bird.