"God of Thunder" Mel Schacher and Grand Funk Railroad at the Bluegate Theater

an American Band

    Grand Funk Railroad is one of those classic rock bands that seem to always maintain their existential elasticity. Their performance Saturday, January 26, 2019 at the Bluegate Theater in Shipshewana Indiana is evidence of their perennial relevance. Their energy, sound, and attitude are witness to their constancy as an “American Band”. By the way, they seem to take seriously their identity as an American Band. Midpoint in the show they produce an American flag, front and center as their lead guitarist plays the national anthem ala Jimmy Hendrix.

    And as great as all of the musicians were, as fantastic as were the drums, guitars, keyboard, I found myself paying attention to Mel Schacher as the sounds of reverberating thunder were released by the pluck of his fingers. It seemed an almost intuitive relationship between bassist and instrument.

"God of Thunder" Mel Schacher

    No wonder his fans fervently refer to him as “The God of Thunder”!

    Ah, to be so revered in your craft as to acquire from amongst your devotees such an honorific as “God of Thunder”!

   I suggest for myself the tag “Parson Extraordinaire”. I choose the term “parson” so as to emphasize my admirable degree of humility.

   But, back to Mel…

    The God of Thunder stands on stage much like a well-disciplined sentry in protection of the musical integrity of the performance. Only a periodic and mischievous half-smile betrays his statuesque face indicating to the crowd that he enjoys this more than he wants to convey.

eager fans before the show

   But there was no masking the enjoyment of the crowd as Mel plucked from his strings the sonic medium through which the other instruments would be manifest.

   Each pluck of a string echoed from the walls to greet subsequent bass notes to create a fullness of sound, feel, and ambient attitude in the room. The rubber-funk sounds of Mel’s bass seemed to accentuate my heartbeat reminding me of what age eighteen feels like again!

Yes, indeed, his honorific of “God of Thunder” is well deserved!

Andrew and Alec

   But, speaking of eighteen, or at least being that young, I happened upon two brothers, Andrew Bencsics, 21, and Alec Bencsics, 17 who declared themselves classic rock fans, Kiss loyalists, who very much are into Grand Funk.

   Andrew said he had purchased “E Pluribus Funk”, on vinyl, and immediately became a fan. Alex has collected all of Grand Funks albums on CD.

    But these guys are not only spectators of the thunderous sport of rock; they want to perform it as well.

   Andrew plays guitar, rhythm or lead, while Alec plays bass. They need a drummer to fill out their three-man-group. Perhaps they could be the next Cream, Jimmy Hendrix Experience, or Mark, Don, and Mel!

Anyway, it was a great concert!

Tour information for Grand Funk can be found at:

https://www.grandfunkrailroad.com/tour.html

Catch a show! And tell them Mike sent you!

“You never get to know someone till they put their clothes on.”

South Bend Tribune photo by Andrew S. Hughes

   I really enjoy watching movies! Not only are they entertaining for their acting, scripting, production and direction, I discover many inspiring phrases which I take and then re-context for sermons or blog posts.

One such phrase is found in the 1963 Dean Martin movie “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed”. Character Stella Irving, played by Carol Burnett, says “You never get to know someone till they put their clothes on.”

   And I thought “huh”. My sister in law, trained to be an actor and successfully having done so once stated “all clothing is costume”. I think she meant that when we choose our clothing, jewelry, shoes, we are trying to present an image of who we are to those whom we find relevant.

    We put on a costume designed to showcase our natural self or perhaps to mask our self doubts.

   In either case, the costume becomes the true “social self” by which we want to engage others.

   My Sgt. Pepper costume is to showcase that I am a festive and celebratory individual and that I quickly acknowledge that I like attention. Also, I am introverted just enough that when I am saturated with social attention I may remove the costume and resume my natural incognito condition.

    Ah, the best of many worlds by my choice of costume.

   Aside from the social application of this idea, there is a spiritual application.

Revelation 3: 5 says “If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.”

   At least in the Western world, white indicates purity.

    In a sense Jesus kinda cheats the Devil out of a win. Because while our natural selves have been muddied enough to preclude our entrance into God’s Kingdom, the costume of purity with which Jesus adorns us presents us to God as acceptable.

The choice of the costume of purity will indicate the true spiritual self, regardless of accumulated mud.

Remember as Stella Irving would say “You never get to know someone till they put their clothes on.”

You are invited to put on the clothing of Christ!

Epiphanies Await the Diligent!

Just as the wise men were guided to Bethlehem by scripture, King Herod also sought Scripture but with bad intent. We need scripture to find our way to Jesus. It was scripture that got the wise men to the specific place that Jesus was. It is scripture that will conclude our journey as well.

We can say that we will dedicate our work to God. We can say that we use our hobbies as a way of worshiping God. Those will surely show our service to God. But it will be through scripture that we are delivered to the birth-place of Jesus in our hearts.

This new year, as you receive your personal epiphanies and many they may be, use not only your own history,  not only your own past understanding of the world,  also use scripture that you may be faithfully and accurately delivered to Jesus.

Let us not maintain, as did Herod, Pilate, and the Pharisees, our own comfortable understanding of scripture. Let us allow scripture to enlighten us, even challenge us in our understanding that we may grow closer to Jesus.

I am convinced that Scriptural epiphanies await the diligent!