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Theme for 2024: LET'S GO!

  • It is New Year’s Day here in Palm Desert, California… at least for a few more hours. The Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve parties are over, the too-small shirt I received as a Christmas gift has been exchanged for a larger size, the refrigerator is bursting at the seams with party leftovers, and finally I am able to sit down with a glass of rosé, put my feet up, take a few deep breaths, and ponder the last few weeks, and indeed, the last 12 months.
  • Just a little more than a year ago, the news of LeRoy Dysart’s death began a new chapter in my life — a chapter that took 45 years to develop, a chapter I thought would never arrive, a chapter that would include:
  • The revival of IMAGO DEI, not just as an audio recording but as a complete multimedia experience, adding new life to the 1985 performance, and a new depth of understanding of the Creation-Centered Theology upon which the mass was based.
  • A premier party where 25 - 30 supporters joined together on a Zoom call to view the new video.
  • An introduction to the video by Richard Follett that provided so much personal insight into LeRoy’s life and ministry.
  • An introduction by Ken Martin that, in a mere 11 minutes, offered the most cogent summary of Creation-Centered Theology ever presented.
  • A partnership with Sanctuary in the Woods, the ministry co-founded by Ken Martin, to manage the practical side of an ever-increasing project, including the establishment of the IMAGO DEI Executive Committee to guide the project.
  • A public screening of IMAGO DEI at First Christian Church of North Hollywood.
  • The publication of “IMAGO DEI - Director’s Cut” — a collection of inspirational essays based on the movements of IMAGO DEI.
As I sat in my recliner and enjoyed each sip of wine, I was reminded somehow that today was Monday, and that yesterday — New Year’s Eve — had been Sunday, and on Sunday mornings, I usually watch an online worship service. But with the pressure of preparing for a New Year’s Eve party, the recorded worship service had been ignored and gone unwatched. So I decided to watch it tonight. It was a candlelight Christmas Eve service — amazing, magnificent, inspiring. Most of the service was music, but there was also the usual scripture reading and the message. The scripture reading was from Luke chapter 2, the Christmas story, and I won’t repeat the entire chapter here, but I was struck by these lines:
  • 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
  • 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
  • 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
  • 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
  • 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
  • 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
  • 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
  • 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
— Luke 2:8-15 (KJV) Surely you have heard this story before, perhaps a few times, or a dozen times, or seemingly hundreds of times. It’s SO easy to hear a familiar passage like this and miss the meaning. It’s like the Pledge of Allegiance of The Lord’s Prayer: we repeat the words so often that they become meaningless. When that happens, I like to rewrite the Scripture passage in today’s language in the hope that the new words will give fresh meaning. Here’s how I would rewrite that last verse: And as the angels disappeared, the shepherds began to discuss what they had just experienced, and they said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem!” These startled shepherds had just witnessed God’s creation of a marker in Time, a signpost along the road of Eternity, a line drawn through the ages that divides history into two chapters. The birth of Jesus the Christ means different things to different believers, but for those who carry the label Christian, there is no discounting the importance of the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. As we step into 2024, it’s time to recognize a different marker, not one that is celebrated around the world, but one that is celebrated in our hearts. This past year, we have looked back. That’s SO important, for it gives us a clear picture of where we came from. We needed to focus on the groundbreaking nature of “We Are Everywhere” and celebrate the passion of “I Love a Man” and embrace the camaraderie of “Coming To Our Own” and drown in the new depths of the IMAGO DEI video, but now we need to establish a new marker, a New Year’s resolution of sorts, and move on to new things. You might be surprised at the number of new things that are falling into place as we pass that marker:
  • As I write this, two of the most talented musicians we could ever hope to find, Steven Applegate and Steve Rawlins, are recreating the IMAGO DEI score including the 4-part choir score, the 3 soloists parts, and the piano accompaniment — primarily by simply listening to the one and only recording of the one and only performance of IMAGO DEI in 1985. Generous private donors have already contributed the thousands of dollars needed to finance this work.
  • Another brilliant musician, First Christian’s Director of Music David Rigsby, is working with me to plan a two-part choral festival in the Spring to which a number of local churches will be invited. The first part of the festival will be a screening of IMAGO DEI just for the choir members. By the time of this first event, Steven and Steve will have completed the choral score, and each church participating in the festival will get a copy of that score. Twelve weeks later, the choirs will reunite for the second part of the festival, which will be open to the public. Each choir will perform a number of their choice during the first half of the public performance. Then all members of all choirs —perhaps over 100 voices — will gather on stage to perform the entire IMAGO DEI mass with piano and organ accompaniment.
  • Funding permitting and with God’s continued blessing, in 2025 we will have the entire orchestral arrangements completed in time for a 40th anniversary concert of IMAGO DEI at St. Michael’s where it was first performed all those years ago.
  • And as of this date, there are over 200 copies of the DVD and almost 100 copies of the Director’s Cut companion booklet out there somewhere in the world, waiting for just the right person to pick them up and discover IMAGO DEI and Creation-Centered Theology.
As I complete this essay, New Year’s Day is now over and I am reminded that Time waits for no one. In the Director’s Cut essay for the Epistle movement of IMAGO DEI, I suggested that as Jesus reached out His hand to us, I could hear Him calling, “C’mon! Let’s go! We’ve got work to do!” Indeed we do. Here then is our new marker, and our new call to arms. As we begin 2024, let us dedicate ourselves to answering that call. IMAGO DEI has an amazing history, but it has an even more glorious future. So let us say as those first century shepherds did, “LET’S GO!” The image and likeness of God — the Holy Wonder — is the only ticket you need to step boldly into the future. It’s already within you, it’s your birthright, your claim to be free, so LET’S GO! Where? We’ll know when we get there! But what a story we’ll have to tell, a story worthy of the Imago Dei in each soul. LET’S GO! Amen. David E. RanckImago Dei Executive Committee