Copacetic: God’S People Transforming Chaos

By Allen H. Schipper

Copacetic is a wonderful old word. However it can be much more than just a nostalgic smile.

Superficially, copacetic is characterized by a 1950s mellow. But when you look below the surface, copacetic is a potent dynamic. It challenges precise definition, though its closely related to the concept of shalom, which speaks to peace and completeness. Copacetic then becomes powerful without being glitzy or calling attention to itself. Its subtle, but people appreciate it immensely, especially in the midst of chaos and life is chaos all the time. Copacetic is much more than the sense that everything will be OK. Its a deep, rich, joyful, wise response to difficult circumstances. When an everyday encounter become copacetic, it takes a leap beyond our normal experience. Its as if we experience an injection of knowledge, wisdom, or insight often with mind-boggling results.

Copacetic in action was modeled most dynamically when God became human. In our day, copacetic God-people almost always leave good things in their wake. This good stuff is rarely fireworks-spectacular; mostly it feels like warmth in a cold, dark place or like a sigh of relief in a storm or a salve on soul-wounds. Copacetic people have spunk and vigor, but they recognize when their faults need forgiveness. When theyre at their best, human beings are copacetic.

In this book, well explore what copacetic means as it transforms chaos into an adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490836935

Allen H. Schipper

Currently residing in Battle Creek, Michigan, with his wife, Al Schipper built his career on teaching and business, but chaplaincy put it all together. Raised in Chicago, he then found the country and now believes a chainsaw is spiritual. Three daughters and nine grandkids enhance a life he experiences as copacetic.

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Copyright © 2014 Allen H. Schipper.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-3692-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3693-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909020

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/19/2014

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 White Water

Chapter 2 Seeing Is Believing

Chapter 3 Connected To Mystery

Chapter 4 Metaphor

Chapter 5 Jesus-Sight

Chapter 6 Evil Exists

Chapter 7 Evil Within

Chapter 8 Human Light

Chapter 9 Listening

Chapter 10 Storytelling

Chapter 11 Common Sense

Chapter 12 Copacetic

Copacetic • \koh-puh-SET-ik\ • adjective: very satisfactory

Example - He really hated to be in a crowd, but when they put the medal around his neck, it was copacetic.

Dedication

To the greatest of the three

and those who share it with me

Preface

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

—Michelangelo

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… . get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.

—Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 1955

God’s people everywhere,

   at all times

      and in every place,

         need to be God’s people.

The grandmother was dying. She had made her peace and was eager for the next great adventure. Soon the day came when it was obvious that death was imminent. In my role as hospital chaplain, I was in the room with her three children when the doctor arrived. The grandmother motioned that she would like her oxygen mask removed, as she had something to say. The doctor gently removed the mask and we all drew close to hear. After all, this might be an important deathbed proclamation. Her last words, perhaps. She peered at us and then looked the doctor straight in the eye and said, You are so handsome. I could just look at you all day. And then she laughed. We all laughed with her, and it was wonderful.

I want to be more like that grandmother. She transformed the room from night into day. I’ve come to call that sort of transformation copacetic, and I’ve come to believe that God’s people are in the copacetic business.

Superficially, copacetic is characterized by a 1950s mellow. But when you look below the surface, copacetic is a potent dynamic. It challenges precise definition, though it’s closely related to the concept of shalom, which speaks to peace and completeness. It’s deeply attractive. It’s powerful without being glitzy or calling attention to itself. It’s subtle, but people appreciate it immensely, especially in the midst of chaos—and life is chaos all the time. Copacetic is much more than the sense that everything will be OK. It’s a deep, rich, joyful, wise response to difficult circumstances.

Copacetic God-people almost always leave good things in their wake. This good stuff is rarely fireworks-spectacular; mostly it feels like warmth in a cold, dark place or like a sigh of relief in a storm or a salve on soul-wounds. Copacetic people have spunk and vigor, but they recognize when their faults need forgiveness. When they’re at their best, human beings are copacetic.

Copacetic is peculiar also. It often seems to contradict itself. It’s precise, like the grandmother’s perfectly-timed gift of laughter to her family, but it also requires improvisation that is breathtakingly creative. It’s extremely utilitarian, but it’s also mysterious.

Jesus the human being was fearlessly and almost recklessly copacetic in his agile response to first-century complexity. He moved constantly toward being righteous without being overly religious or even overtly spiritual. As a human being he entered one of the most complex cultures and lived some of the most complex relationships—and he was effective. Mostly effective, that is, because some of the outcomes of his interactions were not so good. Just like me and my best human efforts.

The grandmother had this Jesus reality. She didn’t wake up that morning and plan a little joke for her kids. The joy she expressed that day had evolved over her lifetime. If I were to ask her how she engineered that moment to transform sadness into gladness, she would probably shrug her shoulders. It needed doing, and she did it spontaneously. Most of what Jesus did was exactly the same.

Being copacetic enables God’s people to be immersed in their culture while maintaining personal integrity and impacting people without insulting them. My dilemma is that the most sacred writings are totally silent on how to do that.

Bible readers might immediately say, That’s not right! Jesus touched people, fed them, visited their homes. He healed some and cast out demons from others. He conversed with a few, preached to many. Sometimes he got angry, and sometimes he cried. That’s correct. Jesus did many things like that, but the gospels do not tell us how he decided to