A great man, Jack Casey, has completed his life’s work. This has caused me to reflect back on the 40 years that I was blessed enough to know Jack and be in community with his family.
I’m not sure that I can adequately express what Jack and the Casey family have meant to me in my life ... how they influenced who I am as a person, how they helped to shape my spirituality from my earliest years ... but I'm going to try.
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Jack specifically helped to shape my concept of how a man with integrity and emotional honesty served in leadership in a church (along with my dad of course, another old softy). He was kind, welcoming, authentic and accommodating.
He and Lois - along with my folks, the Van Dyke's, the Dykstra's, and several others - were brave enough to start a brand new church. Part of the reason they did this was so that people who weren’t churchgoers would have somewhere that they could feel comfortable attending; where broken people could be real and didn’t have to fit any mold - somewhere they could come as they were to find some acceptance, unconditional love, and hope. (If you know even the first thing about me, you know how deeply that example has been imprinted into my DNA).
Jack and Leo took on preaching in addition to their busy work and family lives. (Jack was always better at keeping sermons under 25 minutes. I take after my Dad I think).
So many benefited from that courage and vision that it can be easy to take it for granted, but it wasn’t a sure thing by any means. It was a definite risk in a community in which they and their young families were all deeply ingrained church and school-wise.
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The Casey family opened their home to me as a child and were a second home when my parents were off visiting my older siblings at college/etc when I was in grade school. Being the youngest and therefore closest in age to me (4 years my elder), Scott made me feel welcomed, included, and at ease. He clearly had that modeled for him by his parents.
The Casey family continued this kind of hospitality, opening their home as foster parents for Bethany Christian Services.
I cut my teeth as a church leader (both band and generally) under the leadership of Jack’s oldest son John, who led me with the same empowering and enabling qualities that his father lived out.
While getting my feet under me leadership-wise, Jack always made sure to seek me out to encourage me and tell me "nice work" and "good job."
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I’m far from the only person who has given this kind of tribute to Jack in the days since his passing. That speaks to the far-reaching impact he had and his legacy of being a humble, kind, and giving man.
As Mike O'Brien once said, “No one gets extra points for loving Jack Casey, bc EVERYONE loves Jack Casey.”
I will never forget how he always greeted me with his trademark, “Heeeey theeeere” and a handshake.
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“May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”
- traditional Gaelic blessing
