Presby-Musings

 I was at my local neighborhood Walmart yesterday. I hate my local Walmart.  It's dirty, unkempt, it smells funny and--depending on when you go in there--full of the walking dead.  If you don't believe me, check out this website dedicated to the people who shop at Walmart.  If you find yourself on the website... I am sorry on a bunch of levels. Anyway...  I was at the Walmart to retrieve a cake that my wife had ordered.  I keep telling her not to shop at Walmart, but she continues to be seduced by the low prices, and since she can send me into the bowels of the beast without having to do it herself, she doesn't listen to me.  So, I was strolling into the Walmart with a score or so of other people who all looked like extras in the movie "Zombieland," and I saw the sign to the right hanging from the ceiling.   "Save money. Live better.  I have to say that I am encouraged to see that Walmart is so concerned for my welfare that it decided t...

Here it is..  The money you could be tithing...  This week I am finishing up the sermon series that I have been preaching on money.  I know that some of the people in my church are probably glad that it's going to come to an end.   Funny thing, though.  I've been going at it pretty hard.  It's not been easy, to be honest.  But there's nothing faithful about pulling punches when it comes to stuff like this, I've come to learn.  By the way, I just thought the picture above was funny.  Plus it reminds me that I waste a lot of money on stuff that I don't need and that wasted money could be put to good use.   And I like the song that plays on the commercials ("I always feel like, somebody's watching me...").  That dude Rockwell who performed that one-hit wonder  back in they 80's is laughing all the way to the bank about now.  It finally paid off.    Kudos. When I thought about this sermon series one of th...

Yes, I am still preaching about money. And no, people haven't stopped coming to church. Although after last week's sermon on tithing, I might lose a couple. Listen, I saw the above bumper sticker in a restaurant on the bulletin board.  I went there to consume mass quantities of Italian food.  I ordered spaghetti and meatballs with extra meat balls.  The extra meat balls cost like a buck extra.  There were four of them--each the size of baseball. I got my money's worth and took about twenty minutes off of my life, too boot. Woot!  Anyway, back to the bumper sticker.  What do you think o that? Isn't that messed up? I mean, we just started climbing out of the worst recession since the Great Depression and the first thing on everyone's mind is... "Well, get back to spending!" Okay, okay.  I get it.  It's Capitalism.  But isn't that the thinking that started this whole mess--the belief that the acquisition and consumption of wealth ...

I recently finished reading Mitch Albom's newest book, Have A Little Faith .  Albom is also the author of For One More Day, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, & Tuesdays with Morrie. He is a newspaper columnist,  a sports writer, playwright, journalist and screenwriter who lives in Detroit.  Have A Little Faith is a book that was part of Albom's eight year journey toward a new understanding of faith, God & community.  It began with a strange request from Albom's 82-year old rabbi--that Albom deliver the rabbi's eulogy when he passed.  Albom, who had all but left the faith of his youth behind, was flummoxed by the request, and agreed to do so only if he could take the time to get to know the man he had always known as "Reb."  What followed was eight years of trips from Detroit to New York as Albom did his best to get understand what it meant to live of a life of faith, devotion and selflessness.  At the same time he was visiting and lear...

I am continuing my sermon series on Money this week. And I will be preaching on tithing. First, I need to say this. The word tithe comes from the word "tenth."  So when I talk about "tithing" I talk about the regular giving of one/tenth of one's income to God. Just so we're clear. People don't like to hear sermons on tithing, I've learned. Because most of them don't... you know, tithe.  Some Christians (generally the ones who as I mentioned earlier don't tithe) like to say things like, "Well, Jesus didn't say anything about tithing!" or (if they are really pompous and learned) "Tithing is simply not part of the New Covenant."  That last bit is a Christianese way of saying the first thing. And both things are bushwah, by the way---which is another way of saying "cha-ra," which is the Hebrew way of saying "crap." There are some people who get all hoity-toity (untranslatable in any lang...