Presby-Musings

I have been reading a book entitled Empty The Pews: Stories of Leaving The Church , which is a book of essays by people who no longer identify as Christian, or at the very least no longer are a part of the Church.  The essays are heartbreaking.  Some of the authors experienced abuse at the hands of family members or church leaders, whose actions were motivated in part by their twisted beliefs about God.   Others were rejected by their faith communities because of who they were, or because they dared to question the things they were taught about Christianity.   Some of the stories have been familiar to me, dredging up memories of my own.   Far too many people have either left the Church wounded or never give the Church a chance because of the kinds of stories that I've been reading.  It's sobering because I want to believe that the work I do as a pastor is helpful, rather than hurtful.  The stories call me to faithfulness in my own role as a leader within the Church.  They also

I have a confession to make...  I have a tendency to put things into categories just so I can make sense of them.  Sometimes I do that to people, too.  I'll say, "Well, that's just the way she is ..."  Or "What do you expect from that kind of person." " He'll never change."  And then there's my own "I always do that."    I've also struggled when I interpret circumstances in ways that aren't entirely helpful.  I often imagine that the Universe is out to get me when I can't find my keys.  Or I'll take an innocuous comment and turn it into an indictment of my very personhood.   I've learned that I'm not the only one who does this... most of us do.   It's easier to divide things, to see the world in dualistic terms.  When you live this way, you can simplify everything into either/or categories, and you can always be the hero (or the victim) of your own story.  This is not how we are meant to live, though.

One of the most difficult things to do in this age of virtual meetings, gatherings, events, and classes is to be fully present... to be completely given over to the moment without distractions or anything to divide your attention.  Listen, I understand this more than most people.  All the many ways I used to meet with people are now done through Zoom, FaceTime, or just straight-up old-school phone calls.  There's a HUGE temptation when you are on virtual meetings to take advantage of the multi-tasking features of the device you are using for the meeting to check your email, scroll through social media, and maybe post a few things, too.  Instagram Post: ** posts yawning selfie**  LOL, I'm in this super-boring meeting with the pastor, and I can't wait until it's over!! 😜 Or you can get bold and shop online while the meeting is happening, looking for that perfect little accessory to make your new shoes absolutely pop with your outfit.  Perhaps you got hungry while at the

                                                       Our Lenten journey is coming to an end as we enter into Holy Week today, and so once again we have the opportunity to reflect on our theme for these past nearly forty days---Lent as a wilderness journey.   This has been a different kind of Lent to be sure---a journey through a symbolic wilderness, and for many of us a journey through an actual wilderness of challenges, obstacles, trials, and also hope.  You see, there is life in the wilderness, despite its desolate and disorienting nature.  It's in the wilderness that we have the opportunity to let go of all the things we thought we needed to hang on to for the journey.  It's in the wilderness that we are challenged to simply surrender to God, who leads us.  Today we are going to read the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the very first Palm Sunday, and we're going to see how Jesus' journey was filled with twists and turns.   That's how the j

  The latest mass shooting that our country experienced this past week was yet another wearying and disheartening chapter for us in what has been a very long, sad story of violence and heartbreak.   Since the terrible tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in 2012 that took the lives of 20 little children along with six of their teachers, there have been 2,654 mass shootings (when three or more people are shot and or killed) in the United States.   2,654 mass shootings... 2,908 people dead. 11,088 wounded.  It's like not only did we not learn from the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook---we seemed to have doubled down.    When you start pondering these things, it's hard to believe that Evil isn't winning.   I've been re-reading Philip Yancey's book The Question That Never Goes Away  over the past several weeks.  The question that Yancey is referring to is simply this, "Where is God when it hurts?"   More specifically, Yancey seeks to address the

I woke up yesterday morning feeling a bit blue.  That's a kinder and gentler way of acknowledging what is really going on inside following a restless night, disturbing and emotional dreams that I couldn't really remember all that well, and a terrible taste in my mouth.  To be fair, that last thing was due to a late-night snack that didn't agree with me.  Waking up with all of that going on wasn't fantastic, but the phrase that kept going through my head in the wee hours of the morning was simply this:  This, too, shall pass.  I remembered at that moment that there was a song with the same title as the phrase in my head by the innovative modern rock band OK Go, and so I queued it up on my phone and started blasting it away through my headphones on repeat.   The lyrics that resonated with me go like this:  You know you can't keep lettin' it get you down And you can't keep draggin' that dead weight around If there ain't all that much to lug around Bette

Let me share a couple of not-so-cheery stories this morning, and then I'll dive into some darkness... and then there will be light.  I promise there will be light.  But first...  As soon as the words came out of your mouth, you knew it was the wrong thing to have said. You could see the look in the other person's eyes---the hurt, anger, shame, disappointment, and in that moment you would have given anything to take it back.  You had been waiting for that promotion for what seemed like forever. Your boss even gave you a word of encouragement before the announcement, making you feel like it was a done deal.  Then your name wasn't on the company-wide email revealing who got it.  And you felt like walking out and never coming back.  I could go on with story after story like these, and I am sure I would find just the one that touches your own.   Maybe it was a shattered relationship that could never be healed so it ended.  It could be the story of financial hardship that left yo

I was reading through some things that I wrote about a dozen years ago, and I was ashamed of myself.   They sounded like they were coming from a different person, but they didn't.  I wrote the things I was reading.    The version of Christianity I was peddling then was small-minded, and not at all gracious. It delighted in excluding, was snarky, over-confident, combative, and didn't really resemble Jesus at all.  The funny thing is, I thought it did.  I even made a pretense of being all about grace and forgiveness in those things I wrote, but the golden hue of those ideas was buried beneath a pile of...  well, you know.  Not too long after I wrote those things, I experienced a life-altering crisis of faith, which ended up being the very best thing that could have happened to me.  Sometimes losing your faith is the very thing you need in order to find it.   I wish I could remember where I've heard something like that before...  Oh yeah.  It was Jesus.  He said that.   If onl

The other day I was listening to a song that made me think of a Peanuts comic that I'd read decades ago, and then the whole train of thought left the station and sped off without me.  Until today.  Sometimes it works like that, and it takes me a couple of days to catch up on foot.   But this morning I finally caught up with it, and I got to thinking about the song, and the comic again, which led me to what I'm writing today.  I've learned over the years of doing this that when an idea lets me catch it, I need to pay attention.  This past year has brought out the worst in a lot of us.   I know that I've had more than my share of disappointments when it comes to the things that friends and loved ones have posted on social media this past year.   Add to that the constant reporting of all of the negative behavior, comments, and downright awful actions of people all across our country, and you discover just how easy it is to begin to lose faith in people.   When I was a kid,

In the book of Exodus from the Hebrew Scriptures, there is a strange story in chapter 17---the story of a battle between the Hebrew people and a tribal group known as the Amalekites.   While Joshua is leading the troops into battle, Moses goes up on top of a hill to watch it all ensue.  He then notices something strange as he stands there that makes for a very interesting story.   Moses realizes that if he keeps his arms raised and outstretched over the Hebrew warriors, they prevail in the battle.  But when his arms become tired, and he lets them fall to his side, the Hebrews begin to lose.  Finally, Moses' brother Aaron and his brother-in-law Hur come to his aid.  They find a rock for him to sit on, and they help hold his arms up. The Hebrews go on to decisively win the battle and rout the Amalekites something fierce.  Weird, right?  I did some reading about this, and one of the Jewish commentators I  found said something to this effect:  At first, the Jewish fighters would look u

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day today, so I decided to look up some facts about St. Patrick to see if I could find some things I didn't know before. I did know these two things: aside from being the patron saint of Ireland, who is credited with bringing Christianity to the Irish Celts, St. Patrick is also credited with getting rid of all of the snakes on the island.   That's right... there are no native snakes in Ireland.  But it was the Ice Age that got rid of the snakes, not St. Patrick, despite the persistence of the legend.   What I didn't know was that he was trafficked as a slave by Irish pirates and came to love Ireland through his travels there.  It was while he was a slave that Patrick put his faith in God, and would eventually convert to Christianity upon his return to Britain.   Funny that...  Patrick isn't actually Irish, even though he's the patron saint of Ireland.  He was most likely a Briton, descended from Romans who settled in the southern part

I just bought a set of Apple Air Pod Pro noise-cancelling ear pods.  I can't tell you enough about how amazing they are.  It's always a pure joy when you buy a product, and said product is as advertised.  When you put these headphones in, and the noise-cancellation do-hickey thing kicks in, suddenly all of the background noise disappears, and all you can hear is the sound of your own breath.  And when you turn the music on at that point... Oh man...   You don't know how much the background noise affects the way you listen to music until it's no longer there, and you can hear in ways that you never thought possible.   Without the distraction of the background noise, you become attenuated to the sound of the music in a more focused and intense way, you hear the nuances in the instruments, you marvel at the clarity of the vocals...  Which brings me to this:  I sometimes get asked, "How do I know if the Spirit of God is moving me to do something?" or "Does Go

When I was in New Orleans last week, I went on a Ghost Tour of the French Quarter after dark, and I discovered something interesting about how to keep evil spirits from getting into your house.   [For the record, we had to wear our masks and maintain social distancing throughout the tour, but it was a small price to pay for doing something kind of "normal."]  I'm all about warding off poltergeists, and other kinds of angry ghosts, so I really paid attention when the guide explained how to do it with a simple coat of paint.   You see, the Gullah communities of the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia (and also those who migrated down to New Orleans) used indigo from the plantations where they worked as slaves to create a particular color blue that was used to paint window shutters, doors, and porches.   The idea was that the blue color tricked the ghosts or "boo-hags" into believing they had slipped into the sky or water, and they would pass right through

There's a lot of things wrong in the world right now.   Not only are we confronted with the challenges of living through a global pandemic, but we are also faced with the realities of systemic racism, the sharp divisions between us over politics and social issues, along with the very real problems of homelessness and poverty, just to name a few.  It's easy to get overwhelmed by it all as we try to determine what great need deserves our energy and attention.  And even when we do pick a problem to solve, most of us become stymied at the personal cost we'll endure by devoting ourselves to it.   Or we charge into it with our hair on fire, full of ideas, passion, vim, and vigor, but we burn out quickly or buckle under the pressure of the challenges we face, the criticism leveled at us by others, and a host of other obstacles.  This is why most of us resort to serially posting memes on our social media posts about the things that bother us and then calling it a day.    I think we

This is the Fourth Sunday of the season of Lent and we're at the midway point so to speak of our journey through the wilderness with Jesus.   There's a photo that I've used in the past and used it again with a class I'm currently teaching that helps me to envision what I'm going to tell you next.  Here it is:   We might be journeying with Jesus through the wilderness both symbolically and literally depending on how you feel about recent days, and the wilderness can often be a place that feels devoid of life, barren, dry, or so wild that it defies imagination.   But there is life in the wilderness.  There is hope in the wilderness.  And we can grow in the wilderness, in spite of everything.   So today we're going to focus on a story from John's Gospel that highlights the importance of having your eyes opened to what God is doing around you.  And more specifically being aware of the miracles in your midst---especially miracles that bring healing to the world,