Presby-Musings

I spend a lot of time thinking, reading, and writing about theological stuff. In fact, the study of theological stuff dominates most of my thoughts on almost every single day of my life.   I should say at this point that my use of the word "stuff" is both calculated and appropriate.  In other words, I meant to use it, because it applies here as a catch-all category for the various and sundry topics that I seem to ponder.  Things like: Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot, that even he couldn't eat it? Let that one soak in for a moment.  I bet your mind is completely blown at this point. You're welcome.  In all seriousness, though...  One of the many jobs I have as a pastor is to wrestle with the aforementioned theological stuff and the ways that our theology both forms and informs virtually every other aspect of our lives.   But what I've come to understand after years of serving in ministry, studying the Bible, teaching classes, preaching ...

  I know that I've written about this here before, but I feel like it needs a bit of a rehash. You see, I don't like to wait.   I can't stand waiting in lines, especially ones at government agencies...  I wish that everything I ordered online would come with next-day delivery...  I wish I could wave a magic wand, and make everything in my life and the world around me better--in an instant...  I suspect there are a few other impatient people out there as well.  These past 18 months or so have tested the patience of even the most saintly and serene among us.   We've been waiting on anything resembling good news about the global pandemic that continues to rage around us.  We've been waiting on things to get better between us and our fellow citizens, with whom we have deep disagreements.  It's natural that in the midst of all of this waiting and longing that we begin to get impatient, that we give voice to our frustrations, or stuff the...

It seems that these days there are a lot of people who claim to speak for Jesus, and sometimes the things that they say in his name don’t sound at all like anything Jesus would approve of.  How do we keep from making Jesus into our own image where he sounds like us, acts like us, votes like us—and even looks like us?  One sure way is to go to the very words of Jesus himself—particularly his “I Am” statements, where he declared to his followers who he was, and why he came.   Throughout this series, we have studied four of those definitive statements by Jesus as he conveyed to his followers who he was, and what he came to do.   Today we'll be studying what Jesus meant when he said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life."  The story that we'll be exploring is from John 11---a story of how Jesus showed up to rescue his friend Lazarus... after it was too late.   As I was thinking about this week's sermon, I got to thinking about dramatic rescues whe...

I have a confession to make, and I hope it won't lower your estimation of me too much.  You see, when someone says something offensive to me or about me, I have a hard time letting it go.   You might be saying, "That's not much of a confession, man.  Tell us something juicier."  Okay, here goes.  But only because you requested it.  Not only do I have a hard time letting it go when I feel someone has slighted me, I actually have an uncontrollable urge to return the favor, and then some.  And I'm talking about a scorched earth, raze the castle, total demolition kind of response.  Let me offer an example.  There was this guy in one of my former churches who just got under my skin.  He was condescending, patronizing, petty, and seemed to find joy in publicly humiliating me for some odd reason.  One day, after he displayed an especially egregious, disrespectful, and personal insult in front of a roomful of people, I let him have it....

If by some strange turn of events, you suddenly found yourself standing in the middle of my home office, you would probably find your eyes drawn to the many strange and seemingly disparate pieces of decor on my walls.  The truth is, I like to be surrounded by art and memorabilia that either serve to remind me of what brings me joy in life or inspires me in some way to keep moving forward.   I'd like to think that you would be amazed and curious about the meaning of all the things on display, but more than likely you'd probably let your gaze fall upon my collection of celebrity mug shots, and then you would most likely ask yourself, "What in the world is wrong with this guy?"  A collection of celebrity mug shots is an odd thing to put on display in one's office, I'll admit.  I have post-arrest photos of Jim Morrison of the Doors, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and also a mug-shot-like photo of Elvis Presley.  The Elvis photo was purportedly taken fo...

  When I was a kid, I distinctly remember listening to my youth pastor preach to our group on the New Testament passage below:  Matthew 16:24–26 (NKJV) “Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. The gist of his sermon was simply this:  In order to be a Christian, you have to resist the temptation to give in to the "sins of the flesh"--sins like listening to rock-n-roll music, smoking, drinking, doing drugs, and ultimately having sex outside of marriage.   As the parent of teenagers, I get where he was coming from, honestly.  Like most of the adults in the communities of faith I belonged to back then, he was simply doing everything he could to shield the young people in his care from the hard realities of life.   As it turns out, the passage in Matthew t...

Many years ago, I worked as a chaplain in Florida Hospital for an entire summer as part of a requirement to become an ordained minister. It was one of the very best and worst things I've ever had to do.   I learned about the grey areas of faith during that summer.  I learned that there are no easy answers to life's hardest questions about life, faith, God, and church.   I remember one moment in particular that really helped me understand the constructive role that doubt can play in your life of faith.   I was the chaplain on duty one day when I received a call for a "Code Blue," which meant that a patient in the hospital was crashing, and in need of being resuscitated.   I arrived at a chaotic scene as the code team was working on a middle-aged man while his wife and teenaged daughter stood outside the room crying.  The daughter was extremely agitated and began to pace wildly up and down the hall.  I approached her and identified my...

It's often difficult to understand exactly what Jesus is teaching in some of the parables he shared.  When we read Jesus' parables through our 21st century, western eyes, we often come to conclusions about what he's saying that are not at all what he meant.   Take the story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, for example.  Jesus proclaims that "the kingdom of God" is like ten virgins (read wedding attendants), who are waiting for the bridegroom to collect them for a wedding.  In the story, it's late and the wedding attendants need to have their lamps ready to light their way.  But only five of them have their lamps filled with oil, and ready to go.   They all fall asleep, and the bridegroom shows up suddenly in the middle of the night to get them.  Half of them are ready, and half of them aren't.  While the five "foolish" attendants are out getting oil, the wedding begins and they get shut out.  When I was growing up, I was taught tha...

  It seems that these days there are a lot of people who claim to speak for Jesus, and sometimes the things that they say in his name don’t sound at all like anything Jesus would approve of.  How do we keep from making Jesus into our own image where he sounds like us, acts like us, votes like us—and even looks like us?  One sure way is to go to the very words of Jesus himself—particularly his “I Am” statements, where he declared to his followers who he was, and why he came.   Throughout this series, we have studied three of those definitive statements by Jesus as we conveyed to his followers who he was, and what he came to do.   Today we're going to be exploring what Jesus meant when he declared to his disciples: "I am the Vine."   First, before we dig into the Scripture, let's do a little tutorial on vines and vineyards.   We'll start with the anatomy of a grapevine.  Show images  Did you know where to find the very best ...

I read this poem the other day by Mary Oliver that was actually the inspiration for this particular Devo.  This is what she wrote:   Let me keep my distance, always, from those who think they have the answers. Let me keep company always with those who say "Look!" and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads.   Let me explain why this resonated with me so much.   You see, it's easy to lose your sense of wonder when your days seem to be filled with routines, hard conversations, anxiety about the future, or about a hundred other stressors.   Like maybe you are in the midst of a serious struggle with health issues, financial woes, problems in a relationship, or work-related worries.  And most likely, if you are like the rest of us, you're not just dealing with one thing.  So it's no wonder that losing our ability to experience  wonder  (the kind of joyful surprises that gives texture and a sense of joy de vivre  to your...

The other day I was reading through my collection of poems by Mary Oliver and came across this line, which resonated with me so much:  We do one thing or another; we stay the same, or we change. Congratulations, if you have changed.   When I read that, I actually got butterflies in my stomach and had to sit for a while, staring at the page, and then I found myself getting lost in the meaning of it for me.   It really does come down to these two options in life, doesn't it?  We either stay the same or change, and the choice is ours to make which it will be for us.   Some might argue that there's really no such thing as "staying the same," that we are constantly being regenerated at a cellular level, constantly being formed and informed emotionally, by the changing world around us.  While that might be technically true, what is truer still is that despite all of the ways that we are being invited to embrace change, we do everything we can to pu...

  Today we are launching a brand new sermon series entitled, "I Am: Jesus In His Own Words."   It seems that these days there are a lot of people who claim to speak for Jesus, and sometimes the things that they say in his name don’t sound at all like anything Jesus would approve of.   How do we keep from making Jesus into our own image where he sounds like us, acts like us, votes like us—and even looks like us?  One sure way is to go to the very words of Jesus himself—particularly his “I Am” statements, where he declared to his followers who he was, and why he came.   This series will study five of those important statements, and help us become more connected to who Jesus is for us today—in his own words.   Today we're going to be exploring what Jesus meant when he said, "I Am The Way, The Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father, except through me."   This is perhaps one of the most challenging statements that Jesus made...

My kids started back to school yesterday.  My middle son is a senior in high school, and my youngest is a fifth-grader.  It's hard to believe, honestly.  They're growing up so incredibly fast.  After they both ventured forth for their first full-on, in-person school in well over a year and a half, I began reflecting on what it has been like for our kids since last March.   They've had to attend school in some pretty challenging circumstances, jumping back and forth between virtual and modified in-person learning, dealing with the worries and anxieties that are such a part of our shared experience... and a whole lot more.   It's hard to say what the long-term effects of this global pandemic will be for our kids, but it has affected them, changed them, and, in many ways, molded them.   Just as it has changed everything for all of us.   We're all searching for answers right about now.  We want to know how we can move forward ...

Some of the plants in my backyard were looking a little peaked the other day--the oppressive heat was taking its toll, and they were wilting and drawing inward.   I'd turned off my sprinklers earlier in the week because we'd had so much rain, but I was thinking I'd have to turn them back on again.  And this pained me because water in Austin, TX costs a pretty penny.   Then it rained last night---a hard rain, complete with thunder and lightning, very, very frightening...  When the sun came up this morning, I looked outside at the very same plants that had been hanging their heads the other day, and they were standing tall, looking lush and none the worse for the wear.   Now ordinarily, I'd be kind of nonplussed by such a thing, but I'd just read an incredible essay by Bob Goff that contained this golden nugget of awesomeness:  I want to live so much in awe of what is going on around me, there will be no time to live in judgment of the people a...

I'm going to say something bold and controversial, so get ready...  Keanu Reeves' John Wick  films just might be the very best action movie franchise of all time .  There, I said it.  Let the debate begin.   Anyway...  Here's my actual point, which I should get to before I start going all fanboy, and nerdy over this.   There's this moment in the first John Wick  movie where the villain of the film, a Russian mobster named Viggo Tarasov, tells John Wick that he can't escape the darkness brought on by the sins he's committed.   "This life follows you... it clings to you... infecting everyone that comes close to you." In a movie filled with memorable quotes, that one is the one that resonated with me the most.  It seemed to me to be a critical moment in the film, where John Wick hears the very words that he's been internalizing for years.   And then he has to make a decision---let the darkness envelop him, or use wh...

Here is the world... Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  Don't be afraid.     - Frederick Buechner  When I was in the seventh grade, my parents decided to move from Colorado Springs to a new town so my dad could pursue an opportunity that ultimately didn't materialize.  We didn't know at the time how it would all turn out, but what was known was that we were leaving.  I remember feeling knots in my stomach every day as I thought about having to live somewhere else.   I loved our house, and I loved the neighborhood where we lived, filled with kids my age, and plenty of places to ride bikes and explore.  It was also just about half a mile from my best friend at the time.   During those last weeks, before we moved, I would often ride my bike to a church that was about a mile away.  The church was on a hill, overlooking the city with an array of incredible vistas of mountains just beyond it.   I remember sitt...