Presby-Musings

Several years ago, I was preaching a Lenten sermon series about letting Jesus undo some of the things in our lives that keep us from being the people we ought to be.  One of those sermons was about forgiveness and reconciliation with the people we were in conflict with or had experienced a falling out with at some point.  As I was preparing that sermon, I became burdened by a conflict I'd had with a colleague years before and how that conflict had led to our estrangement.   I decided at that point that I needed to practice what I was about to preach, so I reached out to him and asked him for forgiveness for anything I had done to contribute to the conflict we'd experienced.  I'd love to tell you that there was a complete restoration of our relationship and that we both asked for and received forgiveness from each other, but it didn't turn out that way exactly.   But I was free from my bitterness about the whole thing and realized how heavy that had bee...

It’s the Fourth Sunday of Lent  Lent is a season of preparation, reflection, and repentance.  It’s also a season when we can learn what it means to discover the holiness of hard things, which is also the title of this sermon series we're working through.  Today, we are going to read some mail from the Apostle Paul.  It is kind of interesting, isn't it, that we are reading someone else's mail when we read all of Paul's letters? And Paul made one of the most essential claims about reconciliation between God and us.     But first, I want to talk about two very important things: Truth and Reconciliation.  Truth & Reconciliation go Hand In Hand.   There can be no reconciliation without truth.   After Apartheid ended in South Africa, the black majority of the country was asked by leaders like Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu to put aside the need for revenge in favor of reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commissio...

The season of Lent invites us to reflect deeply on our lives and journeys, encouraging a powerful act of letting go that paves the way for renewal and growth: forgiving ourselves.  I came across this poem by Wendell Berry in his "New Collected Works," and it resonated with me powerfully:  “At start of spring I open a trench In the ground. I put into it The winter’s accumulation of paper, Pages I do not want to read Again, useless words, fragments, errors. And I put into it the contents of the outhouse: light of the suns, growth of the ground, Finished with one of their journeys. To the sky, to the wind, then, and to the faithful trees, I confess my sins: that I have not been happy enough, considering my good luck; have listened to too much noise, have been inattentive to wonders, have lusted after praise. And then upon the gathered refuse, of mind and body, I close the trench folding shut again the dark, the deathless earth. Beneath that seal the old escapes into the new.” I ...

One of my greatest obstacles toward becoming the person I know I want to be is me.  I can't seem to get out of my way sometimes. More often than not, I am my own worst enemy, and I have self-destructed more than a few times.   If this sounds strange for a pastor to admit, you should know that what I am describing is pretty much the entire human condition.  If we are all being honest, we know this to be true for all of us.   But our propensity for blowing up our lives without much help doesn't have to be our story. We just need to be honest with ourselves and others about it, spend some time really getting to know ourselves and offer ourselves grace when needed.  I'm learning that Lent is the perfect time to reflect on this.  As we continue our journey through Lent, we must be reminded that this season is traditionally marked by reflection and transformation; we are invited to delve into the depths of our spiritual journey and explore the true powe...

There was a time in my career as a pastor when I was more worried about offending people and ruffling feathers than I was about speaking the truth about what it means to be a Jesus-follower in a divided culture.  Interestingly, when I've taught and preached about love and justice from the Bible, some folks have accused me of being "too political," glossing over the fact that the words I used were directly from Scripture.  Now, I should say that I have sometimes succumbed to the temptation of self-indulgence and have let my own fears, anger, and frustration seep into what I say.   This is why I need Jesus, y'all.  I have to die to myself and offer up repentance for that kind of thing all the time.   However, I've come to believe that it is crucial as a Christian and a pastor to be guided by the teachings of Christ, the witness of Scripture, and my own faithful convictions when I speak to the challenges of our day.   The season of Lent is a per...

One of the spiritual practices I decided to add to my Lenten journey this year was doing something creative each day.  I gave myself the parameters of either composing a poem or creating a piece of art.  I've been composing poems mainly because I've not yet had time to assemble the materials I need to create artwork.  The discipline of writing a poem a day was daunting at first, but I've felt my mind and spirit open up a bit over the past several days, and the ideas have been coming quickly.  The problem is, I've been compelled to write poems about pain, transitions, and other assorted fun topics because I've been experiencing both and more lately.  And, of course, there is the season of Lent itself, which lends itself to that kind of thing.  As rewarding as this practice has been, I wish I could write something more cheerful.   That feeling may resonate with more than a few folks reading this today.  Embracing our brokenness isn't easy, but ...