Presby-Musings

Grace and peace to you, dear readers!  Today, I'm leaving with my family on a long-planned and awaited family cruise to Alaska, and I will be returning on June 23, which means I will also take a break from the Daily Devos.  I'm mostly packed at this point, but there are always a hundred things that need doing before we go out the door, like the family from the movie  Home Alone rushing to get to the airport.  Hopefully, we won't leave anyone behind!  As much as I love writing the Daily Devos and sharing them with you all, it seems right to be fully present and let my mind rest with the rest of me.   However, I wanted to take a moment before I leave to share how much it means to me to do this.  Because sharing these reflections with you almost every day has changed my life.  Writing and sending the Daily Devos began over eight years ago when I decided to try it out during the season of Lent. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and the folks receiving them each day enc

I have been thinking a lot lately about the changing seasons, particularly as Summer is in full-blown effect here in Texas.   Something about the Texas heat makes you forget that there was frost on the ground a few months ago, and you were bundling up to keep a freezing wind from numbing your extremities.   I was reading a passage from Annie Dillard's amazing book Teaching A Stone To Talk, in which she reflects on the changing of seasons and the surprise that often comes when you are reminded of the passing of time.  There was a line that struck me, and I've been kind of haunted by it ever since:  I thought I was younger and would have more time.  That line surprisingly resonated with me.  It also made me reflect on a conversation with a friend about milestone birthdays and how you feel when you realize there are probably more years behind you than in front of you.   When you are young, the changing of the seasons doesn't mean much to you, except to mark the way you dress o

Last night, I fulfilled a bucket list item that I didn't expect to fulfill.  I saw Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band perform at ACL Live in Austin, the final stop of their tour.  So I can finally say that I saw one of the Beatles perform, which is very cool! Ringo was joined onstage by Steve Lukather, the lead singer and guitarist from Toto, Hamish Stuart, the lead singer, bassist, and composer from the 1970s group Average White Band, and Colin Hay, the lead singer and guitarist from Men at Work.  It was an incredible treat to see a stage with so many of the voices and musicians from bands I grew up loving, but one of the All-Starr Band members stood out for me more than any of the others: Warren Ham.  Warren Ham has been part of the bands Kansas and Toto off and on for decades. He has recorded and been on tour with Cher, Olivia Newton-John, and Donna Summer, among others.  The dude plays every instrument you can think of and then some. I saw him play different saxophones, the cla

I watched a TED talk once on creativity and courage that actor, director, writer, and musician Ethan Hawke delivered, and he said something that resonated with me.   He spoke about the fear that so many of us have to use our gifts because we've been told somewhere along the way that what we have to offer isn't good enough.  Here's what he said:   If history has taught us anything, it's that the world is an unreliable critic.  That line resonated with me so much because I know what it's like to create, write, speak, and put things out into the world that could very well invite criticism.   In fact, I have received my fair share of it over the years.  Some of it was warranted, mind you.  I'm not perfect, so I make mistakes from time to time.  And sometimes the things I write or say in public are sure to offend some folks, or at the very least generate a negative reaction for one reason or another.   But I've learned a thing or two about critics over the years.

It's the Third Sunday of Pentecost, a season that allows us to reflect on what it means that the Spirit of Christ is at work in the Church.   What kind of power does the Spirit of Christ bring to us? Our sermon series for June is entitled Jesus, According to Mark. Mark’s Gospel is similar to rabbinical history/legends with wisdom literature.   What Do We Do When Jesus Doesn’t Seem To Make Sense? Jesus said some hard things to decipher sometimes.  Here’s a sample of some of them…   "Let the dead bury the dead." (When a guy said, "I'll follow you after I bury my father.") "Whoever divorces and marries another commits adultery." "Let him who has no sword buy one."  "Sell what you have, and follow me."  The hard saying from today is one of the most difficult because it involves family and religion—we know how that usually goes.  And here's what we'll focus on after reading this hard saying.   When we create an image of Jesus

In The Song of the Bird , his excellent little book of parables, Fr. Anthony de Mello tells the story of a man who found an eagle's egg and then put it into the nest of one of his backyard hens.   The egg hatched, and the eagle grew up thinking it was a chicken.  It clucked and cackled, scratching at the ground like the other chickens.  The eagle would flap his wings and fly only a few feet off the ground.  The eagle grew old, and one day, as he was scratching at the ground with one of the chickens, he saw a magnificent bird flying high above him.  "What is that?" he asked.  "That's an eagle, the king of the birds," his companion replied.   "He belongs to the sky.  We belong to the earth--we're chickens."  The old eagle went back to scratching.  He lived and died a chicken because that's what he thought he was. This parable speaks to me. Let me tell you why.   Far too many of us deny our true nature, destiny, and a life soaring above the ea