Presby-Musings

Grace and peace to you all on this Thanksgiving Day. Every year, I’m reminded that Thanksgiving, as beloved and longstanding as it feels, wasn’t made a national holiday until 1863, right in the middle of the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln—surrounded by division, grief, and fear—called the nation to pause on the final Thursday of November to give thanks. Decades later, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week during the Great Depression to try to stimulate the economy; after public outcry, he finally settled on the fourth Thursday in November in 1941. Even then, people worried about Thanksgiving becoming a prelude to shopping. Some things, it seems, don’t change. But as I revisited Lincoln’s original proclamation, one sentence leapt off the page. Lincoln urged Americans to ask God to “commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” One hundred sixty years later, his...

  Scripture: “Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” — Matthew 6:4 When I was a new pastor, I used to gather with a small cadre of fellow Presbyterian ministers in the area where I served in Florida.  We would get together once a month for lunch and general chit-chat, and being new to my role, I hoped to learn as much as I could from the others.  There was one guy that I struggled to connect with, though.  He loved to brag.  He boasted about the size of his congregation, how many people were in worship, and how much money they had. He also believed that no one else should be preaching at his church except him (I felt pity for his associate pastor), and he gave the clear impression that he was the only person in his church building with any good ideas.  As a brand-new, impressionable pastor, I quickly learned that sometimes a poor example could be a good example.   I would like to say that I have never let pride sneak i...

  Scripture: “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” — Luke 5:16 Some years ago, when I was a pastor in Florida, I attended a ministry conference in Chicago, in the middle of February.  I knew what I was getting into weather-wise, having lived in Chicago for 4 years, and I knew the conference was going to be amazing, so I was undeterred.    I was in the middle of a day-long workshop on preaching when my cell phone began to blow up with one of my elders trying to reach me.  He kept calling and texting incessantly, so I finally stepped outside to call him back.  He didn't even say hello.  Instead, he asked me angrily, "Are you really at a conference?! I can't believe you would go to a conference in February!"  I calmly told him that many conferences for pastors take place in February, after Christmas and before Easter.   "I think it's irresponsible to leave town when all of our winter members are returning from up North...

“Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” — Philippians 4:5 I was watching a sports talk show the other day while enjoying some breakfast and coffee.  The show in question is entertaining because the opinions of the host and guests are usually on point, delivered with a ton of enthusiasm, some controversy, and often inflammatory. It's fun to watch people argue about sports because that's what I do with friends and family regularly.     But something happened on the show that struck me as fascinating.  One of the guests had an opinion about a particular football topic, and he delivered it cogently and in a matter-of-fact tone.   The host then went on a two-minute tirade about the guy's "tepid response," and wondered aloud whether he even got what the show was all about.  In other words, he agreed with the guest's analysis; he just wanted him to share it with some fire, some bluster, even some anger.   That whole exc...

  It ’s one week to Advent… and it’s Reign of Christ Sunday   This three-week series has helped us prepare our hearts for Advent.  We will always be surprised by Christ, but if our hearts are open, we can glimpse what we can do “in the meantime.”   Today, we are going to experience Good Friday and a mysterious, surprising story found only in Luke’s Gospel.   But first, let me ask you a question.   Have you ever felt like the Universe was against you?   I'm talking about the moments when people turn on you, when you find yourself falsely accused, when you get blamed for things you had no control over, when it feels like you're living Job's life.   We've all had some taste of this at least once in our lives.  Some of us more intensely than others, but we all get it.   Here's the thing: when we are going through seasons like this, it's hard not to feel bitter, angry, and disillusioned.   Being able to show grac...

Scripture: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” — John 6:68 I've written extensively about the major crisis of faith I had many years ago, when I was driving to church on an Easter Sunday morning and realized I didn't know for sure whether I believed any of the things I was about to preach.  It took me years to walk through those doubts and to come to a new way of believing.  It was one of the single most transformative seasons of my life.   But I haven't written all that much about how it felt.  In short, it was awful.  I felt like I was adrift in the ocean with no land in sight.  I didn't know whether I  would be able to continue being a pastor, which I thought was my life's calling.   There were more than a few dark nights of the soul during that time when I wondered if God existed, and if the Church still mattered.  I was disoriented and despairing, and couldn't talk to anyone about what I was going ...

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’” — John 20:27 “Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.” — David Richo When I began the journey toward becoming a pastor, I was told by more than a few people that it was definitely what I was supposed to do with my life.  I didn't believe them, but I stepped onto the path anyway.  For years, I felt unqualified and that I was on a fool's errand.  I never expressed it to anyone, and you wouldn't have known it by the way I presented myself, but deep inside, there was always this voice telling me I was a fraud.   I constantly looked back on my life and all of the things I'd done, the people I'd hurt, the mistakes I'd made, and the very real doubts I had about God, and thought, "If all these people around me knew who I really was, they'd discount me straight away."   Then I re...

“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10 “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil This past summer, I went camping in Colorado with my two youngest boys.  We had done a lot of hiking, and I was worn out, so when they proposed another hike, I told them they could go on without me, and I would rest up at the campsite.  After they'd gone, I posted up in a hammock, facing a majestic mountain, my view framed by aspen trees, and the sound of the river below in my ears.  I had decided to leave my phone in the tent so I could just sit in quiet and take it all in.  It took me a bit to keep my mind from racing and resisting the urge to get up and get my phone.  But the hypnotic shimmer of the aspen leaves blowing in the wind was mesmerizing, and I soon found my scattered thoughts fading.   As time went on, I discovered that I felt a sense of peace washing over me, and the presence of something else.  I knew I wasn...

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” — Matthew 5:9 “Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.” — Oscar Romero Years ago, I had a conflict with a small group of church members who didn't appreciate some of the changes that were taking place in the church.  Some members of this group took it upon themselves to perpetuate lies about me and my intentions as a leader.   The things that were said were hurtful and wrong.  In the end, I was vindicated, but I emerged from that situation with a great deal of bitterness and anger about what had happened.   I recall discussing the situation with a colleague, and he allowed me to vent and get everything off my chest before responding. "I get it," he told me.  "I've been there more than once, and it's hard to t...

“When he saw him, he was moved with pity.” — Luke 10:33 “Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.” — Pema Chödrön When my oldest son was little, we lived in downtown Chicago and often had to ride the train to get to and from the church where I worked.   One Sunday morning, we were in the train station for the Red Line near where we lived, and a fight broke out between a couple of homeless men.  There was a lot of pushing and shoving, along with a couple of weak punches thrown, but mostly they shouted obscenities at each other.  Since I rode the train more often than my son, I was taken aback by the whole thing and simply moved away from the scene a bit to wait for the next train to arrive.  I'd seen more than my fair share of homeless people, and more than a few fights, and had grown a bit jaded, but my son was...

We’re a couple of weeks from Advent (still Pentecost, people) We are currently working through a short sermon series that will take us into Advent, which is entitled "Ready or Not."  This three-week series will help us prepare our hearts for Advent The simple idea behind this series is that Christ is always arriving in unexpected ways.  We will always be surprised by Christ, but if our hearts are open, we can glimpse what we can do “in the meantime.”   Today, we are going to hear some words of Jesus that sound like the worst pep talk in the history of pep talks.   Until it doesn’t.   But first, let's discuss the end of the world for a moment.   “It’s The End of The World!” (Or Is It?)  Sometimes it feels like it, doesn't it?   There’s no shortage of end-of-the-world predictions.  It seems that in every age some seem to find "evidence" in Scripture to back up their apocalyptic notions.   People have been predicting the end ...