Presby-Musings

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass... Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.  They all ate and were satisfied...  Mark 6:39-43 In the above passage from Mark's Gospel, we get a glimpse into Jesus' miraculous "Feeding of the Five Thousand," a miracle that Jesus used to teach his followers something new about the kingdom of God.   The last phrase from the verses above is a beautiful description of how Jesus continually spoke about God's kingdom and what it would look like when the Shalom  or peace of God was fully present on earth.   They all ate and were satisfied...   As we are stumbling after Jesus, it's hard sometimes to the world as clearly as Jesus would have us see it.  According to Walter Brueggeman:...

Today we are going to conclude the sermon series that has taken us all the way through the month of August--a sermon series we've entitled #struggles: Following Jesus in A Selfie-Centered World.  We've been thinking together over the past several weeks about how technology and social media have shaped the way we think about what it means to be content, to have real relationships, to be fully authentic, show genuine compassion...  And today we are going to take the final step in our journey as we explore how technology and social media have shaped the way we view what it means to rest.  Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 4 verses 9-11.   There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[a] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. In Genesis chapter 2 the narrative te...

Today we are continuing the sermon series that is taking us all the way through the month of August--a series entitled #struggles: Following Jesus In A Selfie-Centered World.   Each of the last several weeks we have been exploring how technology and social media have been shaping our culture and our understanding of what it means to be content, to be in relationship with one another, to be fully authentic...  And the overriding question we've been asking is simply this: "As Christians, how do we navigate through this rapidly changing culture--a culture that is decidedly "selfie-centered."   This week we are going to be talking about Compassion--and more specifically how the rise of social media and our increasing reliance on technology have shaped our ability to show it in some not very helpful ways.  First, let's turn in our Bibles to Mark chapter 1 verses 40-41.   40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, y...

Today we are going to continue the sermon series that we started last week, a sermon series that is going to take us all the way through the month of August. The title of our sermon series is #struggle: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered world.  The basic overriding idea that will be moving us forward through this series is a simple one:  technology and social media are shaping our culture in ways that are often less than life-giving. Christians need to learn how to live faithfully and fully for Jesus within a culture that is--as we described it--"selfie-centered."   So last week we talked about how technology and social media have influenced our culture's ideas about contentment.  Today we're going to be talking about relationships.   One of the many things that I love about the technology that we use to communicate with is the immediacy that it offers us.  Back in high school when I wanted to talk to my wife when we were dating, I had to use the ...

This week we are launching a brand new sermon series for the month of August--a sermon series entitled "#struggle: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World."   According to the dictionary, a "selfie" is a photograph that one takes of oneself with a smartphone or webcam that is then shared through social media.  The word "selfie" did not exist until ten years ago. But then again, neither did smart phones--at least the kind of smartphones that we have today that can take high resolution, professional quality selfies.   Most selfies aren't an individual affair, though.  More often than not when most of us take a selfie, it's of the group we happen to be hanging with in the moment.  I saw a video where Johnny Depp was obliging some young fans who were taking a selfie with him.  "Why do they call it a selfie," he asked them in his Jack Sparrow character, "when there's more than one of you in it?"     I have here today ...