Presby-Musings

A friend of mine recently posted a twenty seven year-old photo of us on Facebook from a trip we took to New York City with two other friends---one of whom was my roommate, Greg (the guy in the leather jacket and cool hat).   The photo was taken on top of one of the towers of the World Trade Trade center, marking the beginning of an epic trip to the city, upstate New York and eventually Toronto.  I was just twenty two years old in that photo--younger than my oldest son.     Just over ten years after this photo was taken the World Trade Center would be destroyed on 9/11. Thirteen years later, at age 39, my old roommate Greg would lose his life in a tragic motorcycle accident, brought on by a drunk driver.    If the passer-by who took our photo that day had been from the future and took the time to tell me that those things would come to pass, I would have never believed it.     Standing on top of those seemingly indestr...

This past weekend my wife and I spent some time in New York City with a friend who was having surgery there.  We also took the time to experience some of the sights of the city.   One of the most meaningful things that we did was to visit the National 9/11 Museum and Memorial on the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in an evil terrorist attack seventeen years ago.   It's hard to fathom the kind of hatred and twisted religious fundamentalism that would cause such death and destruction.  As a people, we lost a lot on that day.  We lost our innocence, our naive view of the wider world, our overall sense of safety...  I felt old resentments well up inside of me, and hard words began to form on my lips.  And then Merideth said to me, "We have to be better.  We have to come from a place of love. We need to speak that into the world."   About that time we rounded the corner and saw a display in the gift sh...

I've been reading tweets, blog posts and the like from pastors who are preaching tomorrow on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th.  Many of us are struggling with these sermons.  I've more than a few friends who have decided to basically let the anniversary go, and give it a cursory mention in their worship services tomorrow.  I've also noticed a few others who are using the opportunity to preach sermons about how awful America is.  That came out a bit harsh.  I think I'll leave it though.  It's true. When I saw that the 10th anniversary of 9/11 was falling on a Sunday this year, I knew that to ignore it would be a huge mistake.  For the past few weeks there have been countless documentaries, news stories and the like on the upcoming anniversary.  It's made all of the memories of that Tuesday morning come rushing back for both myself and my parishoners.  When pastors make the decision (out of hubris) to completely ignore what's ha...

This Sunday is the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th. Most of us remember vividly where we were on that Tuesday morning ten years ago. There's something about the tragedy of that day that was---I don't know--- more tragic than anything most of us had ever experienced before. It haunts us, and we live with the reality of the new world it created each and every day. On Tuesday, September 11th I was working at my desk in the church where I served as the Director of Christian Education. For some reason, there was no one else in the office with me that day. I think the secretary had a doctor's appointment and our very part time interim pastor wasn't there either. We shared office space with the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes branch, and the secretary who worked there came to office with an ashen look on her face to tell me the news that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We didn't have a television in the office and our interne...