Presby-Musings

I was reminded today in my daily reading about the story of Damocles from ancient Greek lore.  According to the story, Damocles, who was a courtier to King Dionysius, was running his mouth about how wonderfully easy it was to be the king.   Dionysius then offered to switch places with Damocles for the day, which Damocles eagerly accepted.  The only caveat that Dionysius placed upon the arrangement was for a sword to be hung above Damocles head, held only be a single strand of a horse's tail.   Damocles learned the lesson: being king is perilous, and you don't want to be caught doing something terrible when/if the sword falls upon you.   There's another side to that lesson as well.  Sometimes we can live our lives in complete dread of God and God's holiness--as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over our heads, ready to fall at any time.   When this is our image of God, we often find ourselves acting out of obligation, g...

For the next four weeks, we'll be reflecting on Advent in the daily devotions--extending the conversation from the sermons I'm preaching each week on how to: Give More, Spend Less, Worship Fully and Love All.  This morning I came across a prayer that was attributed to St. Francis, and it spoke to me as I step further into this Advent season:    Most High,  Most glorious God,  Enlighten the shadows of my heart.  Grant me a right and true faith,  A certain hope, and  A perfect charity, feeling and understanding  Of You.  So that I may be able to accomplish Your holy and just commands.  Amen.  I don't know about you, but when I am waiting on God (like I seem to be right now during this season of expectation), I find that the "shadows of my heart" tend to tamper my sense of joy, and keep me from being expectant of God's abundance.   This prayer is so perfect because it speaks simply of our need for God in the mi...

For the next four weeks, I'm going to be reflecting on the season of Advent in my daily devotions--extending the conversation from the sermons I'm preaching each week on how to: Give More, Spend Less, Worship Fully and Love All.  On a trip that included a stop in Denmark, I bought an awesome watch made by the Danish company Skagen.  I loved that watch.  It looked cool on my wrist.  I felt like it made me look like a well-travelled, debonair man of the world.   And then one day someone stole the watch out of my duffle bag at the gym.  I left it in a locker only for a few moments while I was showering, but that's all it took.  My cool Danish watch was gone forever.  I no longer felt debonair.   We've all had those moments when we've lost our possessions or had them taken from us.  Sometimes it happens in epic fashion.   I've had some recent conversations with people who lost everything in the floods that rose...

Once when I  was strolling through the Walmart around Christmastime,  I saw a sign hanging from the ceiling.   "Save money. Live better."   I have to say that I am encouraged to see that Walmart is so concerned for my welfare that it decided to run a campaign where I will be compelled to save money so that I will live better. First, I have to say that I actually agree with the idea that saving money will result in better living.   Second, and most importantly, the fact of the matter is that Walmart doesn't want me to save money.  It wants me to spend it...in the Walmart.  But if it can convince me that SPENDING money in the Walmart will actually SAVE me money and that I will live better as a result... man, that's something. In the end, Americans will still spend nearly $600 billion on Christmas this year.  And most of that will be on credit. One Christmas, a few years ago,  my oldest boy got over 50 Christmas prese...

We have this Christmas decoration at my house that counts down the days until Christmas.  My little kids love this thing.  They look at it every day in anticipation of the the coming of Christmas.  You can almost feel the excitement that emanates off of them as the Day approaches. I remember feeling that intense feeling of anticipation when I was a kid.  I think it happens more when you're a kid, honestly.  It's not that I am not excited about the coming of Christmas now--I am.  In fact the stretch between the end of October and New Year's Day is easily my favorite time of the year.   But you know how it is... when you get older you start associating this time of year with the sorts of things that leave you decidedly less than excited.  You think about how busy you are going to be... with family obligations, church obligations, work stuff, parties, dinners...  Then there is the shopping, the crazy busy stores... the credit card b...

What motivates your faith? Fear? Desire to be a better person? Tradition?  Ritual? I was thinking a lot about that this week as I am preparing for my last sermon of this season of Advent, and given the time of year my thoughts wandered a bit to Christmas-y memories.  When I was a kid my faith in Santa Claus was founded on one thing and one thing only.  If I wasn't a good boy, he wasn't giving me jack for Christmas.  There are songs about this belief.  Hymns, to it, if you will. "You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why...  Santa Claus is coming to town...." Does anyone else find this creepy, but me?  And the song got worse, right? "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake..."   You know, it doesn't really matter how we try to sugar coat this whole Christmas/Santa Claus thing---in the end it al...

This Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent. If you were paying attention last week, we talked about how the word Advent means "expectation" and how our expectations should be pretty high this year.  If you weren't paying attention... grace abounds, and so does the definition of Advent. Our expectations should be high because things have been pretty icky for a while.  There's this whole war thing going on, and oh yeah... the world economy took a huge bite out of the crap burger this year.  Not to mention that Michael Jackson died, so there's that, too. We could use a lift. I'm expecting one.  I think that God is still in the miracle business.  I think that joy is coming and I choose to believe that peace is going to happen.  I also want to straight up claim some joy and some love, too.  Can I get an "Amen?"  I want so desperately for the Church, the Body of Christ to believe the same thing--that God is still in the business of performing...

 I was at my local neighborhood Walmart yesterday. I hate my local Walmart.  It's dirty, unkempt, it smells funny and--depending on when you go in there--full of the walking dead.  If you don't believe me, check out this website dedicated to the people who shop at Walmart.  If you find yourself on the website... I am sorry on a bunch of levels. Anyway...  I was at the Walmart to retrieve a cake that my wife had ordered.  I keep telling her not to shop at Walmart, but she continues to be seduced by the low prices, and since she can send me into the bowels of the beast without having to do it herself, she doesn't listen to me.  So, I was strolling into the Walmart with a score or so of other people who all looked like extras in the movie "Zombieland," and I saw the sign to the right hanging from the ceiling.   "Save money. Live better.  I have to say that I am encouraged to see that Walmart is so concerned for my welfare that it decided t...