Presby-Musings

The Tempest, was the last of Shakespeare's plays written entirely by the Bard himself.  Toward the end of the play, the retiring magician Prospero speaks directly to audience in what is widely believed to be Shakespeare's own farewell address:   Our revels now are ended. These our actors,  As I foretold you, were all spirits and  Are melted into air, into thin air:  And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,  The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,  The solemn temples, the great globe itself,  Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve  And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,  Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff  As dreams are made on, and our little life  Is rounded with a sleep.  (The Tempest, 4.1)  As we step into the season of Lent today, we are reminded on this Ash Wednesday that we "are dust, and to dust we shall return."   The reminder that death is an integral part of ...

Today is Ash Wednesday--the first day of the season of Lent.   If you are unfamiliar with what Lent is all about, and want a proper definition, here it is:  Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. At my church later on this evening, we'll have a special worship service where those who desire can receive what we call the "imposition of ashes."  I'll take my finger, dip it into a mixture of ash and oil and make the sign of the cross on their forehead.   And I'll say something like, "Child of God, Remember you are dust and to dust you will return."   The basic idea is that on Ash Wednesday Christians openly acknowledge their frailty and mortality, and essentially "...

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.  Today we begin the slow walk out of the grey of winter, through the valley of the shadow and on again toward Easter morning.   Every year at the onset of Lent I find myself drawn to T.S. Eliot's poem Ash Wednesday.   Maybe it's because I'm always searching during this time of year for things to teach, to preach or to pray.  And during those searches I recall a class I took a lifetime ago where we read and discussed the poem, and it never left me.  These words in particular:  Wavering between the profit and the loss In this brief transit where the dreams cross The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying (Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things From the wide window towards the granite shore The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying Unbroken wings Eliot captured in just a few words, the mystical and holy moment when we come to the crossroads between death an...

I am convinced that there are moments in your life when you are better prepared to be shaped by your experiences than others.  Maybe you just needed to get your mind right first.  Perhaps you needed to be a certain age, or have a particular set of experiences under your belt.  Or maybe you just needed to have your heart in the right place.  This particular season of Lent has become just such a time for me.  I can feel it.  There's something different about this Lenten season than any of those that I previously observed.  Not having been raised in a faith tradition that valued the rhythms of the Church, I am a recent adherent to "liturgical living," so I don't have all that many years to use as a reference.   But on Ash Wednesday this week I was struck by something profound:  I can choose to endure Lent, ignore it, or be shaped by it.  That's about it.  And for most of my life I've opted for the first two choices....

This week as the launch of our Lenten sermon series "Walls: What Separates Us From God and Each Other?" I will be preaching on Division. But first, let's take a look at Lent and what it means. Lent is a season within the church that has it's roots in repentance, though it has come to take on different meanings, depending on the tradition within which it is celebrated.  It quite literally refers to "40 days," or more specifically the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter.   For centuries Christians have viewed the Lenten season as a time for reflection, discipline and self-control.  Lent has become synonymous with "giving up" something, or denying oneself pleasure as an act of solidarity with the suffering of Christ . More recently, Christians have begun "taking up" something like the disciplines of fasting, prayer or Bible study as a means of expressing their devotion. It's my belief, however, that we need to return...