Presby-Musings

" If I knew of any way of escape [from pain] I would crawl through sewers to find it." - C.S. Lewis I've been considering the purpose of suffering lately.   It's the season for these kinds of reflections.  In these few days before Holy Week our thoughts can often turn toward the journey of Jesus into Jerusalem, and ultimately to the suffering, that journey brought him.   But I've also been considering the purpose of suffering in general as I read the news of the day--news of war, of violence, hopeless division, sin, and death.   My oldest boy called me on his way to school today to ask me if I'd heard the news on the latest bomb attacks here in Austin, TX.  The last attack happened just a few miles from our house, injuring two men severely.  He also shared another story he'd heard about a terrible murder-suicide in Florida.   I realize now that he wanted me to tell him something profound.  I didn't have anything pr...

Over the years, I've been pretty open about my struggles with doubt as it relates to my faith. I've shared from the pulpit on numerous occasions that I have had seasons when I've wondered if God is truly "at the wheel," so to speak.  I've even wondered in my lowest moments if what I was doing (this whole Christian pastor thing) was just an exercise in futility.   One of those times came a couple of years ago after the horrific tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School--when a crazed gunman executed little children.  After that happened, I had a dark moment or two about what God was up to, if God was up to anything at all.   I realized after Sandy Hook that all of the things I had been programmed by Christian culture to say were pretty useless and trite.  In the end, I had to dive to the bottom of my doubt during that dark time in order to find some ground to push off of in order to return to the surface.  I once had a church member meet...

This week I am preaching the third installment of the sermon series, "Big Church."  The entire foundation of this series is grounded in the notion that the Church is not an institution, it's a movement.   Jesus did not create a mission for the Church, he created a Church for His Mission. The text for the sermon this week is a strange little story embedded in Acts chapter 9 immediately following the dramatic conversion of Saul.  Here's it is: 36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas ); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other...

This Sunday I am preaching the final sermon of the series that I've been preaching for the month of June entitled, "Dusting Off Old Stuff."  This sermon series on essential Christian doctrines and why they matter has been an eye-opener for me. And a reminder that I didn't remember that much from what I learned in seminary. This is what happens when you drink from a fire hose, so to speak: you might get some  water down your gullet, but all you remember is the fact that you got owned by the hose. The topic of this sermon is The Lord's Supper.  Or Holy Communion.  Or the Eucharist. Lots of Christians call it different things.  And celebrate it in different ways. Which leads us to some questions that could use answering, at least in my mind.  First, If we say that we are celebrating the Lord's Supper, why does it always seem as though we are acting like we are at a funeral? Anyone else feel me on this?  Seriously, for most of my life I hav...

I have been in his brightest shining heaven and seen such things that no man, once returned from there, has wit or skill to tell about.           - Dante from  Paradiso "Peter," said Lucy, "where is this, do you suppose?" "I don't know," said the High King.  "It reminds me of somewhere, but I can't give it a name.  Could it be somewhere we once stayed for a holiday when we were very, very small?"          - C.S. Lewis from The Last Battle What is Heaven like?  What can we learn from visions of Heaven that will give us a renewed sense of purpose here on earth?  How can we defy that old saying, Christians are so heavenly minded, "they are no earthly good?" A Spirit-filled vision of Heaven should give us hope for the future, and a purpose for the present.  When we go to the Bible we find some interesting visions of Heaven... In Isaiah 2:2-4 we have this description of Heaven from the prop...