Presby-Musings

Welcome everyone.  This is the place to be on Christmas Eve, clearly.  I want to welcome all those who are visiting tonight--those who have traveled from out of town, those who are coming home to celebrate with family... kids home from college...   To all the children who are here, dying to find out what's under the tree or what's on the way tonight...   And to those who aren't exactly church goers, who were dragged, coerced, bribed, guilt-tripped into coming to church tonight...  I have a special welcome for you because you are my people.  I know what it feels like, I've been there myself.   There was a time when I didn't believe in God, and I believed in less in church and church-y stuff.  But once a year, I would find myself dragging in to church on Christmas Eve because my mom would make me feel guilty.   I have to tell you that even during that time in my life when I was not feeling the whole Christian thing, when I was wounde...

This is the fourth week of the season of Advent.  Throughout the season of Advent we'll be focusing on what it means to be full of expectation and anticipation during this blessed time of year.  We'll also be lifting up the various weekly themes of Advent, corresponding to the lighting of the candles on the Advent wreath. This week our theme is "Love."   "Expectancy is the atmosphere for miracles." - Edwin Louis Cole  I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day and saw a couple of videos that had been shared and viewed several thousand times.  One video was from the United Kingdom, taken by the parents of a little girl who was deaf, who was visiting Santa Claus in a store.   She sat on Santa's lap and it didn't take long for him to notice that she could not hear.  And so he began to speak to her in sign language.  Because of course Santa can speak in sign language.  I sat there watching through misty eyes as the little gir...

I have an unusual name:   Leon Bloder.   I am the only one of my kind as far as I can tell.  I am named for my grandfather, whose parents were Austrian immigrants. They originally named him Leopold, but then changed it.  I'm rather glad of that, actually. Of the many jokes that have been made about my name over the years, there's one that always tends to crop up around Christmastime .  It goes like this: "Did you know that your name spelled backwards is "Noel?"  "Yes," I'll usually say, "I know."  Once I decided to feign ignorance.  "Really?" I nearly shouted when the joke teller let me have it.  "I had NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE! That's SO AWESOME! My name spelled backwards is Noel, how do you like that?  HOW FUNNY! You thought of that all by yourself?  MAN you must be a GENIUS." Come to think of it, that's the last time that person ever spoke to me again. Hmmm.  Maybe it's just as well. We all k...

It's Christmas Eve , and once again our community of faith is gathered to celebrate the birth of the Christ child . There's something about this night that brings us together---even those of us for whom church is not part of or regularly scheduled programming. I have a soft spot in my heart for the non-Church-y people who find their way to church on Christmas Eve.  There were a lot of years when I wasn't really the church going type, you see.  In fact, not only was church not part of my regularly scheduled programming, I had pretty much cancelled it from my life altogether.  But when Christmas Eve would come around again, as it seems to do each year, I'd discover myself sitting in a pew, showered, shaved and wearing somewhat respectable church clothes. I think the reason why I showed up was because there was part of me that wanted to believe everything that everyone around me was singing and praying. I wanted to believe in the story of Hope that the various pastor...

As a pastor, I often find the scheduling of the Fourth Sunday of Advent to be a bit off---especially this year.  The fact that the final Sunday in this season of expectation is literally the day before   Christmas Eve offers a temptation of sorts. I'll call this temptation The Temptation of Tomorrow . Tomorrow is fairly tempting in its own right, especially when Today is not shaping up to be that spectacular, if you know what I mean. But when Tomorrow is Christmas Eve... that's a whole other level of temptation, my friend, especially since we find ourselves at the end of a very long, and difficult Advent. Let me ask you something.  Are you limping to the finish line this year?  Are you ready for all of this to be over and for December 25th to finally arrive?  Are you feeling a bit battered by the gauntlet of shopping traffic and other assorted obstacles that you have had to face each and every blessed Advent day? I feel you. And so I give you a sto...

This night. This night is full of mystery and... hope.   Forget what the scholars say about how Jesus was probably born in the summer. That the stable was probably a cave. That Mary could have been as young as thirteen.  And Joseph as old as fifty. This isn't a night for historical criticism.  This is a night for wonder.  A night for miracles. It's a night that reminds us that peace is possible, that joy is possible, that hope is not lost and that love is the answer. For centuries the faithful have gathered on this night to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace , the Savior who is Christ the Lord . Some are drawn to gather for reasons entirely their own. But drawn they are, because there is something about this night that cannot be denied--a sense of the magical, if I might border on heresy. Some gather because they always have gathered.  Worshipping with family, wearing Christmas-y clothes, holding candles, singing carols. Some gath...

It's nearly Christmas Eve.  I have been doing my best to cram two sermon preps into one afternoon, but I am losing that battle. I've been thinking a great deal about what I will say tomorrow night.  My wife tells me that it should be a good sermon because there are so many visitors who will be there for the first time.  No pressure.  Several years ago when I was in seminary I took a Preaching class.  It wasn't a bad class as seminary Preaching classes go, but they did force us to read our sermons from a manuscript.  I told the professor then that I was not, nor would ever be the kind of preacher who read a sermon.  I thought that reading a sermon did violence to the art of sermonizing.  I argued that we weren't delivering an academic paper (he disagreed) and then I went on to equate listening to preachers read their sermons with other exciting things like watching paint dry or grass grow.  When I was finished, he sort of looked at me...