Presby-Musings

This week we are launching a brand new sermon series for the month of May entitled, "I Like Giving."  Each of these sermons is inspired by the book and the website of the same name.  Generosity is not just a virtue--and it's certainly not an exclusively "Christian" virtue, but I do believe it is a virtue that flows from the very heart of God .  I also think that for those of us who  all ourselves Christians , it's more than just a virtue, it's a way of life.  Over the course of this sermon series, we are going to explore what it means to serve a generous God, whose generosity is built into our very DNA .  You and I were made to be generous, it's how we were created.  But in order to fully experience the benefits of living a generous life, we need to learn what it means to practice generosity as a lifestyle.   Today we're going to explore one of the most famous conversations Jesus had with someone about what  it means to be generous: ...

This week we are continuing the sermon series that we started last Sunday--a Sunday that happened to be the  Sunday of Sundays in the Christian calendar .  We celebrated Easter with style last week.  For the second year in a row we had over 800 people experience worship at First Church.   At our casual service, the Crossing we had 100 more people in the room than we did last year.  Everyone dressed up, wore hats and looked awesome.  Families came en masse, some of them even brought their wayward Uncle Larry, who never goes to church.  And now it's the Sunday after the Sunday.  Most of the snowbirds are gone.  Uncle Larry isn't here.  It's just us.   Easter is over.  Jesus is risen.  Now what?   This feeling that we have today is not unlike what the disciples of Jesus felt after his resurrection.  There was joy at first, then elation, then unbelievable purpose and then he left.  Jesus appeared ...

Today is Palm Sunday --the Sunday before Easter, the day when we celebrate the beginning of Holy Week with the waving of palms, singing of songs, and other assorted awesomeness. This is the Sunday--before the  Sunday.  The moment before the moment. Did you know that the moment before the moment is the most important moment? When I say the moment before the moment, I mean the moment before the great moment --the moment of decision, the moment of destiny, the moment that always seems to get all the attention But it's the moment before the moment that's actually the most important---moment. Think about it. Remember the first time you went on the high dive at the pool?  You climbed up that ladder that seemed like it went to heaven.  Then you stood there at the end of that diving board, barely able to walk.  But you did--you stepped forward and then stood there at the end of it looking down.  And then you took a breath. That moment--the moment...

Every Sunday I stand in front of roughly 450 people plus a bunch of people watching church online and I ask for money. I don't come right out and say, "Give us your money," but I imagine if you were looking for that sort of thing, you would probably find it.  You would have to look hard because I spend less than two minutes of a 60-70 minute service talking about money. I shouldn't be hesitant about this, honestly.  It's a shame that I feel like I can only briefly mention the fact that without the generosity of our church members and friends our church wouldn't be able to share the Gospel with our community in amazing ways each and every week. Jesus spent more time talking about money than he did talking about heaven or hell.  So there's that. Even so... I am not going to beg, bribe or berate people into giving money to my church.  But I do feel like this needs to be said:  Why would anyone be upset about being asked to give in order to sup...

Next Monday we will celebrate an important national holiday---the only one instituted in my lifetime: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday. MLK Day was officially recognized as a national holiday during the tenure of President Ronald Reagan , which I am sure might surprise more than a few people. I remember that in the early days of it's institution there was a great deal of controversy regarding MLK Day--remnants of old enmities that were difficult to shed.  My children will never know such things.  To them it is simply a national day of remembrance for a man who gave his life in the struggle for freedom and equality. The speech that Martin Luther King, Jr delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on August 28, 1963 is commonly known as the "I Have A Dream Speech ."  It's more than a speech, though.  It's a sermon.  And I think it's a sermon that changed the world, which may seem like a pretty bold statement... but there you go....

This Sunday we will be celebrating what is officially known as "The Epiphany of our Lord," the day that ends the season of Christmas (the famous "12 Days") and begins the season of Epiphany in the Church.  I didn't make these things up, people.  Christians have been celebrating this stuff for a good long time, and I kind of dig it, to be honest. But what does "Epiphany" actually mean, and why should we even care about any of this stuff anyway?   To begin with, "epiphany" is a word that essentially means "realization," or more specifically, "inspired realization."  When you have an epiphany you know it.  You feel it in your bones.  It's more important than realizing that you took a wrong turn on the way to Albuquerque and ended up in Hoboken.  That would be a seriously wrong turn, I might add.   An epiphany is when you realize something that has the potential to change your life, the way you think about ...

This week I am beginning a brief sermon series on the Bible entitled, "The Book."  This series had it's origins in a sermon planning workshop that I held with church members and staff recently.  One of their greatest concerns had to do with what they perceived as a lack of biblical literacy among the average church member. They're not the only ones concerned about the lack of biblical literacy in the Christian community.  You wouldn't believe how much ink has been spilled and hands have been wrung by pastors and denominational authorities over the fact that we seem to be fighting a losing battle when it comes to passing on Bible knowledge to emerging generations. Here's the thing, I am aware that it's nigh to impossible to cover the complexity and depth of the Bible in three sermons---which is why I am only taking on three major questions about Scripture that most of ask: 1.  Is the Bible the Inspired Word of God? 2.  What sort of authority does t...