Presby-Musings

This week we'll be concluding the sermon series "The Elijah Chronicles," a series where we re-imagined the story of the prophet Elijah as though it were set in a post-apocalyptic future.  The world is desolate in our story.  There is an evil king, a military dictator if you will, who is persecuting those who worship God and advocating the worship of idols instead.  There is a remnant, a small group that refuses to give in---the Resistance. When we last saw Elijah, he had just experienced the most incredible victory of his life---the defeat of the prophets of Baal, the false god that the wicked king Ahab and his detestable wife Jezebel were forcing the people of Israel to worship.  God had sent fire from heaven to demonstrate his power, and his continued relationship with the Hebrew people , and the story ended with the people crying out "The Lord is God!" before executing all the evil prophets of Baal.  It was a huge win for the Resistance, and for Eli...

We are continuing our sermon series, "Cross Training," a sermon series for the season of Lent that focuses on the essential teachings of Jesus . This week I am preaching on one of the most familiar parables that Jesus ever shared with his followers---the story known most widely as The Story of the Prodigal Son .  It's interesting that most commentaries, translations of the Bible , popular literature, etc. all use this title for the parable ---especially since the story isn't exactly about one  son, but two.  Further this isn't just a story about sons , it's a story about a father  and his sons. This is probably a good moment to simply read the passage: Rembrandt's Prodigal Son from a Photo I took in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg Russia 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them t...

There is a myth about Christianity that is perpetuated despite all of the evidence to the contrary.  that myth is simply this: When you trust Jesus, your problems fade.  Maybe this myth was conveyed to you at some point in time.  Lots of Christians try to use this as a selling point for non-Christians so they'll start following Jesus. There are even some Christians who try to put their head in the sand about their problems because they've been taught they shouldn't have any if they really trust in God.  Others try to tell you that if you have problems it's because you don't have a close enough walk with Jesus.  Recently at one of the  Lifetree Cafe programs that our church hosts, we heard the story of a woman who was told by her pastor that the reason her son was born with Downs Syndrome was because she had sinned. The fact of the matter is that we all face problems of one sort or another.  We live in uncertain times, and as we learned last we...

This week I am beginning a new sermon series on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk .  I have wanted to do a sermon series on Habakkuk since I was a seminary student and I saw this statue on the right when I was on a trip to Italy: This statue was created by Donatello in the 15th Century, and is affectionately known as Lo Zuccone, "The Bald One ." When I saw this statue, I was able to walk up to it and stare the prophet in the face.  Donatello's vision of Habakkuk is not rooted in any sort of Biblical evidence, but there's just something about it that struck my imagination.  The prophet looks as though he has seen something, and whatever he has seen has changed him.  His mouth is open, his eyes are wild and he is ready to speak.  To deliver the burden that he has been given to bear.  "The Burden" is the title of my first sermon from the book of Habakkuk.  The "burden" in question is the prophecy that the prophet received, but I'll get to th...

I am continuing my sermon series on the Lord's Prayer this week---moving into the second line of the prayer: " Hallowed Be Thy Name ." As I pondered that line this week, I asked myself "What's in a name?"  Naturally, I googled to find a good website that revealed the meanings of names.  I picked www.behindthename.com because I liked the title. Why don't you click on it, and enter your own name just to see what it says.  I'll wait. Were you surprised?  Was it pretty much what you've always known?  Most of us have a pretty good idea what our names mean.  It's not something that we walk around shouting from the rooftops, nor do we plaster it on tee-shirts and wear them every where we go.  We just sort of know what our names mean.  I bet that you probably can't even remember when you first learned the meaning of your name. But you did.  Someone told you, I bet.  You may have read it somewhere, but almost certainly before you could re...