Presby-Musings

Here is a list of things that I don't want to hear my wife say: 1. "Guess what your son did today?" 2. "We need to talk." 3. "We have to do the bills." 4. "I have a headache." 5. "I'm pregnant." There are lots of things that we don't want to hear.  We don't want to hear bad news.  We don't want to hear that we've made a mistake.  We don't want to hear that we've been wrong.  We don't want to hear that plans have changed, that we are ill or that the person we love is saying goodbye... for good. When someone says to us, "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" most of us would rather just hear the good news.  Jesus said some hard things.  When you read them in the Bible it's tempting to want to ignore them, and move on to a section where he says something like, "I love you, you love me, we're a..." Oh, yeah.  That's not Jesus.  That's Barney the Dinos...

I've been preaching on the centrality of Christ in Christianity for the past few weeks during this season of Lent.  That's a fancy way of saying that we have been struggling with the question, "Is Jesus still the center of Christianity?" And more specifically for those of us who call ourselves Christians, is Jesus still the center of our churches and our lives?" This week I'll be preaching and teaching on the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ.  The word "gospel" means "good news," which leads us to this very important question for Christian-y people: "What would you say is the 'good news' of the Gospel?" Is it Salvation? You know, getting your ticket punched--your "Get out of Hell Free" card. What about Christianity? Is the "good news" wrapped up in a religion? Is it all about going to Heaven when you die? What about prosperity?  Is the "good news" that God blesses you in this life? ...

Meet the Beach Family: Over the last 15 years, Larry and Melissa Beach have fostered more than 80 children in their home and enlarged their family to 15 through adoption.  One of their adopted children, Mercy, is deaf, blind and brain damaged.  Several of the other adopted kids have developmental issues.  Many of their foster children have been terminally ill or severely disabled infants that no one wanted.  They took these children into their home, knowing that they would not survive.  In 2008 their home was destroyed by Hurricane Ike.  Extreme Home Makeover came to town and built them a brand new home in what became a two-hour special that aired on ABC on Easter Sunday.  Melissa was being interviewed about her life, the show and everything.  She said, "If you are among the least o these, if you're a child in need, one who would otherwise be institutionalized, then you're going to be part of our family.  You're going to be bro...