Presby-Musings

I am going to share some of the most powerful words in the English language with you today.  Are you ready?  Here they are:   "Once upon a time..."   Those words are absolutely pregnant  with possibility aren't they?  Your mind is already racing right this very second to finish that sentence with a story of your own, or one that you remember...   Never underestimate the power of a good story.  Writer Matt Goins offers this description of how important stories are to human beings.  "Story is where we came from.  Story is where we are going. Story is what connects us and binds us together."   It's in the midst of storytelling that we discover ourselves, the meaning of things, our purpose and direction.   Jesus was a master storyteller.  In ancient Judaism, storytelling was an enormous part of the religious and spiritual life of the community.  Later, inspirational storytelling became a recognized hol...

This Sunday is the final installment of the sermon series that we've been working on for the past several weeks--a sermon series entitled, "The Core."  This sermon series has been a re-exploration of the core values of our church--what we call the Five Things: Worship, Pray, Grow, Love and Serve. Throughout this sermon series our conversations have been shaped by one very important truth: "We are made of what we value."  And, as we've discovered, this is more than just a metaphor, it's quite literal, in fact. At the very core of our being we are made up of trillions of atoms that are constantly exchanging energy with other things and other people.  Those of us who are Christians say that the energy between us, around us, in us and through us is stamped with the very DNA of God , and is fueled by God-energy that we call the Holy Spirit . And at this level of being---there's a load of mystery.  Science can't explain everything as it turns ...