Presby-Musings

I have this friend who has been living with cancer for a decade.  He's in remission now, a brief respite from the dread disease that still lurks below the surface. The whole ordeal changed him--both inside and out.   I read his Facebook posts now with a sense of wonder. He reflects on the world with a wisdom that I long to obtain.  His outlook on the world is one that is permeated with hope, and gravitates toward truth, beauty and goodness.   I wish so badly that I could be like him--to see the world with eyes filled with wonder, to speak honestly and plainly about what needs to be made right in society, to bear witness to Jesus without pretense.  I want all these things, but without going through the trials and tribulations that shaped him, of course.  A song by David Crowder just went through my head as I wrote that last line:  "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."   In his Meditations , Marcus Aurelius wrote, "T...

This week we are going to continue our Lenten sermon series--a series entitled "RE:"  "RE:" is drawn from the Latin prefix that denotes change or transformation.  Each of the sermons in this series is connected to a practice for the season of Lent:  Remember, Repent, Renew, Remain and Restore.  This week we are going to explore the Lenten practice of remaining connected to Christ, which I believe is the surest way to move forward in life toward a hopeful future.  In fact, that's the one thing I want to make sure that we hang on to when we all walk away from worship this morning:   Remaining connected to Christ is the surest way to move forward.  The passage of Scripture that we are going to be studying today is one that is pretty familiar to most of us.  Even if you didn't grow up in church, you have heard Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke chapter 15.  The traditional name of this story isn't all that accurate, though. ...

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...