Presby-Musings

We are often called to walk in darkness, where God leads us to that next step which is usually not clear, predictable, or controllable by the rational mind. - Richard Rohr  I can't stand not knowing where I am going.  It's rare these days that I find myself lost because I almost always use my smartphone to guide me.  But there are moments when the way is not clear even for the smartest of phones.  Just about every year a story emerges of some unlucky person who followed driving directions on their smartphone smack dab into a lake or off a disabled bridge.   The moral of the story almost always is: if they had been watching the signs, instead of trusting the directions on their phones, they would have avoided calamity. We often do the same thing when it comes to finding our way forward in life.  We think we have it figured out, and that we don't need any signs from God or any of God's outside influence to map our course.   Mo...

This week we are concluding the sermon series that we've been working on for the past several weeks, a sermon series entitled, "My Story: Living the Story You Want to Tell."  The basic centering idea of this series is this simply, yet profound truth: The decisions you make today determine the stories you tell tomorrow.   One day you're going to tell a story about this season of your life--hopefully, you'll tell a story that you're proud of.  Hopefully, you'll tell a story of how you started new habits to build a better foundation for your life.  Or maybe you'll tell the story of how you stopped doing the things that were keeping you from wanting the things God wants for you.  Maybe you'll tell the story of how you stayed put when it would have been easier to leave.   The decisions you make today determine the stories you tell tomorrow, and these decisions you're making aren't always the few big huge decisions, that you're cal...

Today we are going to continue the sermon series that we started last week, a sermon series that is going to take us all the way through the month of January. This series is entitled, "My Story: Living the Story You Want To Tell."   The beginning of a new year often prompts us to reflect on our own stories, and how we might begin to write new chapters in the story of our life.  The truth is, everyone of us has a story.  Some stories we are proud of, and others we'd rather not tell.  I don't know about you, but I have plenty of stories that I would just as soon forget.   I know that even the dark chapters of my life serve their purpose in moving the story forward, but they aren't the ones I want to go back and read again, if you know what I mean.   Last week we learned something very profound.  We learned that the decisions we make today determine the story we tell tomorrow.  We talked extensively about why it is so important to start--...

The Cause Within You:  Finding The One Great Thing You Were Created To Do In This World  by Matthew Barnett with George Barna Several years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a convention and to hear Matthew Barnett, author of The Cause Within You:  Finding The One Great Thing You Were Created To Do In This World .  Matthew is the son of megachurch pastor, Tommy Barnett--a guy who grew up in the Church.  He had a life in front of him as a result of his pedigree--- a life of success in the Christian world, the likes of which not many others ever experience. Then Matthew gave all of that up to pursue God's calling to serve the poor, the marginalized, the broken and the forgotten people on the fringes of society, and in one of the most difficult places to do it:  Los Angeles.   The Cause Within You  is the story of how Barnett pursued this call, and founded the Dream Center in Los Angeles. The Cause Within You  is full of stories of ho...

Finding Our Way Again  by Brian McLaren is one of those rare books that you discover you need on your bookshelf for those times in your life when you are feeling spiritually dehydrated.  It's easily the sort of book that you could read again and again at various stages in your life, and for lots of different reasons. Finding Our Way Again  was written in 2008, and is a departure of sorts from McLaren's usual fare, which has tended toward the political and theologically controversial.  The book lays out a case for the need of spiritual practices for people of faith in today's culture, and then provides both the rationale and guidelines for how to do it. Finding Our Way Again  also guides the reader through the ancient spiritual practices of the Church, demonstrating how they can both form and inform a vibrant and Spirit-filled 21st century faith. Even if you disagree with McLaren's theological assumptions, or you simply disagree with McLaren based on read...

I am finishing up my sermon series on Finding Spiritual Direction this week. It's been a good series, I think.  People have told me so.  I want it to be.  God knows I need to know which way I am going, and what God is up to in my life. I imagine there are lots of people who feel the same way.  Especially with the world being what it is right now, and all.  The last sermon in this series is all about finding spiritual direction in community.  I have this question that I need to ask... "Could the way that we show we know Jesus be found in how we act toward each other?" And here's another question that follows the first question... "How does that help us find spiritual direction?" I have been reading I John 2:3-11 for my sermon text this week.  I've read it six ways to Sunday.  Here, you can read it, too. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he comm...

This week I am beginning a new sermon series entitled, "Finding Spiritual Direction."  It's a timely series--at least I think it is--because I seem to be talking to a number of people who are struggling to figure out what their purpose in life is.  People sometimes say to me, "I feel like God has something for me to do, but I don't know what it is."  Or they might admit, "I just have no idea what to do with my life."  The funny thing is, these comments and the questions that surround them are being offered up by people of all ages in all stages of life. Trying to figure out what to be when we grow up, is often a lifetime process.  Some of us freely admit it.  Others may not openly say such a thing, but their actions and their questions reveal the truth. I still don't know what God has in store for me---what I am supposed to be doing next.  Most of the time I am content to do RIGHT NOW, but sometimes RIGHT NOW isn't enough to maintain ...