Presby-Musings

The idea of being "spiritual, but not religious," is not a new one by any means.   In the 1940s and 50s, my grandfather used to drive the twenty-plus miles into town on Sunday mornings with my grandmother so she could attend church in the little farming community where they lived. He would sit outside in the car reading the newspaper while she worshipped inside with the faithful--wanting nothing to do with organized religion.  Yet, he had read the entire Bible from cover to cover at least three times during his life, he had a deep faith in God, maintained high morals, and was more loving and kind than most Christians I have known.   But in the past decade, the number of people who maintain a personal sense of spirituality and connection to the Divine without actually being connected to a religion has exploded.   However, according to a Pew Research study on religion in America, many of the country’s 46 million unaffiliated adults are religious or spiritual...

This week I am continuing our sermon series entitled, "Together," which is focusing on the core values of my church--what we call "The Five Things."  This installment is centered on the second of our Five Things: Pray. I read this statistic the other day from a nationwide survey on faith in the United States that something like 84 percent of Americans pray on a regular basis.  That's a staggering number considering how in our culture fewer and fewer people are attending church, or espousing a particular faith. Maybe you're not a Christian, or you're struggling with this whole Christian thing, and you're not really sure how you feel about church or Jesus.  But one thing is certain:  There are moments when every single one of us tosses up a prayer for one reason or another. Most people pray.  There is something about the act of praying that speaks into the depths of humans beings, regardless of our religious bent. Here's the problem with...

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...

For the next two weeks I will be preaching on Aging. The median age of my congregation is in the high 60's or early 70's--depending on how inclusive you tend to be in calculating it.  Like most mainline Protestant denominations, my denomination--the Presbyterian Church (USA) --has long been identified as a "gray-ing" denomination. Most churches in my denomination are doing everything they can to try to "attract" younger people.  Mine is no different.  There's a good reason for doing so, quite frankly.  At some point if our churches don't begin to add younger members, they will have to face a serious crisis due to membership loss through attrition. But there's an unintended result from this necessary action--one that I think is rooted firmly in the way our society thinks and speaks about age.  Our focus on drawing younger people into the church (which we need to do to survive) unintentionally reinforces the our culture's view that newer and...