Presby-Musings

This week we are concluding the three-part sermon series, "Bless This Home: Lessons for Families from Jesus ."  We've been guided by some of the very words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount : three short passages found in Matthew chapter 5. Over the past couple of weeks we've been highlighting the difference between having a "Christian" home as opposed to having a " Christ -centered" home.  In todays culture, it's easy to let the word "Christian" trip off of our tongues when we describe ourselves or our family life. But what we've come to understand is that the word "Christian" doesn't always have the most positive connotations for emerging generations of people in our culture.  Far too many people equate being Christian with bigotry, intolerance, judgement and a holier-than-thou attitude. We've been trying to reframe the conversation a bit by highlighting the differences between merely saying that yo...

This week we'll be celebrating a very special Sunday: The Sunday after Easter.  I say "celebrating" because it sounds better. But we all know what's about to happen. My church had a record number of people attend worship last Sunday--both in person and online.  I have a new tattoo and a haircut to prove it (see previous posts if that last sentence messed you up).  Now comes reality. Welcome to "Low" Sunday as it has become known. Or if you prefer, "Black" Sunday, because the incredible shining mood everyone felt when the church was full on Easter will be undoubtedly replaced with a darker mood when it's not full the Sunday after. Or my favorite: "Cannonball" Sunday--so named because you can fire a cannonball in the sanctuary and not hit anyone... allegedly. Here's the thing--it wasn't always like this.  The Greek Christians of old used to call this "Holy Humor" Sunday or something like that.  They wou...

Samuel Williamson is tired of children's Sunday school done the same old way. His weary feelings about Sunday school have little to do with styles, format or even space--they stem from what Williamson describes as a general neglect of the Gospel in favor or Moralism . And he has a point. First of all, Williamson believes that having good morals is important, but it's not more important than the Good News that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and offer them the chance for eternal life--life that begins here and now.  He asserts that from the earliest ages, Christians are taught that if they are simply good, obey, and do what is right that they will be happy, healthy and wise--and that God will be pleased with them.  He cites the simplified stories that are often taught in Sunday school as evidence:  stories about heroes such as David, Esther, Jonah, Daniel and the like. But, according to Williamson, by simplifying the stories we find in the Bible and turni...

I am living in a hotel room this week. The wallpaper in my hotel room is textured, and patterned to look sort of like bamboo or rattan or something. It was hung circa 1989, along with the colorful parrot portraits that preside over the two full sized beds in the room.  Said beds are festooned with perhaps the most garish bedspread I have ever seen in my life. Check that.  I've seen worse.  I'm pretty sure Elvis had one more garish in the Jungle Room at Graceland---I saw a photo once. The television in the room was state of the art----never.  It's one step lower than the sort of set that I had when I was a kid that had a dial on it to change the channel to one of the three channels (if you didn't count the UHF channels) that were on television. And I am listening to Taylor Swift . How did I get here?  When did I begin to settle for this sort of thing?  I am terrified of what this room would look like if I pulled out a portable black light and ...

What would you say if you heard of two churches deciding to experience the same sermon series on the same Sundays, singing the same songs, and reading the same Scripture, but doing it in different places?  What would you say if the pastors of said churches decided to study their sermons together, and then even switch pulpits for a Sunday during the series to preach at the other pastor’s church?   You would say that it would be the kind of thing that would make some people want to bust out their guitars, get in a circle and start singing Kum Ba Yah, right?  Right.  Well, we're not going to do that.  But we'll tell you the story, if you like...      This story begins with a crazy idea between friends.  Pastor Steve Hulsey from Lake Square Presbyterian Church and I are friends.  By all rights, we should be competitors.  Our churches are just a few miles apart.  They are both growing when many of our sister churches a...

This week I am going to be preaching on Sabbath as part of the " iLife " sermon series. Whenever I think of the word "Sabbath," I think of lying on the couch on a Sunday afternoon after a huge meal with football on the television, and the knowledge that I will soon be sleeping. I'm pretty sure that over half of the people who come to church on Sunday have a nap in their future.  Some of my parishoners don't wait until they get home to start their nap---they just catch forty winks right there in their pew. I can see them.  I don't think they know that.  In my last church there was an elderly lady who would come to church and would sleep through half of the service, but very nearly all of my sermon.  Without fail, she would leave, shake my hand and tell me what a good sermon I preached. Remember when things were "closed on Sunday?"  I am old enough to remember these things.  You didn't just pop in to the store on Sunday after church...