Presby-Musings

Did you know that the Bible is One Big Story of God’s love for people who don’t always feel like they deserve God’s love?  It's true--it's the best kind of story, to be honest. And God has a way of always picking the wrong kinds of people to do what God needs doing.  People who think they aren't good enough, people who the rest of the world thinks aren't good enough--heck, people who really aren't good enough... that's who God seems to love to pick to write God's One Big Story. The Bible is One Big Story filled with heroes and villains, great adventures, epic battles, love stories and astonishing tales.  It’s also the story of a “once and future” King who picked the most unlikely people to help him share the story of God’s amazing love, and how far God was willing to go to save the world.    Today we are continuing our summer sermon series, One Big Story.  And what we're going to be learning over the course of this summer is one very simple fa...

I graduated from high school in 1986, and finally received my Bachelor's degree in 2000.  I am fond of saying that I was on the "fourteen-year college plan."   For the first few years of those fourteen years of slogging through college, I wasn't all that serious about it,  but I finally got myself together and spent the last two years doing everything I could to keep a 4.0 average.   My hope was that I would be able to overcome the sins of my youth and somehow get a scholarship to go on to post-graduate studies.   In the middle of all of my efforts, I took a test in an upper level British Literature class and when the professor returned it, I realized I'd left an entire page of the test blank. He'd written a note at the top: "See me."   After the class, I dragged myself to meet with him, and explain I'd just plain old made a mistake.  He looked at me for a bit and then took my paper.  He wrote, "97 - A" at the top....

Years ago, I had a conflict with a church member and youth group volunteer who was spreading lies about me both in the church and in our community.  When the truth came out, and she knew that she had been exposed, she never returned to the church.   For several months, I did my best to try to arrange meetings, sent her emails, called and left voice messages on her phone and even sent her a written letter pleading with her to speak with me so we could be reconciled.  She never responded.   I eventually grew angry at her and stayed angry for a long time.  She'd done a lot of damage to my ministry and had done her best to divide our church.  Further, because of her unwillingness to work it out, the bad feelings between us simply festered.   I don't remember when exactly, but I eventually found myself feeling sorry for her.  Because of her shame over being caught in a lie, she'd lost her church family, her community suppor...

"Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.  When they heard it, they were greatly pleased and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him." - Mark 14:10-11 On Wednesday of Holy Week, according to historic Church tradition, we remember Jesus' betrayal by one of his closest followers, Judas Iscariot.  Throughout the centuries, people have offered a number of theories as to why Judas betrayed Jesus.   Some have claimed that he was poisoned by jealousy and greed, which pushed him to do something that he later regretted. Others have claimed that he wanted to force Jesus' hand, to back him into a corner, so to speak, in order to start an armed revolution.   Still others have asserted that he was part of God's plan, and was simply "doing his duty."   In fact, the first-century Gnostic Christian text The Gospel of Judas  seems to indicate...

"I myself am the enemy most in need of healing." - Carl Jung "You are your own worst enemy!"   I remember those words being spoken to me by a supervisor once after I'd self-destructed my planned career path.   I'd run afoul of a notoriously capricious and mean-spirited higher level manager in the corporation I was working for at the time, and things were going south for me, and fast.   In the end, I was able to transfer and got a second chance in another department, where I eventually got back on track.  Unfortunately, I never forgot what that supervisor shared with me.  It stayed with me like an accusing voice that would chime in at the worst moments.   What I failed to recognize was that even though what he shared with me was true at that moment , it was not definitive and true for every moment that followed.   We all know what it feels like to find ourselves standing in the wreckage of our best-laid p...

“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.  - Matthew 5:20 Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 5 are challenging to say the least.   He tells the crowd gathered to hear him at the Sermon on the Mount that if they want to aspire to their true humanity, to be the people God dreams for them to be, it will mean living their lives far differently.   Jesus essentially informs the crowd, "You think you are doing good because you are keeping the easy command not to kill someone, but what you don't realize is that your anger, your antipathy toward other people is releasing lethal energy into the world."   In other words, in this new economy of the kingdom of God, holding resentment toward someone else is the same as assault with the intent to kill.   "But what about the jerks in my life?" we ask.  "What about the idi...

I was five years old when I learned a valuable lesson about confession and forgiveness--a lesson I have never forgotten to this day.  Can I tell you that at five years old, I was a straight up theologian?   Seriously.  By the time I was five I had heard scores of sermons, endured countless altar calls in the little Baptist church we attended, and because of this I knew one unalterable fact:  If I sincerely asked God to forgive me---no matter what I had done---God would forgive me.   So on that fateful day in the grocery store when I was--to coin a very Southern term--acting a fool, and my mom, who is the most patient human being on the planet told me I was getting a whooping when I got home... I decided that the only thing left to me was to bring it to God.  I found a spot by a stack of canned beans and started to pray.  The fact that I can recall that I was praying by a stack of canned beans is beyond me.  Of all of the details of th...

The other day I was reading about a group of prominent Christian pastors and leaders who recently issued a statement of beliefs about various culturally divisive topics.   In an interview about the statement, one of the signatories declared that he thought it would be difficult to be a Christian and not believe what the statement affirmed.   I saw some of the online responses by Christians who were angered with the interviewee's statement.  The responses, which were swift and condemning, called into question both his Christian faith and the faith of the  signatories to the statement of beliefs. We've all probably had moments when we've listened to someone calling themselves a Christian who says or does something that so offends us we want to run screaming from the room.  But how we respond in those moments says a great deal about how we truly feel about God's grace.   In his book What's So Amazing About Grace ? author Philip Yancey acknowledges...

To the Members and Friends of Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church, 
 I know this past week felt as though we were reliving some of the worst moments of our nation's history.   The harsh rhetoric and tensions surrounding the conflict with North Korea are eerily familiar, reminding us of some of the tensest moments of the Cold War.  Likewise, the news from Charlottesville is a harsh reminder of the violence surrounding the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960’s.  I know I am not alone in feeling a deep sense of sorrow and hopelessness as we experience these same tensions decades after those conflicts supposedly ended.  
 It would be all too easy to give in to fear and even despair as we listen to world leaders taunt and goad each other to war, and to succumb to the tyranny of helplessness and resignation when it comes to the tragic and violent ends of racism and bigotry.  
 However, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are as relevant today as...

Today's devo is from the archives--one that I stumbled across the other day, and felt like it needed to be re-sent.  I know that over half of our subscribers have never seen this one before, and those of us who have probably need a fresh read of it.  Blessings.   I can't even count how many times in my life I have had negative encounters with people, who unleashed upon me a diatribe, angry criticism, personal attacks and the like.     I also can't count how many times I have thought of something awesome to say to the person who is attacking me after they've unleashed their venom and then walked away.  You know how that feels, right?  Whether it's moments or a day later, the thing you should  have said comes to you, and you find yourself saying, "Oh my gosh!  I wish I had said that!"   There was one time in my life were I said exactly what I wanted to say to someone who had attacked me publicly.  It was when I was an assis...

I used to be friends with someone years ago, who was a champion at holding grudges.  If someone crossed her, offended her, or wronged her in any way,  this former friend of mine would adopt a "scorched earth" mentality toward that person.  They would cease to exist, as far as she was concerned.  No apologies.  No attempts to make things right. No mercy.   The day finally came when I stepped over one of the many lines she'd created, and I found myself on the outs with her.  There was no way back, no path to reconciliation.  Our relationship just ended.   My life didn't change all that much because we were no longer friends. It had been a chore to be in relationship with her anyway--always walking on eggshells, measuring each conversation to ensure it didn't cause offense.   In the end, I believed I had done everything I could to make things right between us, and felt righteous and guilt-free.   But then I f...