Presby-Musings

My mom was going through some of her keepsakes the other day and found my very first driver's license among them.  She brought it over to my house to give to me, and I've had it sitting on my desk the past day or so--a glaring reminder of how old I've become in the past 31 years since it was issued.   That kid in the photo had a defined chin, and a nice thin neck.   He had a full head of hair, to boot.   Honestly, I can't even remember what I was thinking when that photo was taken.  I do remember the feeling of freedom I felt when I took my parent's car out for my first solo drive later that day, though.   Funny isn't it?  I can't recall much of what was happening in my life when I turned sixteen, but I remember that feeling of freedom when I drove slowly around my neighborhood looking for some girls to impress. Many years ago, I read this John Updike short story entitled "The Happiest I've Been" that made me remember the mom...

30 years ago, I completely walked away from Christianity, and spent a little over five years as an agnostic.  It was a fairly anti-climactic leaving, to be honest.   I remember saying out loud, "There is no God," and then feeling kind of disappointed that nothing happened.  You see, I had grown weary of a faith that sucked the life out of me.  The story of faith being perpetuated by most of the Christians I knew wasn't a very good one.  I wanted a better story.  I wanted to know that God was more than a disciplinarian--that faith was more than rule-keeping.   The do's and don'ts of the Christianity I'd come to know were too much to carry.  It was a checklist faith that lacked joy, hope and inspiration.   I remember the first time I came back to church after being gone for so many years.  My wife led us to a Presbyterian church near the apartment where we lived when we were first married.  I heard the pastor preach about g...

I graduated from a small, Baptist church high school in 1986.  My class had 17 kids in it, most of whom came from families who either attended fundamentalist Baptist churches or who wanted their kids to have a strict, Christian education.   In order for us to graduate, our school imposed a requirement that we all attend a Bill Gothard seminar.  Bill Gothard was the founder of the Institute for Basic Life Principles. His organization was in the news recently because it was a favorite of the Duggar family--from the TV show 19 Kids and Counting.   Bill Gothard advocated for a citadel approach to Christian living--particularly focused on sexual purity.  His idea was to build barriers made of rules, regulations and checklists of what Christians weren't supposed to do.  A lot of people bought into this.  A lot of people still buy into this.   Gothard was later discovered to have sexually harassed and abused possibly hundreds of young women. ...

Christianity has a problem. I know what you're thinking, "Just one?" Well... you might have something there, but at any rate I think Christianity has a serious problem that is at the foundation of all the other problems it seems to encounter. In my humble opinion.  You see, so many Christians seem to have all of the right ingredients that it takes to be a "good" Christian.  You know... Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, volunteerism... that kind of stuff. But there seems to be something missing. I think far too many of us who call ourselves Christians are not living lives that are all that compelling.  There aren't that many people knocking down our doors trying to find out what makes us tick, and begging us to tell them what makes us so special.   In fact, the opposite seems to be happening.  People are turning away from Christianity--believing it to be irrelevant, shallow, too exclusive and pretty much unnecessary. And I think the re...

When we say that we "worship" God, what does it mean, really? There's a Sunday school answer that most of us would probably put forth... "To show awe and reverence... or something." Some of us who have been around the church-y mulberry bush a few times would say, "Worship is a lifestyle, man.  It's what you do 7 days a week... or something."  Funny.  Even though most of us who call ourselves Christians will say that worship is about God and not us, and that it takes place wherever we happen to be...  we don't really believe that. At least we don't show we believe it because we end up filling our favorite pew or padded chair every Sunday (or Saturday night... or something) intent on worshiping and getting our Jesus-shine on so we can keep our salvation for another week.  Listen, I am not hating on gathering for worship. What I do for a living sort of depends upon people gathering together for worship.  I think what I struggl...

W "Baggage" sermon series Week 3 The question that I posed this week on the website that I created for my Lenten sermon series, "Baggage" was simply this:   Is Church A Safe Place To Fail? I got several responses.  This one was my favorite:  No way. We may be called to be "losers" according to the Gospel (to lose our life to find true life), but failing means that you don't "fit" into the club of pretty people that are so successful at hiding their faults, failures, and emotional scars. Organized church has become a hospital that asks people to be healed before they come. And heaven forbid you work for a church and fail...unacceptable...and in the words of the modern-day prophet, Donald Trump, "You're Fired!" Having worked as a staff member in churches for over twelve years, I completely feel that comment.  Case in point:  While I was preparing for this sermon, I sent out an electronic email that had a mistake in it...