Presby-Musings

In perhaps the most short-sighted move of the weekend, Ram Trucks chose to air a commercial during the Super Bowl that featured a recording of some of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's sermon "Drum Major Instinct."     The title of the ad is "Built to Serve," and what Ram was going for was the kind of ad that would convey what they are purporting to be the soul of their company: Servanthood.   "But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness. … By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great..."   Dr. King's inspiring words about what it means to pursue the kingdom of God become a mere soundtrack over images of people supposedly using Ram trucks to serve their community.   The fact that so many pundits are reacting to the ad, and keeping it in the news means that the ad agency did it's job, I guess.  But in the end, what does this say about us as...

I was reading a familiar passage of Scripture today from Micah 6:6-8 when I discovered something I haven't seen before, and I got excited to share it.  That's kind of how reading the Bible works sometimes.  You might have read and reread the same passage a hundred times throughout your life, and then all of a sudden you see it in a new way.   At any rate, here's the passage I read:  6 With what shall I come before the Lord     and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,     with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,     with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,     the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.     And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy     and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6-...

This week is the beginning of the season of Advent . At this very moment, I am listening to the David Crowder Band 's Christmas album.  This is the first Christmas music I have heard since last Christmas. This makes me happy. I have also cranked down the air conditioning in my office so that it will actually feel a little like the beginning of Advent. It's literally 80-something degrees outside.  Florida.  What can you do. This Sunday I am beginning a new sermon series for Advent entitled, "Stuff: Are the Things We Buy Killing Christmas?" Watch this video from the TLC series, "Hoarders: Buried Alive." How does this kind of compulsive behavior emerge?  How do people spend their life savings, and go into ruinous debt because they can't stop buying things that they don't need? Here's the news... if it wasn't for garage sales and storage units there would be a lot more people like this unfortunate woman.  Because in our...

Yes, I am still preaching about money. And no, people haven't stopped coming to church. Although after last week's sermon on tithing, I might lose a couple. Listen, I saw the above bumper sticker in a restaurant on the bulletin board.  I went there to consume mass quantities of Italian food.  I ordered spaghetti and meatballs with extra meat balls.  The extra meat balls cost like a buck extra.  There were four of them--each the size of baseball. I got my money's worth and took about twenty minutes off of my life, too boot. Woot!  Anyway, back to the bumper sticker.  What do you think o that? Isn't that messed up? I mean, we just started climbing out of the worst recession since the Great Depression and the first thing on everyone's mind is... "Well, get back to spending!" Okay, okay.  I get it.  It's Capitalism.  But isn't that the thinking that started this whole mess--the belief that the acquisition and consumption of wealth ...