Presby-Musings

The spiritual journey is a constant interplay between moments of awe followed by a process of surrender to that moment.  - Frederick Buechener The painting below by Rembrandt is entitled Christ In The Storm On The Lake Of Galilee:  This painting depicts the moment in Mark 4:35-41 when Jesus and his disciples are caught in a sudden storm on the Sea of Galilee.  Throughout the storm, Jesus is fast asleep in the boat. After frantically trying to solve things themselves, the disciples wake him up angrily saying, "Don't you even care that we are sinking?!!?" I'm going to zoom in on Jesus in Rembrandt's painting so you can see how he depicted him.  It's awesome: Does Jesus look upset that there's a storm?  Does he seem particularly frightened?  No! He looks resigned, actually---resigned to the fact that his followers don't seem to get it. You see, they are scared to death of the wind and waves, when the One who was present at the momen...

I was having a conversation with one of our church staff members the other day, and we had occasion to reflect for a moment on what most people would have referred to as a series of coincidences.   Our conversation centered on how seamlessly we were going to be able to connect a sermon series I have been planning to preach with a children's ministry program we will be launching later in the year.   At one point I said, "Wow, it's almost like we planned it that way!"  T hen we both paused and smiled.  "Or Someone  planned it that way!" I added.   To say that "God works in mysterious ways," is probably the biggest understatement in the history of understatements.   More than once in my life I've had occasion to stand in awe of what seemed like an impossible turn of events... an improbable chain of actions and reaction... a fantastic bit of timing...  And in those moments I have often find myself praying the following...

Lately, I've been reflecting on how quickly time seems to be moving.  It's already January 10th as I write this, and it feels like Christmas was last week.  I look at my calendar and can't believe that there are so many things that are on it, so many events, projects, meetings, programs--both personal and professional.   Sometimes my daily schedule gets filled with a lot of things that I feel like I just need to get through.  When I begin to view my life this way, I will go from one meeting to the next, one task to the next just checking them off the list, trying to finish so I can be done.   The problem is, I'm never really done.  There's always another list for tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.  And when you think that you can retire when you get to a certain age and start "taking it easy," forget it.  A friend of mine remarked after his first year of retirement that he filled his daily schedule every day and th...

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. - Ephesians 5:15-17 In one of my readings this morning, the author referenced a painting by the nineteenth-century French artist Jean Francois Millet--a painting entitled The Angelus .   The title of the painting refers to a thrice-daily prayer that is still prayed by many Christians around the world.  For hundreds of years in virtually every village and town throughout Europe, the time for praying The Angelus was signaled by the ringing of church bells at 6AM, Noon and 6PM.  In Millet's masterpiece you can see two peasants praying at the close of the day.  Their tools and harvest are lying at their feet.  In the background you can see the steeple of a church poking over the horizon as the sun begins to set.   The prayer these peasants are...

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people... the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11, 13 This past Sunday, we started the very long, drawn out process of taking our Christmas lights and decorations down.  It's a sad task, and one that I have never completed at one sitting.   While we're not the last to do this in our neighborhood, we are among the last to be sure.  It's our custom ]to wait until Epiphany to say farewell to Christmas, which officially ends (according to the historic Church calendar) on January 6.   Epiphany is a season in the life of the Church that lasts until Lent, and which celebrates the revelation of the Messiah to a world in desperate need of rescue.   Although we may be sad to say farewell to Christmas, Epiphany gives us an opportunity to experience new joy and surprises.   The lectionary readings from Scripture during Epiphany take u...

There's a strange sense of hope that always accompanies the beginning of a new year--even for those of us who try to stay jaded to those kinds of things, mostly from a fear of being disappointed.   A new year can bring with it a sense of freshness and newness because, for all intents and purposes, we have pressed the symbolic "restart" button which brings with it a chance to move beyond the mistakes and struggles of the previous year.  But for many of us, it doesn't take long for all of our worries and fears to return and the hope of a new year can quickly be replaced with the dread of the old.    It is at this point that we return to our old ways of dealing with these feelings, and we wrongly assume that if we spend more, consume more, paddle faster, work harder and over schedule that we'll stay on top of it all.   Walter Brueggeman once wrote:  "It is a great illusion in our society that if we have enough money, enough technology, e...

This week the daily devotions will focus on how we approach the new year that we have been gifted.  We'll wrestle with what we will do differently, what we will improve, what we'll pick up and what we'll leave behind.   In his 1566 painting Census At Bethlehem , Pieter Brueghel the Elder sets the arrival of the Holy Family in Bethlehem in the middle of a busy Flemish city.   If you look closely at the painting you will see Joseph leading a donkey bearing a pregnant Mary.   There is hustle and bustle everywhere around them.  People are working, buying, selling, living and dying--all in a rush.  There is a huge crowd gathered at the inn trying to secure lodging.   No one takes notice of them.  No one recognizes that the Messiah has come.  They are all too busy to see, too immersed in their own lives to ever imagine that God would arrive in their midst as one of them.   One of the many things I want to...