Presby-Musings

In one of his most famous parables, Chuang Tzu (Arguably, the most spiritual of all the Chinese philosophers) addresses managing our expectations of others and finding ways to let go of our need to be in control of other people's reactions.  The parable, known as "three in the morning," shares the interaction between a bunch of monkeys and their keeper, who gave them three measures of chestnuts in the morning and four at night.  The monkeys complain about this, demanding four measures in the morning. So the keeper changes his approach, giving them four measures in the morning and three at night, which mollifies them.  Like much of Chuang Tzu's work, there is an element of the absurd in this story, and it would be easy to focus on the foolishness of the monkeys who end up getting the same amount of chestnuts, seemingly outwitted by the keeper.  But the more profound meaning here is that the keeper doesn't insist on doing things his way; he recognizes that the argum...

  Not to assume that my own experiences are universally felt, but I do get the sense that there are some I believe that we all share.   For example, I have spent far too much time on what I have come to understand as the "ladder of judgment."  On this ladder, I constantly look at people I think are better than me, farther along, more capable, luckier, you name it.  Conversely, I often look down at others I believe to be below me on the ladder,  comparing my accomplishments against theirs, my worth, my status, and a host of other imaginary measurements.  None of these comparisons is accurate, yet many of us do this constantly.  And further, our view of God on this ladder of judgment tends to be that God is so high up the rungs above us that we can't possibly connect with God.  I've spent enough time on this ladder to know what it means to be on it.  When I am, I can't be my best self.  I am filled with judgment of others but mostly f...

Throughout my career as a pastor, I've generally been good about trusting my instincts when making decisions as a leader.   I've learned valuable lessons by making mistakes, to be sure, but for the most part, I've been able to navigate challenges and crises by listening to friends, church members, trusted advisors, and my heart.  But during the Covid years, pretty much all of the frameworks I'd constructed, the way I had learned to be a pastor, and the entire way of "doing church" were thrown out the window.   When you're largely disconnected from all of the ways that you usually find your way through difficult times, it's disorienting.   And so I found myself doing a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking, second-guessing my decisions, and feeling that I couldn't trust my instincts and probably shouldn't listen to my heart in the same way I once had.  You may have had some experience like this in your own life. You may have made enough mistakes ...

It's both amusing and horrifying to read about the machinations of our national politicians in our current cultural climate.  The recent brouhaha over all of the classified documents that ex-presidents and vice presidents somehow carried home after their terms in office is a perfect example of how our nation's government has become a theater of the absurd.  From what I can gather, if the person you voted for did something wrong, it's okay.   In that case, they just made an honest mistake.  But it isn't okay if the person you didn't vote for did something wrong. In that case, they are an evil person bent on betraying their country to the highest bidder.  On the one hand, it's a "witch hunt" if the authorities go after your guy, but it's "seeking justice" if they go after the other guy.  Meanwhile, only a few of our politicians seem interested in addressing the issues that matter to their constituents' well-being.  They just keep pander...

In his excellent book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows , author John Koenig fashions a word based on Dorothy's experience in The Wizard of Oz film version .   The word Koenig creates is ozurie : feeling torn between the life you want, and the life you have.  Koenig also wrote a beautiful and poetic narrative describing how this word captures how Dorothy must have felt when she woke up back in the black-and-white world of Kansas, as opposed to the technicolor world of Oz.  He writes:  And yet even as she makes her way to school the next morning, she no carries with her a certain unshakable awareness--that her gray gingham dress is secretly blue, that her charcoal hair is actually a rich auburn, that the sky catches fire when the sun goes down.  I was intrigued by this because even though the film version of the story ends with Dorothy back in Kansas, she doesn't stay there.  She returns more than once in L. Frank Baum's books about Oz.  But still,...

Sometimes you read a poem and wonder if it was written just for you.   Then you realize that the person who wrote it did so 150 years ago, and it's merely the timeless nature of what they were able to capture that speaks to you.  And that's kind of even more awesome.  Today, I read this beautiful poem by Walt Whitman, and it has had me thinking about it ever since:  When I  heard the learn'd astronomer,  When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,  When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,  and measure them,  When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured  with much applause in the lecture-room,  How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,  Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,  In the mystical moist nigh-air, and from time to time  Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.   Like many 19th-century poets, Whitman would often make the first ...

As helpful as video conferencing through Zoom or other virtual gathering spaces was when the world was shut down, we all know they aren't like the "real" thing.   Even now, as so many of my meetings are still virtual, I've discovered a renewed joy in chatting with someone at my favorite coffee shop.  There's something irreplaceable about seeing someone's face in three-dimensional relief and picking up on the nuances of their expressions, the subtle messages of body language, and so much more.  Plus, the coffee at Summer Moon Coffee down the street from the house is just freaking amazing.  I wish at this moment I was there drinking some. But I digress. One of the many things that I have learned because of the challenges we all faced during the Covid years (funny that we refer to them that way, now) is that it's much harder to assume the worst about people when we're close to them.  We do too much of that in our ever-increasing virtual worlds, don't ...