Presby-Musings

I used to draw and paint.  When I was a kid, someone told my mother I had promised, so she spent money so our family wouldn't have to get me oil painting lessons and then tutoring with a retired art teacher who specialized in pencils. I took lessons through middle school and into high school before I finally convinced my mom to give them up.   I realized that to be a truly great artist, I would have to work hard at it. Talent will only get you so far if you are a prodigy, and I was no prodigy.   I wanted to play sports, hang with my friends, and have a girlfriend, so I set aside my paints and pencils and never really picked them up again.   After my mom passed away, I went through some of her belongings, trying to determine what to keep, what to store, and what to let go of. I had to smile when I found some of my drawings and a painting that was kept.  I thought back to those lessons that she couldn't afford.   She took some of them with...

Sometimes, it takes a while for grief to set in properly after the initial shock of loss.   I know this all too well, and I also know that one of the stages of grief is anger, which is what I lived in for a long while after the loss of my mom seven years ago.  It was hard to understand why I felt angry, but the bitterness it brought seemed appropriate and much more accessible to embrace than resignation.   The problem with remaining in anger is that it affects every aspect of our lives, including those around us.  When we don't know what to do with our anger, it can often spill out at the worst possible moments and be directed at the ones we love.  It took me a lot of therapy to understand more fully why I was angry and to realize that although it was a natural state of affairs for me to journey through it, I could not stay there and be a healthy and whole person.   I want to speak to those today who are feeling the shock and grief of Tuesday...

Today, many of us have woken up in a different America than we had imagined only yesterday.  We are a divided nation, which is evident from the election results.  Statistically, more than half of the people reading this today are elated, and the rest are despondent.  Some feel this might be the end of America as we know it, and others are triumphant that their ideals were upheld.  I don't have it in me to share a bunch of platitudes about how this is a time for us to put our differences aside and work together in the business of unity.  That's an admirable and worthy conversation, but it's for another day.   Instead, I will speak to the Christian Church, particularly those within it who still believe that the ultimate purpose of anyone who says they follow Jesus is to Love God and Love Everybody.  We've got some work to do.   There has been so much divisive and awful rhetoric during this election.  We've demonized one another, becom...

Today is Election Day, and I will do my best to eloquently discuss the importance of voting and civic engagement as both a privilege and a responsibility, especially for those who say they follow Jesus.   Let's be clear, Jesus never said a thing about voting.   He said many things that were considered political, however. Every time he talked about the Kingdom of God, he made what amounted to a political statement because he compared the kingdoms of this world to God's kingdom.  But the Apostle Paul had a great deal to say about what it meant to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God and a citizen of whatever earthly kingdom was in power.  For Paul, it was important that Christians be the very best citizens they could be.  He exhorted early Christians to be good neighbors, to obey the laws of Rome (as long as they did not violate the higher laws of love), and to do everything they could to live peaceably with everyone.  Paul responded to a genuine issu...

Do you have something hanging over your head today that needs to get done? Do you need help getting started? Maybe you've had a project that you have been needing to get done, but it is still sitting in your inbox, on your table, in your garage, or on your computer screen. It sits there accusing you of stuff, like: "What's the matter with you? Lazy, much?" "Hey, I'm not going to finish myself, Pal." "You aren't good enough to do this, are you?" "Why aren't you more like your brother... sister... successful cousin?" "I'll just be here reminding you of how you never finish things..." Wow. That list came pretty easily—too easily. I'm guessing that there are a few of us out there who resonate with this all too well. Sometimes, the things we haven't started are transformative actions that we know need to be taken, but doing them will disrupt our lives too much, turn things upside down, or bring about the kind ...

With the election almost over, it's appropriate for me to conduct my own poll. Everyone's been talking about polls, examining, taking, interpreting, denying polls (if they're not winning), and affirming polls (if they are), so why not get in on the act? Here are my poll questions for today. We'll do this all by show of hands.  First question:  How many of you are enjoying this election season?   You are just digging this whole thing.  You are watching it like a train wreck about to happen. Raise your hand.   Okay, second question: How many of you are ready for this to be over?   You've already handed in the towel, waved the white flag, and given up. Raise your hand. Okay, last question.  How many of you think that politics should come up in church?  Should a preacher talk about politics from the pulpit?  Many of you knew what the topic would be today, so you showed up or tuned in even though you told yourself, "he shouldn't be ...

I grew up in the shadow of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, CO, and woke up every day with it in full view from my house.  As a kid, I usually took for granted that it was always there, looming high above all the other mountains around it.   But there were some days when I would actually see it, study it, marvel at it, and be grateful for it in my own way.  On clear days, you could sometimes catch the flash of the sun's reflection on cars driving up the Peak.  The high altitude and cloudless days offered a kind of other-worldly visibility that never ceased to amaze me.  When I was twelve, our church youth group organized a hiking trip for middle and high school students to hike up from the base of Pikes Peak to the summit.  My buddy David and I were the youngest members of the group.   We needed water, food for snacks, and sense.  I'm still shocked that our youth director even let us out of the church van.   But we made it to th...