Presby-Musings

As we continue our study of the fruit of the Spirit from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Galatians in the New Testament, we arrive at the fruit of kindness.   What is kindness?  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines kindness as "The quality or state of being kind," which isn't much of a definition, to be fair. But when you look at synonyms of kindness, you see words like tenderness, generosity, warmth, benevolence, tenderheartedness, and humaneness. In other words, kindness is a broad umbrella that covers many other-focused behaviors.  You know it when you see it, feel it, receive it and give it.  We all have stories of how we experienced others' kindness, and maybe even a few where we stepped outside ourselves and showed it.  It's often an impulse that we feel when we see someone in need, or an intentional act to help someone who is hurting.   But in the way that it becomes one of Paul's fruits of the Spirit, kindness is love made visible. It ...

As we continue through our exploration of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, we finally come to patience.  Aren't you glad you waited? That last joke wasn't particularly funny, and neither is having to be patient.   My house has been for sale for sixteen months in what has become a lousy real estate market in Austin, TX.  If I had sold my house a couple of years ago, it would have been different, but that's a story for another day.  Through this long process, I have learned patience and the humility that comes from having no control over the outcome.  I changed realtors a few months ago, and my new realtor assured me that my house would sell, but it would have to be for the right buyer (an obvious point, but one that needed to be made).   As it turns out, the right buyer came along, and my house is currently under contract.  And now I'm having to learn a new kind of patience, the kind that teaches you that a real estate deal isn...

Before my recent trip to Senegal, Africa, I was uneasy.  I didn't know what to expect. I was worried about a number of things, like flight delays, catching some unknown disease, but mostly being out of my comfort zone on an almost constant basis.  But when I got on the plane and settled in, I silently prayed a short prayer to God, which went something like this:  "I have no idea what is ahead, but I'm tired of this feeling of uncertainty. It's too much.  You take it."   In that moment of letting go, I felt something wash over me.  It was a feeling of relief that came from letting it all go--all the worry, anxiety, dread faded away.  I have to say, it doesn't always work like that for me, but for some reason, it did in that moment.   For the rest of the trip, I had a sense of peace I couldn't fully understand, but I embraced it nonetheless.  I found myself able to be more fully present, to be in the moment, and to spend my time seek...

As we continue our devotional series on the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, we move on to the "fruit" of joy.   I recently had the chance to wander around downtown Orlando with my oldest and youngest sons as we searched for a taco restaurant to grab a meal before attending an Orlando Magic basketball game.  We finally found our destination, and the stellar reviews of the place were spot on.  I had probably some of the best tacos I've had in my life.   We ate, joked, and told stories, then went to a game where the home team won by a landslide; we cheered and had a tremendous time.  My boys are all nearly grown.  My oldest turned 31 this past week, and my youngest doesn't have long before he's sixteen and driving around on his own.  Spending time with them was pure joy for me.  I've missed being around them, hearing about what's happening in their lives, eating with them, laughing with them, and taking in every moment. ...

I was thinking the other day about what it takes to be a really good human in a culture that, at times, seems downright inhumane.  To be fair, I realized I struggle with this, so there was a bit of introspection involved as well.   In the end, my thoughts took me to a couple of verses in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Galatians in the New Testament, and what is commonly known as the "fruit of the Spirit."   In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul outlines what he believes to be the "fruit" or sign of a person who is being led by the Spirit of God:  22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. These nine signs have been the subject of countless sermons, books, theological treatises, Bible studies, and more. I have preached on them numerous times over the past twenty years.  But in light of our current cultural climate, I thought I wou...

When I was young, I had a pretty severe understanding of how God worked.  I figured that God was just waiting around for me to mess up, so that judgment would fall upon me in some fashion.   I lived in fear of this God, not the biblical kind, which speaks of respect, but absolute dread.  I thought that I constantly had one foot in Hell and the other on a banana peel.  It wasn't a great way to experience faith.  Even as I've grown spiritually and in my relationship with God and faith, I still have lingering feelings at times that I'm not measuring up.  I think most of us have had or continue to have those kinds of feelings, despite how loving we believe God to be.   Repentance and forgiveness sit at the very heart of the Christian life, yet they are often misunderstood. Many of us were taught—directly or indirectly—to imagine God as a strict rule-keeper, a divine accountant tracking every failure.  In that framework, repentance becomes a ...

If you have wondered why so many Christian traditions cling to biblical interpretations that narrow the scope of God's grace, exclude women from leadership, and deny the inclusion of LGBTQ+ folk in the church, it comes down to a simple argument: Certainty.  Certainty in beliefs, certainty in biblical interpretation, and certainty that they are right about all of it.  There can be no grey areas in the belief system of many Christians, because they fear that if there is one, there will be more, and more, and then their whole system falls apart.  I know this because I used to have these kinds of beliefs.   Many of us were taught, implicitly or explicitly, that strong faith means having all the answers. We learned to equate belief with certainty, confidence with correctness, and questioning with weakness. Over time, this can quietly shape a brittle spirituality—one that fears curiosity and avoids mystery. Yet Scripture and lived experience tell a different story: fa...