Wandering Elder

On the night of the 21st, our church held what is called "The Longest Night" which is a service designed specifically with those for whom this time of year is most difficult.  Not a 'high attendance' service by any means, but it did what it was supposed to do, which is to offer what I would call 'tidings of comfort.' When I was in seminary, I was in a class called "Pastoral Care" which, I have to admit, I didn't care for at all.  Not because of the subject matter, but largely because of the teacher and the attitude of the class.  It would take a long time to explain all that, but perhaps this example shows how we were at odds. One of the questions we were asked to respond to hypothetically was with someone who was suffering at the death of a loved one.  One particular small group responded with the rhetoric, "Friday is here, but Sunday is coming!"  The 'Friday' being Good Friday - the day that commemorates the death of Chris

I am truly grieved at the mounting loss of life that we hear of nightly on the news.  Especially the death of children - in particular in Pakistan where the Taliban have killed so many children.  It is truly an offensive story. I am reminded of the story in the Gospel of Matthew in which we find that the good news for all people which was to be Christ was not good news to Herod.  However one might feel about the nature of the story - historical or legendary - it does present a larger truth. What it tells us rather clearly is that when we begin to believe that our power places us above one another or above the power of God, when God does act or offer a new revelation, it may very well frighten us.  By that I mean that if we find ourselves comfortable, when God acts differently, we might seek to curtail the revelation. Herod did not want to lose his power.  And the arrival of the sages let him know that things were happening in his province that were not of his doing, not of

I have become quite taken by the show 'Blacklist.'  I think it is a compelling, well crafted and well written show that weaves itself into a great story.  What I have found quite surprising in the show, though, is how often I am surprised when a character tells the truth. For example, when Redding is asked directly if he killed someone, he hesitates.  I remember thinking, "He's going to say no," even though we (the audience) knew that he had.  But then he answers "yes."  I was stunned. I suppose part of that is conditioning.  Television shows, dramas, movies have conditioned us to expect people to obfuscate.  That's why I am so amazed at just how surprised I am when characters actually tell the truth.  It's sadly unique. And I suppose that goes for society as well.  In a world of false online personas we seem to have gotten all to used to disbelieving people - no matter what it is they say.  Yet when truth is told, it shocks us and, also sa

I am going to undertake something of a challenge this Advent and Christmas season (Advent begins this Sunday and Christmas begins on the 24th/25th - NOT the day after Halloween).  It has to do with being a follower of Christ. With Advent almost upon us, I thought it might be interesting to take the time to really read through the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) to listen closer to the teachings of Jesus.  While the Gospels aren't  the oldest documents in the New Testament (Paul's letters are), they are the heart of our Christian tradition and reflect three particular interpretations of Christ. Yet I find that as a pastor, I have taken very little time to truly study  the Gospels.  Not since I taught the Gospels to a college class have I really poured over them.  Seminary encouraged it, but once one gets into the local church, study and reflection take a back seat - a very far back seat - to the routine of putting a sermon together, taking care of church business

Why do we believe what we believe?  I mean, do we truly put thought into our beliefs and/or superstitions, or are they simply that which was handed to us at some point in our lives and we accepted them?  I hear people speak of being 'brought up' Baptist or whatever else, and then find that their ingrained beliefs from that time frame remain - no matter what. Why do we believe what we believe? When I was in 1st grade, I heard a story teller who said that if you place your shoes  in a particular place under the bed, you will have good dreams or (if you place them somewhere else) you will have bad dreams.  I took that to heart for years, until one day I realized I was doing it almost second nature.  Why?  Because I heard it that way and no one told me otherwise. I had a grandmother who was tremendously superstitious.  I always found it kind of funny, but she was tied into folk tales and beliefs that she felt had to be maintained.  What I find interesting now is that she neve

A few days ago, I purchased both the new Pink Floyd cd The Endless River  as well as the most recent offering from Yes: Heaven & Earth .  Upon making those purchases, I had some commute time.  Therefore, driving around the city, I put the Pink Floyd cd in. My heart leapt.   It has been 20 years since Pink Floyd released any studio material and there is always the fear that the 'new' release will fall flat due to the growing and perhaps unmerited expectations of the fans.  As Phil Collins once said of Genesis, "There is no reason to expect the next album to sound like the last one."  Eddie Van Halen echoed that comment by expressing in an interview that fans had the old albums and if they wanted to hear the old stuff, they could simply pull them off the shelves. I tried not to have any expectations - I don't know that that is actually possible - and put the cd in with as open ears as I could. And I found that, even in the 5:00 traffic, I was tra

I have been offering a series of sermons at the church I serve during the month of October utilizing the theme of monsters and what they represent.  I offered a similar set of sermons about four years ago at a previous church.  This time I re-wrote two of those old sermons and added two new ones.  One that I didn't go back and re-work was the one on Werewolves.   As Halloween is closing in, here is the text of that sermon from October of 2011 entitled "The Shadow Knows" taken from Romans 7:15-25 which reads as follows: 15  For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.   16  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.   17  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.   18  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.   19  For I do not do the good I want, but the

It has been a few weeks since I wrote, dear readers (all three of you).  That has to do more with the fact that I wanted to really get my thoughts together for this one, because it started with a letter I received in the mail a few weeks ago. It was a letter from  a nearby Baptist church inviting me to a “dramatic presentation of the Gospel.”  It then went on to give the title of the presentation, “Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames.” Hmm.   Sounds less like the gospel and more like a scare tactic along the lines of the infamous ‘judgment houses’ that have taken to replace haunted houses and fall festivals in many conservative churches.  So I read on. “’Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames’ is very similar to a ‘Judgment House’ presentation that many youth groups attend during the fall season.” Ahh.  It is a judgment house.  Apparently it  isn't  because instead of moving from room to room, the visitors sit in once place and the scenes change on stage.  It sounds to m

I find myself in a situation of question, which might mean a situation of crisis.  I have been pondering what constitutes a "true" faith.  Mostly because in our struggle with extremist groups, we find that there are a whole lot of people who claim to be the  spokespersons for particular faiths.   I have to wonder if any of them actually are.  Sure, they all believe  themselves to be, but who can say?  I have been one who is not sold on the idea of denominations, mostly because I can't say that one has it all right or another is all wrong.  I the question and/or crisis comes from the fact that in these musings, I have to begin by acknowledging that I   am actually part of a denomination.   And that denomination has rules to govern itself by.   Rules as to what we believe and why.   Herein lies the problem.   Is that “rulebook” based on an understanding of scripture, or has that rulebook become the lens through which we understand and interpret scripture?   Neithe

I find that in the last few months as I have begun work at a new church setting that there have been moments where I have found myself thinking, "I know you."  The issue at hand is, I don't . At least, I don't know the congregation well enough to feel like I know them as I have parishes that I have served for several years.  So what's the deal? It seems to me that, for whatever reason, this church congregation has me thinking of past parishioners.  More to the point, they have me thinking of attributes  and behaviors  of past parishioners.  For example, as I was talking with one particular person a few weeks ago, I found that I kept thinking about a parishioner from a church I served 4 years ago.  In reflecting on why that past parishioner kept coming to mind, I realized that they share many of the same inflections of voice, the same demeanor, and attitudes. What is surprising to me is just how often this seems to be happening here.  It is as if the experien

With the continued coverage of the ISIS issues, I find myself hearing over and over again that people will defend their actions (atrocious as they are) over and over again by saying, "But they bring us food, they provide electricity, they keep us safe."  They do manage to do that, but they do it in much the same way an abusive person keeps their spouse and/or family in check.  They do  provide and, from time to time, can be kind and seemingly gentle folks. However, they keep their spouse so worked up by already having demonstrated a penchant for abuse (physical, emotional, etc.) that the spouse never knows what the next trigger will be or when the next battering will take place.  So ISIS may  provide in ways the government couldn't, but they do so through corruption, intimidation, and fear and then what they provide is seen as a blessing and the praises are high because to suggest a differing opinion is to risk life and limb. The question becomes with what will we put

Two weeks ago, I offered a sermon on the idea of God being love and that Christians are to bear witness to that love through our actions.  After the service, I was approached by several different people who asked how we respond in particular to persons such as the members of the Islamic State (or ISIS), terrorists, or others that we find ourselves truly despising. Here is my response.  It doesn't answer it all, and there was plenty more I would like to have said, but in the context of a sermon and given particular time constraints, this was what I offered. Evil. Evil is a strange, versatile and dangerous word that can describe atrocities or cause them.  Evil, like art, is something we often believe we would know when it was seen.  But evil is an amorphous, shadowy idea that rarely manifests itself in obvious ways.  When it does, it comes to us in forms so horrific, so vile, that we wonder how we missed it. We miss it because we think of evil in extreme terms and with

It is in the early hours of the morning that I write.  The flashlight has illumined my steps to the room with the computer, and I find that if I dwell too long on any of the concerns of my life they seem insurmountable.  The problems of the world are more than I bear to consider - the darkness of poor decisions rests like a millstone around my neck; poor decisions of my own and poor decisions of others.  Problems that are not of my making and not of my choosing surround my like a thorn bush, threatening to prick, slice, cut or gouge me should I try to move. The ticking of the clock becomes an all too clear reminder of mortality: it passes too fast the older you become and the more you appreciate it.  Youth is  wasted on the young, but only the recklessness of youth can bring the maturity and understanding of the importance of life and life lived well or the sadness of recognition of life misspent.  Maturity comes at a high cost.  The Apostle Paul mentioned putting away childish thing

When I was in college, I had my first real encounter with a conspiracy theorist.  Now, I have a few conspiracy theories of my own on a variety of subjects, but this particular guy put me to shame.  He had a book that he read as faithfully as - if not more so - the Bible.  He let me borrow it and read it through.  I won't tell you the name of it, because I can't remember it.  It had something to do with the Four Horsemen and had a strange cover.  It was a giant book that seemed to have been written with a typewriter that didn't have a correction button, as there were words that were misspelled and other grammatical errors.  I will say that by the time I finished reading it, I went back through trying to find all the errors to see if I had missed a hidden code! Anyway, the book made me a little paranoid for a while.  I have now lived long enough to recognize that some of the theories just couldn't be true.  Others, since they are only theories, could  be true.  Who know

A few years back, Mel Gibson gave us "The Passion of the Christ."  I went to see it with a group of pastors and the things I remember most about the movie were some of the odd questions I had before I went in.  Does one get popcorn before watching a movie about Jesus?  I decided no.  Nor does one get Sweet Tarts or any other candy.  It just doesn't fit to get a sugar rush during the Sermon on the Mount. Secondly, I found myself asking "What previews  do you show with this?"  Answer:  Spider-Man 2 and The Day After Tomorrow.  Spider-Man seemed way out of place.  The Day After Tomorrow seemed more fitting - something about apocalyptic movies and Bible movies.  While they don't have  to go together, they do seem related. Anyway, I found that the movie was quite an emotional experience.  A well done film and one I recommend.  But it isn't my favorite. I've seen plenty of movies about Jesus.  Some focus on particular aspects of his life.  The Passion

I have been transitioning from one pastoral setting to another.  In the United Methodist Church that's something that we have to get used to as a pastor.  But it doesn't come easy as you get older.  When you are a young pastor, just starting out, you find the idea of a move to a new church exciting.  New buildings, new house, new everything.  As you get older, though, to make a move means letting things go.  And the longer you serve at a particular church, the more you find you have to leave behind.  The prospects of moving become far more bittersweet. You also find that you aren't as well prepared as you might think.  Seminary teaches us great and wonderful things.  The churches you serve are actually interested in some  of those great and wonderful things.  No matter how long you have been a pastor, you find that instead of bringing all you have to offer to a church, the church instead wishes for you to fit their expectations first .  Fit their mold then  be yourself.