Presbymom

Jeremiah 1:4-10 Here we are in a society that is more connected than ever before. Already this morning, I have read news from around the world, polished off my work communications from various team updates in e-mail, confirmed a doctor appointment and checked out the latest social news from friends on Facebook. It is only 9:30, but I have sent and received texts as well as making a couple of calls. We reach out with the touch of a button or even with a verbal prompt through blue tooth while driving. Yet, ask anyone how they hear God's call in their life - very few of us seem to be blessed with a sense of clarity in this. The words of Jeremiah are familiar but frightening if we really ponder them closely. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." God had something in mind for Jeremiah. Does God have something in mind for us? Even if it isn't this same grandiose message from a voice to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and to build, how do we listen to God? H...

Luke 4:14-21 I am a frequent user of Facebook, but it has one major drawback (Same is true of blogging!). The message is generic to all your 'friends' at once. Let's face it, we wear many different hats. I am a mom, a wife, a volunteer, an associate pastor, a friend, ... the list goes on. In telling the same story, we would use different words depending upon which of these hats we were wearing at any given time.On Facebook, we only get one shot at phrasing things, and if our peers and our parents, our co-workers and our boss, our children and ... well you get the idea. If the different audiences see it. There is always that awkward moment when we realize we have said things in a way that we wish we could rephrase for the current listener. The internet doesn't give us that capability. Each person will read something and pickup a different nuance. Yet the same is true when we hear things taught, spoken and preached. In this Luke text, Jesus ...

John 2:1-11 And on the third day, Jesus changed water into wine. Woo-hoo, time for a drink. But, but, but - the pastor in me says. This is just wrong. Why in the world is Jesus' first miracle in the Gospel of John about wine and saving face for a couple at a wedding feast. This isn't life or death, this isn't a healing or the radically anti-norm social statement that I have come to expect from Jesus. This is just an embarassment of lack of proper planning for the family of the bride. However, after discussion with several friends and a Wednesday morning Bible study, I wonder. Is that not the point? Isn't the point that Jesus does work in the mundane and the everyday. Jesus can work with old vessels to bring joy to our everyday lives. No matter the setting. One of love where the snitty politics of social setting threaten to ruin the day and send the party away from us. A seemingly unimportant miracle is not only loaded with symbolism about the coming resurrection o...