Presbymom

John 20:1-18 Why do we as pastors look at this week and scratch our heads? Perhaps it is the challenge of saying something 'new' at the biggest Holy Day of services in our year. Seasoned pastors struggle not to repeat, huh? Weird, but there it is. Even our Bible study this morning had some awkward pauses of 'what to study'. Don't we deal with this same story every year? Leave it to the inspiration of an honest friend in our midst to start the conversation rolling. Not - what new can we say, but - how do we really understand resurrection? And, more importantly, what does it mean to us? Okay - so the way she worded the question was, "My friend is an intellectual who just can't believe in a bodily resurrection, but she still identifies herself as a Christian. How do we see this? Symbolically, literally? Are you still a Christian if you don't believe in bodily resurrection?" There was a collective sigh in the room as 20 people began to struggle w...

Luke 11-32 Studying this text in various groups this week has allowed me to glimpse a shared theme of family expectations. Family is so hard and so vital! One of the main cornerstones of my faith is koinonia - relationship. The tangled web of interrelatedness among friends and family and our connectedness to God. And, isn't that what we are all about as Christians anyway? The complex way we influence each other in biological families is just the tip of the iceberg as we extend that to our church families and the dynamics within the church. How do we relate, interact, love and worship together? Teaching confirmation last night, one of the youth asked for clarification on grace and what it means. Struggling with that with her and then continuing on my own meditations has led to some insight on family. I explained to her that an easy illustration comes to us from Romans 6 - we can't be sin free. But that does not give us carte blanche to go about lives like we want relyin...