Presbymom

Romans 5:1-5 How dare a scripture on endurance and suffering - one of being tempered in a pit of suffering and fire if you will - begin with words of peace and grace and conclude with love and hope? Yesterday, businesses and schools in my Texas hometown were a bit frantic and paranoid over a basic thunderstorm, and rightly so. The disasters of Oklahoma tornadoes earlier this week and the national disasters of the past few months have been more than enough to make anyone wonder where is God in all of this. But isn't that exactly where God is? In our wondering and searching and even shaking of our fists in anger. Isn't that where God is? Right beside us. But that is so hard to see for the person who lost a loved one, the person who has nothing left, the person who is unemployed and has a family looking to them for support. How do I keep my faith through evil, disaster and the misfortunes of life? Where do I see God outside of my meditations and reading - real life? Wher...

Romans 8:12-17 Acts 2:1-21 The Holy Spirit rightly plays a dominant role in our Pentecost traditions. This advocate that we have been sent is appealing and yet elusive. We are adopted into the family with all of the peace and with all of the strife. This family is not one where everything is promised to be easy. It does bring with it assurances of the peace of the Holy Spirit, but it also comes with the suspicion of drunkenness because we are not living according to the standards and expectations of the world. These men with flames dancing on their heads speaking about the deeds of Christ so that all are able to understand as if in their native tongue - how are they normal? Wouldn't we look at such a scene today and think - that is one really bizarre family? Why in the world would I want to be adopted into that? Similarly looking at the images that media gives the Christian church today - why in the world would I want to be adopted into that? What does it mean to be adopt...

John 14:15-27 Given all of the options for this week, why do I feel myself pulled back again and again to this lectionary text? Isn't this just a pullout from an exceedingly wordy discourse in John? We seldom hear Jesus go on and on in sermon style. Rather than cutting to the chase or telling a neat parable, that is what these verses of John seem to do. But they contain so many nuggets. The words from this scripture have found their way into many things as words of comfort, frequently in funerals to comfort the bereaved. But while this scripture promises peace and comfort, it goes beyond that as well. As a mother of two, I remember looking back to when I was pregnant with my second child. How am I going to find enough love, time and energy for another? My heart is surely already filled to bursting with my husband and daughter. Pete and I semed to spend hours just staring into the amazing eyes of our daughter when she was first-born. Will I be able to love another child as much?...