Presbymom

Luke 13:1-9 Let's just start with some honesty - there is nothing worse about religion to me than when God is used to justify a disaster. Really - did God intend for innocent children to be shot, or those going about their daily lives to be swept up in a storm having their lives abruptly ripped apart? Does God need to stoop to petty retaliation if we are misbehaving? What comfort is there to be found in looking at bad things that happen in our lives and thinking we are being punished? The wrong kind of comfort! If we need to be in control so much that we must have a 'why' to every occurance, then we are not trusting in God at all. We want for everything in our lives to be understandable by our rules and concepts of how the world works. But there is chaos, there is random misfortune, there is evil. I don't believe that God is the hand controlling any of these. From 1 Corinthians, we are told that God's ways are beyond us and God's thoughts are above us. True ...

Luke 13:31-35 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Wow -what to do with this scripture reading? Jesus derogatorily calls Herod a fox. Then he refers to himself as a hen trying to gather in her brood. When I take these pictures deeper with what they mean to me today, I do not at all get a favorable picture of either Jesus or Herod. Herod is a wily fox that uses its cunning and intelligence for power, conquest and control. Calling Herod a fox still sounds insulting today and would have been at that time as well. But then - when I look up mother hen and think about it, that imagery has morphed in our world to not at all be a favorable thing either. A mother hen is an over-protective mom using what meager intelligence she can muster to coral and heard - yes control her offspring. This type of mothering is not something that we aspire toward today as parents. Yet that same hen is sacrificial - willing to insert herself between danger and her children no matter the cost. And, here is...

Luke 4:1-13 Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day in Lent. Popular culture will be asking you 'What are you giving up for Lent?' A Facebook post by Texas Presbyterian Foundation pretty much summarizes my thoughts on that quite well - FAST from judging others, FEAST on Christ dwelling in them . So many of us get into the 'feeling' of this season but really don't stop to think what it means. Barbara Brown Taylor helps some - "'Lent' itself means 'spring' - the greening of the human soul, pruned with repentance, fertilized with fasting, spritzed with self-appraisal, mulched with prayer." I can't help but jump back to my theme from last week's transfiguration. Jesus shone brightly white, but the rest of us are an ordinary green. Perhaps this ordinary green is not so easy either! I take the words of another superstar - Kermit the Frog. "It's not easy being green. You blend in with so many ordinary things. Greening o...

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...

Blogging time again! After a four-year hiatus, I am going to give this a go one more time. Much has transpired in the last few years to change my life as well as what this venue looks like and holds for those of my online friends. I hope to redesign this to eventually be my site of choice as there are several distinct areas I enjoy and want in one place. Facebook is quickly outliving its early promise and becoming the advertising tool of yet another commercial engine. Pinterest is fine, but it doesn't hold the detail of feedback and commentary that I want. And, I really am intrigued by the idea of sharing theological thoughts with my friends from several communities and beyond. Please bear with me as I begin a stage of redesign. Blessings to you and yours and Happy New 2013 to you all!