thoughts on the news of the day: sermons

hmmm…..

            Sometimes you just have to punt.  It’s like this:  Tomorrow is Sunday and I have my sermon all ready.  Or so I thought.  The Scripture is the one about the lady who asks Jesus to heal her daughter.  Jesus basically tells her no, but the woman persists by saying that even dogs get the crumbs from their Master.  So Jesus relents and blesses the woman and heals her daughter.  Simple?  Maybe not.

            This is a passage about Jesus seeming to be mean.  And we don’t like Jesus to be mean.  We want him nice and kind and gentle.  Sometimes we need him to be that way;  like when someone in the congregation dies, and the family needs to be comforted. 

            So, tomorrow is not such a good day to preach on that passage.  That’s because a beloved lady from our church died from a very vicious form of cancer.  It happened last night.  Fortunately, I have all of today to come up with something to comfort and encourage the congregation; it won’t be easy, but I want to find a way to console our church family. 

            That’s how it is sometimes.  We make our plan, but God has another idea.  Things change and what seemed to work before just doesn’t anymore.  So we punt.  We step back, review our options and go with what will give us another chance. 

If things aren’t working out in your life right now, maybe there’s a reason.  Maybe God is nudging you in a different direction. Maybe you should step back and punt.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: visitor

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            My dog went ballistic last night – she started barking like crazy; which is pretty unusual for her.  She will usually bark when someone comes to the door, or when she spies someone out taking a walk on our street, or when she sees a squirrel scampering across the yard.  But barking inside at nothing at all is not her style.

            All evening long she would go to the hallway and bark continuously.  I was beginning to wonder if she had seen a ghost.  Maybe some apparition had escaped into our house.  Finally she calmed down and we were able to go to sleep.  Then, in the middle of the night, she started up again.  It kind of spooked me out; but when I checked all the outside doors and found that no one was there, I relaxed and went back to sleep.

            This morning she started all over again.  Anxious and barking, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  Then I opened the closed door to my back bedroom. And there was the answer, a stray black and white spotted cat sat proudly on the day bed.  It startled me, then I had to chuckle.  The cat must have sneaked into the bedroom when I had the sliding glass door open to the back yard for my puppy to go out and play.  I had a visitor and didn’t know it.

            That happens, doesn’t it?  We are met with a problem and don’t even know it is there.  We are puzzled by a dilemma and something simple explains away the crisis.  We think we are alone, but we are not.  Life has its twists and turns and we are there to discover them, not necessarily as quickly as we would like.  Eventually the answers come --  as soon as we open the door and walk in.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: the big C

hmmm…..

            The Big C.  I can name right off the top of my head, six people in our small church family who are battling life threatening cancer.  Every day I hear about our folks having skin cancers removed; that’s the norm.  That’s the bad news.

            Actually, I don’t have much good news about cancer.  It seems to be rampant, at least in our congregation.  Wonder what happened?  Is it the fact that our church is filled with members who are 70+; and it just hits us at that age?  Or is it the result of exposure to all sorts of toxins, from saccharin to car exhaust to asbestos?  I wonder.

            I know that research scientists are working desperately for a cure.  They come up with new treatments every day.  My brother worked in a lab that researched cures for cancer in Dallas.  That was 20 years ago and at that time, they discovered several drugs for treatment.  But like I say, that was 20 or so years ago. 

            It’s almost like the treatments are worse than the cure. Surgery maims and scars.  Chemicals cause nausea at best and organ damage at worst.  Radiation burns the throat, mouth and so much else.  There is hope that someday we will have a simple pill that makes this horrible disease go away.  And in some rare instances, that is already the case.

            Someday there will be a cure for this life destroying illness; but until that day we have to hope and pray for one.   And we can pray for those stricken.  A miracle would be nice. 

            hmmm…..

           

           

thoughts on the news of the day: lazy

hmmm…..

            There are many important holidays that we recognize.  There are religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas.  Then there are national holidays like Independence Day and Memorial Day.  And some are both, like Thanksgiving Day.

            August 10 is not one of those holidays.  In fact, some people may not know that today is designated as National Lazy Day.  The creators of the holiday do not have any documentation of the origination of the day because they are … well… lazy.

            But really, isn’t it nice to have a day when you can just be lazy?  It is finally raining here after a long dry spell, so I would say it is a good day to just stay in with a good book.  All of those things you “have” to do can wait until another day.  But, oops, there are those of us who work.  We can’t just take the day off like it’s some kind of deserved holiday.  We can slow down, though, and take the time to rest a little.  Surely we won’t get in too much trouble for being just a little lazy. 

            Kids especially only have a few more lazy days of summer before the school bell rings, marking the first day of another school year.  Sleeping in, staying up late, doing nothing will soon be a thing of the past as teachers call the roll and pass out home work.  But in the meantime, I say, let’s celebrate Lazy Day the way it is meant to be celebrated: sprawled out on the couch.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: is it right?

hmmm…..

            I’m not sure how I feel about another church posting on our facebook page (First Presbyterian Church Mountain Home).  It feels like an ambush.  But then again, I guess, why wouldn’t they feel OK about doing that?  I mean, it is a free and open page where anyone can post just about anything.  Now, if you ask me, that’s kinda scary.

            Is that right?  Has it come to that?  Are we so vulnerable in this techno-magic world that anything goes? Probably there is a way to block that sort of feedback; I am not sure what it is.   But I bet someone out there can tell me.

            I am not a Michelle Bachmann fan.  I will say that right up front.  But Newsweek magazine has a photo of her on its cover this week that makes her look, well, crazy.  Her eyes bug out as if she looks like she is off on another planet.  Is that right?  Does Newsweek have the right to do that to anyone?  I’m just asking ….

            Photo-shopping, that is, doctoring a photo to look like something it is not, is common place today.  Stylists for fashion magazines have been doing it for years, with and without our knowledge.  But does that make it right?

            A whole new system of ethics is coming our way. What is right and what is wrong is up for grabs right now and it’s up to the ethicists to figure it out for us.   Hopefully they will leave politics and self-serving opinions out of it because we sure do need their wisdom right about now.

            hmmm…..

           

           

thoughts on the news of the day: priorities

hmmm…..

            What comes first in your life?

            The word “prioritize” has popped up in my world several times lately.  A friend of mine was questioning her daughter’s priorities last night – then a devotional I read this morning talked about the same thing.  So maybe its time for me to think about what is important in my life and what should be important.

            Naturally, as a minister I should say that God should come first.  And of course, God should.  Spending time in prayer and meditation and bible reading should come first.  Trying to please God should come first.  I remember a visitor in our church once saying, “I get up every morning and ask myself, what would make God smile today – then I try to do it.”

            But what about after that?  Where are your priorities?  Where do you spend most of your time?  Its something to think about, isn’t it?  Is your time spent on cell phones? Are you spending too much time at the computer?  Do you simply spend too much time working and not enough time with your family?

            These are just a few examples of priorities, I could name many more, good and bad, but I’ll let you think about them in your own life.  Some kids in our church made me a picture for Christmas – it sits prominently on my bureau.  Colored brightly on a brown grocery sack is the word “JOY”.  The J stands for Jesus, the O stands for Others and the Y stands for Yourself.  Not bad priorities to live by.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: Lucy

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            I love Lucy.  Most of us do.  If she were still alive, Lucille Ball would have turned 100 years old this weekend.  I love her antics, her pratfalls, her sense of humor.  I identify with her self-depreciation, her ability to laugh at herself and her soul.  In my book, she is the greatest female comedian of all time.

            Even though she has been gone since 1989, we can still share in the laughter she evokes because she lives on forever in television reruns.  Fans young and old still laugh at her stupid stunts and her slapstick humor.  Remember Vitameatavegamine?  Remember the candy factory?  Remember grape stomping?  All classic Lucy.

            It is good to laugh.  It warms the soul.  If you don’t laugh, and laugh often, I heartily recommend it!  Corny jokes aside, laughter is the best medicine says one cliché.  But it is true; research has even shown that patients who laugh a lot get better quicker.  Ever join a first grader in laughing over a knock-knock joke?  How about sharing a bit of humor with your grandpa?  We can laugh at ourselves over stupid mistakes we make and enjoy the humor they bring.

            Even the bible has some good things to say about laughter.  Proverbs 17:22 says: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”  Laughter does bring us joy – and who doesn’t need a little joy and happiness in their life? 

            So laugh!  Find something funny today to laugh about, and your world will be better for it.

            hmmm…..