PASTOR’S COLUMN. We Presbyterians are also known as Murphy’s Denomination. We believe that if anything can go wrong, it will. Thus, we want safeguards in place to keep it from happening and procedures that tell us what to do next if it does.
We take sin seriously, be it individual or corporate. We’re the regulators who gave America a government of checks and balances, the same sorts of checks and balances in our Presbyterian Book of Order. Over the centuries we have labored to have a policy or a rule in place for almost every matter under the sun and Son.
“If anything can go wrong, it will.” When I was younger, it amused me how uptight we were about this, but as the years have gone by, it is one of the things I appreciate most about Presbyterianism. Why? When we’re right, we’re right. Read the papers. Watch the news. Human beings are a moral mess. I laugh every time I hear something like the following: “An industry spokesperson says that no regulation is needed. The industry will police itself.” Sure it will. All the way to the bank.
The Bible is our authority when it comes to understanding human nature. Jesus says, for example, “No one is good but God alone.” He also says to the men who were about to stone the woman, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” What happened to the Garden of Eden? What’s the cross all about?
A confession, as in our Book of Confession, is a statement about a particular topic based upon what the Bible teaches. Our Confession of 1967 says the following about human nature. “The reconciling act of God in Jesus Christ exposes the evil in humans as sin in the sight of God. In sin, persons claim mastery of their own lives, turn against God and their fellow humans, and become exploiters and despoilers of their world. They lose their humanity in futile striving and are left in rebellion, despair, and isolation… All are in the wrong before God and helpless without his forgiveness. Thus all humans fall under God’s judgment. No one is more subject to that judgment than the person who assumes he is guiltless before God or morally superior to others.”
I’ve always thought that Pogo the possum in the comic strip Pogo has to be Presbyterian. His best-known line? “We have met the enemy and he is us.” -DJ
Monday, August 27, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Pastor's Column, August 12, 2012
Pastor’s Column. Toward the end of World War II in Europe, the Germans did something that bears remembering today. To delay the Allied Armies’ march to Berlin, retreating German soldiers switched road signs and destroyed landmarks. Doing so did not prevent the inevitable, but it did confuse their enemy. Many an Allied soldier wound up other than where he thought he was going.
The above is but one example of the importance of reliable signposts and landmarks. Think about how the people of Jefferson County use landmarks like the courthouse in Hillsboro, the Meramec River Bridge, the Mississippi River, Jefferson College, even Grace’s park to help us find our bearings. If some Saturday night pranksters pointed our signs the other way or removed our signposts, the next day lots of people would get lost. But it wouldn’t be nearly as much a problem as the absence of signposts and boundaries in our society.
We live at a time of exponential change, a time when our historical, traditional, and religious signposts are being ignored. Jesus is “The Way,” and the Bible is filled with signposts – laws, commandments, stories, even the beatitudes - that help us find our way. But so much of this is being ignored anymore, as well as the practices and the manners that these signposts have created.
One might say that churchgoing today is an activity that helps us get our bearings in a world in which so many don’t care where we’re going. -DJ
The above is but one example of the importance of reliable signposts and landmarks. Think about how the people of Jefferson County use landmarks like the courthouse in Hillsboro, the Meramec River Bridge, the Mississippi River, Jefferson College, even Grace’s park to help us find our bearings. If some Saturday night pranksters pointed our signs the other way or removed our signposts, the next day lots of people would get lost. But it wouldn’t be nearly as much a problem as the absence of signposts and boundaries in our society.
We live at a time of exponential change, a time when our historical, traditional, and religious signposts are being ignored. Jesus is “The Way,” and the Bible is filled with signposts – laws, commandments, stories, even the beatitudes - that help us find our way. But so much of this is being ignored anymore, as well as the practices and the manners that these signposts have created.
One might say that churchgoing today is an activity that helps us get our bearings in a world in which so many don’t care where we’re going. -DJ
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Pastor's Column - August 5, 2012
Pastor’s Column. The following are signs found in kitchens.
"If a messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, this kitchen is delirious."
"A clean house is a sign of a misspent life."
"If we are what we eat, then I'm easy, fast, and cheap."
"Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator."
"My next house will have no kitchen, just vending machines."
"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
The staff at www.eSermons.com point out that these sayings point to some of our society's attitudes about food: “only junk food is enjoyable,” “food is meant to satisfy us,” “if I had to cook it, it doesn't taste good,” and “as long as it's not good for me, I should eat as much as I want.” We stuff ourselves, trying to fill the hole inside of us with food, as if we could eat something that would totally satisfy us. But we could stuff ourselves at every meal and still be hungry for something deeper!
This is what Jesus points out in the Gospel of John when he says, “I am the bread of life.” We can try to ignore our spiritual needs, but all else is insufficient. –DJ
"If a messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, this kitchen is delirious."
"A clean house is a sign of a misspent life."
"If we are what we eat, then I'm easy, fast, and cheap."
"Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator."
"My next house will have no kitchen, just vending machines."
"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
The staff at www.eSermons.com point out that these sayings point to some of our society's attitudes about food: “only junk food is enjoyable,” “food is meant to satisfy us,” “if I had to cook it, it doesn't taste good,” and “as long as it's not good for me, I should eat as much as I want.” We stuff ourselves, trying to fill the hole inside of us with food, as if we could eat something that would totally satisfy us. But we could stuff ourselves at every meal and still be hungry for something deeper!
This is what Jesus points out in the Gospel of John when he says, “I am the bread of life.” We can try to ignore our spiritual needs, but all else is insufficient. –DJ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)