by Greg | Mar 24, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
…That was the subject line of an email I recently received – “Muffin Top Drop.” I am not sure if it was a promotion for weight-loss or advertising a delicious pastry. I decided to forgo opening the email, assuming it was unsolicited. Besides, I like muffin tops and I do not need an email to convince me of it. I am amazed at the emails that get filtered and never make it to my virtual desk and those emails, like the one I mention above, that make it through in spite of our filters. For example today I received unsolicited emails promoting cigars, credit reports, memory loss prevention and something called a “belly buster.” (I hope my emails are not some kind of profile) When I accessed my junk file that automatically redirects emails from my inbox, I found emails from church members wondering why I had not replied to earlier emails; a poetry blog I subscribed to years ago; and something from Harvard (I am sure it was a delayed acceptance letter). Some people I know could stand to work on their filters. Saying and posting whatever comes to mind or how one is feeling at a time of heightened emotions is rarely a wise choice. God gave to us a frontal lobe and while not all lobes are created equal, a little reflection before speaking or writing is good for the soul and good for others too. Should churches ever filter? Apparently we try to with our server, but you see how effective that is. No, no, I mean should churches ever filter who...
by Greg | Mar 18, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
A week or so ago many were amused, some outraged, and others mystified at the audacity of a pastor’s efforts to raise $65 million for a private jet. Apparently this pastor just skipped over the part in the Bible where Jesus instructed his disciples to, “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff…” (Matthew 10:9-10) Come to think of it, maybe this pastor found a loophole, because in fairness Jesus makes no mention of airplanes. Pastors often follow the lead of other “successful” pastors, but I am not so audacious as to ask for $65 million for a jet (besides, I am prone to airsickness). I just need $65 for a tire cover for my Jeep. Truth be told, I can afford the tire cover, but I could use some suggestions on what should go on the cover. Maybe “Follow Me to FBC” or “What Would Johnny Cash Do?” Feel free to Facebook or tweet me your suggestions with #namethatcover. I guess we can roll our eyes at such outlandish actions by people of faith who prey on the vulnerable to enrich their lifestyles and do so “in the name of Jesus.” We can share our disgust with one another as well as bemusement. We can, and probably should, squirm a bit at our own complicity to justify some of our outlandish actions done under the banner of Christianity. Or we can be sad. Sad for this pastor so consumed in self-enrichment and self-entitlement that he no longer sees what is...
by Greg | Mar 11, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Have you ever heard of a “Selfie-Stick?” This past Christmas I was surprised with the gift of one, and a favorite one at that! First, for the uninformed, let me explain the term “selfie.” A selfie is a rather new word that refers to taking a self-portrait, usually with one’s phone. Some take pictures of themselves by standing in front of a mirror, which in my opinion is quite strange since the camera is now part of the portrait. The other method – my preferred technique – is to extend the arm holding the camera and click the picture. Many would agree that the longer the arm, according to the rules of perspective, the better the portrait. With a selfie-stick you can take the camera out another couple of feet and actually take a pretty decent selfie that does not look like a selfie. I guess if Jim Walls was using one it would look like a panoramic shot. Now that every other person on the globe has a phone with a camera, the world is awash in selfies. Perhaps we are a nation of narcissists. Or maybe because of technology we feel the need to document everything – and include a self-portrait in the picture. Or maybe we are just lonely and it is nice to see a familiar face at a ballgame, or at a concert, or eating a Tex-Mex combo platter. Maybe I should take my selfie-stick to church this Sunday. I think it would be kind of cool to snap a selfie with all my “peeps” beneath or near the steeple (Am I...
by Greg | Feb 18, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
In baptism and through water we are marked by God as one of God’s own. Baptism is the symbol of being born again. On this day Christians around the world are marked with ashes. To be marked with ashes with the sign of the cross is really the only time Christians look distinctive or set apart from others. No one can see your baptism. Wearing a cross means little nowadays since it is now mostly a decorative symbol. Most Christians do not have hats or caps for the head, or veils to cover the face. This one day of the year, all over the world, Christians gather in places of worship to be smudged, right there in the middle of the forehead. Why? We are marked for penitence: Not a one of us will leave here unscathed by sin. It gets to us all. We mark others with our failures and fears and we too become victims bearing the scars of hurt and pain – some you see but most you do not. We are fooled into thinking that sin is a private matter, between us and God. Sin nearly always affects those around us. We are here together, tonight as a family. This whole business of being marked by ashes got started centuries ago when sinners were singled in the public in order for them to be brought back into the church. The trouble is once you start marking every sinner with ash, not a person is left out, no not one. “Ash Wednesday is the most honest of days.” (Christian Century,...
by Greg | Feb 16, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
To The Field of Stars: A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago De Compostela, by Kevin A. Codd Told from the perspective of a Catholic Priest, this book recounts a thirty-five day pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater. Pilgrims, trekkers, cyclists and hikers have traversed this route for hundreds of years. The author allows us to travel with him from village to village as he recounts friendships and insights and discovers changes in his own interior life along the camino (the way). He infuses his pilgrimage with delightful details of some of the places he slept, food he ate, and the scenery along the way. Along the camino he shares his admiration of some of the great architecture of the cathedrals and churches he encounters, confessing, “I gawk at Gothic but I pray in Romanesque.” Elsewhere he reminds us of the gift of authentic welcome that blesses him in surprising ways. “Hospitality counts for everything; appearances for nothing.” His story is breezily told, but there were places that I felt he bogged down in the telling. Nevertheless if you would like to learn more about this historic pilgrimage from the eyes of a modern pilgrim, I commend this to...
by Greg | Jan 28, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Every town and city has something that caters to the tourist. In my little hometown of Eatonton, GA, you can take a brief (and I mean brief) tour of the Uncle Remus Museum and purchase some sweet, Brer Rabbit swag. Right here in Augusta for one special week thousands upon thousands gobble up anything marked by “The Masters Tournament.” Recently I was in the city of San Antonio for a small conference. During a break I walked down to the Alamo to do some site seeing as well as look for trinkets to bring back home. In one shop filled with gaudy and goofy souvenirs there was a display of nativity sets, with the following sign: Don’t take baby Jesus Please, it is a set. Thank You Apparently pilfering baby Jesus is a problem near the Alamo. Thinking about this some more, there is a deeper truth than just defending a shopkeeper’s merchandise. If you take Jesus, you have to take everyone that comes with Jesus. In a culture we are used to customizing nearly all things towards our personal taste and nearly everything can be reduced to a commodity. Jesus, however, comes as is and along with Jesus comes a family of people that many would rather leave out. Reading the Gospels Jesus brought along Samaritans and Canaanites who were ethnically and religiously on the “wrong side of the tracks.” He associated with despised tax collectors, prostitutes, and other unsavory characters. Jesus reached across the cultural divide and gave women hope, the diseased healing, and the neglected life. Because of this Jesus offended those who wanted...
by Greg | Jan 21, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
One fall morning, when I was a little boy of eight years old, I took it upon myself to leave the house and explore the vast pastures and woods of our farm. In the past my daddy and granddaddy walked every acre with me, but this was the first time I struck out on my own and by myself – and without the consent or knowledge of anyone else! I traipsed directly to the creek that dissected our land, found a narrow pass and jumped over to the other side. I figured that soon I should be climbing a familiar hill that would overlook the pastures with the dairy cows grazing on one side and the creek bottoms on the other. Instead I came to another creek – this was a surprise – and it seemed to me it was on the wrong side. Then and there it slowly occurred to me that I was not exactly lost, but rather confused. I had walked in a circle. For the last century researchers have puzzled over why when we walk we generally do not travel in a straight line, especially without a fixed point. This is also true for swimming and driving a car. Without a fixed point we tend to travel in circles. Scientists and engineers can put a man on the moon, but there is still not a good answer as to why we travel in circles, even when we think we are going straight ahead. By the way, I do not recommend you drive a car blindfolded to test this theory out, but I am told...
by Greg | Jan 14, 2015 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
“Every man looks upon his wood pile with a sort of affection.” Henry David Thoreau All of my life I have enjoyed the blessings of the generosity of others. This includes procuring firewood. I have friends in the church that have allowed me to cut wood, gather wood, and at times some have delivered wood practically to my doorstep. Few things in housekeeping are more satisfying than a generous stack of firewood. Thoreau continued his soliloquy on firewood writing, “I love to have mine before my window, and the more chips the better to remind me of my pleasing work.” Yet no matter how grand the stack, as winter’s chill sets in so goes the wood. Firewood was meant to burn to warm both home and heart. The cycle of generosity repeats itself: find, cut, split and deliver more wood year in and year out. We spend our days accumulating and then in time we begin giving it all away. I have been reminded of this lesson of late as I know of several in our church family who are “downsizing” from larger homes to smaller ones. There is the sentimental and at times painful sorting through a lifetime of artifacts trying to determine what to keep, what to give away and what to throw out. Meanwhile the concentric circles of life grow smaller and smaller. Such is life. It is at this liminal and sacred place that grants us space to reflect on what it is in this world that is most valuable and what it is that we will take with us...
by Greg | Dec 24, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
As I write this I am in between Christmas Eve services. Our family service has concluded and hundreds of “children of all ages” are happily making their way to home and celebration. In less than an hour our sanctuary will fill to capacity. If we are honest (and of course we should be) we envy the full and busy. To want and to languish is hardly sought out or admirable. A few of us even brag about such fullness by working hard and never having enough time, feigning remorse saying “Maybe we can find some time next week.” Tonight in churches throughout this land the weary worshippers will ease into their pews only to nervously wonder if they have shopped enough, cooked enough, planned enough. “Maybe there is something more I can do…just one more thing.” We fill our time and our bellies with so much that there is not really room for much else. Please know I like the fullness of it all, especially this time of year. There is joy in the over-indulgence of celebrating and singing and eating. The kingdom of God is often compared to a feast and what better time to feast and over-indulge than Christmas, the very celebration of more. I wonder though if we also stuff and stow and fill our lives because we fear the emptiness. That is, we fear the silence, the unknowing, the stillness. Look at what centers us this night – a manger that at this moment is empty. I wonder about what or who was in that stable where the empty manager stood....
by Greg | Dec 22, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
For the last 15 or so years I have made it a point to read everything this former Poet Laureate has written – and he has written much as a poet and essayist. When I came across his most recent published manuscript in a compact little bookstore in lower Manhattan there was no question in my mind that this little tome was going home with me. It may sound grim, but occasionally I will search on Google to see if Donald Hall is still alive. To date he is 86 and according to these essays his physical health is sinking irreversibly into gravity’s destination. Though his body is failing, his mind and his writing are as penetrating as ever. He remarks that as he has aged “poetry abandoned me” but prose has not. His prose, however, is poetic and beautiful in its simplicity and clarity. “Prose endures” he writes and then leans into what could be best described as the arch narrative of the collection as well as life itself, “I feel the circles grow smaller, and old age is a ceremony of losses.” It seems condescending to suggest any surprise that this book is as good as his earlier writings, as if such a feat is remarkable if not miraculous for such an “old man.” He writes of many such indignities suffered by the old, but not in anger or even pity. Most often it is with wry amusement. He describes a family dinner where a grandchild’s roommate carelessly pulls a chair to sit with her back, “directly in front of me, cutting me off...
by Greg | Dec 17, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Last night as I eased into my corner of the sofa and assumed a posture that cannot be good for long-term bone health I joined the ranks of Americans throughout our land and channel surfed through my cable options. Soon I landed on the holiday program A Charlie Brown Christmas. Yes it is true the time has long past since little feet shuffled about our house insisting on cartoons. Yes it is true that there were other programs that night directed at viewers in my shared demographic. Yes it is true that I am a 48 year old pastor of a distinguished church in a distinguished city. Be that as it may, the channel surfing ended and I settled into an enjoyable thirty minute traipse of nostalgia. The program was first aired in 1965, six months before I was born, so I was literally raised on this annual Christmas privilege. I have heard many a fine sermon during the Advent season and listened to glorious music for the holidays and witnessed exquisite Christmas trees ornamented and arranged, but nothing is as beautiful as Linus’ reading of the birth of Jesus from Luke chapter two or the tree that Charlie Brown picked out for the pageant. This morning I groggily went through the routines of the early hours including reaching up in the cabinet above the coffee maker for a mug to hold some of the caffeine I would need to take on the day. I am selective about which mug I will use each morning. This time of year we have quite a variety of holiday mugs, many...
by Greg | Dec 16, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
In part as a personal discipline as well as a need to better organize my reflections on books I have read, I will be sharing periodic book reviews. Books connect us, frustrate us, compel us and sometimes disgust us. Thank goodness for books because they give us something to talk about and give us something to think about. Below is a book I just finished and now wish to share a little bit with you. If you have read it, please tell me what you think. The End of Your Life Book Club By Will Schwalbe A good book enriches the self. A good book enriches our friendships when we share them. I want to share with you a good book – The End of Your Life Book Club. Yes, it what you think, but do not let the title mislead you that this book is a sad, morbid tale. It is filled with hope, joy, and love between a son and his mother and we are given the opportunity to share with them in their journey. I first came across this book listed in the New York Times as a bestseller. That does not necessarily make a book a good book, yet it never fails to get my attention. Nevertheless I passed over this book many times in bookstores as well as its steady presence on “the list.” A church member – recently widowed and a critical reader whose opinion I respect – passed along a copy for me to read. Fearing I would be “tested” on its contents I set to work on reading the...
by Greg | Dec 3, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Are you ready for Christmas? I have fond recollections from childhood of my grandmother readying for Christmas by weeks and weeks of baking, boiling and kneading her way to December 25th. The kitchen and spare bedroom of her simple house would be stacked high with Tupperware containers filled with high calorie treats. Each year we could expect lady fingers, date nut balls, divinity, and my favorite – peanut butter fudge. Just before Christmas day she would buy a few coconuts (we never could grow any in Putnam County) and grate them for a homemade coconut cake. One year my brothers and I decided to help grate the coconuts but failed to properly wash up before plunging into the task at hand. Instead of a pearly white color, the cake looked more like a mud hut on the side of the creek. Needless to say the cake never made it to the table. Another year my grandmother was inspired to try something new. She had read a recipe in a magazine for rum balls. Like any good southern lady of her era, my grandmother was a staunch tee-totaler, but she had heard you can cook the alcohol out. She dispatched my father to go in the dark of night, so no one would see, and purchase a bottle of rum to make rum balls. Like most grandmothers, she did not always work with measurements so she added rum to the mixture according to what she thought looked right. Take my word for it – minors had no business eating those rum balls! When we took the lid off of...
by Greg | Nov 25, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Peace. What an elusive word. In this season of giving thanks it can be difficult to be grateful when you are not experiencing peace. Peace. It is sometimes difficult to imagine it. Just look to Ferguson, MO. Not much peace there. Not with the Brown family who had to bury their child. I cannot imagine their grief. Not with Officer Williams and his family. I cannot imagine their fear. Not with the residents in the national spotlight. I cannot imagine their division. Peace. It can be hard to come by. Ask the child frightened by gunfire in Gaza. Look at the housewife weary with abuse. Consider the alcoholic just trying to hang on. Peace. When Jesus was born the angels sang about peace (Luke 2:9). When Jesus grew up he preached about peace, saying “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” (Matthew 5:9). When he was resurrected he appeared to the disciples and said, “Peace be with you,” (John 20:19). Peace. It is a lovely word and it is a lovely thought and deep within us all is the longing for peace; to be whole; to be complete. Just imagine that things could be different; that you and I do not have to go on living divided against others or divided against ourselves. Just imagine that wherever you are in the tension between peace and conflict God is present. The Great Story in scripture is the reminder that no matter how un-peaceful things may be in this world or in your life, it does not negate the...
by Greg | Nov 19, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Like clockwork I can look at those Maples just to the side of the church, the ones that are near the welcome center, and know that Thanksgiving is near. These trees just blaze, like flares signaling that the time of giving thanks is near. Are you good at giving thanks? I am not talking about saying thank you to the server who brings your food or the teller that cash’s your check – although it is important to say thank you. Saying thank you is simply a matter of good manners. Giving thanks, however, is something more. Giving thanks is a way of life that is lived gratefully. One person shared the following line with me: what if you woke up today and you only had those things you thanked God for yesterday? I rarely pause and say “Thank you God for good health.” I know many people who are in poor health and say regretfully they did not realize how precious good health was until they no longer have it. While I do thank God for my family, I doubt I share that gratitude often enough with God. Maybe I do not say thanks that often because over time I have come to expect these things in my life: a hot cup of coffee in the morning; energy to get out of bed; my family safe and sound; friends I can call on; a roof over my head and a pantry full of food; a loving church just waiting on me. I suspect that deep down I think that I deserve all of this and therefore...
by Greg | Nov 5, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
As far as demographic monikers go, we frequently read and hear about Baby Boomers (those born 1945-1964) and Millennials (1985-1994). Baby Boomers were at one time the largest demographic, but Millennials are a close second. Advertisers, marketers and churches have spent the last several decades scrambling to reach these two sizeable generations. Somewhere along the way a generation was labeled, but soon forgotten – Generation X (those born 1965-84). You guessed it – this is my generation. We are not sizeable enough to warrant the attention of marketers, or anybody else for that matter. At one time my generation was labeled the “Slacker Generation” which is now considered ironic because Generation X statistically holds the highest education levels among other age groups. The Pew Research Center has described my generation as America’s neglected “middle child.” Oh well, in time all generations will be forgotten. I guess my generation has a head start. As a people of faith our motivation is not to “target” one generation above another. We are here, to put it simply, to love one another. It is a faith issue. It is a justice issue. It is religion at its most basic. As I write this article, mid-term elections have just finished and now we will see if the victors will live into the promises. Here is my hope for my generation as well as all generations: That every life be valued. This includes the citizen who holds membership with the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as the immigrant trying to start over; the Native American living in poverty on...
by Greg | Oct 23, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
It happens, doesn’t it? You walk on this earth long enough and there will be times when what you have stood upon, depended upon, slips out from under your feet. I got the call the other day from my stepmother asking me to come home. Daddy was cutting the pastures along the creek-bottoms when the bank of the creek gave way and down tumbled my dad, tractor and all. Thankfully my father is okay – bruised and shook up, but otherwise okay. It was an accident that could not be prevented and it happened as suddenly and surprisingly as the earth simply disappearing. There are times in every life when the earth just falls away beneath our feet. It can come as an accident out of nowhere that disrupts or our normalcy. Sometimes a nagging anxiety of failure shakes our sense of grounding. The earth falls away whenever we experience a disappointment or a breach of trust. How have you experienced the ground from which you stand give way? A demotion? A bad grade? An illness? A death? What gets you back on solid ground? For my dad it was my brother and nephew who were “first responders.” Lifting him out of the cab from the muddy waters of the creek onto the solid ground of the pastures restored his sure – but shaken – footing. We all need someone who will reach into the darkness, into the calamity, into our fears to give us a steady hand of assurance and stability. The joy of belonging in friendship and family is the peace of knowing...
by Greg | Oct 21, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
There is one thing we all share in this world – for better or for worse, we come from a family. Families shape us and mold us and are the singular most influential force in our life. Some of the most enduring images of God are birthed out of our experiences with our mothers and fathers. Some families take interest in learning about their family histories. Over the years I have asked questions, done some research, and listened to the stories as shared by my “elders.” The stories I like best are the sensational and scintillating ones that have passed through the generations with a bit of embellishment added in the passage of time. My great-great grandfather, for example, was arrested on Christmas Eve for swindling someone out of fifty cents. Today it is a humorous story. At the time I feel certain it was not so funny. He was the same guy that shot the locks off a church door just to get out of a revival meeting – or at least so I am told! Not so long ago I was hiking up in the Great Smoky Mountains and took a side trail that was not on the map. It had to lead somewhere, or so I thought, and so I hoofed up it, zig-zagging through the woods, going up, down, and through ravines, bends along the path, until I finally round a corner to a small level place of ground. It was dotted with headstones, primarily unmarked, of an old family cemetery. These were folks “left behind” as mountaineers left the land when it...
by Greg | Oct 16, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Not only is this the month of the Blood Moon, we have also witnessed a lunar eclipse. The moon in all of its full glory was glowing an eerie shade of red affected by the earth’s shadow. I read that the best place to view the eclipse was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I believe our side of the hemisphere proved to be a lovely spot too. I noticed it while I was out jogging, which is a great time to watch the stars when I should be watching where I am going. While we admire the Blood Moon and this rare eclipse, the ancients often viewed such celestial events with a foreboding sense of dread and fear. Not knowing what they were seeing, it was assumed that it was a portent of things to come. Now we know better and even can predict the next one (in April, 2015). A few hundred years ago it was thought that the earth was the center of the universe. Now we know that not only is the earth not the center of the universe, but it is not even the center of the solar system of this galaxy. Furthermore, our galaxy, according to some astronomers, is just one of hundreds of billions of galaxies. Our solar system is more like a suburb among the other galaxies, known and unknown. The very thought alone draws me into a sense of Biblical awe and reverence. Long before telescopes the Psalmist thought as much. In Psalm 8 David wrote (and no doubt sung) “When I look at your heavens, the work of...
by Greg | Sep 11, 2014 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
Amy and I are toying with the idea camping next year in Yellowstone National Park. We have camped in Yellowstone one other time. We were newlyweds about to move from a garage apartment in Rome, GA to seminary housing in Louisville, KY. As we were boxing up our few belongings we determined we would have one great adventure before seminary, churches and children make the impracticality of such an adventure immutable. That was twenty-five years ago. Here are a few things I remember: we drove for three days in a small car with nothing but a road atlas. Today that sounds simply foolish since we are pampered by GPS, smart phones and the internet guiding our every move. I remember that Yellowstone was cold; freezing actually. We prepared to camp as if we were setting up a tent in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina in June. June in Wyoming is something altogether different. Each morning we awoke with the inside of our pup-tent glazed in ice, formed from our breathing during the night. I remember that mountains were bigger than anything I had ever seen in my life, and yes, those mountains were covered in snow. I remember waiting a long, long time to watch Old Faithful erupt (note: Old Faithful is not as faithful as it used to be). I remember taking a short hike to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and was dumbfounded at its size. I also remember seeing the remains of the great wildfire from the previous year (that was in 1988) and felt strangely sad by this act of nature....
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