by Greg | Jun 13, 2014 | Blog Posts
When we walk it is usually to just get from one place to another. But there are other times we walk when the point is not so much the destination, but the walk itself. Walking is a great way to clear your head or work through a problem. Some walk for exercise and others walk with a friend for companionship. Aristotle allegedly taught his students while strolling about. Sigmund Freud conducted consultations while walking and conducted a number of “walking analyses” in the evening times. If Steve Jobs wanted to have a serious conversation with you, his preference was to do it while walking. Harry Truman was a man who loved routine and one of those daily routines was a vigorous walk of a mile or two at 5 AM – wearing a business suit and tie. One of my favorite gifts is a walking stick one of my sons whittled for me from a young dogwood. In the last ten years that stick has travelled with me along the mountain ridges of North Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. In the Gospels many things happened while Jesus was on the road with his disciples – healing, teaching, praying, feeding, and listening. One of the most beloved post-resurrection stories is his walk on the road to Emmaus. This blog, “Pilgrim’s Walk,” is an invitation to join with me in our shared walk together as friends in Christ. Through stories, lessons, and reflections I want to walk with you as we discover how God is moving, working, and loving this world. As Jesus was walking along…he said…”Follow me.” (Matthew 9:9) Grateful...
by Greg | Jun 12, 2014 | Blog Posts
Do you remember the first time you ever saw the ocean? I am not sure how old I was, but I will never forget standing on the edge of the shore staring drop-jawed at the endless Atlantic before me. With absolute awe I looked out amazed at the vastness before me and for the first time in my life caught a glimpse of eternity here on earth. The ocean is still a pretty amazing sight, but I no longer have that boyish veneration when I stare off into the ocean’s horizon. Several years before the death of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel he suffered a near-fatal heart attack. His closest friend was at his bedside. Heschel was so weak he was only able to whisper: “Sam, I only feel gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived. I am ready to go. I have seen so many miracles during my lifetime.” The old rabbi was exhausted and after a long pause, he said, “Sam, never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.” Indeed, a life lived well is one that is filled with wonder. Each day we stand at the precipice of wonder, but so often turn around to more immediate concerns. The wonder of an “eternal ocean” gives way to the knowledge that it has fixed boundaries found in continents on the other side. The wonder of an evening thunderstorm is reduced to the prosaic analysis that it is just warm air running against cold air creating static...
by Greg | Jun 3, 2014 | Blog Posts
As if life is not confusing enough with all of our choices, I want to extend to you one more choice: considering signing up for a new blog our church will be publishing: “2020 Vision” and you can find it at www.2020vision.faithlabserver.com/. Once you enter the blog, look to the sidebar and subscribe. What is the blog about? In the very near future our Deacon leadership will appoint a team of members to work with the congregation in articulating a vision for the church as it lives into the Missio Dei (the Mission of God). This website is designed to facilitate our conversations toward this goal. We you sign up you become part of the conversation. After all, any good vision is a vision worth sharing! Very soon I will be changing the title and look of this blog – same random content, but hopefully a better look and reach....
by Greg | May 28, 2014 | Blog Posts
Johnny Cash; I still miss him. He passed away in 2003. Most any kid in the rural South for the last sixty years was raised at least in part on Johnny Cash. From an early age our children were introduced to his music, sometimes against their will, when we would take car rides to visit family, the cemetery or just to go run some errands. And even though I have never been in prison, shot a man in Reno, or hopped a train bound for Texas, I feel as though I understood him. Perhaps more so than any other entertainer Johnny Cash was the most consistent in his authenticity. What you saw was what you got – voice and all. Of course he was far from perfect. He had a bad first marriage and struggled with drugs, alcohol, fame and his own beliefs. With all of that and more, his struggles were not filtered through the spin of a publicist. We heard him “warts and all.” I am glad as a child I had the experience of rifling through my father’s LPs and listening to that voice of pure gravel voice that is distinctive of Cash. He sung of his pain and of his joys. He sung of things he understood, but also of things that were a mystery. And for better of for worse he lived life with very little pretense. Now far be it from me to extol him as a man of pure virtue and say, “Go and live like Johnny Cash.” Can you imagine what the choir would sound like; look like? And don’t you...
by Greg | May 21, 2014 | Blog Posts
When I was a teenager and in the middle of self-absorbed angst I counted the days until I could move out of the house and live on my own. Within weeks of my high school graduation I fulfilled part of that plan by moving to Atlanta to begin a fresh journey as an art student. I quickly discovered there really is no such thing as living on my own. Money was always tight, so I needed others to employ me; I knew no one in Atlanta and so I needed to make new friends; and my family, doggone it, was not so bad after all. I found myself coming home most weekends and waiting until the last minute to head back to my lonely studio apartment in Atlanta. Each week my grandmother would fry a chicken and bake a loaf of bread for me to take back with me. It was for me a striking reminder of how our lives are bound together in this life together. Those are two very simple words that bespeak volumes – life together. Sometimes life together is a fragile collection of relationships, loosely held and easily broken. In other seasons life together is about tight bonds, loyally woven together in a tapestry of lifelong love. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a little book by the title Life Together while he taught an underground seminary during the dark days of Nazi Germany. In it he describes that the church should be a community of love where forgiveness, acceptance and charity to all is lived and practiced. Life together. That is what we are seeking...
by Greg | May 14, 2014 | Blog Posts
The urge wells up within me whenever the days are warm and the skies are sunny. It simply is not much fun riding around in a car with the windows rolled up, the air-conditioner humming, and NPR broadcasting. To allay this desire for asphalt freedom I will play U2 or Bruce Springsteen on the radio, but the effect is only temporary. When I owned a MINI I enjoyed the luxury of a “panoramic sunroof” which was probably as close to a convertible as I will ever come to possess. I would slide the roof back and let the wind blow through my thinning hairline and feel some measure of freedom. That is, until I pulled into the church parking lot, straitened my tie, patted down my hair, and returned to respectability. Yep, I want a motorcycle. Or a convertible. Or at least a hula doll for my dashboard. But in the meantime I think I will just enjoy this life as it comes day by day regardless of what I am driving, riding, or surfing. If I can find a Jimmy Buffett tune to accompany me along part of that journey, all the better. One of my favorite texts of scriptures that quite often makes its way in my funeral homilies comes from Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 – “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every one who eats and drinks sees good in all their labor – it is the gift of God.” Listen to those verbs again: “rejoice…do good…eat…drink…sees good…” This is not just another...
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