St. Patrick Presbyterian Church, Epc

You think you’d get a break when you’re reading the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ words on money and greed ‘plow a little too close to the corn,’ as my grandfather used to say. Then, before you even have time to recover, Jesus moves from money to relationships! How do the people of God, in our relationships with one another and with our neighbors, provide a healing place in a world that is absolutely toxic in our speech and manners to one another.The age of civility in our discourse and among people is long gone. The Internet, and especially social media, have made the world a toxic place. I find this so ironic. On the one hand, we are told by those around us in the culture that we are not to tell anyone they are wrong or to admonish anyone that a certain behavior is sin. In theory, this should make us all just one big lovey-dovey community—right? Wrong! Because on the other hand, the very people that tell us we may never judge or criticize a lifestyle, behavior, or sin, will in cyberspace say the most horrific

At St. Patrick, we like to point out that Jesus was always eating. It seems he was always going to a feast, coming from a feast, or hosting a feast. I have told skeptics often that, if you read the life of Jesus (or the whole Bible, for that matter) and take note of all the references to food, in the end, while you might not know what it all means, you will have to agree with me that food was a big deal. We could say something similar about money. Jesus talked about money more than almost anything else. He talked about it so much, in fact, that when two brothers saw this young rabbi walking by, they asked him to settle a dispute for them about inheritance. Why? Because Jesus was always talking about money!Money, in a real sense, is an index of the soul. Money can tell you where your heart really is. In that sense, it is a good tool for spiritual diagnostics. For all of us, we have to master money or it will be our master. I remember when Teri and I got our first real job. We were in Greenville, Mississippi, p

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is giving a manifesto about how the gospel produces a new kind of people––notice people, as in community. One person is not a city on a hill. A city implies a whole community of people sharing life together––in this case, under the rule and reign of Jesus. The more this society of people is different (and not in a weird or obnoxious way), the more light they provide to the community around them. This society of folk do not geographically separate from the community around them, rather they are planted in the middle of the existing community to which they love, serve and minister. They work, shop and play in the same space as those around them, and yet their lives are ordered not by wit, passion, instinct or prevailing cultural fancy, but rather by the dictates of their loving Lord.The church can be a city on a hill because they think about all the things humans care about differently. Yes, to be human is to care (and care deeply) about marriage, sex, work, play, and, as we wi

In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a libertine strikes a magical bargain that enables him to impose the physical consequences of his hedonistic lifestyle onto an iconic portrait of himself, hidden away in an attic. The arrangement leaves his own body youthful and striking as ever in a high society that admires him with envy. The novel was written a hundred thirty years ago as something of a satirical horror story, (and ironically was oft-censored) but something tells me that many of our contemporaries might be inspired to view the protagonist as a hero. We seem to be living in an age that desires image and identity entirely divorced from content and character: the former pair upheld by carefully curated public personae while the latter are a matter of inviolable private discretion. Yet despite all vain attempts to set them asunder, it would seem that God has immutably joined these realities together with cause and effect. The truth of our character never stays hidden for long. Jesus seems to think t

The image of the church that Jesus imagines is a City on a Hill. In Jesus’ day a city was a place of culture, life, and protection. It was a refuge for people who were adrift and who needed all the things that make for human thriving. The image is startling, breathtaking actually. Jesus is saying his people—collectively, in their common life of holiness, care, community, and love are a beacon of hope for world weary people. One of the big things about the Sermon on the Mount which we are discussing on Sundays is that the assumption is that salvation is never just “me and Jesus,” rather collectively the people of God are the social strategy that will make the God we can’t see, taste, touch, or hold—real and visible. As one writer puts it, “The most creative social strategy we have to offer [the culture around us] is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a

It is one thing to hear Jesus talk about life in the Kingdom of God as being poor in spirit, being meek, mourning, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It is quite another for Jesus to tell his disciples that unless their righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, they will never enter the kingdom of God. On the surface of hearing this, the disciples must have thought, “Who of us can be saved?” I mean, nobody was more religious than the scribes and Pharisees, who were famous for their fastidious keeping of the 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions (by their calculations) found in the law. Plus, there were over 600 additional laws they had added to keeping the Sabbath.So, when Jesus says that they had to be more righteous than these guys, the disciples must have wilted. I would have! However, as we contemplate this Sunday, what Jesus is talking about is actually the death of religion! Jesus hated religion! In the hands of religious people, the law always gets misused and abused. As Br

So, we come to the Sermon on Mount. As John Stott says of this portion of Jesus teaching, “The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style, and network of relationships—all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out.” (John Stott, Sermon on the Mount) We turn here because during the season of Eastertide we are talking about “A City on A Hill.” That is what Jesus has in mind, that his people will be in the Kingdom he will create by his life, death, and resurrection.As a pastor, I have mixed feeling about preaching this and I realized why when Tim Keller put his finger on the rub. He says, “… when you read the Sermon on the Mount, you know this is exactly how you want the people who live aroun

About this time of year I entertain my doubts and pull them out and mull them over. As Charles Taylor said so eloquently, and I paraphrase, “In 1500 it was virtually impossible not to believe in God, while in 2000 it is virtually impossible to be believe in Him.” I bring out my doubts this time of year because Christianity is either true or it is not and the truthfulness of Christianity is bound up in the historical event we celebrate on Easter Sunday—the resurrection of Jesus.I ponder my doubts and wonder why I would believe something our age calls ridiculous. As scientific knowledge has drained the world of wonder, enchantment, and “thin places,” I want the story of the resurrection to be true, so I run back through all the rationality there is for believing that a dead man defeated death. I do this because, as Taylor says, our secular age does not make belief easy. And yet, as I ponder this question and rethink the rationality of the Christian Faith, it becomes clear again. It seems that if you really a

So, the most eventful, meaningful week in human history begins this Sunday as we celebrate Palm Sunday. Jesus enters Jerusalem to a hero’s welcome. It also starts the plot to finally arrest and crucify Jesus as a religious subversive and blasphemer. It is curious to me how quickly the tide can turn, as it does between the next two Sundays when the same crowd that was waving palm branches and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” is yelling, “Crucify him, crucify him,” and are spitting on him. And so, we find ourselves this Sunday ironically talking about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. We finish up our series on serving by looking at Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. It is shocking really. Feet have always had a certain stigma about them. I mean, even when I did a wedding where the bride and groom washed each other’s feet, I cringed. Really! I was close––I was right there––but to do this publicly was almost too much. These f

So Jim, Will, and I were standing around in the kitchen the other day, surveying the wreckage of some great feasting gone wild, and I made the confession that I'm not sure I could be induced to clean up such a mess without knowing it would be noticed and appreciated. Jim said he would, but only for the reward of having a fresh clean palette on which to paint his next culinary masterpiece. Will chimed in with the admission that he is more likely to do something like that for fear that someone might notice he hadn't done it!Each of us, walking in the light, had to assent to the simple fact that selfless altruism alone was probably not going to motivate a single one of us to pick up the towel and clean that kitchen. We came to two conclusions: people's motivations tend to be diverse even when their behaviors (or inactions) are similar, and it must be true that none of us really understands or believes just how great the rewards in heaven will be for thankless acts of service. It's amazing how philosophical men c

It started with a question. The timing of the question is ironic, to say the least, given what had transpired over the past few days. There is a point in Jesus’ life where he sets his face in the direction of Jerusalem; and when he does this, the die is cast. He has a date with destiny and will enter the city public enemy number one in the eyes of the religious leaders. In the eyes of the Roman overlords, he will be deemed a subversive—a threat to the complete control that is Rome. Jerusalem means death!The question is ironic because the brothers who ask the question have heard Jesus tell them on at least three occasions, in explicit terms, that he is going to Jerusalem to die. And still… they ask Jesus if they can have the chief seats of power when he comes into his kingdom. Can you imagine? I suppose in one sense it is understandable that they would want to cement their positions; the brothers who ask the question have been singled out by Jesus as having more authority than the other disciples. So, I guess

This morning I emerged from sleep with a jolt. That dream again. Half my life ago, I nearly failed my second semester of a one-semester economics class in high school. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it. My mother was and is a financial secretary and has always instilled in us a sense of frugal responsibility that has kept me mostly out of trouble, but I still view economics as an absolute inscrutable mystery on par with magic and where the internet really is. Eventually, my teacher impressed upon me the economic reality that lay ahead if I didn't pass, and I managed to make it through. But the post-traumatic anxiety followed me and shows no sign of diminishing returns. Needless to say, I was not tempted to pursue a business degree, and while I'm grateful that others have and can keep commerce moving, I sometimes take great pleasure in the fact that God will just as soon undermine our financial plans as honor them. It is against this backdrop that I was at first horrified to discover that the B

One of the hardest gospel teachings we ever learn is that Jesus “came not to be served, but to serve.” Jesus turned the whole world on it’s head when he started saying things like, in his kingdom “the last will be first; to live you have to die; the greatest will be like a little child; to lead you have to serve; those who are humble God will exalt; etc. etc. etc.” Jesus came bringing a kingdom. And you can tell from just the small sampling of things Jesus taught that his kingdom, doesn’t look like the kingdoms of the world, or more specifically the culture we inhabit. And yet...Jesus also said that to live in his kingdom was to know true human flourishing. Jesus came to give you and me abundant life and for the next six weeks we will ponder that true human flourishing is not instinctual, nor can you pick it up in the places you work and live. It will be you becoming a servant not a celebrity. I will tell you that the tools you need are a basin and a towel to wash feet, rather than a scepter to rule. We will

As we finish up our six-week reflection on the habit of daily prayer, what do I say? Over the past few weeks, I have met with people who come for Morning Prayer to pray and get “immersed" with others in the practice. I have talked to people in my study, including a young man who came in and said, “I need you to teach me to pray.” On occasions like these, especially after six weeks of pondering the “whys and wherefores” of prayer, I feel shame because there is just so much to say and experience that I can’t gather it all up in a neat little bundle so––“Boom”–– we would all know how to pray. And yet, nothing in life is like that. With almost anything we give ourselves to in life, we find the door in and we think we’ve got it figured out. But just when we think we know everything, alas, we realize we are just in the first room of a seven-storied castle, and it will take a lifetime to explore and understand all the different rooms and floors. For example, I love to cook and, to some people, I am pretty good at c

In the now-classic film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a man cursed to repeat his least favorite day of the year over and again until he “gets it right.” Experts calculate that the exact number of consecutive Groundhog Days meteorologist Phil Connors endures is 12,403, or nearly 34 years. That means he spent pretty much my entire lifespan thus far re-experiencing a single day until he lived it flawlessly, all so that he could win the love of his producer, Rita.As strenuous an effort as that seems, according to the Scriptural testimony this is a very optimistic estimation of a man’s ability to self-perfect. My own experience bears this out, too. Sometimes I can let myself tend toward the impression that if I could only execute my devotional life with enough disciplined consistency for a long enough time, I would finally be “good at life.” Then I remember Groundhog Day and I become completely disabused of that notion. The odds are just not in my favor (read: hopeless). Days keep changing on me, bringing new t

As the days start to lengthen and we draw closer to the season of Lent, I start to think about my garden. When I'm standing by my grill, or am romping with Addison in the backyard, I am more and more drawn to the mystery around me. My yard is a mess of brown grass; my beds are full of death and decay; and the place where I grow my herbs, vegetables and asparagus looks forlorn and hopeless. But all is not lost. This is not my first rodeo. I know that lying dormant under their cold dead ancestors is life and glory waiting for the right conditions to call them forth. Lent will officially signal the time for weeding and clearing out-from death will come resurrection. The most profound mystery of all of this is that I will put seeds in the ground; and with sunlight, warmth, and water, from seemingly dead seeds will come forth an abundance of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs--things that will bring delight to my table and joy to my heart. I suppose folk have always been struck by the mystery of this. Before we had farm

I am continually struck by what it means to have communion with God and to know God’s friendship. It is outrageous if you think about it. When I was in Egypt I walked through the second largest ancient temple in the world, in the city of Luxor. It was called Karnak Temple. It was built during the time of the Pharaohs, when Egypt was an ascendent power. It represented what any and every ancient culture seemed to grasp intuitively—there is a great chasm between human beings and the divine. I saw the same thing in ancient sites when I was in Ireland. The gap between God and people was so great no one would have the audacity to just approach the deity without temples, priests, sacrifices, and offering. God is big and we are small. God is perfect and we are flawed. In fact, temples, priests, and sacrifices were present to bridge this gap. Yet even with all this elaborate rubric no one actually thought that friendship with the deity was possible, the best you could do was appease them, manipulate them, or keep the

My son is in the "monkey-see-monkey-do" phase of toddlerhood, and it is both a joy and a terror, as I'm sure you can all imagine. Often when I leave the house in the morning, My daughters and I will give the ASL sign for "I love you" as I pull out of the driveway. I had to teach them to do this, and now it's just a part of our routine. But for my son, it wasn't taught at all - it was caught. I don't think he even really knows what it means, aside from "Daddy's leaving and we like that guy." Most manners and liturgies are like that - we train the habits and the meaning comes later to fill the forms and fit our hearts for Heaven. If it's true, (as Jim and I insist it is), that not only instruction but also immersion and imitation are necessary for discipleship, then we desperately need access to the Soul Room habits of fellow believers. You can't imitate what you don't see! Fortunately, the Bible, and the Psalms, in particular, open a window into the private chambers of a Godly person's heart. This week we'll j

So, we have a first this Sunday at St. Patrick, we are baptizing a bunch of babies and an older young man who is making a profession of faith. It is a first because we have so many babies that we can’t schedule them all on separate Sundays. I will confess to you the sentimental part of me hates this, especially since my little girl is one of many and doesn’t get to just stand out in all her glory on her baptismal day. But baptism isn’t really about that, is it? It is so much larger than that and yet strangely enough, I suppose the only one who will remember this day or the fact his pastor drenched him in water is our young man who is saying publicly, “Jesus is my King.” Matter of fact, not only will the infants never remember this day, they might even be downright irritated that a man in a big black robe would subject them to a bath when they are festooned in their best outfits and not properly naked. They might be even more offended when they look to their parents for relief and protection and their parents

I hope your trees are lit friends: Christmas lasts for twelve whole days, from the 25th till Epiphany arrives! One tradition has it that underground Roman Catholics developed the 12 Days of Christmas song during the English Reformation as a way of covertly catechizing their children in their faith. In addition to the gifts of whimsical birds, jewels, and performers, each numbered day represented a significant theological gift given to the Church by their True Love. While I partially doubt the veracity of those origin claims, I do enjoy making much of the song’s alternate symbolism with my family in the afterglow of the Nativity. Any excuse to extend Christmas and make theology fun and consistent!And so today is the fifth day of Christmas, celebrated with the resounding refrain of “Five golden rings!” The rings are supposed to represent the five books of Moses, also referred to as the Pentateuch, Torah, or Law. One of my seminary professors used to say the other 61 books of the Bible were just commentary on Ge