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Showing posts from December, 2011

Labor Pangs

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana December 18, 2011 - Advent (4 B) Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Romans 8:18-25 Luke 2:1-6 Pang - that’s a funny word, isn’t it? Although, maybe not so much if you have felt one. A pang is a sudden, sharp, and indelible experience of pain - often associated with giving birth. Of course it can also be associated with mental anguish like doubt or remorse. Most likely, if you have had one then you know it, and you have not forgotten it. A pang is relatively short lived, although the memory of it can take you back to its origin. So many of our soldiers coming home this Christmas will feel these in the years to come, and our response will be a test of our merit as a society. We tend to think of the initial cause of such pains to be endurable - and certainly they are. One can hardly call it a pang if one does not live through it. Of course in Paul’s day, as in much of the world today, labor was not something everyone lived through. Birth and death

What Are You Expecting?

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana December 11, 2011 - Advent (3B) Isaiah 35:1-10 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 Luke 1:26-31 Expectations for events related to Christmas have reached a fever pitch in our country. Of course it was hard to get any worse than the day after Thanksgiving - a day when someone somewhere is usually trampled for the love of a TV or toaster or toy. This year a woman pepper sprayed a group of people in order to protect her children while trying to buy an Xbox. Between the madness of our culture and the busy pace of family and friends, it all becomes somewhat of a caricature. Sometimes I’m not sure if I feel like Bugs Bunny trying to ask fleeing creatures for direction while the Tasmanian Devil approaches or Charlie Brown asking Linus if anyone knows the true meaning of Christmas. Tonight we will celebrate a Christmas dinner as a congregation, and one thing we will do is answer Charlie Brown’s question. In the Friendship Pads you will notice some c

All Shall Be Well

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana December 4, 2011 - Advent (B1) Isaiah 40:1-11 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8 "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well... " Julian of Norwhich wrote these words in the 1400’s after a near death experience in which she claimed to have received them from God in a series of revelations. I believe these words to be a summary of the scripture lessons we have read today. "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well... " One of my favorite examples of this phrase in action is from a scene from the movie Men In Black . A giant alien cockroach has just grabbed the female lead and jumped up into a window that is a good 20 feet off the ground. Will Smith’s character holds up a gun and tries to sound authoritative while saying, “Don’t worry - everything’s OK!” She responds, “What part of this is OK?!” He readjusts, “It’s gunna be OK!” How many