Presby-Musings

I think it was Rudolf Bultmann who said that those who go about searching for Jesus more often than not find a Jesus that looks an awful lot like themselves. As I read Reza Aslan 's Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth , I couldn't shake that quote from my head.  I also couldn't shake the notion that the most fervent non-smoker is an ex-smoker, which naturally led me to another notion I've had from time to time: the most fervent nonChristian is an ex- fundamentalist Christian . I don't know if Reza Aslan has ever smoked, but he does reveal that he used to be an evangelical, fundamentalist Christian.  Aslan's family immigrated to the United States from Iran after the Iranian revolution in the 1970's.  He was, in his own words, raised a "lukewarm" Muslim, and found Jesus through friends who invited him to church when he was fifteen.  Aslan chalks up his initial conversion to Christianity to a need to fit in to American culture--a ...

It's Christmas Eve , and once again our community of faith is gathered to celebrate the birth of the Christ child . There's something about this night that brings us together---even those of us for whom church is not part of or regularly scheduled programming. I have a soft spot in my heart for the non-Church-y people who find their way to church on Christmas Eve.  There were a lot of years when I wasn't really the church going type, you see.  In fact, not only was church not part of my regularly scheduled programming, I had pretty much cancelled it from my life altogether.  But when Christmas Eve would come around again, as it seems to do each year, I'd discover myself sitting in a pew, showered, shaved and wearing somewhat respectable church clothes. I think the reason why I showed up was because there was part of me that wanted to believe everything that everyone around me was singing and praying. I wanted to believe in the story of Hope that the various pastor...