Paul’s call to Timothy to preach the word in-season and out is a word to remind the gospel proclaimers that the gospel is always relevant to the life of men and women, to sinners of all stripes, and we can’t live in a world where the Church is full of the white lie. We must do all things in spirit and in truth.

With all the talk here recently about truth it seems like a good time of the year to think about where we are as a country, and as a church. Many of y’all have heard me tell the story that my parents had me convinced until I was about five years old that all the rigamoral and fireworks was being held in honor of my birthday. We’d go down to the waterfront in Charleston, West Virginia and hear the state symphony blast out the 1812 Overture while the national guard thundered their cannons and I’d start to thank people for coming once it was over. Most folks played along and thought is was cute, others just kind of stood there shocked and confused. I was probably a little bit of both when I finally realized it was the Fourth of July for America, not necessarily for me alone. Some people might say my mom and dad were lying to me. However, I think more about how cool it was, and what kind of honor it is to share a birthday with the greatest nation ever made in God’s blessed providence.

A little fun every now and then never hurt anyone.

These so-called white lies are defined by the google machine as untruths that don’t intend to harm. In other words it means that there is no malice involved. That brings up the question as what makes a difference between a fib that brings fun and a rib that brings pain. It’s probably one of those things that former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart would say that he knows it when he sees it. Most of the time though it probably has a lot more to do with the person saying it and the person receiving it. We can joke and josh with a friend, or at least guys can. In today’s prayer and worship help we are going to think through a little bit about what the Bible has to say about the question, and moreso why it is the truth matters a whole more when we mean it.

I had a fellow I used to visit with in Mississippi say to me that he told one story so that he could tell me another one. At about the same age I was when my parents were telling me about the real reason for 1776 my dad was involved in some meetings related to the merger that took place in the early 1980s between the PCUS (the old Southern church) and the UPCUSA (the old Northern church), which is now the PCUSA. The three of us and my youngest sister at the time had grown up PCUS in the Greenbrier Presbytery, and still were at the time. I can remember my dad coming home from these merger meetings frustrated and mad. Now, that’s not too surprising for a Glaser, we have a tendency to 1) Be involved in meetings, and 2) Be frustrated with them.

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