Rev. Zach

Isaiah 13:1-13 Hebrews 12:18-29 John 3:22-30 As I began to write these words I became overwhelmed with a feeling of inadequacy. I was reminded of a recent comic strip that had a story inside a story. The first three pains were of a hero falling off a cliff saying to himself, “How do I get out of this? Think, think!” Then, just before impact he resigns to say, “Nope. I got nothin’.” The last frame shows someone looking over the shoulder of the author of the story and saying, “Wow. So that’s what writer’s block looks like?” Tragedy makes us feel powerless, and we do not like feeling powerless (note comment by Angele McCord following this article ). In the wake of reports from the senseless shooting of 20 innocent children and 6 courageous women, nothing seems to make sense. Social media sites exploded with reactions on every side of the issues this opened up. (Interestingly – I could not think of a non-violent term to describe the spontaneous spike in activity. Violence is s...

Malachi 3:1-4 Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3:1-6 Are you ready? There are only 14 days left. Can you believe it? Are you ready? And what does that even mean – to be ready? Does it mean decorations? Does it mean shopping? Does it mean relatives and visitors? What is it that you are preparing for, and where is the space for Jesus in all of this? Last night my family went to LARC’s Acadian Village light display. We were skipping and running around the displays, and we almost ran right past an outline of the Holy Family. I told my kids that they almost missed Jesus. One of them doubled back in reverence and the other said, “Squirrel!” Because there was an illuminated squirrel running up the tree. How much are we all like that during this time of year? How much space do we leave open for Jesus? How easily distracted are we by the spectacle of Christmas. Today we hear from one of the spectacular characters in the story of Jesus. In fact, all of our readings are somewhat spectacular. B...

This Sunday was our Service of Lessons and Music. The music cannot be posted due to licensing requirement. Instead, here are a few thoughts on the Season of Advent and the way in which we are being formed and shaped by it at FPC.   Although I do not think we could have managed with any more help than we had, I wish you all could have been here yesterday afternoon and on into the night. We helped C.U.P.S. (Communities Uniting in Prayer and Service) distribute over 500 Gift Baskets. I’m sure there were Parthians and Medes here – at least Spiritually. We did not check I.D.s or orthodoxy; that is kind of the point of gathering with others in common unity. The common cause is all that matters. The common cause was bearing witness to the abundance of God’s grace, mercy, and providence. The common cause was demonstrating hope. I wore lights to remember to be a bearer of light. And although three young boys were disappointed to find that I was wearing pants purchased at Good...