Rev. Zach

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. What do Presbyterians do during Lent? Do we celebrate it? How? Sure, in our congregation, we change the paraments and stoles to purple. We take out the “Alleluias” and the Gloria Patri from worship, and we add in the Kyrie . We hold special services to celebrate significant moments in the life of the church – both past and present. These are all very important shifts in what we do as a worshiping community. These are all things we do to remind ourselves that God is God and we are not. These are things we do to prepare ourselves as a community for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, through which we have hope and comfort in all of our struggles. Not only that, but these are things we do to remind ourselves that God is active and present now, and that our salvation does not begin when this life ends. Our salvation begins when we re...

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. Today begins the first Sunday of Lent, the season of the church year that moves us toward Holy Week and Easter. This year we began with the dispensation of ashes on Ash Wednesday, and there were a few who joined for this opportunity. We even had a few folks who saw the sign on the door and came in to receive the blessing of the church.  Of course a good number of you – even some who came – said, “Presbyterians do ashes? I thought that was a Catholic thing!” It is a Catholic thing – just like Lent and the liturgical calendar ; however it is not limited to the Roman Catholic Church. Just as we say in the Apostle’s Creed that we believe in the “Holy Catholic Church,” catholic means all encompassing. It means all who profess belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  So this year we began Lent with Ashes – a somber and austere reminder of our human limitations and the...

Exodus 34:29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-44 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. Veils are strange things to us culturally. They’ve been around for centuries, but have rarely been associated with men. I think that is one of the reasons that this story about Moses is so strange. But here we have it – this story about the impact on Moses of talking directly to God. His face was said to shine so brightly that it was unnerving to others. So he hid his face from them – unless he needed to share something with them that he had received from God. As weird as this story is, I think it inspires some wishful thinking in all of us. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear more directly from God? I mean, chances are that I know what God would say when it comes to the small stuff. Yes, I need to floss. No, it is not right to tell other drivers they are number one when they cut me off in traffic. But what about the big stuff like figuring out why we have enough ...

Jeremiah 1:4-10 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. Do you ever feel like the answer to some problem or another is just as plain as the nose on your face but no one seems to get it? That certainly seems to be the attitude of the majority of the talking heads in the media today. The argument of one point or another is made clearly and concisely as if there were no other variables than personal freedom, or corporate responsibility, or mental health, or any number of things that do not exist independently and cannot truly be controlled. Then the next step in the process of eliminating opposition is to describe any other position as lacking understanding and with no grasp on reality. Of course sometimes that is true. Sometimes there are groups or individual perspectives that are not well thought out.  It does seem to me, however, that those groups or individuals who are just plain wrong tend to be the ones clai...

Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. This past Tuesday I asked the Session to consider whether or not we wanted to have communion this Sunday, as is our tradition, given that this is the Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, ordain and install officers, and have our second Sunday Luncheon honoring new members. It is a busy day, and I didn’t want us to feel rushed in our experience of God’s active presence.  The result of that discussion was that the Session believes that we value the experience of communion deeply, and we believe it to be especially meaningful as a corporate response to the ordination vows we make as individuals and as a congregation. So, the suggestion they offered was for me to preach a shorter sermon. In fact, one person even suggested that I preach a one sentence sermon. Feeling the need to justify my role in worship, I protested a bit. Besides, it is ac...

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21 Sermon audio can be found here for up to one month. Have you ever had one of those moments when it was confirmed deep within your soul that what you were doing was wrong? I don’t mean simple mistakes. I’m talking about realizing that some of your actions – or even patterns of behavior – are entirely disconnected from your values. All of us have some moment like that – some dark night of the soul – if we live long enough, or at least I hope that we do.  Otherwise we may never see ways to correct our imperfections and tru ly become what we have been created to become. Otherwise we might live our lives like a spare part and never know it. Most of us have drawers full of those little parts – an extra screw or one of those weird little rubber things that went to a shelf, or a desk, or something. The Israelites in today’s passage were certainly confronted with the idea that they had been less tha...

Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. My family and I recently went to a surprise birthday party for someone attaining the half century mark. On the way in my daughter asked me where the present was. I told her that sometimes adults do not give each other presents because there is, in the words of the folk singer David LaMotte, no present like time. It is what we do with our time in the present tense that matters more than the presents. Indeed our presence becomes a gift when it is given fully and sincerely. Even so, there is still a time and place for gift giving and receiving. There is a time and place for hospitality. Children are not the only ones who can see through the lie of saying, “Well, it’s the thought that counts, and I thought about getting you something really great – because you are totally worth it. But I didn’t because I couldn’t actually afford it, and I just never made ...

Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-7 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. Many of you may remember the classic children’s book, Inside, Outside, Upside Down , that demonstrates the very basic concepts of objects, people, and spatial relationships. It’s the story of an overly curious bear who climbs in a box, gets loaded on a truck, and bumped off to the side of the road before running home to tell his mama that he went to town, “Inside, outside, and upside down!” Well, call me crazy and accuse me of over simplifying the gospel, but I think that is a good summary of our scripture passages today. Today, God’s word speaks to us of Insiders, Outsiders, and a world turned upside down by the Epiphany of Christ! Isaiah tells captive Israelites that all the world will literally pile its wealth upon them. Those inside the covenant will triumph over the outsiders as an unjust world gets turned upside down. And there is also that l...