Rev. Zach

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24     Ephesians 1:15-23     Matthew 25:31-46 Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Won’t you open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up, Shining in the light of your glory! Poor out your power and love, As we sing “Holy, holy, holy.” Holy, holy, holy. I want you to see you. So, goes the praise song I remember so well from youth conferences and camps. It feels so good and right to sing – and it is – yet I have always wondered if it’s true. Do we really want to see Jesus high and lifted up? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking if we want him glorified. I’m asking if we want him to keep his distance. Is it an “in the sky” sort of love that we crave from God, or is it something more intimate and personal? Do we want God to stay in God’s place or interrupt and transform our lives? Is the light of God’s glory something we want to be bathed in for our sake –...

Psalm  123:1-4         1 Thessalonians 5:1-11     Matthew 25:14-30 Today’s gospel reading is one for which I feel a certain intimate strangeness. I say that because I have given and received tokens that quote portions of this text many times, but reading the whole parable is a bit strange and uncomfortable for me. The comfortable part is, of course, to say to a volunteer who has worked her or his tail off for a church event, “Well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord!” But even there we’ve skipped over the word slave . So, I think the first thing we have to do is recognize three really uncomfortable things about this parable. 1) Jesus seems to be OK with slavery. 2) Jesus seems to be OK with taking from the poor and giving it to the wealthy. 3) Jesus seems to be OK with people being punished eternally for things that happen during the brief span of a mortal life. Now, all of these points could be used – and p...

Joshua 24:1-3a,14-25       Matthew 24:1-13 “Don’t be like Dave.” So, goes the commercial that describes lazy or foolish employees as guys named “Dave.” Of course, they give a disclaimer that should deny all persons of a Davish orientation any leverage for suing them, but the idea is about a type of guy (or gal) that cuts corners and neglects responsibility. I wonder if Matthew’s community saw the foolish Bridesmaids in the same way – an obvious ploy to describe what not to do. At the same time, the wise Bridesmaids remind us that sometimes there’s a story before the story. I believe we’ve been given these readings today – at this time of year – as a kind of pre-Advent check in. You’ll notice after the sermon that the hymn that celebrates this passage is from the Advent section of our Hymnal. I don’t mean to say that the council that created the lectionary calendar was so wise that they knew we would need this reading at this time, but I’ll give that to...

 Joshua 3:7-17     1 Thessalonians 2:9-13       Matthew 23:1-12  Last Sunday after worship I thanked the trumpet player and noted to our Choir Director, Jake Spinella, how providential it was to have her play that day – being that it was the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Jake made a comment about my Reformation humor, and I said that I hoped to make a good Presbyterian out of him one day. Let it be no reflection on Jake’s good character that the trumpet player said, “Good luck with that!” Let it further be no reflection on him that I said, “No, really, you can be a good Presbyterian and still be a terrible person!” While that may sit a little funny with some of you, I could not help but think of it as I read this week’s text. As followers of Jesus in the Reformed tradition, we recognize that we are limited by our very humanity and more likely to choose that which benefits ourselves and those we love every time. So, we h...