Rev. Zach

"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep." – John 21:15-17 [Sermon preached at FPC in Abbeville, Louisiana  on the occasion of the commissioning of Leigh Petersen–Rachal as their Pastor.] In preparing for this sermon I did what I have done in other times of need. I called Leigh. Truth be told, I was calling in response to her expression of care for my needs with my upcoming move, and it dawned on me that I was at ...

Revelation 7:9-17 , 1 John 3:1-3 , Matthew 5:1-12 I bring you greetings from the 155th meeting of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, and I want to remind you that we are a part of the Presbytery. There is no us and them. There is just us, and we meet three times a year with commissioned Elders – not representatives but Elders who are in mission together – to discern the will of God for the church. The meeting of commissioners of the Presbytery of South Louisiana (PSL) is February 6 at University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, and our governing council, the Session, will need to commission two Ruling Elders – which means two people who have served (or are serving) on our Session – to attend that meeting. I also mentioned the Rev. Lemuel García-Arroyo in the announcements. Rev. Lemuel serves as a ministry engagement advisor for the South region of the PC(USA) Office of Ministry Engagement and Support. In that role, he assists congregations and mid-councils (like the Presbytery) to ...

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 ; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 ; Matthew 22:34-46 I don’t know about you, but I feel like there are times when the lectionary readings are a little too “on the nose” for what’s going on in our lives and in the world. In the Reformed tradition, we might attribute that to the providence of God. Others might just call it the work of the Spirit, and last Sunday we talked about it as the active presence of God. You may recall that Moses asked God, “How are they – or anyone else – to know that we are your people if you do not go with us?” The same is true of us today, whether there is a pillar of fire or a cloud or a rainbow or just your neighbor in the pew to remind you that God is active and present and in our midst. A word of caution, though, I think we can get a little carried away if we try to infer God’s motivations apart from what we find in scripture – and even then we can go too far. That same caution is what moved the early Protestant Reformers to criticize the church ...