Rev. Zach

Mark 9:2-9 As some of you may know, both of my children have birthdays this month. My wife posted a wonderful photo montage celebrating our eldest child’s birthday last week, which inspired me to do the same. While looking through and selecting old photos, I could not help thinking about the changes that come with life’s events. I must say that I am continually awestruck and honored to be the husband and father that I am, and to be a part of the changes that life brings into our lives together. It is amazing how quickly it goes, but the younger years are the easiest to mark. They are also the years we prize the most. You might even argue that entire economic systems revolve around resisting those changes as life goes on. No matter what we do, change is a constant metabolic reality that we experience every day. I’m reminded here of one of my favorite after-church hand-shake conversations in my first call in Virginia. Often I would ask how he was doing and he would say, “Well, you’re

Isaiah 40:21-31 ; Mark 1:29-39 Our gospel reading ends with, “And Jesus went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” Have you ever wondered what that message might be? We have portions of what we believe were some of his sermons, but can you imagine hearing him preach for yourself? Talk about a message that transforms your life! Think about the most inspiring message you have ever received, and then imagine that the person who delivered it was able to remove all of your doubts and fears and make you feel more complete and purpose-filled than you ever thought that you could. I don’t mean to dumb Jesus down to the level of a motivational guru, but isn’t the message of Jesus that repentance draws you into God’s presence in a way that connects you with all of creation? Isn’t salvation as much about our lives today as it is about the promise of eternity? Isn’t that the Gospel – the Good News? I imagine that if we asked each person here t

2 Corinthians 4:5-7 ; Jeremiah 18:1-6 [This sermon was delivered by The Rev. Barry W. Chance ( © 2024) on January 28, 2024, at the Downtown Presbyterian Church on the occasion of my installation as their pastor.] For the first fifteen years of my ministry, I did a lot of work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In my first congregation, I was the pastor to twenty-five adults with some kind of disability and led a Bible study with them each week. I wound up serving on the board—as the president of the board of an international non-profit that published that Bible study curriculum in English and Spanish with employees in the United States, Columbia, and Canada and served as a theological author and editor for them or a few years after I rotated off the board. I served on the board of Evergreen Life Services, a Presbyter-related non-profit that provides services to 1,300 individuals and their families in seven states including here in the Nashville area. That is

[This meditation was delivered online in lieu of in-person worship due to adverse winter weather. It was preceded by reading the scripture in the form of Lectio Divina .] Whatever gift God has given you through this time of reflection was for you, even if it was only a time of silence. The word that settled on my heart was “follow.” Maybe that’s because it was repeated 3 times. Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."  And immediately they left their nets and followed him; they left Zebedee and the hired help and they followed him. Maybe I just like the word "follow" because “followers of the way of Jesus” is what the early believers were called well before they were called “Christians.” We usually call these first few “Disciples,” and sometimes we act as though that title, Disciple, only describes 12 men who lived about 2,000 years ago. Maybe that is because there is some shred of humility and dower Calvinism in us that makes us feel unw