Rev. Zach

  Matthew 6:25a, 27 Isaiah 41:10 Psalm 56:3-4 It was so good to hear and see the way that God’s word is being put into action through the testimonies of those that read our scriptures today! Whether it’s just dealing with the mundane stuff of life or actually living through the worst hurricane to hit land since 1856 – it’s good to know that God is good, we are not alone, and we can trust that whatever we are dealing with right now is not what we will be dealing with forever. There will always be disasters, and some of the burdens we bear are just part of the life we live, but today we are reminded that we have nothing to fear and no reason to worry. Now, before I go any further, I have to say that there are times when hearing someone say that “we have nothing to fear and no reason to worry” is about the last thing that I want to hear. It makes me think of the scene in Toy Story where Buzz Lightyear (the toy who thinks he’s an actual space ranger) tells Sheriff Woody (the toy who j...

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana October 2, 2011 - Ordinary (27A) Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46 The passages we have received today are the kind that many Presbyterians like. Indeed many who claim the name of Christian like these kinds of passages. The words we have received today are very comforting to many of us - which is nice since there are so many passages that confront us. We have the Ten Commandments, Paul’s encouragement of what lies ahead in eternity, and Jesus telling stories that discredit the Pharisees. These passages are orderly. They make sense. They offer the rules we follow, the promise for success, and a warning for failure. Not only that, they offer us the chance to point a finger at those nasty Pharisees. What more could we need? The Pharisees were not all bad though. They were the rule keepers - even the rule makers at times. Had it not been for them the Jewish people may have been consumed, as other occu...