Rev. Zach

Psalm 36:5-10        1 Corinthians 12:1-11 The new year has dawned, and one of the things that strikes me as interesting is how much loss I have seen expressed at the beginning of the year. Not only have there been a few deaths in our congregation and with some of our close members and friends, but there have been a few famous actors and entertainers that have died. I have never been one for the worship of stars, and so I found it interesting how moved I was when I heard of David Bowie’s passing. Sure, he may have encouraged us to get to the church on time, but I think it was his creative spirit and his encouragement to embrace change that inspired me as a kid. In the midst of that change there was also the claim that we could be heroes – just for one day. Even knowing that our heroics may only matter in the moment we act and with the person we’re with doesn’t stop us from being heroes. And who doesn’t want to be a hero – or at least, who wouldn’t love to be though...

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...

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana September 18, 2011 - Ordinary (26A) Exodus 16:2-15 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 Freeloaders - now that’s a term I don’t hear very often in this age of political correctness, and for good reason, too! It’s a term that assumes a certain defective quality in a particular group of people. Come to think of it, calling a group of people “freeloaders” is a pretty polarizing term. It is “us vs. them” language that puts the user in the driver seat and assumes that “they” are to blame for the problem, because their is no “we.” Although it’s a term that has been around for a while, it has always had an interesting relationship with commerce and free trade. The term actually originates from the shipping industry. A captain would contract laborers, promising payment for when the ship was full. Then he would sail away without paying - leaving them no way to catch him. In the 1950’s and early 60’s the term “freeloader” was give...