Rev. Zach

Malachi 3:1-4      Philippians 1:3-11      Luke 3:1-6 This week, as we draw near to the truth of God’s amazing love for us, let us begin with a message of hope from Sarah Are’s poem, Draw Near to Truth. Truth is like sand— slipping through my fingers every time I turn on the news. So day after day, I gather the dust at my feet and build sand castles of the world I want to see— Sand castle cities with fair housing, no walls, families united and a name like Love. And when the waves threaten to tear them down, I will rebuild. For the truest thing I know is that God is love, and love is stronger than fear. The truest thing I know is that God is love, and love is stronger than fear – that’s a good place to start from, and it’s like a compressed version of the truth we discovered two weeks ago when we heard Pilot ask (rhetorically), “What is truth?” The answer we received from scripture is that there is a God. God is active and p...

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. Today begins the first Sunday of Lent, the season of the church year that moves us toward Holy Week and Easter. This year we began with the dispensation of ashes on Ash Wednesday, and there were a few who joined for this opportunity. We even had a few folks who saw the sign on the door and came in to receive the blessing of the church.  Of course a good number of you – even some who came – said, “Presbyterians do ashes? I thought that was a Catholic thing!” It is a Catholic thing – just like Lent and the liturgical calendar ; however it is not limited to the Roman Catholic Church. Just as we say in the Apostle’s Creed that we believe in the “Holy Catholic Church,” catholic means all encompassing. It means all who profess belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  So this year we began Lent with Ashes – a somber and austere reminder of our human limitations and the...

Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ( Ephesians 4:15 ). Communication is an essential aspect of any society. In everything we do, we communicate something of ourselves with someone else. Even during times when we feel isolated - or when we choose to be - we are still interacting with goods and services that have the imprint of someone else's soul upon them. So, whether we are intentionally communicating or not, we are always interacting with others through the expression of our character. Some time ago I can recall psychologists making a big deal about nonverbal communication, or body language. Recent studies have shown there to be over ten thousand visibly differing facial expressions! Very few of us are aware of the subtle cues we give off that belie our true feelings. Gamblers call this a tell. A tell gives you away when you are bluffing. A tell is an expression of anxiety - a twitch of the ...

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana January 15, 2012 - Epiphany (2B) 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 John 1:43-51 “What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.” “I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd; Henceforth I never will be Romeo.” So goes the impassioned plea of Juliet into the darkness of night where it finds the response of Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) . Their agreement seals their fate as “star cross’d lovers” with a tragic end - to the shock and delight of audiences young and old for more than four hundred years and counting! In this brief moment - through the risk of their conversation - they reflect the reality of the fact that we ...