Rev. Zach

“Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.”  Psalm 136:26 Just the other day my daughter called me outside to ask me to help her with some sidewalk chalk. She wanted to write the phrase “Let LOVE Overtake You!” in big letters, and thought it might take her too long unassisted. How could I resist? Not only that, how could I agree with the value of her impassioned plea without joining in? Suddenly, I am reminded of the Vision Statement for the church. First Presbyterian is “A Place to Experience, Express, and Explore the Love of God.” In Psalm 136, each of the 26 verses end with, “His love endures forever.” Love is of God. The Psalmist speaks of the way the love of God has been experienced by the Israelites over and over again in the good creation we all enjoy, in God’s sustaining presence in the wilderness, and through victory over those who would enslave them. In all of these things, God’s love is the active force. And so it is for us as a community of...

Don't  you just love a good scandal? I mean - as long as it is not wrecking my life it has a certain entertainment value, no? I would love to earmark this as a sign of the downfall of modern civilization, or perhaps trash the feaux reality dramas like Desperate Housewives and GCB . Don't get me started on either of these or the way in which they do more to re-enforce negative images of women - and Christianity - than they do to empower real people who might actually be lacking in their options in life. Anyway, the reality they point to is that both Ecclesiastes and Carl Jung are right. There is nothing new under the sun and our collective conscience does love repetition - both for good and for ill. Scandals are just plain yummy - whether they are real or imagined. Still, I'm not entirely sure where the need for the narrative of scandal comes from, but I would guess it is something close to schadenfreude - the sick pleasure of watching someone else get busted when you k...

For most of her life my daughter has claimed that she wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up because then I can build her a studio and she can teach me to dance. Well, today was "dress up like the profession you want" day at school. When deciding between the pink and black leotard she said, very thoughtfully, "A Ballet teacher wears black." Putting her hair in a bun was an adventure (Treva was at work, and I had not done this before.), but I think it worked. I asked her for a picture and she immediately got into 1st position with head turned to profile. She had a great day and would not take off her dance clothes until bath time. During prayers she asked God to bless her litany of best friends that live all across the Eastern Seaboard, and one I did not know. Turns out it was a little girl she met at First Christian Church last night. We went over because they were hosting a few families through Family promise (for...

The other day Sam, my 3 yr. old son, did something that ended with him in time out. I don't even remember what he did, and it doesn't really matter at this point. Regarding the behavior of our children, we try to positively reinforce good behavior and deter bad behavior by limiting the options for it. Of course, most of you probably know that children can be quite creative, and you can not limit every negative experience. Nor should we. How else can you learn to walk without falling down a few times. When we punish bad behavior we try to make sure the consequences are clear beforehand and that the punishment fits the crime. We also try to make sure that they know what behaviors, attitudes, or actions they are being punished for, why these things are not good, and what a better choice might have been. After the punishment we are sure to affirm our love for them and our dissatisfaction with the offense. We want to make a clear distinction between being bad and doing something bad...

3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Mathew 18:3 I often wonder what parameters Jesus had in mind.  How old were the children he referred to?  We pass along stories about babies talking to God and children with great wisdom, but do we truly value their perspective?  Do we have any intention of "changing to become like them"?  Sometimes I wonder if it is simply the ability to wonder and to allow the fantastic to be real that children offer as a critique to our over developed sense of self importance.   Sam is in a magical age at 3 yrs. old.  The other day he fashioned a pirate hat out of thin air and put it on my head.  Tonight we had a dialogue about super heroes, although he was wearing his "Cars" pj's. Disclaimer: He is 3.  Most conversations are about body functions. Sam: Dad, I'm Superman!  Superman doesn't pull down his pajamas to go potty. Me:...

The other day I was encouraging my 3.5 yr old daughter, Zoe. My wife and I often take pride in ourselves for parenting in the most modern fashion, even though we have no more a clue about what we are doing and why at times than anyone else ever has throughout the whole of human history. So, the other day I was feeling especially smug when I told Zoe I was proud of her and then asked, "Are you proud of you?" She answered to the affirmative and it did my heart glad to know that I am raising someone with a sense of contentedness with herself. Of course she could be a megalomaniac in the making, but we try not to dwell on that. Truly we do what we can to instill self satisfaction as well as respect for others. But hey, she's 3 going on 15, so we'll take it one step at a time. Anyway, the rambling point of this is that about five minutes after this shining moment of parenting she totally nails me. After completing some simple task that she had given me precise inst...