Rev. Zach

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana October 9, 2011 - Ordinary (28 A) Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 22:1-14 How many of you remember the song O Be Careful, Little Eyes? Some of you may have sung it as a child or to your children. I’m not sure where or when I first encountered that song, but I have to admit that it has always made me uncomfortable. O be careful little eyes what you see O be careful little eyes what you see There's a Father up above Who’s looking down on you in love So, be careful little eyes what you see And it continues with be careful what you hear, what you do, and where you go. The thing that has always made me uncomfortable is that it seems like a set up. God loves me, but God is watching me like a hawk. So, I had better be careful. I have choices to make - and I had better make good ones. That is the implication of today’s parable; at least that is the traditional interpretation of this parable. God is the King. 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...

First Presbyterian Church - Lafayette, Louisiana September 25, 2011 - Ordinary (26A) Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 The story of the people of Israel’s journey through the wilderness of sin is one that more people in our culture can relate to these days than perhaps any other time in our past - excepting the days of the frontiersmen and women. More people transfer from town to town than ever before. More people switch careers than ever before. More people travel and find themselves physically and metaphorically in the wilderness than ever before. My own family has had its share of moves, averaging one a year over the last five years. We’ve moved for jobs. We’ve moved for cheaper rent. We’ve moved so that we can be in a preferred school district. I complained about it on Facebook during our last move and was counseled by one of our wise and faithful elders who simply said, “Quit moving!” Someone must have said that to Moses during this part of the story b...

From time to time people ask me how to be sure that something is God's will. How do you know when it is God's voice calling amidst the competing priorities? Plenty of people have weighed in on this idea for centuries. In fact, I would say that is the very question that encouraged the writers of the Gospel and the selection of the sacred texts that make up the scriptures. Yet there are plenty of circumstances that don't seem to mesh with a literal reading of the Bible, and there are even passages that seem to contradict. In Paul's letter to the church in Rome we find discouragement for legalism, and Jesus' primary adversaries in the Gospels are not the Romans but the scribes and Pharisees. It seems that God has always known that we are bound to seek definitive standards that we can use to our own advantage, so the tension between definitive guidance and invitation to respond to grace remains throughout religious and non-religious Christian practices. So then, how...

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...

First Presbyterian Church – Lafayette, Louisiana September 11, 2011 – Ordinary (24 A) Psalm 23 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 18:21-35 “Never forget!” These are two words that have taken on a whole new meaning in our country in the last ten years. It seems unlikely that anyone ever could forget a tragedy like the attacks of September 11, 2011, yet there are still so many stories longing to be told. Even so, the admonition by itself raises questions for me. What is it that we must remember and why? Is it the fact that some warped individuals with sin sick souls were manipulated by cowards to crash planes into buildings? Is it the fact that the relative peace and prosperity of our United States was challenged by an outside force that we used to think of as weak and fearful in our presence? Is it the stories of ordinary people becoming extraordinary heroes in the face of tragedy? Yes. All of these things must be remembered, but why? We remember to honor the dead and to give a sense of purpose a...

First Presbyterian Church – Lafayette, Louisiana September 4, 2011 – Ordinary (23A) Romans 13:8-14 
Matthew 18:15-20 [My wife, Treva, served as lay reader on this day two days after our 11th wedding anniversary.] I am reminded today of the first time Treva and I led worship together as husband and wife. It was shortly after our wedding at the church I grew up in, John Knox Presbyterian in Marietta, GA. It was a lovely service, and I greeted the congregation with no small amount of pride – introducing my bride as liturgist. After the service she graciously whispered in my ear, “You do realize that you introduced me as Treva Lewis, right?” Oh, the effects of love. Love holds you accountable. Love affects your actions. Love is at the core of our being, like a rock thrown into the abyss and creating ripples that flow through eternity. Love is the only debt worth owing someone, for love is the only currency that pays for itself. Paul has just finished telling the church in Rome that gove...