Rev. Zach

Genesis 39:1-23 ; Matthew 5:11-12 TRIGGER WARNING: GENESIS 39:1-23 REFERS TO AN ACCUSATION OF RAPE. Hey, Sarah [Liturgist]! I got a joke for you. How do you put milk in the refrigerator? Ok, how do you put bacon in the refrigerator? Would you put a whole pig in the refrigerator the same way? What about an alligator? No, silly, first you take the pig out so the alligator can fit! Thanks for playing, Sarah! [She sits.] That joke reminds me that some time ago my mom taught me that there are times when it is really important to tend to big issues first – like when you are packing a car, or paying bills, or trying to sus out a conflict with someone you love. Sometimes the “big things” can help you make sense of the best way to do the little things. There are, of course, exceptions. Everyone has their own way to load the dishwasher, and many of us would come to blows over it if challenged. All of that is to say that there is an elephant that came into the room with the Old Testament reading,...

Genesis 12:1-9 ; Matthew 28:19-20 Last week we began a new cycle of readings through the Narrative Lectionary, which is the list that determines our text each week in worship. If you were here, then I am sure you remember Jackie Cummings telling you not to let your boat get rocked by the wind and the waves – whether literal or metaphorical – because our faith in God will see us through! What a great way to start off this cycle of the Narrative Lectionary, which will focus on Matthew’s Gospel paired with readings from the Old Testament. These readings also begin in Genesis with stories of covenant relationships and the promise of blessing. Last week we began with a reading of the story of Noah (which is a little more problematic than we often tell our children when we give them the Noah’s Ark playset). I won’t go into great detail about that except to say that the traditional understanding was that suffering had increased so much throughout the earth that God felt the best way to fix it...

Sermon preached by guest preacher, Jackie Cummings (RE) The New Testament Lesson today comes from Matthew 8: 24-27 which reads: A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ The word of the Lord…… Let’s have a general chat for a second. Thank you very much for inviting me back again… I find this hilarious that you all are punishing yourself this way. Please see the disclaimer from last month, I am not a minister of the Word and Sacrament and yada yada yada… but seriously, thank you for having me back again. I am glad to be here in worship with you again. As I mentioned to you last month, I like to have themes or titles to give ...

Ruth 4:1-22 ; Luke 1:46-55 Over the last three weeks, we have been on a journey through the book of Ruth. We started with Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, fleeing famine in Bethlehem, finding food and wives for her sons in Moab,7, and losing everything when her husbands and sons died. You may or may not remember that I previously said that “the Moabites were indistinct ethnically from the Judians (being descended from Lot), but they had a different cultural identity and a different tribal God.” That’s all true, but it’s only part of the puzzle – which we’ll get to in a minute. First I want to remind you of some wordplay that we find in the text that is really important as we come to the end. As I said before, “Naomi” means Pleasant. “Elimelech,” her hubby, means God is King, and going to Moab was to turn their back on God. Likewise, their sons were Mahlon and Chilion, meaning Sickness and Spent, and Orpah – the daughter-in-law who returned home – means Back of the Neck. All this would ha...

Ruth 3:1-18 ; Matthew 7:7-12 As most of you know, this is the third of four sermons based on the book of Ruth. In the first week we talked about the despair of these two women, Ruth and her Mother-in-law Naomi, that caused them to bind their lives and their fates – and even their concept of God and community – into what became an expression of chessed, which is a Hebrew concept meaning “love expressed through loyalty”. Last week we had the amazing Jackie Cummings, and the wisdom of her mom, who reflected on the story of Ruth gleaning the fields of Boaz, as Ruth continued to embody “love expressed through loyalty.” Now, I know we don’t normally do this, but I wonder if anyone remembers the “momism” from last week? It was “Do right and right will follow you.” Jackie talked a little about a lot, and it was a beautiful thing to see the way she brought her mother’s wisdom with her because that is very much what we find in Ruth’s story as Naomi continues to coach her along the way. I said at...

The following sermon was delivered by Jackie Cummings, a Ruling Elder in the PC(USA) and Treasurer of the Presbytery of South Louisiana. As I started my study for today’s lesson, my mom’s voice rang out in the back of my mind. I tend to talk about my mom, Bertha Barnett, a lot when I do these things. She can quote scripture with the best of them but she also has these little "momisms" that get engrained in your brain and you realize when you are older- Ah that’s what mom meant. There was one momism that played in my mind continuously as I studied this and that is going to be our theme for today. “Do right and right will follow you.” Last Sunday you heard the beginning of the story of Ruth and Naomi. The loss of a son for Naomi and the faithfulness of a widowed daughter-in-law. Two ladies bound together. Did they have to be bound? No, in that time, Ruth could have returned to her family for a chance to remarry (like Naomi’s other daughter-in-law) but she chose to stay with ...

Ruth 1:1-22 ; Matthew 5:3-9 Today begins a 4 part series on the book of Ruth, and we’re going to start out with a pop quiz. Q: Ruth was one of how many books in the Bible named for women? A: Two Q: The other one was ____? A: Esther, and she was the ______ of _____? Q: Ruth was a ______ from _____? A foreigner from Moab – today we would call her an immigrant or a refugee, perhaps even a climate-related refugee (though her status had more to do with seasonal harvest yields than a functionally altered biosphere). Well done! As we move forward in this series I want to encourage you all to read the book of Ruth. Chances are you will find something new in it, even if you have read it before. Don’t worry if you get ahead of the readings for worship. Just read it and let the story sink in. You might want to do a little extra digging in a study Bible or some online commentaries, but the same word of caution goes here as I mentioned before the readings. Be careful about interpretations that want...