Audios of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Monday, December 20, 2021
Sermon video: Saying "Yes" to the Impossible
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Saying "Yes" to the Impossible
Luke 1:26-55
Saying “Yes” to
the Impossible
James Sledge December
19, 2021 – Advent 4
The Annunciation
12th century Russian icon
There is
a scene in Lewis Carroll’s Through the
Looking Glass where Alice is speaking with the white queen. Alice has just
learned that the queen lives backwards, remembering things before they happen.
In the course of this conversation Alice becomes a bit bewildered and begins to
cry. During the queen’s efforts to cheer her up, she asks Alice how old she is.
“I'm seven and a half, exactly.”
“You needn't say "exactly",” the Queen remarked. “I can believe it without that. Now I'll give you something to believe. I'm just one hundred and one, five months and a day.”
“I can't believe that!” said Alice.
“Can't you?” the Queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”
Alice laughed. “There's no use trying,” she said. “One can't believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven't had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Christians should surely know about believing impossible things. After all we speak casually of Jesus turning water into wine, and we say that he died and rose again on the third day. And of course there is that line in “The Apostles’ Creed” that says Jesus “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.”
Monday, December 13, 2021
Sermon: Getting Ready
Luke 3:7-18
Getting Ready
James Sledge December
12, 2021, Advent 3
JESUS MAFA. John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert,
We’re nearly to the middle of December, so
I suspect that most of you are well into your preparations for Christmas.
Perhaps you’re completely done by now. So what does getting ready for Christmas
look like at your house?
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library
We’ve had our tree up for a couple of weeks now, and it even has a few presents under it. We also put lights on the shrubbery in front of our house. That’s a lot of work, and so they’ve only been up for a week or so. At our house, Shawn has to do a certain amount of baking in preparation for Christmas. It just isn’t the holidays without fudge and other goodies.
There are lots of different ways to get ready for Christmas. For some, a daily Advent devotional helps mark the time on the way to Christmas. For others, it just isn’t the season if there isn’t Christmas music playing. And then there are those for whom the season doesn’t truly begin until they see the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life or watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
I know there are people for whom Christmas is just another day, but for many, Christmas is one of the most special times of the year, and that requires a certain amount of preparation. Without it, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas. I know that many of us felt like something was missing last year when we couldn’t gather for our traditional Christmas Eve services.
Our scripture reading this morning is about getting ready, about preparing. John is the one who has come to prepare the way of the Lord, and this preparation is connected to repentance. John offers a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and lots of people come out into the wilderness to see him.
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Sermon video for Advent 2: Cynicism and Hope
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon video for Advent 1: Rhythms and Patterns
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon for Advent 2: Cynicism and Hope
Luke 1:5-25
Cynicism and Hope
James Sledge December
5, 2021, Advent 2
Annunciation
to Zechariah
The problem of racism may well be the most
persistent and intractable one in American history. It has proved to be
remarkably resilient and adaptive. Many hoped that the Civil Rights movement of
the 1950s and 60s would deal a death blow to racism. But while many forms of
discrimination were outlawed, racism remained woven into our culture. The
killings of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George
Floyd, and more have revealed over and over again how Black lives have less
value in our society than do white lives.
Ethiopic Bible Illumination,
British Library, ca. 1700
Black Lives Matter began as a hashtag in response to George Zimmerman’s acquittal for killing Trayvon Martin, took shape as a movement following Michael Brown and Eric Garner’s killings, and emerged as a powerful force in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Estimates are that somewhere between 15 and 26 million Americans took part in Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, making it one of the largest movements in American history. There seemed to be tremendous momentum for addressing systemic racism in our criminal justice system and society at large. Our own congregation repeatedly held Saturday, Silent Witness demonstrations supporting reforms. Elders offering the prayers of the people during Sunday worship repeatedly appealed to God to assist us in this work.
But more recently, fears over crime have blunted calls for police reform. Parents have objected loudly to diversity efforts in local school systems. Critical Race Theory has become a rallying cry for those who fear a hard look at the impact of racism in this country. And even though confession and repentance are bedrock parts of Christian faith, there is a large contingent of conservative Christians whose objections to racial diversity efforts are seen as articles of their faith. And while the recent Ahmaud Arbery verdict might seem to be a ray of hope, the sad fact is that without that video, there would never have even been a trial.
It is all more than a little disheartening. And if it is disheartening to me, I can only imagine how it must feel for Black leaders who have been on the forefront of racial justice efforts for decades. They must be beyond tired. Will the day ever come?
Sermon for Advent 1: Rhythms and Patterns
Luke 21:25-36
Rhythms and
Patterns
James Sledge November
28, 2021, Advent 1
Greek icon of the Second Coming,
It took its sweet time this fall, but the
cooler weather finally arrived, and winter weather
ca. 1700
is just around the corner.
Even though climate change has moderated winters a bit, there is still a
regular rhythm to the changing of the seasons, one that we well know how to
prepare for.
At my house, the tubs holding sweaters and other winter clothes have been switched out with the shorts and summer clothes in the dressers. And those summer clothes been taken to the basement to hibernate through the winter.
I assume that similar summer to fall to winter preparations have or are taking place at your home. Furnaces get checked out; fireplaces get cleaned; houseplants that had been on the porch get brought inside. The patterns vary from home to home, but we all know how to get ready for winter. We all know the rhythms of the seasons.
Down in Texas, my daughter and her family are preparing for a different sort of transition, the birth of their second child. They’ve done this once before so there is some familiarity, but there will be differences. A toddler will have to adjust to a new sibling and parents will need to navigate caring for a toddler and a newborn. To some degree, it will be uncharted territory, something quite different from the shifts that happen each year with the change of the seasons.
All of our lives we experience changes, but not all changes are the same. Some are regular and predictable. This winter may be colder or warmer, with lots of snow or a little, but with most winters, it will still follow a pattern that is familiar, one where we know what to expect and prepare for. Other changes don’t have regular rhythms and require us to make adjustments to our lives, to learn new skills, to let go of old patterns and rhythms.
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Sermon for the Reign of Christ Sunday: Listening to His Voice
John 18:33-38a
Listening to His
Voice
James Sledge November 21, 2021, Reign of Christ
When Pilate asks Jesus if he is the King of the Jews, Jesus responds with a question of his own. “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” It is a straightforward enough question, but Pilate seems uninterested in answering and changes the subject. To answer would be to engage in the truth, and Pilate has little interest in truth.
For his part, Jesus has just invited Pilate to step into the light of truth, just as Jesus has done with others before. If Pilate would engage Jesus, truly respond to him, there is hope, but Pilate shuts the discussion down before it can ever begin. The truth frightens Pilate.
Pilate has lots of company. Many people fear the truth. Politicians come to mind. They worry about losing the next election and that makes for an uneasy relationship with the truth. You almost never hear a politician say they were wrong or made a mistake. That is a truth most dare not speak.
Sermon video from Nov. 21, the Reign of Christ: Listening to His Voice
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Sermon video: Gratitude and Doxology
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Gratitude and Doxology
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Gratitude and
Doxology
James Sledge November
14, 2021
 |
| The Conversion of St. Paul Bartolome Esteban Murillo, ca. 1675 |
At a recent staff meeting, I read a meditation by Howard Thurman as a part of our devotional time. The meditation began by speaking of a longing, an urgent seeking and searching for God. But then the meditation took a turn.
With sustained excitement, I recall what, in my own urgency, I had forgotten: God is seeking me. Blessed remembrance! God is seeking me. Wonderful assurance. God is seeking me. This is the meaning of my longing, this is the warp of my desiring, this is my point. The searching that keeps the sand hot under my feet is but my response to (God’s) seeking. Therefore, this moment, I will be still, I will quiet my reaching out, I will abide; for to know really that God is seeking me; to be aware of that NOW is to be found of (God).[1]
I had no real plans for what to do with this reading, and when I finished it, I simply sat in silence for a moment. Then a thought hit me. “When,” I asked, “have you experienced God seeking you?” No one on our Zoom meeting unmuted. It was completely quiet.
I also struggled with something to say, which I found more than a little disturbing. How could I not bring to mind some experience of God moving toward me, God reaching out to me? I had a brief, existential faith crisis. Was God not real to me? That’s certainly a possibility. I know a lot about God, about Jesus, but perhaps I don’t really know God. Or perhaps my god is the one disturbingly described by Anglican scholar N. T. Wright.
For most people in the Western world today, the word ‘god’ refers to a distant, remote being… This god may or may not intervene from time to time in the world, though he usually doesn’t. He has, in fact, left us to muddle through as best we can; which usually means looking after our own interests, carving up the world, and perhaps each other, in our own way. The cat’s asleep upstairs, and the mice — and perhaps the rats — are organizing the world downstairs.
That’s why this remote ‘god’ is the god that the Western world decided it wanted in the eighteenth century: a god to be cooly acknowledged for an hour or so on Sunday mornings, and ignored for the other hundred and sixty-seven hours in the week. No wonder, when they did a survey not long ago, the great majority of people in the United Kingdom said they believed in ‘god’, but only a small minority regularly go to church. If that’s what you believe about ‘god’ …then any sense of worship or religious celebration becomes a vague ritual, a meaningless noise, which merely makes us feel a bit better about ourselves… Can such a god really be God?[2]
The god N. T. Wright describes sounds little like the one the Apostle Paul knew. This God had appointed him for service, had showed him mercy through the love of Jesus, embraced him despite his having persecuted the church. The grace and mercy of God, the call of Jesus are so vivid for Paul that he not only overflows with gratitude, but he cannot help but burst forth in doxology. To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Sermon video: Gratitude, Trust, and Generosity
All the tech people were at our congregation's weekend retreat. Hence the single, static camera angle.
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Sermon: Gratitude, Trust, and Generosity
Mark 12:38-44
Gratitude, Trust,
and Generosity
James Sledge November
7, 2021
I googled the term “gratitude journal” the
other day, and the number of entries was astounding. There was a seemingly
endless collection of articles about how to start a gratitude journal, reviews
of the best gratitude journals to purchase, reviews of the best gratitude apps,
along with articles on some of the research around these journals. And of
course, there were ads for hundreds of different gratitude journals.
The Widow's Mite
JESUS MAFA, 1973
If you’ve somehow totally missed this phenomenon, the premise is fairly simple. At its most basic, it involves the regular writing down of things you are grateful for. The various journals and apps provide some structure intended to help and guide you.
You might think this simply one more wellness fad, but there is a growing body of evidence that such journaling is good for your health. Studies have found that giving thanks and counting blessings can help people sleep better, lower stress, and improve interpersonal relationships. Another study found that keeping a gratitude journal decreased materialism and bolstered generosity among adolescents. In yet another study, high school students who kept gratitude journals reported healthier eating, and there’s some evidence suggesting it could lower your risk of heart disease and reduce the symptoms of depression in some.[1]
The studies also suggest that it doesn’t work for everyone and that it’s no panacea, but still, the benefits are impressive. Yet gratitude is hardly a new concept. I’ve mentioned before that John Calvin saw gratitude as the basic motivation for the Christian life. So why does this seem like a new discovery to so many?
It may sound odd, but I started thinking about gratitude when I read our scripture where Jesus denounces the scribes and praises a poor widow. The scribes and the widow represent polar opposites in first century Jerusalem. The scribes were learned, professional men of high esteem, “doctors of the law.” There isn’t really anything quite like them in our world, but Jesus’ description of them reminds me of some businesspeople or politicians in our day. They like to wear fine clothes and be greeted with respect in the public square. They make sure to have the best seats at all the fancy shindigs, and they devour widows’ houses.
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Sermon video: Well Ordered Lives and Loves
Audios of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Well-Ordered Lives and Loves
Mark 12:28-34
Well Ordered Lives
and Loves
James Sledge October
31, 2021
 |
| Love for One's Neighbor, detail
from a choir screen, National Museum of Scotland |
Jesus draws these words from what he called scripture and what we call the Old Testament. They are likely familiar to you. The love your neighbor part appears regularly in totally secular contexts. But familiarity is very different from understanding. What, exactly, does it mean to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength? For that matter, what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? How are we to define and measure such love?
I recently read an interesting and helpful little book entitled Liturgy of the Ordinary. It’s by Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest whose columns on faith appear regularly in The New York Times. The book has chapters on waking, making the bed, brushing teeth, sitting in traffic, and ends with one on sleeping. I’d like to read you something from that last chapter.
The truth is, I’m far more likely to give up sleep for entertainment than I am for prayer. When I turn on Hulu late at night I don’t consciously think, “I value this episode of Parks and Rec more than my family, prayer, and my own body.” But my habits reveal and shape what I love and what I value, whether I care to admit it or not.[1]
Who knew that your sleep patterns could reveal so much about you, about how well ordered or disordered your loves and your life may be, about the idols in which you place your trust. So what do your sleep patterns say about you?
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Sermon: Sight for the Blind
Mark 10:46-52
Sight for the
Blind
James Sledge October
24, 2021
Christ Giving Sight to Bartimaeus
I’ve shared before something that happened
at the church I previously served, an event that is seared into my memory. It
happened one Sunday as I was preaching from the pulpit, and I saw it only
because of the peculiar architecture of the sanctuary.
William
Blake, 1799
The back wall of that sanctuary had windows that covered its entire width. The choir and I could look through them into the narthex. There were entry doors from outside on either side of the narthex, but they were beyond the view through those windows.
In this church the ushers had a habit of remaining in the narthex, or the parlor just beyond it, during the worship service. The choir and I could see them milling around, going to get a cup of coffee from the parlor kitchen, and so on. And so there was an usher in the narthex when a rather disheveled man entered.
The man was Black, making him a minority of one, unless the immigrant family from Cameroon that we sponsored was there that day. He might well have been homeless, although I don’t know that, and I assumed that he had entered our church building looking for some assistance.
One of the ushers moved quickly to intercept him. I could see them talking but hear nothing. They conversed for a short while, and then the usher ushered him out of my sight toward the door he must have just entered. From what I could tell, he left willingly but, I presume, unhappily.
It was easy to ascertain what I had just witnessed. The man had come to the church seeking some assistance and likely had asked for the pastor. The usher had then explained that I was in the middle of worship. I was busy and he would need to come back later. I never saw the man again.
Something similar happens in our scripture. In this case it’s a blind man who wants help, but Jesus is busy. Jerusalem is just over the horizon. He’s likely got some final instructions he needs to give his disciples, and time is short. No time to deal with one more desperate person seeking help.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Sermon: Help Me, Jesus
Mark 10:35-45
Help Me, Jesus
James Sledge October
17, 2021
 |
| Study,
Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples, Henry Ossawa Tanner, ca. 1905 |
The event was a 1983 Atlanta gathering of Democratic hopefuls for the 84 election. It included Jesse Jackson, John Glenn, Gary Hart, Reuben Askew, eventual nominee Walter Mondale, and others. They were there primarily to curry favor with deep pocketed supporters, including the businessman I was flying. He had a block of tickets for the event, and he invited me to tag along rather than hanging out at the airport.
This businessman had spent a lot of time at the White House during the Carter years, and he had gotten to know Mondale fairly well. He liked him and considered him a friend, but he didn’t think Mondale would be able to defeat an incumbent Ronald Reagan. And so he decided to take a seat at Reuben Askew’s table. He thought that Askew, the relatively conservative governor of Florida, had a better chance against Reagan.
The disappointment from the Mondale table was palpable. He clearly had expected to get support from my boss. He had counted on their relationship to give him an advantage. But for my boss, the relationship mattered much less than a connection with the eventual winner. It was a purely business decision for him. He also had his doubts that Askew could win, and so he eventually began to send money to the Republicans.
There’s nothing particularly remarkable about this story. Any savvy, political observer might have predicted the decision my boss made. It wasn’t personal. Political connections were important to his business, and so he had to do what he had to do.
I wonder if James and John had a similar thought process when they approach Jesus to ask for important roles in his upcoming administration. Mark’s gospel makes clear that none of the disciples really understand what is going on. Jesus has just told them for a third time that he will soon be arrested, humiliated, and executed. But Jesus also said he would rise again in three days so perhaps James and John are focused on that.
Monday, October 4, 2021
Sermon: Out of Gratitude
Mark 10:2-16
Out of Gratitude
James Sledge October
3, 2021
Some of you are old enough to recall a
famous advertising campaign by the investment company Smith Barney. It featured
a well-known, professorial and upper crust looking actor stating very
profoundly, “Smith Barney, we make money the old-fashioned way. We EARN it.” 
Christ and the Children
Emil Nolde, 1910
I suppose the statement was supposed to emphasize both the expertise and strong drive of a company that would work diligently and effectively to make your portfolio grow. You could trust them with your money because they had the skill and tenacity to ensure success.
I have no idea how successful the ad campaign was, but it ran for a long time so the company must have thought it worked. I can see why it would. We Americans are enamored with people who earn their way to the top. The prototypical American icon is the self-made individual who claws their way to success. Such notions are so baked into our culture that many people assume rich people are largely responsible for their wealth while poor people are largely responsible for their poverty. They earned it.
I’ve frequently heard America described as a meritocracy, which is another way of saying that whatever your lot in life, you earned it. Merit even makes its way into to popular religious thinking. You get what you deserve, as countless “There’s a place in heaven…” or “There’s a place in hell…” statements will attest.
But Jesus’ statement at the end of our gospel reading stands at odds with popular thinking about merit. When Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it," he is talking a total lack of merit. Little children in Jesus’ day were totally and completely dependent on others, with no means to acquire things, no merit to apply. They could only receive, not buy, earn, merit, acquire, etc.
Jesus’ words about receiving rather than earning not only undermine thoughts of religious merit, they also provide an interpretive key for understanding what Jesus has just said about marriage. Jesus gives no new religious rules to follow if you want God to like you. Jesus refuses to play that game with those who bring the question about divorce to him.
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Sermon video: Forsaking All Others
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Forsaking All Others
Mark 9:38-50
Forsaking All
Others
James Sledge September
26, 2021
 | |||
| Jesus Teaching His Disciples from 1684 Arabic manuscript of the Gospels The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore | |
I found one, and when I went in I was in the chair, and the woman was cutting my hair, and she said, “I don’t recognize you. Have you ever been in here before?” I told her no, that I was a Presbyterian minister and that I was leading a clergy seminar. And she brightened up and said, “Oh, I’m a Christian, too, you know.” I said, “Really!” She said, “Yes, I’m a member of Creflo Dollar’s church.” You may not know Creflo Dollar, but he is the latest incarnation of the “God Wants You to be Rich” theology. He drives a black Rolls Royce, he has a corporate jet, and his congregation has bought him millions of dollars of real estate. He is known locally as Cash-flow Dollar, and here is this woman telling me, “I’m a member of Creflo Dollar’s church.” I’m thinking to myself, “I’m already getting a bad haircut, now I’m going to get bad theology as well!”
But to be hospitable I played along – she was holding a razor, after all. I said, “Well, have you got your blessing yet?”
She said, “Oh yes, I’ve gotten my blessing, all right!”
“Well, tell me about it,” I said, expecting her to say something about the Lexus in the parking lot or the diamond earrings in the scissors drawer.
But instead she said, “Two nights a week I get to volunteer in a shelter for battered women. I was one myself, you know, and they trust me. They need me. They know I love them.”
I sat there silently thinking, “My God! Jesus is loose in Creflo Dollar’s church!” It’s amazing the way he does it… He goes into Creflo Dollar’s church, and he finds a nine-dollar-an-hour hair cutter, and by the power of God he ordains her in the Holy Spirit to be a minister of the most high God…[1]
Tom Long was preaching on a different scripture and a completely different topic than I am, but I thought of his sermon when I read about this non-disciple who is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Apparently it was not uncommon for pagan magicians to invoke Christian or Jewish names they thought powerful. The disciples, quite understandably, try to stop to it. This guy shouldn’t be allowed to borrow Jesus’ name so he could make a buck.
Creflo Dollar is not so different. He uses Jesus’ name to make himself rich, although in his case, he does claim to follow Jesus. You would think Jesus would get all riled up about such a thing, but at least in that pagan magician’s case, Jesus says, “Leave him alone. It will lead to something good in the end.” And Jesus goes on to say that the most trivial good deed done because of his name will be rewarded.
Monday, September 20, 2021
Sermon: Welcoming the Invisible
Mark 9:30-37
Welcoming the
Invisible
James Sledge September
19, 2021
 | |||||||
| Christ Teaching the Disciples* |
But Jesus wouldn’t put everything out there for the masses. First century Jesus often spoke to crowds, but some of his most important teachings happened in private, with only his disciples as the audience. That’s the case in our scripture reading this morning. The passage is quite clear that Jesus wanted no crowds around when he tried for a second time to explain to the disciples about his upcoming arrest, trial, execution, and resurrection. Not that the disciples seem to understand.
Jesus’ teachings about what awaits him in Jerusalem would not show up on YouTube or Instagram if Jesus came in our day. This was not for the curious but only dedicated adherents. And neither would Jesus put a child in his disciples’ midst if he had a 21st century ministry. The disciples would probably still argue about who was the greatest, but a child would not help Jesus make his point in our day.
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Monday, September 13, 2021
Sermon: Getting Behind Jesus
Mark 8:27-38
Getting Behind
Jesus
James Sledge September
12, 2021
Take
Up Your Cross, Gary Bunt, 2016
The beginning of this school year has been
accompanied by fierce resistance to masks by some. One parent in Texas ripped
the mask off a teacher. For reasons that baffle me, resistance to vaccines and
masks is often couched is religious language. Last year, in a rebuttal to such
views, Scott Hoezee, a pastor on the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary
wrote a blog post entitled, JWWM: Jesus Would Wear a Mask. The post opened with
an updated take on the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil. 
Then the devil led Jesus to the entrance of the Jerusalem Farmers Market. Jesus observed that most people were prudently wearing face coverings and masks to protect from a severe virus that had made many in the Holy City sick in recent weeks. And the devil said unto him, “If you are the Son of God, then enter the market, talk, shop, and laugh but do not wear a mask for it is written ‘He will give his angels charge over you’ and so we know God will protect you and others from the virus.” And Jesus replied, “It is also written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus then put on his face covering and entered the market in search of some fresh figs. The devil then left him . . . until a more opportune time.[1]
“Until a more opportune time” is a reference to Jesus’ struggle in the garden of Gethsemane, where he is once more tempted to turn away from the path God has placed before him. But there is a hint of that later temptation in our gospel reading for this morning.
Monday, August 23, 2021
Sermon video: Equipped by God
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Equipped by God
Ephesians 6:10-20
Equipped by God
James Sledge August
22, 2021
Scene from
Trajan’s Column, Rome, 113 CE
Where you are situated when you encounter
a scripture passage has a lot to do with what you hear. People in positions of
privilege and power may hear a vastly different message than those from the
underside do. Slaves in the pre-Civil War American south heard a very different
word from the Bible than did those who oppressed and exploited them.
Ever since the 4th century, when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, interpreters of the Bible and the Christian faith have largely been aligned with empire and power. As a result, the Church has often given its sanction to wars, crusades, and genocide, and much of American Christianity still suffers from an easy, uncritical alliance with patriotism and the privileged status quo.
I suspect that my growing up in a position of privilege, a citizen of a powerful nation that often describes itself as “Christian,” has greatly influenced how I’ve heard this morning’s scripture. It’s always made me a little nervous with its military imagery and talk of spiritual battle against the forces of evil. It’s just the sort of passage that has been used to justify violence against those deemed pagans, heretics, or practitioners of unapproved versions of the faith, and I’ve always avoided preaching from it until today.
Monday, August 16, 2021
Sermon: Humble Prayer
1 Kings 2:10-12,
3:3-14
Humble Prayer
James Sledge August
15, 2021
When you pray, what do you pray for? What
do you ask of God? According to statistics I’ve seen, most of you likely pray.
Surveys show that over half of Americans pray every day, and the vast majority
pray occasionally. Prayer is quite popular, even among those with no religious
affiliation. In fact, some who don’t believe in God report praying from time to
time.
Solomon's Prayer, illustration
in the Luther Bible, 1522
Prayer is considerably more popular than church participation, so presumably people find it helpful. Not surprisingly, most of those who pray report that God answers their prayers at least some of the time.
As to the content of those prayers, people’s needs and difficulties are popular topics, along with praying for friends and family. A fair number of people pray to win the lottery, and a smaller number pray to find a convenient parking space. But the surveys don’t say anything about what sort of prayers are more likely to get answered by God.[1]
I don’t know that our scripture reading this morning was written to provide general guidelines on prayer, but it does have a prayer that is favorably received by God. And so perhaps there are some pointers to be found here.
Monday, August 9, 2021
Sermon: Who Are You?
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Who Are You?
James Sledge James
Sledge
Early
baptism depicted in ancient fresco
My father was an electrical engineer who
worked for the local power company until retirement. But he was also a man of
deep faith who at one point in his life contemplated becoming a pastor. After I
became a pastor, we would often engage in deep, theological discussions,
perhaps some of the most significant such discussions I’ve ever had other than
at seminary or with colleagues.
During one of our discussions, he told me about a woman he had dated as a young man who had no use for religion or the church. My father, who was very active as a youth in his church and had a very close relationship with his pastor, tried to communicate something of what he had experienced at church to this woman. She responded with a biting question that perhaps characterized her understanding of church. “Do they do anything besides tell you to be good little boys and girls?”
I’m met my share of people who would seem to share this woman’s view of church, although many saw it in more positive terms. I’ve known parents who brought their children to church even though they didn’t participate themselves because they thought a little moral formation would be good for them. They didn’t take their children to worship, but they viewed Sunday School as a moral companion to regular school, a place where children learned to be good little boys and girls.
I suspect there are a lot of adults, many of them church members, who view Christian faith primarily as a moral enterprise accompanied by divine carrot and stick incentives. Behave yourself and get a heavenly reward. Don’t and reap the consequences.
A cursory reading of our scripture for this morning might at first seem to support such a view. Tell the truth. Don’t steal. Take care with your anger. Be kind. Forgive people. In other words, be good little boys and girls. But the writer of Ephesians is not engaging in moralizing. Rather, he is describing what it looks like to shed an old identity and put on a new one.
Monday, August 2, 2021
Sermon video: Little Gods and True Life
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Little Gods and True Life
John 6:24-35
Little Gods and
True Life
James Sledge August
1, 2021
I Am the Bread of Life, Joseph Matar, 2006
I’m going to assume that most of you have
heard of Joel Osteen, the televangelist and pastor of the Lakewood Church in
Houston, Texas. The church occupies the renovated, former home of the Houston
Rockets and pre-Covid hosted around 50,000 worshipers each week. On top of
that, another ten million or so watch on television.
Osteen may be the most successful of the so-called prosperity gospel preachers, and along with millions of worshipers, he has a popular book, Your Best Life Now. According to him, God wants you to be happy, content, and have the best of everything, and the Christian life is about tapping into God’s goodness, God’s desire for you to have a nice house, a fancy car, and flush bank account.
From a biblical and theological standpoint, Osteen’s sort of Christianity is rather easy to critique. It ignores large portions of Jesus’ teachings. It is all about acquiring while Jesus speaks frequently of the need let go of the material and refocus our lives on doing God’s work in the world. In a very real sense, Osteen is heretical in that his teachings put God in service to us rather than us in service to God and God’s hopes for the world.
I’ve not noticed very many progressive Presbyterians who seem drawn to Osteen or the prosperity gospel in general. I’m not entirely sure why, but perhaps those raised in more traditional, mainline Christian traditions find him a bit on the crass side. He turns God into a sort of fairy godmother, a small god whose primary purpose is to improve your life, granting you everything from money and possessions to a parking spot right up by the store entrance.
Of course it is possible to create a less crass, more sophisticated version of a divine fairly godmother. We Americans have been well trained in consumerism, making it easy to think of God or religion as simply one more item we need to make our lives better. In this less crass version of a small god, making us feel better spiritually can become the good thing God exists to provide us. Perhaps we might call it a spiritual prosperity gospel.
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Sermon video: More Than We Can Imagine
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Monday, July 26, 2021
Sermon video: Breaking Down Dividing Walls
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: More Than We Can Imagine
John 6:1-21
More Than We Can
Imagine
James Sledge July
25, 2021
What Welcome Table has done over the last fifteen months is nothing short of remarkable. But something Welcome Table does not do is address the underlying causes of hunger and food scarcity. That so many people will stand in line for a meal and ten dollars speaks to grave problems in our society. Many guests have full time jobs but still struggle to make ends meet.
As a pastor, I regularly talk to people who struggle with housing. From time to time, I provide a motel room for homeless individuals so they can get off the street for one night. I also occasionally help people who are late on their rent or utility bill. They work but their meager income frequently can’t be stretched far enough. I am happy to provide some small amount of assistance, but even if I can keep someone from being evicted, I’m doing nothing to address the lack of affordable housing or our society’s failure to ensure that hard working people earn a living wage.
Larger issues such as hunger, affordable housing, income equity, systemic racism, and more are daunting problems that can feel overwhelming. As a part of our recent Renew process, we separated our mission activities into a Mercy Ministry Team and a Justice Ministry Team, recognizing a need to focus some of our energy on these larger issues. Our congregation recently joined VOICE, Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, as a part of this justice focus. Joining with other congregations and faith communities provides greater resources for grappling with larger, systemic issues. But even so, how can a handful of faith communities make a difference when the problems are so large and intractable?
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Sermon: Breaking Down Dividing Walls
Ephesians 2:11-22
Breaking Down
Dividing Walls
James Sledge July
18, 2021
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Acts17v25.blogspot.com, January 3, 2013 |
This caste system, writes Wilkerson, is pervasive, shaping the worldview of all who live in it, both Black and white. It is the air we breathe, the water we swim in, and it does not go away because laws are changed or because a Black man was once elected president. Those in the dominant class benefit from it even when they are not “racists.” It is a resilient system that does not go away easily, that will not go away without a great deal of hard work and effort from those in the dominant caste.
I found the book a little depressing. It made the racial divisions in our country seem even more profound and intractable. But I also think the author paints a more realistic, accurate picture of race in America than many of us imagine.
For (Jesus) is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. The writer of Ephesians is not talking about Blacks and whites but about Jews and Gentiles, the defining us and them for the first Christians. I don’t know that this division amounted to a caste system, but there were certainly similarities.
Some Jews would not share a meal with Gentiles or invite them into their homes. Gentiles could not enter the Temple in Jerusalem but had to remain in one of the outer courtyards. The first Christians were all Jewish, and initially, they did not allow Gentiles to join. If a Gentile wanted to join the church, they would need to become a Jew first. Men would need to be circumcised, and they would need to abide by Jewish dietary restrictions.
The first big, knock-down, drag-out fights in the church were over Gentiles being able to join. People like the Apostle Paul argued that being baptized into Christ was what made one a Christian, regardless of whether or not the were Jewish or circumcised. But the leaders of the church in Jerusalem insisted that Paul was wrong. Only Jews were allowed in.
By the time our letter was written, likely be a disciple of Paul, Paul’s viewpoint has become more accepted, and the church was becoming more and more Gentile in its makeup. But the writer insists that the church has not left its connection to Israel behind. Instead, Gentiles have been joined to God’s covenant with Israel, and the two groups have become one. For (Jesus) is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
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