Videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermons and thoughts on faith on Scripture from my time at Old Presbyterian Meeting House and Falls Church Presbyterian Church, plus sermons and postings from "Pastor James," my blog while pastor at Boulevard Presbyterian in Columbus, OH.
Mark
1:14-20
Leaving
Where We Are
James Sledge January 24, 2021
Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” And the very first action associated with this call to repent and believe is inviting some fisherman to follow him. And immediately they (repented) and followed him. I know. It doesn’t actually say they repented, but that is what happened. They turned away from what they had been doing – fishing – left their nets, their boat, their father, and went with Jesus. There might not be anything evil or sinful about fishing, but they walked away from it, something that may well have been the only way of life they had ever known.
The word “repent” is not a word often used in general conversation. It’s not a word used often in Presbyterian churches other than when it shows up in the Bible. The word has taken on an almost totally religious sense and a negative one at that. “Repent!” comes from a bony fingered street preacher who’s pointing at someone he thinks will go to hell otherwise. Repent has come to mean, “Stop being bad, and start being good” or, more frequently, “Stop not believing in Jesus and start believing.” But in the Bible, while the word does mean to stop one thing and start another, it does not always follow that the thing is bad.
There is some repenting in our Old Testament reading. You might think I’m talking about the people of Nineveh who heard of God’s judgment against them. But in the verses we read, the one who repents is God. Bible translators are a bit queasy about saying God repented, and so they write, And God changed his mind… But “repented” is the literal translation.
I suspect that when we hear Jesus say, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news,” we assume it isn’t addressed to us. We already believe the good news, so we’re done. But that misses the fact that Jesus calls us to do more than believe. He calls us to follow him, and repenting is part of that.
Genesis 1:1-5; Mark 1:4-1
A Holy Wind
James Sledge January 10, 2021
Baptism of Jesus, Bazile Castera Mural in Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, Port-au-Prince, Haiti from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library |
This past week, and ill wind blew through Washington, DC, bringing sights I had never imagined, a wind that embodied fear, hate, racism, and privilege. And this wind was driven, in part, by the voice and tweets of our president.
The
wind blows and things change, sometimes in terrifying ways. But the wind also blows
in our Old Testament reading this morning. Those of you who learned the Genesis
creation account some years ago may recall it differently. Previous Bible
translations said something like In the beginning… the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. But in the newer translation we heard this
morning, a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
John 1:1-18
Unexpected, Embodied Love
January 3, 2021 James Sledge
During our long pandemic, streaming shows and movies has become an even more popular pastime. People are watching The Crown or The Queen’s Gambit, or catching up on movies or shows they’ve missed or re-watching ones they loved.
Even though I’ve not done much binging myself, I did do a little thinking about what really good movies I wouldn’t mind going back and watching again. I enjoy movies that a purely fun. I’ve seen Independence Day more times than I can count. But when I say really good movies, I’m speaking of ones that wrestled with some major issue, that were poignant, that moved me or troubled me in some way. Movies such as One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Lion King, To Kill a Mockingbird, Spotlight, and Saving Private Ryan, although I’m not sure I want to watch the Normandy landing part of that one again.
One movie that both moved and troubled me, perhaps because of its religious themes, was the 1995 film, Dead Man Walking. For those who never saw it, the movie revolves primarily around two characters, Matthew, a death row inmate played by Sean Penn, and Sister Helen, a nun played by Susan Sarandon. Matthew is despicable man with no sense of guilt for his crimes, no concern or sympathy for his victims. He is a walking poster-boy for the death penalty and seems to have absolutely no redeeming qualities.
Sister Helen is not blind to this. In fact she is quite repulsed by Matthew. Yet she feels compelled to keep coming to see him, to try and somehow reach him, to find the image of God somewhere underneath all the evil and hate and viciousness.
Matthew realizes Sister Helen’s religious motivations, and so he toys with her, seeing how much he can shock and infuriate her, testing the limits of her faith convictions. At times she considers not returning, but she always comes back.
Somewhere along the way, Sister Helen’s presence starts to become a comfort to Matthew. He’s not really sure why, but he misses her when she isn’t there. He’s upset when he is unable to see her for any length of time. At the same time he still mistreats her, and seems to try to drive her off. It is as if her presence brings him both comfort and pain.