Audios and 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.
Monday, August 29, 2022
Sermon video: Living Water and Cracked Cisterns (Jeremiah 2:4-13)
Sermon: Living Water and Cracked Cisterns
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Living Water and
Cracked Cisterns
James Sledge August
28, 2022
God seems genuinely shocked at the
situation, almost unable to comprehend how things could have ended up this way,
this way referring to Israel’s abandonment of their God. Jeremiah is made livid
by two different issues. One is worshiping the Canaanite god Baal, and the
other is failing to live by God’s ways, failing to follow the commandments and
law.The Prophet Jeremiah
by Marc Chagall
According to the prophet, the very people who should have led Israel in God’s ways have instead led her astray. The priests and the rulers and the prophets have all turned away from God and encouraged the people to do the same. It is a tragic situation that can only lead to ruin.
From what we know of the historical prophet Jeremiah, he was unimpressed by Temple worship and the royal house. In his view it was actual fealty to Yahweh and keeping the commandments that made Israel God’s people. But Israel was doing neither.
God’s shock at Israel’s behavior is rooted in all the blessing the Lord has showered on them. We heard some of these in our scripture this morning. God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, guided them through a barren wilderness, brought them to a good and fertile land, and established them as a successful people in that land.
Yet now Israel has turned away, seemingly forgetting all that God has done for them. They have traded the living God who brought them out of bondage for stone and metal idols, and the prophet employs a vivid metaphor to picture this situation. Unfortunately, many of us are unfamiliar with the elements of this metaphor, living water and cracked cisterns.
Monday, August 22, 2022
Vision Problems (Luke 13:10-17)
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Vision Problems
Luke 13:10-17
Vision Problems
James Sledge August
21, 2022
Back in the 1960s, a student at Y
James Tissot, 1836-1902, |
His professor was unimpressed by the paper and gave it a grade of C. Clearly the idea was impractical, and the cost would be prohibitive. No way the market would support the cost of developing a small airline for ferrying around letters and packages at night. And who would pay the high price of getting mail to its destination a couple of days early?
Not too many years later, that student founded Federal Express, now known as Fed Ex. In just over a decade, the company had a billion dollars in revenue and was being copied by UPS and others. The company was so successful and synonymous with overnight delivery that people began to say, “I’ll fed ex that contract to you.”
I’ve often wondered if that Yale professor ever reflected on the poor grade he gave that term paper. Did he wonder how he had failed to see what an innovative idea it was? Did it make him wonder about his own credibility as a professor?
History is littered with smart people, experts in their field, who dismissed cars as a passing fad, television as a ridiculous idea that could never compete with radio and the movies, or the phone as little more than a novelty. It’s amusing to recall how badly these experts missed in their predictions. How could they have gotten it so wrong?
It seems we humans have an impressive ability to misjudge the future, to misjudge what will work and what won’t, to misjudge where the world is really headed. Some of this is simply the limitation of being human. We can’t see into the future, and so it’s no big surprise when that we fail when we try.
But human limitations aside, we also fail to see the future because of poor vision that causes us to miss what later seem obvious signs of coming change. Our vision problems come from a trait we all share to one degree or another. We tend to think that our understanding of how things are is actually how they are and even how they should be. And so we’re usually very slow to accept different views of things, different ideas of what is possible, different ways of doing things. We label such things impractical, unworkable, ill conceived, etc.
When Jesus showed up, proclaiming that the day of God was drawing near, a day when the poor would be lifted up, justice would be done, people would be healed, restored, and experience new life, lots of people couldn’t see it. The problem was especially acute for religious leaders who often saw Jesus and his ideas as disruptive, irreverent, impractical, ill conceived, etc. Even when Jesus did amazing things in their presence, they still couldn’t see it. Jesus just went against the grain too much.
Monday, August 8, 2022
Sermon video: Spirituality of Money (Luke 12:32-40)
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Spirituality of Money
Luke 12:32-40
Spirituality of
Money
James Sledge August
7, 2022
St. Lucy giving alms, Bernat Martorell, c. 1435
Several years ago, we were visiting my
daughter and son-in-law in Austin, Texas, and we went into one of the many
quirky little shops there. While looking around I stumbled onto a playing card
sized refrigerator magnet that depicted a stereotypical image of Jesus in a
robe with a shepherd’s staff in one hand. With his other hand he appears to be
knocking on a door, and just above this image it says, “Jesus Is Coming.” Below
the image it says, “Look Busy.”
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
Our scripture reading for this morning is part of a longer section on discipleship. As Jesus and his followers draw closer to Jerusalem and the cross, he is beginning to teach them how they are to live when he is no longer with them. The disciples are indeed supposed to look busy because they will be about the work of the kingdom, of God’s new day.
Jesus urges his disciples not to worry about and strive for the things of the world. He says, “Instead, strive for God’s kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” It is in the context of this striving that Jesus speaks of selling possessions and giving alms, adding, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. In the gospels, Jesus talks a lot about money and treasure and their relationship to faith. I’ve never tried to verify it, but I’ve read that Jesus talks more about money and riches than he does about any other facet of human life. Clearly Jesus thinks that our relationship to money is a critical aspect of faith. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
This statement might seem simply to be an obvious statement of fact. If someone’s heart is really given to something, an activity, a cause, another person, then money tends to follow. If someone is totally onboard with a political candidate, really all in, then they are likely to donate money generously to the candidate, work as a volunteer making phone calls, or go door to door handing out campaign literature. It just makes sense that if someone has given their heart over to something, it will show up in how they spend the money and their time.
But I’m not sure that Jesus is simply stating a truism. Rather, I think he has the order reversed from a statement of fact. He’s saying that where you put your money, your heart will follow. That actually is in keeping with much that Jesus says about discipleship. He says that being a disciple starts with letting go, letting go of old ways, letting go of old priorities, and, according to today’s scripture, letting go of some of our treasure. It is a spiritual practice that helps form people into faithful followers of Jesus.
Monday, August 1, 2022
Sermon video: Generous to Others and God (Luke 12:13-21)
Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.
Sermon: Generous to Others and God
Luke 12:13-21
Generous to Others
and God
James Sledge July
31, 2022
The parable of the rich fool, 1585
I’ve likely mentioned this in some past
sermon, but many years ago, I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read, “The one
who dies with the most toys wins.” I’m assuming that whoever created this
bumper sticker meant it in a humorous way, but I also assume that the people
who would buy such a bumper sticker were the sort who liked their grown-up
toys.
print by Ambrosius Francken
Royal Library of Belgium
The list of grown-up toys is practically endless. Sporting equipment would seem to qualify as toys of sorts. There are people who spends lots of money on tennis rackets, golf clubs, bicycles, running gear (my favorite), snow skis, and so on. There are actual toys such as video games, skateboards, and remote-control drones. And then there are the really expensive toys such as sports cars, boats, motorcycles, ATVs, and the like.
I’ve owned my share of toys over the years. I used to fly fish and water ski a lot. I have a closet full of running shoes. And I’ve had six different motorcycles over the years. These toys have brought enjoyment, thrills, fun, adventure, a sense of accomplishment, and more to my life, but are they the major component of what makes for a full and meaningful life?
To say, “The one who dies with the most toys wins,” even in jest, implies that what gives life fullness and meaning is accumulating things. To a degree, that is the message our consumer culture sends out. Acquiring more will make you happy, content, secure. To which Jesus replies, “… one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."
So what does life consist of? If it isn’t an abundance of possessions that is central to life, what is? Another way to ask the question is what does is it mean to be truly alive and fully human?