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,
ca. 1700

It took its sweet time this fall, but the cooler weather finally arrived, and winter weather
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.

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 John’s gospel tells the story of Jesus’ trial, Pilate is something of a comic but tragic figure. I say Jesus’ trial, but in John’s gospel, it is actually Pilate who is on trial. We hear only a small portion of the trial in our scripture this morning, but if we had read the entire account, we would have seen Pilate scurrying back and forth between Jesus inside the headquarters and the Jewish leadership gathered outside. For all his apparent power, Pilate is buffeted about, and the situation seems to be totally out of his control.

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

 

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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.

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.

Sermon: Gratitude, Trust, and Generosity

 Mark 12:38-44
Gratitude, Trust, and Generosity
James Sledge                                                                                     November 7, 2021

The Widow's Mite
JESUS MAFA, 1973

    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.

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.

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

 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength… You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

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.

Our sleep habits both reveal and shape our loves. A decent indicator of what we love is that for which we willingly give up sleep. I love my kids, so I sacrifice sleep for them (often)—I nurse our baby or comfort our eldest after a nightmare. I love my husband and my close friends so I stay up late to keep a good conversation going a bit longer. Or I rise early to pray or to take a friend to the airport. But my willingness to sacrifice sleep also reveals less noble loves. I stay up later than I should, drowsy, collapsed on the couch, vaguely surfing the Internet, watching cute puppy videos. Or I stay up trying to squeeze more activity into the day, to pack it with as much productivity as possible. My disordered sleep reveals a disordered love, idols of entertainment or productivity…

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?

Sermon video: Sight for the Blind

 

Audios of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.

Sermon: Sight for the Blind

 Mark 10:46-52
Sight for the Blind
James Sledge                                                                            October 24, 2021

Christ Giving Sight to Bartimaeus
William Blake, 1799

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.

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.

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

   Many years ago, I had my one experience of hobnobbing with political upper crust at one of those $500 a plate dinners. It was back during my time as a corporate pilot. I was flying for a businessman in Georgia who had gotten politically connected during the time that Jimmy Carter was in the White House. He had a construction company that built subsidized, low-income housing complexes, and so he saw political connections as critical to keeping his business going.

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.

Sermon video: Help Me, Jesus

 

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Sermon video: Out of Gratitude

 

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Sermon: Out of Gratitude

 Mark 10:2-16
Out of Gratitude
James Sledge                                                                                                 October 3, 2021

Christ and the Children
Emil Nolde, 1910

   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.”

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.

Sermon video: Forsaking All Others

 

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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

 

   Some years ago I stumbled across a wonderful sermon by Tom Long, homiletics professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, and one of the best preachers of his generation. In it he tells a story of speaking at some event on the other side of Atlanta and finding himself with a few hours to kill. Needing a haircut, he looked for a Supercuts, or some other place he could just walk in, and, well, I’ll just let him tell it.

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.

Sermon video: Welcoming the Invisible

 

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Sermon: Welcoming the Invisible

 Mark 9:30-37
Welcoming the Invisible
James Sledge                                                                            September 19, 2021

Christ Teaching the Disciples*

 

 

 

If Jesus first showed up in our day, rather than 2000 years ago, I wonder what his ministry would look like. There was no news coverage in the first century Roman Empire, no radio or TV, no cameras, cell phones, or social media. Today Jesus would no doubt be a trending topic on Twitter, and lots of people would be posting videos of him on Instagram. Jesus might make YouTube videos and post on Tik Tok. Things would look very different.

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 21^st 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.

Sermon video: Getting Behind Jesus

 

 Audios of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website

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.

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 4^th 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.

Sermon video: Humble Prayer

 

Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.

Sermon: Humble Prayer

 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
Humble Prayer
James Sledge                                                                                     August 15, 2021

Solomon's Prayer, illustration 
in the Luther Bible, 1522

 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.

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.

Sermon video: Who Are You?

 

Audios, videos, and texts of sermons available on the FCPC website.

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.

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.

Sermon video: More Than We Can Imagine

 Audios and videos of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.

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

 If you’re a regular to our worship services, you’ve no doubt heard me speak about Welcome Table, our program that provides people with a home cooked meal as well as a grocery store gift card. During much of the pandemic we expanded the gift card program to twice monthly, and at one point we were handing out $12,000 in gifts cards each month, something made possible by the incredible generosity of our members and others who donated to our hunger ministries.

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?