Sermon: Call Stories

Luke 5:1-11 (Isaiah 6:1-8)

Call Stories

James Sledge                                                                                       February 10, 2019

On my Facebook feed I’ve seen some of my colleagues commenting on their churches’ annual meetings. It’s that time of year in the Presbyterian Church. Some churches make a big deal out of it and some simply vote on the pastor’s terms of call. In many congregations, including this one, the annual meeting includes electing a new class of elders and, if the church has deacons, deacons as well.

Electing people as elders and deacons has changed a lot over the years. At one time, becoming an elder on the Session was a little like getting put on the Supreme Court. You were likely to stay there until you retired from it or died. This had some good points. It made elder a very esteemed ministry, and it meant that churches were very selective in seeking out people who were called to such ministry.

There was a down side, of course. Sessions sometimes got pretty old and crusty. Some became heavily invested in making sure nothing ever changed. At some point the negatives outweighed the positives, and the denomination instituted the term limits that we have now where no one can serve more than six years without taking at least a year off.

And so we’re much less likely to have old and crusty Sessions. In many congregations, it is unheard of for anyone to serve more than a single, three year term, and incoming classes of elders and deacons are routinely filled with people who’ve never been one before. This sometimes makes it difficult to find enough people year after year to fill all the slots. Talk to anyone who’s ever served on a nominating committee, and you’ll likely hear about all the times people said “No” when asked if they would serve.

I served on a nominating committee at the church where I was a member before going to seminary, and the pastor is always a member of the nominating committee, so I’ve had a lot of experience with the process. In my previous church we even went to a system where the nominating committee came up names but the associate pastor and I made the actual calls to ask people if they would serve. It was an idea meant to take away what many saw as the most difficult part of being on a nominating committee and make it easier to recruit people for that.

Sermon: People of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

People of Love

James Sledge                                                                                       February 3, 2019

Way back in the spring of 1981, not long after Shawn and I had gotten engaged, we were visiting at her parents for the weekend. They lived in Gaffney, SC, only an hour from Charlotte, so we went down there often. And as we typically did on such visits, we attended worship at First Baptist Church in Gaffney, the church where Shawn had grown up.

We had begun thinking about wedding particulars, where the reception would be, who the bridesmaids and groomsmen were, and the elements of the service itself. Like a lot of people, we had agreed we wanted the words from today’s scripture reading used in the wedding, and as we sat in the pews, waiting for worship to begin on that Sunday morning, I opened up a pew Bible and began to search for the passage.

I knew the Bible somewhat, and I was reasonably sure that the passage was in one of Paul’s letters. I thought it was in 1 Corinthians, but after flipping repeatedly through its pages, I couldn’t locate it. I may have expanded my search to other books of the Bible – I don’t really remember – but  obviously I didn’t find it there either.

Only later did I discover why I couldn’t find the passage, even though I had been looking in the right place. In 1981, First Baptist Church of Gaffney still had King James Bibles in their pews, and in the King James translation, 1 Corinthians 13 reads differently. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing…  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Not exactly the sort of thing to sound all romantic at a wedding ceremony. We still used the Corinthians passage at our wedding, but not from the King James. In my twenty some years as a pastor, I’ve probably used this 1 Corinthians passage more than any other at weddings I’ve done. Always, of course, with a translation that says “love,” although I typically point out that this isn’t about romantic love.

Sermon video: Discerning the Body

Audios of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.

Sermon video: Spiritual Vitality Exam

Audios of sermons and worship available on the FCPC website.