Sunday, October 13, 2024

Preaching on the 21st Sunday After Pentecost--October 13th, 2024

                                                

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Good News About Possessions, and the Eternal Life-Heaven-Kingdom of God   being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Preaching on the 20th Sunday After Pentecost--October 6th, 2024 (World Communion Sunday)

                                               

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Our Old Nemesis, Cardiosclerosis   being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Preaching on the 19th Sunday After Pentecost--September 29th, 2024

                                               

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Salted with Fire   being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Thursday, September 26, 2024

“ October Milestones ”

 

Dear Believers,

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  Along with cooler temperatures, a change in seasons, college football, and harvest …should be “rest.”  In the fall and winter, earth gets a kind of sabbath rest.  The land and soils literally rest, having given themselves in growing produce.  And I love the celebratory festivals and the gratitude that comes with the penultimate celebration of this season—Thanksgiving. 

But before we get to the “rest,” there’ll be a lot going on!  October begins with World Communion Sunday—a celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper that spans the globe, a sign and practice of our Christian understanding that we are all made one in Christ. 

The second Sunday in October will be marked by a congregational meeting to elect a new class of Session members, who will join session to lead our congregation next year.  It’s also the Sunday when we will gather following worship, to share a meal provided by “Chef” Martin, and receive the challenge budget for 2025. 

The first Sunday will be a reminder of how God offers God’s self to sustain us and our world.  God, we might say, gives the entirety of heaven to ensure human salvation—that God so loves the world, that God gives us Jesus.  The second Sunday is a reminder about how we can give in ways that help give God’s kingdom a foothold on earth.  We should be encouraged that we have many ways to support the life of faith—in what we have to give, or even in our own service—and that each of them, or all of them make a difference in transforming the world, in building the Kingdom of God. 

God gives. 

            We respond. 

                        God calls. 

                                    We act. 

                                                God loves. 

                                                            We love. 

The rest of the weeks of October won’t have special observances, but each Sunday is the constant reminder that is calling us out of nothingness and insisting we are loved and valued.  …It’s a message I wish the world understood, and would hear, better!  That we are loved and valued even when the world seems to be on fire with all the things not of God—greed, violence, oppression, worldly power and glory. 

That’s right.  We live in a world on fire with all the wrong kind of things, and we are still loved and valued by God who insists and invites us to claim other ways of living.  A God who gives us Jesus, who loves us, and whom we’re invited to share with others.  Something we share sacramentally, and something we share in the ritual of breaking bread with one another. 

This season in which we share warm meals, remind one another about the hard work we’ve participated in and given, we share not only the promise of God’s love, but also the grace that there’s more work to do.  So join us in celebrating God’s love in the next few weeks, and then being mindful of sharing the celebration with those around you! 

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Preaching on the 17th Sunday After Pentecost--September 15th, 2024

                                               

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Teaching A Not-so-Secret, Yet Subtle, Campaign for the Kingdom of God  being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Sunday, September 8, 2024

Preaching on the 16th Sunday After Pentecost--September 8th, 2024

                                              

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Astounded Beyond Measure   being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

" Stewardship Vibes "

 

Dear Believers,

I’m returning this month to one of my favorite places!  Not really a “place,” but more of a “reality.”  The “place” moves each year, so it’s never the same “space” even.  I could say, “it must be the people,” but each time, many of the people change, too.  Yes …one of my favorite places is Stewardship Kaleidoscope—an annual conference grounded in stewardship education and generosity, giving and fundraising, where the topics almost always come closely akin to the difficult financial realities churches and church leaders are facing …but each conference always traffics in unmitigated joy! 

Most of the time, when someone says, “stewardship,” most people (especially church people) think, “money” or “conservation"—or sometimes, the conservation of money!  Which leads church people to thinking about the lack of members …and decline …and sadness or even shame.  Put a bunch of these folks in the room and you can’t imagine there’d be much joy—but you’d be wrong!  Because stewardship is God calling to us to share in what God provides; where there’s no lack of resources, no shortage of love, no absence in the face of need, where we’re met with an abundance rather than enough.  For conference-goers, who may register for and show up all down in the mouth, worried and scared, afraid of not having what they need for their congregations, the conference becomes a lived in promise of the Psalmist decree—“weeping may endure for the night, but JOY comes in the morning.”  For most, simply showing up will end long nights of worry and anxiety! 

Most of us often think we know “JOY.”  But I’ve found over the years that JOY—born of gratitude—often goes missing in our lives.  Yes, most of us would say we experience times of joy; but I’ve learned by experience and with others, that these are like puddles after a rain, arriving and departing again, leaving us …wanting.  That even though we maintain lives rooted in worship and spiritual practices among a supportive community of fellow believers, our Joy is not always deep or abiding …and I’ve been shocked to find you may not even notice it!  You won’t even wonder where all your joy went; then, you’re hanging out with people who understand gratitude …when you realize your lack. 

Stewardship people know that JOY is almost always born of gratitude.  And gratitude is like a muscle that needs to be built up and exercised.  One of the easiest ways to begin is adopting language of gratitude—asking yourself: “What am I most grateful for?”  And “What am I lease grateful for?”  Simply talking “gratitude” begins to reveal the reliably JOYFILLED crevasses in every day.  But when you begin talking about gratitude, you more easily discover how to live IN gratitude; and when you LIVE IN gratitude, you can have different responses.  Like, having car trouble—you can be “least grateful” for the trouble, but “grateful” for a friend who can give you a ride.  “Least grateful” about having to find money for a repair; but grateful your store of riches includes someone who can give you a ride to Wal-Mart.  Stewardship people see differently, somehow knowing a deep, abiding sense of God’s presence, love, and joy. 

Stewardship people realize the whole economy of gratitude works the other way, too.  You hear stories like, “I didn’t want the waitress to be happy with a 15% tip for good service; I wanted her to feel ecstatic and know the joy of real appreciation.”  Or “That man might have been just fine with a $20 bonus for going out of his way, I just wanted to see the look on his face when it was a $50 bill instead!”  And …it’s never about the money; it’s always about passing around JOY!  …Joy that somehow always finds a way back to the one who gives it. 

It’s been one of the great privileges (and joys) of my life to serve on the planning team for the conference for nearly a decade.  It’s taught me that joy is almost always right in front of me.  And that’s surely been true, at First Presbyterian Church in Camden, too!  I’m so incredibly grateful for your witness and all that God’s love has provided for us! 

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Preaching on the 14th Sunday After Pentecost--August 25th, 2024

                                              

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Choose This Day Whose Kingdom You Walk With  being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Preaching on the 13th Sunday After Pentecost--August 18th, 2024

                                             

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Bread, Flesh, Wine, Blood, Mixed Up with Life   being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Preaching on the 12th Sunday After Pentecost--August 11th, 2024

                                            

You can hear an audio recording of  the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, “ Sleeping With Bread * ” (* The title of today's sermon comes from the book, Sleeping with Bread, by Dennis Linn, Shelia Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn.)  being preached, by CLICKING HERE.




Check out the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, Arkansas' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064