​Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
Lenten Reading       Mark 1:9-15     Hala Mosrie   
 
*Hymn  12   Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
 
Prayer of Confession
O God, our strength and fortress, forgive us when we fail to trust in you.
We fall easily to temptation,
swayed by false words,
and false statements of our own making.
We choose ease and comfort over the claims made upon us
as Christians devoted in faith and service.
In turning from you, we settle for less than the abundant life you intend.
We keep the Good News to ourselves and neglect to demonstrate your generosity to those desperate to find relief.
Forgive us, Lord, and do not put us to shame.
Show us your salvation when we call upon you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, who died that we might live.  Amen.
 
*Hymn   698      Take, O Take Me As I Am
 
Assurance of Forgiveness
The Lord is generous to all who call on him.
God does not turn us away, but, desires to bring us into the glorious freedom offered in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Friends, know you are forgiven and be at peace.
 
Old Testament Reading      Deuteronomy 26:1-11
 
Moments With Our Young Disciples
 
Gospel Reading    Luke 4:1-13
Morning Message
 
It wasn’t until I walked into my bedroom Wednesday night and caught sight of myself in the mirror that it dawned on me why I’d received some funny looks when I stopped at a store on my way home from the Ash Wednesday service.
 
I had a black smudge right in the middle of my forehead. It was pretty unattractive.
And that’s as it should be, isn’t it?
 
Ashes, dark and grimy, traced on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. Two symbols in one: ashes to remind us of death and the sobering words, “From dust you came and to dust you shall return.” But in sort of a secret language, that truth is overlaid with the sign of resurrection…the empty cross.
 
Christians do not receive the sign of the cross to attract attention. They receive the sign of the cross to focus on who they are as human beings, bound in death and life to Christ.
 
Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent provide time to explore the mystery at the heart of the Gospel… that being a Christian means a new life through Christ.
 
And so Lent begins…forty days, except Sundays, between last Wednesday and Easter. The forty days remind us of other big events in the story of God and God’s people: the flood of Genesis, Moses’ sojourn at Mt. Sinai, Elijah’s journey to Mt. Horeb, Jonah’s call to Ninevah, and Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness, as we read just now.
 
In the early church, Lent was a time of preparation for baptism, which was done at the Easter vigil.
 
Imagine for a moment what that may have looked and felt like. New believers, many of whom were converts from some other faith, or no faith at all, were given months of instruction before the final act of commitment, baptism.
 
We light candles each Sunday, and special candles for baptism. In the early church, because baptisms were done in living, or running, water, they were conducted outside, and held just after midnight.
 
I can close my eyes and visualize the scene. Believers lining the riverbank or the lakeshore with torches, maybe singing songs of the faith, praising God in prayer, witnessing the uninitiated wade into the water, plunged beneath the surface, washed clean, raised as new-born brothers and sisters in this great communion of saints we call the Church.
 
Men and women were baptized in separate ceremonies, and they were baptized without a stitch of clothing on. When they came up from the water, they were wrapped in new robes, to symbolize the new life they put on in Christ.
 
Today, we still observe Lent. Catholics and Orthodox Christians have observed it for centuries. Presbyterians are late in coming to the practice. As you remember from church history, the Reformers, like Calvin and Zwingli, tossed out rituals that could not be found in Scripture and anything that they deemed “too Catholic.”  That was pretty short-sighted.
 
I am most appreciative that we have re-claimed Lent as a time set apart in the church year. Unlike the four weeks of quiet expectation we observe in Advent, the outcome of which is Christ’s birth, Lent plunges us into six weeks of somber reflection on our humanness, our penchant for sin, and our mortality. Remember those ashes.
 
In the lectionary texts, we will walk through the final days of Jesus’ life, and feel the pressure building between spiritual power and civil power.
 
And we will pray, as Jesus prayed, and sought God’s purpose and will for his life those forty days in the wilderness, as he prayed that night in the garden when all his friends fell asleep, and as he cried out to God in agony, in those excruciating final hours on the cross at Calvary. All of it adding shape and texture to the purpose of Jesus’ life.
 
What is your spiritual purpose? How did you come to faith? Did God call you in a dramatic way to love and serve him? Or was it a more gradual process? I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know God. As you’ve grown and matured, has your faith been strained or has it grown stronger?  I’ve experienced both. How is your faith different from your earlier years?
 
We received word last Sunday that Ernest Thompson, former Senior Minister at First Presbyterian Church, had died. He was 89. I worked with Ernest as the Christian Education Director there for several years. Time with Ernest shaped my faith in specific ways. I learned so much about being a pastor from him. On his last Sunday at the church, we had Communion. It was a solemn occasion. You could hear sniffles and muted crying all around the sanctuary. ET himself looked at the floor while the trays were being passed through the congregation. We had already begun to mourn our loss.
 
But, Ernest would be the first to say as important as the moment was, we would always be connected through our faith, and we must remember that we do not live by bread, even holy bread, alone, but by finding our purpose in the true bread of heaven, Jesus Christ.
 
In a staff meeting one day, we were all called on to share something of our faith story. Ernest had grown up in faculty housing at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, where his father was an esteemed professor. He was also heavily involved in the civil rights movement and was instrumental in launching the Presbyterian Outlook magazine, which is still published today.
 
ET, as he was affectionately known, was fully immersed in the life of the church, but yet, he didn’t show much interest in cultivating his faith. He described it as superficial. That is, until one summer, while working at Montreat, he heard the gospel message in a way that woke him up to the good news of the gospel, of life and death, and life after death, all wrapped up in the irresistible love and grace of Jesus Christ.
 
Upon his return home, he sat with his father and shared this newly-ignited faith.
 
To which, with a tear coursing down his cheek, his father said, “Son, that’s what I’ve been trying to teach you all along.”
 
In the Companion to the Book of Common Worship, we find this description of the Lenten season.
 
“What we hear during Lent is the power and possibility of the paschal mystery, and that the way of the cross, the way to Easter, is through death.
 
To appropriate the new life that is beyond the power of death means we must die with Christ who was raised for us.
 
To live for Christ, we must die with him.
 
New life requires a daily surrendering of the old life, letting go of the present order, so that we may embrace the new humanity.
 
“I die every day!” asserts Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:31.
 
Resurrection necessitates death as a preceding act.
 
The church’s peculiar Lenten claim is that in dying we live, that all who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death. To be raised with Christ means one must also die with Christ.
 
In order to embrace the resurrection, we must experience the passion of Jesus. The way of the cross, the way to Easter, is through death of the “old self.”
 
In dying, we live.
 
Therefore, at the beginning of Lent, we are reminded that our possessions, our rulers, our empires, our projects, our families, and even our lives do not last forever.
 
The difference in age between my daughters, Katy and Sarah Beth, is nearly six years. Like most kids who have enjoyed first or only-child status, Katy had a wee streak of jealousy that sometimes came out in devilish behavior.
 
When SB became mobile, I put her in a playpen while I took cooked or did something that required both hands to accomplish. She wasn’t pleased about that habitat, but she could tolerate it for a little while.
 
One day, I noticed she seemed to be crying a lot. I let that go for awhile, but, soon walked from kitchen to living room to see what the problem could be. And, what I saw made me laugh and it made me hurt: Sarah Beth had just learned to pull herself up to standing, her little fingers gripping the padded rail around the playpen, quite pleased with herself, her eyes firmly focused on her big sister, whom she adored. And her adored big sister was peeling those baby fingers off the rail, one by one, until SB lost her grip and fell backwards with a thud and let out a stunned cry.
 
I was concerned for years that she was irreparably scarred, until I caught SB lowering a giant stuffed clown down the wall from her top bunk-bed to the bottom bunk to scare Caroline, who had clown phobia. That’s the way it goes in the world of siblings.
 
I tell you this story because the liturgies throughout Lent try to pry loose our fingers, one by one, from presumed securities, and plunge us into unknown baptismal waters, that turn out to be not only our death tomb, but surprisingly, our womb of life. Rather than falling back into nothingness, we fall back on everlasting arms.
 
Death? How can we fear what we have already undergone in baptism?
 
It is the power of the resurrection on the horizon ahead that draws us into repentance toward the cross and tomb. Through the intervention of God’s gracious resurrection, lifelong changes in our values and behavior become possible.
 
By turning from the end of the old self in us, Lenten repentance makes it possible for us to affirm joyfully, “Death is no more!” and to aim toward the landscape of the new age.
 
Faithfully adhering to the Lenten journey of “prayer, fasting and almsgiving” leads to the destination of Easter.
 
So, I invite you to observe a Holy Lent. Take up a spiritual practice. Read one of the gospels from beginning to end. Take your time. Pray. Experience God in silence. Wait for a sense of God’s presence and listen with your heart. Help someone. Practice fasting if your health allows.
 
In all things, I urge you to ponder these words,
“Lent is the season of penitence. To be repentant is to be aware of your human nature, your tendency to sin, and the remorse you feel as a result. And, to repent means to turn around…to turn from sin and to turn toward Christ, that your life speaks of your love and devotion.
 
In our baptism and confirmation rites we are asked, “Do you reject sin and its power in your life, and is it your intention to turn from sin and toward God?”
 
And the answer is, “I will, with God’s help.”
 
And so, my dear friends, we will, with God’s help.
 
 
*Affirmation of Faith         Apostles’ Creed p. 35
*Hymn   580     Gloria Patri
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Prayers of the Faithful and the Lord’s Prayer
 
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings
*Hymn   607   Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication
Gracious God, we give you thanks for all your gifts, including these forty days of Lent.
May they be to us a time of deep searching, be it during walks into the wilderness or courageous choices.
May we dedicate ourselves anew to discipleship, even as we dedicate our gifts to your kingdom.  Amen.
 
*Hymn   215   What Wondrous Love Is This?
*Blessing
These Lenten days will take us to the cross of Christ.
Go forward, knowing that you do not walk this way alone.
Do not fear, for the Word of God empowers us and the Holy Spirit sustains us.
May the God of the exodus lead us into freedom.
May the Holy Spirit bind us to God’s will and to fellowship with believers over time and space.
May Christ Jesus, God’s own Son, show us the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
 
Announcements
Today is ECCHO and Cents-ability Sunday. Your contributions for those in need are appreciated.
 
A Lenten study is offered today,  (you’ll have to fill this in per last week’s bulletin)The study begins at 10:00AM in the chapel.
 
A congregational meeting will be held April 2 immediately following worship. This is the Annual Meeting during which committee chairs present a review of mission and ministry.
 
*Postlude

​Prelude
*Call to Worship
“Listen to him!” Our God cries from the mountaintop.
It is good for us to be here. We bow before our God in worship.
May God’s Word resonate in our ears and sink into our innermost beings.
May our hearts be transfigured, our minds filled with understanding
 
*Hymn 1    Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!                       
 
Prayer of Confession
God of compassion,
in Jesus Christ you reveal the light of your glory.
But we turn away, distracted by our own plans.
We confess that we speak when we should listen,
and act when we should wait.
Forgive our aimless enthusiasms.
Grant us wisdom to live in your light
and to follow in the way of your beloved Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
 
*Hymn  698          Take, O Take Me As I Am
 
Assurance of Forgiveness
Though we were blinded by sin,
God’s saving light has been beamed into our hearts
that we may see the radiant mercy of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
Sisters and brothers, I declare to you, your sins are forgiven. Be at peace.  Amen.
 
Old Testament Reading       Exodus 24: 12-18                 
 
Time With Our Young Disciples
 
Gospel Reading         Matthew 17:1-9
Morning Message
 
I slid into a place in the choir loft, not quite late, but not quite on time either.
The woman next to me turns and says, “Cinda, I’m so glad you’re here.  I want to ask you something.”
 
Great. I had kids to get home after church, go over homework, get baths, and tucked into bed. Wednesdays often turned out to be late nights which became grumpy mornings on Thursday if the girls were up too late.
 
I knew I was in trouble, because a conversation with this person was never quick. But, I stayed after the rehearsal to listen to her concern.
 
“So, what’s up?”
 
“Well, I don’t understand the transfiguration. Can you explain it to me? And please don’t say it’s a mystery…or a metaphor. I’ve heard that before and its not very satisfying.”
 
“It’s a hard one for me, too. That’s why I’m in seminary. I’m hoping to learn. You might ask Dr. So and So.”
 
“I guess I could do that.” She walked away, disappointed.
 
Not wanting to be caught flat-footed again, I took a few books from the library, which did provide some background and insight.
 
We should remember that the gospel of Matthew is written to a Jewish audience. There is a lengthy genealogy in the first chapter which anchors Jesus’ place in Hebrew history. We hear echoes of Old Testament stories. And then, there’s the story of the transfiguration, and it’s more than a hint, more than an echo. We clearly remember Moses up on Mt. Sinai, receiving the law, the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, from God.
 
It is Elijah and Moses who appear with Jesus, the prophet and the law-giver. It is as though they have come to accompany Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem.
 
Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus up the mountain. Tension has been building around them. Jesus has a following. People are responding to news of a new way of life, one that shuns strength of oppression and values strength born of the spirit of righteousness and peace.
 
The trouble was the authorities weren’t having it. It threatened their power. And Jesus and his friends could see around the corner.  The next days and weeks ahead were fraught with danger.
 
And so they begin to look for alternatives, a second opinion, a way to stop time. Here on the mountaintop, they find safety and declare that they will build a sanctuary around themselves, and stay awhile, far from the crowds and the authorities. In that way, they might be spared the heartache to come.
 
Lent does that to me. True confession time: I love Advent and Christmas and the weeks of Epiphany which call us to prolong the singing of carols and the warmth of candlelight. But, way before I’m ready, Lent steals its way into the calendar and we’re headed to Jerusalem all over again.
 
The inevitability of the cross hangs like a pall over us and we can’t do anything about it. So, we pack away the decorations, silence our bright alleluias, dress the sanctuary in solemn purple garb, and pray it doesn’t hurt all that much getting to Easter Sunday.
 
Are any of you Pat Conroy fans? I am, too. Last week I caught the end of “The Great Santini,” which is the movie version of the book by the same name. It starred Blythe Danner and Robert Duvall. “The Great Santini” is the name given to Bull Meacham, a decorated fighter pilot in public and a despicable man in private. He inflicted pain upon his family for fun, beating his wife and children, subjecting them to all sorts of hardship, thanks to his alcoholic rages and bullish behavior. And, true to type, Great Santini declared he was cruel and hateful as a demonstration of his love. It was his way of making his family tough in the world. He was so good at convincing them of that, that when he died, his wife ordered her four children to show no emotion, not a tear, at the funeral, as it would be an offense to their father’s memory. It should be said that The Great Santini was the story of Pat Conroy’s own family, his father the famed fighter pilot and household abuser.
.
We know what this is all about though, don’t we? Santini was a deeply wounded human being. We aren’t provided his history, but he was a hot mess. He believed it was disgraceful to reveal one’s weakness. In fact, he taught his son to prove his strength and courage whenever he was challenged. His version of the golden rule was “do unto others before they do unto you.”
 
“Build a fortress around your soul,” he seemed to demand. Do not risk the price of heartache or joy. Criticize, humiliate, reject people before they can reject you. Be tough.
 
Those aren’t kingdom values. Strength and courage are important. But sometimes our strength manifests itself in our vulnerability.  Admitting our fear.  Accepting hard facts. Facing the future. Railing at God. Yes, even that’s ok. God can take it.  Even Jesus asked God to change his mind.
 
God is present in suffering and sacrifice and when we accept that, we find ourselves standing on Holy Ground.
 
C. S. Lewis writes a final word from Aslan in The Silver Chair: “Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly. I will not do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it doesn’t confuse your mind. And the signs you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearance. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”
Author Maryetta Anschutz writes, “God prepares people in the transcendent encounters of our lives to endure the world below, the world of the cross, the world that has the ability to break us and yet is never beyond God’s redemption.
The moment of transfiguration is that point at which God says to the world and to each of us that there is nothing we can do to prepare for or stand in the way of joy or sorrow. We cannot build God a monument, and we can’t keep God safe. We also cannot escape the light that God will shed on our path. We cannot escape God, Immanuel among us. God will find us in our homes and in our workplaces. God will find us when our hearts are broken and when we discover joy. God will find us when we run away from God and when we are sitting in what seems like hell. So, get up and do not be afraid.”
 
Today I might say to my choir buddy that the purpose and meaning of the Transfiguration is that God is at work transforming the world God created, including you and me, day by day and year to year.  It is mystery, one of the ways we are reminded that we are all moving toward that day when the “earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9)
 
 
*Affirmation of Faith                      Apostles’ Creed  p. 35
*Hymn  581      Gloria Patri
 
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
O Lord, our God,
you are great indeed, clothed in majesty and splendor,
wrapped in light as with a robe.
In the solitude of a mountain height,
you revealed your glory in Jesus Christ
even as he faced his crucifixion.
We praise you for this glimpse of the mystery of our redemption.
Transfigure us by your Spirit,
and let your love shine in all we do and say
that all the world may see the radiance of your light,
Christ Jesus, your Son,
Who guides all creation to the fullness of your glory.
We lift up those in our community of faith, our friends, and family members who are in need of healing and wholeness, all those in need, the forgotten, lost, and abused,
and pray for the coming of your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
We pray as Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father…Amen.
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings
*Hymn  607   Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication
God of grace, you provide for us in more ways than we can know or understand. Accept these offerings as signs of our gratitude and bless them to carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ, that the radiance of his light may transform hearts and minds and wills.
 
*Hymn  193        Jesus, Take Us to the Mountain
 
Blessing                                                           Nathan Nettleton, Laughingbird.net
Go now, and speak of what you have seen of God.
Do not cling to the holy moments when heaven overshadows you.
But, as the Lord lives, listen to Christ and follow him from the places of revelation to the places of mission.
 
And may God shine the light of glory into your hearts.
May Christ be with you and never leave you.
And may the Spirit renew the image of God within you.
 
*Postlude

Click here to download printable PDF for February 12, 2023

​​Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
 
*Call to Worship
Happy are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the way of the Lord.
Happy are those who keep the Lord’s decrees,
who seek the Lord with their whole heart.
 
*Hymn 366        Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
 
Prayer of Confession
Almighty God, you gave the law to guide our lives.
May we never shrink from your commandments,
but, as we are taught by your Son, Jesus,
strive to fulfill the law in perfect love, aware of our occasions of hard-heartedness and sin.
Forgive us and set us free to live in the fullness of your love.  Amen.
 
*Hymn  698         Take, O Take Me As I Am
 
Assurance of Forgiveness
God is love.
Those who abide in love abide in God
and God abides in them.
Friends, God’s word is true and completely reliable.
We are loved, forgiven, and freed. Alleluia! Amen.
 
First Reading    1 Corinthians 13:1-3
 
Time With Our Young Disciples
 
Gospel Reading       
 
Morning Message
 
Our old and trusty Scottish friend, William Barclay, says there is no commandment or speech of Jesus that has caused so much discussion and debate as his commandment to love our enemies.
 
I can certainly relate to that. Loving those who hate me, hurt me, or worse, mistreat my loved ones, will not inspire any tender affection here.  How about you?
 
Barclay suggests we unpack this speech before we react to or try to follow it.
 
So, let’s go to Greek class for a few moments. In Greek, as you likely know, there are multiple words for “love.”
 
Eros, is passionate love, the intimate physical expression of love between two people.
 
Philia, is the love for our nearest and dearest, our family, children, our closest friends.
Sometimes we call it “brotherly love.” When you cross the 17th St. Bridge coming from Chesapeake to Huntington, if you look to the buildings below on the right you will find the Philadelphia Baptist Church. A church where brotherly and sisterly love is, hopefully, valued and demonstrated.
 
Agape is maybe the most complicated type of love to describe. It is the active feeling of benevolence toward the other person. It means that no matter what that person does to us we will never allow ourselves to desire anything but that person’s highest good; and we will deliberately go out of our way to show kindness and fairness to him or her.
 
This is a tall order and does not always come naturally. You may be inclined on a windy day to chase down your friendly neighbors trash can that has blown down the street. But, ask yourself if you would do that for your grumpy or mean neighbor. Some of you would regardless.  I would argue that there are indeed some people we just shouldn’t engage because to do so would cause someone harm. There’s nothing wrong with exercising discretion.
 
The love we bear for our nearest and dearest is something we cannot help. Our language describes the mystery of this by saying things like, “we fall in love.” It is attributed to a force beyond ourselves. We will celebrate Valentine’s Day this week. The aisles at my most frequented shopping places are just loaded with colorful lush bouquets of flowers and chocolate- covered delights. Valentine’s Day is a feast for the senses. And memories.
 
At what moment did you “fall in love” with that special person in your life? Did you resist that feeling? Could you? I could not. I fell in love with the graduate assistant to the Director of Choirs at Marshall. A concert was scheduled right before the end of the semester. Unfortunately, due to unexpected precipitation, the Mud River flooded our neighborhood and I couldn’t get out to participate in the concert. When I called the grad assistant to report this, he offered to come and pick me up. I don’t know how he would have accomplished that, but, he was willing to try. And for 40-plus years, he has been my problem-solver, and a good one. Only one of the reasons I love him.
 
But this love Jesus is calling for, a love for our enemies, is not so much a matter of the heart as it is a matter of the will. It is something which, only by the grace and help of God, we intentionally do.
 
Barclay points us to some important characteristics of what he calls the Christian ethic, which is the foundation for the agape form of love:
 
First, the Christian ethic is positive.  It does not exist by not doing things, but by doing things intentionally. Jesus gave us the Golden Rule, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. 
 
We can find that same rule in other languages and cultures, but it is often set out in a negative statement. For instance, Hillel, one of the most revered Jewish Rabbis, was once asked to teach a man the law while he stood on one leg.
 
Hillel answered like this, so goes the legend, “What is hateful to thee, do not to another. That is the whole law and all else is explanation.”
 
Philo, the Jewish teacher of Alexandria, explained it this way:  “What you hate to suffer, do not do to anyone else.”
 
Isocrates, the great Greek orator, said, “What things make you angry when you suffer them at the hands of others, do not you do to other people.”
 
You can see what we mean then about this ethic not to just avoid wrong-doing, but to intentionally do what is good. It is not just to stay out of trouble, but to invest some energy into doing something good even when you know it won’t be reciprocated or appreciated.
 
Who does that? Who, seriously, is capable of living with that kind of dissonance? Public servants, for sure. Teachers do this every day. Treating students equally, seeking to educate and enrich young lives while working through the many challenges with which they are presented.
There are countless people in this community and beyond who get up every day and ask what they can do to make someone’s life better. You can learn a lot about people in crowds. People who keep their cool while others around them become impatient or rude. I’m not always successful at this, but, I try to remind myself that we’re all just doing our best, in good circumstances and not-so-good ones.
 
Who watches “Blue Bloods?” It’s one of my favorite shows, though I missed the earliest shows. I thought, based on the name, that it was about a family of aristocrats, like “Dynasty.”  But, I had missed the word play. In this case, “Blue Bloods” is about the life and times of the Reagan family of New York City, who are bound together not just by their Irish Catholic faith and ancestry, but by their common calling to serve the citizens of New York in various aspects of law enforcement.
 
New York City is sometimes called the capital of the world. And indeed, it seems so. Soaring to the top of the Empire State Building, we dream of humankind’s greatest achievements. Peering into the tunnels that lie beneath the city, we can witness the worst of human depravity. It is a city full of life and creativity and opportunity, filled with color and sound and masses of people. It is a city of great need, her citizens coping with poverty and homelessness and crime. It is a city of immigrants. It is a city of many faiths. It is city that has survived the greatest of tragedies. It is a city in love with itself. And at war with itself. Every day.
 
And in this bustling and beautiful metropolis the Reagan family lives and moves and has its being. It includes the patriarch, Henry, the retired Police Commissioner, his son, Frank, the current PC and patriarch- in- training. Two sons and a daughter- in- law serve as police officers. A third died in the line of duty. The only daughter is a lawyer in the District Attorney’s office. At least one grandson has joined the family business. And it’s a messy business, often unfair to the ones in blue, often cruel to their loved ones. What are these people made of?
 
We get a clue in the scenes set around the family dinner table, an event which happens every Sunday as regularly as Mass.  It is there we hear of the triumphs and tragedies of keeping the good people of New York safe and fully functioning, even at risk to their own safety and well-being. It gets complicated, yet they seem to thrive in it and love it all the more.
 
The Reagans don’t shrink from debate. They can be loud and lively, sometimes even angry and obnoxious. Stabbing a pork chop, one asks, “Which rules are non-negotiable? Whose interest do we serve?” And with that question, we are drawn into the most compelling of questions: “Which has the higher value: civic law or God’s law? Justice or mercy?” They can be in conflict.
 
Scripture tells us that God sends the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike. God breathes life into all of us, those who are faithful and those who give not a care toward God, the saint and the sinner, the one who grieves God’s heart and the one who brings him joy. God always pursues us. His love never ends.
 
So that’s the standard Jesus points us toward. None of us measures up to it this side of heaven. That last curious verse gives us a glimpse of what is to come, a future hope, a blessing so rich and full we cannot yet imagine it.
 
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
 
We lift up that hope each time we gather around the table, the big one set with china and crystal and the one set simply with bread and wine. All of us God’s grateful, un-finished, imperfect kids, asking God to “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord.
 
May it be so for all of us. Amen.
 
 
 
*Affirmation of Faith                 Apostles’ Creed p. 35
*Hymn  581 Gloria Patri
 
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
 
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings
*Hymn 607      Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication
 
*Hymn  692     Spirit, Open My Heart
 
*Blessing
Go now, with your trust in the Lord.
Do not be influenced by the ways of cynics and scoffers,
but delight in the Lord’s company, day and night.
And may God raise you to new life with Christ.
May Christ Jesus heal you of all that troubles you.
And may the Holy Spirit nourish you from the deep well
and keep you faithful and fruitful in all you do.  Amen.
 
*Postlude

​Prelude
Welcome and Announcements                                                         
*Call to Worship                    Psalm 147
How good it is to sing praises to our God.
For God is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
God is our Lord, and abundant in power.
God’s understanding is beyond measure.
 
*Hymn  744    Arise, Your Light Is Come!
 
Call to Confession
Isaiah exclaims, “Have you not seen? Have you not heard? “The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary,” but comes to us to renew our strength and restore us to right relationship with God and others.
 
Prayer
O God, our creator, redeemer, and sustainer, we confess our feelings of anxiety and uncertainty brought on by a continuing pandemic, extreme weather events, acts of senseless violence, and other threats. We look for help, but, sometimes it seems you are far away. Remind us that you are present to us, and to all your vulnerable children, to comfort and to bless in times of suffering and need. Renew our strength and restore our joy that we might mount up with wings like eagles to carry out each day’s purpose.  Amen.
 
*Hymn  698              Take, O Take Me As I Am
Assurance of Pardon
The God who fashioned the stars and the moon has come close to each of us with mercy and love. Hear the good news of the gospel: We are forgiven and freed to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. Know you are forgiven and be at peace.
 
Old Testament Reading                Isaiah 58:1-12
 
Time With Our Young Disciples
 
Gospel Reading      Matthew 5:13-20
The Morning Message
 
Today we continue to explore the Sermon on the Mount, according to the Gospel of Matthew, that we began last week. Again, the words are beautiful and familiar and we may know certain phrases by heart. The hazard of that can be that they are so familiar we barely hear them anymore. But, sometimes we will hear or experience them in a new way which adds to our understanding.
 
So, that’s where I hope to lead us this morning. Because I had some unplanned moments of clarity related to this text, regarding salt and light, this week. We’ll get to that shortly.
 
One of my favorite authors is Ruth Everhart. Ruth is a Presbyterian minister, my age in fact, who grew up in the Reformed Church, one of our Formula of Agreement Churches, in the Midwest. Her father was a pastor, too. Ruth went to a church-related college and was a good and happy student until the night a serial rapist broke into the home she shared with several other female students and brutally assaulted them. Ruth wrote a book about her recovery from that experience called, Ruined, which was named “book of the year” by Christianity Today.
 
That experience has led her to be an advocate for the rights of women and girls, particularly on issues involving sexual assault and its fallout. She participated in the Women’s March of 2017 in Washington, DC. She wrote a reflection of that day which I would like to share with you:
 
During an election cycle we citizens become familiar with stump speeches. These are the points that candidates repeat at every campaign stop. If the speakers are particularly adept, the refrains they use will echo even after they have moved on to the next stop. Indeed, certain phrases  become associated with a particular face and voice and agenda, so that even fragments of the speech will call to mind the candidate’s entire platform.
 
The Sermon On the Mount is Jesus’ stump speech, if you will, and the Beatitudes are nine refrains that echo long after Jesus has moved on. Picture the “blessed are” statements on placards, borne aloft in the sea of faces around Jesus. These fragments form the context about salt and light-which seem simple enough to be campaign slogans, but are followed up with the confounding exhortation about righteousness: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
 
Righteousness and blessing are the bookends to the Salt and Light passage.
 
“You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”
Not, “You will be the salt of the earth or you will be the light of the world.”
You are now, and here, salt and light.
 
Who is Jesus addressing? Who is the salt of the earth? Those who are humble, those who mourn, those who are meek, and those who thirst after doing what is right.
 
Salt creates thirst, does it not? The righteous are blessed to thirst after doing what is right.
They are salty and so they thirst.
 
And who is Jesus calling the light of the world? Those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, and those who receive abuse for standing up for what is right.
Righteousness is a form of light, is it not? The righteous are blessed to show forth purity and peace as they stand up for what is right. They shed light through their actions.
 
Remember Ruth Everhart penned these words in 2017, but, they are still relevant, I think. She continues:
Stump speeches may seem a sour topic right now, a far cry from the gospel and its good news. Our nation is in the midst of a particularly contentious political season, one shedding more heat than light. You might even say we’re embroiled in this season. Perhaps the word “embroiled” tickles my fancy because something embroiled begs for seasoning, it begs for salt. And surely it makes us thirsty to do what is right.
 
Perhaps the most difficult part of this passage is that it cycles us back to righteousness, which we understand in the abstract, but struggle with in the particulars.
 
Any disciple worth her salt knows that righteousness is the goal. It forms our telos-that thing we drive toward. But how will keeping the Pharisaic law drive us toward righteousness? Jesus does not elaborate.
 
The answer must be found in salt and light, these elemental things that are so multifaceted. Even though they are simple, there is nothing innocuous about either element.
 
Salt preserves. Salt flavors. But salt can also sting and burn and abrade.
Light dispels darkness. Light sheds illumination. But light can also blind, either temporarily or permanently.
 
Christians want to be salt and light, but we struggle to know how and when, and to what extent.
Take, for example, our recent political theater…which brought on the Women’s March in Washington, with sister marches around the country, and indeed the globe.
 
For some marchers, this was a way to be salt and light, while for others, the marchers were nothing but abrasive.
 
So, should we spend more time talking about being salt and light, or more time marching and clarifying the messages we carry? Which is easier for our churches to do? Which is a more direct response to the times we find ourselves in?
 
Would Jesus have marched? Would Jesus have blessed the marchers? (Let’s think metaphorically about marches and marching. It could be a protest or intervention of some other type. The important part is to be moved to action.)
 
How does the gospel improve the flavor of our life together-as followers of Jesus, as congregations, as a nation? What if we weren’t afraid of the sting of salt?
 
What if we spent less time arguing about the design of our lampstands- as really, so much Christian talk amounts to-and spent more time shedding light on the darkness that surrounds us?
If you intend to be salty, well-lit disciple, be advised to re-read Jesus’ stump speech. The waving placards of “Blessed are” might seem quite inspiring until you realize Jesus actually means business. This righteousness is not for the faint of heart. What Jesus has in mind might be stinging, blinding righteousness!
 
I mentioned that I heard, or experienced, this text in a new way recently. Most of you are aware that I’ve been waiting to have cataract surgery. It was scheduled, then cancelled because the doctor got sick. It’s back on the calendar for April. Anyway, because so much time has lapsed between evaluations, I had to go through that process again last week. For such an exam, the doctor requires his patients to go without eye makeup for 48 hours. I’ve talked about this before. I’m vain. I don’t like this rule. So, after my eyes had been dilated and examined and dates set for surgery, I went out into the morning sunlight. It was not a particularly bright day, but, I could barely open my eyes without sunglasses. Never-the-less, because I had to run some errands before going home, I pulled out my make-up bag and applied some eyeliner and mascara to make myself more presentable. Or, I tried to anyway. Like I said, I could barely see when I took off my sunglasses.
 
I ran those errands and made it home a couple of hours later. When I walked into the bathroom, the face looking back at me from the mirror looked like someone had applied magic marker to my eyes then I had fallen asleep with my face in a pillow. Pretty frightful.
 
Light can be enormously revealing and it isn’t always pretty. In fact, light can reveal a world of pain and injustice. But, the only way to overcome what is unsightly, what is disturbing, what is not right, is to throw on the light.
And then there is the matter of salt. We bought a new set of knives awhile back. I was using one to slice an orange and underestimated how much pressure I had to exert. They are very sharp. I sliced my finger as well as the orange. And for three days, it burned and stung whenever it came into contact with an abrasive substance, usually salt or something acidic like the orange. And again, the only way to avoid the pain, was to cover it up, prevent contact with offenders. And I find I do a lot of that. Avoid those things which abrade. And that cuts both ways, right? Something hurts, gets under our skin, maybe even tears us apart, and we need to act, to do something to set it right. Maybe we march or run for office or intervene in an abusive situation. We are salt when we are moved to act.
 
Friday night was cold and dark. Puppies need to be walked frequently, cold and dark, or not. So, on one of our trips outside, I was shivering and hoping Maeve would make it snappy. I wanted to go back inside. The back porch light was on, but it doesn’t provide quite enough light. I’ve been stumbling around for a month now whenever I walk the dog. She apparently can see just fine.
 
But, instead of dragging me around, Maeve suddenly plopped herself down on the cold, hard ground and started barking. She was looking up toward the mall, which means, she was looking to the north west and barking her head off at a single star overhead. It wasn’t a threatening “This is my yard. Go away” kind of bark. It was a “Wanna play?” kind of bark. Pretty fascinating to see her discover something about the universe in which she lives and moves and has her being.
 
I turned her around so that she would see a whole constellation behind her and the moon waxing full. She ignored my efforts and went back to her conversation with the single star, the solitary light that stood out in the inky sky.
 
I was a yogi for years. One of my favorite moments in a yoga session was at the end of the hour when we would clasp our hands in front of our hearts, lean slightly forward and say, “Namaste,” which I have understood to be, “The divine light in me salutes the divine light in you.”
 
Namaste, friends. May you be salt. May you be light. May you live in God’s divine light. Today and always.
 
*Hymn  314   Christ, Be Our Light   verses 1, 2, and 3
 
*Affirmation of Faith            Apostles’ Creed  p.35
*Hymn   581          Gloria Patri
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer                  
Holy and gracious God,
we give thanks for all the blessings of this life: for comfortable homes, nourishing food, medical care when we are sick; for work to do and strength and ability to do it; for the gift of good neighbors and the love of our families.
Loving God, fill those who suffer, struggle, or live in fear, with peace and reassurance.
Comfort those who weep, heal the broken and shattered, and welcome the lost.
Renew in us the joy of your salvation and restore in us a willing spirit.
We pray as Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father…Amen.
 
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings
Offertory
*Hymn  607    Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication
Blessed are you, O God.
Through your goodness, we have been blessed with the gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Use us, and what we have gathered, to strengthen your kingdom on earth and benefit those who have need in body, mind, or circumstance.
We offer our gifts through Jesus Christ, who died that we might live. Amen.
 
*Hymn    314    Christ, Be Our Light    Verses 4 and 5
 
*Blessing
Go now, and follow Christ wherever he leads you.
By the grace of God, be all you have been called to be,
and cast wide the net of God’s love.
Remind one another of the good news, and hold fast to your saving faith.
In peace, go out to love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
*Postlude

​Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
*Call to Worship
Be still and know that God is.
God was, also, in the beginning.
And when all human striving has ceased, God will be.
From everlasting to everlasting, God is who God will be, worthy of our worship and praise.
 
Opening Prayer
O God, source of all goodness and beauty, your grace comes fresh every morning. At the dawn of each new day you greet us with light and possibility. We thank you for the ever-present love that satisfies our needs and illumines our paths.
May we be reminded today of your words of life, commit them to our hearts, and live as joyful witnesses to the gospel of love.  Amen.
 
*Hymn  475   Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
 
*Prayer of Confession
Holy and merciful God,
in your presence we confess our failure to be what you created us to be.
You alone know how often we have sinned in wandering from your ways,
in wasting your gifts, in forgetting your love.
By your loving mercy,
help us to live in your light
and abide in your ways,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen.
 
Hymn   698     Take, O Take Me As I Am
Assurance of Forgiveness
God decided, through a message some considered foolish, to save those who believe.
Through our life in Christ Jesus, we have been put right with God,
and set free to be God’s holy people.
Sisters and brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
 
First Reading   Micah 6:1-8
Moments With Our Young Disciples
Second Reading                 Matthew 5:1-12
Morning Message
 
 
The Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Monterey is one of the most breath-taking sights in America. Miles of ocean landscape, so different from what we Atlantic beach vacationers are familiar with, hundreds of sunbathing seals along the shoreline, acres of asparagus and strawberry farms, the chilly spring air warmed by a sun rising to reveal an ocean painted in brilliant gold leaf.
 
Capping off a week touring the San Francisco area, we had boarded the bus with forty students and their parents early on a Sunday morning, the last full day of our trip. The hotel sent us off with a grab and go breakfast of a muffin and some fruit. I had been asked to offer the group a brief time of worship when the opportunity presented itself, so, I carried my small copy of the Book of Worship. I pictured all of us gathering on a rocky beach landscape, wildly crashing water offering a cold baptismal spray. It promised to be an extraordinary day. An experience right off the bucket list for many. Maybe even some of you.
 
And…I missed it. Those of you who have suffered from migraines will recognize what was going on when I say an aura wrapped its evil arms around me and started squeezing one side of my head before it started jumping on my stomach.
 
On what should have been counted as a day of glorious blessing, I was miserable.  It had the potential for creating misery for those around me. I just tried to keep my eyes closed and pray for relief.
 
In Hebrew there is a beautiful word that calls up moments of blessing. Chesed. (hesed). It is a way of describing moments in life when one realizes that God is present and has made God’s love and care known in small inconspicuous ways.
 
I had an Old Testament professor who explained that chesed for him meant hot coffee in the morning and making a sufficient enough salary to keep his daughters in Gap jeans. The blessed life according to Grant.
 
It is to the blessed life Jesus points in this passage. And for many years, I had the wrong idea about it.  I struggled with it.  I would read blessed are the poor, the hungry, the hated and hurt, and know the end of the sentence is going to be something like, “but, when you die and go to heaven, you won’t suffer these things,” it felt insincere, empty, and decidedly, not helpful.
 
Well, scripture does testify to heaven as a glorious place, free from any pain, disease, sorrow, or separation. The trouble is, there is often a lot of life between then and now. And the now-ness is overwhelming at times. Moments of chesed-ness are few and far between.
 
And for so many, near and far away, life is just that hard. Every day. Unrelenting misery. No evidence of blessing. We caught a glimpse of this Friday. News reports were warning that a police body cam videotape would be broadcast that day of the recent police action in Memphis, Tennessee. I had the dreadful feeling that the last horrible moments of a man’s life were being used to whet the public’s appetite for violence and death.
 
Jesus said to the suffering, “You are blessed, even though you suffer. Your reward is great in heaven.” I’m not sure how that plays in Memphis this morning. And I think if we want the gospel message to be palatable to doubters, we have to acknowledge that there are messages that are hard to understand, but it doesn’t mean the Christian faith is defective. It does mean that life is flawed and we have a helper, an advocate, a friend to bear with us in our trials.
 
The language of the Beatitudes is beautiful, but it isn’t a lovely Christian poem about the virtuous life or something we could do in counted cross stitch to hang on the wall. No. The Beatitudes, as delivered by Jesus, were words of hope for a world in transition. In his day, they were radical.
 
The audience to whom Jesus spoke was living in a land occupied by Roman oppressors. Those in power were elite imperialists who had no use or care for the common folk. The people who followed Jesus were drawn to him because they were hungry for a new way to live, and for a realm of justice and relief from harsh and rigid rule.  The Beatitudes offered hope and comfort in an age when there was little of either.
 
What Jesus is doing is describing a vision of how this world can be if God is at its heart. And, if God is at the heart of our world, then God is in the hearts of God’s people, and that’s you and me.
 
Episcopal priest, Barbara Brown Taylor, says, “I think Jesus should have asked the crowd to stand on their heads when he taught them the Beatitudes, because that is what he was doing. He was turning the known world upside down, so that those who had been fighting for breath at the bottom of the human heap suddenly found themselves closest to heaven, while those who thought they were on top of things found themselves flat on their backs looking up.”
 
In 1964, the artist, Sister Mary Corita was asked to submit a piece of art to the New York World’s Fair. The piece she created was filled with vibrant color. With it came this statement:
“On a mountain, Christ said these words, the Beatitudes. Ever since then men have said these words to each other each time with different gestures. Said yes, this is how it should be. This is the way to be happy.”
 
And then she used the bold colors of yellow, and orange, and cobalt, and magenta, and added the words of the world’s peacemakers: Anne Frank, Dag Hammarskjold, Albert Einstein, and John F. Kennedy among others.
 
How can we make our part of the world look more like the vision Jesus described?  And, does it mean we have to show up with our paintboxes, our toolboxes?
 
I think it does. Over the years I’ve worked with teams commissioned to help conflicted churches. Getting from conflict to resolution is never easy. Conflict never ended on the day we delivered our report. No. What we uncovered had to be dealt with, corrected. And they couldn’t do it without support and tangible guidance. The congregation had to re-imagine the vision of God’s kingdom in that place. And when so much has happened, when trust is broken, and friendships destroyed, that vision is illusive.
 
In Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, he offers this interpretation of the Beatitudes:
“You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all. God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry. Then you’re ready for the Messianic Meal. You’re blessed when the tears flow freely. For joy comes in the morning.”
 
Our friend Barbara Brown Taylor gets the last word this morning with these thoughts:
“Upside down, you begin to see God’s blessed ones in places it would never have occurred to you to look. You begin to see that the poor in spirit, the meek and those who mourn are not people you can help, but people who can help you, if you will let them, and that their hunger  and thirst for God are not voids to be filled but appetites to be envied.
 
Upside down, you begin to see that the peacemakers are not flower children but physicians, prescribing God’s own tranquility…Upside down, you begin to see that those who have been bruised for their faith are not the sad ones but the happy ones because they have found something worth being bruised for, and that those who are merciful are just handing out what they have already received in abundance.
 
The world looks funny upside down, but maybe that is just how it looks when you have got your feet planted in heaven.”
 
I thought my pain would never end that day in California. I knew I was ruining it for Ed. But when we stopped for lunch, the tour guide/bus driver, said, “Come on. I know just what you need. It’s not far. He led us to a restaurant on Cannery Row. You could dine in or outside where your view would be pretty spectacular. He ordered for me…an order of golden fried fish and chips and a giant Coke. He said I was to eat up and then I could chase it with a pot of tea. Caffeine and protein. That and another dose of TylenoI, I started to feel better. But I slept through the rest of the day, and missed the drive through Carmel-By-the-Sea looking for Mayor Paul Newman. I missed the Spanish missions and Pebble Beach. But, that was ok. I was better thanks to our bus-driving healer. A blessing. Chesed.
 
Yesterday, my neighbor called with news that her husband was in the hospital. No one wants to be hospitalized, but, they were being well-cared-for. Her pastor had been notified. Everyone was attentive and reassuring that her husband’s problem would be addressed immediately.
And, thanks to cell phones, they could be in touch with their daughter and other out-of-town family members. I was watching their house. She made it home before dark, which is an important factor at our age. Her husband has a kidney stone. His doctors were outlining a plan to retrieve it. All would be well.
 
So, friends, blessed are we…the one who writes the sermons and those who tolerate them. Those with headaches and kidney stones and those who bring remedies. Communities in trouble and those whose courage and vision will lead them out.
 
To God be the glory.  Amen.
 
*Hymn
*Affirmation of Faith    Apostles’ Creed   p. 35
*Hymn   581     Gloria Patri
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
 
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings including Cents-ability Offering
Offertory
*Hymn  607   Doxology
 
*Hymn  187    Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
 
*Blessing
Go out into the world,
walk with integrity.
do what is right.
Speak the truth with courage.
And may God bless you with divine mercy.
May Christ Jesus open your eyes to see God.
And may the Holy Spirit lead you in righteousness and peace.  Amen.
 
*Postlude