Charlottesville

A prayer in light of recent events in Charlottesville, VA

God of justice, who sees into the hearts of all,

    your Light outshines the feeble flicker of the torches of hatred

    your goodness is greater than evil,

    your love compels us to break the silence, to speak the truth

    and to confess our sin.

With the prophet Isaiah we cry out—

    “Woe is me, for I am lost!

     For I have unclean lips

     And dwell among a people of unclean lips.”

In the face of this continuing unraveling of the fabric of our common life

May our ears be closed to the ugly diatribes of racists and the weak excuses of the fearful

May we have ears to hear the stories of our neighbors of color

       the respect to wait and listen as each story is told in its own voice

May we find the courage to acknowledge our privilege

     and our complicity in the evils of racism,

     and not to cease our striving for equality until justice rolls down like waters.

Our shoulders are bowed beneath the weight of our sorrow,

Our hands reach out to grasp a justice that seems illusory

Our hearts cry for a peace that seems so far off.

Our voices are hoarse, thick with tears,

as we pray for a way forward for all of your children

A way beyond racism and violence and privilege

For the courage to change our selves and our land

For faith and action that can bind us together.

We pray for our neighbors in Charlottesville— a city set on a hill

   grateful for their solidarity and courage in the face of evil

For neighbors of every race, and people of all professions

  as they gathered this day to rebuke the powers of evil

 We pray for comfort for families that now grieve unbearable losses

  For individuals who are wounded and broken in body or spirit

May your Spirit rise with healing in its wings

    and bring strength and wholeness to each.

We pray for ourselves, that this hurt will not fade from our minds

    before our hearts are broken open with Your passion for justice, mercy and love.

 Show up among us in our cities, our neighbors, and our wary, worried hearts

A Stranger without privilege or place

A Justice beyond hope

A Peace that passes understanding--Emmanuel, God with us.

In the name of your broken and resurrected son Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Laurie A. Kraus, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

The Image of Love

James 2:8 talks about the "royal law," loving your neighbor as yourself.  In my sermon today, I (Blake) used the example of the Atlas Abbey of Tibhirine in Algeria, where seven monks were murdered during the Algerian Civil War.  Here is what one of the monks, Brother Luc, wrote to a friend before he died:

We can only exist as men if we willingly become the image of love, as manifested in Christ, who, though innocent, chose to suffer the fate of the unjust.

There is also powerful film based on these events called Of Gods & Men.  Watch the trailer below:

Listening & Doing

If everybody's talking, nobody's listening.  What's a Christian to do?  "Be quick to listen and slow to speak," James 1:19 says, that we might hear God and hear one another.  But how do we do that?  William Ury has some suggestions in this helpful TEDx talk.  Take a look:

After You Believe

The book of James is all about a lived faith. Along those lines, check out this video of N.T. Wright discussing his book After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters:

Books on the Book of James

Interested in learning more about the book of James?  Check out one of these resources:

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The Book of JAMES

We'll be studying the epistle of James at FPC starting June 11 and moving through the Summer.  (An epistle is a letter; in this case, it's James' letter to Jewish Christians scattered around Palestine.)  Here's the current schedule, always subject to change!

James Preaching & Study Schedule:

• 6/11 - James 1:1-4
• 6/18 - James 1:5-11
• 6/25 - James 1:12-19a
• 7/02 - James 1:19b-27
• 7/09 - James 2:1-7
• 7/16 - James 2:8-13
• 7/23 - James 2:14-26
• 7/30 - James 3:1-12
• 8/06 - James 3:13-18
• 8/13 - James 4:1-10
• 8/20 - James 4:11-5:6
• 8/27 - James 5:7-20

Buildings and "the Church"

How should Christians think about damage to their church property? Here are my thoughts from our June newsletter.

 - Blake

------------- 

"The church is not a building; the church is not a steeple; the church is not a resting place; the church is a people."

I’m sure you’ve heard this old song. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. As you may know, we had a significant leak in the church on May 12. A hose burst from the water fountain, spilling water throughout the Fellowship Hall and down the hallway to the new parlor, nursery and preschool rooms, restrooms, and choir room. ServiceMaster was quickly on the job to dry everything out with heavy-duty fans and wet-vacs, and most church events have been uninterrupted. Thankfully we have good insurance, and they will be covering the costs of replacing ruined drywall, vinyl flooring, and carpet as over the next several weeks.

Throughout all this, I’ve had that song in my head: "We are the church together"... Is the church bricks and mortar? Nope. Is the church sheetrock and carpet? Nope. The church is us. Think about that for a second. You and me, sinners and saints: the church is us! Isn’t that incredible?

Consider one of my favorite Bible passages, Ephesians 2:19-22:

So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit.

Much (not all) of the Old Testament depicts the Temple as God’s dwelling place, a physical structure that served as God’s footstool on earth. The Temple was destroyed twice, and God’s people were scattered to live in exile and diaspora. But when the time was right, "The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood" (John 1:14, The Message). Jesus was born.

Suddenly God was no longer believed to dwell in a Temple; God was believed to dwell among his people. As Jesus began his ministry, he alluded to himself as a new Temple, one which would be destroyed before rising again in three days. In doing this, Jesus laid the foundation for his church, the gathering of his people who share life together in Christ, the new Temple. We who call ourselves First Presbyterian Church are simply the living extension of that foundation and cornerstone: men and women and boys and girls who love Jesus, love his church, and love our neighbors in Sylva and beyond.

Does a physical building help our mission? Of course. But our mission doesn’t depend on it. Our mission depends on Jesus, who, by his Spirit, makes us his church. The rest is just icing on the cake.

The Narrow Gate

Here's another take on Jesus' image of the "narrow gate" (Matt. 7:13-14) by Father Robert Barron. Really good stuff. Enjoy!

"The Narrow Gate" - Word on Fire Podcast

"Go and Make Disciples"

If we're going to impact our world in the name of Jesus, it will be because people like you and me took action in the power of the Spirit.  Ever since the mission and ministry of Jesus, God has never stopped calling for a movement of "Little Jesuses" to follow him into the world and unleash the remarkable redemptive genius that lies in the very message we carry.  Given the situation of the Church in the West, much will now depend on whether we are willing to break out of a stifling herd instinct and find God again in the context of the advancing kingdom of God. 

- Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church

Good Friday

"El Cristo de Velázquez"
Miguel de Unamuno

¿En qué piensas Tú, muerto, Cristo mío?
¿Por qué ese velo de cerrada noche
de tu abundosa cabellera negra
de nazareno cae sobre tu frente?
Miras dentro de Ti, donde está el reino
de Dios; dentro de Ti, donde alborea
el sol eterno de las almas vivas.
Blanco tu cuerpo está como el espejo
del padre de la luz, del sol vivífico;
blanco tu cuerpo al modo de la luna
que muerta ronda en torno de su madre
nuestra cansada vagabunda tierra;
blanco tu cuerpo está como la hostia
del cielo de la noche soberana,
de ese cielo tan negro como el velo
de tu abundosa cabellera negra
de nazareno.
Que eres, Cristo, el único
hombre que sucumbió de pleno grado,
triunfador de la muerte, que a la vida
por Ti quedó encumbrada. Desde entonces
por Ti nos vivifica esa tu muerte,
por Ti la muerte se ha hecho nuestra madre,
por Ti la muerte es el amparo dulce
que azucara amargores de la vida;
por Ti, el Hombre muerto que no muere
blanco cual luna de la noche.  Es sueño,
Cristo, la vida y es la muerte vela.
Mientras la tierra sueña solitaria,
vela la blanca luna; vela el Hombre
desde su cruz, mientras los hombres sueñan;
vela el Hombre sin sangre, el Hombre blanco
como la luna de la noche negra;
vela el Hombre que dió toda su sangre
por que las gentes sepan que son hombres.
Tú salvaste a la muerte. Abres tus brazos
a la noche, que es negra y muy hermosa,
porque el sol de la vida la ha mirado
con sus ojos de fuego: que a la noche
morena la hizo el sol y tan hermosa.
Y es hermosa la luna solitaria,
la blanca luna en la estrellada noche
negra cual la abundosa cabellera
negra del nazareno. Blanca luna
como el cuerpo del Hombre en cruz, espejo
del sol de vida, del que nunca muere.
Los rayos, Maestro, de tu suave lumbre
nos guían en la noche de este mundo
ungiéndonos con la esperanza recia
de un día eterno.  Noche cariñosa,
¡oh noche, madre de los blandos sueños,
madre de la esperanza, dulce Noche, 
noche oscura del alma, eres nodriza
de la esperanza en Cristo salvador!

"The Christ of Velázquez"
Miguel de Unamuno (trans. by Armand F. Baker)

Of what do You think, Christ, after your death?
Why does that veil of blackest night formed by your thick Nazarene hair fall down over your forehead?
You look within yourself, where the Kingdom of God is, within yourself where the eternal Sun of the living souls is dawning. Your body is white like a reflection of the Father of Light, the life-giving Sun; your body is white like the dead moon that rotates around its mother, our tired and wandering earth; your body is white like the Host of the sky during the deepest night, of that sky which is black like the veil of your abundant black Nazarene head of hair.

You, Christ, are the unique Man who succumbed willingly, who triumphed over death which because of You has become exalted.
Since then, because of You, death brings us life; because of You, death has become our mother; because of You, death is the sweet balm which sweetens life’s bitterness: because of You, the Corpse who does not die, white like the moon of the night. Christ, life is a dream, and death is an awakening. While the solitary earth is sleeping the white moon is awake; on His cross the Man is awake while men are asleep; the Man with no blood is awake, the Man who is white like the moon in the dark night; the Man who gave His blood remains awake so that others will know they are men.
You are the savior of death. You open your arms to the night, which is black and beautiful, because the Sun of life has looked on it with its eyes of fire: because the Sun has made the dark night so very beautiful. And the solitary moon is also beautiful, the white moon in the starry night, which is black like your abundant Nazarene hair. The moon is white like the body of the Man on the cross, a mirror of the Sun of life, of the one who never dies. Master, the beams of your soft light guide us through the dark night of this world, anointing us with the fervent hope of an eternal day. Blessed night, oh night, mother of pleasant dreams, mother of hope, sweet Night, dark night of the soul, you are the source of our hope in Christ the Savior.

Holy Week 2017

Welcome to the New Blog!

Our church website has a great "blog" option, so occasionally I (Blake) will be posting notes, thoughts, and updates here for church-wide information and education.  I'll try to link it to Facebook, too, so folks can stay in loop.  Stay tuned.