Sermons @ SJPC: Recent Episodes
South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church
So what's it like when you don't have much power, but you're seeking justice?
Well, you just keep showing up. That's what we discuss today.
The borderlands are a thin place. Gloria Anzaldúa says they're “a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us.” She writes that while borders “are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them … ” a “borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary … the prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.”
So what does it mean when Jesus meets people in the borderlands? How are their identities changed? We explore that with the ten lepers today.
We had quite a week at SJPC last week. Not only did we prep for World Communion and Ian, but we also had an immigrant family show up on our doorstep, and we had a chance to care for them on Friday.
It's easy to pat ourselves on the back for these kind of things, but in the gospel today, we're challenged to reconsider. Sometimes in our journey, we'll called just to do the things asked of us just because it's the thing we're supposed to do. However, when we do them, we can be amazed by the results.
So Jesus is totally scandalous here in Luke 16. Almost inconsistent. How do we celebrate someone who is literally dishonest (and, as said in the sermon, there's no way to get out of the "not right"-ness of the manager)?
Well, it may be in the focus on the ends and a willingness to use whatever means available. We unfold that, with attention given to the complimentary Amos 8 passage as well.
This morning comes one of the more difficult passages in the Gospels - we have to hate our families and ourselves to follow Jesus?
Some of the issue is in translation, yes, but it's also an issue of intention: Jesus wants us to have a gut-check before we commit to what's in store.
What if we saw ourselves and others and their precious, priceless hearts and souls the same way? We talk about that today.
Rounding out our Sermon Madness series today, we turn to John and the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet to understand showing Grace and Mercy to Others.
There's a great little saying that's used for grace and mercy:
Grace is giving people what they don't deserve, and mercy is not giving people what they do deserve.
But that all hinges on "deserve," a word closely related to worth. In a world that so often index worth to production, we can treat grace and mercy like something to be earned.
But Jesus shows otherwise, even to the protest of Simon Peter. But in order for grace and mercy to really occur, we have to somehow receive it ourselves with a new sense of "deserving."
Almost taboo amongst the more genteel sort, we don't tend to talk about the confluence of Christianity and Patriotism. That silence leads to limited examination at times. Or, it means that those who are particularly loud get to run the show - a little like Mean Girls.
Could it be that really, we've lost the balance of what we offer to the state and what we offer to God? Luke 20 opens up that conversation, and we consider patriotism through that lens.
A single verse is always a risky enterprise. Prooftexting can steer people into some awful directions. So when the request for a single passage came up in this year's bracket (and one so often used in some not-so-great ways), it was an extra challenge.
But, God invites us into active participation to the very best.
Put another way, Romans 8:28 says: "...and our experiences already demonstrate to us that everything that ever has been, is, and will be, works with Good towards the very good, and those who love Good and can't help but be drawn to Good join in the work."
We begin our annual bracket sermon series. After voting, our first sermon is "The Gospel and Social Justice."
With the way that partisanship has taken hold of concepts of justice and "wokeness," we might not always know what social justice is. So we're taking a step back, and talk about Marcel the Shell. Who would've thought!?
Big topics = big sermons... so that's why you'll see the the 29:30 mark.
Put bluntly, churches often major in the minors. We place the priorities of secondary things above the primary.
James reminds us that faith and works are intertwined and inseparable. If we're prioritizing appropriately, we will be relentless in our pursuit of good works (the public trust granted in covenant with God) to express the depth of our faith. To do otherwise should force us to question how meaningful our faith truly is.
This wraps up our four week series, and Rev. Anderson will be off for three Sundays.
So this sermon may have been a bit more personal. After an appearance on WJCT's First Coast Connect, I (Adam) was reflecting on what it may feel like for those who aren't folks who are engaged with the church. What is it like to hear a pastor say that believing that Roe vs. Wade being overturned is something to be celebrated and to think otherwise is "wicked."
Well, I think it gives folks real reason not to want to be a part of the church. And, like Pilate, it gives folks a reason to wash their hands of the whole enterprise.
So we tackle this issue, untangling civic religion, the issues of celebrating a Supreme Court decision, and more.
How do you answer questions that people have? Lots of churches try, but we tend to miss the ultimate point, thinking more about style as relevance than the message itself.
We see how both Philip and Jesus tackled the issue and got to the meat of the matter today.
We begin our first in a series of questions people who don't attend church are asking about the church. First up is "Can I Trust You?" We've given a lot of really good reasons to have folks not trust us: we talk big generic truths to hide other beliefs, we make the institution more important than the people.
But what is it like to be willing to literally chop that off when it inhibits people from hearing the gospel story? We reflect on I Corinthians 9 and Mark 9 in this sermon.
Threshold moments are everywhere in our lives. With Father's Day approaching, it is one that's front of mind: we all think we're going to be a certain type of parent... until we actually have kids.
So how does the Trinity help us? We'll explore that (and some of the new thresholds in front of SJPC) today.
It's always a mess the day after a big festival. Napkins roll along the browned, trampled grass like tumbleweed.
We lose some of the mountaintop experience, too, once the napkins start to roll.
Pentecost was like a once-ever-in-the-world event. One massive, amazing festival. How would you make it after that? Thankfully Jesus was already planning ahead.
At some point, any of us who need to preach have to ask the question of when to tear up the previous plan and move a new one. After the combination of Buffalo, the report from the SBC, and Uvalde, the time was this week.
This last few days have been a riptide. How do we manage to get out? Lamentations 3 and Mark 9 give us clues.
If you've heard about Spiritual Gifts once, you've heard about them a million times. Big publishing houses make printed ones. We then pigeon hole folks throughout the way.
What is it like to think about gifts differently? That maybe it's not the Pharisee that. calls the shot, but the tax collector? Jesus seems to offer us a view of what that world could look like.
The Acts passage today seems to have real meaning given our current environment: how do we see how those who might have at one time been perceived as off-limits now bring us to silence and celebration? How is God redefining boundaries?
I'll be honest with you: sometimes the political climate around you can make sermons tough. While most of us try real hard not to claim a partisan perspective, sometimes we can't help but claim a space to help our members think about difficult topics. But it always (at least for me) is about the heart of difference. That difference is good.
It seemed really good for God too, as we explore today.
What's the deal with Peter being naked? Why do we care? Who knew you needed a sermon all about that. But I hope it helps, as we talk about vulnerability and how it built and Easter movement.
Is it weird to say on Easter that Jesus might not be the most gripping character of them all? Does it feel scandalous not to be going wild about resurrection? I don't know, maybe.
But this Sunday was honest. That honesty means we can see ourselves right next to the resurrection, which we might need now more than ever.
A brief homily about Maundy Thursday about the gifts that are always hard to just receive.
Disney is magical. So is Holy Week. But you lose the magic in both if you're too busy being cynical. We unfold that today.
This is one of those favorites: the prodigal son. We love hearing about the overwhelming love of the father for his son.
But there's so much more than that - all of the Lenten practices from Ash Wednesday show up here! And really, who needs more grace - the no-longer prodigal, or the eldest?
Twenty minutes on not eating food?! Sure!
Just kidding! We take a deeper look at fasting from different perspectives, and consider if fasting from our comforts might be the ultimate end of our Lenten practice this week.
Ah, penitence: the "shall not be named" of Lent, and for good reason: exposing the broken parts of ourselves is just an invitation for scorn, shame, and self-destruction.
According to the texts today, though, it might also limit us from knowing God's love. We take a detour off the lectionary to discuss, hearing the confrontation of David by Nathan, and Luke's telling of the woman with the alabaster jar, and see how Jesus offers grace when we offer ourselves, imperfections and all.
Would it be weird to think Jesus had an angel on one shoulder and devil on the other out in the wilderness? Anything's possible after you're fasted for 40 days.
Taking up the call in Ash Wednesday to live a holy Lent, we're engaging each of the different activities we can do, starting with Self-Reflection.
Our path in modern Christianity has crossed through a period that is highly individualistic in nature. One is all about the work of salvation for only the individual, and the other is the growing "spiritual but not religious" crowd. How do these lead to communal justice - the work of everyone being healed? We tend to that question today.
Isn't it strange how, in reaction to what Jesus does, Peter's reaction is fear? Do we find ourselves afraid of what God can do? We explore that here today.
I've been around long enough to know what "well, bless his heart!" means. But apparently, Jesus didn't, and he was nearly tossed off a cliff.
We wrestle through what Jesus is saying through a series of thought exercises.
For both his ordination and installation services, Adam has requested Amos 5 and Luke 4 as the passages that would be preached at these services - the formal moment when he became a pastor in the PCUSA, and when he was the pastor at South Jacksonville.
These aren't fuzzy, celebratory call texts. Instead, they're reminders of why we do the work in the first place. Rev. Joyce Lieberman unpacks these passages both for the church, and for Adam as well.
Put simply, this sermon is a balm for any pastor who has done the hard work of ministry, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Don't you love the feel good stories when there's a sweet child who sees some of their friends who see some of the friends can't eat because they can't afford to pay for it, and they raise money? GoFundMe successes?
They're wonderful until you start to ask why they have to do it in the first place. We explore that together with Luke 4 - Jesus' mission statement - in mind. Do feel good stories go sour when we are honest about the need for justice?
We're back this week with a new series to reflect on Ephiphanytide.
This is such an interesting kickoff to Jesus' ministry, isn't it? Pretty mundane circumstance, nothing terribly spectacular - especially when compared to feeding thousands and bring people back from the dead. But what does it reveal about God's character?
We also talk about Bill Strickland and the Manchester Bidwell Corporation. Learn more by going to: https://www.manchesterbidwell.org.
I'm not sure what else to offer in the description, except we all get worn down to the point of just saying "ugh" about our faith journey. COVID wave 1234812903 + disappointing anniversaries will do that.
Jeremiah 31, John 1.
On a Sunday when we welcome our most vulnerable to the front to lead us, the question should linger in our hearts: how do we help them grow in their journeys? If the statistics bear true, we aren't doing all we could for our youngest as they age. John provides us a meaningful response.
Sometimes, we try to go through life like we're driving with a poster in our windshield. It looks really nice but the second we go into motion, we're likely to crash.
Season 3 begins!
Why do we show up to church... I mean really? It's like we're afraid of the answer because it might not be all that great.
This Sunday, as we take Advent on its own terms, and not as just a drag until Christmas, we consider that part of the reason why we're here is to be sober-minded in community: recognize brokenness and continue to hope for more.
Rounding out our Stewardship series, we're honing in on one singular verse: John 21:25.
This fully-God, fully-human one is a being we hardly know from the conversations we witness, yet is so remarkable. What are the infinite miracles that stay unwritten? How are we part of those deeper miracles, weaving together a strong communal fabric? This was also our consecration Sunday where we offer our pledges.
What if the dreaded "budget sermon" wasn't something we tried to avoid? What if we took it on and saw the good in abundance?
This week, instead of just a budget conversation, we're in part talking about the pride of being part of a church reborn, full of new life.
Self-care is a massive industry, but at times, it feels like a vacuum. We can do and work on ourselves and our care all we want, but at times it leaves us empty.
What does it look like to love ourselves with our neighbor in mind? We explore that today through the lens of Mark 12.
What is it like to see life from the other side of the lens? What if we spend more time taking pictures for others? We'll consider that here today.
The rich man walked away. So can we. But maybe Christ's love in this moment should invite us to leave behind was disconnects us from each other.
Week one of our Stewardship Series, Deeper: Vital Disciples
Seems like the second you talk about divorce or marriage, it just heads towards legalism (and who wants to be on the side of the Pharisees in the gospels?). But Jesus is asking us to go deeper than the contracts we offer each other. What does it mean for SJPC, but also for any of us in the church?
Mark 9:38-50; James 5:13-20
What are the distilled things we carry with us from one place to the other as a church? What are the must-haves, the must-dos? This sermon considers those questions through the lens of James and Mark.
Mark 9:30-37; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
TS Eliot's masterpiece, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, creates for us the prototypical modern person. In our hearts, we can be a little like Prufrock. How do we direct ourselves better? James and Mark in conversation today provide us with a direction.
Mark 8:27-38; James 3:1-12
The tongue is a powerful and uncontrolled part of the body, but when used well, can bring people and ideas to life. We explore that idea today. What does it mean to speak life into our communication?
This is the final in the series for Sermon Madness, exploring what it means to engage in the government as a Christian