First Presbyterian Church Of San Anselmo

Luke 15:1-10: In the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin,  Jesus shows the scribes and Pharisees that we are all in the same boat: tax collectors, "sinners," scribes and Pharisees, and we are all represented by the one sheep that God relentlessly pursues.  God loves us all so much that God never stops trying to find us; God never gives up on us, and we are never to give up on each other.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 14:25-33:  Jesus' dire warnings about the cost of discipleship reflect the cost of any and every choice we make in life that involves commitment.  Given that this is the same Jesus who said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John !0:10), the emphasis of our faith should not be sacrifice and suffering but the joy of life lived as though God is the ruler of our hearts and minds here and now. Author Barbara  Ehrenreich was asked what she would give up to live in a more human world.  She answered, “I think we shouldn’t think of what we would give up to have a more human world; we should think of what we would gain.”

Romans 12:4-21: We celebrate Labor Day with three members of the First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo community, who share how they live out their faith in the workplace: The Rev. Christine Francisco, Activity Coordinator, NeuroRestorative; Patrick O’Connor, Director of Family Ministries, First Presbyterian Church; and Lisa Cosby, Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst, California Public Utilities Commission.

Lessons: Acts 1:6-9; Ephesians 4:1-6: This 6th of the Presbyterian "Great Ends of the Church" sums up the other five with, "Go, and let the world know about this."  Let the world know about Jesus' message that the reign of God is already present and active; it is here, available for those who see that everything is holy, everything and everyone is precious to God and belongs to God.  Let the world know about Jesus' radically different approach to power and authority.  Jesus didn’t use power or authority to impress or coerce.  He expressed his power in acts of service: restoring health, raising people to life, breaking down social taboos, providing for people’s needs – in other words, demonstrating the love, justice and goodness of God.  Let the world know about the love, justice and goodness of God.   

Lessons: Amos 5:21-24; Luke 4:14-21: The promotion of social righteousness means that Christians can and should take political action to advance the coming of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, and it looks like this: the hungry are fed, the poor are lifted up, the naked are clothed, those caught in poverty – including the crime, poor health, lack of education and hopelessness that poverty engenders – are freed to live as God intends for us all to live.  The reason the promotion of social righteousness is one of the Great Ends of the Church is that a truly biblical faith demands it. Social  justice - concern for the poor, the condemnation of greed, welcoming the stranger and caring for the vulnerable - is one of the great and most frequent themes of the Bible.

Lessons: John 8:12-16, 31-32; John 18:37-38a: Jesus says if we follow him, we will know the truth and it will set us free.  The truth that is the core of our faith is that Jesus Christ is God’s self-defining Word.  Our tradition also insists on “the sovereignty of God,” which means God can do whatever God wants to do.  If God wants to speak to people through nature, God can do it.  If God wants to speak through art or philosophy or other religions, God can do that, too, simply because God is God, and God’s freedom.  So that means we can follow Jesus wholeheartedly, have faith in him as somehow the truth, and still accept that we don’t corner the market on all of God’s truth.  The truth that we meet in Jesus Christ is that God is love, and calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  One way we fulfill this 4th great end of the church,  then, is by resisting our "post truth" culture.

Lessons: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Psalm 122: In this third in a series on the Six Great Ends of the Church from the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we look at the maintenance of divine worship.  The goal of worship is a transforming encounter with God.  "Public worship matters because it is the one time in the week when God’s people gather to acknowledge God’s presence in the world in our lives, to remember our faith, to act out its meaning, to celebrate the good news in Christ, to respond to God’s claim on our lives, and to receive the blessing of God.”[i]  Without community worship, we tend to forget who we are: God’s people, created in God’s image, part of God’s beloved creation.  [i]  Howard L. Rice, Jr., Maintenance of Divine Worship (Louisville, KY: Witherspoon Press, 2006), 5.

As we continue our six-week series called "The Six Great Ends of the Church," our guest preacher The Rev. Scott Clark looks at #2:  The Shelter, Nurture, and Spiritual Fellowship of the Children of God.

Lessons: Mark 1:14-20, Luke 1:46-55: In this first in a series on the Six Great Ends of the Church from the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we look at the way that the good news of the kingdom of God - God's intention for all of God's creation - can accomplish the salvation of the whole world, not just some individuals, and not just after we die.

Luke 10:25-37: The Samaritan teaches us several important lessons.  First, God comes where we least expect God to be, because God comes for all and to all.  Second, “loving” looks like helping those in need.  And third, the Samaritan, the one who acted as a neighbor, crossed a boundary.  The hatred between Samaritans and Judeans went both ways, and yet this Samaritan stepped outside of his national and ethnic loyalty.  He did not say, “You aren’t my people; I save my compassion for my own people.”  He crossed a boundary that was a hard and fast line to Jesus’ listeners.  When Jesus says, “Go and do likewise,” that’s boundary crossing is part of what he’s telling us to do.  We are to have a higher, broader, deeper loyalty – a loyalty to the well-being of all God’s beloved children, not just to the ones who look and speak and act like us. 

Luke 10:1-11: Jesus sends out his disciples as missionaries to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God.  We, as Jesus' disciples, are sent as well.  We are send not to convert, force our culture on others, or save souls, but to rely on the hospitality of others, which means listening to them, meeting them on their turf, and joining with them in the work God is already doing in and through them. 

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14.  God tells Elijah to anoint Elisha to replace him as a prophet to the people of Israel.  When the people of God need a new leader, God is on the job.  God made it clear that as exceptional as Elijah was, God’s plans did not depend solely on Elijah.  Likewise, God’s work doesn’t depend on any one pastor of a church, or on any individual leader within the church.  God continues to raise up new leaders, sometimes even leaders blessed with a double portion of their predecessor’s spirit.  

Our Abode in the SpiritSermon by Rev. Douglas Olds (all rights reserved)First Presbyterian Church of San AnselmoJune 23, 2019 Sermon Texts: Lamentations 1.1-4; 11-13                        Genesis 1.1-4

"Grazing on Ashes"A sermon by Rev. Douglas OldsFirst Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo (CA)June 16, 2019Sermon Texts: Galatians 5: 13-18,                         Isaiah 44: 9-20

John 21:1-19: In this post-resurrection scene on the beach, Jesus offers Peter what many contemporary psychologists contend every one of us needs: a sense of belonging, and a sense of purpose.

John 20:1-18: Easter is not a celebration of something that happened 2,000 ago.  Easter is ongoing.  Easter is God's ongoing work in the world, making us new people.  Easter is not in or about the church, but the church is the fellowship of people who look for, recognize, and point to new life.

Luke 19:28-40, Luke 11:1-4: In this final Lenten sermon on the Lord's Prayer, we find that the greatest temptation, at the core of all temptation and every human act of succumbing to temptation, is the temptation faced by Jesus in his 40 days in the wilderness: To doubt that our most important identity is as God's beloveds.

Matthew 6:12; Matthew 18:21-35: The fifth in our Lenten series on the Lord's Prayer looks at forgiveness as a practice.  At times forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation; it simply means unburdening.

Matthew 6:7=17: The fourth sermon in our Lenten series on the Lord's Prayer looks at how the Lord's Prayer prays for sufficiency for today for all people, not just for individuals.

Lessons: Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 6:9-10: This third in-depth exploration of the Lord's Prayer looks at "the kingdom of God" as Jesus' primary metaphor for what God wants for God's world.  God's kingdom is God's will - it is what we pray for when we pray, "thy will be done on earth."  Jesus intended us to understand the kingdom of God as an alternative to the oppressive kingdoms and empires of this world, not as an escape from this life but as a call to live in this alternative way here and now.  In fact, Jesus said, God’s kingdom is already here; it is at hand, it has arrived.[i]  It’s here – and real – wherever real people who struggle with what it means to be truly human find their own voices and know the gracious, unconditional acceptance of the God who loves all people whoever we are, whatever we are.  And then pass that along.  [i]  Matthew 3:2, 4:17; Mark 1:5.