January 2020 – Wicomico Presbyterian Church

The Call

Matthew 4:12-23 Last weekend I watched a film with members of our session – a documentary about churches. There was one conversation that struck me as funny. One of the pastors interviewed described what his congregation was like whenever he suggested something new. He said if it wasn’t really different from what they were used to, they were usually willing to give it a try. And if it was different, well, then they would usually be willing to call a committee together to study it further, for a period of time. He seemed to think that was pretty good. This was not a Presbyterian church, but it could have been, because Presbyterians are also fond of forming committees. We rely on committees to make decisions and get work done. Committees are a very “churchy” thing. Church people love committees. Presbyterians, in particular, love committees. In fact, I have heard that […]

Behold the Lamb

Isaiah 49:1-7 John 1:29-42 There is a new film on Netflix called The Two Popes. It’s a dramatization about the relationship between the Popes Benedict and Francis. Pope Benedict, who was elected after Pope John Paul died, and Pope Francis, who was elected after Benedict resigned. Or retired. Or quit. I’m not sure what to call it. It was something that has no precedent in modern history. Popes don’t usually resign – they die. The film portrays how during the conclave when Benedict was elected, the cardinals were not initially all of one mind. Many wanted Francis instead. But Benedict eventually received the required number of votes and so that was it. Francis (although he wasn’t called Francis at that time. He was Jorge) went home to Argentina and continued serving as a cardinal. Some years later, Francis, or Jorge, sent a letter to the Pope asking for permission to […]

The Way to Love and Happiness

Matthew 3:13-17 I was in my office one morning at the church I served as pastor when a couple of members walked in to see me. They had a dilemma they wanted me to resolve. Their granddaughter was getting married. She and her fiancé had a one-year-old son. The family wanted the child to be baptized. They also wanted her fiancé to be baptized. The baby was easy, it would be done like any other ordinary baptism, in church during worship. The fiancé, however, was more of a problem. He was willing, basically because it was important to the family he was marrying into. But he was a big, tough guy, and felt it would be embarrassing to stand in front of the congregation and submit to having me splash him with water. So the family thought they could solve the problem by holding a private baptism for him. Just […]

Why Are They Here?

Matthew 2:1-12 I don’t know if you ever think about why the books of the Bible are ordered the way they are. But I can tell you one reason Matthew is first in the New Testament. Matthew is first because– of all the gospels – it most clearly and directly links the story of Jesus with the prophets of the Old Testament. Matthew is constantly saying things like, “as it was written by the prophets,” and “this was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet.” Matthew connects all the dots. He tells us what we need to know. Yet, as pedantic as Matthew is sometimes, he is also full of surprises at other times. Take the genealogy in Chapter 1. To which you might say, “No thanks, I’m good. You can keep it.” Nobody reads the genealogies in the Bible. They’re boring. Nobody cares about all those names. […]

How Will We Meet Him?

Matthew 2:13-23 Let me tell you a story. It’s from a book called A Single Light, by Maia Wojciechowska. The story takes place in Spain, but it could be anywhere. There was a small village that had once been important but no longer was; it had once been prosperous but no longer was. A young man in this village went off to the city to find his fortune. He didn’t find a fortune, but he did find a wife – Maria, whom he loved very much – and he brought her home to the village. Soon she was pregnant, a joyful thing, and gave birth to a child – a girl. Maria loved her child and thought her perfect. She would say, “Look how she never cries! Only angels never cry. My child must be an angel.” Within a few months everyone in the village knew what Maria couldn’t see – that the child was deaf and mute. She would […]