St. Patrick Presbyterian Church, Epc

This is the first Sunday of Lent, the season of wounded joy. This is the season where we think about the work of Jesus and what passion and death really mean. If you are new to our church we have two particular seasons of the church that focus on two aspects of Jesus life. In Advent we think about who Jesus is - the Incarnation. In Lent we think about what he did - his death, burial, and resurrection. So, here we are thinking in a focused way about Jesus and his work on the cross. That is so huge, how do you get your head about? What categories do you use? How can we think about it in a way that makes sense? I mean, Charles Williams, a good friend of C. S. Lewis, says this, “In Christianity, the cross is the center and there is no circumfrance.” That is true. Here at St. Patrick we alway talk about the cross, it is our glory, because on it Jesus took our shame.So I move to the previous question, “How can we talk about the cross in a way that does justice to the subject matter?” I'm glad you asked. People far

If you are new to St. Patrick or come from a non-liturgical tradition, you might wonder why you are hearing about Lent, fasting, Fat Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday. You might even be thinking, do these things have anything to do with the gospel? Or, I thought only Catholics did those sorts of things? Or, is St. Patrick into “high church” stuff? Whatever your questions are, I am glad you are asking them. What once looked weird and mysterious to me is now bread and wine to me. So, I am glad if you are asking why St. Patrick is totally dedicated to a Liturgical Calendar which includes a season of fasting and rubbing death into your face. Let me start with our calendar.###Liturgical CalendarWhy do we celebrate special days and seasons in the church? Well, the short answer is this: we all have personal calendars that mark birthdays, anniversaries, and special events known only to our families. We all live by a civic calendar that has twelve holidays that determine our vacations and time off. We also have the Hallmark

Have you ever gone to a Redbox and been amazed to see a flat out awful counterfeit version of a popular movie? I recently discovered a truly ludicrous "mockbuster" - the title and artwork were designed to fool the less discerning into believing they had rented the newest Disney hit. Nothing but disappointment in that house tonight. I shouldn't be surprised: for every true, good, and beautiful thing, there exists a counterfeit. This is even (especially?) true when it comes to the habits of grace. We have a true gift for the shaping of our souls in the cycles of feasting and fasting that have been handed down to us through the ages. Even a cursory glance at pop culture reveals the parody versions of these are binging and purging.Like feasting, binging is all about excess and extravagance. I’m not one to pine for “the good old days,” but anyone over the age of 20 remembers what it was like to wade through a season of television over several months, having even each individual episode regularly interrupted by com

I watched the Inauguration with awe. Not because Trump was being sworn into office but because of the peaceful transfer of power that exists in our country. It is hard to believe that Obama and Trump were on the same platform together talking amiably. Then they walked off into the sunset, as Trump walked Obama to an awaiting helicopter, leaving the White House for the last time as the most powerful man in the free world. This is a rarity in most countries, is it not? Whether your party won the White House or not, you have to be in awe of the wisdom of the Founding Fathers of our nation to make a Constitution that makes this possible. Most transitions of power in the history of the world are soaked in bloodshed.Such is the case when we look at the folly and blessing of power this Sunday (mostly folly when in human hands). This week we will conclude looking at one king who abused power more than any other in Israel’s history. When power is abused - justice is squashed, people are coerced, wickedness reigns, and

During this season of Epiphany, we are looking at the subject of Privilege and Power. There is a pastoral method to the madness, and it is simply this: we live in an age where Christians have lost all their privilege and power in the culture. (If we’re honest, even when we had it we didn’t do a very good job with it, did we?) Anyway, what hope is there for us? Truthfully, I have never seen so many Christians, both liberal and conservative, who act like God is off asleep somewhere. I mean, they are beyond concerned—they are despairing! Is that the right posture for us? Do we the people of God need to be known as people who blow up Facebook and Twitter and make fools of ourselves when we don’t get our own way?Welcome to the world of Kings in the Old Testament! It is a dark time in the passage we look at this week, and I am asking you to do something I usually don’t ask you to do and that is get out your Bible and read I Kings 16:29 – 19:18. I know that, if you weren’t raised Baptist, you most likely don’t even

This Sunday is the first Sunday after Epiphany, as such we ponder the promise of God that he would one day bring salvation to the nations. Typically when we think about Epiphany we think about the three wise men who came bearing gifts to the Christ Child. That act prefigured and foretold of what would happen after the death of Jesus - the gospel would go viral to all the nations!This Sunday and during the season of Epiphany we are in a new series called Privilege and Power and we will be looking at the books of First and Second Kings. It seems a strange title, doesn’t it? It also seems strange to preach through Kings, but I can’t wait to open up these books that unfold the story of Israel from the golden age of her history until the exile. I don’t know about you, but it is tempting to just kind of skim over the book of Kings when you are reading the Bible. I mean, there are two kingdoms, the narrative moves back and forth between the two, there is always a new king showing up, but also in this narrative we fi