A New Sermon Series based on the book

 This We Believe:

Eight Truths Presbyterians Affirm

by Stephen W. Plunkett

Truth 1 God Is In Charge March 30th
Truth 2 God Call Us to Be a Holy People April 6th
Truth 3 Jesus Christ Reveals God’s Love April 13th
Guest Preacher: Rev. Jin Han April 20th
Truth 4 God’s Love Is Not for Sale April 27th
Truth 5 God Gives New Life May 4th
Truth 6 God is Revealed in the Bible May 11th
Truth 7 We Are the Church Together May 18th
Truth 8 We Serve God with Heart and Mind May 25th
 

Providing a supportive,

caring and friendly environment through:

Christian worship of  God,

 education of our church family,

 and service to the greater community. 

 

    We welcome you to join us on this journey!

Happy Spring! Did you know that flowers and plants have a important spiritual significance in many verses of the Bible? God has adorned the greatest story ever told with lots and lots of beauty! Understand, though, that the flowers and plants mentioned in the Bible were not cultivated (like a garden we might keep) -- they grew freely in open fields and plains, on mountains, and in groves of trees. Here are a few examples if you want to “dig” further in the soil of Scripture to read how flowers can be helpful to our spiritual formation – Almond blossoms (Gen. 43:11; Ex. 25:33-34); Bulrush (Ex. 2:3; Isa. 18:2); Calamus (Ex. 30:23; Jer. 6:20); Crocus (Song of Solomon 2:1); Lily (Hosea 14:5; Matt. 6:28); Mint (Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42); Rose (Isa. 35:1).

Watching beauty bloom is always inspiring to me. I see it in flowers and plants all over our lovely neck of the woods, but I also see beauty blooming in people. This beauty, however, tends to need careful cultivation and restoration. Some wild beauty in people exists, but it often turns into choking weed.

This is something that was rooted deep within me by a preaching mentor of mine, Dr. J. Randall Nichols. He once wrote – “New gardens I have built aplenty, and I have reaped the special joy of seeing bare lots or tangled patches of woodland become places of beauty and abundance. But one day I hope to come upon a garden, once ordered and lovely, now gone to rack and ruin and crying out for, well, restoration. It will have to be a careful project. The basic outlines of the garden will have to be discovered among the weeds and encroaching sod. Those plantings that have outlasted even the overgrowth that covers them will have to be protected from an overzealous hoe. I will have to do my horticultural homework to discover what was growing when and whether it is worth preserving.”

Did you notice I said he was a preaching professor? This image of preaching as cultivating and restoring a garden, of tilling the soil of Scripture and the garden of God’s people has been central to my nearly 10 year vocation as a preacher and pastor.

I share this with you to explain that this is why I’ve been troubled of late that attendance in Sunday morning worship at FPC has been considerably down from when I first arrived. I consider preaching (and all of the worship service!) a means of cultivation and restoration. So I fret that when members of our FPC “garden of faith” have decreased or stopped attending worship, their spiritual growth may be going the way of rack and ruin. There are many ways to grow spiritually, of course, but what makes us a church and not just a volunteer community organization is that we gather together to pray, praise, and be engaged by the “secret watering” of the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures.

Would you help me with this garden this spring and summer? Would you till some soil by inviting friends you haven’t seen in church for awhile to come back? Would you till some soil by increasing your own attendance? By talking with me about concerns you have (such as 10 a.m. Sunday morning not being a time that is conducive to your attendance due to other commitments)?

God finds our garden absolutely, stunningly beautiful. Let’s help keep it healthy and growing!


In Christ,
Pastor Rich