Covenant Presbyterian Church Augusta

As Covenant congregants continue dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we explore what it means to be a people of faith during difficult times like these following Hurricane Helene.  Sometimes we have to learn to be receivers and not just givers of God's grace and love to others.
 

Hurricane Helene devastated Augusta, Georgia.  It resulted in the loss of 107 trees on Covenant Presbyterian Church's property and extensive damage to the physical facility.  But even amongst the debris on the property, we gathered for worship to praise God.  Today we hear a new interpretation of the parable of The Rich Young Ruler.  We also hear a desire for clarity as the congregants deal personally with Helene's aftermath.

Maybe you have an experience like this - a time when you hoped for success and recognition but were instead humbled and reminded of your own limitations. Jesus' disciples certainly did, and they were caught in their hubris when Jesus overheard them arguing about who was the greatest and called them on it.This is the story we'll hear in worship this Sunday, and I hope you'll join me as we consider together what greatness really looks like and the example of greatness that we see in Jesus Christ.

As followers of Christ, it is hard work to decide when to speak and when to remain silent. We feel called to speak up about injustice, but we also don't want to damage relationships. We believe that accountability is important, but we don't want it to overshadow the grace of God. We have passion for an issue, but we don't want to silence others or diminish their dignity. When should I speak, and when should I bite my tongue? Our readings from Mark and James both address this conundrum and I'm looking forward to exploring them with you.

Andy Cooke is one of the most even-keeled people I know, but if you want to get him riled up, just tell him something isn't fair. As our children have learned, arguing about fairness is not the way to get Andy on your side. It's a human thing to want life to be fair, but life is often otherwise. We recognize that truth in our own lives, and we see it in the story of the Syrophoencian woman in this Sunday's gospel reading from Mark. The woman's audacity seems to surprise Jesus, and his response might surprise us. We'll explore this story together in worship on Sunday morning.

When you need to learn to do something, finding trustworthy sources of information can be a challenge, especially if you consult the internet. Luckily we can take the "old school" alternative and consult Holy Scripture, which gives us two excellent tutorials about how to live as faithful people in our Psalm and Epistle lessons this week.

We've been in Ephesians the past few weeks. We'll finish that book with a reading from chapter six this Sunday, but our focus is moving back to the Old Testament story. Our reading is from First Kings, and it is the story of King Solomon's dedication of the temple. It is one of those stories that can be hard to read on your own, but which can really open up when take some time with it. I'm excited to read it with you.

Be careful.This is what we say to people we love when we think they might be in a risky situation - a friend meeting a blind date for the first time, a teenager driver leaving the house to meet friends on a Friday night, or a child climbing on playground equipment. We care about the people we love, and we want them to be okay."Be careful" is the opening phrase in this Sunday's lectionary reading from Ephesians, and there's a sense that's there love behind this caution as well. As people of faith, we are to be careful (though not fearful) in how we live.

The latter half of the book of Ephesians deals with ethical behavior in Christian communities. In the sermon, we look at Ephesians 4:25-5:2, and particularly the phrase “be angry but do not sin” alongside the story of Wilma Derksen, a Mennonite woman whose daughter was murdered in the 1980s.

This Sunday and next, we will be looking at Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul's letters sometimes look like internal documents that we were not meant to see, but the truth is that we all need to see them. We need to wrestle alongside these early Christian communities and figure out what we believe and how we will act. And it seems timely to work on this before we kick off the fall calendar in a couple weeks.