St James Presbyterian Church

Machine-assisted transcript, lightly edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and a few clear recognition errors. Congregational responses are retained. All right. This is the prayer of illumination. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit. That as the scriptures are read and your…

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter…

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God,…

Quick recap from last week: earlier in Matthew 13 , Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower — The good sower who sows seeds all over the place. Some of those seeds take root and bear fruit. Some of those seeds are stifled or trampled. We talked about how it’s maybe not the seed’s fault — it’s the circumstances,…

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell…

Text. Soul. Culture. Student of history. Read deeply, slowly, closely. At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things…

Courage and cost in discipleship

Jesus calls and restores through mercy

Sent in God’s Name

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them…

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who became obedient to death.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all…

Sermon at Athens: What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you.

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”…

Paul and Ananias, each called into Christ’s service (locally and globally)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we…

Do the Passion narrative.

We pick right back up in the middle of the Holy Week action today, moments after Jesus’ encounter with Pilate. Remember, last week, Jesus and Pilate discussed authority, empire, and found Jesus as the scapegoat for the people’s anger. And before I read our scripture, I want to say this: Empire feeds…

My kingdom is not from this world.

Let’s bow our heads for the prayer of illumination. God, whom we know through the scriptures and creation, speak to us in this hour. Show us the wisdom and joy of your ways, that we may know what is good and do what is right. Jesus Christ, your Word. Amen. And our scripture this morning, if you want…

Our Gospel reading today is a quintessential Lenten text. The cross is squarely in Jesus’ sites. As we considered on Ash Wednesday, now he is staring death in the face. The evil one’s work is unfolding. As well, in this text we have some of the main cast of characters in the Jesus stories. There is a…