A Good Word with Pastor Josh (PCUSA)

This Sunday we gather for the first time since the sudden death of our beloved brother Steve. In the middle of our grief, we turn to the passage Steve himself chose for this moment, Ecclesiastes 3, and to the promise of Jesus in John 14. We will sit with what it means to live a life of witness, and what it means to trust the God who holds what our hands cannot. Come as you are. You are not alone.

Peter's message cuts to the heart. His listeners ask the question we all face: "What should we do?" Faith isn't vague feeling; it's turning toward Jesus and joining God's people. This week, we'll reaffirm our baptismal identity and name concrete next steps. Come discover what repentance looks like in daily choices, relationships, and public life in Greater Austin.

LINK TREE: linktr.ee/pastorjoshpcusa WEB: pastorjoshpcusa.com 2ND SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR A) • Date: 04/12/26 • Title: With Clear Words • Scripture: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 How do you speak hope without sounding preachy? Peter shows us in Acts 2, grounding resurrection in Scripture and history. Faith engages both mind and heart. This week, learn to share what you believe with clarity and courage. We'...

LINK TREE: linktr.ee/pastorjoshpcusa WEB: pastorjoshpcusa.com EASTER: RESURRECTION OF THE LORD (YEAR A) • Date: 04/05/26 • Title: To All Peoples • Scripture: Acts 10:34-43 What if Easter means more than we imagined? Peter discovers in Acts 10 that resurrection breaks every boundary we create. God shows no partiality. At Christ's table, there's room for everyone. This Easter, receive radica...

LINK TREE: linktr.ee/pastorjoshpcusa WEB: pastorjoshpcusa.com 6TH SUNDAY IN LENT; PASSION/PALM SUNDAY (YEAR A) • Date: 03/29/26 • Title: Walk Toward the Cross • Scripture: Matthew 21:1–11 Jesus rode into Jerusalem knowing what waited. The crowds cheered while he kept his face toward costly love. How do we hold praise and sorrow together? This Sunday we'll process with palms and prepare our hea...

LINK TREE: linktr.ee/pastorjoshpcusa WEB: pastorjoshpcusa.com 5TH SUNDAY IN LENT (YEAR A) • Date: 03/22/26 • Title: Unbind the Living • Scripture: John 11:1–45 Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb, then called him back to life. But he didn't unwrap the grave clothes himself. He commanded the community: you unbind him. Why does resurrection require witnesses? This Sunday we'll explore the short...

Jesus met a woman at the well when everyone else stayed home. He saw past stigma to dignity, past shame to purpose. What happens when grace crosses every boundary? This Sunday we'll explore the longest recorded conversation Jesus had with anyone. We'll discover why he revealed himself to an outsider first and how one woman's testimony changed an entire town. Come learn what living wate...

2026 HPC Annual Meeting Speech

Nicodemus brought his questions to Jesus under cover of darkness. Sometimes our best conversations happen when we admit what we don't understand. What does it mean to be born from above? This Sunday we'll share communion and explore how God's Spirit creates new life in us. We'll discover why a respected teacher needed more than knowledge and how new birth becomes gift for the world...

When Jesus faced hunger, power, and pride in the desert, he answered with Scripture and trust. What shortcuts tempt you? What promises sound too good to be true? This Sunday we'll explore how wilderness testing teaches wisdom. We'll discover why Jesus said no to bread, spectacle, and empire, and what his resistance means for our daily choices. Come learn how fasting creates space for other...

2026 020826 Year A – Light Bearers - Shining Together 5TH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY (YEAR A) Date: 02/08/26 Light Bearers: Shining Together Scripture: Matthew 5:13–20 "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." Jesus does not say "try harder" or "be better." He names what is already true, then asks what we do with it. This Sunday we explore what i...

Celebration of Life - Abigail Durnin

2026 020126 Year A – Light Bearers - Blessed Are You 4TH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY (YEAR A) Date: 02/01/26 Light Bearers: Blessed Are You Scripture: Matthew 5:1–12 Jesus climbs a mountain and blesses the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek, the hungry for justice. These words do not flatter. They overturn the world's logic. This Sunday we ask what it means to be formed by blessings that sou...

2026 013126 - Memorial Bulletin - Ronald Barrick

3RD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY (YEAR A) Date: 01/25/26 Light Bearers: Follow and Fish Scripture: Matthew 4:12–23 Jesus walks into Galilee and announces that light has come to people who sat in darkness. Then he calls fishers to follow him. This Sunday we ask what it means to leave the nets we know and trust the call we hear. What would change if you took one step toward the work Christ is already d...

Memorial - Avarie Alayjah Williams

This week we reflected on Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan and what it reveals about identity, community, and calling. Before Jesus teaches, heals, or serves, God names Jesus beloved, grounding mission in grace rather than effort. In the same way, baptism reminds us that we are not the source of light but people who receive it, reflect it, and help one another stay connected to it. From that shared be...

As we end the series, Herod is still in power. Christ is born, but it feels as if the world has not changed. The temptation to give up is strong, especially in the face of violence. But the magi don’t let Herod’s fear-driven demands stop them from honoring the newborn Christ or returning home by a different way. They model for us what it looks like to be led by hope, moving through fear without le...

The Christmas season can be filled with saccharine images of Mary, meek and mild, with a quiet, sleepy Jesus in her arms. But the host of angels shouts to the skies, “Glory to God in the highest!” What would it look like for us to proclaim the good news loudly, with overflowing joy? In a world that weaponizes fear, where algorithms decide what gets weight, what gets circulated, and what takes up s...

2025 121425 Year A – What Do You Fear - Trembling Yes “Give me your hand” might be counter to how we usually respond to fear, but what if fear can result in connection instead of isolation? Joseph sets aside his fear of rejection and shame in order to stand in solidarity with Mary, shielding her from harm. Their bond makes them each stronger. We don’t live out our callings in isolation—our communa...

2025 120725 Year A – What Do You Fear - Take My Hand Luke begins his gospel by orienting us within “the time of King Herod,” and we begin the series by fleshing out what it might have been like to live in the days when Jesus was born—a time not all that different from our own. As an elderly priest, Zechariah had witnessed the fall of Judean independence and the beginning of Roman occupation. He lo...

2025 112325 Year C - Strive First - First Presbyterian Church - Shreveport This sermon challenges the notion of Christ's reign as domination, contrasting earthly power with divine vulnerability. It explores how Jesus's kingship manifests through sacrificial love rather than force, using the crucifixion as the ultimate demonstration of God's different kind of sovereignty. The message em...

November 9 – "Alive to God" (Luke 20:27-38) Summary When Sadducees present Jesus with an elaborate hypothetical about resurrection to embarrass him, he responds by shattering their narrow assumptions with a vision of resurrection life that transcends earthly constraints and categories. Jesus anchors his teaching in God's self-revelation as "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,&...

November 2 – All Saints Sunday: "Called by Grace" (Luke 19:1-10) Summary Zacchaeus, a wealthy but notorious tax collector, climbs a tree like a child desperate to see Jesus, and experiences life-changing grace when Jesus calls him by name and invites himself to dinner. This encounter illustrates the scandal and beauty of grace—it arrives uninvited and unearned, disrupting assumptions abo...

October 5 – World Communion Sunday / Women's Storybook Project: "Mustard Seed Faith" (Luke 17:5-10) Summary When disciples plead "Increase our faith!" Jesus responds not with a growth plan but with images of mustard seeds and mulberry trees, revealing that faith operates through rootedness and humble persistence rather than size or spectacle. The mustard seed metaphor sugge...