First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo

In a time of epidemic and social distancing, we look to the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the well, and how they create entirely new ways of being in relationship -- bridging and transcending separation.  As Jesus and the Samaritan Woman create this new way of being in relationship, they become for each other Living Water.  As we do the same, we are for each other, in the desert, a hea...

As we continue in our Lenten sermon series -- "In the Desert, a Healing Spring" -- this sermon turns to the text of John 3:16 for a healing word.  We unpack some of the cultural baggage that follows this familiar text, and specifically the harm that has come from an exclusionary reading.  We then look to the text and affirm that God so loves the whole world that God invites us into the h...

This sermon begins our Lenten series, "In the Desert, a Healing Spring."  Standing in Isaiah 58, we consider our own hurt, the harm we cause in the world, and God's healing power.  Healing is God’s love at work, in us and around us, moving us and the whole world toward wholeness.  

Psalm 51 takes our lives seriously – the whole of our lives – in all of their complexity.  It acknowledges plainly for us:  The harm we do in the world is real, and so is the hurt that we know in our bodies and our lives – in bones that have been crushed, and hearts that have been broken.  On Ash Wednesday, we say these try things and lean into this truth: In the love and mercy we find in Jesus Ch...

On Transfiguration Sunday, we journey up a high mountain with Peter, James, and John -- and experience with them an epiphany -- God made manifest in the midst of us.  This sermon considers the experience of wonder -- as the disciples experience the dazzling humanity of Jesus: "God is so very big – God’s love for us so vast – the world so much more than we could ever comprehend.  And God is ne...

Standing in the midst of our climate emergency, this sermon enters the groaning of Romans 8 -- all creation groaning, our groaning, the Spirit praying with us in groans too deep for words.  In our groaning together, we experience a deeper sense of belonging, we hope, and we enter into God's work of world-healing.  We live as if the world we long for is already here -- a world that is healed a...

"What we experience with Elijah is this: God shows up in the sheer silence – in the sheer silence that underlies all of our noise.  Not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire – not (always) in big flashy moment – but in the sheer silence that is always with us – that underlies every moment of every day – in a small quiet whisper."

This Sunday, we observe Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as we continue our Epiphany series -- "The Work of Wonder." This sermon considers the Amos text that Dr. King often quoted, "But let justice roll down like the waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream," and listens to how it announces God's steely determination to dismantle all systems of oppression. We th...

This sermon continues our Epiphany theme – “The Work of Wonder” – as we consider this week how our lives and work connect to the broad expanse of God’s saving love throughout history, from the beginning of time, down through the generations.  Along the way, we consider sociologist Elise Boulding's notion of a "200-Year Present" -- our lives are held by and touch lives that span a 20...

This sermon begins an Epiphany series -- "The Work of Wonder" -- as we explore together the ways that we experience a world so much bigger than us and are called to work with God for its well-being. This Sunday's sermon considers the story of the Magi who follow a star and find their way to an experience of the Christ -- and our curiosity as a gateway to epiphany.

This week we turn to the song that has inspired our Advent theme, "My Heart Shall Sing."  We look at the revolutionary words that Mary sings in her Magnificat (Luke 1:39-56). Then we think about why we sing, and consider how the songs that God gives us to sing set the whole world free. 

This sermon is the first in our Advent worship series -- "My Heart Shall Sing" -- inspired by Mary's Magnificat -- as we experience Advent's songs of hope, peace, joy, and love. This week's sermon considers the Song of Zechariah -- but first we think some about what Zechariah might have experienced in "The Silence Before the Song" -- as he sat in silence for nine...

For Christ the King Sunday, we engage Luke 23:33-43, a glimpse of Jesus on the cross, and his conversation with one of those crucified with him.  This sermon considers (1) how, in our power and privilege, we should take care in how we claim that Christ is king; (2) how, for those whose backs are up against the wall, we affirm that Christ is king over every power in the world; and (3) how Christ th...

In Luke 21:5-19, Jesus looks around at all the upheaval in the world, and says, "All this will open up for you the opportunity to testify." In today's sermon, we look at the upheaval in our world, the testimony we have heard (perhaps some even this week), and the power of the stories we tell and the lives we live to turn the world rightside up. 

Luke 20:27-38 Sermon Theme: Jesus turns the world rightside-up by dismantling every type of "power-over" in the world, setting the whole world free.

Isaiah 43:18-21; Colossians 3:12-17:  Stephen Covey says, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.  In this farewell sermon by First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo's pastor of 14 1/2 years, Paul's advice to "clothe everything with clothe" is the main thing.  And one way the church can love our neighbors is by welcoming the "new thing" that Go...

Luke 16:1-13: The Parable of the Unjust Steward is confusing, but leaves no doubt that the rich owner, who has exploited the peasants through usury, is not the good guy.  In the Luke’s context, if you were rich, it meant you exploited others to get that way.  On the one hand, we might reasonably say that being rich isn’t bad, after all.  It’s exploitation that’s bad.  But it's very easy to ig...

Luke 15:1-10: In the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin,  Jesus shows the scribes and Pharisees that we are all in the same boat: tax collectors, "sinners," scribes and Pharisees, and we are all represented by the one sheep that God relentlessly pursues.  God loves us all so much that God never stops trying to find us; God never gives up on us, and we are never to give up on ea...

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 14:25-33:  Jesus' dire warnings about the cost of discipleship reflect the cost of any and every choice we make in life that involves commitment.  Given that this is the same Jesus who said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John !0:10), the emphasis of our faith should not be sacrifice and suffering but the joy of life lived as though G...

Romans 12:4-21: We celebrate Labor Day with three members of the First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo community, who share how they live out their faith in the workplace: The Rev. Christine Francisco, Activity Coordinator, NeuroRestorative; Patrick O’Connor, Director of Family Ministries, First Presbyterian Church; and Lisa Cosby, Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst, California Public Utilitie...

Lessons: Acts 1:6-9; Ephesians 4:1-6: This 6th of the Presbyterian "Great Ends of the Church" sums up the other five with, "Go, and let the world know about this."  Let the world know about Jesus' message that the reign of God is already present and active; it is here, available for those who see that everything is holy, everything and everyone is precious to God and belon...

Lessons: Amos 5:21-24; Luke 4:14-21: The promotion of social righteousness means that Christians can and should take political action to advance the coming of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, and it looks like this: the hungry are fed, the poor are lifted up, the naked are clothed, those caught in poverty – including the crime, poor health, lack of education and hopelessness that po...

Lessons: John 8:12-16, 31-32; John 18:37-38a: Jesus says if we follow him, we will know the truth and it will set us free.  The truth that is the core of our faith is that Jesus Christ is God’s self-defining Word.  Our tradition also insists on “the sovereignty of God,” which means God can do whatever God wants to do.  If God wants to speak to people through nature, God can do it.  If God wants to...

Lessons: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Psalm 122: In this third in a series on the Six Great Ends of the Church from the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we look at the maintenance of divine worship.  The goal of worship is a transforming encounter with God.  "Public worship matters because it is the one time in the week when God’s people gather to acknowledge God’s presence in the w...