First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo

There is a place for you here if you come with questions- about Scripture, about community, about how to live well in the world.  There is a place for you here to learn and grow through questions.  

"In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Whoever you are, wherever you are, in the Body of Christ, there is a place for you... here.

In Christ, creation groans in suffering and in hope. In the body of Christ, climate collapse invites us into a practice of reverence, relinquishment, reconciliation, restoration, resilience, and resistance. The sermon included a presentation of Peter Anderson's photos from Standing Rock, which you can see and hear on the worship video (available on our YouTube page): https://www.youtube.com/p...

In 2023, as we think of the Earth as our home, we live somewhere between despair and hope. Even as we are honest about the severity of climate disruption, the place for us here is always our place in the Body of Christ – an integrated, interconnected part of all creation – the New Creation – groaning as we birth together something new.

As we accompany and extend hospitality to each other, God creates a world of welcome, where everyone is seen as fully human and everyone has enough.

In a world of people on the move, God insists that we love and shelter the stranger. Throughout history and around the world today, God accompanies us as we accompany each other.

 In the Body of Christ, love comes to life – as we love with integrity, share in the deep need of the world, and practice hospitality.

Jesus invites us in to work healing and feeding, bringing to life a world of possibility. As Jesus feeds the multitude, Jesus brings the disciples to work, invites them into the building of a brave new world, and says to them: “All this healing, all this feeding, all this life –this is the work that is ours to do together.”

The Psalms take us on a journey through the whole of life – and what we find – again and again – everywhere we look – is the goodness of God. The invitation that the Psalms extend is this: Like a tree planted by streams of water, sink your roots deep, and live.

God – in God’s goodness and steadfast love – stands with the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed, in the place of deepest need. In our anger, God invites us to stand there too. The imprecatory psalms point us to the deep pain in the world; they point us to the peril of our propensity for violence; and they point us – through all that – to seek the goodness of God, who is always standing there,...

From the cross, Jesus cries out in the lament of the psalms, and brings us into a new song for a new creation and a brave new world.

When we pray out of our pain, God is listening, and God is for us. In the psalms of lament, we pray in response to the God we have come to know – to the God who has loved us first – and we ask for help.

We praise to name and acknowledge God’s goodness in the world, more powerful than anything that does us harm. “We praise God in order to see the world as God does,” and then to say “Yes!” to helping God make it so.

God searches us, knows us, and loves us still.  God creates us, challenges us, recreates us – always in love. Psalm 139 comforts us and unsettles us, and asks: Do we really want to be known? 

The Psalms speak to our public life, singing the world God wants. God insists that public power be used for the well-being of the poor, the vulnerable, and the marginalized.

In the Psalms, we sing our life to God, and God sings our life with us – every distress on the way to deliverance, every lament into the wide expanse of liberation, every lonesome groan into singing together the songs we know by heart.

In psalms of liberation, we remember, hope, and move forward into God’s ongoing, liberating work in the world. As we join that work, what do those psalms require of us? What does Juneteenth require of us?

Pentecost opens up a world of infinite possibility – a world whose possibilities are limited only by the bounds of God’s love and power and imagination. With the gift of the Spirit, this becomes clear: What God has been doing in Christ – God is now doing in us.

In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has set all creation free; we are God’s own offspring. Christ’s resurrection life is present in every bit of creation, which means that every bit of creation gets to be free.

Facing violence and death, Stephen fixes his gaze on the life we find in the Risen Christ – healing, justice, and mercy stronger than any power that can do us harm.

In Resurrection, Jesus shares life with us, and invites us to share everything in life-giving community.  Acts 2 gives us a glimpse -- a memory of who we hope to be, in Christ – a community where love takes shape, where we live together and learn together and break bread together, where we share what we have so that everyone can thrive.

On the Road to Emmaus, in the walking, talking, and breaking of bread – they experience the Risen Christ and the power of Resurrection – in the fullness of life – in every step – in every word – in every taste, sight, sound, smell, and touch.

Will we have the courage to embrace doubt and the faith to believe in the one who can overcome it?