North Decatur Presbyterian Church

With Rev. Lewicki traveling this week, we are delighted to welcome NDPC clergy affiliate the Rev. Bobbie Wrenn Banks to the pulpit. Her sermon is titled Bridge Over Deep Water, and the texts we will read is Psalm 46:1-5, 10-11; Matthew 14:22-33.

10.15.23. People laugh at Presbyterians because we say we like things “decent and in order.” We do need to loosen up. After all, there’s a lot about God in Scripture that is truly wild. This Sunday, we look at one of the wildest prophets, Ezekiel, and compare his writing to an ecological movement known as “re-wilding,” and we ask whether the church isn’t due for some re-wilding ourselves. Rev. Lew...

10.8.23. Rev. Lewicki walks us through the story of Noah and the Ark. We love to read it to children… but look again. Is this really a children’s story? It’s a story that addresses the most difficult aspects of human nature and our relationship with the earth. It’s particularly powerful to read in a moment of climate catastrophe.

10.1.23. Rev. Lewicki explores the two creation stories in Genesis. What happens when we look at the world as it is imagined in these two stories? What do they tell us about what the earth and human beings are made for? What might need to change in the ways that we occupy the land that God creates for us all?

9.24.23. In Joshua, God promises God’s people land–and God’s people murder the land’s inhabitants, divide it up, and occupy it. It was a devastating pattern replicated in the Americas–and right here in Georgia. It’s time to reimagine our spiritual relationship to land–to undo the damage of ideologies of occupation and to imagine how to truly share the “promised land.” Rev. Lewicki preaches.

9.19.23. In the book of Joshua, God seems to direct Joshua to conduct a divinely-sanctioned ethnic cleansing in order to make room for God’s people in the Promised Land. It’s one of the most chilling books in scripture. Why would we even read it? As we begin exploring our annual theme, Making Room, Rev. Lewicki sees Joshua as a powerful place to begin our reflection about how complicated and spiri...

9.10.23. We begin the new church year with an exploration of our ’23-’24 theme: Making Room. As a person of faith, we are consistently invited by God to make room: for guests at our table, for refugees in our community, for spiritual practices in our busy lives, for… God. It’s harder than it sounds. Over the coming year, we will explore this theme and respond to God’s invitation to make room.

8.27.23. God lives in the congregation.

8.20.23. If you want to learn something about a person, we often ask, “ where are you from ?” Where we are from says something about us–what formed us, the shape of the world seen from that place. What happens if we ask that same question of God:  where are you from?  The answers, drawn from Scripture, are surprising, and they teach us about the character of the God who loves us and about how we c...

8.13.23. If you want to learn something about a person, we often ask, “ where are you from ?” Where we are from says something about us–what formed us, the shape of the world seen from that place. What happens if we ask that same question of God:  where are you from?  The answers, drawn from Scripture, are surprising, and they teach us about the character of the God who loves us and about how we c...

8.6.23. If you want to learn something about a person, we often ask, “where are you from?” Where we are from says something about us–what formed us, the shape of the world seen from that place. What happens if we ask that same question of God: where are  you  from? The answers, drawn from Scripture, are surprising, and they teach us about the character of the God who loves us and about how we can...

7.30.23. Essential Wisdom.

7.23.23. Responding to God's Gifts.

7.16.23. Hope.

7.9.23. You Will Find Rest For Your Soul.

7.2.23. Terrifying and Joyous News.

6.25.23. Sabbath. Rest-taking. Let’s be honest: it’s the most brazenly ignored of the 10 Commandments. Capitalism sees no need to stop the machinery of profit-making for a day. Nor do many of us. In the lead-up to his own sabbath-taking, Rev. Lewicki explores the deeply spiritual practice of sabbath rest and how sabbath is intended to be a cultural–and at least a  congregational  value, not just a...

6.18.23. It’s our last Sunday with the Gospel according to Matthew. We read the very end of Matthew, chapter 28:16-20. Matthew ends his story about Jesus with the Risen Christ standing on a mountain, giving the disciples some pretty important instructions about what to do next. The only problem is that we (the church) have completely screwed up those instructions! What did Christ tell us to do? Re...

6.11.23. Sheep or goat?  That’s not even the most important question raised by the curious story Jesus tells in Matthew, chapter 25. The bigger question has to do with what you believe about the future… and how your beliefs about the future shape the way you live in this present moment. Rev. Lewicki preaches.

6.4.23. Very few of us like conflict. But what if you knew a way of resolving conflict that didn’t make conflict something scary, but that allowed the truth to come out, justice to be done, and forgiveness to be granted? What if I told you that very process for healthy conflict resolution is written into Matthew’s gospel? Rev. Lewicki preaches and Holy Communion is shared.

5.28.23. Summer Worship begins today with a celebration of Pentecost. Rev. Lewicki preaches about the Holy Spirit’s weirdness–and her insistence on reconciliation. The handbells open worship, and the NDPC community choir sings a beautiful anthem.

5.21.23. Rev. Lewicki preaches on that one time that Jesus was… well… how should we say this… a  total jerk . What do we make of Jesus’ interaction with a woman in Matthew 15?

5.14.23. In the ancient story of the prophet Elijah, from 1 Kings, there is a very modern lesson about our struggles with mental health, and how God moves to provide us with care. Victoria Robinson, NDPC Ministry Fellow, is our preacher.

5.7.23. Rev. Lewicki preaches about Jesus’ miracle of feeding 5000 people ( ed:   well, lots more than that because of the sexists who only counted the men) . What do you make of miracles? We have a notion that miracles are events that “run counter to the laws of nature.” And they can be that. But Jesus performed all kinds of “deeds of power,” and more than a few of them overturned  other kinds of...

4.30.23. NDPC’s high school and middle school youth lead every part of today’s worship service. Sam Fisher and Freeman Mosley are our preachers.