Granpres

Wallace preaches on Trinity Sunday

Senior High Students speak about their time in TN/NC doing Hurricane Helene Flood Relief work.

Wallace preaches on why we should sing!

Wallace preaches on patriotism and faith.

Isaiah 43:1-7Kristin preaches on confirmation Sunday about belonging to God.

Psalm 148

Luke 24:1-12Pastor Wallace preaches on how one word can change everything.

Heaven ScentJohn 12:1-8Mary had experienced first-hand the grace of God in her life.  And once that happens to a person, they’ll sometimes find themselves responding in surprising, extravagant ways.

The Real ProdigalLuke 15:1-3, 11b-32So I had always assumed that the word prodigal meant something like wayward, or wild, rebellious—something along those lines.  So you can imagine my surprise when I happened to look up the word in the dictionary, and discovered that I had been wrong all this time about what the word prodigal actually means.

Luke 13:31-35The world says: You can’t be too careful.  Jesus says: Oh, yes you can.  You most certainly can be too careful.

Luke 9:28-36 Irenaeus of Lyons, one of the great fathers of the early Church, said it well: “The glory of God is a human being, fully alive.”  That’s one of my favorite quotes.  The glory of God is a human being, fully alive.  When we are fully alive—when we’re standing at full stretch, exercising all of our God-given potential—then our faces, too, shine with the glory of God.

 Jesus Calling  Luke 5:1-11 "But whether he’s calling us to go to the other side of the world, or the other side of town, or just the other side of the room, Jesus is still calling.  Even today, still showing up on the lakeshore.  Or in the classroom, or the lab, or the office.  Still showing up.  Still grabbing ahold of us.  Still calling us to follow."

Grace by the GallonJohn 2:1-11"And the wine is the grace of God, poured out in abundance, made available to everyone.  Wine to quench our thirst, and gladden our hearts.  But also wine that promises to satisfy our deeper thirsts, by putting us into a life-giving relationship with God, and unleashing the wellspring of joy within us.  "

The last sermon from transitional pastor Rev. Wendy McCormick. Wendy preaches on Luke 4:14-21 and Nehemiah 8:1-10 "It is a challenging time to be God’s people, a time when we need the power and guidance of the scriptures more than ever. It is a change. It is a transition. But the overwhelming message is the continuity of the scriptures and the tradition of the people gathering to receive and interact with them."

Isaiah 43:1-7 We’ve learned together over this year that transition is not one thing, a one-day happening as one person vacates this office and another person moves in. Transition is an ongoing process of moving from one place or state to another. In a way, we are always in transition from who we are to who we are becoming. Always. And our church is in transition from what it has been and what it is now, to what God is calling it to be. Still, we are in a stretch of a couple of years of more than the usual amount of transition. It’s a lot. Enter baptism.

 Ephesians 3:1-12 "What interests me and frankly touches me more than the how and when of holiday decorating and de-decorating is the why – the deep why – I can’t help noticing how powerful it is to hang lights against the darkness and how we have that in common with our most ancient pre-Christian ancestors as well as most other world religions. However post-modern we are, we still have a kind of primal need in these shortest days of the year to literally shine lights into the darkness, to warm ourselves against the cold, to cheer ourselves amidst the bleak darkness."

Luke 1:26-35; 46-55"We have to wonder: Who is silenced in our world? To whom might such a great reversal grant a voice in our day? And what does it mean for those who have been silenced to not just speak up but to shout and sing?"

Christmas Eve 2024

Matthew 1:18-25 "This season we wonder what it means for us to honor tradition in ways that are forward-looking, risk-taking, bold, courageous, and, above all, following the beckoning lead of God? That’s how Matthew means for us to read the Christmas story and all of the Jesus story. How do we weave a path forward that honors and serves the God we know in scripture and tradition without getting caught up in minutiae and the letter of the law, without being so fearfully tied to traditions of the past and even the present that we don’t dare look forward."

The Rev. Wallace Bubar gives his candidating sermon on Luke 3:1-8a, 10-14, 18. Wallace will begin his pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Granville on Feb 1, 2025.

 Luke 1:5-25, 57-64   “Do not be afraid” is the most frequently repeated message in scripture --- over 300 times --- From Genesis to Revelation; from the prophets to the psalms; from Jesus to the faithful ones who followed, the words have become a mantra across time and space. Clearly faith cannot thrive when fear is in charge. Maybe that’s why some of the most awe-inspiring expressions of this message appear in the Gospel stories leading up to Jesus’ birth. Angelic beings appear several times . . . . and each time the angels bear the same memo: do not be afraid. The primary origin story of our faith [the nativity] insists and relies on this compelling refrain: let go of your fear, and amazing things will follow. - Calling All Angels, Erin Wathen

Senior High Youth Director and first-year seminary student, Kristin Ream, guest preaches on Jeremiah chapter 29 and finding hope in exile.

 Matthew 5:1-12 "In the Beatitudes, disciples then and now are invited to help advance the new kingdom and this manifesto. The emphasis on human agency and advocacy suggests that when we see people who are hurting and oppressed, marginalized, victimized, forgotten, lied about, the question need not and should not be Where is God, but Where is God’s community, and what are we doing to advocate? "

Hebrews 11:1-3, 32-38; 12:1-2 "But more than that, perhaps with me you feel a renewed sense that we do not get to sit back, that just as those who went before had their moment to live in faith, even when times were hard, even when faithfulness was risky, we do too. This is our moment. Whatever span of life we have."

 Job 38:1-7, 34-41; 42:1-6  "If you’ve been following this little series, you’ve been waiting three weeks for an answer. If you read the book of Job, you wait through 37 long chapters. If you are a human being who has ever tried to make sense of suffering and pain, then you have been waiting a very long time, perhaps a lifetime..."

"We have both an emotional need and a faith need, a spiritual need, to express our pain and sorrow, to lament." Rev. Wendy helps us understand Biblical Lament through the lens of Job; and why you should never say "Everything happens for a reason."

"The opening chapters of the book of Job invite us to consider what it means to love God, to worship God, to confess that we are blessed, when health and wealth elude us, when we have absolutely nothing to show for our faith, materially or otherwise. We may say all our blessings don’t matter to our faith, but the question is on the table."

Please join us for the third episode of a mini series called Blessed to be a blessing.

Please join us for the fourth episode of a mini series called Blessed to be a blessing.

Genesis 12:1-3 1 Peter 2:9-10 Matthew 5:13-16 "It doesn’t fit on a pillow, and it’s too long for a hashtag, but knowing we are blessed demands that we ask: so what? Or, more precisely, “for what?” From the very, very beginning, God’s people are blessed --- the Jews and Presbyterians like to say “chosen” – confess that we are blessed, we are chosen, for a reason."

Please join us for the first episode of a mini series called Blessed to be a blessing.

Isaiah 6:1-8 We talk about “going” to church and “attending” worship . . . what if we more consciously thought of doing worship, of our own participation as an essential performance? It changes our perspective. It calls on each of us to ask of ourselves, “Have I given my best to God in this hour of worship?” as opposed to, “how did I like what was offered here?”"

Mark 7:24-37 "Healing stories from the Bible are so challenging. Because we all know somebody – probably several somebodies – for whom no amount of prayer, no amount of faith in Jesus was enough. Despite fervent prayers for healing, despite being on every prayer chain imaginable, there was no cure." Rev. Wendy offers a new perspective on these challenging texts.

 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 But it’s not just individual, personal advice. We who are the church need to ask those beyond our immediate circle --- we need to ask our guests and first-time visitors, we need to ask those who’ve never been here, those who only know us by perception, reputation, or drive-by. We need to ask them what they see, what they perceive. And we need to really, really listen. That’s the only way we get clues to our communal blind spots. Many congregations do not have the courage to do this."

 John 6:51-58"When we think about the increasing number of Americans who identify religiously as ‘none of the above,’ I wonder: Are people less interested in joining us because Christianity looks like a challenging way to live, because following Jesus is a deep and complex journey without easy answers but with dedicated companions for the journey and the promise of realizing a full and abundant life? Or are people less interested in joining us because what we’re about looks more like arguing and blaming and digging into our own particular version of truth?

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 John 6:24-35 "And so we come. Like children trying to make sense of a mysterious shape under a sheet. Like those ancient Hebrew complainers. Like those confused and literalist followers of Jesus. We come like people desperate for their next meal and like people desperate for meaning in a world spinning out of control. We come not because we understand but because we are understood."

 Isaiah 43:1-7 John 6:15-21 Rev. Wendy preaches on the storm at sea from John's gospel, as we further consider "Who is Jesus?" "On the waters of chaos in the dark. Consider the times when that has been the metaphor for your life, for your faith. Sometimes “the waters of chaos in the dark” is the best way to describe our lives, what it is to be human, what it is to be a Christian, what it is to be church. Lots of chaos, lots of storms, lots of danger, and it’s dark --- pretty hard to see where you’re going or to know the way. They just keep rowing. And perhaps we know what that’s like too. Just keep rowing. And rowing. And rowing...."

Rev. Wendy preaches on the familiar story of the feeding of the 5000. We also ask the question Who is Jesus?  2 Kings 4:42-44 John 6:1-15

Philippians 4:4-7 Kristin guest preaches on Anxiety and Joy, using some imagery from Pixar's Inside Out 2. "When Anxiety is at the controls for too long, it's time to access our Joy."

 John 3:1-10, 7:45-52, 19:38-42 n the words of Dr Anna Carter Florence: “Tradition has been kind to Nicodemus. He’s held up as an example of faith and a model of generosity; the Pharisee who eventually came around. But to be frank, it took a while. Which is exactly what John wants us to notice in Nicodemus’ story. Those of us with a lot to lose seem to take longer to come around. It’s not that we don’t hear Jesus’ call to discipleship. We just take our time acting on it, which has cost and consequence for those around us.”

Leviticus 25:8-12 Galatians 5:1, 13-26 Rev. Wendy discusses freedom in Christ and what that has to do with freedom in our country. "May we be fed again on love of God and neighbor, on liberty throughout the land for every inhabitant. And may we go forth renewed to share Christ-like freedom"

Rev. Wendy takes us through an unfamiliar to many story of heroic midwives in Exodus 1:15-22.

We continue our series on The Good Book with J is for Joseph, the familiar story found in Genesis Chapter 50:15-21.

Luke 2:40-52 "But thanks to them and likely to other relatives and friends whose names are long lost to history, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and his fellow humans. Maybe it gives us pause to give thanks for those who have helped us attain whatever modicum of wisdom and stature we have. Maybe thinking about what it’s like to be 12, what it’s like to clash with your parents, what it’s like to be excited and engrossed by something, helps us to lean into the fully human Jesus, especially when we turn the page and it’s some 18 years later as his public ministry begins. Maybe we allow ourselves to imagine what might have happened in between. And what it might have been like for those who had watched him grow up to see those next three years unfold, especially when the religious leaders who had been so impressed by him eventually turned on him. And mostly what it might mean for us to lean into our own fullest humanity as we follow the one we confess is fully human, fully God. "

Genesis 19:15-17, 24-26 Wendy invites us to open our imaginations to the questions that aren't answered in scripture.

"On this Pentecost day, I wonder where you find yourself in this story? More connected to church tasks than to the spirit? A little nervous about change because of where it might lead? Maybe outside the camp looking in, feeling led by the spirit but shut out by Joshua and the way things have always been? "  

Listen as Dryden Dickenson reads  Acts 1:6-11 and Wendy preaches about the Ascension of Christ. Wendy reminds us to not spend so much time looking up that we forget to look around also.

Rev. Wendy McCormick preaches on the Acts 10 passage and relates to the news from the United Methodist Church this past week. "If we believe God with Peter that our minds can be changed, if we believe that God shows no partiality and that God’s heart breaks at LGBTQ people being told their existence is a moral failure – or worse, then we need to get up and go to Joppa. In other words, stand up, speak up. We are not just called to take passive pride in being part of a denomination that no longer perpetuates fear and hatred of LGBTQ people.... And pray that you and I will be strengthened here to feed those who are still being starved of God’s love.  Amen."

Wendy preaches on gardening, pruning, and where the best fruit grows. John 15:1-8

The first of two podcasts about the book "You Are Changing the World Whether You Like it or Not" by David LaMotte. We will conclude this series with a pub theology discussion at Trek Brewing Company on Thursday, May 2nd.