Welcome to the JCPC Daily Reflections Blog. Reflections are daily devotionals authored by JCPC pastors, staff and members and provide insight, guidance and comfort to help you make it through each day. If you’d like to receive Reflections each day via email, provide your email address.
This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, first celebrated at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1933 where Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr served as pastor.
"Dr. Kerr first conceived the notion of World Communion Sunday during his year as moderator of the General Assembly (1930). Dr. Kerr's younger son, the Rev. Dr. Donald Craig Kerr, who is pastor emeritus of the Roland Park Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, was sixteen in 1933. He has related that World Communion Sunday grew out of the Division of Stewardship at Shadyside. It was their attempt to bring churches together in a service of Christian unity-in which everyone might receive both inspiration and information, and above all, to know how important the Church of Jesus Christ is, and how each congregation is interconnected one with another. When Donald Kerr was asked how the idea of World Communion Sunday spread from that first service to the world wide practice of today, this is what he replied:
"The concept spread very slowly at the start. People did not give it a whole lot of thought. It was during the Second World War that the spirit caught hold, because we were trying to hold the world together. World Wide Communion symbolized the effort to hold things together, in a spiritual sense. It emphasized that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Well, here we are 90 years later, about to celebrate World Communion Sunday! And it seems the world is still trying to hold things together during this tumultuous time... how blessed we are to know that we can still be one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even though socially distanced.
Remember, this is not just a Presbyterian celebration! Although it began with a Presbyterian pastor in a Presbyterian church, a few years later in 1940, the Department of Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches (a predecessor body of the National Council of Churches) promoted extending the celebration to a number of churches around the world, and the celebration became widespread! Now our other church neighbors (of many denominations) near (in Johns Creek) and far (worldwide), celebrate this special day on the first Sunday in October every year!
And what makes this so exciting is that every communion celebration points us to the ultimate gathering where "people will come from East and West, and from North and South, and take their places at the banquet in the Kingdom of God." (Luke 13:29) On World Communion Sunday, we get a priceless glimpse of that feast!! So wherever you are this Sunday, whether in your living room, or our parking lot, or anywhere else in the world, join us in celebrating this foretaste of the feast to come!
Prayer for Today
Lord Jesus, as we remember your sacrifice that unites us, may we also focus on the joyful feast that lies ahead. In your holy name we pray, Amen.
I have a unique opportunity this week to teach with JCPC. I led both the pastor bible study and our youth bible study on the same passage I'm preaching this week, so I've done a deep dive on that passage. That passage, which you'll see Sunday is from Matthew. In it, Jesus is likely referencing all the prophets in his parable, and specifically these verses from Isaiah 5.
Reading this now, you'll be able to hear the parable like the original crowd with Jesus or the first Jewish converts reading Matthew. The words of this prophet will be in your ears and mind as you hear about the vineyard in the parable and the prophets/servants of the Master in that story. When God tells a story of a garden or vineyard or farm, it often stands for all of creation. The Master is often God and the servants or children are often us or God's people. Would this chapter be hard to hear? Do you think God's people would want to hear about possible invaders? As it turns out, they didn't. Isaiah was killed. He's considered one of the great major prophets by Jews today and in the day of Jesus. But in his own day, he was reviled. Just like Jesus. Hard messages are hard to hear.
That's a message that seemed to come through this week from Isaiah and Matthew. The words of the prophets and Jesus are hard to hear. They're challenging. They're good news to the homeless and hungry and poor and widows and orphans and prisoners and refugees. But for those of us with many blessings, they call us to serve more and give up a lot. What a privilege to be so blessed that the words of the gospel compel us to be generous. What words from the prophets and Jesus are challenging you right now? What will you do next? Please share those ideas and conversations with me. The work is great, but we have each other to work the vineyard and help produce the fruit.
Prayer for Today
Lord, make me an eager and hard worker who produces good fruit in your vineyard, entrusted o us to be plentiful and a blessing. Amen.
So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosento take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
-Acts 1:23-26
In one of the most intriguing passages in the Bible, we see how the original disciples chose someone to fill the vacancy left by Judas' departure. It says in Acts, "Then they cast lots . . ." After having two nominations, Joseph and Matthias, they pray for guidance and then they roll the dice! That is not exactly how we do it in the Presbyterian Church when it comes to choosing elders. We are guided by our Presbyterian
Book of Order and the bylaws of Johns Creek Presbyterian Church. It is a process that reflects the Presbyterian adage to do things "decently and in order."
This Sunday at noon, we are holding a Congregational Meeting using the zoom platform. This is our first time to try this. I hope you received an email reminder last week with the link for you to register for this meeting. Another will go out this week. We do need you to register beforehand. When you do that, you will then receive an invitation to the meeting itself. You need to the do this prior to the meeting this Sunday. Also, we need a quorum of 10% of our active membership or at least 67 members to attend in order to do what we need to do. There is a link below that you can click to sign up.
In keeping with the Book of Order and our bylaws, we will be electing the Elder Nominating Committee which consists of representatives from each of our Ministry Teams, two elders from our Session, and a youth. As clerk of session, Pat Pearson is designated the chair of the committee, and I am an ex-officio member. The names of those who will be voted on are listed below. The other business we will vote on is a recommendation to change our bylaws to allow a congregational meeting using video conferencing in unusual circumstances, such as this pandemic.
Voting will take place electronically and will appear on the screen for you to vote. In order to vote electronically, each church member will need to register and vote individually and have access to a screen. However, we will have a way to count the votes of others who may also be watching the screen, should that be needed. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me (grayn@jcpcusa.org) or Pat Pearson (vppearson@apearson.com). See you Sunday!
Caring: David Lee
Connecting: Johnny Melin
Education: Lisa Elliott
Youth: Elena Araoz
Mission: Honey Cunningham
Stewardship: Mac Jordan
Worship: Sharon Shuler
Session: Rick Zahnow
Clerk of Session and Committee Chair: Pat Pearson
Ex-officio: Gray Norsworthy
Prayer for Today
"Lord, you know everyone's heart." Show our Elder Nominating Committee which individuals you have chosen to serve as elders in the coming years. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
As we move into October this week, I am transitioning to consider another spiritual practice, gratitude. This quote from author and educator, Diana Butler Bass, was a good reminder to me. "We know that gratitude is good and we want to be grateful, or feel gratitude, or be seen as thankful people. We might experience gratitude in a given moment. But inwardly, we know how difficult it is to practice and sustain thanksgiving-to live a truly grateful life."
Do you relate to this struggle? Or does gratitude come easily to you? I would invite you to notice two things today. What made you feel grateful? Did you say "thank-you" to someone?
Read these words from familiar Psalm 100, A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
Acknowledge that Yahweh is God.
He made us, and we are His -
His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal;
His faithfulness endures through all generations.
Our God is good and His love is eternal. Let's follow David's lead in Psalm 100 by humbling ourselves in gratitude before the Lord. Complete the song of praise below with your own words of thanks.
Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
_______________________________________ (Go ahead!)
Shout out or write down a triumphant praise!)
Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us, and we are His - His people, the sheep of His pasture.
_______________________________________ (Celebrate who God is and who we are to Him.)
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
_______________________________________ (Give thanks to God and praise His name.)
For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations.
Prayer for Today
(Prayer prompt from She Reads Truth resource)
Open my eyes, God, that I may become alert to gratitude throughout the day. Help me bridge the gap between knowing about gratitude and living in thankfulness. Free me from guilt about the gap, replacing it with the joy of discovery and an eagerness for change. Amen.
In order to keep our JCPC church family better informed about the decisions of your Session, we are returning to the practice of sharing monthly highlights from our Session meetings. Feel free to contact me (pat@apearson.com) if you have any questions.
-Victoria Melin Robinson presented herself to the Session to request that she be approved to enroll as an "Inquirer." The Inquirer process supports and guides individuals who feel a call to the ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA) through a time of vocational and spiritual discernment. Victoria shared her "Faith Journey" and her sense of being called to the ministry. A motion was passed that Victoria be endorsed to become an "Inquirer" with the overwhelming support of the Session.
-Session chose elder representatives to the Elder Nominating Committee.
-A Called Congregational Meeting will be held Sunday, October 4,2020, at 12 Noon by Zoom video conferencing. The purposes of the meeting will be to elect the Elder Nominating Committee and to vote on a recommended change to the JCPC By-laws permitting Congregational Meetings via video conferencing in unusual circumstances.
-The Session approved funding of $5,500 for the Missions Ministry Team to distribute at their discretion in JCPC's support of 2020 budgeted charitable ministries and mission partners.
-The Session adopted $956,144 as the amount of the "Proposed Operating Budget" for the upcoming Stewardship Campaign goal for 2021.
-The Worship Ministry Team informed the Session of their difficult decision to postpone until next year the "Pumpkin Patch" because of safety concerns related to the COVID 19 pandemic.
At its conclusion, the meeting was adjourned with prayer by Rev. Dr. Gray Norsworthy.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
- Matthew 23:23
The verse above comes after the Parable of the Two Sons (the scripture for this Sunday), where a father asks his two sons to work in his vineyard. You'll hear it Sunday, but in Matthew 23, Jesus really lays in to the Pharisees and scribes, and I encourage you to read the whole chapter if you get a chance. He gives example after example of how the Pharisees and scribes are failing. But isn't the choice of words in verse 23 here interesting?
Mint, dill, and cumin? Sounds like a meal of mint juleps, dill pickles, and tacos to me! It seems that different translations use different spices, but the idea is that, according to Rabbinic laws, herbs such as mint and cumin had to be tithed, whereas dill did not. So this symbolizes two things: first, that the religious leaders in Jesus' time made a great show of giving what was required of them (mint and cumin) as well as that which was not required of them (dill), and second, that "what was required of them" was something that they themselves had determined! So they made up rules, followed them, and used that to appear "holy" and "righteous" be the people, yet Jesus shuts them down with example after example in this chapter.
I think we all do this in one way or another. We come up with little rules and laws for ourselves (and perhaps our family and friends) that we attribute to being holy and good, but sometimes they can be quite the opposite! I think this is more prevalent than we might realize. "We can't have guitars and drums in a worship service," or how about, "No true Christian could vote for a Democrat/Republican!" These kinds of rules we make and follow make us look and feel like good people, but they do not address justice, mercy, or faithfulness, and they are not based on God, but rather on our own opinions. What things do you do in your life to make yourself feel good and "holy" but that may actually be unjust, merciless, and faithless?
Prayer for Today
God of forgiveness, we are consumed with appearing holy, yet we lack what truly matters inside. Help us to look introspectively at our failings and seek your way. Be our gentle shepherd, and guide us so that we may seek true justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Amen.
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
-Romans 12:18
Last year, I was able to represent JCPC as a neighbor and attend the Rosh Hashanah Friday evening service at Congregation Dor Tamid. They recognized and welcomed me, the firefighters, and police officers, and the Holocaust survivor in attendance. For many in attendance, they had been at a Rosh Hashanah service every single year of their life. It was my first. I felt compelled to go. I was newly a member of our fledgling Interfaith Clergy group that we formed after the synagogue shooting in Mr. Roger's neighborhood in Pennsylvania. My Lord and Savior was Jewish. I'd grown up curious about and connected to that tradition. But in the days following the shooting, it felt like there was an obvious kinship between us.
This year, because of our group and the friendships formed, the Rabbi, our friend Jordan, reached out to us about borrowing our sound equipment for their annual high holy day. Then it occurred to us that they could just come and use it and our space here at JCPC. What an honor to host them in return. During the service, I listened to familiar words and prayers, danced to the songs and music, and took pictures for them. In one moment, a cool breeze was blowing and I snapped a picture of our flag. It occurred to me in seeing the photo later that I was able to take that picture at our Presbyterian Church, during a Jewish service, and that the cross of the steeple from our friends at the Methodist church was visible too. That flag, for me, in that moment represented a real hope and my own gratitude that our two faiths and many denominations can worship near one another and not just not fight, but belong to the same groups of friendship and peace that made that service possible. I was exhilarated and deeply thankful.
I know and believe our country has a long way to go in working toward peace, love, and reconciliation, a departure from violence as polarization. But standing there in that moment, I felt that if our group of clergy can make that moment possible for our people through our friendships, then one day, our intentionality, our hard work, and God's Spirit among us can build even great bridges and we can have more moments of kinship, compassion, and love. I hope you are inspired too. And I pray you'll join us in building those relationships, setting aside differences, finding common ground, and refusing to quickly react or attack people we are called to love and live with peaceably.
Prayer for Today
Lord, make me a vessel of your peace. Slow down my actions and reactions to rhetoric, news, articles, posts, and memes. Make me a peacemaker and disciple known by your love. Amen.
As you may have heard, we hosted Congregation Dor Tamid, the synagogue here in Johns Creek, this past Sunday for a Drive-In Rosh Hashanah service. Jordan, their Rabbi, is a part of our interfaith clergy group. He reached out to us, inquiring how we did our Drive-In service. So, we invited them to use our equipment and campus for their service. Following our 9:30 a.m. service this past Sunday, they arrived a little before 11:00 a.m. to begin their service.
Our team of parking lot ushers stayed around to help our guests find their way in. I am grateful to Rob Lawrence and his crew for doing that. A few of us stayed around to attend the Rosh Hashanah service. I had never been to one before and was not sure exactly what to expect, but it was a wonderful worship service.
Many of the readings from the Hebrew Bible, what we often refer to as the Old Testament, were familiar passages from the Psalms. My ears perked up particularly when I heard Psalm 121, one of my favorites that begins, "I lift my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth." (NIV)
Two things made the greatest impression on me that day. The first was how deeply rooted our Christian faith is in the Jewish faith and the Old Testament. I felt like I was hearing from the foundational words of our faith. The second was how much I enjoyed sitting in a chair in the parking lot, enjoying a worship service from a different vantage point. It was a beautiful fall day with blue skies and the wind blowing the green leaves of the trees. What a way to worship God!
The culmination and high point of the service for me was when Jordan blew the shofar at the end of the service a number of times. Each time it was blown, it signified something very important. I was also aware that our neighbors probably wondered what that sound was. So, for those of you who were not able to be there, I wanted to share one picture. I am grateful for the worship of God that takes place on our campus in its many forms!
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, to whom we lift our eyes and from whom our help comes -- we thank you for making heaven and earth. We thank you for watching over us day and night, and for watching over our coming and going now and forevermore. Amen.
This weekend, I enjoyed a walk at the park with Chap, Will and our dog, Belle. I breathed in the fall air and started to notice early signs of the leaves changing. It seems like all of the sudden, the seasons have changed. This year I have been more intentional about sabbath and outdoor time, but still fall weather snuck up on me.
I was reminded this morning that God is working, even when I'm not paying attention. Fall is a season filled with changes. In some homes your first child starts school, in others someone starts college, while still others of you face an empty nest. The fall seems to bring more changes than any other season. Fall also begins the season of dormancy and hibernation in nature, I think we too welcome it as it brings us relief from the pace of summer.
Life often seems to move so quickly and many times we are the ones that can be rushing it along. I would invite you to take a few moments today to consider this scripture:
After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live.
-Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, from the Message
We can embrace change not because we know what is coming, but because we know that we can trust our future to God. Just as we look forward from one season to the next, anticipating and longing for change, we can also embrace the changes we face anticipating God to work. We can place our hope in God.
Take a moment to stop and look around you. What are some ways that God has been working in your life recently, while you have been focused in a different direction? As we enter this season filled with changes, consider this scripture and then an image that connects with you. Take a picture and save as a reminder of this message.
Prayer for Today
Creator God, Just when we settle into a pattern, things change far too quickly. One door opens; another closes. We rise, we eat, we sleep. We smile, we laugh, we cry. Change itself is ever changing. Guide us through this season and may we be open to the ways you bring blessings and challenges through changes in our lives. In Christ's Name, Amen.
We were almost home when I noticed it: the needle of our car's temperature gauge was rocketing up. As we pulled in, I killed the engine and hopped out. Smoke wafted from the hood. The engine sizzled like bacon. I backed the car up a few feet and found a puddle beneath: oil. Instantly, I knew what had happened: The head gasket had blown.
I groaned. We'd just sunk money into other expensive repairs. Why can't things just work? I grumbled bitterly. Why can't things just stop breaking?
Can you relate? Sometimes we avert one crisis, solve one problem, pay off one big bill, only to face another. Sometimes those troubles are much bigger than an engine self-destructing: an unexpected diagnosis, an untimely death, a terrible loss.
In those moments, we yearn for a world less broken, less full of trouble. That world, Jesus promised, is coming. But not yet: "In this world you will have trouble," He reminded His disciples in John 16. "But take heart! I have overcome the world" (v. 33). Jesus spoke in that chapter about grave troubles, such as persecution for your faith. But such trouble, He taught, would never have the last word for those who hope in Him.
Troubles small and large may dog our days. But Jesus' promise of a better tomorrow with Him encourages us not to let our troubles define our lives today.
Prayer for Today
Father, troubles never seem far away. But when they're close, You're even closer. Please help me to cling to You in trust today. Amen.
