First Presbyterian in Argenta

At least, don’t come to the church building. Come to church out at The One community garden at The One, Inc. 8016 Faulkner Lake Rd North Little Rock, AR 72117 from 10 a.m. to noon.

We’ll be planting a garden that will grow food to help feed the homeless served by The Van ministries.

Join us as we proclaim and respond to the Word of God through our work.

Directions and Map

From the church, take Maple to Broadway, turn left on to Broadway. Go a little over 3 miles and turn right on Lynch Drive. You’ll pass Rose City Middle School, and soon after, Lynch Drive turns in to Faulkner Lake Road. The One will be on your right.

Note from the pastor: I couldn’t really breathe in worship today, so I’m not sure I fully preached the sermon I intended to. So, I’ve done something I don’t normally do. I created a transcript of what I mean to say.

Taking our faith to work. How do we do it in ways other than walking up to people and asking them if they know Jesus? We are not all going to be Richard Stearns(1) and leave a successful corporate career to head up an international aid organization. We are not all going to be CEOs and have the power to decide, like the heads of Chik-fil-a and Hobby Lobby, to close our offices on Sunday.

But we can take our faith to work. To do so, I think we have to make some attitude adjustments. I used to work in advertising, so I know that it takes time to change someone’s attitude or point of view, but I would like for all of you to commit to making a change right here…today. We don’t have a lot of time.

The first idea we need to change—or to simply let go of—is the idea that people who are seriously called by God become ordained clergy-type people or go into the foreign mission field. Not only is this misguided, it’s not even Biblical.

Noah was a shipbuilder, a zookeeper and a cruise director
Abraham was in real estate development
Joseph was a pioneer in food distribution systems
Esther was a pageant queen who became an actual queen
Daniel went to the King’s college and essentially became president of Iraq (2)

None of these people were clergy. In fact, you have to look long and hard before you can find religious professionals in the Bible who come off looking like Godly people at all. I suppose Eli and Samuel in the Old Testament pass the test, but all of the priests and Pharisees in the New Testament tend to be part of the problem instead of the solution—and one could make a very persuasive argument that the same is true today.

We are all called by God into mission and ministry, but that doesn’t mean we all have to or even should travel to the depths of Africa or Asia or take our place in a chancel every week and proclaim the good news from a pulpit.

So that’s our first new attitude. We are all called to ministry and mission. Whether we are scientists or school teachers, doctors or ditch diggers, students or stay-at-home parents. We are all out in the mission field.

The second shift we need to make is beyond the false boundaries we have set up between the sacred and the secular. Pastor Matt Chandler points out that there is no divide between what God likes and what God tolerates. Although we have done our best to make certain places and spaces profane, it is all part of God’s good creation. The water cooler is not a baptismal font, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t sacred space. The beauty shop is not a sanctuary, but that doesn’t hearts aren’t healed there. Any line between the sacred and the secular is man-made and not God-drawn.

Is everyone on board so far? We are all called to ministry and mission and every place we occupy and gather with others is sacred, God-created space. If we are no longer merely worker bees headed to an office or a classroom, but missionaries occupying sacred space come Monday morning, that kind of changes things, doesn’t it?

Now here is the third, and probably most difficult, change. What if…just imagine what if…your work isn’t about you. It’s not about padding your resume or building up your ego, it’s not about you climbing the ladder of success, it’s not about (sorry, parents) you making good grades or even about you making money to support yourself or your family.

What if you have been placed in your work space ON purpose and WITH a purpose? What if your work is far more about the people around you than it is about, well, you?

The Psalmist tells us that we are wonderfully formed. That God knows us inside and out. And Paul asserts to a bunch of highly-educated Greeks that God has determined our appointed times in history. What if the God who knows you better than you know yourself and has placed you in this time in history has also placed you in your work for a purpose that is beyond you? As an only child, adjusting to the idea that anything may not be about me is not an easy task. But I’m willing to make the shift if you are.

If we are called to ministry and mission, if our boardrooms and classrooms and playgrounds and workshops are all sacred space and if our work is more about the people around us than it is about us as individuals, how then do we live out our faith and our purpose at work?

We come to church and claim that we believe in a God who listens to our prayers, but do we pray for the people with whom we work?

We say we believe in a God of mercy and grace, but do we extend that mercy and grace to those who work with, around and for us?

We affirm that we are important because of whose we are not because of what we do, but do we value our co-workers and classmates because of whose they are, or do we value them for what they contribute to our own well-being and success?

We believe Jesus has done great things for us, but how often do we extend to the a co-worker who is struggling or hurting a version of the offer I make every Sunday at the end of worship? “Jesus has made a difference in my life, and if you’d like to know more about Him, feel free to talk with me about it at anytime.”

Do the people we work with know we are Christians, not because of a decal on our car, but (as the song says) by our love?

May we make these shifts in perception and attitude today. May we joyfully claim that we are all called by God to mission and ministry. May we see our offices and classrooms and boardrooms and playgrounds as sacred space. And may the work we are called to do not simply be about us and what we achieve, but about how we might serve those around us and help them become all that God intends. May we behave like people with a purpose.

Amen.

1 Check out Richard Stearn’s story in The Hole in our Gospel. It’s a powerful book.
2 Adapted from the Right Now series Work as Worship.

–Rev. Anne Russ

It was a great Easter Weekend at First Presbyterian Church. Christ is Risen, and we celebrated gloriously.

Katie Reid and Natasha Deal pulled off another great Egg Hunt. Ross and Billie Stanley had the courtyard bursting with color. The Bluegrass Service was a lot of fun, and our fabulous piano player who always brings an A-game to worship took it to a whole ‘nother level at our traditional service in the sanctuary.

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Tonight our congregation gathered around the table in the Fellowship Hall to share a simple meal of bread and fruit and cheese followed by breaking the bread and passing the cup to remember the night that Jesus first instituted the Last Supper, or communion.

The way we mark Maundy Thursday is a bit of a mixed bag. While there is always great joy in gathering at a table with old friends and new friends who are part of our faith community, it is also a somber occasion as we remember the night that Jesus was betrayed–the night that led to Good Friday when Jesus was crucified.

But if we only let the table be a memorial, we are missing a great deal. We encounter much when we approach the table of Jesus Christ. The “bread of life” is also Jesus body “broken for us.” The “cup of salvation” is also Jesus blood “shed for us.” Sometimes the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice overshadows the gift we have in the Lord’s Supper. How privileged we are to be invited to the table. The strength we can draw from such a simple, but powerful meal.

Tonight, though, we were reminded of the joy that should always be ours whenever we gather at the table of Jesus Christ. After we had finished passing the elements and everyone had been fed, Ella (the youngest member in attendance tonight) clapped her hand together and exclaimed, “Yay!”

Yay indeed. Yay for the invitation to come to the table that is issued even to sinners like us. Yay for the unity of those gathered at the table. Yay for strengthening of our union with Christ through the simple, but powerful, elements of bread and wine.

And double-yay for the budding young theologians in our midst who help to show us the way.

An abbreviated version of one of Tony Campolo’s most famous sermons. Just the thing to prepare our hearts for Easter Sunday.

If you are over of the age of say, six, then you most likely know what it’s like to have life pull the rug out from under you. Things are going along just great and then disappointment, disaster or disease strikes (sometimes all three at once). These are times when it can seem that hope has abandoned us. Times when we make choices we never thought we would make. Times when we are sure that darkness has conquered the light, and that any light we might see is most likely the headlight of an oncoming train.

Holy Week starts tomorrow. It is a story that begins with Jesus’ joyful entry into Jerusalem and seems to end with his death on the cross. It is the story of triumph turning to tragedy. Jesus is given a hero’s welcome, and then suddenly is betrayed by a friend, unjustly accused by his own people and put to death at the hands of an oppressive regime. Only we know something that the people who lived through that week with Jesus didn’t know. Death is not the end of the story.

Because of what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we know that forces that seem to be set against us will not defeat us. Despair cannot conquer hope. Darkness cannot overwhelm light. And death will never have the last word.

For anyone who has ever been betrayed by a friend,
For anyone who has ever been the victim of injustice,
For anyone who is scared of what the people in charge might do next,
For anyone who is overwhelmed by the presence of evil in our world,
For anyone who, like the thieves who hung on the cross next to Jesus, is a victim of your own choices,
For anyone who needs to know that you are not in this alone…

This week is for you. Let the journey begin.

Rev. Anne Russ