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The Ninth Commandment

title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Presbyterian Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 30, 2026
The Ninth Commandment
Exodus 20:16

Sermon recorded at Bluemont on Friday, August 28, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

One afternoon, a preacher walking through his neighborhood came up on a group of boys trying to out-lie each other. He stopped and after listening for a few moments at some whoppers, asked the boys what they were doing.They explained they’d found a puppy. They all wanted the dog, so they decided the one who told the biggest lie could take it home. 

This disturbed the preacher. Looking at each boy in the eye, he told them they should be ashamed. He went on to say that when he was there age, he never told lies. The boys bowed their heads and shrugged their shoulders in shame as their leader, picked up the puppy, handed it to the preacher and said, “You win, you get to keep the dog.”

I won’t stand up here today and say I’ve never told a lie. If I did, as John’s first epistle reminds us, I would be deceiving myself and the truth would not be in me. All of us have lied—whether telling our mother we didn’t have any homework when we wanted to play baseball, or saying we’re going to the office when we have fishing rods or golf clubs stashed in the trunk. Although lies vary in degree of intensity, they are dangerous as they put us in the league with the great liar, Satan whose name means one who slanders, who lies, and who deceives.

Before reading the scripture:

We’re to tell the truth, that’s the meaning of the 9th Commandment, right? But what about “little white lies.” I’m sure not only have we all told lies, there’s probably been times we all wished we’d told a lie instead of telling the truth.


What’s the relationship to those little white lies we tell? That’s what I want us to consider this morning. What does the ninth commandment mean today? “Is lying ever appropriate?” If so, when?  Let’s listen to the commandment. 

Read Exodus 20:16



Let’s hear this commandment from a modern translation: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” And from the King James Version. “Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.” 

Sermon

What does it mean to give false witness? What’s the intention of the commandment, especially in light of Jesus’ teachings? 

First of all, in Old Testament times, jurisprudence depended upon witnesses in court telling the truth. The same is true today, but we’re a bit more sophisticated than back then. In our situation, we are supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. We also have more tools like DNA which can help the innocent defend themselves. In our courts, the burden of proof remains with the prosecutor. In the ancient world, including Israel, this wasn’t necessarily so. Instead, someone could bring an accusation against you and it was up to you to prove yourself innocent. And it’s hard to prove yourself innocent if your accuser is a good liar.

The classic tale of miscarriage of justice in scripture is the story of King Ahab and Naboth. Naboth had a vineyard Ahab wanted to buy. But Naboth didn’t want to sell, so Ahab’s wife Jezebel sent a letter, under her husband’s seal, to the elders of the city instructing them to set Naboth up by having two scoundrels charge him with blasphemy, a crime punishable by stoning. With Naboth dead, as king, Ahab takes his land.

Perjury, in the ancient world, where two witnesses could result in the execution of an individual, was a serious crime. Those who committed perjury, if discovered, received the same sentence as the victim they condemned. In other words, if in Ahab’s day justice had prevailed in Israel, which it didn’t, all who conspired against Naboth would have also been stoned. 

In the courtroom setting, truth is a necessity. But the same goes from anyone with authority. If you are in a position to have privileged information, and misrepresent such information, you’re guilty. This is a serious crime for people make decisions on you word. Think about buying a stock based on a company’s financial statement. You have no way to determine if what’s said is truthful or if they’re cooking the books. And when it comes out that it is not truthful, a crisis arises as we wonder whom, if anyone, we can trust. Obeying the ninth commandment not only protects your neighbor, it protects the foundation of society.

I’ve tried to impress upon you, the second table of the law provides basic ground rules for a society. To review these commandments quickly: we’re not to kill or harm our neighbors: we’re not to lure their wives away or if you’re a woman, their husbands; we’re not to take their property; and we’re not to make up lies about them so as to destroy their credibility in the community. 

Telling lies is not just harmful within a legalistic setting. It is also destructive within families and between friends. We’re told in the book of Proverbs that a good name is to be chosen before riches. But think for a minute how easy it is to destroy someone’s name. By taking half truths, or slightly distorted truths, we can make an opponent out to look like a demon. Let’s face it, this happens all the time in politics. But it’s not limited to the political world. It’s behavior we witness with children on the playground. 

For some reason, we Homo Sapiens have to have someone we can vilify. It may be a classmate, a neighbor, someone in church, but it seems we need someone we can talk and gossip about as well as ridicule. And the danger comes from more we participate in such activities, the less our conscious pricks us with the words from this commandment. Pretty soon, we come to believe that we’re truthful, which is the greatest lie of all.

We’re all heard, and most of us have probably used the cliché, “the truth hurts.” The cliché serves as a hammer. We tell someone our version of the truth, much to his or her pain, and then we drive the nail in with the phrase, “the truth hurts.” It’s a way of self-justifying our actions for hurting another person. Gossipers use the phrase all the time, as if to claim they are not violating the ninth commandment. But before we let such a person walk away with a clear conscious, consider the intention of this commandment. Is it just to ensure that we always tell the truth, or does it have something to do with the way we treat our neighbors?  If it was just about telling the truth, why didn’t God just say, “Thou shalt not lie?” Why was the commandment couched in terms of bearing false witness against neighbors? 

I suggest the intention of the commandment has to do with the way we treat our neighbors. And don’t forget, as Jesus shows in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, our neighbors are not limited to those living next door. Nor are they only those who look, think, and act like we do. Everyone created in the image of God is a neighbor.  

John Calvin spent considerable time in his sermon on this verse condemning those who pretend to be “zealous” when they only want to trap their enemies. We all know such people. When they learn about a neighbor’s sin, they act like they’re helping their neighbor reform, when they’re really out for blood. They attempt to look good and godly while making a neighbor look bad. In the 18th chapter of Matthew, Jesus lays out how we confront a neighbor over his or her sin. We’re to be respectful and not involve any more people than necessary. 

Before we sign up for a crusade against someone else, we should ask ourselves, “What’s in it for us?” Are we just out to get back at someone, to make ‘em look bad. In such cases, we’re using the truth as a hammer. Sure, we might keep the letter of the law, but we break its spirit.

As we’ve seen this year in my sermons, Jesus, in this Sermon on the Mount, reinterprets the sixth and seventh commandments to include not only the acts of murder and adultery, but also the intentions within our hearts. I think we can make the same assumption for the ninth commandment. Are comments about our neighbor done for their benefit, or to make us look good? Even if truthful, if our intention is to promote ourselves at the expense of our neighbor, in other words, if we’re trying to destroy our neighbor’s reputation, we’re guilty of breaking the commandment.

Now let’s explore a minute about what we call little white lies. First of all, let me say that I think we should strive to be truthful and loving in all we do.  Truth and love go hand in hand. Sometimes, we might have to massage the truth a bit to keep from hurting someone. I suppose when we do this,  we should confess it to God just to keep ourselves honest. Let me give you an example. Think about a toddler drawing a picture. To your eyes, it’s nothing more than a bunch of colored lines. But he or she asks what you think of her picture, what should you say? Should you say it’s the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen? No, even if that thought ran through your mind, you’re not going to say it for it would destroy the child’s sense of self. 

We find ourselves in such situations often and not just with three year olds, but also with those who are 43 and 83 and 103. Perhaps the guiding rule needs to be what is best for our neighbor? Now, if the child is now 18 and still drawings such pictures and plans to apply to art school, his or her best interest might be for us to be more truthful, but to convey such truth in love.

On a different level…  Let’s say you lived in Nazi Germany and hid Jews during the holocaust. Would you break the intention of the commandment by lying to an SS Officer and saying you’ve not seen any Jews, even though some are hiding in your closet? In such cases, the greater interest is justice for the innocent. 

On the other hand, how about telling a lie to protect a friend or coworker from some wrong they’ve done? In this type of case, I don’t think your protected for your little white lie. Let’s say you know a colleague who deceives the government, shareholders, or customers. Whistleblowers are often condemned for a lack of loyalty, but loyalty is misguided when it comes to covering up crime and protecting the guilty. In such a case, using a white lie to protect the one in the wrong places you in clear violation of the ninth commandment. 

Do you see what I mean about the commandment’s intention? By being couched in legal terms, the commandment seeks to keep our neighbors from being unfairly accused? At the same time, this also means exposing the guilty, especially if by exposing the guilty party protects unsuspecting victims. The ninth commandment helps build and protects community. Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John, Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin Farley, translator (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980).

Garrison, Jeff. Sermon on Exodus 20:16, First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Michigan, August 26, 2007

Sade, Kenneth, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990). 

Scriptural references: 1 John 1:8, John 8:44, Revelation 12:9, 1 Kings 21, Proverbs 22:1, Matthew 18:15-20, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 5:21-35. 

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Wandering Around the Mountains of North Carolina

Title slide with photo of a CSX coal train descending through Spruce Pine, NC

I’m currently back in the North Carolina Mountains, at Montreat at a Board of Pension retreat, as I finish writing about a trip I made down here last month

CSX train heading south through Spruce Pine, NC
Spruce Pine, NC

The smoke poured across the eastern half of the country in mid-July. I was on vacation for a week and planned to work to do in the garden a few days. Then, on the weekend, we were to head north and spend some time in Staunton, visiting Woodrow Wilson’s library and exploring the Shenandoah Valley.  Unfortunately, as bad as the smoke was Southwest Virginia, it was worse further north. We  cancelled hotel reservations and set our sights south. 

The plan had been to stay in the Nuway Inn in Burnsville. I had spotted this place last fall when I was on a mission trip helping rebuild homes in the area. The Nuway Inn is the oldest hotel in state in continuous operation. With no rooms available, I found another interesting place, the Blue Ridge Boutique Hotel in Spruce Pines. With a place to stay for a few nights, I pointed the car south, driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and stopping for lunch at the Bluff’s Restaurant in Doughton Park. While I had never eaten in this restaurant, I have enjoyed their food many times as they cater for concerts at the Blue Ridge Music Center.  I recommend their meatloaf!

This area of the parkway just recently opened as several bridges had to be rebuilt and it has been closed most of the time since I moved to the mountains. Thankfully, it’s back open, but due to Hurricane Helene, there are still a section with bridges out around Grandfather Mountain. The re-route took us through the Blowing Rock. Whatever happened to the quaint little town I used to spend time in 40 years ago when I lived just down the mountain in Hickory? The traffic was terrible. 

After getting back on the Parkway, we drove a little further south before exiting at Spruce Pine. I often wondered about the name of this town. Spruce and pines are two types of trees. While both are evergreens, the needles on pine trees are softer and connected together in groups of two to five needles. Spruce (and firs) have individual needles. I found no one who could answer my question about the town’s name. Since both species of trees grow in the town, it works. The town is nestled along both banks of the peaceful North Toe River. The water was nice, but when Hurricane Helene visited the stream became a nightmare. Raging waters submerged the lower part of the town. 

Spruce Pines from the hotel patio
Spruce Pines from the hotel patio

We checked into the hotel, which was an old elementary school built in the 1930s, on a bank high above the river. The rooms were tastefully done and nice. However, walking the hardwood halls between rooms felt a bit haunted. I had nightmares of being transported back to my childhood at Bradley Creek Elementary School. Both schools dated from a similar time period. 

Not finding anything we wanted to eat for dinner in Spruce Pine, I suggested we try Burnsville, which is just down the road. We had a great dinner and good beer at Homeplace Beer Company, eating outside under an awning. While we ate, a light rain fell as thunder rolled through the mountains. I love that sound.. 

Saturday morning, we stopped at TJ Blue Ridge Cafe for a very filling breakfast. We ate on the sidewalk, watching CSX coal trains make their way through town heading south. This is the same line which runs through Camp Bud Schiele, he last camp I directed for the Boy Scouts before going to seminary. That summer, at camp, I stayed across the tracks from the camp . On two occasions missed the morning flag ceremony due to waiting for a coal train to pass. Hurricane Helene did a lot of damage to this line, known as the Clinchfield Route. Along the tracks were stacks of old railroad ties, obviously collected from the rebuilding projects along the line. 

Roan Mountain
Roan Mountain

After breakfast, we headed up to Roan Mountain with plans to do some hiking. Sadly, we were a bit late for the rhododendrons in bloom. This was the first section of the Appalachian Trail I hiked. I would go on to complete  the trail during the first summer break from seminary. It was May 1983 and four of his hiked from the Hot Springs to Highway 19e. It was rainy coming up Roan Mountain. We camped at a shelter near the top of the peak. The next morning was beautiful as the clouds filled in the valleys below.

radio operator working out of the back of his car
Radio operator working on relaying signals on the Appalachian trail

This was my first time back to Roan Mountain since that magical day. With storms all around, we didn’t do much hiking. Stopping at a pull-off, II spotted  a guy with an antenna up near his car, working a radio. I assumed he was working POTA (Parks on the Air). This is where someone sets up an amateur radio station remotely and makes contacts. There are people who log these contacts, trying to collect contacts from National and State Parks across the country. 

Instead, I was surprised to learn he was participating in working the “Appalachian Trail.” A group of 12 or so individuals or clubs staged themselves along the trail at high points. They passed information from Georgia to Maine using the 2 meter VHF band. He kept an eye on the storms. He knew if they came too close, he’d need to take the antenna down and seek shelter inside his car. Thankfully, the storms stayed far enough away, he could continue forwarding messages as we talked about our radio experiences. 

entrance to a felspar mine

Looking for a place where we could stay dry, we headed to the Emerald Village, which sounds as if it was the place which became a city in the Wizard of Oz. On one side of the highway was a museum at an old feldspar mine which, which crushed, provided the abrasive for BoAmi, a household cleanser. The mine displayed various pieces of equipment used in the extraction of the rock. 

inside the mine looking out
inside the mine looking out (much of the mine is now underwater)
Rocks under a blacklight
Rocks under.a blacklight

After the mine tour, we headed across the street where there was another museum and a place where one could shift through ore for gemstones. The museum was interesting, featuring a great collection of carbine headlamps worn by miners before battery power lights were available. There were also dark areas where black lights brought local gems to light.  After touring through the museum and going through a bucket of ore, we left with a bag of gems which included emeralds, amethyst, smoky and rose quartz, Calcite, pyrite, topaz, opals, and garnets.

searching for gems

On the way back to hotel, we stopped by Little Switzerland, visiting an old bookstore before eating dinner at the Switzerland Cafe. I had salmon which was excellent, along with a local beer. Back at the hotel, we walked a path along the river, visited a community garden, and then sat on the patio reading and watching the light fade from the hills. 

Banner Elk Presbyterian Church
Banner Elk Presbyterian Church

On Sunday, we drove the backroads up to Banner Elk, where we worshipped at the Presbyterian Church. The Pastor preached his first sermon in a series on the Beatitudes, which made me smile as I had just finished a series on 17 sermons on the Sermon on the Mount, which includes the Beatitudes. Afterwards, we drove back through Boone, another town that has lost its quaint charm in the decades since I lived in Western North Carolina. From there, we followed the New River home, stopping and checking out places like Todd, which I haven’t seen since the early 1980s. Arriving at Fries (pronounced Freeze), we stopped in a park for ice cream and listening to the river. I finished reading Louis L’Amour’s memoir, Education of a Wandering Man. Leaving Fries, another thunderstorm caught up with us as we approached Laurel Fork.

It was great to get away for a few days and to be out of the pulpit for a Sunday.  

Collection of mining lanterns
Collection of mining lanterns

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The Eighth Commandment: Don’t Steal

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 23, 2026
The Eighth Commandment
Exodus 20:15, Ephesians 4:28

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Presbyterian Church on Thursday, August 20, 2026

At the beginning of worship:
The Ballard of the Flim-Flam Man is delightful and humorous book set in tobacco market towns of Eastern North Carolina during the 1950s. Mordecai Jones, a character created by Guy Owens, is the Flim-Flam Man. He travels with a younger apprentice, Curley Treadaway. They get into all sorts of mischief as they attempt to separate people and their money. One of the key rules to this dishonest trade, which Mordecai impresses upon his young student is that “you can’t cheat an honest man in the skin trade.” 

You can’t cheat an honest man for he’s not out to get something for nothing. You can rob him; you can stick a gun in his back and force him raise his arms while you lift his wallet, but that wasn’t the Flim-flam man’s way. He had certain, although misguided, values. He wasn’t a highway robber, he wasn’t going to forcefully take someone’s money. Instead, he preferred to cheat those with a burning desire to get something for nothing. There is a lesson here for us that we can trace back to the eighth commandment. As the old saying goes, “a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Before reading the scripture:

Like our previous two commandments, the eighth commandment prohibiting the taking of someone’s property is quite concise. Don’t steal, we’re told. We’re to respect the property of others. According to the traditional teachings of the church this includes avoiding unnecessary lawsuits to gain from another, receiving stolen property, and even kidnapping for slavery or ransom. Let’s look at what the Bible says:

Read Exodus 20:15 and Ephesians 4:28

We should ask ourselves what consists of a violation of the eighth commandment. Obviously, if I walk into Nester’s Store and pick up a pack of gum and walk out without paying for it, I’m guilty. If I steal a car, I’m guilty. If I break into one of your homes and steal your prized black velvet Elvis portrait hanging over your fireplace, I’m guilty. Cut and dry examples. In God’s eyes, I’m guilty. In the eyes of the law, I’m guilty. And in the case of the Elvis painting further penance would be dished out at home when I attempt to hang the painting. We all agree on these examples, but interestingly, the church’s traditional understanding of this commandment isn’t limited to physical theft. 

The Westminster Larger Catechism suggests stealing includes tricks and schemes which seek to gain our neighbor’s wealth, dishonesty in business dealings, deceptive advertising, counterfeiting money, charging exorbitant interest, being greedy, and even misusing or wasting God’s gifts. 

When you expand the list like this, it points out places in our lives where we’ve not lived up to the standard set by the church. It’s quite a list and many of them are just as much of a problem today as they were back in the 17th century when the catechism was first published. Just think about all the business scandals we’ve gone through over the past twenty-five years. To bring the catechism up to date, we should also include insider trading and falsifying stockholder reports.  

To understand the problem of theft from a Biblical perspective, we must understand the Biblical notion of property. Here in the USA, we talk a lot about private property and our rights. If we have a piece of land, we act like we’re little kings within our boundaries. But that’s a different understanding of property from what we have in Scripture. According to the Bible, we don’t own a thing. Instead of owing property and thereby having certain rights, in Scripture any wealth—whether land, durable goods, knowledge, or capital—belongs to God. It may be ours in our eyes and certainly in the eyes of the county tax folks, but in the eyes of God, it belongs to him. We’re allowed its use God’s property as a steward. 

This has implications for the eighth commandment, for if I take what belongs to my neighbor, not only do I commit a crime against him, I’m also stealing from God, who ultimately owns the possession I stole.  

This broader understanding of property expands the meaning of theft. Yes, stealing as defined in the state legal code is a crime and the Sheriff will prosecute you. But what God considers a crime may or may not be considered one by law enforcement.

We live within a market economy and demand generally sets the price, but according to the way the church has traditionally understood this commandment, price gouging is wrong. Stealing, according to this broader understanding also occurs when an employee takes advantage of his employer and goofs-off. It also occurs when an employer takes advantage of an employee. Both the employee and employer are called to a higher standard in scripture. And likewise, stealing occurs whenever we fail to use the gifts God has given us to his glory. If we’ve been given great talents and we don’t do anything with them, we’re guilty. Also, if we’ve been given great talents and use them in an evil manner, we’re guilty of stealing from God. 

The honest man and woman know honesty and hard work are virtues and don’t jump for the fast buck. Therefore it’s harder to cheat them. We might not think about it in this fashion, but cheating another and trying to get something for nothing are both violations of the eighth commandment. Ponder this: both the Flim-Flam man and his victim stand guilty.

Now, as I’ve shown with the other commandments we’ve discussed, each commandment can be expanded to include positive actions. The prohibition against murder can also include constructive suggestions such as watching out for the well-being of your neighbor. The same is true here, not only are we not to steal, we should also help our neighbor watch out for his property. John Calvin suggests that if we want to know what stealing entails, we should consider the rights of others.“The principal of charity,” Calvin says, “is to be our guide.” This commandment requires us to care for others. This is in keeping with the notion that all we have comes from God. If we’ve been blessed more by God, more is required of us, for we are to use those blessings in a way that honors God and helps our brothers and sisters.

It is interesting that Calvin and other Protestant Reformers don’t limit stealing to ways we generally consider its definition. Certainly they condemned the physical act of taking something which doesn’t belong to you, but they also come down hard on deceitfulness. Perhaps they understood how often those held in high esteem were guilty of such practices. In Dante’s Inferno, his poetic depiction of hell, swindlers are placed deeper in hell than strong-armed men, or “armed robbers.”  

John Calvin in a sermon on this passage, divided types of theft into two animal categories—foxes and wolves. The wolf, which has no other means of getting what it needs, resorts to brute power. The fox, however, uses trickery. Both are wrong, but often as a society we come down harder on the wolf and, to some extent, idolized the fox. This, as you can imagine, isn’t anything new. In Roman society, the simple thief could be crucified, while the fox might have been made a governor, given prestige and a province to plunder.  


Theft, whether committed by a common criminal or a white-collared executive, is wrong. And today, in the information age, theft is as easy as ever. I wonder if we, in America, haven’t brought into the idea that theft is only related to taking physical property. In this manner, we interpret this commandment as a protection of protect our possessions without requiring any responsibility from us. 

How else can we explain so many scandals concerning business practices? If I remember correctly, Kenneth Lay, the CEO of Enron taught Sunday School before going to jail. How did he do that? Or how can we explain parents rising up in indignation at a teacher flunking students who plagiarize? How do we explain the practice of preachers using someone else’s sermons, without giving credit. Or AI stealing information from books under copyright without paying the authors? 

In our information age, it is easy to steal. And it’s not just hacking computers, raiding bank accounts and stealing credit card numbers. These are the things we fear and yes, such theft occurs, but so does a more subtle form of theft, stealing and using ideas without giving credit. Or stealing art—the downloading of music and movies without paying the artist. Most of us, at least after about the age of 15, would never consider slipping in to a movie theater without paying. But would we watch an illegal copy of that same movie at home? 

There is an old episode of the Simpson’s titled “Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment” which deals with the moral implications of theft.  


For fifty bucks, a one-time fee, Homer has a cable television installer hook him up illegally. No longer does Homer pay for cable and he can watch all the shows for free. This little “victimless crime,” (if there’s such a thing), creates chaos in the Simpson’s home. Next thing you know, his son Bart charges classmates admission to watch the Playboy channel.

Bart’s action disappoints Homer, but he has compromised his moral authority. How can he convince Bart of the wrongness of his actions when Homer steals from the cable company. The Simpson family becomes polarized. Marge, the mother, is scared her husband will be arrested. Lisa, their daughter, joins with her mother on a moral crusade. Lisa takes seriously her Sunday School lesson on the Ten Commandments and encourages her father to cut the cable. In the end, that’s what Homer does, but ironically, not until he’s had all the guys over to watch a heavyweight title fight.    

Unfortunately, for us, understanding theft is more confusing today than ever, which makes Jesus forgiving the thief on the cross really good news for us all. There’s always hope. But we shouldn’t give up striving to apply this commandment to our lives.

As Christians, we need to claim the high moral ground. Theft is theft, whether we are an executive or a cat burglar, a student copying a paper or a homeowner avoiding paying for utilities. Calvin’s suggestion we consider what is right by our fellowman or woman serves as a good guideline. Are we being fair to all? Another way of asking the question is the popular cliché, “what would Jesus do?” I certainly don’t think he’d be pirating music or misleading stockholders anymore than he would shoplift. What would Jesus do? Or more importantly, what are we going to do?  Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Ford Lewis Battles, translator (1559)
______. Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley,
translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),
Childs, Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.
Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder & Stoughton ,
1963).
Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon on the 8th Commandment at First Presbyterian Church
of Hastings, Michigan. “(August 12, 2007).
Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten
Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).
Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for the
Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009).
Owens, Guy. The Ballard of the Flim-Flam Man, (1965: Wilmington, NC: Coastal
Carolina Press, 2001)
Pinsky, Mark  I. The Gospel According to the Simpsons (Louisville: Westminster/JKP,
2001).
Presbyterian Church USA, The Book of Confession, “Heidelberg and Westminster
Catechisms” (Louisville, KY, 2021). 

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The Seventh Commandment

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 16, 2026
Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27-28

Sermon recorded at Bluemont Presbyterian Church on Friday, August 14, 2026.

At the beginning of worship:
Today we’re looking at the 7th Commandment. I can’t think of this commandment without thinking about Jerry. I met him when he started attending Bradley Creek Elementary School in the sixth grade. From the beginning he tried to make himself look good to the teachers. The rowdy group of boys I ran with found this an irritant. 

We had a banquet at the end of the school year. Billy Mason, the principal at Roland Grice Junior High, spoke. He encouraged us to become model students by remembering two passages in the Bible. If we followed these two scriptures they would guide us through our Junior High years and keep us out of his office. He asked if anyone knew which two he referred. 

Some girl up front, the type who always had the right answer, raised her hand. The principal gave her a nod and she nailed it: “Do unto others,” the Golden Rule. The principal smiled and nodded approval. She wouldn’t be seeing the inside of his office.

Then the principal asked for another volunteer and Jerry stood up and boldly proclaimed: “thou shalt not commit adultery.” For a moment the principal remained speechless as we burst into laughter. Not that we knew exactly what adultery entailed, we just knew it wasn’t something we were likely to do in Junior High. 

After gasping for air, the principal tried to regain order. He mumbled something about how he hoped we would obey that commandment, too. But he was thinking of a different one. He encouraged us to keep the fifth commandment, to honor our fathers and mothers. In other words, if we acted as if our mothers were watching, we’d have a healthy dose of old fashion guilt and avoid trouble.

Before reading the Scripture:
Last week, as I closed the service, I added a humorous charge before the benediction. Since I had preached on the 6th Commandment, I told you to go out and don’t murder anyone. Then I said, “but you can do better than that. Go out love everyone.” Afterwards, one of the Elders said he couldn’t wait to see my backflip this week. Questioning what he meant, he said that I sent you out to love everyone and this week, I would be qualifying that charge… He’s right because our language uses love in too many ways. Last week, I was referring to love as a verb, not an act. 

Our reading today is another short passage, concerning the 7th Commandment and I will include Jesus’ reinterpretation of this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount. 

Read Exodus 20:14 and Matthew 5:27-28

The seventh commandment is a tough one; we don’t like talking about it. I remember a comic strip; it may have been Frank and Ernest. The Hebrew children gather at Sinai, and a weary Moses comes down the mountain. He tells the crowd below he has some good news and some bad news. He bargained God down to only Ten Commandments.Then he gave the bad news, adultery remained on the list.

Adultery was considered a great sin in the ancient world, even before God gave the Hebrew people the law at Sinai and not just for the Hebrew people. You see this in Genesis, with Abraham and Sarah. Thinking he might be killed, Abraham passed Sarah off as his sister. Sure enough, a  king set his eyes on Sarah, but before he takes her in his harem, he learns the truth through a dream. He feels he has been tricked and is upset for he came close to committing a great sin. 

Literally, the seventh commandment shouldn’t be that hard to obey, even though it’s often broken. But as common of a sin it is, Jesus doesn’t let those of us who have managed to keep the Commandment in a literal sense, off the hook. He pushes the boundaries beyond the physical act and has us internalize it. Like with anger and murder, lust become equivalent to adultery. Unless you are blind and have no touch and smell and hearing, according to Jesus’ interpretation, you’ve probably broken the seventh commandment. Only God really knows, but I suspect most of us have had a few impure thoughts. Such sinfulness is just another reminder of how far the human race has fallen and how totally dependent we are upon God’s grace.

It still amazes me the fuss made over Jimmy Carter’s statement when he ran for President. He admitted to lusting in his heart. What’s surprising is that Jimmy may be one of the few politicians who stopped there and didn’t proceed on to the act itself. Back in the 90s, both our President and Speaker of the House, Clinton and Gingrich, engaged in such actions while pointing the finger at the other. And I won’t go into our current crop of elected adulterers. Unfortunately, those governing us often fail to served as good role models.

As hard as it is to abide, Jesus’ reinterpretation of this commandment is helpful. If you take the seventh commandment literally, you see it applied only to a man who seduced, or was seduced, by a wife or a fiancé of another man. In other words, in a strictly literal sense, this commandment is about protecting the property rights of another man. 

The protection of property rights helps maintain stability in society. As I said last week, commandments six through ten provide us the boundaries within where we can live life abundantly. By internalizing the commandment to include lustful thoughts, Jesus once again goes to the core of the problem. Adultery is a spiritual problem which resides within the heart. 

The Prophets often referred to Israel as an adulterer for chasing after foreign gods. If you remember, the whole premise of the book of Hosea is based upon the analogy of adultery. The prophet is told to take a prostitute as his wife and to love her, even though she remains unfaithful. The people can see, though Hosea grief, how God anguishes over Israel’s unfaithfulness.  

The Christian understanding of marriage is that it’s a three-way covenant. Actually, in some ways, its a four-way covenant. Marriage is not just an agreement between a two people, it also involves God and the rest of the community. We pledge our faithfulness to one another and to our Creator. Committing the act of adultery, because God is involved with our covenant, becomes the same as breaking the first commandment. This is why, if you get into the details of all the laws in Leviticus, you will find that the penalty for adultery in Israel was death. Adultery was as serious as idolatry.  

Keeping the seventh commandment presupposes the keeping of the other commitments. Too often we make an idol out of the family and marriage as the only commitment that matters. But that’s not the case; for us to enjoy life as God intends, we must both keep our marriage vows as well as our commitments to God and honoring those with whom we live in community. Just as with the sixth and eighth commandments, breaking the seventh commandment is a violation which affects the entire community. 

This is why, when I officiate at a wedding, I ask for the commitment from all present to support the couple in the vows they make. And it’s the same reason that in baptism, we ask for the community’s commitment to help the individual grow into Christ. When it comes down to its roots, our faith is not individualistic; it can only be lived out in community.   

I also want to talk briefly about the notion of being single and a Christian. Too often we lift up marriage as the ultimate goal, but we’re probably over reaching by doing that. “The church grows and lives by witness and conversion, not by marriage and family. We don’t have to marry to be faithful to Christ; instead marriage is optional and should be seen more as a calling than some right or a necessity for personal fulfillment.  

Jesus’ reinterpretation of the seventh commandment expands the Law further into a community concern which works to protect women and to awaken men to their responsibilities. As Joy Davidman writes concerning this commandment, Jesus “forgave the adulteress who repented and loved God and denounced the lustful and loveless men who caused her to sin.” In the story of the woman caught in adultery, it is interesting that only the woman was brought before Jesus. We’re left wondering about the man.

For us today, we must consider not just the literal interpretation of the seventh commandment. We should also heed Jesus’ words and the advice from the book of Hebrews, “to hold marriage in honor and to keep the marriage bed undefiled, for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.” There are a bunch of other scripture passages we could consider, especially in Proverbs and in the writings of Paul. By broadening the meaning of this commandment, from a strictly narrow literal interpretation which protected the man’s rights, to a broader interpretation which protects everyone’s rights, shows God’s intention to build healthy communities, one family at a time.  

But then, that was God’s intention all along. If we look back in the second chapter of Genesis, we see that God created the man and woman to help one another and that the two should become one flesh. Adultery is prohibited because it is the knife which cuts through this mystical union and destroys that which God brought together. Honor your marriage vows and look out for one another, in doing so we serve God and one another. Amen.  

Sources: 

Notes on the 7th Commandment in the Heidelberg Catechism, Center for Excellence in Preaching. 

Calvin, John. Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley, translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),

Childs, Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.

Christensen, Duane L. Deuteronomy 1:1-21:9: Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001).

Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder & Stoughton , 1963).

Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon on the 7th Commandment at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Michigan. “(August 2007).

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).

 Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009).

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Thou Shalt Not Kill

Title Slide

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 9, 2026
The Sixth Commandment
Exodus 20:13    Matthew 5:21-22

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Church on Thursday, May 6, 2026

At the beginning of worship:
Reuben, a friend of mine from North Carolina, was an attorney before retiring. Don’t hold that against him, he was also a serious backpacker. Back in the 80s, we spent many weeks together hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia into Pennsylvania. As we walked or sat around an evening campfire, we often discussed theological and legal issues and how they inter-relate. On one such hike, I learned of one of Rueben’s courthouse debacles.   

Reuben represented a man with a good job and a thriving side-business, making over $150,000 a year. This was 40 years ago. His wife wanted a divorce. She didn’t ask for much: joint custody of their kids, and the house. Rueben advised his client to make the deal.  

This stubborn dude didn’t want any part of it. He insisted on fighting for everything, including the house and full custody of the kids. Against Reuben’s. advice, they proceeded to court. The other side called witnesses. Attorneys appreciate clients who tell them everything. Witnesses spoke of how Reuben’s client bragged he would burn his house before giving it to his soon-to-be ex-wife. When Reuben’s client was asked about these threats, he didn’t deny it. Instead, he said, “I’m no longer planning to burn the house down, God will do it.” Rueben wanted to crawl under the table. The room became quiet. Then judge warned the man he better hope God doesn’t burn the house down because he, and not God, would be the main suspect. 

The judge gave the woman the house. About a month later, at night, it burned. As we might suspect, God wasn’t involved, except to look out for woman and kids, all who safely escaped.

Now, this guy attended church. I don’t think it was a Presbyterian Church, as we had no churches in that part of the county. The man confused his personal desires with God’s will. He let anger rule, which is always a dangerous thing. It ruined his life and that of his family. There is an important lesson here. If you have any question about God’s will, pray and check the Scriptures. God won’t tell you to do something against his Word.

Before reading the Scriptures:

Thou shalt not kill.  These four words from the sixth commandment, as they appear in the King James Version, have given Christians much to ponder. We’ve tried everything to rationalize them. It really means murder, we assure ourselves. And many modern translations use murder: check out the New Revised Standard, the NIV, the Message, and the New King James Version. But the Hebrew word here has a broader meaning—for it can mean the unintentional taking of another life or even a state sponsored execution. Instead of trying to rationalize our way around this command, we should understand God desires a world without violent death. Yet, we live in a fallen world. At best, this commandment causes us to live in tension between God desires and reality.

 Another place we can go to learn about this commandment is the Sermon on the Mount, which I preached upon a few months ago. I’ll read both this morning.

Read Exodus 20:13 and Matthew 5:21-22

As we’ve worked our way through the first five commandments, I’ve mentioned the reasons for the law. Today, let add to the list: God’s law helps us discern God’s will. As Christians, our first concern should be to live as God intends. Unfortunately, we confuse our own desires with God’s, as with the client of my friend I told you about earlier.

As much as you dislike someone, God’s not going to tell you to kill ‘em. That’s the enemy speaking. And the same goes with the rest of the commandments. God doesn’t offer dispensations to the law. 

The second table of the law provides the parameters in which we live out our lives within an orderly society. If we keep these commandments, society is stable. If anyone breaks them, all society suffers.

Thou shalt not kill. We like the modern translations better, ‘don’t murder.” For you see, few of us actually murder other people—at least not literally. Of course, Jesus includes character assassination as a form of murder. And then, we know the Bible acknowledges occasions where killing is necessary. How do we handle this?

First off, we’re not Hindus. To refrain from killing would mean we’d have to be vegetarian, for it doesn’t distinguish what is killed. Furthermore, within Israel’s theocracy in the Old Testament, war and capital punishment were allowed under certain circumstances and within certain regulations.   

What is forbidden here, in the sixth commandment, is for one individual to go out and take the life of another. But that’s not quite it either, for the word implies more than just premeditated murder, or even murder committed during a time of heighten emotions. Both of these are obviously condemned, but so is manslaughter, the unintentional killing of another member of the human race. In the 35th chapter of Numbers, God commands Israel to set up cities of refuge where those guilty of manslaughter can flee for safety. 

But ideally, there would be no first degree murder nor manslaughter. Obeying this commandment means we not only refrain from killing, but also that we take seriously the well-being of our neighbors. In our modern world, recklessly driving down the street of a neighborhood while kids play violate the Commandment. Even if we didn’t mean to harm anyone, by not avoiding situations which could unintentionally cause the lost of a life, breaks the commandment. The implications of this command reaches beyond premeditated murder.  

John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, provides a twofold purpose for this commandment. First, we are created in the image of God and to kill means that we violate God’s image. We should “learn to walk without causing injury to anyone,” Calvin admonished Geneva in a sermon, “otherwise God becomes our mortal enemy.”  All humankind is under God’s protection. If we kill, we invite God to step in and intervene.  Because we are created in God’s image, we must hold our neighbor sacred. God also created them in his image. 

Calvin’s second reason is that we share the same flesh with the rest of humanity and because “the Lord has bound mankind together by a certain unity,” we should concern ourselves with the safety of all.  

Thou shalt not kill… The words roll off the tongue as an imperative. The sharpness of this command demands attention. Yet, as I’ve tried to imply, there is a much deeper meaning here than refraining from murder. Jesus, in our New Testament, equates unrighteous anger with murder. Murder, whether premeditative or a crime of passion, often springs from anger. 

Jesus goes to the root of the cause and encourages us to purge ourselves of such thoughts. We’re not to be harming one another with our words. We’re not even to think about it. At the time of Jesus’ reinterpretation, his Jewish contemporaries had fantasies of what they’d like to do to the Romans who controlled Palestine. Taking this commandment literally discouraged revolution against the Roman Legions, or from striking one of those hated tax collectors who worked for Rome. Jesus upsets the balance of things: “Don’t even ponder such thoughts. Love your enemies. Pray for your persecutors.” Calm your tempers and strive not to bring harm to anyone.

If we would, as Calvin suggests and as Jesus taught, look out for the safety of one another, our world would be a better place.

The intention of the sixth commandment is to promote life’s sanctity. The breath of life is a gift of God. As humans, we only have the power to kill, half the power of God, but such power should scare us nearly to death. We can destroy life, but we are not able, on our own, to create life. Instead, at best, we are co-creators with God. But once life is snuffed out, we are unable to do anything about it. So we’re to make the most of our lives, enjoying the benefits God grants us while striving to help others make the most of theirs.  

If we could get to the point in our society where we acknowledge the image of God in another individual and consider life sacred so to avoid an untimely death, many of our problems would be solved. This is why I am against easy abortions and capital punishment. I know many Christians, including some of you, disagree with me on one or both of these points, but my position is that life, all life, should be sanctified. Unfortunately, we have a ways to go to get to where society holds the sanctity of life dear.

We often think of John Calvin as a stern old man, which makes his writings on this commandment shocking. Chaos filled the 16th Century. Wars occurred between various Christian sects and against Moslem invaders from the East. Despite this, Calvin boldly proclaimed that even just and unavoidable wars pollute a nation. And he’s right.  

In the Middle Ages, when knights and soldiers returned from what was considered a “just war,” they still had to confess and make penance before receiving Communion. Such an requirement today would be seen as “un-American,” but if we realize God’s will is for us to live at peace, there maybe a therapeutic reason for such a requirement as we strive to build a world where life is considered sacred.  

Thous shalt not kill. It sounds easy, but it’s not. Maybe we should flip the commandment and ask ourselves how we can promote life? After all, life is the foundation of our faith. Jesus himself said, “I come that you might have life, abundant life.” As his disciples, we’re to be about nurturing life. There’s a lot to think about with this commandment and with Jesus’ reinterpretation. Ponder it. Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559).

John Calvin, Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley, translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),

Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.

Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder & Stoughton , 1963), 

Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Michigan. “(July 2007).

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).

 Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009),

Russell, Norman L. Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story (1993, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995),

von Rad, Gerhad. Deuteronomy, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966.

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Reviews of books I read in July 2026

Title slide with photo of books reviewed

Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wandering Man

(New York: Bantam Paperbacks, 1989), 258 pages. 

Education of a Wandering Man is only the second book I’ve read by Louis L’Amour. The other book, Comstock Lode, I read in 1988. At the time, I was heading to Virginia City, Nevada , the center of the Comstock,. I would be there for a year as a student pastor. L’Amour mostly wrote fiction. In Education of a Wandering Man, we have a memoir which looks at L’Amour’s life up through World War 2. After the war, he’d become a best selling author. We learn about his travels and reading. L’Amour hoboed, hitchhiked, and walked around the American West. He shipped out as a merchant marine from East and West Coast ports. He preferred the West Coast ships as they had been unionized which meant better berths and food. The book consists of many stories which I enjoyed but also found a bit disjointed.

L’Amour begins this book in Singapore, on the day his classmates graduated from high school in Jamestown, North Dakota. L’Amour quit school two years earlier. His travels took him all over Southeast Asia in the prewar years. As he travelled, he read. And his reading wasn’t just light fiction. He read classics, history, geography, and philosophy. Traveling to new lands, he sought out books (and interpreters) to learn about the places places he traveled. He was also a great listener, allowing him to collecting stories which would later be used in his books. Additional jobs he held included working as a security guard, at mines, sawmills, and as a boxer. Over time, he also became curious and studied indigenous cultures in America. All this became material he later used as an author.

In the mid-1930s, he began writing short stories, a form he continued to love. Writing in the 1980s, he laments the decline of the short story market after World War II. Fewer places now exist for writers to publish such work. Before publishing his first novel, he had written over 100 pieces for magazines and journals. 

I enjoyed reading about him traveling through places I’d traveled or lived in the American West. Not only did he spend time in Virginia City, he met a few old miners from the Bonanza era of the 1870s. L’Amour sought them out and listened to their stories. He also traveled through Randsburg, California. I found myself intrigued that he met Eric Hoffer (the longshoreman philosopher who wrote The True Believer. And I was jealous of him being able to see Mesa Verdi at night when the rangers place candles in the ruins. He saw this twice, once with his musical friend, Charlie Daniels. 

During the Second World War, L’Amour wanted to serve in intelligence. By this point, he had seen much of the world, and from his readings had insight into many different places. The lack of a college degree kept him out of intelligence. However, he was accepted into Officer Candidate School and served in Europe. 

At the end of the book, he lists the books he read between 1930 and 1935, years he averaged over 100 books a year.  And most of these books were not light fiction! This book shows the importance of travel, listening, and reading to form a sharper mind to interpret and understand the world. I highly recommend it, even to those not interested in L’Amour’s writings about the American West. 

George Saunders, The Braindead Megaphone: Essays

Book cover of "The Braindead Megaphone"

(New York: Riverhead Books, 2007), 257 pages. 

I have read five or six of George Saunders books. For some reason, I have only reviewed one:A Swim in a Pond in the Rain in Which Four Russians Give a Master Class in Reading, Writing, and Life. All the other books by him have been short stories. Unlike the other books I’ve read by him, this book consists mostly of non-fiction essays. Many, but not all ,of the essays are travel related.

The first essay, from which the work takes it title, is a humorous critique of the news media. In a way, he blames the general population for putting up with their nonsense. He equates today’s mass media to someone in the past attending a party with a megaphone. They drown out all other conversations. In the second essay, he travels to Dubai for GQ to check out “The New Mecca.” He falls in love with this “fake town” where things seem perfect. But he notices many cracks in the facade, especially with the imported workers. 

In other essays he appreciates the writings of Kurt Vonnegut while working as a geologist in Indonesia. He also applies a similar critique of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn in his essay, “The United States of Huck.” He travels to Nepal to meet “Buddha Boy,” a boy kid on an epic fast as he mediates. And then there’s a bit of fiction as he creates a Dear Abbey-like newspaper column titled “Dear Optimist.” Mr. Optimist can be a jerk, but so upsets a reader that he is killed. The killer, a total jerk, takes over the column. While it sounds bizarre, it’s also funny. In “Thought Experiment,” he lampoons the idea that any of us are “self-made.” None of us come without benefit of the environment upon which we’re raised. 

While few people will fully agree to everything Saunders writes, I recommend this book. Not only do we need to be challenged, but we also need to laugh. Saunders provides both. 

Douglas R. Egerton, The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era

photo of "The Wars of Reconstruction" cover

narrated by Eric Jason Martin, (Audible Studios for Bloomsbury, 2014), 16 hours and 4 minutes. 

It’s common in the South to hold to the view that the Reconstruction as harsh and undemocratic. Egerton, however, suggests it was one of the most progressive eras in American history. It was democratic as it opened up politics for all American men. Many of the African Americans who won seats in local and state houses and Congress, had been enslaved a decade earlier. However, contrary to popular belief, only about 20% of Southern political positions were filled by African Americans. Furthermore, they were not as incompetent as often portrayed. Also during this period, literacy among former slaves grew rapidly, a benefit which could never be recalled. 

In this study of the Reconstruction, Egerton begins with the Civil War. How, from the beginning, a large numbers of slaves sought refuge behind Union lines. He leads the reader through the Northern debate on what to do with the slaves and whether or not they should be armed and allowed to serve in the military. It wasn’t until later in the war they were allowed to serve as soldiers. At first, they were second class soldiers, paid less than their white counterparts. Later, they received equal pay. Another oddity which was debated had to do with northern slaveholders in states like Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware, who received a bounty for allowing their slaves to serve in the Union Army. The availability of these soldiers allowed the Union to greatly expand its army. This helped bring the war to a quicker end.

Egerton devotes much time to Andrew Johnson’s Presidency. A former slaveholder, Johnson seemed uninterested in helping the freed slaves. He interested lay in helping the plantation owners of the South. Yet, despite the Presidents reluctant support, the Freedman Bureau, it increased literacy of former slaves. It also kept them (and many white Southerners) from starving in the years after the war. A significant number of workers with the Freedman Bureau were free African Americans from the north. 

In the years after the Civil War, many of those who fought for the Confederacy continued to fight for White Supremacy through guerrilla activity. Groups like the Klan, sought to prevent former slaves from voting. In addition to discouraging voting, they sought to keep the former slaves in subservient positions. As the wars against Native Americans rose not the American Plains, the federal transferred the calvary stationed in the South to the West. This left on the mobile infantry in the South. Such forces were unable to quickly respond to the fast moving and hooded “night riders.” 

Southern resistance not only involved violence. Groups, such as the Daughters of the Confederacy, put political pressure on school boards to teach the Reconstruction as a failure. Books were written and later made into movies such as “Birth of a Nation” and “Gone with the Wind.” These helped create an alternative and negative view of the Reconstruction. 

Egerton devotes significant time to discuss the seemingly failures of the Reconstruction. He identifies many reasons the progressiveness of the era struggled. A leading reason can be credited to the resistance from Southern Whites. Even those whites who would have benefited from the progressive programs of Reconstruction, shunned them out of what they considered loyalty to their own race. The era didn’t just end, it collapsed. 

Other reasons for the failure included Republicans moving away from a more radical platform to a a more pro-business orientation. Business Republicans refused to support issues such as a land ownership for former slaves. 

One minor but surprising issue involved tension between lighter skinned mix-raced freemen (as opposed to freedman, who were former slaves) in the South. The “freemen,” were often the ones who gained power. They looked out for themselves, and did not push hard enough for the radical changes desired by their darker skinned brothers and sisters. While there can be some truth in each reason, in the end violence brought an end to the era and ushered in the rule of Jim Crow. 

Another question he debates is when Reconstruction actually ended. While most historians see the era ending 1877, at the end of Grant’s second term as President. However, the end wasn’t so clear-cut. Many former slaves in places throughout the South, especially Louisiana and North Carolina, continued to vote and hold office long afterwards. However, by the turn of the 20th Century, Jim Crow laws had been firmly established throughout the South.

While many may not appreciate Egerton’s scholarship, wanting to continue to insist the Civil War was about State Rights, this book deserves to be studied. Egerton quotes James Longstreet, one of the most capable Confederate Generals, who supported Reconstruction. Longstreet led an integrated police department in New Orleans after the war. On the war not being about slavery, Longstreet quipped, “Why not talk about witchcraft if slavery was not the cause of the war, I never heard of any other cause of the quarrel than slavery.”  

Egerton’s research maintains a focus on the condition and struggle of African Americans during and after the Civil War. While the focus is primarily about the South (where most lived), he also point out the harsh conditions people of color faced in the North during the era. Many places in the North denied voting to African Americans at a time when they were voting in places like South Carolina. Racism in America has never been limited to one region of the nation.

I confess to feeling shame when I read about what my fellow southerners, some who may have been ancestors, did to restrict the progress of the former slaves. We should learn from the past and not try to clean it up, so that we can help create a society where all people might flourish. 

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The Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Parents

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 2, 2026
Exodus 20:12 Ephesians 6:1-4

Sermon recorded at Bluemont on Thursday, July 30, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

A man, his wife, and son, live together. The man’s elderly father’s health declined to where he could no longer take care of himself. To his wife’s dismay, her husband brings his father into their home.  

The old father cannot eat without spilling and knocking his food all around the table. After a few days of this, the wife insists the man eat in the corner, not at the table. But he still knocked his food on the floor. One day, the wife decides if the man is just going to drop his food on the floor, he can eat it there. She finds a trough and puts his food in it and places on the floor. The old man doesn’t seem to notice his lack of dignity, he just lies down and eats like a dog, with his face in his food. This goes on for a few weeks.  

Then, the parents notice their son building something which looks a lot like a trough to feed animals. They ask him about it. The boy proudly explains he made it from them, for when they are old and must eat from the floor. 

“A child will lead them,” the good book says. The parents immediately came to their senses and realize they’re not honoring the husband’s father.  The next meal they set a place him at the tablet. 

Before reading the Scripture:

We traditionally divide the Ten Commandments into two tablets or tables. So far this summer, we’ve looked at the first tablet, commandments one through four. Each of these shows how we relate to God.  

The second tablet deal with our relationships to the human family. The fifth commandment forms a bridge between the two. We are to honor our fathers and mothers, a commandment which closely parallels the first commandment.The first tells us to worship God alone, the one who gives us life. But likewise, our parents, those who play a significant role bringing us into this life, deserve honor. They’re not to be worshipped; we’re not ancestor worshippers. But they do have a special role to play in our birth and development. Our belly buttons remind us we didn’t come into this world on our own. Yes, God gives us life. But life comes through our parents. For this reason, they’re to be honored.  

Read Exodus 20: 12 and Ephesians 6:1-4.

Our parents are important not only because it is through them that we receive the gift of life, but also because it is generally through them that we learn about Jesus and experience faith. Now, this is not always the case. At times a friend or a spouse or a colleague mentors us in faith. In such cases it’s like having two sets of parents, one that gives us life, another which offers us new life in Christ. 

We can compare our life with Christ with our life with our parents. We start out totally dependent upon them—think about all that our parents did for us, starting with changing diapers and feeding us. As we grow, we began to do those things on our own, till one day we are freed from our parent’s control and must take responsibility for our own lives. 

Likewise, we start out our Christian walk, totally dependent on Jesus, without even knowing why.  But as we grow in faith, we find that he gives us more freedom as we learn how to apply our faith to our lives.  

Honor your father and your mother, an enlightening commandment. In the Patriarchal world of the Old Testament, men ruled. And since it was also a tribal society, at the time God gave the commandments, the leader of the tribe was also given i allegiance. 

But the Ten Commandments come along and suggest we honor, not only the father of the house, but also the mother. This is significant. Parents, both of them, are placed on a pedestal. The man is not set aside as the most important, but shares this position with the woman. Not only is the tribe important, but also the nuclear family. In fact, families become the building blocks of a stable society. And when families break down society become chaotic. Without the role model of good parents and with everyone striving to look out for themselves and no one else, the structure of society melts away. 

I’m pretty sure it was Anne Lamott who said that “families are where we learn forgiveness.” That’s true. And I think we learn even more: we learn tolerance and acceptance. We learn what is important for society; life isn’t just about us. Living in a family, we learn it takes everyone to make it work. This, by the way, is also taught in the first commandment. “You shall have no other gods,” we’re told. We’re not to promote ourselves into the Trinity, as qualified as we might think we are. It’s not about me, it’s not about you. The first and the fifth commandment teach that we have first pay attention to what God wants and then to what our families need. We have to focus on something other than ourselves. 

That said, it goes without saying that parents are also suppose to show respect to their children as Paul reminds us in the passage we read from Ephesians.

Honoring our parents is a generational thing. If we honor our parents and those who have come before us, for I think the commandment extends to not just our biological parents, we then teach our children to honor us and in so doing, we help build a stronger society. 

For an example of just how destructive not honoring our parents can be, remember the chaos which ensued in Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge take over of that country in the mid-70s. 

The Khmer Rouge taught people not to trust anyone who had been in authority, including parents. They encouraged children to rat out their parents for dangerous thoughts. This destroyed the traditionally strong sense of family and respecting elders which existed in a nation traditionally based upon the teachings of Confucius. The country quickly purged into darkness as the killing fields grew. 

Instilling the importance of this commandment into our children’s psyche, we help stabilize society. And if that’s not reason enough, we should remember it’s our kids who get to choose our nursing homes. With this commandment, like many of the others, what goes around comes around. 

Let’s face it; we owe our parents a great debt. They brought us into this world; they gave us life, they changed our diapers and fed us when we couldn’t take care of ourselves. Hopefully they showed us love. Therefore, we honor them. But there is more to the meaning of the commandment.

Throughout the history of the church, those interpreting the fifth commandment have always pointed in two directions. First, as I’ve already covered, we.honor our natural parents But on a secondary level the commandment is also seen as our requirement of honoring those to whom God has given authority. In other words, the civil authorities, those who lead us in government, are to be afforded the same respect.  

Paul makes it clear in the thirteen chapter of Romans that we are to honor those in positions of authority. Now granted, some parents do not earn the right to be honored, and others abuse their position of authority. Since God allows them to be in positions over us, we honor them till what they do goes so far against God’s word that we must obey God who always deserves our loyalty.

John Calvin suggests we show homage to God when we are obedient to those in authority. Of course, we expect them to be godly and to do their best to govern justly and fairly. Otherwise, they violate both God’s and our trust. We do not have to obey them for our first allegiance always remains with God. 

By the way, I hope you can see that there is a difference between honoring and obeying. Just because your mother is Ma Barker or your dad is Jesse James, you don’t have to go out and rob banks. But when or parents and those in positions of power are honorable and we submit ourselves to them, we learn what it means to submit ourselves to God’s will.

The fifth commandment also comes with a promise. If we honor those over us, if we respect and look up to our parents, God promises us a long life, a life in which things will go well for us. 

This commandment, as a bridge between the two tables, sets the stage for all to come. For when we break any of the other commandments, we are not honoring our parents. I’m sure most of your mothers, at some point, indicated her embarrassment by something you’ve done? It’s old fashion guilt rising up which, if you think about it, has a stabilizing effect on society. Remember the family is the basic building block. The fifth commandment sets the stage for what’s to come. Strong families create healthy communities, so as we start this second table, look at how we can order society so as to strengthen it and to develop it into a place where all of us can safely grow in our faith in Jesus Christ.  

Ask yourselves how you honor your parents?  We’re not to worship them; we’re not even to follow them when they’re wrong. But our parents deserve our respect and when we give it, we help build a stronger and more godly community.  Amen.

This sermon was edited from a sermon preached in July 2007 at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, MI

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A Journey of Faith: Country Roads Revival

Jeff Garrison
Revival at Bluemont Church
July 29, 2026
Genesis 12:1-9

The video contains most of the service. I cut out the last of the songs as it was not in public domain. One of the microphone’s battery died, but with the others you can still hear everything. The sermon starts at 30 minutes.

The last week of August, a number of the Presbyterian Churches in Carroll, Patrick, and Floyd Counties hold a revival. Each night is at a different church. This year, we began on Sunday night at Fairview in Hillsville, then to Buffalo Mountain, then to Wild Goose (the former Indian Valley Presbyterian Church), then to Bluemont (we rotate between Mayberry and Bluemont each year). We will end up at Dinwiddle Presbyterian on July 30th. This is my sermon for tonight’s worship service.

At the beginning of worship:

This is the fourth night of the Country Roads revival. We live in a wonderful place with lots of country roads, some maintained by VDOT, others just two tracks curving around the hills. As we travel to different churches in these parts, we’re on a journey. Tonight, I want us to think about the beginning of one of the great journeys of the Bible. But before we get there, let me encourage you to walk if you are able. It’s good for you. As you walk, listen to the birds, the wind, look for the unusual, and think about God. Any of you who know me know you can often find either early in the morning or late in the afternoon walking. Come join me. 


Augustine of Hippo, the great theologian of the church at the collapse of the Roman Empire, once said, “It is solved by walking.” We live in a confusing world and things seem to be running at rapid pace. We all need to spend more time slowing down, thinking deeply, and enjoying the creation God lends to us to during our lives. There’s no better way to do this than to go for a walk.

Before reading the Scripture

The first eleven chapters of Genesis are often referred to as a prehistory. We learn about Creation and God’s care of his creation. We also learn how the first humans messed things up. But God refuses to give us on us. Chapter 11, the last chapter of this prehistory, ends with another famous Biblical lists of ancestors. You can look back to chapter 11, starting with verse 10, you’ll see the list which begins with Noah’s oldest son, Shem, leading up to Abram, who’ll later be known as Abraham. And we’re told that Abram’s wife Sarai is barren. 

That little bit of knowledge in Chapter 11 makes what happen in Chapter 12 even more surprising. If Sarai can’t have children, she seems to be an unlikely candidate for the mother of a nation. But bareness is only a human problem. Yet, it’s an arena God delights in. God likes surprises. God delights in taking the difficult path to bring joy to his people. Let’s listen.

Read Genesis 12:1-9

I wonder how Abram heard God’s call? Unlike Moses, who saw a burning bush, Samuel who heard God call during the night, or Isaiah who received a vision, we’re not given any details as to how Abram heard God calling. But think about it, what would it take for a man, well established and long in years, to leave his extended family and head out into the wilderness for an undisclosed location? Can you imagine Abram, walking to the edge of Haram and looking westward and only seeing sand. “Did I hear correctly?” he might think.

One day a tourist ignored all the warning signs and barricades along the edge of the Grand Canyon. He got too close to the edge and it broke off, sending him falling. As he tumbled, he finally grabbed a clump of sagebrush growing out of the canyon’s wall and held on for dear life. Then he prayed like he never had prayed. “Let go and I’ll catch you, he heard God say. The man looked skyward and asked, “Anyone else up there?”

Abram had a similar decision. Looking out from Haran, he’s called to do something which would be a feat for a young man. But for a man of his age, it seems suicidal. Yet, he decides to answer the call

If you study the scriptures enough, you’ll see a pattern. God often refuses to take the easy way out. Over and over again, God chooses an unlikely candidate to carry out his work. Abram, an old man, asked to get on the road and to start a new nation. Moses, wanted for murder and yet God orders him back to Egypt to face Pharaoh. David, just a boy who accepts Goliath’s challenge. Mary, a young woman assigned a special task of giving birth to the Messiah. God uses the weak to do what the strong can only dream of. As Paul reminds the church in Corinth, “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The Bible teaches that when God is on our side (or more correctly, when we are on God’s side), great things are possible. But if you try to do things on your own, we run into problems.

If you follow the Abraham story in scripture, you’ll see what I mean. He lies about Sarai, his wife, saying she’s his sister, to Pharaoh. This got them both in trouble. And not believing in the promise, he takes his wife’s servant as a concubine to have a child, which creates all kinds of entanglements in his household. But if we trust God and allow God to work within our lives, there seems to be no limit to what we might accomplish. The church needs to be reminded of this truth repeatedly. We don’t know what the future holds, but we need to be willing to step out in faith, trusting God to be with us. 

Now let’s look at this passage at hand and see what we might learn. First, God, not Abram, is clearly the main actor in this story. God initiates the conversation. Throughout Abram’s saga, God remains the subject. This wandering off into the wilderness isn’t Abram’s idea; it’s a part of God’s plan. It’s like this with us when God begins to get a hold of us. We don’t know what might happen.

We should understand God comes to us before we can approach him. In the call of Abram, God institutes salvation history. Through Abram, God demonstrates a willingness to take the first step in reconciliation with humanity, a work completed in Jesus Christ.  

God tells Abram to cut himself off from the land, from his people, and from much of his family. That’s a pretty tall order. Abram’ abandons his roots. Telephones didn’t exist back then, nor did mail. No way to check up on things happening at home. ATMs and Western Union Stations where a family member could wire him cash if he’s a little short didn’t exist. When Abram heads off into the sunset, he can only depend on God. The normal clan connections which protected folks two millenniums before Christ no longer exist for Abram once Haran disappears beyond the horizon.

Although its risky to answer this call, a promise is also attached to it. Abram will be the father of a great nation. Yet, even here, God remains the main actor. God tells Abram he’ll be mightily blessed so that he might be a blessing for others. This remains true for us today. If God blesses us, we are to be a blessings to others. For too whom much is given, much is expected.

In addition to Abram promised blessings, a curse is placed on anyone who might harm him. God protects Abram. His enemies must contend not only with Abram, but also with God. Interestingly, from the way the sentence structure (the one who curses you), it sounds as if Abram will have many allies and only one enemy.

Abram answers the call. Taking his wife and nephew and, we can assume, a bunch of loaded camels hauling their possessions, they drive their sheep toward the land of Canaan, a land Abram’s father had planned to settle a generation earlier. They probably took the longer path, heading north following the rivers of the fertile crescent, then turning south along the coastline, instead of heading directly west, through an unforgiving desert. This fits with what the Scriptures say as Abram first stops at Shechem, in the north, then to Bethel, in the south, before moving further south, into the Negeb. 

Let’s explore two theological themes from this evening’s passage. The first is that of a journey. When Abram answered God’s call, he found himself on a journey, which can also be a metaphor of faith. Early Christians were referred to as those of “the Way.” 

We journey as disciples, as followers of Jesus. For some, the journey is real, to new locations, new lands, and new people.” To others, the journey is metaphorical. We stay put, but we are still called to grow in faith. As a follower of Jesus, we can’t be content with the status quo. We must always look to improve ourselves and our world. Following Jesus requires changes in our lives. We’re to strive to become godlier, more Christ-like. When we live in a world contaminated with sin, accepting the status quo isn’t an acceptable option. 

When Abram stops by the Oak of Moreh, God appears again and promises this land to his offspring. So Abram builds an altar out of thanksgiving, and does the same in Bethel. Abram, as he travels, witnesses to his God. Like Abram, we, on our journeys, should never stop giving God credit. For without God, we would not be able to do much of anything. 

Verse 6 contains the second theme to explore. The Canaanites occupy the land. This land, promised to Abram, isn’t yet his. Furthermore, there are those on the land who don’t worship like him. Think about this. Abram could have adopted the religious practices of the Canaanites, but in doing so would have turned his back on the one true living God. We, too, find ourselves journeying around people who belief in what seems to be a foreign God. Some anoint God as a way to bless their way of thinking. They forget, only God can truly anoint and we’re to be on God’s side, as opposed to bringing God to our way of thinking. Although Abram spends decades sojourning in lands with foreign gods, he never forgets the God who called him on the journey.

Like Abram, we often find ourselves living in a land where people do not believe in the God of the Scriptures. We live in a world where there are many competing ideals which vie for our attention.  And it may be harder to us than it was with Abram to recognize the idols of our day. Abram could point out to the fertility idols of the Canaanites which dotted the high places, but the idols of today are more subtle. We have the promise of economic security at whatever cost, the belief we’re better than others which manifests its ugly head with racism, or the abusive belief we deserve what we desire often at the expense of others. These all run counter to Scripture.

We need to remember that like Abram, we’re just passing through. We’re pilgrims. Ultimately, our home is with God, but until we leave this life behind, we must continue to walk in faith and to listen for God to speak to us through the scriptures and the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, you know every heart here this evening. As we bow in obedience, we pray for our spirit to convict those who need to know you. Open ears that all might hear you call and follow you. Guide us in your ways, especially when our travels take us through the unknown. Help us remain focused on our Lord Jesus Christ and not be tempted by the idolatry surrounding us. This we pray in the name of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the one we follow. Amen.

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Keep the Sabbath Holy

Title slide with photos of Maybrerry and Bluemnt Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
Exodus 20:8-11
July 26, 2026

The sermon was recorded at Mayberry on Thursday, July 23, 2026

At the Beginning of Worship

My Dad's catch, fishing on Masonboro Island

I come from a family who fishes for sport. Growing up in Moore County, North Carolina, we fished farm ponds which provided bream and bass for the dining room table along with irrigation for tobacco fields. When we moved to Petersburg, Virginia, my dad took my brother and me fishing along the banks of the Nottaway River. Fishing was done on Saturday or in the evenings after work. We never fished on Sunday as it was too much like work since we ate our catch. The only labor I remember occurring on Sunday was cranking an ice cream maker on my grandparents back porch. At our house, we had the electric model. 

Then, when I was nine, we moved down near the coast. A few weeks after arriving, my mother got us kids ready for church. Dad was no where to be seen. This wasn’t unusual as sometimes he had to work on Sundays, but when we learned from Mom that he had been invited to go deep sea fishing, my theological brain (or maybe it was my cynical brain) went to work. 

“You mean it’s okay to fish on Sunday in salt water but not fresh water?” I asked.

Today we’ll begin our look at the fourth commandment—keep the Sabbath Day holy. 

Before reading the Sermon

I want to point out the two different reasons given for the commandment on keeping the Sabbath holy. As I’ll read in Exodus, God took a day off after creation and commands us to do the same. If God needs a break, and we’re not better than God, we should take a break. 

Deuteronomy likes the reason for Sabbath observance to Israel’s experience in bondage in Egypt. As slaves, they had to work when commanded. But God requires Israel to rest and also to provide rest for slaves and servants and even animals. 

Read Exodus 20:8-11

Smoke on the Mountain, Joy Davidman’s book on the 10 Commandments which I have referred to several times, contains a fantasy. A Martian anthropologist visits earth. Davidman wrote in the early 1950s when it was still possible to believe green people with flying saucers inhabited the fourth planet. The Martian’s assignment was to study human religious behavior.

His report concluded that like most “primitive societies,” those of us who inhabit the third planet worshipped the sun. Every seven days he witnessed a “solar worship ritual.” Some, he reported, adored the sun by baring their bodies by lakes and the seashore. Others gathered in large arenas where the crowds watched strangely dressed priests perform rituals with a ball and wooden stick. Others addressed a smaller ball with long skinny sticks. These balls, the Martian assumed, are icons of the sun.  

But his report also included a description of a heretical sect. Some people, he noticed, did not worship the sun. They dressed differently on the seventh day. The heretics, as the alien labeled them, shun the outdoors. They gathered in buildings often with colored windows, obviously to block the sun. The anthropologist was not sure, but thought these strange unbelievers may have been excommunicated and were being punished. After all, “Their faces and gestures show none of the almost orgiastic religious frenzy with which the sun worshippers pursue their devotion.”

Was this Martian right or wrong, Davidman asks. “For,” she says, “Sunday is still a holiday for us, but for many it has ceased to be a holy day.” We’re told in the fourth commandment to “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” What does this mean? Is it to be a somber day where we gather in our “Sunday best,” with long faces to worship the Lord? And what constitutes the day being holy? 

Holy is a term generally attributed only to God or to that which God claims for his own glory. A holy day is one in which we dedicate to God. We set it apart. The Martian rightly observed that one day a week is different—it’s a day that most, not all, of the population is free from work. But is the Sabbath, for us, holy? Or have we profaned it into a holiday far removed from its roots? We live with a tension. As Jesus points out, the Sabbath shouldn’t be legalistic.

Obeying the fourth commandment is one area I think our Calvinist and Puritan ancestors did us a disfavor. John Calvin cited civil order as a reason for keeping the Sabbath. We generally think of Calvin as a theologian, but forget he was also a lawyer and a bit of a political philosopher. Calvin felt it was good for society to have a day set aside for preaching, for such grounding in God’s law helps control and restrain society.  

Furthermore, Calvin came down hard on living it up for “sport and pleasure.” This he considered makes a mockery of God’s holy name. Calvin desired order, yet, in his defense, he played with children on Sunday afternoons. Over time, the Protestant establishment developed strict laws for maintaining God’s day. 

Thomas Watson, the Puritan I’ve quoted two weeks ago, suggests that on the Sabbath we should all get up before dawn since our Lord’s resurrection occurred before daybreak. Talk about nit-picky legalism! Yet, I’m always up before dawn on Sundays.

The strict and legal Sabbaths of the past were wrong, but for believers so are the free-flowing Sabbaths of today. God tells us to take one day in seven and use it for rest and worship, but with smart phones, most of us never leave work behind. This morning I want us to look at a number of ideas concerning the Sabbath and on what this commandment might say to us today, in the 21st Century.

First, let’s think about the day itself. In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week. Early Christians decided to celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, the first day of the week. There are many reasons for this shift. First, they started gathering on Sunday, the day Christ rose from the grave, to recall his resurrection. 

Second, their experience of grace in Jesus Christ made them realized that keeping the letter of the law doesn’t bring salvation. Freed from the strictness of the law, they moved the day forward. 

Now granted, some Christian groups insist the Sabbath be observed on Saturday. They debated this even during the Reformation. John Calvin defended the rights of those who celebrate the Sabbath on another day, as long as their reasoning wasn’t based upon superstition. In other words, don’t think keeping the Sabbath on Saturday gains you more favor from God. 

A third reason behind moving the Sabbath to Sunday was to demonstrate how God’s grace precedes any efforts of our own. Just as in the Jewish tradition, where day begins at sunset and thereby begins with rest, so too our week begins with rest. We rest and then, in thanksgiving, we work. This cycle reminds us that grace precedes law. 

The Sabbath was the first labor law. You see, the fourth commandment recognizes our need to work—“for six days you shall labor.” God created us to work. Genesis tells us the first man was created to till the earth; he was the caretaker of the Garden of Eden.  Work is a holy task, created by God.

Work is good, but with work comes the need to rest. God rested on the seventh day. But while slaves, our ancestors were not able to rest. So this command requires rest to extend to our families, our employees, and even slaves. This labor law even extended to domestic animals. All creation needs rest. I may have come down a bit hard of Calvin’s interpretation of the Sabbath, but I like the way he interprets this section of the commandment. Linking the commandment to the memory of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, Calvin comes to the conclusion the Sabbath means we must “humanely treat those who are under our powers.” In a broader scope, keeping the Sabbath commandment means we not only make time for ourselves, but we also insure that those around us have time to rest and worship.

The Sabbath is also given by God as a way to force us to slow down and, thereby, allow us to savor God’s creation. As Simon and Garfunkel sang,“Slow down, you’re going to fast.” And our world is much faster than it was in the 1960s. Observing of the fourth commandment is in greater need today, for we must learn to slow down and, as the old cliché goes, “smell the roses.” We need time to consider the glory of God, time to study God’s word, time to be in fellowship with God’s people. We were not created as machines; we’re created to glorify and enjoy God  And if our lives are too hectic, we are probably not able to glorify God nor do we fully enjoy the benefits God provides.

Observing the Sabbath is a spiritual discipline which takes practice. Each of us has to find our own ways to observe this day, to make the Sabbath holy.  Certainly observing the Sabbath involves gathering with God’s people for worship and study. But what do we do with the rest of the day? Do our afternoon activities glorify God and fulfill the intention for the day? It’s a question only you and God can answer.

By resting one day in seven, we show we can’t do it all. We must stop what we’re doing, a discipline which helps us trust God. All of us, even the most religious, risk falling into a trap of believing God needs us to carry out His will. But that’s a fallacy. God doesn’t need us, we need God.  

How do we keep the Sabbath holy? Treat others with dignity, allowing them time to rest? Trust God enough to allow things to wait. Observing the Sabbath helps us depend on God. As the Psalmist says, “the earth and its fullness belong to God.” We didn’t create the world and ultimately, the Sabbath reminds us, we’re not in control of it. Amen.   

I am not sure why my footnotes are not coming through now that I have shifted from Word to Pages. Here are sources used in the sermon:

Calvin, John, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559

Calvin, John. Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley, translator. (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980), 

Davidman, Joy, Smoke on the Mountain (London: Hodder & Staunton, 1963). 

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Williamson, The Truth About God; The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999), 48. 

Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretation, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, KY:WJP, 2000). 

Watson, Thomas, The Ten Commandments (First published as a part of A Body of Practical Divinity, 1692: London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970).

This sermon is a variation of a version preached on July 15,2007 in 1st Presbyterian Church of Hastings,  MI 

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Civil War and Civil Rights: Travels in Central Virginia

title slide with author at the end of High Bridge

As I’m finishing up another vacation of which I plan to write about later, I thought I would catch up on Summer travels. In June, I took a week off. I spent a good portion of the time building a retaining wall, but was able to get away for three days and explore a bit of central Virginia.

Bear Creek Lake State Park, where we stayed

Last month I made a three day trip into an unfamiliar section of Central Virginia. Two things peaked my interest. One was to peddle the High Bridge Bicycle Trail.  The other was to visit the Moton Civil Rights Museum in Farmington. But while there, I also checked out a number of other sites dealing with the final days of the Civil War. As I written earlier, we moved to Petersburg, Virginia when I was six years old. I spent my first three years of elementary school in the all-white Walnut Hills Elementary School. We lived in Petersburg at the end of the Centennial of the War, I became interested and the war became real. Pieces of cannon balls and mini-balls (bullets) were often found as dirt was moved for home foundations and roads.

Petersburg is also where I have my first memories of race racial tension. We left in the summer of 1966 and you could feel the tension in the air. Petersburg would begin to integrate their school system that fall. There were four of us boys in a two block area who moved that summer. Everyone thought we were moving because of integration, but that wasn’t the case. Dad had always wanted to live near the coast and my brother and I headed with ur family into Southeastern North Carolina. The other brothers, Mark and Mike, moved with their mother to be near family in Michigan. Their father, who was a Master Sargent in the Army at Fort Lee, headed overseas. This time, they were not allowed to go with him. In the spring of 1966, Vietnam wasn’t on our radar. That would soon change. I’m pretty sure that’s where their dad headed. I often wondered if he made it back safely.

Thinking back to the spring of 1966, it’s easy to see how entwined the events of that year entangled with the events 101 years earlier. In early April 1865, after nine months of battle around Petersburg and Richmond, Union forces breached the Confederate lines. Lee had no choice but to pull his army out and make a dash west, in the hope to reunite with another Southern army in North Carolina. For a week, as Lee moved west, northern troops kept cutting off his retreat until finally, seven days later, he surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse. 

For whatever reason, we never visited these places when I lived in Petersburg. Maybe it was because there were more than enough Civil War battlefield sites around Petersburg. Maybe my parents didn’t want us to see where the surrendering took place. But it probably had more to do with us taking vacations either in the mountains or along the Atlantic shoreline. Yet, I remember many of the towns around these parts from my father who traveled there for work. He called on businesses and schools around Farmville, Dinwiddie, Amelia, Prince Edward County, and South Boston among other places. Driving along these roads on these dry June days, I found myself wishing I could ask him questions, especially about the schools as he often performed boiler inspections there. I don’t remember him saying much about the difference in black and white schools, but know he visited both. 

Beaver Dam
Beaver dam at Bear Creek Lake State Park

For the two nights on this strip, we stayed at a lovely cabin at Bear Creek Lake State Park. The cabin sat in the woods, not far from the small lake around which the park sat. Most of the park’s features were on the other side of the lake, a walk of a couple of miles in which I saw a beaver, a few harmless snakes, rabbits, and a few deer. After making the walk on the first night here, I came back to the cabin and fixed steaks while enjoying the evening.. 

At home, I live on a ridge overlooking a hay fields to the north with woods to the south and east. The birds often nest in the trees, but spend much of the day catching bugs or eating seeds in the high grass, while robins find worms in the yard. The thick hardwood canopy shading the cabin provided different bird sounds in the morning: flycatchers, warblers, gnat catches, and blue jays. But we didn’t spend a lot of time at the cabin.

bicycling. across high bridge

The next morning, we were in Farmville early as the day was going to be hot. By eight, we were peddling on the High Bridge Trail, which runs about 15 or so miles east and west of the city.  We didn’t plan to ride the entire trail. The highlight of the trail is the bridge, which is located five miles east of the city. The bridge spans the floodplain of the Appomattox River. The river itself at this point is not very wide, but the bluffs on each side create a half-mile wide valley covered with trees. When we arrived at the bridge, we crossed slowly. The bridge stands barely above the trees, providing interesting observations of birdlife in the top of the canopy.

At the ends of the bridge, plaques showed what the site looked like during the Civil War. The forest of today was absent, the trees having all been cut, probably for timbers for the massive structure. About a half mile after the bridge was a museum with the history of the bridge. One section showed the various tress patterns used in the the bridge, which was rebuilt three times during it’s history.. Another section explained the bridges role in the closing days of the Civil War.  

Appomattox. River from High Bridge

This line, built in the 1840s by the Southside Railroad, linked Petersburg to Lynchburg. It later became a part of the Norfolk Southern Railway. The maintenance on the bridge became to expensive and, with other alternatives linking the east to the west, the railroad abandoned the line in the early 2000s. It’s now a linear state park running from Burkeville to Pamplin City. 

This was a bridge that wouldn’t burn. As Lee’s armies evacuated Petersburg and Richmond and moved west, a Union calvary was dispatched to burn the bridge. This could have trapped Lee’s forces which consisted of 1800 wagons. However, the Confederacy had already fortified the approaches to the bridge and repelled the attack. A few days later, after Lee’s army with its massive number of wagons crossed the bridge, the South attempted to burn it. But with the Union forces on their heels, they extinguished the flames and quickly repair the bridge, allowing them to continue their pursuit. 

Civil Rights walking tour
Sidewalk walking path marker

After riding the trail, we headed to the Moton Museum which interprets the Civil Rights struggle in Farmville. This was an African American school which, in 1951, faced a student strike for better conditions. While the law required separate but equal facilities for all races, this wasn’t the case.

Moton School, now a museum
Restored Moton School in Farmville, now a museum

Students at the Moton School used old text books from the white schools. When room ran out in the older building, the school board built tar paper shacks around the brick building, where students froze in winter and sweated during the warmer months. There was no gym or shower facilities as in the white high school. In 1951, the students walked out. This was considered the first civil rights protest in the South. Later, this area saw white resistance to court ordered integration of schools. Instead of integrating, they shut down all the schools for several years. During this time, white students mostly moved to church sponsored schools and to this day, the racial divide continues between private and public schools. 

After two hours touring the museum, we headed out to Sailor’s Creek and then Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Both of these locations where locations of battles toward the end of the war. At Sailors Creek, the Confederates had difficulty getting all the wagons over the two bridges crossing the creek. While they repelled the attack, allowing most of the army to escape, about a quarter of Lee’s army surrendered. The end at Appomattox was only 72 hours away. Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which is about 5 miles north of Farmville, was another blocking battle where a few units of Lee’s army attempted to slow Grant’s army. On the edge of the property of this church was a sign I’d never seen on a church ground: No Relic Hunting!

Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
McLean House at Appomattox Courthouse
McLean House

On our last day, we spent the morning at Appomattox, which had been restored to look like it might have appeared in 1865, when Lee and Grant meet. I didn’t know the McClean House, where the papers were signed, had been taken down to be used in the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and then to be displayed in Washington, DC. But it never made it and the building was rebuilt on its original foundation in 1948. It wasn’t till after World War 2 that the site received federal protection as a National Historic Site. Surprisingly, Appomattox, unlike most Civil War battlefields, remains mostly free of monuments. The exception being my home state of North Carolina. Maybe my relatives felt it appropriate to celebrate the end of this “rich man’s war.”  

Appomattox Courthouse
Patrick Henry's dining room
Patrick Henry’s dining room

That afternoon before we headed home, we stopped at Patrick Henry’s Red Hill. This was the home he retired to 1794, after his career in politics. Henry died in 1799. The estate is ran by a private foundation who attempts to reclaim the heritage of Patrick Henry. We remember his inflammatory words, “Give me liberty or give me death.” The interpretation along the grounds doesn’t shy away with the ironic view of such liberty for himself the enslaving people. They do a good job on displaying the lives of the slaves on the plantation. A short walk from the Henry home are the restored slave cabins and slave cemetery. Patrick Henry is also known for his work for the adoption of the Bill of Rights. 

Patrick Henry's Home
Patrick Henry’s Home