From a Rocky Hillside

April 12, 2026April 12, 2026

Jesus’ Teachings on Piety and Prayer

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
April 12, 2026
Matthew 6:1-15

Sermon recorded on Friday April 10, 2026 at Bluemont Church

At the beginning of worship:

Johnny prepared to go out on his first date with Cindy, a cute girl in his High School English class. He’d borrowed his dad’s car for the evening. That day, after school, he stopped by the local candy store, looking for a way to impress her. The owner of the store noticed Johnny’s difficulty at picking out a box of chocolates and asked if he could help.

When Johnny told him he wanted to impress a girl on a date, the store owner suggested a one-pound box if he just wanted to shake her hand after the date. But he said, if you want to kiss her on her cheeks, I’d go with a two-pound box. And, if you want to kiss her on her lips, go with the five-pounder.

That night, Johnny showed up at Cindy’s home with a big five-pound box of chocolate candies under his right arm. This pleased Cindy. She invited Johnny in to meet her family. Sitting in the living room, he spied a Bible on the coffee table. He picked it up and asked if could read a few verses and pray before they left for their date.

Later that night, Cindy slide across the seat of the car to be closer to Johnny. She whispered into his ear, saying. “Johnny, your wonderful. I never knew you were so religious.”

Johnny responded. “I never knew your father owned a candy store.”

We all know to whom Johnny directed his prayers that evening, don’t we? We’ll talk about the right use of prayer this morning.

Before reading the Scripture:

After breaking for Palm Sunday and Easter, we’re back to Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” We’re in the heart of this sermon, where Jesus teaches about piety and prayer. The center of our text is the Lord’s Prayer.

I won’t spend too much time on that prayer. Several years ago, I gave six sermons dealing with the six petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, so if you want to dig deeper into the prayer, look up my older sermons.^[1] I’ve footnoted them in this sermon, so you can find them easily on my website. But I still will discuss the Lord’s Prayer briefly. It’s important to see how the prayer fits within the larger sermon. In this text, Jesus continues with his concern raised with his re-interpretation of the law. While our behavior is important, what’s in our heart is also important. God and other people watch what we do. But God also knows the reason why we behave in such a manner.

Why do we help others? Is it only to obtain recognition or some other reward? If that’s the case, God’s not impressed.

I am also going to read our text this morning from The Messagetranslation. This paraphrase of the passage offers us a fresh way to hear Jesus’ message. Plus, I like how The Message draws upon the language of the theater in the opening of this passage. This seems to be closer to the Greek which use the language of the theater to express Jesus’ message.^[2]

Read Matthew 6:1-15:

In Chapter 6, Jesus moves from reinterpreting the law to how we live out our faith through piety, prayer, and fasting. As with the commands in which Jesus raised the bar, here he also shows his concerned for what’s in our heart.

Jesus assumes all religiously devoted people will practice these acts of devotion, especially the first two which we’ll look at today: almsgiving and prayer.^[3] The first involves helping those in need. The second involves our relationship with God. Both are important. Jesus assumed everyone will give to those in need and pray. But Jesus wants us to respond for the right reasons. Why do we do such acts? Is it to earn praise from others? Or are our hearts truly moved to compassion and to a desire to connect with God?

As we’ve seen, Jesus draws from the language of the theater. You know, an actor attempts to convincingly portray a character. Whether it’s a hero or a villain, when the actor brings the character to life, they earn the appreciation of the audience. But our lives are not lived out in the theater. We should play ourselves and not seek the approval of others. Instead, we need a generous heart, which is something only God can see.

Jesus begins with almsgiving, the support of those who are in need. Think of it as slipping a dollar or two to a beggar sitting on a sidewalk. Or maybe helping someone have enough money to make their electric bill or to get their car fixed. Or dropping off some groceries to someone sick. All these are good things.

But there is a catch to doing good. When others see us perform such acts, they praise us. So far, so good, right? But when we eat up the praise, our pride gets the best of us. Soon, we do such acts, not out of compassion and empathy for those in need, but because we like the boost it brings to our ego. At this point, we’re sliding down a slippery slope. Those of you involved in the study of The Screwtape Letters saw examples of this. Even good acts, if done for the wrong reason, will leads us in the wrong direction.

We worship a generous and gracious God. And while we should strive to be godly, we need to understand that praise is due to God, not us. Even if we are generous, it’s only because God’s generosity allows us the means to be generous. So, as a literal translation of this passage reads, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. In other words, perform deeds of mercy but don’t make a big deal out of it.

Furthermore, when we perform acts of charity for our own benefit, we belittle the ones we help. It is much better to protect their dignity and help quietly instead of making a fuss about what we are doing and their needs. Using the misfortunate of others for our own praise is troublesome.

Jesus then moves into prayer, our conversation with God. Again, Jesus encourages us not to make a show of our prayers. We’re to pray simply in secluded places.

You know, there are people who like to make prayer into an approved form of work. I’ve read in several places how the Reformation came about on the prayers of folks like Martin Luther, who supposedly prayed four hours a day. It sounds like Luther’s pious, right? But there is a problem. It’s a myth. Luther, himself, talked about how after a few minutes of praying, he struggled to stay awake.^[4]

Furthermore, such a concept is a problematic to our theology. The idea of four hours of daily praying makes the Reformation more about Luther efforts than God’s faithfulness. Don’t think you have to pray long with elaborate words to pray successfully.

In Jesus’ day, public prayer seems to have been popular. Jews as well as pagans strove to pray to be seen as faithful.^[5] Remember the priests of Baal, who had elaborate prayers compared to Elijah’s simple prayer.^[6] The idea is that if you prayed the right things, long and hard enough, you would encourage the gods to answer. Jesus strives to pull this bad theology up by its roots. God already knows our needs. Our prayers, which involves speaking and listening to God, draws us closer to the Almighty. It’s not about us tying to encourage God to fill our shopping list, but about us striving to become closer to God.

This is why Jesus then gives his audience the Lord’s prayer. The corporate nature of the prayer stands out in the prayer. It’s not about me taking my own concerns to my God. It doesn’t begin with “My father,” or “give to me.” Instead of singular concerns, the prayer is plural. “Our father,” and “give us,” we pray. It’s not about God belonging to us, individually. Instead, all of us, collectively, belong to God. Good prayer comes from having our theology right. For our prayers are between us and God.

Remember Johnny, whom I told you about at the beginning of worship. Who did he direct his prayer to? God or Cindy’s father?

Now, I should say something about public prayer, as I am often expected to lead them. Jesus, here, isn’t addressing prayer in worship. Such prayers are necessary and expected. We see examples of such prayers in the Psalms. But again, like our personal prayers, such prayers need to be addressed to God, not to those in the congregation. I will be the first to acknowledge, this is hard. We want to please others. We like it when others praise us for our sermons and prayers and whatnot. But our piety isn’t about bringing glory to us, but to God.

So do good and pray faithfully, but for the right reasons. Amen.

^[1] These six sermons were preached in the fall of 2022. See:

The Lord’s Prayer, Part 1

The Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom Come”

The Lord’s Prayer, Part 3: Thy Will Be Done

“Give us this day our daily bread.” The Lord’s Prayer, Part 4

“Forgive our debts” The Lord’s Prayer, Part 5

The Lord’s Prayer, Part 6: Temptation and Evil

^[2] In verse 1, Jesus’ warns not to be in “theater to them.” Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 283.

^[3] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Commentary to Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1993), 63; and Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 213.

^[4] Frederick Dale Bruner, who studied Luther extensively, noted this in a lecture I once heard. He said that once he began to study Luther extensively, he looked for an affirmation of such prayer and never found it. Instead, it seems to be a story made up in the 19^th Century to encourage prayer.

^[5] The Jews, who did pray in public, were encouraged to do so softly and not be boisterous. Bruner, 287. Even this seems too much for Jesus, for they were praying to gain attention instead of connecting to God.

^[6] 1 Kings 18:22-39.

April 8, 2026April 8, 2026

Remembering Harry

Note: Thanks to Lynne, I think I now have all of Harry’s titles correct. It is my hope you gain a sense of how wonderful Harry was. I know I have more photos of him, but could not find them quickly last night. The photo of Harry holding a Clinton/Gore cup was at a dinner. I’m not sure where the cup came from but someone thought it appropriate to serve Harry, a Republican, a drink in it. As you can see, he took the joke well and played along.

Sunday night I received word through a friend in Utah that Harry died. It wasn’t expected. I later learned his death was sudden. Walking down his front steps to greet friends, he collapsed. It was his time. They were unable to resituated him. So many people close to me during my decade of ministry in Utah are now gone. Harry joins a long list which includes the Armstrongs, the Pevelers, the Behrens, Marcia Beck, Des Penny, Jim Case, Christine Winterrose, Pam Burns, Harry’s son David, among others.

I met Harry on a Monday in late September 1993. I probably met him the day before when I preached at Community Presbyterian Church, but don’t remember it. In a meeting following worship, they voted to called me as their pastor. That Monday, I went to First Security Bank (now Wells Fargo) to set up an account in preparation for my move. Harry, a commercial loan officer at the time, saw me enter. He came out of his office, greeted me like a long-lost friend. Then he introduced me to everyone as his new pastor. He also made sure I was well taken care of by the tellers. From that point, we were friends. But that’s not unusual. Harry was the type of person who became a friend to everyone he met. He also befriended every dog. .

I moved to Utah that November. A few Saturdays later, Scott, another member of the church, organized a climb of Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Harry, Brad, Craig, and John joined us. We made our way up Walters Wiggles to Scout Landing, where the Angels Landing trail breaks away from the West Rim Trail. Soon, we were on a knife edge, with a 1500 or so foot drop on each side. Heights, we discovered, terrified Harry. John and I led him down off the knife-edge and back to Scout Landing. Harry waited for us as we climbed to the top of Angels Landing, which hovers over the valley of Zion Canyon. When the day was over and we stopped for dinner and a beer on our way back. Harry expressed thanks that we had not abandoned him.

In February of the following year, I was honored along with the Reverend Ed Kicklighter, a retired Navy chaplain and the former intern pastor at Community Presbyterian, to officiate at the wedding of Harry and Lynne. Harry and Lynne would become close friends.

In the fall of 1994, I began teaching a year and a half long class to train lay pastors. Harry signed up. We spent much of the class discussing theology and how to handle Biblical text in preparation of a sermon. Harry felt comfortable speaking in front of groups. His faith was strong, but quiet. He showed his faith in how he worked to better the lives of others.

Two years later, the Presbytery of Utah commissioned Harry as a lay pastor. The presbytery meeting of the commissioning was held at the brand-new church in Layton, Utah. It had been raining hard for a few days. As I stood with Harry before the entire body, asking him the questions for his commissioning, a spot in the roof failed. Suddenly, a torrent of water poured from above, just behind Harry. I paused, then looked at Harry and asked, “Do you need to be baptized?” Everyone laughed, as members of the congregation ran around grabbing buckets and mops. For the rest of my time in Utah, Harry would preach for me when I was gone and at Presbyterian Churches in Richfield, Delta, and the Methodist Church in Milford.

Joking with Harry at a dinner in the mid-90s.

During my time in Utah, our families attended parades together and had cookouts and dinners. Harry could take a joke. At one party before the 1996 elections, Harry, a Republican, laughed when he was served a drink in a Clinton/Gore cup. Around this time, Harry and I both begin to collect Dutch ovens. Soon, we hosted dinners for the congregation and other groups in town. Harry and I also participated, in competition with each other, in local chili cookoffs.

A few years after I arrived in Utah, Harry left banking and became the director of the Chamber of Commerce. I believe he was instrumental in bringing the Rocky Mountain Oriental Express train to the city. This was the first time since the 1950s that passengers got off a train in Cedar City. This elegant train traveled across the West, stopping at various National Parks. The trains would spend two or three days in Cedar City. While in town, they made excursions to Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Cedar City was also known for its summer Shakespearean and Renaissance Festivals. Working with the city’s mayor, Harry expanded the number of festivals so that every month had a celebration. The city lived up to its title, the Festival City.

After working with the city for a few years, Harry became the hospital foundation and public relations director for Valley View Hospital. Exciting things were happening as the hospital built a new faculty. As I was on the hospital board, Harry and I got to work together on a project not related to the church. After I left Cedar City, Harry helped raise funds for a new cancer center.

Toward the end of my time in Utah, I began reading a lot about the area in which I had grown up. My family had moved to Petersburg, Virginia when I was six and then moved outside of Wilmington, North Carolina when I was nine. My backyard in both places endured significant battles toward the end of the Civil War. Harry was also interested in the Civil War and read the books I read on the fall of Petersburg and the fall of Fort Fisher and Wilmington. Even after I moved, when I would visit, we discussed the Civil War.

I last saw Harry in the fall of 2018. We toured the congregation’s newest effort, a thrift store on the south end of town which sold furniture, household goods, and clothes. I could sense Harry’s pride at what the church had done and how it served those in the community he loved. Harry wanted the best for his community and worked hard to serve others.

Anyone who knew Harry also knew of his love for animals, especially dogs. He and Lynne adopted many dogs and gave them a wonderful home. Over the years, I mainly kept up with Harry and Lynne through Facebook. Seldom was there a post that didn’t include dogs in the pictures.

Harry had moved to Cedar City from Las Vegas, where he had been in banking. Before that, he’d lived in Alaska and had served in the Air Force Intelligence Agency. He told stories of how, as a young man, he traveled first class in Japan to attempt to listen in on communications from Soviet leaders staying in adjacent hotel rooms. And before that, Harry, who grew up in the Philadelphia area, was one of the first “kids” to dance on American Bandstand.

Sadness often broke into Harry’s life. Long after I left Utah, his son David, who had been in our our group died. Harry, I know, strove to maintain a positive outlook on the future and continued to help others. May he rest in peace and may God embrace Lynne, their dogs, Harry’s daughter, and his stepdaughter and their families in love.

April 5, 2026April 5, 2026

Easter Message 2026

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Presbyterian Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026
Matthew 28:1-15

Sermon recorded at Bluemont on Thursday, April 2, 2026

At the beginning of worship:
A man once had a lamb. He treated it like a pet, but when hard times came, he found himself forced to sell the lamb. Unfortunately, three thieves heard of his plans and plotted against him.

Early in the morning on the day of the market, the man put the lamb on his shoulders and headed off. Along the way, the first thief came up to him and asked, “Why are you carrying that dog on your shoulders?”

“This isn’t a dog,” the man said. “It’s a lamb and I’m taking it to market.”

Further along the way, the second thief crossed his path and said, “What a fine dog you have on your shoulders. Where are you taking it?”

“It’s a lamb,” the man insisted. “I’m taking it to market.”

As he approached the village walls, inside of which held the market, the third thief stopped him. “Sir, dogs are not allowed in the market.”

This confused the man. If three people say this is a dog, it must be. He took the lamb off his shoulders and sat it down and went into the market. Had he looked back, he’d seen the thieves running away with his lamb.^[1]

Those who make up Christ’s Christ are often like this confused man. We lose focus by allowing other people’s opinions shape our vision. To appease the world, some try to conform the gospel to science or popular opinion and end up not knowing what they believe. Or they end up with a hollow gospel.

God raised Jesus from the dead. That’s the truth of the Christian faith, which we celebrate this day, and every Sunday. We can’t prove it. The Apostle Paul, in the first century, admitted the resurrection makes no sense outside of faith. To non-believers, it sounds like foolishness. But we proclaim Christ crucified!^[2] And that’s the Easter message in a nutshell.

Before reading the Scripture:
Again, this week, we’re looking at the end of Matthew’s gospel. Last week, we heard about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Pilgrims packed the city. They’d made their way to the Holy City for Passover. The setting for today’s reading is more subdue. The day hasn’t fully awakened. Only a handful of people experience what happened. In fact, Matthew along with all the other gospels, doesn’t describe the resurrection. Instead, it’s presented as a fact. Jesus rose from the grave. We learn about the resurrection for the effect it has on the women and the disciples who met Jesus. And the power of the resurrection is confirmed by the effect it has had on others who believe, throughout history.

Read Matthew 28:1-15
What do we celebrate today? For some, the idea Jesus laid in a tomb deader than a doornail and then rose from the grave is a scandal. It’s easier for them to believe the propaganda spread by the religious leaders 2,000 years ago who suggested Jesus’ followers stole his body from the grave. Of maybe, for us, it’s easier to believe in some silly bunny, a rabbit who should be the patron saint of all dentists, bringing chocolate to kids (and lucky adults).

Or maybe we just celebrate Easter as a rite of Spring. As a child, it marked the time when we brought out our spring clothes. We always took pictures on Easter Sunday, generally in front of blooming azaleas or dogwoods. On Easter, my sister could once again wear white shoes, which she got to show off till Labor Day. My brother and I and our dad got to wear light colored jackets instead of the darker ones of winter. I’m not sure who the fashion police were back then, but I know my mother and many other mothers lived in mortal fear of them… It was all a part of Easter becoming a holiday in which marketers could sell more clothes.

But none of that is what Easter is all about… Christ has risen and he has given the church two things to offer the world which no other organization has: forgiveness and hope! Forgiveness is centered around the events of Good Friday, when Jesus died for our sin. As Peter wrote in his first epistle: “Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die from sin and live for righteousness.”^[3] And the hope comes with the empty tomb. There, in the graveyard, when dawn began to break, the women and the disciples discover God’s power is greater than all the powers of evil combined. God’s power is greater than the grave. As Christ’s Church, we offer forgiveness and hope to the world, telling the gospel story repeatedly to each new generation.

According to Matthew, it was a working day, the first day of the week. The resurrection didn’t occur on the Holy Day of the week.^[4] Sabbath ended at sunset, the evening before and now, the day begins to break. It’s quiet. The crowds of a week ago must be sleeping, but they’ll soon pack up their stuff. The Passover has ended as has the Sabbath. They’ll head home soon. But at this hour, most people remain asleep, as the two Marys make their way to the tomb.

While most of the disciples ran and hid when they crucified Jesus, the women stayed close by.^[5] And once the Sabbath ended, they return. Matthew doesn’t tell us that they want to wash or prepare the body for the grave.^[6] Other gospel writers provide us those details. Instead, we might infer, after having been close to Jesus for so long, they want to be beside his tomb. They want to see it, maybe just to be sure that this wasn’t all just some bad nightmare.

Then the quietness breaks as they experience what seems to be an earthquake with a angel descending and rolling back the stone covering the tomb. Sitting on the stone door, the soldiers who guarded the tomb faint. Matthew, I think, makes an ironic joke here. The guards who are supposed to be guarding the tomb appear dead while the man placed in the tomb dead, is alive and out wandering around. The women, we can also assume, are afraid, but the angel comforts them. The angel also knows who they are looking for. They’re told he’s not at the tomb, but they’re invited in to see for themselves.

As with the other gospels, we’re not given a first-person account of the resurrection. Jesus rose beforehand. The stone door didn’t stop him. The angel, it seems, rolls away the door, not to let Jesus out but to let the women in to see for themselves that Jesus is no longer in the tomb. And the angel gives them a mission—go and tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead and will meet them in Galilee.

And so, they leave the tomb, but before they get very far, they bump into Jesus. Greeting, our text reads. But it could also be translated as “Rejoice!”^[7] And rejoicing we have done ever since. Jesus reiterates what the angel said about meeting up with the disciples in Galilee.

In a way, we assume the climax of Matthew’s story occurs here with the resurrection. But the story is not over. There’s a mission. The gospel doesn’t end with Jesus rising from the grave, but with him sending the disciples to the ends of the earth to make more disciples, to baptize, and to teach what Jesus taught. While the resurrection is the center of the gospel, we end as with the women’s story this morning, with a mission.

But there’s also a counter-mission. As the old proverb goes, “Wherever God erects a house of prayer, the devil builds a chapel.”^[8] On the Day of Resurrection, when the guards, shaking in their sandals, tell the Chief Priests what happened, a conspiracy hatches. The Jewish leaders make up a story about the disciples stealing the body and give the soldiers a large sum of money to buy their silence. For them, this is easy money. After all, who’d believe their story? But there are those who believe. I hope you came to church today because you believe, and to be reminded of the great truth of our faith. Jesus Christ lives and remains with his church to this day. And we still march to the same orders given to the women at the t

^[1] William R. White, Stories for the Journey, (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988), 26-27.

^[2] 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.

^[3] 1 Peter 2:24.

^[4] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Churchbook: Matthew 13-28 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 780.

^[5] Matthew 27:55-56.

^[6] Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:1.

^[7] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: JKP, 1993), 330.

^[8] Bruner, 799.

April 1, 2026April 1, 2026

Reviews of My March Readings

Kiki Petrosing, Bright: A Memoir

(Louisville, KY: Sarabande Brooks, 2022), 106 pages.

The term “Bright” implies, within an African American context, a mix-race individual. It describes Petrosing. Her mother is an African American and her father an Italian. This is the second book I’ve read by her in preparation to hearing her at this year’s Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Click here to read a review of her book on Virginia.

In this memoir, written as a poetic style, the author struggles with many issues. There’s her Italian grandfather’s suicide, the meaning of poetry, Catholic traditions, and the struggle between being grounded and a life of the spirit. As in the volume of her poetry I read earlier, she deals with Thomas Jefferson (whose slaves gave birth to other “Brights”). She draws in other poets, such as Dante, Shakespeare, and her mentor Gregory Orr. Learning that she teaches at the University of Virginia, I wondered if she knew Orr. Having read some of Orr’s poetry and his memoir, The Blessing, I was expecting this memoir to be prose. But Petrosing does it her way. As I read, I found myself drawn to the glimpses of her life.

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

(1942, New York: HarperCollins, 1996), 209 pages.

The Screwtape Letters is a classic. In this book, Screwtape, an older demon, writes letters to his young nephew, Wormwood, providing advice as to how he might best tempt his “patient.” The book only consists of Screwtape’s letters, but we learn Wormwood regularly corresponds back through Screwtape’s reference to the letters. The world of Screwtape is different than ours. These are evil spirits and everything is upside down. The goal of the demons is to trap the patient into their world where he will become “food.”

These letters show how even good things can be used for evil purposes. All is not lost to the demons when the patient joins a church. Other temptations appear. The tempters don’t have to encourage bad behavior. Instead, they just have to draw their “patients” away from God and force them to think highly of themselves and their abilities.

This is my third time reading this book. I read it first in collage, and again maybe 20 years ago. This time, I read much of the book twice along with parts of a study book on the letters as I lead a discussion on it through Lent.

Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America.

narrated by Peter Frances James (Harpers, 2013), 17 hours and 53 minutes.

While driving back and forth to Hilton Head and on to the Okefenokee this month, I listened to Gilbert King’s Pulitzer Prize winning history of a shameful event in American history. King winds together several stories, centering around a supposedly rape, to bring to life a tragedy which occurred in the post-World War years in rural Florida.

At the center of the story is Thurgood Marshall, who led the NAACP’s legal defense fund. As a young lawyer working for the NAACP, Marshall rode trains south to defend African Americans in Jim Crow Courts. His main strategy was to win appeals and to take the case to the Supreme Court, where he had an envious record, winning 29 of his 32 cases before the highest court. Marshall also oversaw the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education which set the stage for the end of segregation. In 1967, long after the Groveland trials, President Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court where he became the first African American justice. In addition to Marshall’s work on the Groveland case (which came as they appealed), King provides a background into his early years as a Civil Rights lawyer. Like many individuals who seem larger than life, Marshall had his faults. King notes his problem within his marriage, his womanizing, and his love for bourbon.

Another character at the center of the story in Lake County, where the rape supposedly took place, was Sheriff Willis McCall. He’s the “Devil in the Grove,” a man who ruled Lake County, Florida for decades. McCall protected gambling interests, low wages in the citrus groves, and segregation. He was not above taking the law in his own hands, as the recently opened FBI files showed.

The case, known as the Groveland Boys, begins with a 17-year-old Norma Padgett and her estranged husband attempting to get back together. Going out for the evening and drinking a lot of liquor, the two found themselves broken down on a deserted road. Two young black men stop to help. When Padgett’s estranged husband disrespects them, a fight ensues. Norma takes off. What happens next is subject to speculation. Padgett’s husband made it back into town, telling the story that his wife’s kidnapping. This might have been to protect himself from Norma’s father, also a violent man with Klan ties. Norma shows up early that morning at a diner and doesn’t seem to have been in any kind of fight or rape. Those who saw her thought she was calm. It appears that at this point, she and her husband collaborate on their story, and a posse starts looking for four black men, even though only two were at the scene the evening before.

A doctor who examined Norma could not positively say she’d been raped but challenged the idea she had been physically attacked. This information, questioned the legitimacy of the Norma’s story and was suppressed. The defense discovered it only after conviction. Another suppressed piece of information was the young man working at the diner who gave Norma a ride that morning. He noted, in the second trial, how she appeared as if nothing had happened.

Three of the four charged with the crime were arrested. The fourth attempted to run and was later shot. The three who went to trial were found guilty, two of whom were sentenced to death. and moved to the Florida State Penitentiary. During the appeal, Thurgood Marshall became involved with the case and assisted local attorneys. They won a new trial for the two on death row. Sheriff McCall and a deputy, in separate cars, went to pick up the prisoners and move them back to Lake County for trial. Locking the prisoners together in his car, McCall then took a back road where he supposedly had a flat tire. He said that while he was changing, the two men attacked him and he shot them. The Sheriff called the deputy on the radio. He came, realized Walter Irvin remained alive and shot him again. Irvin, wounded, played dead. When the coroner arrived thinking both men were dead, he realized Irvin was alive and had him transported to the hospital. At this point, the FBI becomes involved.

The second trial also resulted in a convection and a death sentence. But things were changing in Florida. A new governor, who wanted to protect the state’s booming tourist and agricultural interest, had an attorney friend examine the case. He concluded the men had been framed. The governor pardoned Irvin. The state later exonerated and freed him. Charles Greenlee, who had received a life sentence was also freed. At this point, even the prosector, Jesse Hunter, admitted an injustice occurred and the defendants had been framed.

Harry T. Moore, another character in this story, headed the Florida NAACP. On his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, he and his wife were killed when Klansmen firebombed his home. Moore, who had his own battles with the NAACP along with segregationists like Sheriff McCall. He had been influential in bringing Thurgood Marshall in on the case. In addition to this, Marshall had to be careful during his time in Lake County. And he also had threats and attempts on his life and safety.

King had access to NAACP legal defense records as well as the recently opened FBI records pertaining to the case. Drawing on this information, the framing of the Groveland Boys can be easily seen. I recommend this book, especially as today many in our nation desire to undo the gains America has made in Civil Rights over the past 75 years. It should remind us that our nation’s hands are not as clean as people often imagine.

March 29, 2026March 29, 2026

Palm Sunday 2026

Title slide with photos of the two churches in late winter

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
March 29, 2026
Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon recorded at Mayberry on March 27, 2029. Note, the opening in the text was not included in this recorded sermon.

At the beginning of worship:
In “Palm Sunday,” a poem by Malcolm Guite, begins:

Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
The seething holy city of my heart,
The Saviour comes. But will I welcome him?

It’s easy on Palm Sunday to make it about those who cheered Jesus on so many years ago. But for us the question remains personal, as Guite ends his poem.

Jesus come
Break my resistance and make me your home.^[1]

Before reading the Scriptures:
For Holy Week, I’m taking a two-week break from our in-depth study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We’ll stay in the Gospel of Matthew but move toward the end of the gospel. Today, we’ll look at Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on the day we know as Palm Sunday. This is a story that you find in all four gospels. They may have slight differences, as you have four different people from different perspectives writing it down. But they agree on the main points. Jesus comes into Jerusalem and stirs things up. Next Sunday, Easter, we’ll look at the Resurrection.

Read Matthew 21:1-11
It’s an exciting spring day in the imperial city of Jerusalem. Pilgrims pour in; Jews living throughout the Mediterranean gather at their ancestral city to celebrate the Passover. What a wonderful day for a parade…

Jesus and gang are also heading to Jerusalem to celebrate. When only a few miles from town, Jesus sends his disciples into the next village to procure a donkey and colt for his entry… He tells them where to find these animals. He instructs his disciples to respond to anyone who challenges them with, “the Lord needs it and will return it.” The disciples find the animal; some bystanders question their taking the colt, but they seem satisfied with the answer. Did Jesus work this out in advance or is this a sign of his divinity? The text lets allows us to ponder, providing no clear indication if this Jesus’ humanity at work (he arranged for the colt in advance) or his divinity at work (he knew where to send the disciples).^[2]

The disciples, without being asked, placed their cloaks on the animals as a saddle. Now, how Jesus rode two animals, as Matthew seems to suggest, we’re not told. We might humorously image him, holding the reigns in his teeth, with a foot on each animal, like a circus rider taking a victory lap, but that’s probably not the case. Most likely, he sat on the donkey, sidesaddle, as was the custom for riding such beasts. The colt followed along, staying close to its mother.^[3]

Quickly, as he and the disciples approach the city’s walls, excitement builds. Followers start placing their cloaks on the ground—in Sir Walter Raleigh’s fashion—as the procession begins. Someone brings in branches—we’re not told here they’re palms. That detail comes from John’s gospel.^[4] These branches wave, like the “Terrible Towels” of the Pittsburgh Steelers, making the parade more festive. They welcome Jesus as a general or a king returning home victorious… They chant Hosanna, “Save us,” as they quote from Psalm 118:

Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!^[5]

I image its mostly pilgrims making up the crowd. The people of Jerusalem have jobs, they’re busy providing hospitality to all the visitors. Many of these visitors would have been from the small towns and villages in Galilee, who’ve come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

This is Spring Break, 30 AD. Just like today, most everyone makes a trek south—but instead of Florida, they head to Jerusalem. For many of the pilgrims, this is the highlight of their life—being in Jerusalem for the holiday. It’s like us celebrating New Year’s Eve on Times’ Square, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, or Christmas at Grandma Moses’ farm. A once in a lifetime chance.

And as they come to Jerusalem, they recall God’s great acts of salvation in the past, of how God freed the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery and saved them from Pharaoh’s army. Reminiscing about God’s past activity opens them up to the possibility God will act again and restore Israel to her former glory. They gather in hope.

Many of them hope Jesus is the one they’ve waited for, for so long. The man God will use to shake off the Roman shackles and allow Israel to once again be free. Jesus, however, doesn’t fulfill their expectations. He offers another kind of freedom. One from our sin.

We’re left to wonder what our response would have been if we were there? Where would we be in this story? Would we have been in the crowds shouting “Hosanna?” And if so, would we’ve also been in the crowds shouting “Crucify?” For you see, it’s hard to separate the parade at the beginning of Holy Week, with the crucifixion which comes five days later.

What is it about our nature which allows us to get excited when our religion seems to support our expectations? And then, back away when things seem to move in a direction with which we disagree? We often forget that God’s ways are not ours.

Jesus takes a risk with this parade. Here, with the parade, Jesus mocks politicians who enter Jerusalem with pomp and circumstance. As Jesus comes into Jerusalem, there were two other significant political figures either already in the city (or if not, they were soon to be there): Pilate, the Roman governor, and Herod, the Roman puppet king from up north.

They, too, probably experienced a parade, one involving fancy horses and soldiers with shiny brass and perhaps even a band. Pilate and Herod display the power of Empire; Jesus, humbly riding on a donkey, displays the power of a mysterious kingdom, one not of this world. Who do we follow? Are we lured by the fancy horses and war chariots of the kings and politicians? Or do we follow the man on a donkey.

This is political, and church always has difficulty with politics. We walk a line between being prophetic in calling government to a higher standard (which is appropriate) and playing the court jester. With the later, we sometimes divert people’s attention from what’s important and thereby providing support for the status quo. In a way, with the decline of the mainline churches, we no longer play the role we once did in politics and that’s probably good.

I’ve heard Miroslav Volf, a theologian and the founder of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, speak a couple of times. Having grown up in Eastern Europe, he knows something about the problems which exist between the faithful and government. On one occasion, when he was being interviewed by Neal Plantinga, who at the time was President of Calvin Seminary, Volf said: “Don’t look with nostalgia on the time when the church was in the center of everything, for then it was used and abused by those in power… instead, we must find the language and the confidence to cheerfully live our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.” The church can’t and shouldn’t depend on political power.^[6] Jesus, riding on a humble donkey, demonstrates this. We depend on God’s power to carry out God’s purposes, and not on military or political might.

Many people think the reason the mainline church decline in influence is that we no longer reflect the values of the larger society. This may be so, but even if it is, we must remember we’re not called to reflect the values of society. We’re called to reflect the values of that man who rode into Jerusalem on a colt some 2000 years ago. And his values constantly challenge us as to who we are and to whom we belong. Do we conform to how others want us to be, or do we strive to conform ourselves to the example of our Savior Jesus Christ? Are we intoxicated by the crowds, or by a desire to stand by the one who is the way and the truth and the life?^[7]

We should ponder what Jesus’ risked during Holy Week, and what we are willing to risk for the sake of the gospel. Here are some things we should consider. Do we only support our church when things go our way, or when we hear what we want to hear, or when the church does only the things we want to do? If that’s the case, are we taking risk? Are we being supportive? Are we being Christ-like, and are we being open to where God is calling? Or, to ask the question another way, if we only listen to what we want to hear from Jesus, are we really being faithful to him? It takes faith to stand alone when the crowds disappear; it takes faith to buck the trend. But look at Jesus.

Granted, sometimes we, as individuals and as the church, are wrong, and when we are it takes faith to admit that we are wrong and to seek the new trail Jesus is blazing for us…

We hear the crowds… We’re drawn toward Jesus… Will we just hang around for the fun of the parade, or will we take a risk and continue to follow him as his journey moves toward the cross upon which we’ll be called to sacrifice our wills and desires for his? Amen

^[1] Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness: A Poem a Day for Lent and Easter, (Norwich, UK: Canterbury Press, 2014), 153.

^[2] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Churchbook: Matthew 13-28 (Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 2004), 353.

^[3] For more on the two animals, see Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), 238-239.

^[4] John 12:13.

^[5] Psalm 118:25-26.

^[6] Interview of Miroslav Volf by Cornelius Plantiga, Calvin College, April 12, 2014

^[7] John 14:6

March 26, 2026March 26, 2026

A Trip to the Low Country

Title slide with a photo from inside the church, kayak in the Okefenokee, and a train

Earlier this month I was able to get away for a week to attend the Theology Matters Conference at Providence Presbyterian Church on Hilton Head. In addition, I was able to spend a few days in the Okefenokee, watching trains, and catching up with a few former co-workers. I left home with temperatures just above freezing, worrying that the rain would begin to freeze. Thankfully, by the time I was down off the Blue Ridge, the temperature was much warmer with no chance of ice. As I continued to drive down, with a kayak lashed to the top of my car, I listened to Gilbert King’s, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, The Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America. I’ll review the book early in April.

On the way down, I met Deanie for lunch. During my tenure as pastor on Skidaway, she was an associate pastor and a delightful colleague. We had wonderful Mexican meal at a restaurant just outside of Savannah. We caught up on what’s going on in our lives, with our families, and with friends. Then I turned east and drove to Hilton Head, passing the never-ending sprawl with countless stoplights which has become the South Carolina Low Country. I checked into my hotel, then headed over to the church for a low country boil (shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes and seasoning).

While at the conference I enjoyed catching up with old friends and making some new ones while listening to the speakers at the lecturers. The weather was wonderful, but like always, the island feels overcrowded. I didn’t even walk out to the beach! This year’s theme was “The Good Shepherd Lays Down his Life for the Sheep.”

Providence Presbyterian Church Sanctuary. Rev. Dr. Raymond Hylton speaking

While I enjoyed all the speakers, especially the sermons by Raymon Hylton, Pastor of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, the highlight was Andy Dearman. A retired Biblical scholar who did a marvelous job of weaving the Old and New Testament together around the conference’s themes. While I enjoyed the conference, I kept looking out those beautiful windows at the church. From my pew, I could se the tops of magolias, pines, live oaks decked out in Spanish moss, and sweet gum trees. My mind kept being drawn to the kayak on top of my car and what I’d be doing a few days later…

After the conference, I drove down to Skidaway and met with Jim, who is still the Administrator at Skidaway Community Church. This was my first time being back at the church since the January of 2022, when I was there to officiate at the funeral for a friend. It was great seeing the improvements and hear of the plans for the church’s future. Since I lift, Jim has taken to writing, especially “flash fiction.” He’s even had a couple of pieces published in a local magazine which often published my work when I was living there.

I then drove down to the Okefenokee. I spent two days in the swamp, but was unable to obtain camping reservations inside the park due to the busy season and the low water which cut off some of the canoe trails.

The first night, I was able to stay in a caboose. Folkston is a great place to watch trains as just above the town two main lines merge which bring trains to and from Florida to the Northeast and Midwest. Especially during the night, the tracks seemed busy, often with two trains, one heading north and the other south, crossing at the same time. The caboose was comfortable for me, with a deck out back where I did some writing and reading as I watched trains. There were four bunks on one end of the caboose, a sitting area in the middle and a small kitchen and even smaller bathroom on the other end.

My plate: Grilled chicken, chopped
barbecue, collards, and beans

After spending the day in the refuge, and checking into the caboose and then walked over to Jalen’s Barbecue. Many people will probably pass it by as dump, but their chopped barbecue and roast chicken was wonderful. I just wish I had arrived in time to have had ribs, but they’d sold out. And, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they had the best collards I’ve ever had. They were not mushy and were quite tasty. Normally, I prefer turnip greens, but I’d go for collards if they were that good.

It was weird paddling within the swamp as the water was a couple feet lower than any of my previous trips into the swamp. I mostly paddled Chesser and Mizell Prairies. In previous times, you could paddle across the prairies, but this time the water level kept me in the canals. I was a little early for flower blooms. But as always, birds were plentiful. Egrets, ibis, sandhill cranes, kingfishers, woodpeckers, and so on. There were plenty of turtles and alligators sleeping along the banks.

It’s been a while since I paddled my Phoenix Isene Kayak. Lately I’ve mostly paddled my big sea kayak, which is 18′ 6″ long. This boat is 14′ 9″ and weighs (empty) 28 pounds. It was good to be back in this boat.

I spent my second night camping in my hammock at Okefenokee Pastimes, a campground and restaurant just outside the park. I had a Philly Che esesteak Sandwich and beer for dinner as I talked with the new owner of the campground. That night, I slept in my hammock. While it was good to camp, I ran around too much with flip-flops and my ankles were well-chewed by sand gnats!

On Sunday, I set my sights north, heading up 301 to Waycross, and then on US 1 up into South Carolina. Somewhere along the way, I finished listening to Devil in the Grove. It began to rain as I crossed into South Carolina, so I slipped over to the interstate and made it home shortly after dark.

This wasn’t my first rodeo… Links to past events

Theology Matters, October 2021

Theology Matters, March 2023

Day 1 of a 5 Day Okefenokee Adventure

Days 2 & 3 of a 5 Day Okefenokee Adventure

Days 4 & 5 of a 5 Day Okefenokee Adventure

Another Okefenokee Adventure

March 22, 2026March 22, 2026

Turning the Other Cheek and Loving our Enemies

Title slide for sermon with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Churches
Matthew 5:37-48
March 22, 2026

Sermon taped at Bluemont on Thursday, February 19, 2026.

At the beginning of worship

A few years ago, there was a video making the rounds of two women in a grocery store parking lot. One carelessly opened her door into the car next to her. Shocked, the woman in that car asked if she was going to apologize. The first woman said a few harsh words to the other, about how she didn’t hurt the resale value of her car. Soon they both began banging their doors into each other’s car. Then they began drove around the parking lot in an improvised demolition derby. Those coming out of the store gathered along the sidewalk to watch. At one point, as one of the women backs her car into the other and the camera focuses on her bumper sticker. “War is not the answer.”^[1]

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever done something that, if it were pointed out that you are Christian when doing it, would be embarrassing? (You don’t have to raise your hands; wait till the Prayer of Confession to make your confessions). Of course, you have. I have; we all have… If we have high values, it’s hard to live up to our standards. Thankfully, we live by grace and not the law.

If you want to see the video on Youtube, look up my sermon online. There’s a link to it.

Before reading the Scripture:

Today we’ll finish up Jesus’ six commands in the Sermon on the Mount. These reinterpretations of the law seem more difficult to obey. As I said all along, Jesus raises the bar. It’s harder to know which reinterpreted commandment is the hardest, but I suggest it might be the last two. Turn the other cheek and love your enemies… Jesus forces us to look out for the best interest of our enemies. But we don’t like to do that, do we?

Think about Cuba today. Supposedly the island is again our enemy, and we’ve put a blockade on them, cutting them off from fuel. The nation has gone dark as it struggles to maintain its power grid. Even hospitals have been forced to operate without power. Considering Jesus’ teachings, what kind of reception a politician would receive if he or she suggested we allow the island to receive enough oil to alleviate the suffering of the Cuban people? And consider what would Jesus do?

In these six reinterpretations of commandments from the Old Testament, Jesus mostly follows a similar pattern. He provides the original teaching with “You have heard it said.” Then he gives a new commandment, “But I say.” And he follows this with some suggestions of how we can follow his command.^[2]

In today’s reading, Jesus comes out against revenge, challenging the command, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This law, which isn’t unique to the Hebrews as it was found in even older laws in the region, attempts to limit revenge. Instead of the “Sicilian justice” as seen in the Godfather, the law limits revenge.^[3]

The second law we’ll look at concerns loving our neighbors. Of course, the Jewish people had this law in the Old Testament but tried to limit it to only those neighbors who lived adjacent to them. This is why the Parable of the Good Samaritan is so radical.^[4] In that parable, Jesus extends the neighborhood to include the enemies living across the border. In his teaching here, Jesus does the same thing, expanding those we’re to love.

The Sermon on the Mount takes us back into its beginning with the Beatitudes. Here, Jesus forces us to reconsider the seventh Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers.^[5]

Read Matthew 5:38-48

“Turn the other cheek, love your enemies,” Jesus tells us. Do we? Do we truly love those who are different from us, who have different ideas about the world, different beliefs? Are we willing to give away what we own to maintain peace? Will we turn the other cheek? Will it work? What does these passages mean to us in a divide world? Do they apply with how we deal with Democrats and Republicans and MAGA and illegal immigrants.

It seems those on the edges of the political spectrum really hate those who disagree with them. Does this passage apply here? You bet. It says essentially, “if you want to please your Savior, tone down your hateful rhetoric… Actually, it says, do away with such behavior.” And to push this further, what does our passage say about how we relate to Iran, Hezbollah, Cuba, Russia, China, or a New York Yankee fan? I’m sorry, none of us are going to leave today unscathed!

Jesus begins this section of his sermon with rhetorical statements: “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ and ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” The eye for an eye part, along with the love for our neighbor are found in the Old Testament.^[6] But not the hate for an enemy, unless Jesus summarizes an idea advanced in the Psalms of which a few seem to encourage us to love God so much that we hate the godless.^[7]

Eugene Peterson in The Message, translates this verse in this manner: “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’” Somehow these two ideas have been married together, but Jesus divorces them by insisting his followers love not just their friends, but also their enemies.

Furthermore, this command doesn’t just apply to individuals. Jesus addresses the community here. Not only is this something I’m to do. We’re all to be doing this together. The early church, under Jewish and later Roman persecution, would have heard these words in a different context. Their enemies were real and a threat! They could have them stoned or fed to the lions. Yet they loved those who persecuted them and prayed for them!

And just to clear up things, in case any of you are thinking—“Sure, I’ll pray for my enemies, I’ll pray for their demise.” That ain’t what Jesus means. We’re to pray for the wellbeing of those who hate and persecute us. Remember, as he was being nailed to the cross, Jesus prayed for his executioners.^[8] Jesus practiced what he preached.

Now why would we want to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors? Wouldn’t it be easier to insist on an “eye for an eye”? As I have suggested through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus wants to create a new community of followers who live differently that the world. He suggests we maintain different standards, ones that works for peace and reconciliation. Jesus came to save his people from sin, an angel tells Joseph in Matthew 1.^[9] Sin causes divisions. Freed of sin, we work to restore divisions.

Our God is good to all creation—those who are gentle and kind and those who are mean and bullies. Everyone benefits from what the Lord provides. The rain falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous. So why would we want to take a risk and give our enemies more than they demand? Why would we want to take a risk and love our enemies? One reason. We want to be more like God. We want to be godly. After all, God took a risk on us. And God loved us before we loved or even knew God!

If we only love those who are like us, Jesus points out, we’re no different than anyone else. It’s easy to love your friends. But the church is different. We’re to be an alternative to the world! We’re to practice radical hospitality, and we’re to love those who, for many, aren’t considered loveable. “Love sought is good,” Lady Olivia says in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, “but giv’n unsought is better.”^[10] As Christians, we’re to give love unsought!

In the second century, there was a report made to the Roman Emperor Hadria about Christians. Remember, Christians back then were persecuted, but this is what the report said:

They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God.^[11]

It was this kind of love which drew the attention of others and helped the church grow even through persecution. At a time when Rome attempted to stamp the church out, the church was known for love… But what about today?

One of the common reasons given by people who no longer attend church is that they feel judged. One study found that 87 percent of Americans say that Christians are judgmental. 87%!^[12]I suppose the good news is that if 87 percent said we’re judgmental means even most of us Christians acknowledge the problem. Of course, Christians know there is a judgmental issue because we do it to one another. We’ve all been judged unfairly! We don’t take Jesus’ admonishment “Judge not” to heart.^[13] Do we really want to be known as judgmental and by what we’re against instead of by what we’re for? 87% doesn’t sound as if we live up to that old song, “They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love”. But let’s strive for it.

As believers, we acknowledge our brokenness and complete dependence upon God. This should make us more open to our enemies.

Jesus ends this passage with a command to be perfect as is our heavenly Father. Although perfection is expected of us, we know that on our own, we won’t achieve it. Instead, as I said earlier, we’re driven back to the Beatitudes, back to the realization that we, too, are poor in spirit.

Despite being poor in spirit, Jesus offers us some helpful ways to live in our faith. We don’t retaliate against our enemies. We are gracious to all people and pray for our enemies. You know, we live in a time when the world appears to be on the verge of exploding. It may sound to some as treasonous, but there’s no better time than now to begin praying for our enemies. Amen.

^[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EVxSCcKo8Y

^[2] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 246. I also covered this structure in my first sermon on the commandments. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2026/02/22/murder-and-anger/

^[3] This law, known as the lex talionis (Law of the Tooth) was found in the Code of Hammurabi in the 18^th Century BC. Bruner, 247.

^[4] Luke 10:29-37.

^[5] Bruner, 266-7. Matthew 5:9.

^[6] Leviticus 19:18

^[7] Bruner, 267. See Psalm 58, 109, 137:7-9 and 139:21-22.

^[8] Luke 23:34

^[9] Matthew 1:21

^[10] William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 3.1.167. Of course, Olivia was trying to make a play for someone and not speaking of universal love.

^[11] “Aristides to Emperor Hadria” as quoted in God’s Virtues: An Inspirational Collection of Stories, Quotes, Hymns, Scriptures and Poems (Tulsa, OK: Honor Books, 1995), 43.

^[12] Thom & Joani Schultz, Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore (Loveland CO: Group Publishing, 2013), 23.

^[13] Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37

March 15, 2026March 15, 2026

Making a Vow

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
March 15, 2026
Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Church on Friday, March 13, 2026.

Before reading the scripture:

A few weeks ago, as we slipped into heart of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I spoke about how Jesus takes a number of what we would call “Old Testament Commandments” and reinterprets them. I pointed out how scholars often refer to these six commands as antithesis, but that isn’t quite correct. Instead of offering an alternative, Jesus takes us deeper into the commandment’s meaning. I also spoke about how the six commands could be divided into two sets. The first three focusing more on our moral actions and the second three on our political or community actions.^[1]

Today, we’re going to look at the first of the political or community commands. Unlike the others, here Jesus negates what had been taught in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament. We’re talking about making vows. Jesus says don’t. The Epistle of James says the same thing.

But we often make vows. We do it when we marry. We do it if we take a public office, or if we are called to testify in court, or join the military. I did it when ordained into ministry, as has all elders in our church. We even find those heroes of our faith in scripture, such as Paul, making a vow.^[2]

In my study on this passage, I found myself torn. This is the most overlooked part of Jesus’ great sermon.^[3] I had originally thought I would pair this passage with the next two passages about avoiding retribution and loving our enemies but began to feel it wouldn’t be fair to scripture. I knew I’d spend my time on the later and not on these four verses.

An example of this came from our men’s Bible Study on Wednesday. We look at the last three commands and spent almost all our time focusing on the last two commandments.

In my study, I learned that for the first three centuries of church history, Christians mostly took this passage literally. They avoided making vows. Then comes Constantine who provided the church with legal standing within the Roman Empire. After Constantine, Christians ignored this passage and began to make vows.^[4] We came up with excuses and work arounds. But is that right?

However, there are some churches, even today, who discourage making an oath. Our Amish neighbors are one. Are they right?

The command against taking a vow concerns itself with politics. After all, such vows are often done for governmental reasons, whether it be in a court of law, or for marriage, or to serve within government. I’m not sure I have a clear-cut instructions for you today, but I encourage you to struggle with me about what Jesus’ command means and how we should apply it to our lives.

Finally, regardless of what you decide to do about making a vow, I can say this with confidence. God wants us to be truthful, to honor our commitments, and to put God first among our allegiances.

Read Matthew 5:33-37 and James 5:12

While I was driving to and from the Theology Matters conference^[5] I attended last week, I listened to Gilbert King’s, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America. The book is about a supposedly rape of a young woman in Central Florida in 1949.^[6] It was just after World War II, and returning African American soldiers were beginning to push back against segregation. They wanted a better life for themselves than working in near slave conditions in the citrus groves. Of course, that wouldn’t excuse such a crime. But there wasn’t any evidence produced that there had been a crime.

However, that didn’t stop four young black men from being charged. Three were arrested and the fourth killed while being apprehended. Sheriff Willis McCall and his deputies used torture to extract confessions from two of the suspects. The three were found guilty and two sentenced to death. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court ordered a new trial.

Before the new trial could began, Sheriff McCall transported two of the men back to the county jail from state prison. Supposedly, he had a flat tire while driving, not on the highway, but a back road. While working on the tire, he supposedly was attacked by the cuffed man under his care. He said he shot them in self-defense.

Only, one of the men didn’t die. The sheriff called the coroner who discovered him breathing. At this point, the FBI got involved. The second trial featured future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on the defense side. There were many problems with the prosecution, including the outright lies of the Sheriff and Deputies. They also withheld evidence including a doctor’s report raising questions on whether a rape occurred and the contention the woman had been attacked.

While another all-white jury again convicted, the state of Florida eventually paroled and exonerated the defendants. Even the prosecutor in the case later had a change of heart and admitted his complicacy in the injustice carried out by the state.

While the book illustrates the problem of racism and shows how change comes slowly, it also demonstrates the need for honesty, especially in court proceedings. Our legal system is built upon those involved within telling the truth. When the truth is concealed, justice will be denied. This is why taking an oath is so important. In the Ten Commandments, we’re told not to misuse the Lord’s name.^[7] This would involve swearing by God’s name that something is true. If it’s not true, we have misused God’s name.

Let me take off on a tangent for a bit. Personally, I have a moral problem with capital punishment. I know there are those who say Scripture allows for it. Yes, ancient Israel carried out such punishments. But those who want to use the Bible to support the death penalty never mentions one caveat. In the Old Testament, the crime for lying or falsifying evidence in court was so serious it carried the same sentence the accused party faced.^[8]

Lying or falsifying evidence in court, according to Biblical standards, would mean the Sheriff, deputies, and prosecutor in the Groveland Boys trial could have been executed. Truth is required in court for a society to be fair.

But let’s go back to Jesus’ teachings. Here, Jesus suggests we not even make a vow at all. Why? I think Jesus wants to create a community of believers where one’s word is honest and doesn’t need other qualifications. Looking at the qualifications which Jesus cites in this passage (swearing by heaven, the earth, Jerusalem, or even one’s own head).

It appears people in Jesus’ day may have tried to get around the 3^rd Commandment by making vows to things other than God. Jesus won’t have any of it. Don’t make a vow at all but let your word be honest.

Furthermore, as Jesus illustrates, all these other things people used to make a vow upon link back to God. Heaven contains God’s throne. The earth, as Isaiah also reminds us, is God’s footstool.^[9] In Jerusalem resides God’s king. And God, as Creator and Lord, has a claim even over us as individuals, as we’re humorously reminded that we cannot change the color of our hair. Of course, this was before hair could be dyed, but you get the point. As the Psalmist says, “The earth is the Lord’s and all who live in it.”^[10]

So instead of making a vow, Jesus suggests we just be honest. Of course, if everyone remained honest, there would be no need for a vow as an assurance of our truthfulness. The book of James reiterates Jesus’ teachings on this point. Truthfulness should be a hallmark of a believer. If people can’t believe our word, we have a problem.

So, should you make a vow or take an oath? I will leave such decision with you. It was allowed in the Old Testament, but Jesus discourages it. As for me, I confess to having more problems with it than I had before this week. But I do know this. God’s will for us is to be truthful in our words and faithful in our commitments.^[11]And, our allegiance belongs to God before anything here on earth. Whatever you do about making a vow, be truthful and faithful. Amen.

^[1] See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2026/02/22/murder-and-anger/

^[2] Acts 18:18. The Book of Numbers in the Old Testament goes into great detail about making vows. Especially see chapters 6, 15, and 21.

^[3] As an example, this passage is never singled out within the Revised Common Lectionary but paired with the verses before it and it appears only once every three years.

^[4] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook, Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 234ff. Bruner not only outlines the history behind the church’s interpretation of this text, but also admits his personal views changed between his first commentary on Matthew and his updated edition.

^[5] https://www.theologymatters.com/2026-conference/

^[6] Gilbert King’s, Devil in the Grove, Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012, Audible 2013).

^[7] Exodus 20:7.

^[8] Deuteronomy 19:17-19.

^[9] Isaiah 66:1.

^[10] Psalm 24:1

^[11] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1993), 54.

March 7, 2026March 7, 2026

Reading Reviews from February 2026

title slide with covers of the books I read in February and reviewed in this post.

I am on study leave this week. My next post, God willing, will be the sermon for March 15, 2026. I’ll catch up with folks then!

(New York: Viking, 2025), 207 pages.

On Memorial Day, 2019, on the streets of Washington D.C., Geraldine Brooks’ husband, Tony Horwitz, died of a major heart attack. He was on a book tour promoting Spying on the South.

I have read several of Horwitz’s books and have loved them all. However, by far, my favorite is Confederates in the Attic, which explores modern day Civil War reenactors. I read the book early in this century. I started it on a cross-country flight and laughed so hard that everyone in the plane around me wanted to know what I was reading. Several of them wrote down the title so they could look it up. Horwitz’s is a master of blending travel and history with humor. After recently reading his first book, One for the Road, I checked to see if he had written anything recent. That’s when I learned of his death and that his wife, also an author, wrote this book.

This book flip-flops between a narrative on learning of her husband’s death and its aftermath, along with time on an island off Australia (Brooks is a native of Australia). We learn of everything she had to do starting with the time a hospital internist call. She wants to see her husband and immediately takes off for Washington, but that is hard to do because they lived on Martha Vineyard and it’s the height of tourist season. The flights off the island are booked. She catches a ferry to the mainland. She also must take care of their dogs and to call her sons and his mother. Thankfully, she has caring neighbors.

Catching up with one of her sons is difficult because he was flying to Australia to see her sister. Unfortunately, as her son gets off the plane, the news arrives prematurely in a text from a friend expressing his condolences. The next few months is hectic with all she must do. She discovers she and her sons’ medical insurance is cancelled because it’s in her husband’s name. As a native Australian, she knows American medical insurance lacks compassion. And then, after spending the fall taking care of business and two memorial services, in Martha’s Vineyard and near Washington DC area) COVID hits.

Her time away in 2023 to West Tisbury, a remote island off Australia, allows her to grieve and to recall her relationship with her husband. We learn how they met and some of their travels as foreign correspondents. We also learn that she left journalism to become a novelist at her husband’s encouragement. We also learn about grief and death traditions, especially in Judaism as she had converted to her husband’s faith.

I felt like I was reading about the death of friend as I read this book. I recommend it. And sadly, I only have a few more of Horwitz’s books to savor before I’ll have to start rereading.

Ronald C. White, On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

(Audible, 2023), 14 hours and 23 minutes.

At the battle of Gettysburg, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s troops held back the Confederates at Little Roundtop. Late in the afternoon, as his troops ran out of ammunition, he ordered them to fix bayonets. They then changed down the hill, routing the exhausted Confederates. Had this not been successful, the South would have taken the hill, and the battle may have ended differently. But as White shows in this biography of the Maine intellectual, this was only a part of Chamberlain’s story.

A native of Maine, Chamberlain lived most of his life in the state. He attended Bowdoin College and then Bangor Theological Seminary. He debates becoming a Congregational minister but finds himself drawn to academics. Chamberlain excelled in languages (he mastered 7 languages during his lifetime). Teaching at Bowdoin, he married Fanny Adams, an adopted daughter of a Congregational minister, and they began a family. He enjoyed teaching and was offered an opportunity to spent two years studying in Europe, but the Civil War interrupted. He joined the war effort in 1862 and led the 20^th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

At the beginning of the Petersburg Campaign in the summer of 1864, Chamberlain was wounded on the Jerusalem Road near “Fort Hell.” While the location probably doesn’t mean much for most people, this was in the Walnut Hills area where I lived as a kid from 1963 to 1966. (I should write more about Fort Hell in another post). Chamberlain almost died. He survived but dealt with the wound for the rest of his life. Miraculously, he returned to the field in March 1865, near the end of the Petersburg Campaign. Again wounded, he remained on the field as Petersburg fell. At Appomattox, Grant gave Chamberlain the honor of receiving the Confederate arms and colors at the “official surrender,” three days after Grant and Lee signed the surrender documents.

After the war, Chamberlain became governor of Maine, serving four one-year terms, as the state had yearly elections for governor. White hints at the fact Chamberlain and his wife had troubles during this time and she stayed away from the state capital.

After serving as governor, he returned to teaching and later became president of Bowdoin college. He was also later called on to settle an election dispute over a new governor. While violence was a possibility, he was able to calm both sides and worked out an acceptable settlement. In 1883, he retired from academic. During this period, he worked as a lawyer in New York, as the port surveyor in Portland, Maine, and then involved himself in various businesses including land speculation in Florida. He continued to be interested in the Civil War. Chamberlain became friends with those who fought on both sides, often called to speak and to write articles. He also had to deal with his wife’s health as she became blind late in life.

Chamberlain died in 1914, at the age of 85, partly from an infection of the wound he received in Petersburg.

White goes into detail as to Chamberlain’s religious and academic beliefs. A solid Calvinist during a time when Unitarianism and Transcendentalism were on the rise in New England, Chamberlain remained close to the church. As for academics, while classically trained, Chamberlain encouraged the school to embrace other disciplines, especially in science. He attempted to make room for such studies at Bowdoin.

White’s biography of Chamberlain’s life during a time of great change in the United States is a worthy read (or listen) to those interested in such history. The book is read by the author, who was the Dean at San Francisco Theological Seminary when I was doing my doctoral studies there. White has published biographies of Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Grant, and two books on Lincoln’s speeches. I also highly recommend Lincoln’s Greatest Speech, which is on the President’s second inaugural address.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s

Book cover for "An Unfinished Love Story"

(2024, Audible), 17 hours and 38 minutes. Read by the author with insert recordings of speeches.

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a presidential history. I once heard her lecture and have enjoyed reading some of her books and many of her articles. Her late husband, Dick Goodwin worked within the Kennedy and Johnson administration. After he had moved on, she worked for Johnson. The two of them met at Harvard in the early 1970s. After Dick’s first wife died, they married in 1975. Dick died in 2018. Before his death, Dick and Doris went through the 300 boxes of papers from Dick’s years working with Senator and later President Kennedy, President Johnson, as well as working on the Presidential campaigns of Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy. The two of their insights provides for a unique review of all that happened in the 60s.

This was a unique book to hear. Doris Kearns Goodwin read most of the text. But as her husband primarily (but not exclusively) served as a speech writer for the two Kennedys and for Johnson, where speeches were quoted, the Audible book inserts the actual speech. Some of the Johnson speeches I have vague memories of, and it was interesting to hear him again. It was also interesting to hear her husband’s role with phrases like “The New Frontier” and “The Great Society.”

The early LBJ years were so hopeful. Johnson articulated a vision of “The Great Society.” It promised hope for all Americans, especially the poor and those of African descent. Sadly, our current administration also uses “great” in their logo (Make America Great Again), but I never hear a vision of what a Great America entails. Instead of being forward looking, like LBJs vision, MAGA looks backwards to some mythical place and time which never existed.

As Vietnam began to consume the Johnson Presidency, many of the President’s advisors bailed, including Goodwin. He left with hard feelings for the two men never talked again. Dick Goodwin went to work for Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 primaries. He told McCarthy that if Robert Kennedy (a friend) entered in the race, he would have to support him. So, after the early good showing by McCarthy and LBJ dropping out of the race, Goodwin moved over to support Kennedy. And after Kennedy’s assassination, he was back with McCarthy for the 1968 Democrat Convention.

Doris came to work for LBJ late in his presidency. She was picked by Johnson to help him work on his memoirs and organizing his papers. She wanted to go back to teaching at Harvard. He finally agreed with a compromise, which her commutating back and forth between Texas and Boston. Her insight into Johnson was as a broken man whom she came to care deeply. In a way, Doris and Dick had differences with LBJ, which makes the book even more interesting.

The book is also about the hope they both had in the 1960s. That’s the love story, but it’s also about their love story which didn’t begin until after the decade had ended. I appreciate Doris Kearns Goodwin’s writing. It’s easy to understand and she catches the reader up with the hope the decade began and the tragedy with how it ended.

While the book is about the 1960s, it also contains wisdom which our world needs today. I recommend it.

Amy Leach, The Salt of the Universe: Praise, Songs, and Improvisations

title cover for "The Salt of the Universe"

(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), 221 pages.

This is the second book I read by Amy Leach. In 2013, I read her book, Things That Are. Then, in 2014, she was a presenter at the Calvin Festrival of Faith and Writing. As her first book focused on nature, I arranged her to make a presentation for Pierce Cedar Creek Institute on nature and literature. Having found her first book delightful, when I saw this book, I picked it up and thoroughly enjoyed it. Leach creates wonderful essays by pulling dissimilar things and ideas and mixing them together.

Much of The Salt of the Universe comes from Leach’s background. She grew up in Texas as a member of the 7^th Day Adventist Church. She attended 7^th Day Adventist camps and college and have worked on their mission field. While she has moved away from the church’s teachings, she remains a vegetarian. This is not because of the teachings of Ellen White, who I learned in reading this book helped solidify the church’s position. Leach draws on scripture and especially Peter’s vision in Joppa to question the church’s fundamentalist view against eating meat. She also challenges the church’s position on supporting the community over against the individual. Quoting a church president who said, “the individual is nothing,” Leach insists the opposite is true. “The institution is nothing; individual is everything.”

Her writings encourage her readers to take notice of the world, its wonder and awe. She draws on all her interests to create these essays. As a classical trained musician, she pulls music into her stories. She is obviously well read, drawing on diverse authors from Shakespeare to Jim Harrison, from the Hindu poet Tagore to her favorite poet, Emily Dickerson, and dozens of others. She is also a keen observer of the natural world. Her weirdly mixed concepts that are often dissimilar create delightful essays.

March 1, 2026March 1, 2026

Sermon on the Mount: Adultery and Lust

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
March 1, 2026
Matthew 5:27-32

Sermon recorded at Bluemont Church on Thursday, February 27, 2026

With the world events of the past few days, I am including the outline of my pastoral prayer after the sermon in the hope it might bring comfort to a situation few, if any, understand, and that no one knows what will happen next..

At the beginning of worship:
“The Hammer of God” is one of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown stories. Set in a church, one of the curates no longer prays on the floor with his fellow clergy and parishioners. Instead, he climbs one of the church’s spires for prayer. There, high above everyone else, he begins to fantasize about how he might deal out justice upon a sinful brother. All it would take from such height would be to drop a hammer. Father Brown realizes something is up and confronts the man as he comes down from on high.

“I think there is something rather dangerous about standing on these high places, even to pray,” said Father Brown. “Heights were made to be looked at, not to look from.”

“Do you mean you think I might fall over?” the man asks.

“I mean that one’s soul may fall if one’s body doesn’t.”

Father Brown told of another man. In time, the man preferred to pray in high and lonely places such as the belfry or the spire. Looking out upon the world from such heights, he began to imagine himself as God. He committed a terrible crime. For he saw himself as the judge of the world and struck down a sinner. He would have never had such thoughts had he stayed with others upon the floor.^[1]

As Jesus reminds us, we’re not the judge and when dealing with the sin of others, we must be careful and graceful.^[2]

Before reading the scripture:
Last week, we moved into the heart of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and looked at the first commandment he deals with, “thou shalt not kill.” We saw how Jesus equates anger with murder. The second command Jesus deals with, adultery, parallels the first. In both cases, Jesus strives to get behind the commandment, to the root cause. While few of us have murdered anyone, we’ve all been guilty of letting our anger get the best of us, and we can see how harsh words spoken in anger can destroy another person.

Last week I forgot to add into my sermon an old English proverb, but it can be applied to all these moral commands of Jesus.

He is a fool who cannot be angry;
but he is wise who will not remain so.^[3]

We all get angry, but what do we do with our anger? Do we stew on it? Likewise, we are created with desire, so when we see someone who is attractive to us, how do we handle it? Do we let our desire turn to lust and consume us or do we maintain appropriate boundaries? The link between anger and lust is that both objectify other people.

If you recall from last week, in this section Jesus expands the teaching on six different commands. In the past, many scholars refer to these as antithesis, but I suggested that’s a wrong way to look at them. Instead of presenting an opposite view of the law, Jesus takes us deeper, to the intention of the law.

Today, we’ll look at the second and the third commands of Jesus, that of adultery and divorce. Again, Jesus employs hyperbole, as he did last week, to emphasize the seriousness of our sin: plucking an eye or cutting off an arm.

Read Matthew 5:27-32

In Greek mythology, Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the god of love, were lovers. We might think of war and love, anger and lust as opposite emotions. The Greeks were wise. Hate and desire become united within our ego. When we indulge such emotions, we create in our minds an object out of the other person. In this manner, both emotions put the other person down, visualizing them as less than they are.^[4]

Last week, we saw that Jesus strove to protect life. This week passage shows his intention to protect marriage.

As I have emphasized all along, Matthew focuses on Jesus’ goal to build a community which breaks through barriers of race and nationality. This also extends to sex. Paul sums up Jesus’ teaching when he says,

There is no longer Jew or Greek;

there is no longer slave or free;
there is no longer male and female,
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.^[5]

This new community envisioned by Jesus, in which men and women are equal, requires a new and stricter self-discipline for men or the male sex.^[6] No longer are men required to just keep their hands off women who are married, as adultery had been interpreted. For the peace of the community, men should no longer objectify women.

Of course, the same goes for women but that may have been less of a problem in Jesus’ day. But today, we overly sexualized everything as we see in advertising—after all sex sells—we should dig at the heart of Jesus’ intention here. Jesus wants us to stop seeing other people as a means to our own pleasure. But it’s hard because we’re always surrounded with sexual images.

We’ve just gotten past the Superbowl. The half-time shows have become increasingly sexualized over the years. We’ve descended a long way since the first bowl in 1966, where a college marching band provided the entertainment. But the sexualization wasn’t really debated this year. Instead, the debate centered around a guy from Puerto Rico singing in his native language. And then, there was the “family alternative” in which the headline act had, in his repertoire of songs, one praising pedophilia.^[7] Is there no shame? We can’t get away from sexual thoughts and images.

Think about this. You go into a casino, and you’re served by scantly clad women. And the rich gather in places like Mar-o-logo with such women dangling from chandeliers. Modesty is out of favor.

In Jesus day, modesty was still in favor in Galilee, but not in the rest of the Roman empire where pagan temples often featured prostitution. And the sex desires of men ran rampant. In Greek culture, it was common for men of means to take on an underage boy lover in addition to a wife. Realizing this, Jesus wants his followers to hold themselves to a higher standard and stand out from the rest of the world.

We can only imagine what Jesus would say in our world. We might think our fantasies are harmless, but Jesus shows otherwise. Jesus wants us to need honor one another and men do this not only by avoiding the bedrooms of married women, but by not sexualizing others. We are to see all people—men and women—as having been created in God’s image.

Next, Jesus addresses divorce. We now know this was a big debate among rabbis of Jesus day. The Mosaic laws provided for divorce. In a way, the law was civilizing for that era, as a man couldn’t just abandon his wife. He had to set her free and allow her to remarry. One school, led by Rabbi Hillel, took a rather liberal view of this law. He saw anything a woman did to displease her husband as a reason for divorce. You burned dinner, you’re out. The other, led by Rabbi Shammai, took a more conservative view and only allowed divorce for adultery. Here, Jesus aligns with the second school.^[8]

Matthew understands the seriousness of divorce. He records more about divorce than all the other gospels combined and almost as much as the entire New Testament.^[9] In Chapter 19, Matthew records Jesus’ acknowledgment that God didn’t intend for us to divorce but only allows it because our hearts are hardened.^[10]

It may be hard to hear Jesus’ teachings in our world today. Many of us, including me, have been divorced. I married in college and that ended a few years after graduation.

One of the things Jesus does as he goes through the commandments in this section of the Sermon on the Mount is to make us all realize our guilt. And that’s one of the purposes of the law.

The Second Helvetic Confession reminds us that we’re not given the law to be justified by keeping it. Instead, the law teaches us our “weakness, sin, and condemnation,” which leads us to grasp the grace offered by Christ.^[11] As we accept this love and are freed of our sin, we must treat all people created by God with respect and honor. And that’s essentially what Jesus teaches in this part of the sermon, whether is about murder and anger, adultery and lust, or divorce.

We should all ask ourselves, whenever angry or lustful thoughts invade our brains if what we think glorifies God and honors others. Furthermore, we should remember that we’re not the judge. Like Father Brown in the story I told earlier, we must show grace to everyone. After all, God has shown us such grace. Accept God’s grace and be thankful. Amen.

^[1] G. K. Chesterton, “The Hammer of God,” as told by Malcom Guite, The Word in the Wilderness: A Poem a Day for Lent and Easter (Norwich, UK: Canterbury Press, 2014), 17-18.

^[2] Matthew 7:1-5.

^[3] Fredrick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 209.

^[4] Bruner, 219.

^[5] Galatians 3:28.

^[6] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, A Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1993), 53.

^[7] See https://relevantmagazine.com/current/oped19/a-kid-rock-concert-is-airing-on-tbn-this-sunday-how-is-this-okay?

^[8] Bruner, 226-227.

^[9] Mark only deals with divorce where he repeats Matthew 19. See Mark 10:1-12. Luke only has one reference to divorce 16:18). Paul, in First Corinthians (7:11-13) has three references to divorce, but only deals with those married to a non-believer and not divorce for any other reasons.

^[10] Matthew 19:1-12, especially verse 8.

^[11] Presbyterian Church USA, The Book of Confessions, “The Second Helvetic Confession,” Chapter XII, 5.083.

A Pastoral Prayer outline for today in light of the recent world events

Almighty God, creator of all things and through your Son Jesus Christ, redeemer of our world, many of us woke yesterday to the reports of a distant war. As followers of Jesus, we don’t know what to make of it. We know Jesus said there will be wars and rumors of wars until history comes to an end, but we also know he especially blesses the peacemakers. Help us, O God, navigate these days, as we pray for those who are living through the nightmare in the Middle East. We especially pray for families of young girls killed at a school in Iran, and for all the civilians caught in this ongoing battle. We pray for the safety of our military who is engaged in the fighting. And we long for all wars to cease, whether in the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf and Asia, in Africa, or in Ukraine and Russia.

You, O God, are our rock, give us the strength to stand faithfully with Jesus Christ. Help us to see his image in those who suffer in this world, whether from poverty, the fallout of war, or the trap of addictions. For we know you promise that we encounter Jesus with those struggling in life. Help us also to live our lives in a manner that will honor Jesus. May we be gracious as Jesus has been gracious to us. Give us the wisdom and the strength not to objectify other people, but to see your image in all people.

O God, we pray for those in need in our midst. Remember those who grieve and those who need to experience healing….