Month: March 2026

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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

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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.

A good sized gator

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. 

Home for a night
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.

Sandhill Crane

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

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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 18th 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

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Making a Vow

Title slide

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 3rd 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. 

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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!

Cover photo for Memorial Days

(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 

cover for "On Great Fields"

(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 20th 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 7th Day Adventist Church. She attended 7th 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. 

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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….