First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL

Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11 January 11, 2015 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL Christina Berry Our first reading this week takes us back to the beginning again. Last week we reflected on that beginning; we recognized that Christ was present from the beginning as light and Word. Now, we hear once again how a creating God spoke a word over the primordial waters. This is not the glassy sea of Revelation, silent and calm. This is turbulent chaos, swirling and dangerous waters. The Spirit of God hovers over the water, the voice of God thundered over the water, and when God spoke, the first day came into being. Listen for God’s word in Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the lig...

John 1:1-18 January 4, 2015 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry This first Sunday of the new year, we begin with the first chapter of John. The fourth gospel is different in style, substance and tone from the other three. Matthew, Mark and Luke are synoptic gospels – they look together at the life of Christ, chronologically. John, however, describes the life of Christ in terms of cosmology – a poetic, earth-changing event that cannot be described in everyday language. Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus’ baptism. Luke begins with the meeting of Elizabeth and Mary, the mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus. Matthew’s gospel begins with genealogy of Jesus, going all the way back to Abraham. And John? John’s gospel goes even farther back, back to the very beginning. Even the opening words hearken back to Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning.” John wants to be very sure that we understand that Jesus is co-eternal with God. So, just as in the beginning, God spo...

Luke 2:22-40 December 28, 2014 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry Luke 2:22-40 The Gospel of Luke is structured as a biography of Jesus and follows the literary conventions of the time. As you might expect then, after the prologue, we have the birth narrative, which you heard on Christmas Eve, then the stories of infancy and childhood, which foreshadow the life of Jesus as an adult. Aside from Matthew’s account of the visitation of the Magi and the slaughter of the innocents, Luke’s gospel is the only one that includes any stories of Jesus from his infancy and childhood. Listen for God’s word to you in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verse 22-40. When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in...

Ruth 4; Luke 2: 8-16 December 21, 2014, Fourth Sunday of Advent First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry Ruth 4 1 Meanwhile, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Just then, the redeemer about whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. He said, "Sir, come over here and sit down." So he turned aside and sat down. 2 Then he took ten men from the town's elders and said, "Sit down here." And they sat down. 3 Boaz said to the redeemer, "Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought that I should let you know and say, ‘Buy it, in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.' If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you won't redeem it, tell me so that I may know. There isn't anyone to redeem it except you, and I'm next in line after you." He replied, "I will redeem it." 5 Then...

The Gleaners, Jules Breton Gleaners, Jean Francois Millet Ruth 2, Matthew 1:18-25 December 7, 2014, Second Sunday of Advent First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry Ruth Meets Boaz 2 Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”3 So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?” 6 The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the Moabite who...

Luke 1:5-25; Ruth 1 November 30. 2104 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry Ruth, Chaper 1 During the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. A man with his wife and two sons went from Bethlehem of Judah to dwell in the territory of Moab. The name of that man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the territory of Moab and settled there. But Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. Then only she was left, along with her two sons. They took wives for themselves, Moabite women; the name of the first was Orpah and the name of the second was Ruth. And they lived there for about ten years. But both of the sons, Mahlon and Chilion, also died. Only the woman was left, without her two children and without her husband. Then she arose along with her daughters-in-law to return from the field of Moab, because while in the ...

1 Timothy 6: 17-19 November 23, 2014 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry As we complete our stewardship season this year, and prepare to dedicate our pledges, the selected Scripture reading is pretty short. It comes from the book of 1st Timothy, a letter to the church that was presumed to have been written by Paul, but was probably actually from a later writer. First and Second Timothy and Titus are often neglected books, in part for the directives about women which, taken in a modern context, are restrictive and oppressive. But the books were written to help churches order their lives. These books are source material for much of the way churches now organize and govern themselves. So this brief directive near the end of 1st Timothy comes in a larger context, a set of instructions about how to be church in this generation. Let’s listen for God’s word to us today from 1 Timothy 6:17-19 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haug...