First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL

John 13:31-35 May 19, 2019 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL Christina Berry Often for confirmation, we choose a focus scripture, rather than what is in the Revised Common Lectionary. But this time, the Lectionary accommodates us with the perfect gospel choice in John 13:31-35. The gospel of John asks lot of its readers. John’s gospel does not always have a story line like the other gospels. Sometimes it sounds more like a poem than a narrative; most of the time it is concerned with symbols and signs. In the thirteenth chapter, though, we do enter into the part of the story that is about to conclude with Jesus’ crucifixion. The chapter begins: “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Jesus is gathered with his friends in an upper room in Jerusalem, where they have come for the feast of the Passover. To their surprise, he tak...

John 21:1-19 May 5, 2019 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL Christina Berry It’s the third Sunday of Easter and John’s gospel brings us another post-resurrection appearance. Jesus has appeared to the disciples twice in the upper room, but they decide to return home to their old lives. In this scripture, some unspecified time after his resurrection, Jesus appears to them by the Sea of Tiberias. They are surprised, and changed, by this encounter with the Risen Lord. The same may be true of us! Even though Easter Sunday is past, the Easter season continues. In fact, it will be Easter now until Pentecost, fifty days after Easter Sunday. We are still in the season of the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. But like his disciples, we may have returned to life as usual. Jesus, our Risen Lord, calls us to something more than life as usual. Let’s listen for God’s word to us in John 21:1-19 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and ...

April 28, 2019 When the Risen Jesus appeared to the disciples, they were undoubtedly surprised. Even though he had often told them that he would rise from the dead, they had not yet believed him. When he appeared to them, alive, in the locked room where they hid, he said to them three times, “Peace be with you.” On this second Sunday of Easter, I want to focus on the peace that the risen Jesus brings to us. That peace, the peace that passes understanding, is the peace we share, the peace we are given, and the peace we work for. Today I have three stories of peace for you: one global, one local, one personal. With each of these stories comes a challenge for us: the challenge to share the peace of Christ in every place, in every way. Our first story is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, or the DRC. A little history of Presbyterians in the Congo is in order. Back in the 1890s, as Protestant missionaries began work in Africa, the Presbyterians sent William Sheppard to the Congo. Sh...

It may be helpful to know that in the children's sermon this morning, we told the story of Eutychus. Then as a way to remind people that each one of us is called to share the good news, the children went up and down the pews whispering to the adults, "Jesus loves you. Pass it on."  Acts 20: 7-12, 17-24 April 7, 2019 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL Christina Berry Our last Wholehearted Worship topic before Palm and Passion Sunday next week finds us considering the word proclaimed: the sermon. We’ve talked about the call to worship and the prayer of confession, and how you can begin each day with a call to worship, and end each day with the prayer of examen. We discussed the importance of prayer, and those three all-important prayers we all can make: “Help! Thanks! and Wow!” Then we learned about the importance of singing, for our spiritual, mental and physical health. Now we come to the sermon. For most of us, a worship service is not complete wi...

Refuge, by Sara Teasdale From my spirit's gray defeat, From my pulse's flagging beat, From my hopes that turned to sand Sifting through my close-clenched hand, From my own fault's slavery, If I can sing, I still am free. For with my singing I can make A refuge for my spirit's sake, A house of shining words, to be My fragile immortality. Acts 16: 25-34 March 31, 2019 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry This fourth Sunday in Lent in our series on Wholehearted Worship, we’ve come to the practice of singing. We’ve talked about the call to worship and the prayer of confession, and how you can begin each day with a call to worship, and end each day with the prayer of examen. Last week we discussed the importance of prayer, and those three all-important prayers we all can make: “Help! Thanks! and Wow!” Today we hear a story from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, recounting one of the adventures that the Apostle P...

Luke 11:1-13 March 24, 2019 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL Christina Berry This third Sunday in Lent puts us at about the halfway mark of the season. In our series on Wholehearted Worship, we’ve talked about the call to worship and the prayer of confession, and we now come to the subject of prayer. If you look at a worship bulletin, you’ll see that every Sunday we have many opportunities for prayer, both spoken and silent, personal and corporate. There are many reasons to pray, and many ways to pray, and the practice of prayer is by no means limited to worship services and saying grace before a meal. Nor is the act of prayer something that is best left to preachers! Any of us can pray at any time. And of course, sometimes the best prayers are the times when we sit in silence, listening for God. Of the four gospel writers, no one talks about Jesus praying more than the writer of Luke. Over and over again we see Jesus praying, or trying to get away to pray, or inviting others...

1 John 1: 1-10 March 17, 2019 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry Our scripture reading for this Sunday is from the first epistle of John. I want to make sure we distinguish it from the Gospel of John. There are similarities between the two, and echoes of the Gospel of John can be heard in the three epistles of John- the opening verse of the Gospel is “In the beginning was the word…”and the opening verse of the first letter starts, “We declare to you what was from the beginning…” Both discuss the light of God as expressed in Jesus, light of the world; but they are distinct books with different writers. The authorship of the Gospel of John has been debated since the 2nd century, and the author of the three epistles called John has come to be called simply, “the elder” – or in Greek – the presbyter. In our Lenten series on Wholehearted Worship, we began last week with the call to worship. Today we take a look at our prayer of confession, assurance of pardo...