FirstPresabq Blog

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE PSALMS 40 Click here to watch the sermon "A New Song" I know that the month of January is already halfway over (how did that happen?) so you may have already broken whatever New Year’s resolutions you made a couple of weeks ago. Don’t feel bad. Those can be hard to keep. Maybe instead you could make a week to week resolution to be in worship with your church community. And if you can’t be here in person, you can always tune into the livestream, or

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 3:13-17 Click here to watch the sermon "Fulfill." This past week a friend of mine who pastors a church in Western North Carolina posted a video of something he said at the conclusion of the worship service he led last week. He related a conversation that comes up among people tasked with preaching week to week about scrapping an already prepared sermon in order to respond to late-breaking news. Most of the preachers I know at one t

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE PROPHETS Isaiah 60:1-6 Click here to watch the sermon " Shine" Over the past week, our family along with a good number of people around the world watched the conclusion of the fantasy series Stranger Things on Netflix. Set as it was during my formative years in the 1980’s, I had a particular fondness for this show. Especially the way in which the Duffer brothers, who created it, incorporated all kinds of references and visuals from classic 80’s mo

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 1:18-25 Click here to watch the sermon "With." One of the drawbacks to the way we read scripture in worship   is that we generally only read a few verses.  If you want to get fancy,  scholars will refer to this as a pericope.  It’s a Greek word that literally means “cut around.” It’s getting to be grapefruit season.  We have that special knife with the bent serrated blade that allows you to cut around and section a grapefruit.  Tha

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 24:36-44 click here to watch the sermon "Wakey ,wakey" Every year in late September or early October, the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska sponsors what it calls Fat Bear Week. It’s a tournament that allows folks to vote online for their favorite fat bear. Some of the largest brown bears in the world (otherwise known as Gizzlies), make their home near the Brooks River in the park. And each fall they camp out along the ba

Rev. Essie Koenig-Reinke Luke 1:68-79 Click here to watch the sermon "Guide Our Feet" When I was living and working in Northern Ireland, one of my jobs was at a Christian youth center. And during the day while the younger ones were still in school. We spent our time trying to win over the young adults. Many of whom had become disillusioned. Rather than trying to build peace, they joined in the streets rioting and causing chaos. They would come in and show us video clips of th

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE LETTERS 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Click here to watch the sermon " Idle" Stanley Hauerwas, the Duke Divinity School emeritus professor of divinity and law, wrote a book over 30 years ago titled "Unleashing Scripture.” In it he made what became a controversial statement, saying that there is no task more important for the church than to take the bible out of the hands of individual Christians in North America. Hauerwas identified a problem that a fri

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