FirstPresabq Blog

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Luke 24:13-35 Sermon – "Recognize."   In some ways, the first few days after a loved one dies are the easiest.  I know that sounds bad, but over the years I’ve noticed two things.  The first is that the simple unreality of death comes as a shock. A person who was just with you, maybe talking to you, someone who was a fixture in you life, is suddenly gone.   The first time I noticed this was when I was thirteen years old and my brother was

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 28:1-11 click here to watch the sermon "Shook" Two days ago, some of us had the privilege of listening to our music director, Leon Lake, sing his haunting arrangement of the spiritual Were You There for the Good Friday service at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. If you know the song, each successive verse asks, were you there when they crucified my lord, when they nailed him to the tree, when they laid him in the tomb. I don’t know

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 27:15-23 Click here to watch the sermon "Jesus or Barabba" The choice could not appear to be any clearer. But then, that’s from this side of history. The choice could not appear to be any clearer. But how many times have we said that about any number of things, any number of choices, only to be proven wrong. Only to watch as the people given that choice succumb to the persuasion of influential voices, and the unrelenting pull of th

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 26:69-75; 27:3-10 Click here to watch the sermon "Peter/Judas" A good while ago, in another state, I was attending a presbytery meeting. For those who don’t know, in the same way that catholic parishes are gathered into what is known as a diocese, Presbyterian churches are grouped into regional bodies known as Presbyteries. In connectional traditions, that is Christian traditions in which individual congregations are connected to e

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 26:57-68 Click here to watch the sermon "False" Before we consider this account of Jesus’ trial before the high priest, Caiaphas, and the temple scribes and elders, I want to back up for a second to explain why we’ve diverted from our practice of hearing texts from the shared cycle of readings to examine these readings from what’s known as the passion narrative. When Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem, these are the events he knew

Rev. Essie Koenig-Reinke FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 26:36-46 click here to watch the sermon “Stay" When I was about Lucy’s age, around four years old,  I became captivated by a book called Linea in Monet’s Garden by Bjork & Lena Anderson. The story is about a young girl in New York City who learns about the artist Claude Monet from her elderly downstairs neighbor, and eventually they take a trip together to visit his home and garden in Giverny, France. Since then monet artwork

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 17:1-9 Click here to watch the Sermon "Listen." There are two things that happen when Jesus takes Peter and the brothers James and John up the high mountain of our reading this morning. The first is so big and obvious and overwhelming that it could literally blind us to the second. Jesus and the disciples that follow, have been all over the countryside of Galilee together watching and learning from him. It’s been an education in th