Recalled To Life!

St. Patrick Presbyterian

Recalled To Life!

October 15, 2023 • Rev. Joshua Smith • Hebrews 10:32–39

I was between meetings in East Memphis last week and thought I would camp out at a coffee shop where one of our residents works part time. Walking in, I ran into a young man I’ve had a few spiritual conversations with but hadn’t seen in a couple of years. He asked what I was preaching on next and when I told him Hebrews 10, his eyes lit up. He quoted the entire passage from memory and said, “But what does it mean!?”

Whenever we start talking about how “the righteous shall live by faith,” the conversation inevitably turns to questions of eternal security and the assurance of salvation. How can I know I’m saved? What happens to people who seemed to believe and now have walked away, or “deconstructed,” or apostatized? As Greg mentioned last week, we’re doing an excursus from our current series (taking the scenic route, maybe), to see how the New Testament authors use the key phrase from our Habakkuk series. Now we’ve come to Hebrews 10, which seems to work against a reformed understanding of the perseverance of the saints!

I say it seems to, because things are not often as they seem. This brilliant young man had grown up in the church with a Bible scholar for a father, but he couldn’t square his doctrinal tradition with his own experiences of brokenness. That is, he couldn’t until he began to see the passage in light of the Better Story, which I’m looking forward to sharing with you in Word and Sacrament this week.

- js

What Makes A Feast?

November 19, 2023 • Rev. Joshua Smith • Habakkuk 3:16–19

We’re wrapping up a whole semester of sermons haunted by the prophecy of Habakkuk. His potent and provocative image of a world “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” has influenced our own vision statement: “Saturating our neighborhoods with feasting families who tell a better story by setting tables of God’s grace for the lonely.” So, as our energy turns toward family holidays over the next several weeks, I think it would be helpful for us to consider just what exactly elevates a shared meal to the status of a feast. There are three main features that overlap to form a feast – focuses that make sure our holidays are holydays: Love – Genuine affection for and self-denying service of both family and guests. Luxury – Gratuitous sensual provision, far beyond what is necessary for survival. Liturgy – Grateful acknowledgement of God’s glorious story in every event and detail. All three of these features are needed for a Biblical feast, and to neglect one or two is to miss out on the formative practice altogether. We may be more naturally bent toward one or two of these, but it takes all three to keep the feast. When we neglect an aspect, we end up with some of the malforming traditions that we see Jesus rebuke in the gospel of Luke: Asceticism - Liturgy and love without luxury means we’ve not tasted and seen (https://stpatrickpres.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba3413bb6fa020132a4bc21a5&id=76cf838183&e=b77c6e6023) Epicureans - Luxury and love without liturgy means we’re sensuous idolaters (https://stpatrickpres.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba3413bb6fa020132a4bc21a5&id=19645f3db1&e=b77c6e6023) Pharisees - Luxury and liturgy without love means we have nothing (https://stpatrickpres.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba3413bb6fa020132a4bc21a5&id=5a83b58e77&e=b77c6e6023) Only by remembering the cross, that is, by reflecting and acting on the sacrificial nature of each of these elements, can we be drawn into the center; lifted up to the mountain of the Lord. Let me assure you, this is not an optional add-on for seasons of plenty. You’ll need this. The urgency really hit home for me last week as I retreated with some close pastor friends. Our time culminated in a unique culinary experience that I can only describe as sublime. We got to stand with the chef and even participate in his priestly work, and then he actually sat down to enjoy his phenomenal, savory craftsmanship with us. Several in our party knew that his family had been grieving a terrible tragedy, but that night he shared the horrific extent of the injustice. We found ourselves in a strange place, eating a phenomenal meal while bawling our eyes out. The lines between conversation and prayer wavered continuously. Toward the end of the night, he said, “This is why I cook. I’m wagering my life on the belief that what happens at the table is truer than the darkness outside.” We all knew that meal was a holy moment. If any part of it had been lacking – the genuine love we have for one another, the gratuitousness of food and drink, or the grateful acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty in it all – it simply could not have been the gift that it was. He had been in a wilderness, and moments like this were the means of grace he (and we) desperately needed to make it through. To rejoice. This Sunday, we’ll wrap up our study in Habakkuk with a similar sentiment. The prophet, with full knowledge of Israel’s impending judgment at the hands of savage idolaters, doubles down on the joy of the Lord. I know of no more formative practice for shaping our hearts for that kind of joy than to keep the feast. So, I hope you can find ways in the weeks to come, whether modest or epic, to invest in just a bit more liturgy, love, and luxury for your tables.

The Transforming Vision

November 12, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Habakkuk 3:1–16

Most of my aquatic experience with boats has been with the motorized variety, but not all... I have known the thrill of taking a skirted kayak down river rapids in North Carolina, or the more mundane pleasure of working a canoe down a stream in Arkansas or Tennessee. While in Mississippi, my experience on the water was fishing farm ponds, using a single paddle to move the boat along. Only a few times have I been in an actual row boat, the kind that has two oars that fit in oarlocks (which are a kind of holder that attaches to the gunwale of a boat and acts as a fulcrum for rowing). This work with oars to propel a boat to a destination is different than what you do in a kayak or canoe or paddling a boat. In this position, you actually face the opposite way from where you are trying to head the boat. You are actually looking backwards to go forward. This is actually a good picture of the vision we see in Habakkuk. When faith ebbs, hope is almost extinguished, and the heart is broken, God gives Habakkuk a transforming vision. It is a look back at the gospel event of the Old Testament and a remembrance of what God did for Israel when he took them from slavery to a land of their own. They didn’t get where they are by their own cunning or power, or because they were good or more noble. Out of sheer grace, God came down. And it is not the first time God came down, which we will talk about Sunday as we take a look at the transforming vision the prophet sees. I hope to see you Sunday! Remember, we’ll be hosting a Newcomers Feast this week, so if you are new to St. Patrick, we invite you and your family to stay for lunch. We would love to feast with you and hear your story.

A Future and a Hope

November 5, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Habakkuk 2:4–20

We have just come through Halloween. It is a festive time to be really present in your neighborhood and have some fun while getting your steps in, as you follow wild, costumed children trick-or-treating down the middle of the street. Vats of chili are cooked, hot dogs are roasted, and themed cocktails with outlandish names are served. The reason we do this is somehow lost on us or has been forgotten. In the original sense, Halloween was done to mock evil. Yes, that is right—the way Satan is defeated is through laughter and joy. This week we see something similar in Habakkuk. Without giving too much away, the vision God gives Habakkuk is not only that the just will live by faith alone—sort of socially grinding out a righteousness—no, this week we see the rest of the story. The bulk of the vision is a series of taunts or mockery of evil. Five taunts are leveled at Babylon. It is like God is making fun of Babylon and showing God’s people that, as they live by faith in the midst of a reign of terror, they are not to forget laughter because they can see the rest of the story. Sound weird? Join me Sunday as we unfold this strange passage and then land where the chapter ends—in silence and awe before the glory of a God so vast that he will defeat all the evil in the world, and all will be laughter and joy. Joy is always the final word in the Bible.