Sermons from Sunday Worship at Falls Church Presbyterian Church in Falls Church, VA.  Also sermons from my previous position in Columbus, OH.

James Sledge

The prophet Samuel was a one man nominating committee. That's how we Presbyterians find those God has called. But how many nominating committees would have picked David over Eliab? How do we become more like Samuel, able to hear God voice say "No," and able to wait patiently for God's real choice to be revealed?

Seeing as God Sees  - from 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

Many people think that God spoke frequently in biblical times but rarely today. Yet the verses from 1 Samuel speak of God's voice being rare then, while Martin Luther King, Jr. clearly heard God's voice. Do you hear God speaking?

When God Speaks - from 1 Samuel 3:1-10

I often don't care for Christmas songs by rock groups, but Greg Lake's, "I Believe in Father Christmas" has always moved me. It seems appropriate for an Advent that doesn't try to hide the pain of the world behind holiday cheer, but instead strains to see God at work bringing newness to a broken world.

The Grass Withers... BUT  -  from Isaiah 40:1-11

As a young boy, Christmas Eve had me so excited that it was nearly impossible to get to sleep. But Jesus' command that we "Keep awake," is much harder when we are awaiting a day whose arrival date is unknown. And so Advent often becomes about little more than getting ready for Christmas. But how does Advent become about something more? How do we live expectantly and excitedly for God's coming new day?

Wide Awake - from Mark 13:24-37

When Jesus well says we should give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's and to God the things that are God's (known by many as "Render unto Caesar..."), he does not actually say which things belong to whom. And the NRSV translation of Jesus' question about the coin "Whose head is this?" seems to obscure a connection to humans being created in God's image. But the word "head" (NIV, "portrait") actually translates the same word found in Matthew's Greek Old Testament where God speaks of creating the human creatures "in our image." And if Caesar's image on the coin implies that it belongs to him, what does God's image on us say?

The Things That Are God's - from Matthew 22:15-22

Most of us are sensitive to issues of "fairness," and so Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard can be difficult. But I do not think the parable is about fairness. Rather it is about the ways of God's kingdom, God' alternative world, a world founded on love.

It's Not Fair! - from Matthew 20:1-16 and Exodus 16:2-15

"Jesus is Lord" was dangerous political speech in a day when Caesar was lord. And the story of Moses is possible only because of the subversive behavior of women who defy Pharaoh's claim to be lord. But can we, in an age when the individual reins supreme, accept Jesus or God as Lord?

Jesus Is Lord and Other Subversive Statements - from Exodus 1:8-2:10

We sometimes miss the subversive element in Jesus' parables of mustard seeds, yeast, merchants, and treasure in a field. Worse, we often miss Jesus' call to become citizens right here and now of God's coming kingdom, God's rule. Dare we be Christians. Dare we trust that God actually rules, and live as citizens of that rule.

Dare We Be Christians? - from Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has suggested that the metaphor of "exile" might be appropriate for the American church today. We have been deported from our comfortable place in mid 20th Century society to a strange land. And Jesus' parable of the weeds may speak to this context, calling us to live distinctive lives of faith that bear fruit, live that differentiate and distinguish us while bearing witness to the hope of God's new day.

How To Tell Them Apart - from Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; Jeremiah 29:1-7

My faith tradition has a strong theology of "vocation," the idea that each of us have a calling. That may seem unconnected to Jesus urging us to take his yoke upon us, one that is easy and light. But Jesus is not calling us to a faith or life of ease. He is calling us to find the faith and life that we are suited to, that fits us to a tee.

Who Are You Meant To Be - from Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

The story of God testing Abraham by commanding him to kill his son Isaac is a most difficult Scripture. But dismissing its "primitive" nature doesn't do away with the dynamic of provision and testing as an integral part of faith. Jesus is "tested" by his call to suffer the cross, and each of us is called to take up our own cross. Faith demands radical trust, living in ways that are not possible unless we can hope "the Lord will provide.

Provision and Testing - from Genesis 22:12-14

Despite Jesus repeatedly saying he didn't know the hour; despite the lack of a Rapture anywhere in the Bible, many Christian seem captivated by end-time speculation. But Jesus does not preach a gospel of evacuation. Rather he calls us to be his witnesses in the world, to share the hope of a new day when God's will is done here, on earth.

On Being Martyrs - from Acts 1:6-14

Americans are prone to think of "salvation" as an intensely personal, Yes-or-No thing, but today's verses from 1 Peter call us to "grow into salvation..." to "like living stones... be built into a spiritual house." Yet too often our unity is not in Christ but in other commonalities such as race, income, politics, etc. And so our unity in Christ is threatened by our personal differences, such as the recent PC(USA) decision to permit the ordination of gays and lesbians.

What Binds Us Together - from 1 Peter 2:2-10

All of us face times when hope is hard to come by. Certainly those women headed to Jesus' tomb knew that feeling. But the resurrection changes everything. "He is not here; for he has been raised." And so there is hope.

Easter sermon - Christian Identity: I Hope - from Matthew 28:1-10

Based on the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet in John 13, this sermon explores Jesus' example of acting as a servant as a call for us to find deep spiritual meaning in acting as servants to others.

Christian Identity: Serving Others - from John 13:1-5, 12-17

Annie Dillard wrote that we often come to worship without "the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke." But along with this loss of awe, we also seem to have forgotten the language of intimacy with God. But today's reading on the Transfiguration of the Lord may address both awe and intimacy.

Recovering Awe and Intimacy - from Matthew 17:1-9

Rules are often seen as constraints on our freedom or part of a reward and punishment system. But when Jesus expands some Old Testament rules, for example adding a prohibition against anger to the law against murder, perhaps he is simply trying to show us a vision of God's Kingdom, God's new day.

Kingdom Ethics: Rules and More Rules - from Matthew 5:21-37

The Church has often acted as though Jesus came only to save souls for heaven.  But Jesus himself speaks of a coming Kingdom where God's will is done on earth.  And he calls his followers to live in ways that show this new day to the world.  He says that it is by our "good works" that we are light to the world.

Kingdom Ethics: Light and Salt - from Matthew 5:13-20; Isaiah 58:1-9a

We live in a culture that celebrates individual liberties and freedom, yet still we ask ourselves, "What should I do?" But can we hear a call to true life in Jesus' "Follow me" if we are slaves to freedom, that is, slaves to our own wants and desires?

Slaves to Freedom - from Matthew 4:12-23

On the day of an Advent cantata in our traditional service, an early service sermon on the question John the Baptist asks Jesus from prison. Even though the world often looks unchanged, Jesus says that God's rule is "Already." But we in the Church are also called to work for and point toward its unfulfilled "Not Yet."

James Sledge Videos

Seeing as God Sees - from 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13