From the Pastor

There are a couple of things in my life that I've long been fascinated by. Of course, if you've gotten to know me, you won't be surprised that these are weird, abstract things. One of them is the mystery of consciousness. What is going on in our brain, physically? How does that produce self-awareness, perception, understanding, creativity? Another is the gap between people. Whence language and how do we communicate? What is the nature of all those emotions that happen b

Way back in 2023, we celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the building we worship in today. Those people, our spiritual ancestors and, in many cases, our literal ancestors had faith in our community grounded in Jesus Christ, and because of that faith, had hope that our community would carry their faith into the future. In faith and hope, they began and completed a project to provide a building not only for themselves, but the future generations of families who would wors

The beginning, that is, verse 1 chapter 1, of the Gospel of Mark is "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God." All the gospels tell the story of the life, or at least the important part of the life of Jesus. In Mark's case, it is profound that the first verse, where Greek writers would put a title, is "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God," because that means it applies to the whole work. Verse 2 starts telling about John the Bapt

Hello, friends, Last September, some scammers were spoofing my email address. You can read details here: https://www.fpcpvok.com/post/scammers-spoofing-chas. A similar attack is currently happening. There is nothing to panic about. This is not me. My email account has not been hacked. The scammers simply registered a new email account that is similar, but subtly different from mine. The scammers' email, in one instance, had an 'L' after my name (chasgowingL) and before

When our kids leave the sanctuary for an age-appropriate worship experience, they go down to a classroom that is bright and welcoming and fun, lovingly set up by their worship leader, Tina. On one wall they have a circle of felt squares made of different liturgical colors: purple for Advent and Lent; white for the seasons of Christmas and Easter, as well as Transfiguration Sunday, Trinity Sunday, and Christ the King Sunday; red for Pentecost; green for the ordered Sundays of

Upon hearing of the Pauls Valley High School incident last week, the first thing I did was call around to the parents of all of our FPC youth to check up on them. I am, along with everyone in the community, grateful that none of them and none of any of the kids at PVHS were hurt, physically. I pray that any psychological trauma might also be minimal for them and the entire Pauls Valley community. We are all grateful for the heroism of Kirk Moore and the others who ended th

Many hands have been involved in all our Holy Week worship services. Our normal worship committee volunteers always pull together excellent worship experiences by producing the bulletin, running the sound, lighting, and Facebook livestream technologies, turning on and setting up the sanctuary, lighting candles, singing and playing instruments, greeting people and handing out bulletins, and regularly preparing and serving communion. Holy Week has been extra work all around,

At our March youth event we talked about symbols of the Lent and Easter seasons. The Easter Egg is the sealed tomb from which new life emerges, and the baby chick is like Jesus. We talked about butterflies emerging from their chrysalis. We talked a little bit about families of bunnies bursting into bunches of babies and emerging from their warren. It is true that the resurrection is life emerging from death, and this is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday morning. Christ

How's your Lent going? Did you give up something for Lent? Has it been hard, doing without? Did you take up something for Lent? Are you in the habit of adding good works to your daily living? Have you been looking within? Have you been examining yourself and measuring yourself against the person you want to be? Have you been measuring yourself against the person Christ wants you to be? Have you been loving your neighbor the way Jesus would want you to? Well, as for m

The magi came on Epiphany and told us--told everyone they met including Herod--that they knew the king of the Jews was born. "Where is he who is born the King of the Jews? For we have seen his star." Who is this baby born to Mary? He is the King of the Jews. Epiphany, the word, has to do with revelation. The revelation of Christ by the magi to be the King of the Jews is THE revelation that gives us the name of the religious day on January 6th. Epiphany can also be the re

In January, we train and install and ordain the officers we elected at the congregational meeting in December. What does "to ordain" mean? It comes from the same root as the word "order." Presbyterians get teased somewhat justifiably for trying to do everything "decently and in order." The image is an organization full of too much bureaucracy, taking too much time in deliberation, keeping around too many documents and minutes of meetings. This is in contrast to a lighter

Last New Year's Day I challenged you to take up the New Year's resolution to read four chapters of the Bible per day. I did this with you and finished back in October sometime. I will be starting this again on New Year's Day and invite you join me again. But this year, I am not so much inviting you make a resolution to read four chapters of the Bible per day as I am inviting you to make a resolution to read the Bible on an ongoing basis. If you read with me last year, then y