North Decatur Presbyterian Church

10.4.20. Freedom is Found in Relationship: Exodus 20:1-17: Our study of the book of Exodus turns this week as Moses receives the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  We discover how the freedom which we have sought through liberation from oppression, from hunger, from quarrel and doubt is broader, richer, and more intimate than we imagined. God reveals to Moses how freedom is found in relationship, through the assurance of eternal love and through the articulation of moral laws.  What we see as the story unfolds is that freedom is not just an escape from a former prison, it is a process of empowerment, one that is not always easy, but is never lonely. Rev. Beth Waltemath preaching.

9.27.20. We are all going through a "wilderness experience" during the pandemic. We are forced to journey through a new, difficult territory. For many of us, we are short on patience and quick to anger or despair. Our relationships feel tense. In this week's story from Exodus 17, the people of God are stressed and angry about the lack of water. God hears them and provides for them, sending water flowing from a rock. God provides. But what a curious name they give to this place: "Massah" and "Meribah." Testing and arguing. They remember not just the miracle, but they remember their stress and hardship. What if we remembered the places of our deepest struggle, too? How would that shape our life in and with God? Rev. Lewicki, preaching. 

9.20.20. Sometimes the world of the Bible seems very far away--another time, another culture, another world. But sometimes, the world of the Bible comes very, very close. For the next four weeks, we will be reading stories from Exodus about the journey of God's people in the "wilderness." Wilderness, in scripture, is a place of deprivation, danger, and the nearness of death. In the wilderness, the people grumble about their leaders, and wish they could go back to the past. In the wilderness, nothing about life is guaranteed--except the presence and provision of God. Rev. Lewicki preaches on Exodus 16 and manna in the wilderness. 

9.13.20.  Rev. Lewicki offers this Sunday's sermon, using Romans 14:1-12 as our focus text. It is a text that explores a question that is both perennial and also timely: what do we make of our human differences? Differences are the source of so much conflict in the world. Do we ever know when to focus on differences and when to overlook them and prioritize the ties that bind us all? Join us for a deep dive into these questions.

9.6.20. We don't have the usual sermon this week. This Sunday’s worship service is full of music. We will be back next week!

8.30.20. The Ending. On Sunday, August 30, we close our summer preaching series, The Best. Story. Ever!, in which we have revisited familiar Biblical stores to discover how their meaning has deepened as we age.  Using the Gospel reading from the Lectionary for this Sunday, Matthew 16:21-28, Rev. Mary Anona Stoops will look at the ending to the story that Jesus proposes to Peter and the disciples. Spoiler alert:  Peter does not like it, and Jesus tells him to “talk to the hand." Join us as we consider if the ending that Jesus foreshadows really is the best ending to "The Story."  

8.23.20. Two-Thousand-Year-Old Mail Fraud. Rev. Erin Reed Cooper preaching. The Apostle Paul is a complicated character. He was a church planter, consultant, prisoner, tent-maker, and ex-Christian persecutor. Seven of the new testament books are actually letters from Paul to various churches and individuals. Another seven books are mimicking his style and tone. But who was Paul and why are his ideas about Jesus so popular? Who do I need to write a letter to in order to get myself published in the Bible? This Sunday, we will join Rev. Erin Reed Cooper to take a look at the fourth chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, and see if we can find out how this letter became a part of the Best Story Ever.  

8.16.20. "The Mustard Seed," Rev. Beth Waltemath preaching.  Human beings love a good story. Some argue telling a story is the best way to teach us. But narratives have a shadow side too. They can be predictable and prescriptive. Even the beloved stories and myths we've already heard this summer have been used (sometimes unintentionally) as oppressive propaganda. Jesus taught by telling a narrative form that broke open our most prevailing and problematic narratives. Join Rev. Beth Waltemath as she considers the parable of the Mustard Seed in Matthew 13:31-33 and considers how parables expand the possibilities for abundant and inclusive living. 

8.9.20. "Called Together," Rob Schoonover preaching. Text: Luke 5:1-11. I love a good call story. It's always fun to read or listen to the story of the moment somebody was called into their greater purpose. The Bible contains a long list of epic call stories. Sometimes these stories involve burning bushes or blinding lights. Other times, they are seemingly mundane. Sometimes a calling is nothing more than a chance encounter and a net full of fish. This Sunday's text tells the story of the call of the disciples and shows us how strange and mundane call stories teach us just as much as the epic and cinematic stories found elsewhere in scripture.

8.2.20. What would you do if you came face-to-face with a lion? We find out what happened to the hero Daniel in this week's Best. Story. Ever! But what if the lion is more than "just" a lion? What if the lion is also a metaphor for what it's like when we find ourselves facing an enemy that is ready, willing, and able to destroy us? Take this metaphor one more step: what if I told you this story is a story about surviving in the face of cultural forces that want to destroy your identity -- your history, your faith, your language, your dreams? What do you do when you find yourself alone in the lion's den? David Lewicki preaching.

7.26.20. The very first Biblical story I ever learned was the story of David and Goliath. Of course, I was fascinated by the idea that another "David" was a biblical hero. And what's not to like about the story? A handsome (but scrawny) farm boy comes out of nowhere to topple the nasty foreign warrior with his courage and a slingshot. It didn't hurt that the story mirrored the plotline of my favorite movie, Star Wars, with farmboy Luke Skywalker standing in as "the chosen one" to defeat the Empire. Even today, I'm partial to the justice of "David and Goliath" stories, when an underdog rises up to defeat a more powerful adversary. But if you start poking around in the story of David, you will find much more than a rags to riches underdog story. You will find a sobering depiction of how hard it is to be a leader -- and how leaders are no better or worse than their followers. This week in our summer series, we read about David & Goliath. It is the Best. Story. Ever.  Rev. David Lewicki preaching.

6.19.20. "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came a-tumblin' down!" I remember singing that in Sunday School more than 40 years ago as we learned about Joshua taking over from Moses, his great military victory, and his leadership of God's people into the Promised Land. It was a story of courage and bravery and faith. No one told me it was also a story about genocide. And I'm quite sure that no one told me that it's all made up--Joshua and the Israelites never even fought at Jericho, let alone caused the walls to come a-tumblin' down. So what do we do with a story like this one that gets WORSE (not better) as we grow up and learn more about it? There's still a message from God here about the ways we all get confused about who and where God is when we are scared for our safety. We read the story of Joshua this Sunday in our summer series "The Best. Story. Ever." Rev. Lewicki, preaching

7.12.20. The Joseph story. Genesis chapters 37-50. Rev. David Lewicki preaching.

7.5.20. Notes from Goat Island, Matthew 25:31-46 (the parable of the sheep and the goats). Located approximately an hour east from our church on Georgia’s Jackson Lake, you can arrive by boat to an island that is totally inhabited by goats. Locals creatively refer to this island as “goat island.” Our text this Sunday details a strange and powerful story that Jesus tells about sheep and goats. Tune in as we examine this odd parable and its implications for our present world. Rob Schoonover preaching. 

6.28.20. David Roth, the one who leads Memorial Drive Ministries (not the rock icon of the 80's), preaches from Ruth 2:1-13.

6.21.20. Rev. Lewicki, preaching. In June, we began a fun summer preaching series: The Best. Story. Ever!  When  we are children, we learn about the Bible through its biggest,  brightest, most wonderful stories: wild animals, miraculous deeds, and  s/heroes of every shape and size. This summer, NDPC is going back to  re-visit the Biblical stories that captured our imaginations as children  to discover how their meaning deepens as we “grow up” and how they  speak into the social crises of this age. Strange things happen to us in the middle of the night. Something  truly strange happened to Jacob. On the eve before Jacob was to meet his  estranged brother, Esau, Jacob finds himself in a wrestling match with a  mysterious stranger. All night long they struggle in the dirt. Finally, as dawn breaks, the stranger demands that Jacob let him go. Jacob will,  on one condition: That the man bless him. The stranger blesses Jacob and gives him a new name: I

6.4.20. On Sunday, June 7th, we began a fun summer preaching series: The Best. Story. Ever!  When we are children, we learn about the Bible through its biggest, brightest, most wonderful stories: wild animals, miraculous deeds, and s/heroes of every shape and size. This summer, NDPC is going back to re-visit the Biblical stories that captured our imaginations as children to discover how their meaning deepens as we “grow up” and how they speak into the social crises of this age. Anger. Violence. We know how deeply these two are embedded in our world. We have felt the sting of both of them. But anger alone appears to be “natural.” Violence is not. In this Sunday’s worship, we read the story from Genesis 4 about Cain and his brother Abel: how anger–and then violence–enters, consumes them both, and destroys their lives. This is a hard story to read. But we dare not skip over it. It is our story. Rev. David Lewicki, preaching. 

6.7.20. Adam and Eve. Genesis chapters 2-3. Rev. David Lewicki preaching.

Rev. Beth Waltemath brings you a special episode using the testimonies of members of North Decatur Presbyterian Church about their experiences of communion in quarantine. Based on the theme " What Feeds You?" as part of a class with Agnes Scott College. 

Rev. David Lewicki preaches on May 17th. In May, we explore the 9th and final Big Idea of the Bible: Beloved Community. Beloved Community is an idea popularized by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that was first articulated by 20th-century philosopher Josiah Royce. It is, “a spiritual or divine community capable of achieving the highest good as well as the common good.” The roots of such community are in the Scriptures themselves, in images such as "the people of God," "the Body of God," and "the ekklesia." In May, we explore our calling to Beloved Community and ask what this kind of community offers to us and demands from us in the world we share today.