First Presbyterian Church News (Clarksville, TN)

Summertime Sermon Series: 1-2 Corinthians June 2026 We are a couple of weeks into our summer journey through 1 and 2 Corinthians, and already Paul is pressing hard on the question that will shape the entire series: what does wisdom actually look like? The Corinthians thought they knew. They lived in a culture that prized eloquent speakers, impressive credentials, and clever arguments.  Successful people in Corinth had a particular look (very Roman toga-ish, very Greek cosmopolitan).  They were (very!) well-dressed, well-spoken, and well-connected.  Many Corinthian Christians were quietly trying to import that same look into the church.  They sorted themselves into cliques and factions and styled themselves on their favorite influencer-teachers. They boasted about which baptisms counted, which pastors were the most articulate, which spiritual gifts were the most spectacular. But Paul says the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us wh...

  Launching Trinity Sunday, May 31 Beginning Trinity Sunday and stretching all the way through the Sunday before Labor Day, we will spend the summer working our way chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse, through Paul's first and second epistles to the Corinthians.  Across fifteen Sundays we will cover all twenty-nine chapters.  Paul’s message is one that our anxious age needs to hear: strength in weakness . A Church You'll Recognize If you have ever wondered whether the New Testament has anything to say to a culture like ours, Corinth is the place to begin.  It was a wealthy port city sitting on a narrow strip of land between two seas, with trade routes from every direction crossing in its markets.  It had a diverse population of Romans, Greeks, Jews, Syrians, Egyptians, and travelers from across the empire.  It was “The Empire in miniature.”  It had temples on every corner, a reputation for moral looseness so notorious that “to Corinthianize” had beco...

Technology and the Christian Life April 2026 Sermon Series What is technology good for? For the Christian, especially Presbyterians, the answer cannot be everything, but it also cannot be nothing . Yet when the question comes up about the use of social media or AI and the like, we tend to hear only extremes.  Embrace it all with the Tech Bros or repudiate it entirely with the Luddites. The Presbyterian middle, it seems, is too hard or too ambiguously murky. This April, we invite you to find the middle ground.  Drawing on Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, this series explores three areas of life where a Christian approach to technology may differ from that of our world and our neighbors.  What does it mean to follow Jesus, a first century Rabbi, in the 21st century?  How do we follow Jesus in our use of technology in this digital age? April 12 | Second Sunday of Easter Green Light: Preservation Genesis 8:15–9:7 · Psalm 144:9–15 From Noah's Ark to the modern hospi...

A Three-Year Journey through the Gospels: Introducing the Lectionary A lectionary is a collection of readings or selections from the Scriptures, arranged and intended for preaching during worship.  Lectionaries have been used in churches since the fourth century, when large churches began to arrange their Scripture readings according to a schedule which follows the calendar of the church’s year. The Revised Common Lectionary provides a three-year plan or pattern for the Sunday readings. Each year is centered on one of the synoptic gospels. Year A is the year of Matthew, Year B is the year of Mark, and Year C is the year of Luke. John is read each year, especially in the times around Christmas, Lent, and Easter, and also in the year of Mark (the shortest of the gospels). Each year, we will follow the path of one of these gospels as it leads us again to Christ. Year A, Matthew, November 30, 2025 - November 22, 2026 Year B, Mark, November 29, 2026 - November 21, 2027 Year C, Luke...

  The Christmas story is filled with familiar sights and sounds: a lowly manger, a brilliant star, humble shepherds, and adoring parents. And weaving through it all are angels. We often see them as silent, decorative figures with halos and wings. But in the biblical narrative, angels are anything but quiet. They are God’s messengers, dynamic agents of change who arrive with earth-shattering, history-altering news. When they appear, they interrupt the ordinary with the extraordinary and command one thing: “Listen.” This Advent, we invite you to join us for a five-part sermon series, "The Angels of Christmas," based on the work of Susan Robb. Our theme will be "Hearing God’s Message, Listening to God’s Messengers." We will journey through the familiar nativity story by focusing on the four pivotal angelic encounters that paved the way for Christ’s birth. We’ll explore the visits to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, examining not only the message they receiv...

We live in a world obsessed with comparison. From social media feeds to career ladders, we are constantly measured—and measuring ourselves—against one another. This relentless "striving for superiority," as Miroslav Volf says, is exhausting. It promises fulfillment but often leaves us feeling anxious and inadequate. What if there was a different way to live? What if our true worth wasn't based on how we "stack up against others" at all? This November we will explore this question with a four-part sermon series: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God: Trust in God and Freedom from Striving." Inspired by Miroslav Volf's The Cost of Ambition (Brazos, 2025), we will explore how our identity in Christ frees us from the toxic cycle of comparison and competition. True stewardship isn't about outdoing others; it's about discovering God's grace, which allows us to live with joy, gratitude, and genuine freedom. Join us for this four-week journey. The Ser...

Foundational Presbyterian Principles (Being the Church in an Age of Chaos) In times of deep political division and polarization, amid expressions of hate and intolerance, even under tyranny and persecution, Presbyterians have stood firm in the faith through the affirmation of a set of principles first articulated in the wake of the American Revolution by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia and the first General Assembly in the United States in 1788 – 1789. Our Spring Sermon Series (April 27 – June 8) will examine these principles: freedom of conscience, separation of church and state, the right to govern the church and determine its membership without interference, the right to choose our leadership by election, our commitment to truth and holiness, mutual forbearance, and right use of church power and discipline. We will illustrate the strength and effectiveness of these principles in the resistance by Barth and Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church in Germany to Hitler’s N...