First Presbyterian Church News (Clarksville, TN)

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. -1 John 4:18–19 We live in anxious and fearful times, but the Scriptures are clear that God wants us to live abundant lives, without fear.  From the command in Joshua 1:9 to take courage (Jimmy Terry's favorite verse), to the assurance of the 23rd Psalm (I will fear no evil; also Psalm 27:1, 34:4-8, 46:1-3, 56:3-4, etc.), and the many commands throughout the Bible to "Fear Not!"--we can find the courage we need to face these uncertain times in the assurance we have of God's love. Our Stewardship theme this year is "Fear Not!" Join us on Sunday mornings for tales of the FPC fearless!  October 20   Proverbs 16:1-6, Matthew 6:25-34, "Fear Not! (Temporal Realm)" October 27   Proverbs 1:2-7, Romans 8:12-17, "Fear Not! (Spiritual Realm)" November 3   Nehemiah 6:...

  Lent & Easter 2024 Sermon Series Christian Somatics: A Celebration of Incarnation February 14 - March 31 We are called to follow Jesus with our whole self. This is what Jesus meant when he affirmed that the two greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our “self” or “me-ness” does not just live in our heads or our minds. We are also our bodies. ( Soma is the Greek word for “body” in the New Testament.) Our “self” is just as much in our shoulders, knees, and toes as it is in our head. I am my body and you are your body. In this series we will go to Scripture to learn what it means to follow Christ with our whole body. Along the way, each Sunday we will introduce a new body-prayer practice into our discipleship: somatic awareness, conscious breathing, radical resonance, mindful movement, attuned touch, and the like, as we seek to become more and more like Christ. Ash ...

  Winter 2024 Sermon Series We sometimes forget how malleable our brains are and how susceptible we are to outside influences.  Our subconscious thoughts and beliefs, if left unexamined in the light of faith, can sabotage our desires for a vibrant spiritual life.  However, it is also possible for us to take advantage of this “plastic” quality of our minds to enhance our understanding and transform our lives for the better. That is why the Scriptures are so full of encouragement and frequent exhortations to be renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4:23), to resist conformity to the thought patterns of this world (Romans 12:1) and not to let our minds be “set” on the flesh (Romans 8:6-7). The key to a Christian mindset is to allow our minds to be molded into the image of Christ (Philippians 2), to set our minds on the Spirit, and to love God with all our mind (Mark 12:30). In this series we will use the insights of cognitive science about the brain’s plasticity--...

Join us for some favorite tunes and history during the upcoming "Give Me that Old Time Religion" sermon series. Each week, we will explore a different hymn that was written in the 1800’s and how it connects to us today. After all, the 1800’s was just the start of our church’s story! Learn the stories about each of these hymns and the themes that make each so beloved still today. 9/10:  “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!” 9/17:  “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” 9/24:  “Just as I Am, without One Plea” 10/8:  “When Peace like a River (It Is Well with My Soul)” 10/15:  “Shall We Gather at the River” 10/22:  “I Love to Tell the Story”

2023-2025 Summer Sermon Series Isaiah: The Lord Saves Summer 2023: Isaiah 1-39, Prophet of Faith Summer 2024: Isaiah 40-55, Prophet of Hope Summer 2025: Isaiah 56-66, Prophet of Love In no other book of the Bible is God’s wonder and grandeur so clearly displayed; it is no wonder then, that Isaiah is the most often quoted prophet in the New Testament.  This book has so shaped the faith and life of the church--our doctrine, liturgy, and practice--that some of the earliest Christians thought of Isaiah as the “Fifth Gospel.”  The great preachers and thinkers of the church have always meditated on its message and used it as a special guide for truthfully hearing the Word of God--from Chrysostom to Augustine, and on to Martin Luther and John Calvin.     Jerome claimed that Isaiah “should be called an evangelist rather than a prophet because he describes all the mysteries of Christ and the church so clearly that you would think he is composing a history of what has a...

Christian Friendship in an Epidemic of Loneliness April 9-May 21, 2023 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), loneliness is on the rise and is now considered epidemic in many countries, including the U.S.  This epidemic of loneliness is a public health issue and a significant risk factor for physical and mental problems, including heart disease, depression, and anxiety.  In this context, it is very good news that the Christian Gospel offers salvation, even from an epidemic of loneliness, through the formation of genuine friendships based in faith, hope, and love.  In an age when many live alone, and are living further from family and friends--an age in which the promises of social media and digital communication have proven false, or at least problematic--our faith offers an opportunity to reimagine and renew our friendships, our lives together, and our community.  Now more than ever we need genuine Christian friendship. Join us this Easter season as we ex...

  Lenten Sermon Series:  Jazz Gospel Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life.   --Art Blakey Jazz is America’s original music.  It was born out of slavery and nurtured in the same churches where spirituals were generated, and in the cotton fields.  In night spots, and in funeral processions, with great depth, it gives voice both to tragic sounds of suffering and the ecstasy of great jubilation.  It owes a great deal to the gospel and to the Christian worldview that is embedded in its origins.  Jazz is best understood in light of the gospel, the sorrow and joy, the deep pain and the incredible hope that stand at the heart of the Christian faith.  As Ferdinan “Jelly Roll” Morton once said, “Rejoice at the death and cry at the birth:  New Orleans sticks close to the Scriptures.”  In our sermon series on the Jazz Gospel, we will stick close to the Scriptures to guide our way through Lent to Good Friday, as we anticipate Easter. Ash Wednes...

  Winter Sermon Series: City Church We live in a fast-paced, rapidly changing culture that can seem alien to many Christians--and the way that we Christians choose to live can sometimes make us seem alien to our neighbors.  How do we decide what is core to our beliefs?  And how can we appreciate the good things in our culture while hanging on to the gospel?  How can we attend to the harmonies and the dissonances of city, culture, church, and Scripture?  How can we minister to our rapidly growing and developing city in such a way that it will be transformed by the gospel of God’s grace?  In this sermon series we will explore how we are called to minister in the center of our historic downtown to a city and county that are growing exponentially. January 15 Jeremiah 31:10-14, Matthew 13:31-43 Fields or Gardens? January 22 Hebrews 13:1-17, 1 Peter 5:1-14 Bridge to Nowhere? January 29 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27 City Culture Fe...

Join us in Sunday worship from Ash Wednesday (March 2) until Easter Sunday (April 17) for our new Lenten series, “Delve into the Twelve.”  Have you ever wanted to learn more about the 12 disciples?  What some of their attributes were? Why Jesus picked the ones He did? Why their stories are so important? What does tradition tell us about these men that the Bible does not mention?  We will explore all of these questions and more this Lent... 3/2 (Ash Wednesday):  Introduction to the Series 3/6 (1st Sunday in Lent):  Bartholomew (Nathaniel) and Thomas 3/13 (2nd Sunday in Lent):  Matthew and Andrew 3/20 (3rd Sunday in Lent):  Thaddeus and James, son of Alphaeus 3/27 (4th Sunday in Lent):  James, son of Zebedee and John 4/3 (5th Sunday in Lent):  Philip and Simon the Zealot 4/10 (Passion/Palm Sunday):  Judas Iscariot 4/17 (Easter Sunday):  Simon Peter

Any particular color, as an artistic or literary symbol, may take on any number of meanings.  It is often the wider context that lends a color its true significance...  As we enter Advent 2021--another season of waiting and preparation for the advent , the coming arrival of the Christ--we are asking ourselves, what do these colors mean in the context of Christmas?  This is nothing new. For centuries Christians have assigned particular meanings to these colors:  Red is traditionally seen as a means of expressing belief in the eternal and abundant life we have received through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Green is for new birth to a living hope of eternal life in Christ.  Gold represents worship and God's gifts that are given to be shared.  Blue is a reminder that some people experience heartache and pain even, especially, at Christmas. And  White  reminds us that Christ came so that our lives may also reflect the fullness of God's good...

  As has long been noted, at least since the church historian Eusebius ( Ecclesiastical History , VII.25.11), the writer of the letters of I-III John is anonymous, referring to himself only as  ‘ὁ πρεσβύτερος’  ( presbyteros ),  "The Elder."  The latter two letters are personal, addressed to an individual, hardly a page of papyrus for each.  They are a post script and a p.p.s. to the longer and more general first letter, which reads more  like a treatise than a letter (like Romans or Ephesians).  It has none of the usual features of a letter, opening with a poem-like section and ending abruptly.  There is no salutation or greetings, no indication of sender or recipient.  Taken together, the three letters contain a full explanation of Christian life and doctrine in somewhat symphonic form, like a piece of music that returns to themes and notes with variations: light and darkness, love and hate, truth and lie, sin and righteousness. Join u...

Amos, What Do You See? This week, Amos sees the Lord standing beside the altar in the sanctuary, striking the capitals on the pillars until the whole building collapses, shaking even the foundations.  He hears a hymn--usually a source of encouragement--but this time it contains an ominous warning.  Finally, in the last vision of the book, he sees a sieve.  With the sieve, God is cleaning the grain: sifting out every stray piece of chaff, all the stones and pebbles of every size, and every bit of dirt.  The cleaning requires removal and destruction of the debris. Israel's response, to the bitter end, is to ridicule the prophet.  They treat him like Henny Penny--echoing his words, but mixed with laughter: "the sky is falling, the sky is falling."  They ignore him.  They think he is a boy crying wolf. But Amos has seen what he has seen.  Disaster may not fall today or tomorrow, but it will come, especially if Israel does not take the warning to hear...

 Sermon Series:  Responding to the Divine Invitation The Bible contains a set of personal invitations from God to us to live a full, abundant, free life -- to enter into life eternal.  All we need to do is respond!  The primary invitation is to enter into relationship with God, our Creator.  All of these biblical invitations reach their fulfillment in the personal invitation to a life-giving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  In the gospels Jesus invites those who want that life-giving relationship to respond to his invitation and call.  Join us in August for a new series of sermons to help us R.S.V.P. to those invitations. August 8      Psalm 66:1-20 & John 1:35-51      Come and See August 15    Isaiah 28:9-13 & Matthew 11:25-30    Come and Rest August 22      Matthew 19:16-22 & John 12:20-26      Come and Follow August 29  ...

A Basket of Summer Fruit  Amos 8:2-3  ...“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by.  The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” says the Lord God; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!” Once again, what seems at first to be a scene of prosperity and plenty, a sign of progress and the conclusion of a successful harvest, is overshadowed by the oppression of the poor and economic injustice.  With Amos's southern drawl the Hebrew word for "a basket of ripe fruit" (probably figs) and "the end" or a "cutting off" sound the same.  You may think all is well, Amos warns, because the economic engine is still spinning, but the grim reaper's scythe is there in the harvest photo.  This week's oracles come as a warning to those who cannot slow down, who are obsessed with work and with the al...

  "Amos, What Do You See?" As our summertime sermon series continues this week, Amos recounts a set of three visions, culminating with one in which the Lord is standing beside a wall  built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.  To make sure that Amos gets the picture, God asks Amos the question we have been repeating every week: “Amos, what do you see?” And when Amos answers correctly, “A plumb line,” the Lord says “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel." (Amos 7:7-8) Join us this week as we ask what sort of plumb line God has set in the midst of the church today and just what sort of message God wants us to take away from these visions shown to Amos nearly 3,000 years ago.