First Presbyterian Church News (Clarksville, TN)

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...

Sermon Series The Psalms: Our Prayer Book and Hymnal January 19 Psalm 2 and Psalm 23 The Psalms in Worship January 26 Psalm 73 and Psalm 80 Restore Us! February 2 Psalm 22 and Psalm 27 My Confident Cry February 9 Psalm 30 and Psalm 66 My Dancing Joy February 16 Psalm 100 and Psalm 150 Y’all Praise! February 23 Psalm 18 and Psalm 19 Our Sun and My Shadow “My child, all the books of Scripture, both old and new, are inspired by God and useful for instruction, as it is written. But to those who really study it, the Psalter yields especial treasure. Each book of the Bible has, of course, its own particular message... Each of these books, you see, is like a garden which grows one particular kind of fruit; by contrast, the Psalter is a garden which, besides its particular fruit, grows also those of all the rest.”  Athanasius (c. 295-373) to Marcellinus The Psalms are both the Bible’s prayer book and the Bible’s hymnal. The Psalms have c...

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 ...