Mark 7:24-30 It’s not news to us, but we must underscore it: Men in Jesus’ time did not engage in conversation with women of a different religion and culture out on the street. In His encounter with the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus is risking His own social status. We have seen His willingness to break this convention for the woman at the well and others. This openness by Jesus automatically elevates these powerless people in the eyes of others. Simply by addressing them, He is giving them dignity and self-worth in a time when that was in very short supply for so many, especially for women. His willingness to engage in conversation with those of a different religion makes a statement without saying anything. This is another masterful stroke. He is teaching the crowds—and us as well—that everyone deserves this basic respect. We may not even realize it, but we have our own social norms that relegate people to second-class status. I remember on a mission trip to Toronto with my senior high youth group, our local host invited us to walk the streets at midnight (at this time, Toronto streets were very safe!). He and I stood back as we watched our young people. Two of our young ladies began to engage some homeless people, and I became nervous—after all, their safety was in my hands—so I walked over to make sure everything was safe. As I heard the conversation, I realized that these ladies had a gift. They spoke to these two men exactly like they would to anyone else. They did not have to try. There was no fear in their voices, no condescension, and no self-righteous pity. This was a gift they were giving these homeless people, a rare encounter simply as fellow travelers in this world connecting in the most human of ways—by talking. To be able to engage someone with such openness to their inherent dignity, no matter their station, no matter how much or how little money they have in the bank, no matter when their last shower was, no matter their race, or their political views, is not easy in this world. We have been trained through our culture to fear, divide, categorize, and judge. These two young ladies emulated Jesus’ willingness to meet all people as people. And yet, Jesus surprises us in this encounter. His words at first don't seem to convey respect for her or her daughter. He calls her a dog! Some context will be helpful. In those days, the Jews and the Syrophoenicians were bitter enemies. In fact, the Israelites (Josephus,  Antiquities ) had come to refer to them as dogs because the wealthy Syrophoenicians devoured all the food while the Jewish people in the countryside in that area of the world were constantly on the brink of starvation. Thus, Jesus’ statement: “ It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs .” And so, Jesus was prodding this woman to see what kind of person she was. Was she another Phoenician trying to steal what rightfully belongs to the Jews—in this case, the blessings of the Messiah—or simply a mother desperately looking to save her daughter? And so, even though Jesus, to us, makes a surprising statement, ultimately this is another example of His openness. He’s willing to engage this woman in a real conversation. Unlike a recent conversation with Peter that He completely controlled, with this woman, we see a real exchange of ideas taking place. When she replies, “ Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs ,” Jesus instantly knew in that humble response she was not someone who believed she was superior to the Jews, but someone motivated out of deep love for her daughter. Jesus has been shaped by this encounter, and His heart is moved to say to the woman, “ For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter .” It is of particular interest that Jesus treats people of a different faith differently than He does His disciples. He reprimands His disciples and castigates them for their obtuseness and lack of faith. When Jesus encountered those outside His faith, He did not require them to adhere to His doctrine but listened, spoke, opened Himself to them, and offered them what  THEY  were voicing! Jesus’ compassion, grace, healing, and openness are for anyone open to His love; He does not require understanding or doctrinal beliefs, and so wonderfully proclaims and sets the pattern for us: “ Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens .”  All  who are weary. It is the hope of Brick Church to become a place that welcomes people exactly like this woman. She may not have all the same beliefs that we do or live within the same cultural sphere, but she is welcome and belongs just as much as any of us. And it is amazing how Brick is continuing to grow wider and broader through the Brick Church School, through the Summer Steps Program, through finding ways to offer people the sacraments of the church. Sacraments have historically been only for the insiders. In fact, at times you had to prove that you were worthy by going before the elders, and if you were deemed acceptable, you would get a token so that you could take communion. Baptism would only come after lengthy periods of education, which sometimes devolved into indoctrination. While within PCUSA guidelines, the Session seeks to open these sacraments to more people. After all, we are placing requirements that not even Jesus placed upon them. I truly believe the sacraments not only have the power to bring help to the faithful but to actually createand form that faith and trust within people. Our call as a congregation is not to require doctrinal alignment, for not even Jesus did that, but to follow His lead to offer dignity, respect, and love to everyone. It is not up to us to create or monitor belief; that is between God and that person. In His encounter with this woman, Jesus is showing us that everyone is of utmost value to the Kingdom of God, and so must they be to us. Jesus gives the most respect often to those whom the world gives the least. In preparing for this sermon, I came across an article which I think might be the modern counterpart of the people whom Jesus loved so much. Lauded science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin described who she thinks would be the best candidate to send aboard a visiting spacecraft whose crew wished to learn about humanity and the planet Earth. Le Guin suggests the following choice to serve as an interplanetary spokesperson: I would ... go down to the local Woolworth's, or the local village marketplace, and pick an old woman, over sixty, from behind the costume jewelry counter... She has worked hard at small, unimportant jobs all her life, jobs like cooking, cleaning, bringing up kids, selling little objects of adornment or pleasure to other people. She was a virgin once, a long time ago, and then a sexually potent fertile female, and then went through menopause. She has given birth several times and faced death several times - the same times. She is facing the final birth/death a little more nearly and clearly every day now. Sometimes her feet hurt something terrible. She never was educated to anything like her capacity, and that is a shameful waste and a crime against humanity... She has a stock of sense, wit, patience, and experiential shrewdness.  (Dancing at the Edge of the World via Martin E. Marty's Context via Review of Books and Religion) It is for such people that Jesus offered the most compassion and love. As Isaiah 56:7 proclaims, “ My house shall be a house of prayer for all people. ” May you and I work to make it so. Amen.

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Since near the dawn of humanity there has been the impression that certain things in this world are impure, unnatural, abhorrent, and even abominations.   An ancient Near Eastern list of unclean and abominable activities includes eating with foreigners, handling of corpses, self-mutilation (also known as tattoos), and…shepherds (?!). In Jesus’ time, the list developed from the Hebrew Scriptures and the traditions that grew up around those texts and included eating certain foods, speaking with a woman, sitting down at the dinner table with the wrong people, touching the skin of a pig (sorry, footballers) or wearing a garment made out of two different materials. Some of these we can sympathize with—we know that eating certain foods can cause us not only gastric distress but severe illness or even death. But in our passage this morning Jesus is clearly running out of patience with those who seek to impugn His actions such as eating with sinners or helping the sick on the Sabbath. Their hearts were no longer in the right place. They had manipulated the law to free them from helping others which meant, in the end, they blamed God for their failure to love. Jesus’ rejoinder goes straight to the fallacy of their actions and to the heart of Scripture. He reminds them that in ancient times Yahweh became utterly dissatisfied with their worship. In the passage that Jesus quotes from Isaiah, Yahweh is tired of hearing their words of praise which have no authenticity or faith behind them: “This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines. You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” God is exhausted and angered by those who try to placate the divine holiness while practicing a morality void of God’s essence – that is, love.  More to the point for our passage, Jesus observes the way they have so twisted the law as to utterly avoid its requirements.  The most famous of God’s laws are The Ten. And one of those ten given to Moses on Mount Sinai required us to honor our father and mother “ so that your days may be long in the land that God is giving you ”. Honoring our father and mother is not just meant to be lip service— “ Yes, mother .” “ Yes, father .”—but to be frank about it, it is meant to cost us money; it is meant to cost us time; it is meant to be inconvenient; it is meant to demand something of us. Just as our parents care for us when we were too young to care for ourselves so are we, to care for our parents when they are too old to do so for themselves. But the Pharisees had found a loophole. It was something called  Korban  (which means “offering to God”), and ironically what that really meant was that they were scapegoating themselves by blaming God for their inability to help their parents financially. The  Korban  vow was about willing one’s property to the temple. Once this vow was made those funds, while still held by the person, could not be used to care for parents. This meant the person could still use those funds for their own benefit but we're no longer able to use them to help others; this almost makes the people of Enron look like generous benefactors, at least they didn’t blame God for their greed. Sadly, in some ways, this same pernicious human tendency to consider things impure has spilled over into our times in tragic ways, and at the same time created an identical situation to that in Jesus’s time: using doctrine as a rational to fail to live out the fundamental ethic loving God and neighbor. Perhaps you enjoyed this summer’s Olympics as I did. It is always thrilling to see people who have pushed themselves to the pinnacle of endurance, agility, fortitude, and excellence. Certainly, these athletes were genetically gifted upon birth, but without the dedication, the medals would never arrive. But if you watched the news, you might recall that there was a highly criticized element during the opening ceremonies. Listen to the description from  New York Times  writer Yan Zhuang: “In the performance broadcast during the ceremony, a woman wearing a silver, halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her. Later, at the same table, a giant cloche lifted, revealing a man, nearly naked and painted blue, on a dinner plate surrounded by fruit. He broke into a song as, behind him, the drag queens danced.” The debate largely centered around whether or not this was a depiction of an ancient Greek feast (a bacchanalian feast) or a reenactment of Da Vinci’s  Last Supper . If you want to ask my five-cent opinion, I would say it wasn’t one or the other —it was both; I’m sure Thomas Jolly, the creative director, had enough artistic acumen to develop a scene with many layers. But for our purposes this morning, it doesn’t matter. I want to focus on not what happened at those opening ceremonies but what happened following—the reaction from certain sectors of the Christian community and what it means for how you and I are called as followers of Christ to witness to His love in this world.  The response was swift and vitriolic. From very socially conservative politicians to actors who are Christians, and even an openly gay, nationally recognized agnostic fitness guru, believed this depiction demonstrated lack of respect to the Christian community and demeaned this most sacred of moments in our Christian faith. And perhaps this is true. The French Catholic church called it a gross mockery, a U.S. congressman described it as shocking and insulting to Christian people, and the Greek Orthodox Church called it blasphemous, while the Vatican remarked, “ [we]deplore the offence done to many Christians.” Organizations with Christian believers withdrew their advertising from the U.S. Olympics.   And I must admit there was a reaction within myself; I was unsettled by the scene. Add to a certain extent, whether it was intended, I did feel as if they were mocking the Lord’s Supper. But then, when I considered our passage this morning, in which Jesus is eating with the outcasts of His time and reflected on the purpose of the Last Supper, I believe the response from the Christian community was not the one that Jesus would have hoped for. First of all, rather than take offense at the people who mocked Him, He prayed, “ Father forgive them for they know not what they do .”  If Jesus Himself did not take offense at those who caused His death, how can that be our response? And rather than judge others who misunderstood His intentions, He offered them a place at the table.  With those misguided disciples at the Last Supper, Jesus explained His intentions. He was going to give His life for them and for everybody. He told them they were going to abandon Him, and one of them was going to betray Him. But at that supper, rather than condemn them and be offended at them, He told them they were His friends and that they would have a place in the heavenly kingdom. That is why this meal is so special, so sacred to us. It is for everybody—not just those who stand up straight and act right and treat God and their neighbor like they’re supposed to. It is the promise that despite our failure, God’s love will never leave us, and that we have a promised place with Him for eternity. Furthermore, it was precisely Jesus’ habit to regularly sit down and eat with people that the rest of the world rejected, scorned, and condemned. And He didn’t tell them to sit up straight and do things the way He thought they should be done; He simply offered His friendship, His healing, and His miracles. That is one of the reasons why the religious authorities were constantly after Him. And this is why I am saddened and frankly angry at the Christian community. For once again rather than using an opportunity to show the depth of God’s love in Jesus Christ, we communicated to the world that we are easily offended and less focused on sharing the blessings of God’s love then we are on condemning others. We had the ear of the world—a chance to share with them the wonder of this feast and to invite them to this table. It should have been a time for the Christian community to say that  “there is nothing you can do to offend us because everyone is welcome to the table. And we do not stand in judgment of you, for Jesus has taught us to forgive as He has forgiven us, and that we are to honor others and to respect others above ourselves, so come and sit down at the table and discover why this is so special to us.” God has given the Brick Presbyterian Church a mission to work on changing how Christians are viewed in this world. And the Session particularly believes that we are called to be at church with  generous orthodoxy  meaning we practice a faith that doesn’t use our beliefs to judge or condemn others. That instead our faith leads us to become a spiritual home for anybody in need of Jesus’ love, that we are called to welcome as Jesus did, all people to the table. For too long, too many of us have allowed the extreme voices of the Christian faith to determine how the world sees us. And as a result, the world sees the nature of our faith in a manner that is not worthy of our Lord.            And so, we seek to be a spiritual home for all, and that we treat them the same way Jesus would have—with forgiveness, with respect, and with love; that we will be a home for everyone, no matter who they are, no matter their lifestyle, no matter their doctrine, no matter their dress, no matter their finances, no matter their gender, no matter their sexual orientation. All are welcome, for if all are not welcome, then neither are we. And this conclusion is drawn precisely from the Last Supper. Amen.

Rev. Evans has a question for you! Who is Jesus? Would you be willing to anonymously answer this question in one word or 1-2 sentences by clicking  here ? See you on Sunday, September 15th in Worship for a sermon about this topic!

The Brick Church Children's Ministry offers engaging Sunday programming designed for children from ages 3 through 7th grade. Our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer staff will guide your children through inspiring Bible stories, nurturing their spiritual curiosity along the way. Our inclusive programs feature a variety of activities, including family dinners and worship, Sacraments Class, Advent Crafts, the joyous Christmas Pageant, as well as special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for families to celebrate together. Parents with children aged 0-2 years are invited to register for our Sunday childcare services at The Brick Church. Our top priority in the childcare program is to provide exceptional care, ensuring that each child receives dedicated attention and support. The nursery is staffed by highly skilled professionals from The Baby Sitters' Guild, guaranteeing a safe and nurturing environment for your little ones. Over the summer, the Children's Ministry Curriculum Committee vetted several new learning options to replace the current Spark series. They are excited to pilot a new Sunday School curriculum for Fall 2024. The committee unanimously voted to try the Grow series because it offers a variety of customizable modules and lesson plans that volunteer teachers can tailor to their classroom needs. They will do a continuous pulse-check of how the new program is working. To learn more, please click here .

I do Order of St. Paul because I like having a purpose in the Worship services. It's a way for me to contribute something beautiful, and feel more connected to my church community. - Holly Miller Calling all seventh - twelfth graders! Members of The Order of St. Paul assist in the worship service each Sunday, carrying the cross (we call the crucifer) in the Procession, serving as flag-bearers, and serving as candle attendants, as well as assisting the pastors at special services during Lent. If you are a seventh grader or older and interested in worship leadership, The Order of St. Paul is for you! Community service credit is available at program-year end based on service hours and commitment to the Order.

The Youth Ministry plays a vital role in fulfilling The Brick Church's mission. In our youth programs, The Brick Church empowers students to live out their Christian faith in a complex world, to build relationships with one another and with caring adults, and to offer service to a world in need. We invite all youth to join our Tuesday Night Dinner Program, Super Bowl party, Ice Skating party, Ski Trip, and mission opportunities throughout the year.

The All-Church Nominating Committee (ACNC) is seeking your suggestions for Brick Church officers. Your involvement is crucial to identify the best possible candidates whom God is calling to take positions of responsibility at The Brick Church. The ACNC is identifying candidates for Deacons, Ruling Elders, Trustees, and 2025 ACNC members . Please prayerfully consider recommending members of The Brick Church as candidates for these positions. Important criteria to consider include a commitment to the Church, regular attendance at Worship, time, and willingness to serve, and personal characteristics of dedication, good judgment, and the ability to work well with others. Self-nominations are also accepted. The deadline for recommendation submissions is February 6, 2024.

Dear Members and Friends of Brick Church, Below you will find a summary of our past three Session meetings. There are several exciting developments I would like to highlight! Beginning September 8 we will have Sunday evening worship services in the sanctuary at 6:30 p.m.! These services will help those Brick members who are pulled away for various reasons on Sunday mornings to still be a part of our worshiping community on a regular basis. The services will have a contemplative and peaceful feel, featuring a quartet of singers from our morning choir. We also hope that by offering a time alternate to Sunday morning, more people within our neighborhood might choose to make Brick Church their home through this service.   We have contracted with Rev. Caroline Unzaga for ten hours a week, to serve as a Parish Associate for our congregation, primarily working on Sundays. We are excited to have Caroline returning to us, as perhaps you recall she served as an interim associate pastor here a few years ago, as well as a seminary intern before that. In addition to her Sunday morning worship duties, she will also support one committee and lead one small group. This fall we are excited to welcome Dr. Charles Guth, our first Theologian in Residence at the Brick Presbyterian Church. Dr. Guth will be with us for 28 hours each week. He will assist in Worship, staff the Adult Education Committee, and work with our seminarians.  Last year’s seminarians, Henry Anyomi and Rob D’Alessandro will return to Brick Church for another year beginning this fall! We will see them primarily on Sundays as they assist in Worship leadership, and support the Youth and Adult Education Committee. Scroll to the bottom of this email for the short bios of Henry, Rob, Charles, and Caroline.  The Session voted to request the Presbytery’s permission to call a Congregational Meeting for the purpose of forming an Associate Pastor Nominating Committee. As we obtain approvals from Presbytery we anticipate forming the APNC sometime in the fall. When the Session reconvenes after the Summer break we will find ways to reach out to you to receive your thoughts on this significant step for the congregation. I truly hope you’re enjoying your summer! More information about these exciting developments will be available in the coming months. In the meantime don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions or suggestions! Peace, Rev. Tom EvansSenior Minister  MAY | The Session of the Brick Church held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 14th.  The Session Meeting of May 14th again showed Brick moving ahead quickly and addressing Church operations. Stewardship reported on the pledge campaign (94% of goal), spoke of the success of Cinderella , and proposed that a community theater at Brick should continue with similar events in the future. The Personnel Committee presented plans for additional, but temporary, pastoral support for the upcoming 2024-2025 year. Day School Director Marie Fabian highlighted all the end-of-year events and said final preparations for September were underway. Children’s Ministry is also preparing for the start of a new year with a focus on upgrading the Sunday School curriculum. The All Church Nominating Committee confirmed that all preparations were complete for the upcoming Annual Meeting, i.e. all four slates of nominees for Officer have been prepared. Session approved a set of two policies defining a quorum for its meetings and a policy for a quorum at Congregational Meetings that will come before the upcoming Annual Meeting for a vote. The 2024 Church Calendar was approved. Two working groups were created: one, to evaluate issues around building usage, and, second, to prepare Brick’s celebration of the Semiquincentennial in 2026.   JUNE | The Session of the Brick Church held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 18th.  The Session of the Brick Church held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 18th. Day School Director Marie Fabian said the School came to a successful year-end close with the usual final Chapel and last-day events. Fundraising ended with 100% participation. All is ready for the start of the ’24-’25 year in September. The Communications Committee reported that the ongoing branding effort, tied closely with the Session’s work on Brick’s Vision, can now accelerate over the summer based on Session’s recent input. Grants to the African Dream Academy Foundation ($18,370), the Trinity Place Shelter ($10,000); and the Promise Project ($5,000) were approved. A new approach to a second Sunday Worship Service at 6:30 p.m. was introduced for consideration by the Worship and Music Committee. A decision to hold these Services starting in September will be made next meeting based on some additional information to be collected. All Elders have now received their Committee assignments for 2024-2025 thanks to the work of the Officer Placement Committee. Other routine administrative matters, as always, were addressed and acted on.     JULY | The Session of the Brick Church held a called meeting on Tuesday, July 16th.  The July Meeting of Session was scheduled as a Zoom meeting and, therefore, was limited in scope. The Session first approved a 45-minute Sunday Evening Worship Service to start on September 8 and run through the end of November. A less formal Service for about 40 attendees is contemplated.  If successful, it can be continued. Next, after the approval of the Fall Concert and Spring Musical at the last meeting, the Session approved the After-School Musical Theater Classes based on the interest shown by over 30 individuals, many of whom were non-member families. One class was for ages 3-5 on Tuesdays and the other class was for ages 6-9 on Thursdays. The Session also approved filing an application for a permit for the Brick Summer Camp. Approval of the Summer Camp will be after some experience has been gained with the BCCT in the fall. Lastly, Moderator Evans made a motion, which passed, to request Presbytery’s permission to call a Congregational Meeting to vote on the formation of an APNC to search for a third pastor. This vote had to be scheduled at this Meeting to ensure the request can reach the Committee on Ministry’s submission deadline in a timely fashion for full Presbytery approval before the end of the year. There was one announcement. Moderator Evans asked for volunteers to help with the Presbytery Meeting to be held at Brick on Saturday, October 5th. There will be a Worship Service with Communion followed by the quarterly Meeting itself.   CAROLINE UNZAGA We are excited to announce that Rev. Caroline Unzaga is rejoining The Brick Church as a part-time Parish Associate! Many of you may remember Rev. Unzaga from her previous time with us, both as an intern in our Seminarian program and more recently as an interim associate minister.   Rev. Unzaga brings a wealth of experience and a warm, compassionate presence to our congregation. Currently, she serves as the Manager of Spiritual Care at Morristown Medical Center, where she leads a multi-faith team of chaplains in providing spiritual and religious support to patients, families, and staff. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Rev. Unzaga is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Princeton Theological Seminary and is a Certified Educator in the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).   A cradle Presbyterian from Atlanta, Georgia, Rev. Unzaga has spent most of her adult life in the northeast, serving in both parish and hospital settings. Her diverse ministry roles have included global mission, youth ministry, congregational care, faith formation, and interim ministry. She lives in northern NJ with her husband, two teen kids, and their energetic Springer Spaniel.   Rev. Unzaga will be primarily working with us on Sundays, beginning in September, and we look forward to her contributions to our worship and community life. Please join us in giving her a warm welcome back to The Brick Church family! CHARLES GUTH  He received his Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary in June 2024, after earning his Master of Divinity there in 2017. During the 2021–2022 academic year, he was a Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. The son of a Presbyterian pastor, Charles grew up in Calgary, Alberta; Sebring, Florida; and the Chicago suburbs. As an undergraduate he studied philosophy at Wheaton College. During that time, he began to discern a call to ministry and is currently an ordination candidate under the care of the Presbytery of Chicago. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he served as a teaching intern at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, and completed his clinical pastoral education at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center.   HENRY ANYOMI Henry is a third-year Master of Divinity student at Drew Theological School. Inter alia, he was recently awarded Drew’s Franz Hildebrant Prize for his deep faith and excellence in theological studies and his effective ministerial contributions. He is from Ghana, West Africa, and is a member of the United Presbyterian Church of West Orange (UPCWO). He is the program director at the Center on Religion, Culture, and Conflict (CRCC), Drew University, where he coordinates programs and events intended to help raise the next generation of leaders in interfaith and intercultural understanding. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs (Global Security major) from the Geneva Graduate Institute and a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from the University of Ghana, Legon. In the near future, Henry aspires to be a pastor and peacebuilder, tending the church and building bridges across differences in communities around the world.   ROB D’ALESSANDRO Since he became a Christian at 15 years old, Rob wanted to attend seminary and pursue some type of career involving biblical studies and Christian ministry. He attended undergraduate school with the sole intention of having the credentials sufficient to attend seminary afterward.  He was able to complete his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University, studying history and philosophy, (and a lot of theology on his own), and graduated from the Master of Divinity program at Princeton Theological Seminary in spring 2024. His primary academic interests have been the study of the New Testament. He served as a Brick Church seminarian from 2023-2024. His hobbies include studying theology and virtually any recreational activities such as hiking, biking, running, etc.

Shared during Sunday Worship on August 18, 2024. God of light, we praise you for the longer days of the summer which bring us a chance to bask in the beauty of your creation and enjoy the warmth of friendships. For those special trips, those extra walks in the park, chirping of the birds and rustling of the trees, we find a serenity in the majesty of your artwork. Lord each moment of light leads our hearts to delight in you so we pray now for the gift of beauty in your creation and in ourselves…   Even as we take moments to simply basking in the joy of life, we also take time to pause and reflect-- to consider the ways in which we have denigrated this joy in others. Whether it is through greed, violence, apathy, or prejudice we ask that you would remove every vestige within us that causes us to judge others more harshly than you judge ourselves.  We pray now for a spirit of forgiveness… a spirit of charity… and a spirit of love…   God of justice even as you seek to transform our hearts you ask us to take action. Help us to know how it is that we might bring peace amongst our family and friends; how it is that we might help others to discover their voice, to find their power, and to know that same abundance which we have in you.  Help us to reach beyond that which we know that we might become peacemakers in your name. But at this moment all we can do is pray and so we pray for peace in the Middle East, in the Sudan, Haiti, Myanmar, and even those places in our own lands in which guns and bombs try to solve the brokenness that is within each of us.  We pray now not only for these places and ask for your intervention, but for your spirit to enter our hearts to know how it is that we might contribute to helping to remake this earth after your heavenly kingdom.    We pray all this in the name of your son Jesus Christ our Lord whose life showed us how to be the people of God and whose death brings hope to all. Amen

John 6:35, 41-51 Snicker’s Satisfies Discover Satisfaction – Camel Lights   Coca Cola: It satisfies the thirsty and helps the weary          Our world is filled with companies trying to satisfy every hunger both real and imagined (and lighten your wallet in the process). But there is one Whose satisfaction goes beyond the moment, beyond this life into eternity. Here’s a new slogan –  Jesus satisfies . It’s what He does!             He satisfies our need to get along with each other through practical advice.  Judge not lest ye be judged. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He satisfies our debts and encourages us to do the same. Forgive one another as I have forgiven you. He satisfies our needs for peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you….do not let your heart be troubled neither let them be afraid. He satisfies our need to let go of our worries. Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, … Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  And yet, there is a deeper satisfaction Jesus gives us that goes beyond utilitarian advice for our lives. It is something more than practical. He satisfies our need for meaning in our lives. Most everything in today’s world is nearly impossible to accept whole cloth. There is so much spin both by the media outlets and by personal bloggers that fact and truth has become utterly obscured by the sheer volume of hyper-analysis and communication. In fact, uncertainty appears to be built into the fabric of the universe. Einstein’s relativity has shown us that we cannot even agree on how long it takes a plane to fly across the country, how old an astronaut is, or how long a moving train is. For ages people have looked to satisfy their need to know, to be certain; to know if we are alone in this universe or if a force greater than time and matter rules it all.  It is an indisputable fact that for the whole history of humankind, Jesus has satisfied those answers for more people than any other. He has even satisfied those actively trying not to be satisfied. We all know C.S. Lewis to be the most famous of converts to Christianity in the 20thcentury. For years he balked at what he considered to be fanciful myths of people deluding themselves to gain solace in a meaningless universe. But God chipped away at his unbelief and satisfied his skepticism through tugging on another’s thread of disbelief. Listen to what he wrote of the philosopher and atheist, T. D. Weldon:  Early in 1926 the hardest boiled of all the atheists I ever knew sat in my room …and remarked that the evidence for the historicity of the Gospels was surprisingly good.  ‘Rum thing … All that stuff … about the Dying God. Rum thing. It almost looks as if it had really happened once.’ … If he, the cynic of cynics, the toughest of the toughs, were not—as I would still have put it—‘safe,’ where could I turn? Was there then no escape?(Surprised by Joy, 224) But his satisfaction goes even deeper than answering our deepest questions of the universe. He satisfies our personal needs for a life of value that lives past the four score and seven of this earthly existence.   This ultimate satisfaction comes clear in the sixth chapter of John. Despite the low-carb craze that swept the nation a few years ago bread is still one of my favorite foods. Each loaf is something of a miracle to me. The way that yeast, tiny organisms do their work of putting air pockets, texture and taste in every bite is an astonishing reality. The simple ingredients of flour, water, salt and yeast with subtle variations of preparation can become grandma’s country loaf or a crusty French baguette. I am perhaps even more astounded that this deceptively simple food can be so ruinously prepared by those lacking culinary expertise (and I have plenty overly salted burnt and deflated loaves to my resume to appreciate the skill required!). Bread has the surprising quality that it not only nourishes but also satisfies. It satisfies a hunger we didn't even know we had. One wise scribe, The Boss you might say, observed that there is another hunger each of us has. He wrote: Everybody needs a place to rest Everybody wants to have a home Don't make no difference what nobody says Ain't nobody like to be alone Everybody’s Got A Hungry Heart Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen’s song even spoke to me as a 13-year-old boy. There is hole in each of our hearts when we are born. It makes us cry as infants. It leads to tantrums as a teenager. As an adult it can create all kinds of poor behavior in attempt to satisfy the heart hunger we have. The more we race to fill it up by other means the more futile and out of control our life becomes.   To say that Jesus is the bread of life is to say that He satisfies the soul. He soothes our lives in ways we can hardly believe and satisfies hungers we didn't even know we had. One look into His caring eyes could fill a hole a mile wide. One touch could make a man leap for joy or woman sob with relief.  His power to satisfy all types of hunger is what makes His reach so very wide.   Think about how diverse the people of God are in the world today. There are those who suffer from grave injustice and He has taught them how to fight for equality for all people. There are those suffering from mental anguish, and He has given them a balm of grace. There are those who have lost their purpose in life and He gives a path through service that helps them to get up every day. There are those who have lost loved ones and are utterly bereft, but He gives them hope that they will reunite someday. There are those who have done terrible, terrible things; things that cannot be undone, but Jesus even gives them a gift of forgiveness. And perhaps at one time or another all of us need His gift to be still, to sit in the presence of the holy. He has promised that wherever two or three are gathered in His name he is there in the midst of them. He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within all of us. And perhaps one of the most powerful ways we can access this is through an incredible gift that God has given the world, it doesn’t belong to any other part of the animal kingdom, not truly anyway; it is the gift of music. It has the ability to transcend the physical space in which we find ourselves, the mental condition that we are feeling at any given moment, and to elevate or cynicism into exceeding hope. I would like all of us to take the next few minutes to be still and to use this music,  not by Bruce Springsteen , to be still and to let the spirit of God fill your hungry souls… …The Boss said it; Jesus quenched it. May we satisfy our hungry hearts with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Join us for Reformation Sunday and celebrate Kirkin’ O’ the Tartan at Brick Church on October 27, 2024! New participants can order and pay for a banner, pole, and stand via credit card. Place orders by August 23rd to be ready for the event. The set costs $170 and can be reused for future Kirkin' O' the Tartans. To view the swatches for your Tartan, email sales@greatscotintl.com and reference Brick Church. You can also reach The Scottish Weaver at (704) 535-8955 (ask for Jackie or Peter) to help you research your family tartan or assist with finding a universal one. The more people we have participating, the better! FOR RETURNING PARTICIPANTS Past participants of Brick Church’s Kirkin’ O' the Tartan do not need to repurchase. Sophie Carnegie will contact you about participating again. Please return your Tartan to the church if it's not stored onsite. VOLUNTEERING For questions, to volunteer, or participate, contact the Brick Church Committee for Kirkin’ O’ the Tartans by reaching out to Cathy Leonhardt , Pam Ferguson , Margaret Tranbaugh , or Joe Hipps by August 23, 2024. FAQs You might ask, what is Kirkin’?  'Kirk' is Scottish for church. Kirkin' means 'churching' or the presentation of tartans in church.   You might also ask what is Tartan? It is a colorful fabric representing different Scottish families. A Tartan is a fabric woven in a specific design to represent a group with a mission we revere. 'Kirkin' O' The Tartan" is the presentation of those tartans at church for blessing. Why are we planning this on Reformation Sunday? So we can remember and celebrate our Presbyterian heritage and the reformed churches worldwide.    Do you have to be Scottish to participate?  Absolutely not! Anyone and everyone is invited to participate in this joyful celebration of our Presbyterian heritage. There are many tartans that are universal and not specific to any one family or Scotland.  Check this list for different options. Tradition matters as it provides a link to our important past. We have much for which we can be grateful from Martin Luther, John Knox and John Calvin and the foundation they laid down for us in our reformed faith. At our Kirkin’ service, we will celebrate our Presbyterian denomination and remember ancient times, as well as past and present kith and kin, while asking God’s help and blessings in the future through special music and a procession of bagpipes and tartans.    As Scotland is the birthplace of the Presbyterian Church, we host a special Scottish celebration that welcomes everyone to take part. Banners are brought into the sanctuary by church members and led by Scottish bagpipes. Even if you do not have Scottish family roots, as members of the Brick Church, you can celebrate our shared heritage. Click here for more information on understanding the Kirkin'.

John 6:24-35 The people in this morning’s passage seeking Jesus were the peasant class of Galilee. Perhaps their life was best described thousands of years later by Annie in “It’s The Hard Knock Life”. It's the hard-knock life for us It's the hard-knock life for us 'Stead of treated  We get tricked 'Stead of kisses  We get kicked It's the hard-knock life Perhaps it would be a similar life to West Virginia coal miners or day laborer farmworkers. Getting more than a few days’ worth of food was beyond conceiving and so one can appreciate the passion with wish they sought Jesus; the man who could literally multiply bread. Pearl S. Buck wrote, “ A hungry man can’t see right or wrong. He just sees food.”  They were understandably impressed by Jesus, so much so they tried to make Him a king, (Wouldn’t you rather have Him as king!) so, they combed the countryside chasing after Him. But Jesus, the man with such incredible compassion that Mark uses a word to describe His emotions upon seeing needy crowds,  splangdizomai , which means to have your guts torn apart; because it literally caused Him pain to see people suffer would not respond gently. His love for them was even greater than His compassion.   When they finally find Him, He chastises them. He tells them that they seek Him out for the wrong reasons. It’s like that parable. If you give a child a fish, you feed her for a day. If you teach her how to fish, you feed her for life. Only in this case Jesus was teaching them not how to find food for the body. As important as feeding a hungry stomach is feeding a hungry soul is even more so. As Catholic priest Joseph Donders said,  “They wanted that which would give them the means to continue life as they had been living it for years, a handicapped life. A life that we all know too well.” Arthur John Gossip, a New Testament scholar and one-time professor at the University of Glasgow had this penetrating insight: People are hugely interested in the byproducts of Christianity, but hardly at all in Christianity itself. If [Jesus] ... will give us loaves and fishes, better houses, shorter hours, bigger wages, gadgets to lessen work and add to our leisure these are real things well worth the having, and we will follow him for them. But who wants his spiritual gifts? What would we do with them? What difference would they make?  Clearly Jesus thought they made a world of difference, so He implored them  “Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.”  Jesus showed the crowd that He loved them too much to allow them to be satisfied with filling their stomachs for a few hours.   …more important than the bread He multiplied was the compassion He had for the lost,  …more important than the water He turned into wine was His teachings about love  …more important than healing people’s infirmities was the gift of forgiveness He offered.   Trusting in the spiritual which we cannot see or touch is hard. We want to see it; we want to taste it; we want to experience it; before we’re going to trust it. And when we finally do, it’s like that pearl of great price, the man sells everything he has in order to obtain it.   But the tricky thing in life is to not mistake a lesser pearl for the real thing. Carl Jung saw this clearly in his many years as a therapist: During the past thirty years, people from all the civilized countries of the earth have consulted me. ... Among all my patients in the second half of life that is to say, over thirty five there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. (Modern Man in Search of a Soul) This is what Jesus was trying to teach that crowd. To see beyond their immediate needs and to hunger not only for bread but food that endures. A religious outlook on life in the end is one that it’s not so much about believing certain things it is about a sense of purpose and a sense of beauty that goes beyond each one of our immediate needs of shelter and food. I was 10 years old when I first remember learning something of what it is to give of yourself and to risk everything for this pearl of great price. Only in my case it wasn’t a pearl it was a tree, a really big tree. My father was driving my brothers and I from Los Angeles to Kings Canyon National Park, to see a sequoia. I believed this tree existed but simply couldn’t see the point in driving ten hours to see it. After a while my dad and brothers, tired of my whining, offered me some cough syrup to put me out of their misery! But finally! When I stood at the base of that sequoia tree I no longer simply believed in its existence. I stood in gleeful amazement with my knees shaking and heart pounding as my eyes soaked in its monstrous, mammoth, monumental, and mountainous awesomeness. I think if Jesus had seen this tree, He wouldn’t have talked about a pearl of great price but rather a tree of ancient majesty. As we gazed in wonder, we noticed a plaque by the tree telling about the importance of fire. I had always thought that fire was bad for trees, and it is, but sequoia’s actually need fire to germinate. As we looked around there was another plaque telling the story of fire fighter, Charlie Castro of the Mono Paiute and Miwuk tribes. There was a picture of Charlie with a rope between two of these mammoth trees. In 1967 a raging fire had taken hold of this incredible tree; they called Charlie in from another fire in Montana and he arrived by helicopter. Charlie Castro … gaz[ed] down into the heart of the tree, a[nd saw a] hollowed-out cavity alive with raging red flame… [a few minutes later] Castro stood at the base of the burning sequoia, preparing to hoist himself up to the flames. Helicopters had been deployed to extinguish the fire in the California Tree – but to no avail. Local media reported that even after 13 separate drops, amounting to tons of water, the flames continued to roar in the tree’s canopy and core. Around 9am, it was time to start the climb. Castro knew better than to begin from a sequoia’s base, though. Their trunks were too broad, their bark too spongy, and their lower sections were generally bare of any branches. So Castro turned to a nearby fir tree instead. Equipped with little more than some drinking water, a radio and his climbing equipment, Castro started to ball some rope into what he calls a “monkey fist”: a knot with enough weight to sling over the fir tree’s branches. That allowed him to lift himself into the fir tree, gaining a height of about 170ft – just tall enough for Castro to send another rope into the lofty branches of the [burning] sequoia.  [It took Charlie several hours to make this climb the tree but finally,] With cables and rope, he pulled fire hoses directly into the tree’s canopy, directing the nozzles where others couldn’t reach. When firefighters on the ground turned the water on full blast, Castro could feel the ropes tighten under the strain. He warned the onlookers below to step back. As water surged into the flame-filled cavity, one of the knots on the trunk looked ready to burst. “I hollered at them, ‘Get out!’” Castro recalls. A jet of water and flame and debris suddenly exploded from the trunk. “It pushed that great knot out of the trunk of the tree, blew it on down to the ground.” Castro was soaking wet by the time he set foot on solid land around 9.30 that night, more than 12 hours later. But the flames had been defeated. The chief ranger on site handed Castro a beer. Castro quickly downed it and proceeded to drink another. Right then and there, he took a vow: “I’m not going to ever climb this tree again.” The tree miraculously survived. So did the grove. And the name Castro would become inextricably linked with their legacy... ( The Guardian, September 2023 )  The ranger told us most of this story and near the end of the tale, a somewhat short, average looking man was walking by, and the Ranger pointed him out and said that’s Charlie Castro. The tale that we had just heard was powerful but then meeting the man himself left an indelible mark right here. Oh, it’s a hard knock life for so many people in this world and the heroes are the ones who risk their own lives to bring beauty and hope to others. Jesus knew that stories and tales and even bread and water are no substitute to meeting the people of God whose bravery and courage and grit help you to see what truly is valuable in life. On that day I learned about the ancient beauty of an amazing tree but even more what a person can do when they find that pearl of great price and risk their life to protect it. Charlie is a hero; he climbed into a fire and saved a tree. Jesus is our Lord, for he climbed a cross and saved us all.