http://www.floridapresbyterianchurch.org/

Florida Presbyterian Church, 1 North Main Street, Florida, NY (2026)

09/02/2026

Back to School Blessing

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. Psalm 111:10

The new school year is almost upon us. I like back to school time. For one thing, it means that fall (my favorite time of year) is just around the corner. But even more, I realize how much of my life has revolved around the school year. From kindergarten through high school, the year was not defined by the calendar, January to December, but by the school schedule. When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for the start of summer vacation, and by the middle of August I couldn’t wait for the start of the new school year. To be honest, I’m not sure how much I was motivated by a love of learning and how much I was motivated by a love of new school supplies. To this day, it’s hard for me to walk past store displays of marble notebooks, pens, and lunch boxes without being tempted to fill my shopping cart. And it’s not even like I have a use for them. After high school, I went to college for four years. My first career was as a teacher. I left teaching to raise a family, and for nearly twenty years had at least one son in school. And just when the last one was in his last year, I went to seminary. That’s a lot my life lived in the rhythm of school buses and class schedules and term papers and field trips and school vacations. Wisdom is a theme that runs through the Bible. Biblical wisdom is not necessarily about learning a set of facts, but practical knowledge in living a life that follows God’s guidelines. Wisdom begins with knowing who God is and what God desires from his people. As schools prepare to open their doors again, as students get ready for another school year, keep them in your prayers. Our students today face challenges I never dreamed of. At our church in Florida, we pray a blessing over students, teachers, and staff at the beginning of every school year. Join us in praying for our schools.

Gracious God, we lift these students to you today. They stand here ready to receive your blessings and they commit themselves to study and learning in the school year ahead. We ask your blessing on each of them. Be ever-present with them in the classroom, on the school bus, on the playground, and at home, and may they feel your loving care in all they do. We ask your blessing on their backpacks. They will hold the school work of each student. As these students carry their backpacks, may they be reminded of the love and care of this congregation that surrounds them each school day. We are all called to support, encourage, and pray for the children who are members of the fellowship we all share with Christ Jesus. We pray for the teachers, administrators, and support staff in our schools. May they also be sustained by your blessing. Lord God, bless all the people you have gathered here today. Especially bless them as they support, protect, and encourage the children among us. May they, with the children, be both teachers and learners. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

08/26/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
As Time Goes By

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8

Sometimes it feels like time gets stuck in the summer. Day after day is hot: hot and humid, hot and dry, hot and rainy. Even though the days have been getting shorter little by little since the summer solstice in June it’s not noticeable for a while. It feels like each day is the same as the day before. I look forward to fall with its crisp, cool air and colorful leaves. I want pumpkin pie. I want to wear a sweatshirt. And yet, imperceptibly, without me noticing, time goes by. The birds are quiet now in the mornings. When did that happen and how did I miss it? The robins and warblers are mostly gone. The male cardinal is a pale shadow of his spring glory. The fields are full of late summer vegetables, the apple trees are heavy with fruit, and the harvest is nearly here. Fall has been creeping up on me, while I was looking the other way. While fall is my favorite time of year, it does have a bittersweet, transitory quality about it. It is a reminder that nothing created is eternal. I love the sights and sounds and smells and tastes of fall. But the glory of autumn is a fleeting glory. I anticipate it for months every year, and when it finally comes, it is all too quickly gone. With each passing year I feel more deeply the need to savor the season. You never know when a storm will come and blow down all the beautiful leaves, or which ear of fresh corn is the last of the season. It reminds me, on the one hand, to appreciate and be thankful for each small delight. There are a multitude of opportunities to be thankful every day. The transitory nature of the season is also a reminder to keep the eternal in view. As the prophet Isaiah says, grass and flowers come and go, but the word of our God stands forever. God is eternal, unchanging, and utterly dependable. The grass withers, the leaves fall, the colors fade, but God remains the same. God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s care and provision, God’s power, and all of God’s attributes are fresh and new season after season, year after year. There is something bittersweet and ephemeral about the beauty of autumn. There is something solid and trustworthy about God. Enjoy the beauty of the season while it lasts. Be grateful for God’s good gifts. And keep the Eternal as your solid, reliable foundation.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifest witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Great is thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness;
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand has provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

08/19/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
The Potter’s Hands

“Can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.” Jeremiah 18:6

Months after the fires that devastated California in January 2025, Suze Schwartz returned to what had been her home. Wearing a hazmat suit, she started digging through the ash and metal and charred ruins to see if anything had survived the disaster. Nothing. No furniture, no appliances, not even walls. None of the things that Suze had thought were solid and permanent. Then she saw the edge of something sticking out of the soot. She bent down, picked it up, and realized it was a salad bowl from her wedding china. How? She wondered. How did china survive when walls didn’t? China is only made out of clay. The cupboard the china had been stored in was gone, along with the rest of the dining room. Yet altogether, 12 bowls survived. Suze has them mounted on a wall in her new home now. They aren’t like new anymore; they have a story. They show the marks of their experience in the fire. In a sort of living parable, Jeremiah visits a potter’s workshop and observes the process of clay becoming a pot through the work of the potter’s hands. The Lord tells Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house where he will receive a further message. It was a regular feature of a prophet’s ministry to find the word of the Lord in the simple events of everyday life. The potter’s house, which contained both workshop and living quarters, was a common sight in the ancient Near East. Clay pots and dishes were used for eating, cooking, and storage. Jeremiah watches the potter working at his wheel. As the wheel spins, the potter uses his hands to shape the pot. But something about the pot displeases the potter, so he starts over and shapes a new pot. Potters make different kinds of vessels, and the quality of the clay determines what the potter can do with it and what the purpose of his work will be. If the pot isn’t coming out right, the potter can make something else from the same clay, but it won’t be the pot he hoped for. Like the potter and his clay, God is fashioning human lives. God will form and reform the same clay until he is satisfied. The Potter is not playing with the clay; it is serious work. There is an intended purpose for each vessel. The Potter has a serious investment in his product. The Potter molds and makes and remakes each pot with his own hands. It is very personal. There is nothing mass-produced about the potter’s work. Each pot is made with love. God has a purpose in creating each individual. God has already transformed his children through the work of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Hearts are remade every day. Jesus’ disciples continually become more like their Master. It is a hint of the power of the age to come. It is God’s intention to completely remake and restore all that is broken in creation, and to make an entirely new humanity. The new creation to come is solely God’s idea. God did not take a poll on what new shape the marred pot should take. God will return all of creation to its original goodness and purpose. The Potter is in charge. The pot is his possession to do with as he pleases. The new vessel is entirely his vision and his work. Even when life burns us or cracks us into pieces, we are not forever broken. The Potter will put us back together piece by piece. But the Potter, no matter how skilled, cannot make or remake a lump of clay that is never put into his hands. Am I a pliable lump of clay in the Potter’s hands? If I let God shape me, he will mold me into something beautiful and useful to him. Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.

08/12/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
Going Home

God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men. Ecclesiastes 3:10-11

There is something about this time of year that seems to bring about a wave of nostalgia for me. I feel a little homesick for the village where I grew up. I remember my elementary school and the playground where I spent many hours. I can take a mental walk down Mohawk Avenue, the main business street in the village. I long to visit Wakker’s Bakery and get a fresh-out-of-the-oven loaf of rice bread. I never knew what the “rice” in the name referred to; it was a wonderful white bread with a crisp crunchy outer crust and if you got there at the right time of day when the loaves were coming out of the oven and took it right home and buttered the still-warm slices, there was nothing like it. The bakery was next door to Swire’s Department Store, which carried appliances, hardware, house wares, toys, and even some clothing. It was a shopper’s paradise, at least to 11-year-old me. The Twin Freeze was just down the road, the best (and only) ice cream place in town. Over the years, I have often gone back to drive around the village and see what has changed. Well, as they say, you can’t go home anymore. Wakker’s is long gone; so is Swire’s. Twin Freeze remains, and is still hugely popular in the summer. But even what is the same is somehow different, because I am different. I don’t belong there any more. When I first started making these sentimental journeys, I thought I was homesick for a place. Seeing the old familiar sights, and the new ones, would put me in touch with my past and I would head home feeling refreshed. As I grew older, I began to understand I wasn’t homesick so much for a place, as for as time. In my memory, the village is frozen somewhere in the mid 1960’s. More recently, I’ve come to understand that when I visit my old village, I am not visiting real memories but an idealized version of the past that never really was. As strange and contradictory as it sounds, I think what I am really homesick for is not the past but the future. Hebrews 11: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place that he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went…for he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose builder and architect is God.” When I am homesick, it not for places I have been, but for the place where I am going. God never meant for us to be completely at home in this world, although there are moments of great happiness along the journey. God has set eternity in our hearts, and nothing temporal can fully satisfy. We are bound for heaven, and we will only be at home when we are in our Father’s house (see John 14). Nostalgic pilgrimages are alright, for there is value in appreciating our past and learning from it. But we can’t get stuck there or we lose our longing for our future hope.

This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through,
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
O Lord, You know I have no friend like You,
If heaven’s not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. (Anonymous)

08/05/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
Deep Roots

Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. Jeremiah 17:7-8

Between January 7 and January 31, 2025, a series of 14 wildfires devastated metropolitan Los Angeles, San Diego County, and the surrounding areas. The fires were made worse by severe drought conditions, low humidity, and strong winds. By the time the blaze was fully contained on January 31, the fires had claimed 31 lives, burned over 57,000 acres, destroyed 18,000 homes and forced over 200,000 people to evacuate. Douglas Kent, a landscape artist, toured a charred LA neighborhood after the fire. Kent was surprised, and a little shocked, by what he found. Next to melted cars and burned-out buildings were trees, alive and green. Many of them had green leaves or lush palms, with strong trunks and branches. Some even bore fruit. How did they stay green when everything around them was ruined? After two consecutive rainy winters, the trees’ roots had reached deep into the soil to draw life-giving water, carrying it to the branches and leaves. When the fires came, these trees were able to withstand the heat. “What I saw,” said Kent, “was that if you were deep-rooted you survived.” Jeremiah compared the person who trusts in God to a tree with deep roots. Those who trust in God walk the path of blessedness and security. They acknowledge God as Lord and surrender to God’s ways. The Lord is the focal point of their confidence. They rely on God in all matters of life. They have deep roots drinking continually from the river of life. They don’t wait for a drought to come to send out roots. They are always actively sending their roots deeper; they aren’t passively waiting to see if they might need deep roots someday. When the heat and the drought come, they stand firm, with their leaves still green and their branches bearing fruit. They are the trees that can survive even the LA wildfires. The tree by the water may experience drought at some time, but it will outlast the dry spell and continue to thrive. It has roots which reach deeply into the soil and find life-giving water. Real hope and assurance belong to those who acknowledge the true God. Lives rooted in the source of life bear fruit. The way to a fruitful life in God is through obedience and trust. The heart that hopes in the Lord will be blessed. Deep roots will draw life from the spring of living water. The heart that hopes in God does not fear the heat or the drought. Their roots will go down deep and the heart will be refreshed. Psalm 36 says, In God is the fountain of life; we feast in the abundance of his house and drink in his river of delights. And David’s beloved shepherd Psalm 23 says, he leads me beside the quiet waters; he restores my soul. We all go through dry times in our spiritual walk. Tough times could leave us with a parched perspective, but as we set our spiritual roots deep in Christ and his love, we find that if we are deep-rooted, we will survive. Well-watered trees are resistant to the effects of drought and heat. There is no secret to sending down roots. God does not hide from us. God is found in prayer, in Bible reading, and in fellowship with other believers. God is found in the times of joy, in the difficult times, and in all the everyday moments in between. God is found all along the journey and is himself the destination. Our security, stability, faithfulness, and fruitfulness are rooted in our trust in God, and nothing else. Don’t wait until the drought comes to send your roots deep down into the source of eternal life.

07/29/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
Corn and Tomatoes

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ… Ephesians 3:17-18

In this area of the Hudson Valley we are blessed with an abundance of farms, orchards, and vineyards, and the farm stands that go along with it. I’ve lived most of my life either here or in the Capital District area of New York, so farms and orchards are just part of the way life is. But a few years ago, while visiting my sister in Texas, I gained a new appreciation for what we have. I asked her one day if there was anything she missed about living in New York (she’s lived in Texas for over 40 years now). Without missing a beat she answered, “Corn and tomatoes.” It seems that while Texas has a longer growing season than we do, the vegetables grown there are lacking in flavor. Perhaps there is something essential missing in the soil. I think about what my sister said every time I go to one of our local farm markets and come home with fresh sweet corn, sun-ripened tomatoes, green squash, crisp lettuce, and fragrant herbs. I think about roots and soil. A healthy plant that bears good fruit has to have strong, healthy roots planted in rich, fertile soil. The roots reach down deep into the soil and feed the plant. It’s no accident that the Bible often pictures our life in Christ in agricultural images. Jesus told his disciples a parable about the vine and the branches (see John 15). Jesus himself is the vine, an outgrowth of the root, which brings life to the branches so they can bear plump, sweet grapes. Disciples are the branches, connected so closely to the vine that you can’t always tell where the vine ends and the branch begins. Detached from the vine, the branches have no life. In Ephesians, Paul says that we are rooted in the immeasurable love of Christ. We are fed and nourished by divine love as our roots go deeper and deeper into Christ. But to produce good fruit, healthy roots need fertile soil with abundant nutrients. Our “soil” is time spent in the Word and prayer, time spent in worship, and time spent in fellowship with other believers. Our soil is what nurtures our soul. Images of our relationship with God are literally all around us this time of year. Next time you visit your local farm stand, picture yourself as a thriving plant, rooted deeply in the fertile soil of God’s great love, producing abundant fruit. And enjoy the blessing.

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth over and around us lies,
Lord of all to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.
Folliet S. Pierpont, 1864

07/22/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
Door of Humility

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is the traditional site of the birth of Jesus. The first church was built there in 339 A.D., and was rebuilt after a fire in the 6th century. The site has grown from its original single structure to include several convents, additional churches, bell towers and terraced gardens. It has been a destination of pilgrimage for centuries. A pilgrimage, very simply, is a spiritual journey. A pilgrim travels to a location that is important to their beliefs. Visiting a sacred space allows you to touch and see symbols of your faith and connect personally with the sacred site. A pilgrimage is a journey of faith, with the goal of personal transformation. Pope Benedict said: “To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendor and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.” To enter the Church of the Nativity, a pilgrim must pass through the Door of Humility. The doorway is less than five feet high, and most adults have to stoop to enter. It is meant to be a reminder that we must humble ourselves in order to approach God. The church surrounds, and provides a view of, the cave where Jesus is said to have been born. Here is the real model of humility. Jesus came from heaven to earth, from eternal glory to human flesh. When God entered creation, there was no fanfare. There wasn’t even a room available for his birth. The King of Kings was not wrapped in royal purple, but in swaddling cloths. Jesus did not grow up in a palace, but in a carpenter’s house. When he began his public ministry, he had no home of his own, but traveled from place to place, staying wherever someone would welcome him. Jesus took the nature of a servant and dwelt among us as one of us. His feet were dusty and his hands were calloused. He became hungry, thirsty, and tired. If the goal of our spiritual journey is to encounter God where he has revealed himself, this is where we begin. We have to humble ourselves, stoop low to come close to God. God has always had a heart for the poor and humble rather than the rich and the proud. Bending down as we enter God’s presence is a reminder that we are graciously invited, not entitled. Humility does not come easily to any of us; it goes against the grain of our human nature. It is all too easy to make the mistake of equating humility with weakness. Jesus was humble, but he was never weak. His death on the cross broke the stranglehold of sin and death on the human race and made approaching the throne of God a reality for God’s people. Our lives on earth are a sort of pilgrimage. We are always encountering God along the way. When we come to the Door of Humility, may we not hesitate, but bow down to enter the presence of the Almighty.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

07/15/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
Born for This

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah 1:5

If you were going to choose someone to do an important job, how would you choose them? Would they have to have the best educational background, be a picture of health, and exude charisma, or would they simply have to be able to do the job? I heard the story of a man who went to a pet store in search of a canary. Seems he was a bachelor and his house was too quiet. The store owner had just the bird for him, so the man bought it. The next day the bachelor came home from work to a house full of music. He went to the cage to feed the bird and noticed for the first time that the canary had only one leg. He felt cheated that he’d been sold a one-legged bird, so he called the store to complain. “What do you want,” the store owner responded. “A bird that can sing or a bird that can dance?” “Before you were born, I set you apart,” God says. God knows our beginnings. God sets us apart and dedicates us to the work of his kingdom. The call comes from God, often when we aren’t even listening for a call. God chooses us because he loves us, and not for any talent or skill we may have. We feel overwhelmed. Who, me? I’m too young. I’m too old. I’m not impressive. I’m a one-legged bird. God reassures us. I am with you. It’s not about what you can do, but about what God can do. God says four things that tell us how much God values us. God says, I formed you. We are more than biology. We are created by God, in his image. Our lives have eternal value because we are created by the Eternal God. Our birth is not our real beginning, and our death is not really the end. How you live between the two will count for eternity. God says, I know you. From the moment we were first held in our mother’s arms, there were larger arms holding us. God the Father knows each one of his beloved children and loves them beyond measure. God says, I set you apart. God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. We have been set apart for something sacred. We have been called to be God’s people. And God says, I appointed you. God gives each one of us a particular ministry, a task to perform, a purpose in his kingdom. Every Christian has a call. Your primary call is to be a disciple, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ and a light to a dark world. You also have a call to a unique place in God’s kingdom, a place only you can fill. Your call is part of who you are meant to be—it will express your truest self. Somewhere there is an intersection of who you are—your personality, gifts, talents, skills, passions—and a need in the church or in the world. Find that intersection and you’ve found your call. Your call may seem risky, even impossible. God doesn’t necessarily call you to something you can do on your own, but to something that ensures that you have to rely on God’s power and know it’s God’s work. With God, nothing is impossible. God is the author of our lives and the one who shapes our destinies. We make excuses; God takes our hesitation and gives us courage. When God calls, he equips. God comes alongside. God says, I created you, I know you, I set you apart, I appointed you. You were born for this. If you don’t think you can make a difference in the kingdom, think again. Don’t judge your significance by how old or young you are, how impressive you are, or by what you can or can’t do—God looks at the heart. Keep pressing into him, going deeper and being transformed into his likeness. Be a person after God’s own heart. You are touching more lives than you’ll ever know this side of eternity. You have a call. You have a place in the kingdom no one else can fill. You were born for this.

07/09/2026

From the Pastor’s Desk
Bluebirds

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”(Matthew 6:26)

There are times when life seems to flow along smoothly, like water in a quiet river. Other times, life’s journey feels more like white-water rafting. When I begin to feel overwhelmed, it is time to head outside and reconnect with my heavenly Father. There is something calming about getting outside. The perspective is so much larger than my own four walls. Fresh air, blue sky, distant scenery; it all reminds me of our faithful Creator. On a recent beautiful day I had the opportunity to walk in a large park bordering the Hudson. The sparkling river and the mountains in the background encouraged me to “lift my eyes to the hills” and remember that “my help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121) But what really caught my attention was the birds. There were bluebird houses along the path, and at least four of them had bluebirds nesting in them (a few others had swallows). As I watched, the male bluebird (who is a beautiful creature) would fly out over the field, and then drop to the ground. He would reappear a moment later with a succulent caterpillar or something in his beak and bring it back to the nest. In an almost ceremonial way, he would offer the tasty treat to the female bluebird incubating her eggs inside. It made me think back to when I was a teenager many decades ago. The bluebird had become rather rare due to the overuse of pesticides. In fact, the only one I ever saw was a stuffed one in a museum. My Dad had two friends who put up bluebird houses every spring. They never had a resident. They continued to put up houses every year. Whether this was because they were devoted to bluebirds or because of the hours they spent in the local bar afterwards is hard to say. But in the decades since that time, the pesticides have decreased and the bluebirds have increased. I wish my Dad and his friends could see them. It is God renewing his creation. And as I look around and see the evidence of the Creator’s hand in all that is created, and the evidence of God’s sustaining care for all he has made, I too am renewed. Nothing has changed when I leave that field and return to “normal” life. But I have met with God and seen his work and I am encouraged. The same heavenly Father who takes care of the bluebirds takes care of me.

“When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze; Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art!”

07/01/2026

Prayer For Our Country
Almighty God,
Ruler of all the peoples of the earth,
forgive our shortcomings as a nation,
purify our hearts to see and love the truth,
give wisdom to our leaders,
and steadfastness to our people,
and bring us at last
to that fair city of peace
whose foundations are mercy,
justice, and goodwill,
of which you are the designer and builder;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
By Woodrow Wilson

Florida Presbyterian Church

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