The Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel

09/23/2024

https://youtu.be/pR3DYh1C8rU

Worship for the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 22 September 2024, the first Sunday in the Season of Creation, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chape...

09/16/2024

https://youtu.be/SpGemQgsDiU

Worship for the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, 15 September 2024, the first Sunday in the Season of Creation, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chap...

09/09/2024

https://youtu.be/rPPjMwOWvF8

Worship for the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 8 September 2024, the first Sunday in the Season of Creation, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel,...

09/02/2024

https://youtu.be/kFXAhsuy7Bk

Worship for the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 1 September 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, som...

08/26/2024

https://youtu.be/-o4q9lI7zpE

Worship for the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 25 August 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, some...

08/19/2024

https://youtu.be/ggTFZkvFC4k

Worship for the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 18 August 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, some...

08/11/2024

https://youtu.be/ivTbE-lNy84

Worship for the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, 11 August 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, some ga...

08/04/2024

https://youtu.be/YIOHSEBTj70

07/29/2024

The recording for worship yesterday, 28 July, didn't save to a place where I could access it, and so I cannot share it with you or the world. Here is the sermon.

2 Kings 4:8-44
All she wanted was to be nice to this holy man who walked past her house every so often. She could have stopped with pleasantly waving when he walked by, or she could have shown customary hospitality by serving him just one lunch of just one dish. But she went out of her way, she gave him a place to stop on his journeys, for no reason but kindness. She’d be a good Christian, but nobody would be a good Christian for another 900 years.
Elisha was grateful, even if he assumed, like a childless man, that she must really want a child. But she loved her son, even if she never imagined wanting one, and she couldn’t bear to lose him. And the whole story turned when she said to Elisha what he said to his mentor long ago: “As GOD lives and you yourself live, I will not leave.” Elisha was losing the most important person in his world when he said that. Elisha was opening himself up for a life-giving miracle when he said that. Elisha’s own name was wrapped up in that.
Those words, which Elisha used to receive grace, now inspired him to give grace. He went with the woman who had been so generous to him. He didn’t just say something or send someone. He put his own flesh and breath and sweat in, and the result was life. And the result was generosity toward the company of the prophets that he’d never shown before, granting life to them, or at least fixing their mess in the stew. And the result was God’s abundance on display, all because she wanted to do something nice.
When we look out for one another, we release God’s grace, abundance, and new life. The smallest, simplest act of kindness can lead to another and then to another, and then to new life and renewed life and God’s abundance. The jars and cans and packages of food we bring, the camp scholarships and aide packages, the times we look in on neighbors and share grace with friends, all let God’s love into our world.
And so, in a world where hate and hopelessness seem so very strong, we must be more kind. We must share and welcome and live like prophets, always calling people to justice and repentance and the reign of God, building bigger tables, not higher walls. This is our job, not just with what we can easily spare, but, as Elisha learned, with every bit of strength and effort we have. Elisha’s name means, “GOD Lives,” and people would see that was true wherever he went. May people see that wherever we are, as we bring God’s life and love to the last and the least.

07/21/2024

https://youtu.be/VAEglC1lrRo

Worship for the ninth Sunday after Pentecost, 21 July 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, some gather...

07/15/2024

https://youtu.be/u5K3QxrQFXY

Worship for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost, 14 July 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, some gathe...

07/08/2024

https://youtu.be/Trwm0fmUAuU

Worship for the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, 7 July 2024, with the Presbyterian Church at Peace Chapel, located in North Brunswick, New Jersey, some gathe...