Grace Presbyterian Church

08/30/2026

08/28/2026

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08/28/2026

Jesus was a storyteller. He used stories, what we call parables, to teach about the Kingdom of God. This week we are looking at four short stories Jesus told. So, just what is the kingdom of God like? Well, this week it’s like mustard seeds, yeast, hidden treasure, and fine pearls (Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46).

I’ve spent a significant part of my ministry teaching and preaching that God is big. God is bigger than our fears and problems; higher than any power that might try to challenge God’s rule and reign; larger than any chasm between us; grander and so full of life that even death must give way. A song I have often taught classes of preschool chapel goes like this: "My God is big, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. He made the rivers; He made the oceans; the stars are his handiwork too. My God is big, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do." God is correctly called The Almighty.

But have you ever thought about God being small? Small like a mustard seed, almost imperceptible like yeast in dough, hidden like a treasure in a field, or looking for just one valuable thing? God is small enough to know each one of us, to love each one of us, and to care about the tiny details of our lives. “Even the hairs on our heads are numbered by God,” Jesus assures us (Matthew 10:30). I wonder how much we miss because we are only looking for God in the big things. Oswald Chambers wrote, “What makes God so clear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us – He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.” Isn’t that amazing? Special? Wonderful? Or do we take it for granted or miss it altogether?

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am as we enthusiastically worship our small God!

Philippians 1:3,
Tracey

08/21/2026

Jesus was a storyteller. He used stories, what we call parables, to teach about the Kingdom of God. So just what is the kingdom of God like? Well, this week it’s like wheat and w**ds growing together in a field (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). The farm workers wonder where the w**ds came from, for they sowed good seed. They want to pull the w**ds out. The landowner tells them to wait – wait until harvest time. It is only then that the w**ds will be collected and burned, and the wheat gathered into the barn.

Who are the wheat? And who are the w**ds? Which one am I? Those are the obvious questions. The parable may be about Jesus and his adversaries. It may be an allegory about the church. Or it may be about the end times. Whenever it applies, we have a human preoccupation with drawing lines between who is “in” and who is “out.” I wonder why we are so anxious to do that? And why does the landowner ask the workers to wait until the very end? Wouldn’t it be better to w**d more often?

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am as we enthusiastically worship our holy, magnificent God!

Philippians 1:3,
Tracey

08/14/2026

Jesus was a storyteller. He used stories to teach about the Kingdom of God. We call them parables. He taught in stories because the kingdom of God is so wonderful, so far beyond what we can imagine, its truth has to be described in this creative way. A dull PowerPoint presentation just won’t do it justice. A bland lecture will misrepresent its magnificence. A checklist will lack the vivid colors of this kingdom.

So just what is the kingdom of God like? Well, it’s like a sower sowing seeds in a field (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). The seeds fall on all different kinds of soil. Some miss the soil completely and fall on a path. Others fall on rocky or thorny ground. And some seeds fall upon good soil and are able to grow.

Clear? As mud. Not everyone understands parables. Thankfully, this is one Jesus later explains to his disciples. The obvious question from Jesus’ explanation is what kind of soil am I? But there are other questions as well. Are we always either useless or fertile soil? And why in the world does the Sower waste so much seed where it can’t even grow?

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am as we enthusiastically worship our amazing and wonderful God!

Philippians 1:3,
Tracey

Painting: "Starlight Sower" by Hai Knafo

08/07/2026

We finish our sermon series Real People, Real Faith: Stories of God’s People from the Book of Genesis with the end of the story of Joseph (Genesis 45:1-15). As hard and as violent as Genesis gets at times, and as much deceit, injustice, and jealousy this story contains, the final chapters are beautiful. Joseph, now second only to Pharoah in power, is visited by his brothers – the same brothers who sold him into slavery and told their father he was dead. They are in search of grain during worldwide famine and meet with Joseph to ask for help, unaware that he is their brother.

Joseph had a choice at this point. He could have had them all killed. He could have refused to give them any grain and let them starve to death. Instead, after testing their motives, he gives them the grain they need. Joseph forgives and reconciles with his brothers. Then, he relocates his whole family to Egypt so that he can care well for them.

I wonder why, in a culture that accepted revenge and retaliation as the norm, would Joseph choose forgiveness and reconciliation? Does Joseph understand, like Marc Klemp described in his devotional, that faith “means trusting that whatever comes – whether joyful, difficult, expected, or uncertain – is part of a larger purpose of God that we may not yet understand?” I wonder what Jesus would advise in our culture and situations?

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am as we enthusiastically worship our gracious and loving God!

Philippians 1:3,
Tracey

07/24/2026

We continue in our sermon series Real People, Real Faith: Stories of God’s People from the Book of Genesis with the beginning of the story of Joseph (Genesis 37). He was the firstborn of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel, who died in childbirth bearing another son, Benjamin. Jacob was not shy about expressing his favor for Joseph and so he made him a “coat of many colors” – a special robe that set him apart from his brothers.

We remember the “coat of many colors” from Sunday School or from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: It was red and yellow and green and brown; and scarlet and black and ochre and peach; and ruby and olive and violet and fawn; and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve; and cream and crimson and silver and rose; and azure and lemon and russet and grey; and purple and white and pink and orange and blue. You also might remember that because of this special coat, Jospeh’s brothers hated him. Along with his dreams of greatness, this coat was enough for them to justify harming their half-brother and deceiving their father.

Do you see any bad themes running all through Genesis? Deceit? Sibling rivalry? Jealously? Murder? Unhealthy relationships? What are we to learn from this story full of flawed people and evil plans? Sometimes we learn more from a negative example than a positive one. Is history doomed to repeat itself over and over, full of lies and violence? Surely this is not what God desires in human relationships. Can we learn from this ancient story to be together in loving and healthy ways?

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am as we enthusiastically worship our good and faithful God!

Philippians 1:3,
Tracey