NORTH ALABAMA PRESBYTERY (PCUSA), PO Box 6, Somerville, AL (2026)

09/07/2026

Our weekly inspiration from our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps..

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Monday, September 7, 2026

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Most of us spend our lives trying to figure out what to do with Jesus.

In calling us to faith and discipleship, Jesus invites us into one of the most intimate relationships we will ever know. Understandably, most of us tend to guard our most intimate relationships, keeping them close and private. Our relationship with Jesus is different; it must become a part of our public persona—it must be what the world sees when it sees us.

In today’s encounter in the Temple recorded in the Gospel of John, some Hebrews had grown impatient with Jesus’ public ministry. They wanted him to say, once and for all, who he is and what he is about. He responds that he has done that, and they are unable to hear it. His sheep, he insists, hear what he says and believe it.

Many people continue to be confused about who Jesus is and what he is all about. People have twisted his teaching to conform to their own understandings for generations. Most preachers have had the same experience I’ve had: standing at the door after worship greeting those who attended when someone comments on how meaningful something in the sermon was to them only to struggle to remember saying what the person thought he heard. The Hebrews looked to Jesus to affirm what they believed and bring others to their way of thinking. Many still want Jesus to do the same thing today—just tell people the way we believe and practice is what you want and draw them to us.

It is, of course, rarely that simple.

Faithful living involves a lot more listening than talking. We follow Jesus because he speaks the truth. When we know the truth, it will change our lives. Our changed lives will then change the world. Thanks be to God!

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

08/31/2026

Starting your Morning off right with our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps Connections:

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Monday, August 31, 2026

Acts 11:23-34 When he (Barnabas) came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.

The Church can fall prey to the same kind of division and discord that characterizes many other organizations and institutions in our culture. We can also rise above those things. As in many other areas, the Scripture offers us examples and guidance.

Early in the life of the Church, persecution became a threat. Everywhere early Christians and their leaders turned, they found opposition. From without and within, many opposed efforts to include Gentiles in the Church. Others resisted other activities that were considered new and different. After the martyrdom of Stephen, some early Church leaders decided to play it safe and stay among Hebrews. Support for the early Christian Church was not universal among Hebrews, of course, but some thought at least they would know the source of their opposition.

The Gospel will not be contained, however. Even under threat of misunderstanding and worse, some extended their proclamation of Good News to Gentiles and met with success. Many new believers, both Hebrew and Gentile, came to faith. Lives were changed. Hearts were transformed.

When word of this reached the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas, not one of the original twelve followers of Jesus, but a respected leader and encourager in the Early Church, to observe and report on what was happening. When Barnabas saw that the primary thing that was happening was the proclamation of Good News and the transformation of lives and hearts, he rejoiced and encouraged leaders in Antioch to continue their ministry.

Hopefully, we can learn from his example to encourage one another, even when our ministries may not all be the same. Even in a small Presbytery like ours, we experience a variety of expressions of our faith. One of the joys of my job is getting to experience the diversity that defines us. We all have our own preferences of music, liturgical form, and other ways to worship. Other than a focus on Jesus and his love and grace, there are very few absolute requirements for how we express our faith in worship. We follow a Directory for Worship with general guidelines and suggestions instead of prescribed orders. I notice both similarities and differences as I worship with you and as I see bulletins and other worship orders online. All of them are faithful when they focus on Jesus. All of them are helpful when they address the hurts and the joys people bring to worship with them.

Like Barnabas, I am happy to say, “Keep doing what you’re doing!” Lives are being changed. Hearts are being transformed. People are finding grace to help in time of need. You know what comes next: Thanks be to God!

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

08/24/2026

Our weekly inspiration from our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, August 24, 2026

Acts 9:21 All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?

Imagine if Paul and others in the Early Church had had the internet among the resources they used to spread the Gospel! I wonder how that might have changed the course of human history.

One thing for sure, people were suspicious of Paul when he came to their towns. Even with limited communication options, people heard how he had worked to eradicate the young Christian movement and prevent its witness. Imagine people’s reactions when that same guy showed up in their communities preaching and teaching about Jesus as God’s revelation! Imagine if the internet had been around streaming his hateful talk even faster than the grapevine could.

People were wise to be suspicious of him. In time, they discovered the sincerity of his witness, but it took a while for him to earn people’s trust.

Each of us has opportunity to witness to the presence and power of Jesus in our lives. We would do well to earn the trust of those we seek to share grace with before we start making demands of them. Faith sharing works best in the context of trusting relationships. Asking a stranger about the condition of his spirit is not helpful. Getting to know someone. Sharing life experiences with someone. Being there with someone in good times and other times. Those are the ways we earn the privilege of sharing faith with them.

I doubt that any of us have the issues to overcome Paul did. But directive, impersonal assaults on someone’s experience will not give us much opportunity to share God’s gifts of grace with them. We all know someone who needs God’s grace. Some of them will be able to hear about it from us. What a privilege.

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

08/17/2026

Weekly inspiration from our North Alabama Executive Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, August 17, 2026

Psalm 112:7 They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.

I’m thinking about a departed friend of mine today. She died several years ago in her nineties. I knew her for about the last forty years of her life. I am thankful for her memory. The thing I remember most about her was her steady, faithful demeanor. I never knew her to be foolish or capricious. When I sat around a table of leaders that included her, she was always steady and had meaningful, helpful things to contribute to our discussion. When I worshiped with her, which I regret that I didn’t get to do often enough, she was always attentive and usually wanted to talk about what we heard when it was over. When we were together just for the fun of it, she was always affirming and positive in her outlook. When illness took its toll, she never grumbled, but endured with patience I’m not sure I’ll ever have. She was one of the most inspiring people I have ever known.

If you page through the calendar, you will figure out that we were friends in some pretty tumultuous times. Lots of people who sat around those tables with us, worshiped with us, and had fun with us expressed a wide range of feelings and emotions during those times. Some of them were angry sometimes. Some of them were silly. Some of them were both at the same time. But not my friend. Steady as a rock.

The Psalmist talks about faithful people as I remember my friend. “They are not afraid of evil tidings;” he writes, “their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.”

As I remember my friend, I’m promising to try to be more like her. I don’t like a lot I hear when I turn on the news these days. But, remembering and being thankful for her, I’m trying to be steady, to depend on God to guide us as God has promised. I know he will. And I’m hopeful that my attitude will demonstrate what I know.

Grace and Peace,
Bob

08/10/2026

Inspiration from our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev.Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, August 10, 2026

Psalm 145:4 One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

I try not to use this space to share personal opinions or news, but I guess I’ll make an exception this week.

On Wednesday, Deanna and I will become grandparents for the second time. Many of you know that Riley Jo, our three-year-old granddaughter, brings much joy to our lives. We weren’t sure we were going to be grandparents. Our older son is single and lives with a disability, so there will likely not be children there. Our younger son and his wife waited seven years after they married to bring Riley Jo into the world. That makes us pretty old grandparents, but we have adapted well to the role. Riley Jo will have a little brother, Sawyer Graham, this week.

Sawyer is already a lucky little boy. His parents will take him to church when he’s ready to be out among people. His entire family is faithful in one branch of the Christian family or another, and all of us want to see him grow up to be faithful, too. We have all prayed for him for months as we have waited for him to come, and we will continue to pray for him when he arrives among us. We will all find ways to help him learn about God’s love for him, and we’ll help him learn that that love can provide a solid foundation for his life.

We have no idea, of course, what his interests will be or what he’ll grow up to be, but whether he’s an engineer like his mom, a word freak like his dad and granddad, or a musician like his grandma, we want him to glorify God in his life in meaningful ways.

I got to baptize Riley Jo. Now that they’re United Methodists, I’m not sure whether that will happen with Sawyer or not. We’ll see. But we’ll be there when it happens, whoever does it, and we’ll try to be the ones to give him his first Bible and to share its stories with him as he grows.

That’s all a part of what it means for one generation to laud God’s good works to another. I know many of you do the same things with your own children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I’m thankful. I’m thankful for the faithful things that people who cared about me shared with me when I was a child, although my beliefs today are much different than what I learned early. I’ll try hard to share faithful stories with Sawyer (like we do with Riley Jo) and let God communicate with him through them. My job is not to indoctrinate him, but to surround him with God’s faithful and never-ending love. That love will help him become who God is already calling him to be. I hope he’ll listen for that call and ground his life, whatever it turns out to be, in it.

Thanks for letting an old man dream about important things this week. I’ll let you know when he’s here.

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

08/03/2026

Our weekly inspiration from our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, August 3, 2026

John 1: 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

One of the things that comes with living in a Western, capitalistic culture like ours seems to be discontent. Someone always appears to have more than we do: bigger houses, newer cars, designer labels. Too many of us spend way too much energy trying to keep up. It’s easy to let that kind of thinking creep into our spiritual understanding of who we are. Like some of our Hebrew Scripture ancestors, we decide that material wealth is a sign of God’s favor and that lack is a sign of God’s displeasure.

We all need to remember that our faith should inform our life in ways that the economy simply can’t.

In the lofty language John chooses to begin his Gospel, it’s easy to read past a comfort we all need. While talking about Jesus and his oneness with God and with us, John reminds us, “From his goodness, we have all received, grace upon grace.”

A couple of things jump out:

“We have all received.” The earliest definition of grace I remember learning in Church was “God’s unmerited favor.” Grace does not come to us in the same way material things do. I contend that God has always been graciously inclined toward us. The Law seems harsh and unattainable to us, but even in giving the Law, God was demonstrating that God knew we would need guidance to live as God calls us to live. In the redemptive life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has opened a way for all of us to see ourselves as worthy of God’s care and recipients of God’s mercy. Knowing that we are loved and cared for is possible for all of us, not just for some.

“Grace upon grace.” Grace is not a one-time event in our lives. It keeps coming in response to our need and circumstance. Sometimes we give subscription gifts like a cheese of the month or a plant of the month. Our hope is that long after the original gift, when the gifts keep coming, the recipient will be reminded of our care and concern for them. God’s gift of grace is even more expansive than that. It doesn’t expire at the end of the subscription period. It keeps coming throughout our life, and it doesn’t even end then. When this life ends, we experience grace on an unimaginable level when we enter eternal life, live governed purely by God’s intention and not polluted by ours.

The next time you’re tempted to think you’re missing something someone else has, stop to think about grace. And be content.

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

07/27/2026

From our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, July 27, 2026

Romans 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Chechreae.

Some of you know that I was an English teacher in my first life. Parts of the identity that developed in me have never died. I have a t-shirt I rarely wear in public that says, “I’m silently correcting your grammar!” and a coffee mug with the same inscription that I don’t take outside the house. I will always be grateful for the appreciation for words and language that I developed all those years ago.

You can imagine what introductory poetry classes were like with a bunch of hopeful, but woefully unprepared, potential English majors trying to respond to professors’ questions about what poets meant by the words they wrote. One of my favorite and most demanding teachers taught us something I have never forgotten. One day we had dragged the conversation about some poem to places he never intended for it to go. We had gotten bogged down in flowery language and what the poem might mean to each of us. The professor stopped mid-sentence and said, “You all seem to have forgotten one of the most important things to remember about understanding poetry. Don’t overlook the possibility that sometimes a poet means exactly what he says!”

Metaphorical language and other literary forms are important, but the plain sense of words is, too. I try to remember that whatever I read, and I think the same thinking applies to Scripture.

Faithful people have argued about who Phoebe was and wasn’t since Paul penned this wrap-up section of the Letter to Romans. What he said was that Phoebe was a deacon.

This summer has brought the usual round of denominational meetings, ours included. I’ve cautioned you before about depending on the secular media to get stories about those gatherings right. You read all the stuff about denominations affirming and reaffirming their bans on women in ministry. They apparently think Paul was speaking some way other than literally in this text.

I was proud to be in the room at our General Assembly in Milwaukee when we had a celebration of the first woman ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the PCUSA. Her name is Margaret Towner. She was ordained in 1956. Today she lives in retirement in Florida. The General Assembly paused to remember her and her ministry. We saw a video of her talking about her experience. It was inspiring to see history come alive.

I’m sure Rev. Towner’s ordination caused quite a stir in its time. But I am thankful to be a part of a denomination that makes opportunities for all people to serve the Church in a variety of ways, including ordained ministry. Of course, there are still inequities in pay and call opportunities, but, hopefully, we’re working on those, too.

The word Paul uses to identify Phoebe, deacon, is the same word that he and others use for his own role in the Church in several places. It can be translated as “minister’ and sometimes is.

I don’t know how other denominations get around this language. I’m glad we don’t try to. I believe that Phoebe was a leader in the early Church, and I am as grateful for her ministry as I am for the ministry of people like Paul, even though we don’t know as much about it. I am also grateful for the various women who fill pulpits and lead congregations in our Presbytery and across our denomination. I am grateful that when congregations search for pastors, they consider both males and females. I am grateful to be a member of the PCUSA. We’re not perfect, but we do some things right. Ordaining women is one of them!

Grace and Peace,
Bob

07/20/2026

Our weekly inspiration from our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, July 20, 2026

Romans 13:11b For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers.

Salvation is one of those words we need to sit with a while. We need to let it sink in. We need to hear its promise.

Too often, the Church has allowed salvation to be a source of uncertainty instead of the assuring concept it should and can be. Too many well-intentioned but misguided preachers and teachers have caused believers to question the legitimacy of their experience with Christ instead of empowering them to gain strength and confidence from it.

When Paul talks about salvation in this context, he is not talking so much about the process by which we become believers as he is about the end result of that process which is the fullness of God’s intention for us to be revealed in the last days—either the last days of our lives or the last days of human experience. This section of Paul’s letter to Roman Christians is much more practical than the intricate and deep theological arguments that characterize most of the letter. So I have to believe that he intends for his words to provide comfort and assurance and not doubt or uncertainty.

In my experience as a pastor, I have always admired people of advanced age who look forward to whatever the afterlife is with hope and confidence. I may not always agree with them about exactly what they think that experience will be, but I would not take the comfort they have found away with theological argument. Paul himself said in another place that when he was a child he thought and reasoned like a child, but that when he became mature, he thought about things differently. I thought many things when I was younger. Now that I am what I used to think was old, I find my thinking growing broader instead of more narrow.

Full awareness of God’s intention still awaits us. But it is nearer today than it was when I thought I had it all figured out. And it will be nearer next year, if I am still here, than it is today. I hope I can continue to broaden my understanding of how grace works—for everyone.

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

07/13/2026

Inspiration from our North Alabama Presbyter, Rev.Bob Phelps…

NAP Connections
Monday, July 13, 2026

Psalm 29:Selected verses

The voice of the Lord is over the waters….The voice of the Lord is powerful….The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars…The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire….shakes the wilderness…causes oaks to whirl and strips the forest bare…May the Lord give strength to his people!

I encourage you to read all of Psalm 29 today. It’s not long, and the parts of it I’ve put together read pretty choppily. This Psalm, like many in this collection of poems, songs, and praises, is all about the power of God on display. Omnipotence (all power) is one of the attributes we ascribe to God. God, who made all that is, has power over all God has made. So it’s easy to talk about and celebrate God’s power. One of the choruses from the praise and worship repertoire of the Church says it well when it says, “Our God is an awesome God who reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love; our God is an awesome God.”

Trouble is, of course, power can be a frightening thing. Sometimes we live in fear that we will see the power of God come down against us, and, if that happens, we know we cannot stand. But the praise chorus and the Psalm offer us hope. God reigns not only in power, but in wisdom and in love. After listing all the examples he does of God’s power (breaking trees like a storm, flames of fire, stripping the forest bare) the Psalmist prays that some of God’s power will provide strength to God’s people. This is the love with which God reigns.

Don’t be afraid of God’s power. God is always for us and never against us. Whatever God does is a part of God’s plan to call us to salvation and peace.

God’s power is, indeed, awesome, and sometimes frightening, but when we claim the assurance that God’s power is for us, we can gain strength and hope from it and live lives of thankful obedience instead of fear. Thanks be to God!

Grace and Peace
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

07/06/2026

Our weekly inspiration from our North Alabama Executive Presbyter, Rev. Bob Phelps.

NAP Connections
Monday, July 6, 2026

Romans 8:27b The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Some Scripture speaks more clearly than others. The 8th Chapter of Romans is one that speaks clearly and says things I fully understand. It acknowledges what we are sometimes afraid to admit: “we do not know how to pray as we ought.”

Is that ever true in a culture as divided as ours! I struggle to know how to pray about and for issues and people with whom I disagree. We all have an eight-year-old version of ourselves that still lives within us. Most of us work hard at not letting that part of us out. But sometimes we want what we want, and we want it now! I try not to let that part of who I am have much to do with my prayers. I try to think before I start to pray and to ask God to help me. But the truth is that what I really want is for God to agree with me, to silence those who don’t agree with me/us, and to make things right—that means to make them the way they should be! When I get myself backed into that corner, which is all to often, I am particularly thankful for a truth in Romans 8 that we can easily read past.

Paul speaks a truth we can all affirm when he says that we don’t know how to pray. But he speaks a more hopeful word when he says that the Spirit helps us in that weakness and intercedes for us. The news gets even better when Paul reminds us that the Spirit is not like us. The Spirit is not plagued with our shortcomings. The Spirit is God, and it is the Spirit of God who takes whatever efforts we make at prayer and conforms them to God’s will. That means not only that God hears our prayers, but that the Spirit communicates with us about their nature. The Spirit, who is God, knows what God wants from us, and works in our hearts and minds until we know that, too. The Spirit, who is God among us, works on our hearts and minds until the childish or other inappropriate things about our prayers become evident to us, and we can pray in God’s will instead of our own.

That’s why, whatever I set out to tell God, I usually wind up saying, “You know better than I do what I need to do about this, so speak and help me listen.” I have learned that that is a much more faithful prayer than the one I set out to pray, the one that intended to tell God what needs to be done.

Whatever you’re praying about this week, trust that God knows more about it than we do. Then leave an opening in your heart and mind for God to lead you.

Have a great week.

Grace and Peace,
Bob

Bob Phelps
Executive Presbyter
North Alabama Presbytery
601-996-9656

NORTH ALABAMA PRESBYTERY (PCUSA)

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