From Rev. Sarah Johnson

Dear Friends,

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a few early fall days in the Rocky Mountains in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Upon arrival, I dropped my bags off, made a quick change of clothes, and stopped by the front desk to ask about the closest hike. The daylight was fading and I wanted the opportunity to move my body a little after a long flight and before the day’s end. The women at the desk recommended a trailhead easily accessed from behind the hotel’s main building, so I headed off in that direction. 

For the first mile or so, the trail didn’t seem like much, a slowly climbing narrow gravel path surrounded on either side by tall dark-needled spruce trees. There wasn’t much of a view and only a sliver of sky peaked past the tree tops. It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but I figured that it was better than nothing. But as I walked along and the hill gained altitude, the thin line of the trail suddenly, surprisingly widened and the thick rows of trees parted to reveal the majesty of the mountains and open sky surrounded by miles of golden grass bathed in the warmth of September light.

The unexpected change in landscape and its overwhelming beauty took my breath away. As I stood with my hands on my hips, the land and the moment overwhelmed me, and I laughed at the unexpected grace of it all. It reminded me that in the midst of ordinary and mundane, and the hard, there is still space left for life and for God to surprise us; to take our breath away. God isn’t just a structured set of beliefs but an active love that moves in our lives, sometimes when we least expect. 

Join us this Sunday, September 25th, for worship onsite and online at 10:00 am as we will continue with our sermon series Deeply Rooted, exploring texts from the book of Genesis and their connection to our lives here and now. I will be preaching from Genesis 18:1-15 following along with the story of Abraham and Sarah as their lives are unexpectedly, delightfully surprised by the grace of God. 

And a poem by Steve Garness-Holmes: 

Ripening

One said, “Your wife Sarah shall have a son.”
Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old,
and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”
The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh?”
But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid.
He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
—from Genesis 18.10-15

As I approach my retirement on Sunday I am laughing—
laughter not of derision but of release,
laughter at the joke that at what seems an end
some things are just beginning,
laughter at the irony of my self-importance overshadowed
by what is given to me,
laughter at the mystery that as I grow old
I’m now ripe to produce what I haven’t before:
now it is time to pluck me from the tree  
and let me offer my sweet fruit.
And there is a part of me, so wise and earnest and mature,
that denies I am laughing, denies I am puzzled or surprised,
pretends I have this figured out.  
The angels calmly call my bluff,
my assurance I know the future, know what’s possible.

The joke’s on me. 
When you get old,
laugh at it. 
It helps you ripen.

Grace and Peace,

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson – A ‘Living Sacrifice’

Dear Friends,

Join us this Sunday, August 28th, for worship onsite and online at 10:00 am. I will preach from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, Romans 12:1-2, in partnership with the opening lines from the Gospel of John. 

As we lean into the last weeks of summer, we will explore these two small but theologically rich verses serving as a summary of, and a preface to, the last major section of the letter in which Paul somewhat famously and curiously writes, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God.” We will wonder what it means to be a “living sacrifice” and how understanding what Paul means by this helps us connect our bodies, our physical selves, to a life of faith and the Spirit. 

This Sunday we will also celebrate the sacrament of baptism, claiming God’s beloved promises on behalf of a child of the church. 

And a word of inspiration from hymn writer Brian Wren: 

Good is the flesh that the Word has become,
good is the birthing, the milk in the breast,
good is the feeding, caressing and rest,
good is the body for knowing the world,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

Good is the body for knowing the world,
sensing the sunlight, the tug of the ground,
feeling, perceiving, within and around,
good is the body, from cradle to grave,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

Good is the body, from cradle to grave,
growing and aging, arousing, impaired,
happy in clothing, or lovingly bared,
good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

Good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
longing in all, as in Jesus, to dwell,
glad of embracing, and tasting, and smell,
good is the body, for good and for God,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

Grace and Peace,

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson – Honoring Ministry

Dear Friends,

One of the gifts of being Presbyterian and Reformed is that we believe in what’s known as the priesthood of all believers. We believe that every person is called to ministry in the church and the world; each one of us is gifted and equipped to serve God in a particular and essential fashion.

Among this collective calling, the church provides for several offices with distinct and particular functions: Pastors, or teaching elders, ruling elders (session members), and diaconal ministers.

In addition, the role of clerk of session is one of the two session officers specified and required by our Book or Order (the second is the moderator, usually the pastor of the church) and is a critical job in any Presbyterian Church. The clerk of session serves in various administrative capacities—such as the keeping of minutes, or rolls and registers, and preserving records—but also as an important parliamentary partner, strategic thinker, and advisor to the moderator. NYACP member and ruling elder Miriam Dewhurst has served in this ministry among us for the last nineteen years. She first answered the call to serve on January 14 of 2003 and did so with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

Among so many other things, Miriam brings a wealth of knowledge of the Presbyterian government, gifts as an expert scribe, a non-anxious presence, a flexible spirit, a wonderful sense of humor, and a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. This Sunday, we are pausing to give thanks for Miriam’s ministry and profound contributions as session clerk as she retires from this role, passing the baton to a new clerk who will be nominated and elected for a three-year term at Monday evening’s session meeting. We thank God for Miriam’s unique gifts and for her “yes” in answering God’s call to serve in this role. I hope you will join me in celebrating Miriam for her extraordinary faithfulness and pray for where God is calling her to serve at NYAPC next. If you would like to write a note of gratitude to Miriam for her ministry, please send cards to Miriam at the NYAPC Church office.

Join us this Sunday, August 21st, for worship onsite and online at 10:00 am. Rev. Rachel will preach from a rich and challenging passage from Isaiah 58.

Grace and Peace,

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson

Dear Friends, 

Join us this Sunday, July 31, for worship onsite and online at 10:00 am. I’ll conclude our summer sermon series from the book of Acts, Surprised by the Spirit, and will preach from Acts 17:22-31. 

At this point in the story, Silas and Paul depart company and Paul continues his missionary journey alone, traveling to the intellectual and cosmopolitan city of Athens. While there, he is invited to speak at the Areopagus, an area used as a forum for the rulers of Athens to hold trials, debate, and discuss important philosophical and spiritual matters. The Athenians are curious about this “new” idea of the good news of Jesus Christ that Paul is speaking about in the city. Paul uses this opportunity before the Areopagus to deliver one of the New Testament’s more dynamic moments of evangelism. 

This upcoming week, August 1-5, I also ask for your flexibility and to “pardon our dust” as we close the reception desk for a few days, taking advantage of the slower summer rhythm for our reception staff to take vacation and to continue cleaning and organizing our reception area to make it more welcoming for our staff and guests. Please contact our Administrative Assistant, Tammi McCoy or Office Manager Maila Cardoso, if you need to access the building during that time. You can read additional details below. 

And finally, a few words of encouragement from pastor and poet, Jan Richardson and German theologian Karl Barth: 

“For all things rising out of the hiddenness of shadows, out of the weight of despair, out of the brokenness of pain, out of the constrictions of compliance, out of the rigidity of stereotypes, out of the prison of prejudice; for all things rising into life, into hope, into healing, into power, into freedom, into justice; we pray, O God, for all things rising. Amen.”

– Jan L. Richardson, “Prayer for All Things Rising,” 
Sacred Journeys: A Woman’s Book of Daily Prayer

“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”                

–Karl Barth

Grace and Peace, 

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson – Faith and Freedom

Dear Friends, 

Join us this Sunday, July 24, for worship onsite and online at 10:00 am. I’ll continue the final weeks of our sermon series from the book of Acts, Surprised by the Spirit, and will preach from Acts 16:16-34. The Apostles Paul and Silas travel to the Roman colony of Philippi and find themselves in a sticky situation, ultimately arrested and imprisoned by Roman authorities. We will wonder why Paul’s faith lands him in prison so frequently and how following Jesus is bound up in freedom. 

On Sunday at 3:30 pm, our Nurture Committee is hosting a “Bring Your Own Picnic” Church Picnic at Rock Creek Park (Shelter #13). All are invited! We hope you’ll come out and enjoy a good summer cookout and time spent relaxing with familiar friends and meeting new ones.

And finally, a word of encouragement from Rachel Held Evan’s book Wholehearted Faith:

“Faith in Jesus has been recast as a position in a debate, not a way of life. But the truth is–heh–I’ve found people to be much more receptive to the Gospel when they know that becoming a Christian and being a Christian doesn’t require becoming a know-it-all. That is a form of faithful freedom too. There is liberation in not knowing everything and not having to impress everyone with that boundless knowledge. 

That liberation is rooted in profound humility, the ability to say that God is God and I am not. Humans have made some enormous mistakes when failing to distinguish between God’s perfection and our fallible selves. And many of us have found renewed possibility when we have realized how much of God’s beauty remains to be explored–and that a life of faith is also a life of holy curiosity. 

Anyway, most of the openhearted wanderers I have encountered are looking not for a bulletproof belief system but for a community of friends, not for a spiritual encyclopedia that contains every answer but for a gathering of loved ones in which they can ask hard questions.” 

Grace and Peace, 

Sarah

Summer Reading – From Rev. Sarah Johnson

Dear Friends, 

I have always loved to read. As a young girl, I was frequently exhausted during the school day because I had stayed up well into the night reading by flashlight under the covers of my bed. I remember tearing through books such as Ann of Green Gables, Number the Stars, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Giver. Book series such as the entire Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Hardy Boys, and The Boxcar Children were also especially beloved. As an adult, my love of reading has continued both for enjoyment and as a crucial part of leadership in general and pastoral ministry in particular.

As we lean into the summer season, I am again picking up my love of reading and would be delighted for any of you to join me! Here are a few of the books on my list for July and August: 

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
This novel was recommended to me by several friends and tells the story of a woman named Esme whose father is a part of the group that worked on the Oxford English Dictionary. Inspired by actual events, Esme discovers that, in determining which words get an entry in the dictionary, those words and definitions that pertain to women’s experiences are often left out. As a result, she begins collecting these words and experiences of women in her community to create her own dictionary, the Dictionary of Lost Words. The book takes place around the time of the women’s suffrage movement and the impending First World War. Therefore, I find this novel’s reflections on power and the power of words to shape our communities’ imaginations and inclusiveness ( or lack thereof it) fascinating and timely. 

WholeHearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans and Jeff Chu
At the time of her shocking death at age 37, Rachel Held Evans was one of the finest and most important Christian voices in the United States. Her writing repeatedly charted a vision for a more inclusive and dynamic faith in Christ for herself and many others after being wounded in conservative evangelical churches. Her reflections in WholeHearted Faith speak to the healing of those wounds and the gift of an evolving faith that welcomes doubts, questions, and re-thinking, all while cultivating love, hope and embodying the resurrection for the sake of the world– all markers of faith that we continually seek to lean into at NYAPC. 

My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit by Yolanda Peirce
Dr. Yolanda Pierce is a teacher and scholar whose writing and academic work have inspired me in more recent years. Before serving in her current post as Dean of Howard University Divinity School here in Washington, D.C., Dr. Pierce served as the Founding Director of the Center for Black Church Studies and Associate Professor of Religion and Literature at my seminary alma mater Princeton Theological Seminary. My Grandmother’s House is her newest book, reflecting on the faith and influence of the church mothers who raised her in a world that is hostile to black women’s bodies and spirits. Dr. Pierce teases out themes of race, spirituality, trauma, freedom, resistance, and memory using her own story and the stories of the women around her.  

Post-Quarantine Church: Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation by Tom Rainer
As we move into a more endemic phase of the pandemic, Tom Rainer identifies and reflects on six opportunities and challenges that emerged from the time of the quarantine. He explores how pastors and church leaders can cultivate space to intentionally and strategically reflect on this wisdom in light of the church’s mission and ministry in the present. An incredibly hopeful book grounded in God’s enduring faithfulness, I am looking forward to engaging many of the topics in this book with our leadership this fall. 

What about you? What books are on your summer reading list? What books would you recommend to me and others? I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions as the summer upholds; happy reading! 

Grace and Peace,

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson

Dear Friends, 

It is officially summer! 

As we move through these longest days, I want to encourage you to take intentional time to look for God’s presence in the beauty and fullness of creation and to wonder what unexpected gifts and opportunities God is offering you this season.  

As a worshiping community, we will engage in two new rhythms this summer season to intentionally mark the more relaxed time of the summer. During July and August, the clergy will shift from robes and stoles to stoles only and preach from the lower chancel.

Your pastors will also be taking some alternating time away over the next month for vacation and continuing education and sermon planning. 

Join us this Sunday as we continue our sermon series “Surprised by the Spirit: Unlikely, Ironic, and Surprising Stories in the Book of Acts.” I will preach the story of Paul’s incredible conversion experience on the Damascus Road in Acts chapter 9. We will explore how the grace of a living God radically alters Paul’s life and wonder where that invitation is being extended to us. 

Grace and Peace,

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson – Juneteenth

Dear Friends, 

This weekend, communities across our country will pause to recognize and celebrate Juneteenth or Juneteenth National Independence Day. Officially signed into law as a federal holiday in June of 2021, Juneteenth is the oldest known US celebration of the abolition of the chattel slave system and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Texas. 

It is an important date and part of our nation’s history. And, I will be honest and confess that Juneteenth never came up in all my classes in K-12, college, and graduate schools. It wasn’t until I was an adult living in Texas that I learned about it–something for which I am grateful and a reminder that it is never too late to learn. 

In September of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln gave the Emancipation Proclamation making abolition the official position of the US government and declaring that by Jan 1, 1863, all enslaved people in the states and the areas “in rebellion against the United States” would be free. In April 1865, Chief Robert E. Lee surrendered to Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant of the US Army. 

While these dates are significant in marking the end of the system of chattel slavery in our country and the effective end of the US Civil War, the war had yet to conclude in parts of the Trans-Mississippi West. Fighting in Texas continued into May of 1865. Additionally, news of emancipation was slow to reach certain areas, including Texas, and did not reach some areas at all. In other places, slaveholders intentionally hid the information to preserve slavery. On Jun 19, 1865, US Brigadier General Gordon Granger and his troops landed at Galveston, Texas, confirming the news that the Civil War had ended and enslaved African Americans were now free from bondage. A significant date marking the emancipation of the last enslaved people, June 19, was soon celebrated by formerly enslaved people in Texas as “Juneteenth.” Since that time, it has been celebrated by communities across our nation. For many Black Americans, Independence Day is not July 4th but June 19th, the day the last enslaved people in the US were told they were free.  

As citizens of this country and as people of faith, we recognize the importance of the Juneteenth holiday in multiple capacities. In part, Juneteenth is about telling the truth about the sin of slavery in our nation’s history. Including lamenting and confessing the ways, the church endorsed and perpetuated the lie of racial difference and the system of chattel slavery that accompanied it. Juneteenth is also about joyously celebrating African American freedom and achievement, including the beauty of Black culture and the gifts and contributions of African Americans to our nation’s life. Additionally, Juneteenth remains as a collective call to the work we still need to do to free ourselves from the shackles of systemic racism and its debilitating consequences, blocking the dignity and thriving God desires for all people. 

I invite you to join us for worship this Sunday, Jun 19, at 10:00 am onsite and online as we pause our sermon series on the book of Acts to welcome our summer McClendon Scholar in Resident Rev. Dr. Judy Fentress Williams. Dr. Fentress-Williams is a Professor of Old Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary and will be with us throughout the summer to share her most recent scholarship and insights on life and faith. This Sunday, she will preach a sermon entitled “Straight Out of Haran” reflecting on Genesis 12:1-4.

As a part of our worship, we will have the opportunity to commission and pray for our Kenya Mission Team as they prepare for their upcoming travels to Njoro, Kenya, faithfully continuing our partnership with Njoro Presbyterian Church of East Africa (P.C.E.A.) to support the Orphan and Vulnerable Children Program. 

God’s Spirit is at work among us and through us in so many good and life-giving ways. 

Grace and Peace, Sarah 

From Rev. Sarah Johnson – Celebrating Pentecost

Dear Friends,

In the days leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus promised his disciples that he would not leave them alone even though he would no longer bodily be with them. They would have the gift of God’s presence through the Holy Spirit, who would serve as a living teacher and a guide. That promise remains for us today. 

This upcoming Sunday, we will celebrate Pentecost, the moment in the early church when the gift of the Holy Spirit descended in a mighty rush of wind and flame to inspire and encourage the church’s ongoing witness of the risen Christ in the world. The Holy Spirit, like the wind, is an unseen yet powerful force, which is why the Old Testament calls it ruach YHWH, “the wind, or breath, of God.” The Spirit is the “unseenness of God” working among us to bring God’s new life. 

When we look around, so much can seem mired in sameness, stuckness, weariness, and humdrum. And yet, according to the prophet Joel (2:28-29) the Holy Spirit (ruach) is among us to open all of us to God’s new creative future. People young and old will dream and have visions of hope; we will be able to free ourselves from the way things are now, and we can expect the unexpected because the living God is among us, surprising us with the Spirit of new life. 

There are so many ways the presence of the Holy Spirit is at work in the life of our wonderful congregation. Last week, we celebrated the accomplishments of our Community Club tutoring program students and teachers at their end-of-year celebration. This week we will mark the beginning of PCUSA Pride month, intentionally celebrating the beautiful diversity of God’s creation through the gifts of our LGBTQIA+ siblings. And throughout June, there are several opportunities to join the movement of the Spirit through service in the community. I hope you will take the time to read more and join in!

I wonder where you could use the promise of God’s surprising new life these particular days? I look forward to claiming that promise this Sunday in worship onsite and online as we engage in the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit from the second chapter of the book of Acts. 

Grace and Peace,

Sarah

From Rev. Sarah Johnson – Lincoln Memorial Dedication and Dr. Robert Moton

Dear Friends,

This Sunday, I am honored to represent the church by offering the invocation at the Centennial Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. The Reverend Wallace Radcliffe, who served as pastor of The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church for almost a quarter-century from 1895-to 1922, offered the opening prayer at the 1922 dedication.

Dr. Robert Moton

Many notable guests were present in 1922, including the distinguished Dr. Robert Moton of Tuskegee Institute who offered the main address. Having succeeded Booker T. Washington as the second President of Tuskegee, Dr. Moton was one of the most influential African American leaders of the 20th century. If you have not ever had a chance to learn about his contributions to our nation’s history or read his 1922 remarks, I commend them to you. 

In his speech, Dr. Moton speaks eloquently of the “bedrock of liberty” upon which our country was built. “Freedom,” he writes, “was the great compelling force that dominated all and like a great and shining light beckoned the oppressed of every land to the hospitality of these shores.” Dr. Moton also spoke of the force of bondage that developed alongside the bedrocks of liberty and freedom, shaping the destiny of our nation. While liberty and freedom were tremendous compelling forces that birthed the experiment of democracy, “slavery,” he argued, “was like a brittle thread woven year by year into the fabric of the nation’s life.” Even as Dr. Moton spoke, the truth of those warring forces of liberty and bondage were not a distant memory but a present reality. 

Twelve days before the dedication, Chief Justice Taft, president of the Lincoln Memorial Commission, had asked to review Dr. Moton’s address. After doing so, he asked him to remove the sections that were critical of the federal government’s failure to protect the rights of African Americans – as much as five hundred words. Moton also delivered his address at the Memorial before a segregated audience. While white patrons were seated in chairs in the central area, all Black attendees, including ticket holders with seat assignments, were relegated to a muddy place away from everyone else. 

I am pleased to know that the Lincoln Memorial Planning Committee in charge of the Centennial Dedication is working hard to rectify some of these original sins present in the first ceremony. This weekend’s event intentionally tells a fuller history of the first dedication. It also features an uncensored keynote address by the current president of Tuskegee University, Dr. Charlotte P. Morris. And, in attendance will be four descendants of President Moton as honored guests. 

As I ponder Dr. Moton’s legacy and the twin forces of freedom and bondage still warring for the soul of our nation, I cannot help but do so alongside current events, including the two mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Laguna Woods, California. The brittle thread of slavery, built on the insidious lie of racial difference and white supremacy, still stalks us. It lurks not just in the minds of individuals but also in the systems and structures we live and govern ourselves. As citizens of this country, we have a responsibility to tell the truth about this and continue to bravely weave a new and stronger thread built on the foundation that all people are created equal and should share alike in the blessings and privileges of freedom. 

We also bear this responsibility as people of faith. Intimately embedded in the opening chapters of Genesis is the truth that all people are made in the image of God and, therefore, worthy of dignity, value, and respect (Gen 1:27). Racial inequality of any kind is a violation of this core Christian conviction and, therefore of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are called to proclaim. 

As we continue to see dangerous politics and policy laced with white supremacy in mainstream democracy, as we read and watch the news, we all have moments when we ask: What can I do? What can we do? One of the most powerful things we can do is tell the truth–about the lie of racial difference then and now. We can dare to tell the truth about our part in and benefit from that lie. We can tell the truth about the many Black men and women whose tremendous contributions to this country have long gone unnoticed and unknown. And we can dare to speak those uncomfortable truths alongside the more profound truth of the sanctity of every human life and God’s desire for abundant life for all people. 

I hope you will join us for worship onsite or online as we explore the gift of the Holy Spirit and the challenge of God’s love from the Gospel of John chapter fourteen. 

Grace and Peace,

Sarah