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Sunday, February 15, 2026 - "Beatitudes: Persecution"

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Watch the Sermon here The First United Presbyterian Church “Beatitudes: Persecution” Rev. Amy Morgan February 15, 2026 Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus taught them, saying: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” They were expelled from the faith community.   They were Jews, just like everyone else in the synagogue. They’d grown up together, learning the scriptures, songs and prayers of their tradition. They shared the same worries when news came from other parts of the world about Jewish rebellions violently quelled. But they’d had different reactions to a group of missionaries who told them about a Jewish messiah who’d been crucified but then raised from the dead. This good news, a...
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Sunday, February 8, 2026 - "Beatitudes: Mercy, Purity, Peace"

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Watch the Sermon here The First United Presbyterian Church “Beatitudes: Mercy, Purity, Peace” Rev. Amy Morgan February 8, 2026 Matthew 5:7-9 Jesus taught them, saying: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Blessed are the arrogant, For theirs is the kingdom of their own company. Blessed are the superstars, For the magnificence;   in their light we understand better our own insignificance. Blessed are the filthy rich, For you can only truly own what you give away - Like your pain. Blessed are the bullies, For one day they will have to stand up to themselves. Blessed are the liars, For the truth can be awkward. These are the beatitudes that bridge two songs on the band U2’s 2017 album Songs of Experience. The first song is about fighting to reclaim love and liberty and the second is about the American dream and identity. The poem in between,...
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Sunday, February 1, 2026: "Beatitudes: Gentle and Righteous"

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Watch the Sermon here The First United Presbyterian Church “Beatitudes: Gentle and Righteous” Rev. Amy Morgan February 1, 2026 Matthew 5:5-6 Jesus taught them, saying: “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Order matters. As Presbyterians, of course, we delight in doing things “decently and in order,” but Biblical scholars also relish the opportunity to dissect a passage of scripture, revealing its structural framework. Oftentimes, what they find is that the Biblical writer was very intentional about the orderly placement of each phrase and the use of a particular word.   But New Testament scholar David Wenham admits that some might view Matthew’s rendering of Jesus’s Beatitudes as “a bit of a mess, a jumbled-up collection of blessed thoughts.” He notes, “there is repetition with two of them having the identical promise ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ – did the author...
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