Martha's Vineyard
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Martha’s Vineyard | Isaiah 5:1–7 & Matthew 21:33–46 What if the things we think we own were never really ours to begin with? In Jesus’ parable of the vineyard, tenants entrusted with the care of someone else’s land begin behaving as though it belongs to them. For guest preacher Rev. Dr. Amantha Barbee, that distinction between stewardship and possession speaks directly to the way we understand our own resources, influence, institutions, and communities. God has given us authority and responsibility, but authority is not the same as ownership. We are tenants in God’s...
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Divine Foolishness
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Divine Foolishness | Exodus 4:10–17 & 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 If true wisdom tapped us on the shoulder, would we recognize it? Paul tells the Corinthians that the wisdom of God looks remarkably different from the wisdom of the world. The cross—an instrument of weakness, humiliation, and defeat—becomes the place where God reveals power, reconciliation, forgiveness, and life. Pasted text Pasted text In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway explores a gospel that refuses to conform to our usual assumptions about success and strength. Christianity is not a set of rules for getting ahead...
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Saints Alive
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Saints Alive | Isaiah 43:15–25 & 1 Corinthians 1:1–9 What if the name God gives us is more important than all the names we give ourselves—and one another? The church in Corinth was far from perfect. Its members argued, divided themselves into factions, looked down on one another, neglected the vulnerable, and struggled to understand what it meant to live together as the body of Christ. And yet when Paul writes to them, he calls them saints. In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway explores the difference between seeing sainthood as something extraordinary people achieve and...
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The Thin Sound of Silence
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
The Thin Sound of Silence | 1 Kings 19:1–18 & 2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18 Where is God when you've given everything you have—and you have nothing left? After one of the great triumphs of his ministry, Elijah suddenly finds himself running for his life. Exhausted, frightened, and convinced that all his faithfulness has accomplished nothing, he enters the wilderness and tells God, “It is enough.” In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway reflects on the weariness that comes when faithful effort seems to lead nowhere. Parents, caregivers, teachers, volunteers, people working for...
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Not Just Any Time
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Exodus 20:1–17 & Luke 6:1–11 What if rest isn't time wasted—but time made holy? We measure our lives in hours, days, years, deadlines, appointments, and accomplishments. But Scripture invites us into another experience of time: Sabbath. In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway explores Sabbath as far more than a day governed by religious rules. Rooted in both creation and liberation, Sabbath reminds us that there is more to life than what we produce and that our worth does not depend upon what we accomplish. We stop our labor to create “breathing room so that God may labor in us.”...
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Ablaze but Not Consunmed
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Ablaze but Not Consumed | Exodus 3:1–12 What if the life that sets you on fire doesn't have to burn you out? By the time Moses encounters the burning bush, he knows what it feels like to be burned up and hollowed out. His attempt to fight injustice has ended in violence and failure, and he has spent decades in exile. Then, in the wilderness, he encounters a fire unlike any he has known before—a bush ablaze with heat and light, but somehow still alive. In this sermon, Rev. Lucy Baum explores the difference between the fires that consume us and the life God calls us toward. Violence, hatred,...
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Running from the Truth
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Jonah 4:1–11 & Mark 1:29–39 Sometimes the hardest truths aren't the ones we don't understand. They're the ones that demand something of us. Jonah knows exactly what God is like: gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. But when God extends that mercy to the people of Nineveh—Jonah's enemies—he is furious. He wants God's compassion for himself, but God's judgment for them. In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway explores our human tendency to draw boundaries around grace and contrasts Jonah's resistance with the ever-widening ministry of Jesus, whose...
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Divine Currents in the Universal Stream
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Divine Currents in the Universal Stream | Jonah 3:1–10 & Mark 1:21–28 What forces are shaping our lives—and how can we recognize where God is moving? In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway explores what he calls the “divine currents in the universal stream of life”: the movement of God's healing, forgiving, and saving grace through the world. Jonah struggles against that current because he cannot accept God's mercy toward people he considers undeserving. Jesus, by contrast, embodies God's redemptive movement. In Mark's Gospel, his healing of a man with an unclean spirit becomes...
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Standing at the Back of the Line
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
No One Left Out | Matthew 20:1–16 & Genesis 12:1–3 What if God's grace isn't fair? In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Chuck Williamson explores one of Jesus' most surprising parables, where workers hired at the very end of the day receive the same wage as those who labored from sunrise. Rather than teaching us about economics or fairness, Jesus invites us to see the world through the eyes of a generous God—a God who refuses to rank people according to worth, achievement, or status. Drawing on stories from a Civil Rights pilgrimage, reflections on Carl Sandburg's observation that "the ugliest...
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Defining Moments
Say Grace: A First Presbyterian Church Podcast
Defining Moments | Jonah 1:1–17 & Mark 1:14–20 There are moments that change the direction of our lives—a door opens, another closes, and suddenly we're faced with a choice about where to go next. In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway reflects on the defining moments when God's call asks us to respond. Jonah hears God's call and runs. The disciples hear Jesus say, "Follow me," and leave behind what is familiar. Most of us probably find ourselves somewhere between the two. But calling isn't reserved for pastors or church leaders. Our vocation is the life we live in response to God,...
info_outlineThe Thin Sound of Silence | 1 Kings 19:1–18 & 2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18
Where is God when you've given everything you have—and you have nothing left?
After one of the great triumphs of his ministry, Elijah suddenly finds himself running for his life. Exhausted, frightened, and convinced that all his faithfulness has accomplished nothing, he enters the wilderness and tells God, “It is enough.”
In this sermon, Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway reflects on the weariness that comes when faithful effort seems to lead nowhere. Parents, caregivers, teachers, volunteers, people working for justice—even the most committed among us can reach a point where our energy is gone and we wonder why we should keep going.
But Elijah's emptiness becomes the place of encounter. God comes not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the “thin sound of silence”—meeting Elijah in precisely the ruined, burned-out place where he believes there is nothing left.
And God does more than restore him. God calls him forward.
Lewis reminds us that our work is never the whole of God's work. Our failures don't determine the future, and neither do our successes. Even when one season ends, God can create something new from the very soil of what has come before.
When we become quiet enough to listen, perhaps we will hear the question God asks Elijah—and us:
“What are you doing here?”
And then, perhaps, a call toward what comes next.
Preached by Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway at First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte on September 13, 2026.