Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, February 28th, 2021 Lent is a season that is always marked with sobering words. Every Ash Wednesday, we hear the same words, words that seem to have an even more poignant resonance this year: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We could have skipped Ash Wednesday this year, for there is no need to remind us about ashes this Lent. They are sitting on our mantle awaiting burial. They are scattered across our broken hearts. “Reme

Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, February 7th, 2021 Somehow, I would never think to use the words “repent” and “good news” in the same sentence. “Repent” feels like a weighty, old word like “Thou” and “Shalt” and “Doeth,” a word that needs to be dusted off before we use it. The smell of “repent” is something like milk that you think should still be good until you take a whiff. For me, the traditional visual image of “repent” is from the movie, “The Apostle” in which Robert Duv

Sermon by Rev. Brian K. Blount, February 14th, 2021 The first time I saw the movie “Glory,” I was so overwhelmed that at the end of it I couldn’t get out of my seat. I just sat there. I wasn’t alone. There was a lady behind me. She just kept saying, “wow.” Slowly. Maybe four times. It was dark in the theater still. They hadn’t turned the lights up because the credits were playing on the screen. This haunting music was reverberating through the speakers. And people weren’t mov

Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, February 7th, 2021 I love the church I serve today, Cove Presbyterian Church in Covesville, Virginia, just south of Charlottesville. When I walk into the historic sanctuary, I see plaques on the wall, honoring pastors, elders, members who have shared ministry here since 1769. I realize that each time I step into the pulpit, I am standing on the shoulders of saints who have preached and led worship, prayed and sung here for generations. Despite