Foundations of Faith

The essence of Jesus' teaching was Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength AND to love your neighbor as yourself. But how can we do this? It is virtually impossible…well, we must get back to the basics. I believe that getting back to the basics means a lot more than just being able to quote a few Bible verses, memorize a creed or two, or we can articulate the various tenets of faith. It means allowing God's Word to become such a part of us that we heed God's call by responding and doing. It means being immersed in the written word of God and understanding that it is by faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and to the Glory of God alone. God calls us, and we must respond because God did everything to bring us back into a right relationship with God. The Foundations of Faith.

Before there was a New Testament and various Creeds, the Apostle Paul put forth a fundamental teaching or theology. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, died on the cross for the remission of all of our sins. He was buried for three days and then rose from the dead so we might have the promise of eternal life. Once we accept these truths, he called on us to be baptized, not one of repentance (John the Baptizer's way) but one of the Holy Spirit, into the body of Christ. Why should we do this? Because Jesus is just about ready to return, so you better be right with Jesus. You might be saying to yourself, "Wait, there is so much more that Paul said and oh so much deeper." You would be right. But I remind you that the basics were that Jesus died, rose again, and we are baptized in the Spirit to be part of the body of Christ. You can begin to ask questions about, how, when, where, and how often, but those questions can cause us to stray off course. Many of these questions satisfy our intellectual need to understand, perhaps even to clarify. Many of these questions and the answers to them provide a pathway for us to help develop the way we "practice" our faith. However, over these 2,000 years, the battles we have fought, the lives lost, the hatred spewed…. I think you get the picture. I believe we Christians are at a crossroads; some would say that we are ripe for a new Reformation. There is turmoil surrounding who can lead, who can be in and who is to be left out, who's way is right who's way is wrong. It is why I believe we need to step back and get back to the basics. One thing remains constant over these years…I believe that people are hungry for the Gospel. Notice I didn't say church (oh my, that is a whole other subject!). According to YouTube, 431 million people have viewed the Jesus Gets Us commercials (that's just on YouTube) that doesn't include the viewership of the ad as it played on the Super Bowl or on signs at sports stadiums. There is a Christian historical drama called The Chosen. The program has been viewed by almost 500 million people, with countless churches doing Adult and youth studies on it. Ours is a faith of doing in response to God's immense love. Jesus didn't call us to be changed by religion and most certainly by law and theology but for us to change the world by and through our love. As the hymn goes, "They will know we are Christians by our love." Why? Because Jesus died for the remission of our sins and rose from the dead for us to have eternal life. That really is all we need to know so we can declare that Jesus is Lord and follow his command to love. Love… regardless of status, gender, sexuality, age, size, or belief. Yes, love even those that hate you, have persecuted you, and done bad things to you. Love…yes, even those, even those we perceive as unlovable. That, I believe, is getting back to the basics ... That is the Foundations of Faith.

Ken has been the Senior Pastor and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church in Lake City, Florida (FPCLC) since July 2016. He is married to his wife of 46 years, Joan, and has two sons and a daughter, as well as four granddaughters. Ken sees himself as a "sheepdog," pointing the flock in the direction of the Good Shepherd. 
Ken is a second career pastor who was employed by Sunoco, Inc., of Philadelphia, in their Treasury Organization, where he served in various capacities. He graduated from Villanova University in 1983 with a BA in Economics. He answered the call of our Lord and was under the care of The First Presbyterian Church in Springfield (Flourtown, PA). He attended The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he received his Master of Divinity. He took his Reformed-focused classes at Princeton Theological Seminary. He performed his Chaplaincy at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. His Student Pastorates were at Glading Memorial Presbyterian Church and the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Fox Chase (both in the Philadelphia area). He was also the Pastoral Assistant at Glading prior to receiving his call as the Senior Pastor at Providence United Presbyterian Church in Scranton, Pa, before coming to FPCLC.