They called it the “monkey trial.” It was supposed to be a publicity stunt. A hundred years later, it is remembered as far more.

In March 1925, Tennessee became the first state in the country to ban the teaching of evolution in public school classrooms.

Strong reactions rippled across the United States. The eventual upshot: a legal battle that became one of the most renowned in the nation’s history.

Historians say the trial started as a tourism gambit on behalf of the small town of Dayton, Tennessee — where the landmark case unfolded. The town’s leaders were eager for an economic boost and encouraged a local teacher to challenge the law. They wanted the debate over the controversial anti-evolution mandate to take place in their own backyard while the rest of the country eagerly followed along.

But amid the spectacle, the arguments and tensions raised during the eight-day trial persist. The rift over evolution and creationism — particularly in classrooms — has never fully been put to rest, and questions over how students should be taught about life’s origins still spark debate among educators, lawmakers, and the public.

Today, the central themes surrounding the trial continue to pop up. Currently, conservative lawmakers across the country are pushing to introduce more Christianity in public school classrooms.

Last year, West Virginia enacted a law permitting public school teachers to answer student questions “about scientific theories of how the universe and/or life came to exist” that supporters said was needed to foster discussions beyond evolution.

And in Texas, new state curriculum has sparked criticism due to its inclusion of biblical references, a lesson that asks students to repeat the phrase that starts the creation story in the Book of Genesis and an activity requesting that children remember the order in which the Bible says God created the universe.

And no one should forget – even for a moment – that the current controversy surrounding the concept of “DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and the backlash by some against anything resembling “Woke” or “wokeism” (often based on an inaccurate understanding of what the term actually means – check the video below for an honest and succinct definition) are just two examples of the exact type of ideological struggle and dogmatic thinking that gave rise to the Scopes trial that was acted out before the whole world for 8 July days in Dayton, Tennessee during the hot summer of 1925.

A negative – repeat, VERY NEGATIVE – sermon illustration.  When you watch this video, ask yourself a couple of questions:  1st:  What is most decidedly wrong with this?  Once you answer that question, then ask yourself another:  How dare they?  How dare they attempt to coopt and distort holy scripture for such a heinous and barbaric piece of propaganda?  (And please, do not miss the fact that this video appears on “X” as part of the official, United States Department of Homeland Security account.

Here am I, send me. pic.twitter.com/mRvL6VmGqt

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 7, 2025

Several folks have let us know about a couple of issues with recent worship live stream feeds.  We’ve been trouble shooting to correct the issue and hopefully will have it solved by Sunday, November 17th.  If you click on the short video below, you will see the audio bar showing a green signal while there is nothing to hear. That’s all background “noise” that has to be eliminated from the feed to have the clearest audio possible.

The issue appears to be limited to the piano during worship, where the music sound will cut in and out intermittently.  We think this is due to the settings of the “noise gate filter” that OBS Studio uses to clean up the the feed that streams out to YouTube.  This issue began when we had to install a new computer in the sanctuary with all new software loaded and there were literally dozens of configuration settings that had to all be set to insure the best stream p0ssible.

If we don’t have all the kinks worked out, please be aware that we are continuing to work on the issue and will get it solved as soon as possible!

From today’s “Food for Thought”:

 I expect everyone remembers the 2016 film “Sully:  Miracle on the Hudson.”  We remember it, if not for the fact that US Airways flight 1549 was headed to Charlotte on January 15, 2009 when it took off from LaGuardia Airport and ended up in the Hudson River 208 seconds later, then certainly because the actual aircraft involved is today part of the Sullenberger Aviation Museum only 3.3 miles from this sanctuary.  Tom Hanks gave a masterful performance playing Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in that film and one scene always stands out in my memory.

During the public NTSB hearings, when it appeared that the findings would place most – if not all – the blame for the accident, not on bird strikes just after takeoff, but instead on the “human error” that many assumed Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles “must have been guilty of” that resulted in the aircraft landing in the Hudson River between mid-town Manhattan and Hoboken, NJ… Captain “Sully” responded to the NTSB investigators with the statement you see above:  “Can we get serious now?”  He went on to point out that no one – EVER – had experienced an event like he and Skiles had to deal with that morning; to assume a safe landing at Teterboro Airport or a return to LaGuardia was unlikely at best.  Simulations or not, he went on to say, “You are looking for human error; then make it human.  How many times did your pilots get to practice before they actually landed the plane safely?”  (The entire body gasped when the answer was given:  “Seventeen.”)

What strikes me so poignantly in this as it relates to the life of any church can be seen in today’s theme from John, chapter 10.  Try something when you get home and in front of a computer:  Google “The Good Shepherd” and click on “images.”  Notice how, among the thousands and thousands of images you can scroll through, almost NONE of them are actually “serious” about sheep, shepherds, reality or life.  You will see beautiful shepherds, lovely sheep, priceless stained glass, logos, clip art, cartoon figures, and usually a Jesus that cannot possibly be even close to the way he actually looked.  This oversight never fails to bother and annoy me – hence the image on the front cover of today’s bulletin.  It was the closest I could find to a “real life” shepherd holding a real life sheep.  He’s pretty scruffy, his clothes are all but tatters, and that sheep looks dirty and smelly at best!  The “pasture” looks like the last place you would want to walk with a 60 – 70 pound sheep on your shoulders. In other words?  It’s real.  Not made up.  Not cleaned up to the point it’s practically something even a Sunday school kid wouldn’t believe.

Why do we do this so often with the Gospel story?  Why do we insist on “cleaning it up,” making it “G-rated,” insuring that it speaks to no one because we don’t want to offend anyone, when doing all this will almost certainly rob it of its power to speak to our real lives – where we live them every single day?  Maybe we need that sheep smell.  Maybe we need a little more of the dirt; and a less than perfect looking shepherd to remind us that God comes to us in real life, in order to guide us as real sheep, and not to act out a Sunday school drama where everything is cleaned up beyond belief and we all wear dad’s bathrobe in order to understand Jesus as our Good Shepherd.  In other words?  “Can we get serious now?”

… RPS

Father’s Day / The 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

There will be no worship live stream today:
Live stream will return next Sunday, June 25th.

Please join us for worship
11:15 AM: In person on streamed online via You Tube Live.

Apologies for the focus issue in the video: We are working to correct an issue with the camera.

Click the image below for Jim Kitchens’ powerful keynote address to the winter “Nuts & Bolts” training event by the Ministry Resource Committee of the Presbytery of Charlotte.