William Sloane Coffin sermon quotes

Last week my senior minister shared with me a sermon dated January 23, 1983 (Palm Sunday) written by William Sloane Coffin. The title of the sermon is "Alex's Death" and it comes on the heals of Rev. Coffin's son, Alex, tragic death in an automobile accident. While I believe the sermon is great on the whole and one should probably read the sermon in its entirety in order to 'get all the goodness out of it', I wanted to share some of the lines on this post which I though were examples of great use of language.

"My 24 year old Alexander, who enjoyed beating his old man at every game and in every race, beat his father to the grave."

"Among the healing flood of letters..." (It is provocative to me that he would use the image of a flood because from what I can tell in the sermon, Alex died by drowning. That Coffin would take this image and twist it a bit to accent Grace is quite profound.)

"love not only begets love, it transmits strength."

"The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, "It is the will of God." Never do we know enough to say that."

"While words of the Bible are true, grief renders them unreal. The reality of grief is that absence of God - "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The reality of grief is the solitude of pain, the feeling that your heart's in pieces, your mind's blank and that "there's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away" (Lord Byron)"

"I felt some of my fellow reverends were using comforting words of Scripture for self protection, to pretty up a situation whose bleakness they simply couldn't face. But like God Herself, Scripture is not around for anyone's protection, just for everyone's unending support."

"When parents die, as did my mother last month, they take with them a large portion of the past. But when children die, they take away the future as well. That is what makes the valley of the shadow of death seem so incredibly dark and unending. In a prideful way it would be easier to walk the valley alone, nobly, head high, instead of - as we must - marching as the latest recruit in the world's army of the bereaved."

"interestingly enough, when I mourn Alex least I see him best."

"But it's a face: few of us are naturally profound; we have to be forced down."

"So I shall - so let us all - seek consolation in that love which never dies, and find peace in the dazzling grace that always is."

It is my hope that I too might learn how to be profound, but it is my prayer that I do not have to do through what William Sloane Coffin had to in order to arrive there.

Preaching is like pitching

Recently it has been a new practice for me to preach more often at different worship settings. Until these recent changes I have felt like I was something of a relief pitcher brought in. What I mean by that is when asked to preach I felt, because I did not preach that often, that I had to "throw strikes" all the time. I could not afford the luxury of balls or walks or hits and especially not allowed to give any runs up. I only get to "see" each batter maybe one time and I have no real ability to set up hitters for the next time I see them.

I have come to realize this way of preaching for me is very unhealthy and frustrating for me. I notice in these past several weeks that it is much easier to preach every week than to preach every so often. It seems that I can get into a pattern/rhythm when I preach more often. When I preach often I also feel like a starter pitcher in that I can afford some balls, strikes and even a hit or run. More than that I also feel like I can set people up for the real "heaters". What I mean is I feel as I preach more often that I can use one Sunday to set up the next Sunday. So I can throw a "ball" on week and that is okay because next week I am brining the heat. And that second pitch could not have been as effective if I would have pitched it first. It seems like pitchers need other pitches to determine or set up the next pitch.

Preaching for me seems to be the same way. I find it helpful to build my pitches.

Of course, every now and again it is fun and a challenge to be a relief pitcher again...

Transfiguration Sermon

February 14th in the liturgical calendar is Transfiguration Sunday and as we are in the cycle of Luke, the Gospel reading for that day is Luke 9:28-36.

I am curious to know what you:

Have heard about this text.

What you see/hear in the reading as you read it today.

What questions pop out at you.

I have heard from a few people last night and they had these comments:

Questions that came up:

• What color clothes were Jesus' prior to the transfiguration?
• Did Jesus' clothes remain dazziling white after the mountain-top experience?
• How did we get this story if only three where there and they fell asleep?
• Is there a past/present/future connection (Moses/Elijah/Jesus)?
• Is this a story to help Jesus or the inner circle?

Observations:

• "I think of Moses for some reason in this story going up Mount Sinai"

Things that people said they have heard about this story:

• Moses is connected to the Law, Elijah is connected to the Prophets and Jesus is placed in the middle of this great company representing a new covenant.
• This story connects Jesus to the OT and not breaking from his tradition.

Do you have anything to offer or add to these?