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Sermon: Celebrating 25 Years of Copelands in Tallahassee

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

This sermon was preached by Martha Moore-Keish and me at the 25th anniversary celebration of my parents’, Brant and Andra Copeland, ministry with First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, FL.  The sermon was delivered, as the manuscript suggests, as a dialogue with both of us in the pulpit.  I’m grateful for Martha (whose faculty bio page is here) for her thoughtful and fun collaboration.

October 24, 2010

Joel 2:23-32

Dr. Martha Moore-Keish & Adam J. Copeland

From an email dated Sept. 13, 2010:

Dear Martha,

It’s great to be preaching with you on Oct 24th, but I’m not so sure about this Old Testament reading from Joel. I mean – Joel? – who the heck was he and what was he prophesying about?

I think I took four classes from you at Columbia Seminary. So I did a search in Microsoft Word of the notes I took during your classes. According to my very smart computer: you didn’t mention Joel even once!

Now I don’t dare lecture you – anything but – but isn’t Oct 24th supposed to be a big celebration of twenty-five years of ministry? And didn’t you teach us in seminary to preach relevant sermons that connect to the experiences of congregations? So, why then, are we preaching from some Old Testament book nobody’s ever heard of?

Sure, maybe in rural Minnesota where my congregation is, Joel might make some sense – all Joel’s talk about beneficial early rains, threshing floors, annoying insects, and farming. I mean, folk in Hallock might get it, but these Tallahassee folk are urban types. The only corn they see is in the produce section in Publix. The only country they encounter is in Jimbo Fisher’s accent.

Are you sure about this preaching from Joel?

Puzzled in Minnesota,

Adam … Continue Reading

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Blogging: Subculture or mainstream?

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

also posted at the CENTURY Blog

Yes, blogging about blogging can be the ultimate navel-gazing, but hear me out; I mean to intrigue.

In a well-written book on cyberculture theory, Pramod K. Nayar claims that blogs “have become a folk cultural form.” So far so good. But most of Nayar’s other descriptions of blogging seem a bit dated: it’s life-writing or autobiography, it’s an online diary, it’s inherently personal, it’s subcultural. All this may have been true once, but most of the blogs I read have grown up and taken on new form and function.

Nayar grants that “blogs are perhaps no longer subcultural considering their heterogeneity, numbers, and expanding use on the World Wide Web.” But he doesn’t elaborate on developments such as

  • Newspaper sites that sponsor and host bloggers (see Bruce Reyes-Chow’s connection with the San Francisco Chronicle)
  • Blogs such as Time magazine’s Swampland, which is updated multiple times daily by well-known reporters with off-the-cuff thoughts and developing stories
  • Networks of independent bloggers, such as the Century‘s CCblogs network, of which my blog is a member

Many pastors are now blogging on church websites, and columnists publish more formal content in print and more casual stuff on blogs (though the distinction isn’t always so clear). Blogs have grown out of their subcultural status, moving from a form of journaling or life-casting to a powerful mainstream tool for expression and dialogue.

Nayar suggests that blogs are “filling in the gaps” in public discourse. While he doesn’t elaborate, the phrase is spot on. Blogging fills the gaps that existed ten years ago between professional journalism and thoughtful personal journaling. As the gaps are filled, the distinctions are becoming less clear. Subculture has become mainstream, and a new folk cultural form evolves.

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Our so-called conversation about Juan Williams’ firing

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

also posted at the CENTURY Blog

Some of the best coverage of the firing of National Public Radio news analyst Juan Williams has been  NPR’s own. But the broader conversation has quickly become a chorus of ridiculousness:

  • Republican politicians are pushing to strip NPR of federal funding-which accounts for a small portion of its budget, all received indirectly via Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding of local stations and of foundations that support NPR.
  • Some commentators are saying Williams’s first amendment rights have been violated, missing the distinction between one’s right to free speech and one’s duty as a journalist to exercise this right while upholding the standards of good reporting and analysis.
  • Others have even suggested that NPR acted out of racism. (Williams was one of the organization’s few senior black reporters.)
  • Members of local NPR affiliates are talking about withholding pledges. Pastors I know are saying they will never again give to public radio — pastors who also argue against congregation members withholding donations because of mistakes by church leaders.

Our national conversation has become a kneejerk festival, celebrating whoever can have the most sensational reaction in the shortest amount of time. I’m all for honest dialogue about prejudice and fear, about public funding of the news, about the distinction between sound reporting and jabbering-head TV. By all means, let’s talk.

But please, let’s think before we speak.

Update of a more reasoned perspective:

image by anonymous

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Anti-bullying — there’s an app for that

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

also found at CENTURY Blog

Could an iPhone app help address teen bullying? Could a website connect abused children to help? MTV and its A Thin Line campaign think so.

Among other things, the campaign asks youth to share their experiences via the app or on the site, and then other users vote as to whether anyone went “over the line.” The site also directs users to resources such as the National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline or the police.

On the site, anonymous users share stories on a wide variety of topics: a hijacked Facebook account used to send insulting messages, a large cross posted on a Christian student’s locker and labeled “Jesus Freak,” prescription drug abuse, sexting.

Here’s an excerpt from the site’s “about” page:

Sometimes we type things we would never say to someone’s face. As a result, new issues like forced sexting, textual harassment and cyberbullying have emerged, which now affect a majority of young people in the U.S.

Recent news stories have underscored the seriousness of these problems. But is an iPhone app going to rid your child’s school of bullying? No. And although in general I’m enthusiastic about social media and crowdsourcing, the idea of hundreds of anonymous youth determining the morality of something makes my inner John Calvin very nervous.

The A Thin Line campaign could alert youth to a problem, give them an opportunity to share something difficult to talk about, and function as a way for counselors to begin a conversation. But ultimately our society needs to find our collective voice and say clearly—in person as well as online—”that’s just not ok.”

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(Retro)sexism in the church

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

also posted at CENTURY Blog

I learned a new word recently and then encountered it three times that day. “Retrosexism” hasn’t made it into the Oxford English Dictionary yet, but a Google search turns up several thousand hits, and Newsweek noted last month that “the term ‘retrosexual’ has all but replaced ‘metrosexual’ in the lifestyle sections of national magazines.”

If a metrosexual male is all about fashionable clothes, designer hygiene products, willingness to show emotions, and general open-minded eschewing of traditional masculinity, a retrosexual is the opposite. Retrosexuals reclaim the old notion of men who care little about their appearance and harken back to a more classic understanding of masculinity, no hair product allowed.

“Retrosexism” is the sexism that can accompany these retrosexual attitudes. Often this includes an ironic twist: the retrosexual understands that an idea is offensive but persists anyway, assuming a free pass since he knows it’s sexist. Anita Sarkeesian calls this the “I know that you know that I know” approach to unacceptable sexist behavior:

Retrosexism often glorifies sexism of the past with the double logic that, since folks know the attitude is sexist, it’s somehow okay to look the other way. Think of jokes that end with punch lines about what an old-fashioned grandfather might say about gender relations. Or consider an otherwise forward-thinking college guy winkingly telling a female friend to do his laundry.

Call it “retrosexism” or just plain “sexism.” The objectification and undervaluing of women continues to get a pass in our culture. This is wrong; it’s sin. But I’m betting that it will become more common in our churches in the near future. As women finally make significant inroads into equitable leadership and encounter fewer sexist attitudes in the church, there will be a backlash. Congregational presidents will joke about a pastor not truly deserving maternity leave. Masculine homiletics will attempt to crowd out the feminist voice.

Also, since retro culture tends to look backward with rose-colored glasses, perhaps the church will increase—if this is possible—its glorification of the past. This might include snippets such as “Back in the day before woman pastors” or “I remember when we didn’t need female representation on the church council.”

Maybe I’m wrong about this. I hope so—not everything retro is worth bringing back.

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Sermon: Hope in God

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.

Oct 17, 2010

Hope in God

Jer 31:27-34

As I prepared to go to Scotland last week, many of you shared with me stories of your trips abroad — several to Scotland, and a few to Sweden or Norway. You shared about tracing your family roots back a few generations, traveling to the homeland to find long-lost relatives or old gravestones with familiar names. There’s something about the “home country” that sparks a particular interest in many of us.

I don’t have to go too much trouble in Scotland to find my roots. My Grandmother still lives in the same house she’s been in for over fifty years.   … Continue Reading

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How do you make Sundays go smoothly

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Adam J. Copeland

also posted at CENTURY Blog

A couple weeks ago, Sunday morning didn’t quite go as planned.

As usual I was the first to arrive at church. I unlocked the door and stepped over the threshold, and then things fell apart. Due to a miscommunication, nobody had set up for communion. We didn’t have any bread or grape juice, and the store didn’t open until half an hour before the service. Also, our dutiful deacon got confused about her duty dates, so we didn’t have coffee for a while. Soon I realized I had overlooked at least three typos in the bulletin, and more significantly, completely left out the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayers of the People.

When I finally secluded myself in my study for a moment to type and print out the eucharistic prayer for World Communion Sunday, I found that the copy of the prayer had been thrown away. Fine, I thought. I can write a prayer. It wasn’t until I was passing the communion elements to the elder that I realized I left out the epiclesis. I mumbled a sort of prayer under my breath. (Sorry, Holy Spirit, totally my bad.)

When I walked into the service, I was already a few minutes late but had to speak to several folks I had asked to serve communion just a few minutes earlier. It turned out they didn’t need to serve after all — the original communion setup person had asked three other servers at the last minute.

We then had 20 minutes of announcements, all of which were important and well delivered but which threw me off my game for the entire service. Mid-service I realized that I had forgotten to print out the Prayer of the Day, so our liturgist was left helplessly shuffling her papers at the pulpit in search of the nonexistent prayer. I ended up turning on my portable microphone and leading it from my spot in the front pew.

Those of you who are pastors, I could use your help. Is this just a fact of life in a small church —from time to time the announcements will go long, and the communion preparer will forget, and typos will hide until Sunday, and your mind will be on ten distracting details? Is this inevitable from time to time, or am I just a bad pastor?

What strategies do you employ to make Sunday morning go smoothly? Do you, like me, prefer to write the Prayers of the People on the day of worship so that they’re current? Do you put your foot down after three announcements? Please, can you help a brother out?

image by Piotr Bizior

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