Sermon: Christmas Too
First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.
January 2, 2010
Christmas Too
Ephesians 1:3-14
The wrapping paper is on sale. If the Christmas tree is still up, chances are there aren’t any presents under it anymore. The poinsettias are wilting (or at least they are at our house). The television news has shifted from Christmas stories, to Brett Favre stories, to year-in-review stories, and, tomorrow, all will be back to normal. Christmas is in the rear view mirror and we can all just relax. Well, sort of. … Continue Reading
Sermon: Living by the River
First Presbyterian Church
Hallock, Minn.
May 9, 2010
Living by the River
Acts 16:9-15, Rev. 21:10, 21:22-22:5
God’s word from Revelation: “Then the angel of the Lord showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal…and they will see the face of the Lamb, his name will be on their foreheads.”
Growing up in Florida, I wasn’t around as many rivers as there are here in Minnesota. But, one summer when I was about ten, I visited my cousins in Texas. About an hour from their house in Houston, they have a small place on the bank of a river that flows into the gulf. There, for a week, my brother and I played with our cousins, mostly in the river. We went swimming and skiing, played in the woods for a bit, and then went tubing again. Life on the river, for that week of my life at least, seemed like pretty much the best thing ever. We were like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer rafting down the Mississippi without a care in the world. … Continue Reading
Sensory Worship
As I mentioned, a few weeks ago I was part of a group that led a week of corporate worship at Columbia seminary. My favorite service — if one can have such things — was Thursday’s during which there was no sermon and very little spoken liturgy. Strange, I know, for a homiletics and liturgy guy. Perhaps I liked the service so much because it took ages to plan and we weren’t sure how it would go since it was so different. Or, perhaps, it was just quality worship. You can’t experience it, but you can read on for a description.
Call to Worship: Thanksgiving at the Font
The service began with the words thanksgiving over the water. Three of us slowly walked forward with fun pitchers and poured — very slowly — water into the font while a liturgist prayed a thanksgiving for baptism that drew out water motifs from throughout scripture.
We then immediately — without spoken instructions — led the congregation in a short a cappella piece in cannon, “You have put on Christ. In him you have been baptized. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.”
Scripture, Layered and Textured
Then the real fun began. The readings were Psalm 23 and Revelation 22:1-5 (the river of life passage).
First time through readers read the readings as per usual, with silence in between.
Second time through readers read the passages while a cellist played the tune RESIGNATION, (The Shepherd Will Supply My Need). The cello continued through the silences, and did not stop when the readings ended.
Next, a variety of images of water began appearing on a screen (set away from the font, table, and pulpit but easy to see). As the images took over, the cello ceased and the readers continued with a pause between.
Finally, the images stopped. The readings, one fourth and final time, were then read together, interspersed with on another. So the baptism stuff was going on in folks’ heads, the Psalm 23 action was lively, and the crazy-eschatological nature of Revelation was working its stuff. But the atmosphere was silence, loud silence due to the fact that our senses were just minutes before focused on the “The Shepherd Will Supply My Need” and then the images.
SILENCE FOR A WHILE
Then, out of the back of the sanctuary, a solo french horn played “The Shepherd Will Supply My Need.” Slowly, beautifully, movingly. It was the Holy Spirit, supporting us from behind even before we knew it. Or maybe just Jesus.
Response:
The congregation then sang “The Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” we prayed, then sang a hymn text from Revelation 22 to the tune of “Come Thou Fount.”
Benediction. Go in peace.
Reflections:
As with all our chapel week, we tried to discuss the sacrament of baptism without being boring or too predictable, but not trying to be different for the wrong reasons or obnoxiously unpredictable. It was an unusual type of service that one can get away with in a community like Columbia. But it was, actually, so very simple.
We sang a cappella, two hymn tunes that have been around for centuries, and a newish but strong reworking of Revelation. We prayed. We heard the Bible — multiple times. We thought together about baptism without being told what we must think. We took in images of water in our world. And we enjoyed silence so hard to find in our culture.
Certainly, the interspersing of the texts, and the layering of their words with the audio and visual response was sort of an experiment. But we got some really good feedback, and the service, actually, felt tighter and flowed better than I would have even hoped. Sure it was “contemporary worship” as is all worship today. Sure it did use a screen. But, really, it was old by the book stuff.
Water. Word. Silence. Singing a new song. Praising God with horn and strings. Praying together. Going out in peace.
CTS Chapel Sermon: "Flood" from Genesis 6
When this post goes live I’ll be in Harrington Chapel preaching the sermon below. I would hesitate to preach a sermon with this sort of form in, well, most every congregation I know. But the Columbia community isn’t your average congregation. As I heard a student say one, “Chapel is difficult to lead because it’s a community of professional worshipers.” That’s about right so the sermon form and content reflects the context. It’s experimental, in a way. It plays with images and concepts without fully explaining. It assumes a congregation that really enjoys wrestling with tough theology. It connects things quickly, and without much explanation: flood, death, baptism, climate change, resurrection. It is what it is, but it was fun, at least, to write.
Depending when I get it, I may put up video later.
Genesis 6:5-22
The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created–people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.
These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its heigh thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and yours sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
Of the birds according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, of every animal, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God had commanded him.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Adam J. Copeland
September 30, 2008
Columbia Theological Seminary Chapel
Flood
[Refrain]
God said, For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. (But…)
A second flood is coming. Just like the last, caused by human sin.. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body made up of the world’s top scientists, reports the harrowing data. Around the world, snow cover is diminishing. Temperatures are increasing. And ocean levels are slowly and dangerously rising.
The IPCC, known for its accurate though conservative evaluations, estimates that average global temperatures will rise between 1 and 6 degrees centigrade (up to ten degrees Fahrenheit) in the next 90 years.
Models project extinctions of more than 50% of the earth’s species. As snow cover and ice caps melt, sea levels will rise, best estimated between 3 and 20 feet this century. Sea level rises affect the world’s poorest, as 50% of the earth’s population lives near rivers and oceans. Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, is projected to lose 20% of its land if sea levels rise just 3 feet, displacing millions.
Islands will disappear. Animals, plants, and humans beings, will die. A second flood is coming. … Continue Reading
Review: Leif Enger's "So Brave, Young, and Handsome"
Read this book. It’s good. Real good. Read it if you’re a pastor, or if you like adventure stories, or broken characters seeking redemption, or hard cowboy fun, or just really well-written prose. Leif Enger’s (author of Peace Like a River) has some mad skills.
The book came highly recommended to me by a friend whose taste I trust, so I didn’t read the book jacket description (the best way to read books, by the way). Set in America in 1915, the main character and story-teller is Monte Becket, a one-hit-wonder adventure novel writer who quit his job in the post office but fails to do much right. Becket sort of reminded me of Frank Bascombe in Richard Ford’s novels (recommended too, but much more difficult reads). Both are appealing due to their failures, honestly, and innate American optimism.
Well, a resident of Northfield, Minnesota (which I was proud to call home for four years), meets a reclusive neighbor from down the river. The neighbor is kind, full of the most amazing stories, and has a rather dubious history. To the two set off for a six-week trip to Mexico, a journey of mutual benefit. Glendon, the neighbor, must appease his conscience and confess his faults to a previous wife from his Mexican outlaw days. Becket needs to find himself and discover his true calling whether as a writer, a postman, a husband, a father, or a just a failure.
Adventures ensue. Tears and laughter are shared. Hope is kindled and lost.
I won’t ruin the story, but I will say it contains my new favorite baptism scene in modern fiction. It’s beautiful, hilarious, and so complex it could be used in ten sermons, twenty different ways.
[Ok, here's just a bite if your curious...
"A new fear entered me, ‘Glendon, what if it's wrong for me to do it? Suppose I imperil something'"
‘Imperil what?'
‘My immortal soul,' I rather hissed.
‘Why Becked,' he said, with a warm familiarity I found irksome.
‘I'm serious. What if He's got some rule about this? What if God hates impostors?'
He looked bemused, ‘If you're afriad, then I think you're no impostor.'" ]
I’ll be reviewing some churchy non-fiction books next week, but if your taste is anything like mine, you’ll more enjoy the truthful fiction of Enger’s So Brave, Young, and Handsome.
Just for fun, and for some linking love, here’s some other random blog reviews of the novel: Crookedshore, Erik Emery Hanberg, and BitterSweetLife.
Sermon: Singing the Commandments, Exodus 20 & Romans 6
photo by chapstickaddict
click above for audio
Whew, definitely not sure about this one, but I got more positive comments than usual (which probably just means people are happy to see me go next week;) ) Several interesting homiletical issues in the sermon. First, it deals with two texts which I always find so tricky because it’s easy to shortchange each or have them talk to each other in ways either too simple or too fake. Second, it’s a teaching sermon rather than a “go do this” sermon. The topic makes it such, but so also the theological content with which I bet most are unfamiliar. Apparently the ten commandments are rarely discussed at St. C, if at all. Third, one must be careful when dealing with OT Law and NT Gospel and not pulling the age-old heresy of a split between the God of the OT and Christ of the NT. Finally, it’s a Lutheran sermon format with a Presbyterian third use of the law ending (ok, I’m a huge nerd). The form is: 1) Law, 2) Gospel, 3) Law revisited in light of Gospel to find that the Law really is Gospel to begin with–and that’d be Calvin’s third and and primary use of the law. Whew…and it has jokes too:) and somebody yelled out when I mentioned Bush, hilarious.
Ayr: St. Columba Church
11:15 am Worship Service
Adam J. Copeland
Singing the Commandments
Exodus 20:1-17, Romans 6:1-11
After going-on ten months in Scotland, it’s an interesting practice to reflect back on life in the US. As happens when living abroad, my perspective of my own country has significantly changed.
For example, I will never look at an American nicely written, clearly displayed street sign the same way again. After ten months of driving all over Ayr, passing street after street, turning around, and then again, trying to find a street sign that might be a foot off the ground on a wall, or thirty feet up on a house, or hiding behind an overgrown hedge, or just not there at all, I have gained a new appreciation for America’s street signs and simple street numbering system.
I’ll miss many Scottish things, of course, like fish and chips, constant cups of tea, Scottish cheese (which I think is completely under-appreciated), folks actually driving the speed limit (thanks to speed cameras, mind you), fantastic golf courses, having four seasons in a day–ok, I won’t miss that, but Scotland’s weather does instill a certain go-with-the-flow approach to Scottish culture which I will miss. … Continue Reading
Sermon: A Powerful History, Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17
When I was your age…
Things just aren’t as good as they used to be…
Back in the good old days…
I’m sure Scotland has some phrases of its own, but it’s a fairly universal instinct to recall the past with a type of selective memory.
Back when I was your age, all kids used to have good manners, they never told lies, and always did their chores on time.
Things just aren’t as good as they used to be. I remember when cars never broke down, when ten pounds would buy you food for weeks, and how it never used to rain in Scotland.
Back in the good old days, kids didn’t get rides to school from their parents. When I was young I had to walk to school….in the snow….barefoot…carrying hundreds of books…and it was uphill both ways.
Something about our memory makes these recollections suspect. Certainly the past had many commendable and noteworthy aspects. Some, better than today. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll recall also that the past was far from perfect.
It’s a delicate balance, remembering the past and taking from it lessons for today. On the one hand, perhaps there is something to gain from memories, memories of the relationships formed in days gone by when families gathered around one radio rather than scurrying off to different rooms to watch different televisions. On the other hand, I’d rather not go back to the days before indoor toilets and central heating.
Recalling the past is a delicate balance.
… Continue Reading
Connect Online
