That makes two of us. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind. (There's words for everything else.) If a week ago last Monday, a lamp went out, it was because, for him at least, the Dawn had come. 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But violent deaths, such as the one Alex died to understand those is a piece of cake. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. And [a lot of people] think that emotional mediocrity is the good life. Editor's note: Ten days after his son, Alex, drove off a bridge and was killed in a car accident, Reverend William Sloane Coffin delivered the following sermon to his congregation at Riverside Church in New York City. How much suffering? I swear to you, I wouldnt be standing here were I not upheld. Transcript - William Sloane Coffin's Eulogy for Alex Ten days after his son, Alex, was killed in a car accident, Reverend William Sloane Coffin delivered this moving eulogy turned sermon, filled with deep truth and deep pain about the realities of death and the true (not trite) hope we have in God. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. Bill Coffin's legacy is ministry . The woman most in need of liberation is the woman in every man and the man in every woman. #Firsts #Leap #Wings. He became famous while at Yale in the 1960s for his opposition to the Vietnam War. I walked a mile with Sorrow Q: We've been talking about a lot of big problems. Thousands of people have died without the benefit of a poetic father! Seems a good deal for him - get all the praise when things go our way but none of the blame when things go wrong due to no fault of our own. In my case on the death of my wife they were summed up well in a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay entitled Dirge without Music. And of course I know, even when pain is deep, that God is good. From fields where glory does not stay, 10 A powerful eulogy. 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 worlds army of the bereaved. There is no god!! William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. Welcome to the sermons and prayers download page. I mentioned the healing flood of letters. 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. For some reason, nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesnt go around this world with his fingers on triggers, his fists around knives, his hands on steering wheels. Practicing wholesale justice Interview with Bob Abernathy August 27, 204 The Rev. Please address any specific reforms that demand priority. And round that early-laurelled head 25 Q: Where does the rise of conservatism, especially on the religious Right among Protestant evangelicals, fit into this whole thing? William Sloane Coffin challenged the nation with his passionate calls for social justice. Coffin about his experiences as a Freedom Rider from NPR; Read a transcript of an interview with Rev. Some of the very best, and easily the worst, knew their Bibles better than the human condition. For some reason, nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesnt go around this world with his fingers on triggers, his fists around knives, his hands on steering wheels. But I also, couldnt think of anything else for the moment, but about Alex, and his death. And finally I know that when Alex beat me to the grave, the finish line was not Boston Harbor in the middle of the night. After the death of his wife, C.S. William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 - April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. The garland briefer than a girls. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., (born June 1, 1924, New York, New York, U.S.died April 12, 2006, Strafford, Vermont, U.S.), American clergyman and civil rights activist who achieved national prominence as the chaplain (1958-75) at Yale University, where he became a familiar figure on campus, championing civil rights and opposing the Vietnam War. By a departing light The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love, I think in the end they pay him a fortune to make the dead go back to their graves. . In his younger days he was an athlete, a talented pianist, a CIA officer, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of H. Richard Niebuhr . #Power Of Love #Truth #Love. But its a fact: few of us are naturally profound. Read more. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Yes, but at least, My God, my God; and the psalm only begins that way, it doesnt end that way. He was 81.. Realist- I'm struggling to understand how what you said relates to anything I posted above whatsoever. Kate Braestrups book is beautiful, and I highly recommend it to all who are seeking answers. The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin By William Sloane Coffin Book Review An impressive collection of sermons by William Sloan Coffin delivered from 1977 to 1982. Letters to a Young Doubter By William Sloane Coffin Book Review Letters by the inimitable Christian progressive on faith, doubt, Jesus, and the insanities of a world awash . The still-defended challenge-cup. That's the puzzlement of it all. I swear to you, I wouldnt be standing here were I not upheld. After the death of his wife, C.S. Did you perhaps mistake me for someone else?? So while trite, it's true: I walked a mile with Pleasure, That is what makes the valley of the shadow of death seem so incredibly dark and unending. I'm always puzzled at these Moslem women who wail like Banshees when their terrorist sons are killed as what they believe to be martyrs. And set you at your threshold down, Moved Permanently. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. Below you will find one of my favorite sermons "Preached from the Piano Bench" at Riverside Church. Ive read and re-read this passage many times: I told them, It was an accident. What do you think it is? RN: Any comparisons between the domestic opposition to the Iraq War/Occupation with the domestic opposition to the Vietnam War? I know all the right biblical passages, including Blessed are those who mourn, and my faith is no house of rest, came from fellow reverends, a few of whom proved they knew their cards; these passages are true, I know. So while trite, its true: I walked a mile with Pleasure, Why aren't people in the streets today the way they were in the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement? Houseman, To an Athlete Dying Young. And I wept and I wept. Rev. William Crawley | 12:42 UK time, Friday, 27 July 2007. That clarifies the sight I walked a mile with Sorrow The question seems more pointed given the context -- a group of devout believers making a religious pilgrimage -- but the same question is struggled over every day by people of faith who experience suffering or have to watch a loved one suffer. William Sloane Coffin gave what would be his final sermon at Chautauqua. Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup is the autobiography of the chaplain for the Maine game warden who herself was widowed with four young children when her husband a state trooper was killed in a car accident. The title of the sermon is "Alex's Death" and it comes on the heals of Rev. And the folks in Riverside Church had to know whether or not they still had a pastor. Why? Required fields are marked *. But violent deaths, such as the one Alex died to understand those is a piece of cake. So why the grief, self pity? Last year Union Theological Seminary in New York gave him its highest medal. I said. And find unwithered on its curls Itsjust one of those things I think is worth a read by all. William Sloane Coffin Jr., a Presbyterian minister and social activist who was an outspoken leader of the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s and '70s, died Wednesday at his . There are many kinds of silence, and one of them is a humbled, respectful, listening silence. Is that so hard to understand? Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead, COFFIN: What this country needs, what I think God wants us to do, is not practice piecemeal charity but engage in wholesale justice. Which is not to say that there are no nature-caused deaths I can think of many right here in this parish in the five years Ive been here deaths that are untimely and slow and pain-ridden, which for that reason raise unanswerable questions, and even the specter of a Cosmic Sadist yes, even an Eternal Vivisector. Lewis wrote, "They say 'the coward dies many times'; so does the beloved. So he has a hand in making our lives better but not worse? The civil rights movement: What do you remember with the greatest pleasure or what was the greatest lesson of it? Thats why immediately after such a tragedy people must come to your rescue, people who only want to hold your hand, not to quote anybody or even say anything, people who simply bring food and flowers the basics of beauty and life people who sign letters simply, Your brokenhearted sister. In other words, in my intense grief I felt some of my fellow reverends not many, and none of you, thank God were using comforting words of Scripture for self-protection, to pretty up a situation whose bleakness they simply couldnt face. -- William Sloane Coffin. But left me none the wiser William Sloane Coffin Jr., was arrested several times during the civil rights movement. I know. Some of the very best, and easily the worst, knew their Bibles better than the human condition. You will also find a collection of his prayers that concluded many of his sermons. Uk time, Friday, 27 July 2007 his opposition to the War. 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