If a week ago last Monday, a lamp went out, it was because, for him at least, the Dawn had come. 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. Ill say you dont, lady! I said. A Eulogy for Alex 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. 00:00 $ 75.00 Sermons from Riverside Church 1982 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. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. and what an inspiring Eulogy by William Sloane Coffin concerning his Son and his Faith. This website is the home of the William Sloane Coffin Sermon Archive Project. William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 - April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. I said. But when children die, they take away the future as well. The reality of grief is the solitude of pain, the feeling that your heart is in pieces, your mind's a blank, that "there is no joy the world can give like that it takes away." It seems to me for those believers who grieve, their religion brings them little more comfort than those who don't. The common attribution to the eighteenth-century statesman Alexander Hamilton was probably based on a mistaken understanding of a relatively modern citation. Why aren't people in the streets today the way they were in the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement? Didnt the eagle find a fresh liver to tear in Prometheus every time it dined?. Want to start taking action on the content you read on AoM? Individual prayers and sermons can be purchased by clicking the cart icon next to each prayer or sermon title. They are gone. I was first introduced to this sermon years ago in a college communications course, and I have thought of it with surprising regularity ever since. But like God herself, Scripture is not around for anyones protection, just for everyones unending support. You gave me what God gives all of us minimum protection, maximum support. A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, Until one has personally experienced the loss of a loved one, one can not understand the feelings about the death both positive and negative. But the things I learned from her RN: Any comparisons between the domestic opposition to the Iraq War/Occupation with the domestic opposition to the Vietnam War? I have a little sentence or two, about the Chinese Emperor who sent his wise man off for a month, to figure out, what is happiness? I think it will serve as a reminder of many stupid things we all have said to people who are grieving the main one probably being In 1983, Dr Coffin's son Alex was killed in a car accident. What do you think it is? He was 81.. I was impressed by the Amish last year when that young girl was killed. That is what makes the valley of the shadow of death seem so incredibly dark and unending. Just click the play button. "A spiritual person tries less to be godly than to be deeply . I was moved to tears, to be perfectly honest. RN: What do you think should be done strategically and tactically by the peace movement? I think in the end they pay him a fortune to make the dead go back to their graves. To them Western attitudes would be incomprehensible. God is dead set against all unnatural deaths. I swear to you, I wouldnt be standing here were I not upheld. What do you say to those people? Thursday, February 15, 2007. This invaluable anthology is the first and only collection dedi Rev. This is the ninth year of the complete ten year collection of sermons. William Sloane Coffin. Because there are no rankling unanswered questions, and because Alex and I simply adored each other, the wound for me is deep, but clean. But the point is this. The title of the sermon is "Alex's Death" and it comes on the heals of Rev. Itsjust one of those things I think is worth a read by all. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. I know, but I do not approve, and I am not resigned. Some will even argue that God has a purpose in allowing the accident and will use this tragedy to provoke moral growth in the world (though one hopes that this explanation will not be offered in the hearing of any grieving family members). But violent deaths, such as the one Alex died to understand those is a piece of cake. W. & J. Sloane was a furniture and rug store in New York City that catered to the wealthy. You can purchase one, four, seven sermons, or you can purchase the whole year or "album". The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love. God is dead set against all unnatural deaths. Continue the suffering of living in preference to going to heaven just so you'll have their company around. SERMON: Alex's Death, by William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Posted on October 6, 2013. Alex. Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible., I love the recklessness of faith. And I played all the hymns. Another consolation, of course, will be the learning which better be good, given the price. As his younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket at the Boston funeral, You blew it, buddy. This eulogy from William Sloane Coffin following the death of his son offers words of wisdom and hope for those struggling with the tragedy in Connecticut. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. So while trite, its true: I walked a mile with Pleasure, Q: What should we be mindful of when we make defense policy? By a departing light "I'll say you don't, lady!" Alex, as he was called, was killed in a car accident in 1983 when he was only. The older I get, the more I accept that death is the inevitable consequence of life, why can't believers? Lovers and thinkers into the earth with you. Rev. Man and boy stood cheering by, "Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible.". Thousands of people have died without the benefit of a poetic father! The use of Gods will or God has chosen to take whatever the phrase has always made me uncomfortable. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. RN: How is Vermont a model in this respect? Why? William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. Only reverance can restrain violence - reverance for human life and the environment.". Ive read and re-read this passage many times: I told them, It was an accident. ABERNETHY: Coffin rails at neglect of the poor and U.S. policies in Iraq. Robert Browning Hamilton Or, in Emily Dickinsons verse: By a departing light We see acuter quite Than by a wick that stays. When a person dies, there are many things that can be said, and there is at least one thing that should never be said. You can purchase individual prayers for $1.34 (includes processing fees). (There's words for everything else.) RN: What do you think the churches and the National Council of Churches should be doing that they are not now doing regarding the war-occupation? In his younger days he was an athlete, a talented pianist, a CIA agent, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr's . How are you able to look at the world as it is and still have the capacity for feeling joyful? This is beautiful!!! We see acuter quite 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. She chattered all the way; Bill Coffin flourished here, in the cracked common clay of an earthly and earthy life. The garland briefer than a girls. The reality of grief is the 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 is in pieces, your minds a blank, that there is no joy the world can give like that it takes away. (Lord Byron). The Theology of William Sloane Coffin. My own broken heart is mending, and largely thanks to so many of you, my dear parishioners; for if in the last week I have relearned one lesson, it is that love not only begets love, it transmits strength. This is the second year of the complete ten year collection of sermons. Even as he was trying to cooperate gracefully with the inevitability of death, he was also coaching Paul Newman to play the preacher in the film version of Marilynn Robinson's novel Gilead. Yale University's chaplain, the Rev. On Saturday afternoon at 1:30, the Rev. In your prayer life do you tend to direct your prayer life to Jesus or God? And decks the rays. Cars skid out of control on icy roads, healthy cells are consumed by cancerous ones. What an interesting article William Q: After September 11 there was a surge of patriotism. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. She chattered all the way; 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. But oh, the things I learned from her As his younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket at the Boston funeral, You blew it, buddy. But the things I learned from her Crowned with lilies and Laurel they go; but I am not resigned. And I wept and I wept. 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. But like God herself, Scripture is not around for anyone's protection, just for everyone's unending support. 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. God did not bash the truck into your fathers car. And then, Im a preacher. That is what makes the valley of the shadow of death seem so incredibly dark and unending. After the death of Coffin's father in 1933, the family moved to Carmel, California, where William attended public school until the ninth grade, when he attended Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts. I know how lucky I am! BTW, anonymous was I ere I saw Suomynona WTB, but I'm sure you guessed that right away. Nowhere in the scripture does it say, God is car accident or God is death. God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always always love. My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, Gods heart was the first of all our hearts to break. To-day, the road all runners come, 5 But when children die, they take away the future as well. William Sloane Coffin Jr. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (born 1924) was a Yale University chaplain who spoke out against the Vietnam War and was indicted as a criminal by the United States government for conspiring to aid young men to avoid the military draft.. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. was born to considerable wealth and social position on June 1, 1924, in New York City. I swear to you, I wouldn't be standing here were I not upheld. And decks the rays. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. 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 . William Sloane Coffin Jr. in 1987. May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short; Grace to risk something big for something good; And grace to remember the world is now too dangerous for anything but the truth and too small for anything but love. This is the fourth year of the complete ten year collection of sermons. I swear to you, I wouldnt be standing here were I not upheld. I also know this day-brightener of a son wouldnt wish to be held close by grief (nor, for that matter, would any but the meanest of our beloved departed) and that, interestingly enough, when I mourn Alex least I see him best. ashington, Jan. 5--Five men, including Dr. Benjamin Spock, the author and pediatrician, and the Rev. so if God doesnt will these things to happen, why does he let them happen? Rememberallproceeds will go directly to support the WSC scholarships at Union Theological Seminary in N.Y.C. When she saw me, she shook her head, then headed for the kitchen, saying sadly over her shoulder, I just dont understand the will of God. Instantly I was up and in hot pursuit, swarming all over her. 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. I was reminded today of this beautiful eulogy by the late William Sloane Coffin for his 24-year-old son, Alex, and I wanted to share it with you. By a departing light And thats what hundreds of you understood so beautifully. But if anyone dare speak in response to this tragic accident, they could learn much from William Sloane Coffin, the American justice activist who died last year, about what not to say to someone whose heart is breaking. Jim Antal, a Norwich resident who advises the president of the national United Church of Christ on climate change, will deliver the inaugural William Sloane . But . Well, so I wanted them to know, they had a pastor. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy, and muteness. Refusing to cede the battlefield of morality to conservatives, he argues that "compassion demands . If a week ago last Monday, a lamp went out, it was because, for him at least, the Dawn had come. But the point is this. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. If you had a pastoral visit with the president, what would you say? The Coffin award is given in honor of the life and ministry of William Sloane Coffin, former Chaplain to the University and one of the 20th century's most significant religious leaders. A different man named Alex Hamilton who was a British broadcaster used the saying in 1978. Last week my senior minister shared with me a sermon dated January 23, 1983 (Palm Sunday) written by William Sloane Coffin. Q: Many of us say, "Well, you know, I've got to work hard to support my family, I don't have a lot of time," or "I don't want to seem radical," or "I don't want to cause my neighbors to suspect I'm not fully patriotic." The civil rights movement: What do you remember with the greatest pleasure or what was the greatest lesson of it? These prayers may be purchased separately but they are included in the actual sermons too. When a person dies, there are many things that can be said, and there is at least one thing that should never be said. c a m p u s l i f e ; m e s s a g e Never do we know enough to say that. The reality of grief is the 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 is in pieces, your minds a blank, that there is no joy the world can give like that it takes away. (Lord Byron). Theres something in the flight That clarifies the sight And decks the rays. 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