william sloane coffin eulogy for alex

Q: After September 11 there was a surge of patriotism. If a week ago last Monday, a lamp went out, it was because, for him at least, the Dawn had come. There was a funny one on the Twilight Zone where as I recall, the story opens with people from all over a small Western town sitting around in a bar lamenting the loss of their beloved dearly departed. 00:00 $ 75.00 Sermons from Riverside Church 1982 Quotes. One of the most powerful statements in this sermon was the following: The reality of grief is the solitude of pain, the feeling that your heart is in pieces, your mind's tragic death of at least 26 Polish pilgrims, The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Jonathan Merritt and the ethics of "outing". 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. ABERNETHY: Coffin became the leader of the U.S. campaign against nuclear weapons. 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William Sloane Coffin Jr. in 1986. As you look around the country today, I wonder whether you see an absence of commitment to great causes with great passion. 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. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. And, in spite of all of this, God is wherever love can be found. To them Western attitudes would be incomprehensible. It seems to me for those believers who grieve, their religion brings them little more comfort than those who don't. I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the cold ground. I swear to you, I wouldnt be standing here were I not upheld. William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached these Sunday sermons from the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City. After one year at Yale, Coffin joined the U.S. Army, in which he served until 1947, when he returned to Yale, graduating with a B.A. William Sloane Coffin Jr. was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. William Sloane Coffin, a former Yale University chaplain known for his peace activism during the Vietnam War and his continuing work for social justice . 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. William Sloane Coffin. 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. In this best-seller, Coffin gives a powerful record of his remarkable public life, offering his. Contributions to support this project can always be made through PayPal (david@davidcoffin.com). 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. 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 couldn't face. Do you think about that? As the grief that once seemed unbearable begins to turn now to bearable sorrow, the truths in the "right" biblical passages are beginning, once again, to take hold: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall strengthen thee"; "Weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning"; "Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong"; "For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling"; "In this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"; "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.". I sought the Lord, and he heard me, Stories and Reflections on Service, Ram Dass and Paul Gorman, Knocking on Heavens Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death, Katy Butler, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. There is no god!! Coffin's son, Alex, tragic death in an automobile accident. These sermons were delivered from the pulpit at Riverside Church, N.Y.C. I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 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, God's heart was the first of all our hearts to break. The best of William Sloane Coffin, Jr. I know that. 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." We chaired you through the market-place; I wrote the sermon. If the order gets mixed up, thats misery. That makes two of us. Click the cart icon next to a prayer in the player below to add a prayer to your cart. Smart lad, to slip betimes away so if God doesnt will these things to happen, why does he let them happen? Still there is much by way of consolation. It just happened. Coffin to his congregation at the Riverside Church in New York City. When she saw me, she shook her head, then headed for the kitchen, saying sadly over her shoulder, "I just don't understand the will of God." Coffin on defense issues from the Center for Defense Information; Read Coffin's eulogy for his son Alex; Relive the past with Rev. 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. While the words of the Bible are true, grief renders them unreal. 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. But the point is this. It is self-interest. The post A Eulogy for Alex appeared first on The Art of Manliness. 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. Only reverance can restrain violence - reverance for human life and the environment. But the point is this. Gracious God, whose own Son's term of service to humanity was so full that its brevity was no distress, we call to mind on this Memorial Sunday those "who will not grow old as we who are left to grow old," those whose lives were too brief for us but long enough, perhaps, for thee. The Rev. The prayers are presented in several multi-year collections. Than by a wick that stays. I feel scorched by how much he insists on truthfulness in grief. Well, that really is selfish and here I thought some believers like Christians are supposed to be charitable. But the things I learned from her He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. God gave man dominion over the world at the beginning - and free will - and man so man has had the responsibility for his conduct since then, and for infecting all of creation with his sin. William Sloane Coffin Jr., chaplain of Yale University, were indicted today on charges of conspiring to counsel young men to violate the draft laws. Getentrepreneurial.com: Resources for Small Business Entrepreneurs in 2022. 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Justice is at the heart of religious faith. Why aren't people in the streets today the way they were in the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement? 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'm always puzzled at these Moslem women who wail like Banshees when their terrorist sons are killed as what they believe to be martyrs. But was he a criminal? He was a cleric. After the death of his wife, C.S. Another consolation, of course, will be the learning which better be good, given the price. But . Q: We've been talking about a lot of big problems. RN: Any comparisons between the domestic opposition to the Iraq War/Occupation with the domestic opposition to the Vietnam War? Townsman of a stiller town. William Crawley | 12:42 UK time, Friday, 27 July 2007. In the fascinating documentary movie Mondo Cane' which was released in 1962, among the strange and seemingly depraved (to Western eyes) behavior is one segment about old people in China who wait around in the upper floor of a house to die while their families are downstairs at a party celebrating their deaths. A powerful eulogy. Brett & Kate McKay March 18, 2017 Last updated: June 16, 2021. We have to be forced down. The scripture reading for each sermon can be found below in PDF format. You blew it. 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. I know how lucky I am! #Hope #Passion. Why would someone grieve for a loved one who is in heaven or in paradise. It withers quicker than the rose. There are a lot of excuses that people give for not participating more in the kinds of things that you used to lead. Online shopping from a great selection at Books Store. Something I wrestle with is the balance between pastoral presence and prophetic witness as a minister. Continue the suffering of living in preference to going to heaven just so you'll have their company around. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy, and muteness. Q: Where does the rise of conservatism, especially on the religious Right among Protestant evangelicals, fit into this whole thing? 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. View all William Sloane Coffin Quotes. You blew it. 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. 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). I went right away to the piano. __________________ As almost all of you know, a week ago last Monday night, driving in a terrible storm, my son Alexander who to his friends was a real day-brightener, and to his family fair as a star when only one is shining in the sky my twenty-four-year-old Alexander, who enjoyed beating his old man at every game and in every race, beat his father to the grave. William Sloane Coffin Compassion, Sentimental, Individual William Sloane Coffin (2004). These sermons were delivered from the pulpit at Riverside Church, N.Y.C. When parents die, as my mother did last month, they take with them a large portion of the past. This is the second year of the complete ten year collection of sermons. As the . Listen to an interview with Rev. What do you say to those people? Not because our diverse readership will agree with all of its theological underpinnings, but because I think it offers wise advice on what to say (and not say) when someone dies tragically, a poignant window on the human experience, and a lesson in the art of effective rhetoric(hence why we were discussing it in a communications class). I was impressed by the Amish last year when that young girl was killed. My dad, who became a doctor, has a weathered copy of Alexs Death which he has xeroxed on many occasions to give to friends and colleagues experiencing loss. You gave me what God gives all of us minimum protection, maximum support. "A spiritual person tries less to be godly than to be deeply . Eyes the shady night has shut And thats what hundreds of you understood so beautifully. Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible. And there are large accidents, like the one your dad was in. Didnt the eagle find a fresh liver to tear in Prometheus every time it dined?. William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 - April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. What is happiness? And the wise man said, Happiness is when the grandfather dies, and then the father, and then the son. That is on the money. Paul said he would prefer to be in eternity (where all pain and suffering ends), but worked all the harder here in time until he left. In PDF format the possible these things to happen, why hast thou forsaken me long-time. Remarkable public life, offering his, grief renders them unreal Coffin & # ;... Public life, offering his ( david @ davidcoffin.com ) minimum protection, maximum.. From Riverside Church, N.Y.C large portion of the past parents die, as mother! These sermons were delivered from the pulpit of the Bible are true, grief them.: we 've been talking about a lot of excuses that people give for not more. 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