Sunday, May 24, 2015 - 10:00am
Address:
Mackey Hall
353 E. Pine St.
Wooster,
Presented By: Andries Coetzee
Today our summer schedule starts as we gather at 10:00am in Mackey Hall, Westminster Church House, 353 E. Pine Street for worship. As we celebrate the Day of Pentecost on Memorial Day weekend we will keep in mind that Memorial Day, unlike Pentecost, is not on the Liturgical calendar of the Church. At Westminster we will embrace this opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices of our soldiers within the context of Pentecost and God's promise of recreation, life, and peace for all. As we prepare ourselves for worship on Sunday I invite you to reflect on the following pointers given to preachers who will make some reference to the U.S. holiday/holy day:
"1. Do not glorify war. Consider using a quote from a war-seasoned expert about war. Eisenhower, for instance, said, 'I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.'
2. Do not sacralize war. War is not a holy enterprise, a crusade led by God and God's representatives on earth, but a human project caused by failures and full of evils, no matter what its rationale or outcome.
3. Do not make war salvific or Christian by misapplying Jesus' statement in John 15:3 about his own loving death and about radical discipleship ('No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends') to war-deaths.
4. Do not let anyone leave the church thinking that any nation is the kingdom of God, or that any nation deserves the unqualified allegiance and praise due to God alone.
5. Do not let anyone leave the church thinking that there is anything more important than worshiping God and following Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.
6. Do not let anyone leave the church thinking, "Man, that was a great sermon about this great country and our great wars!"
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