Bill Coffin after 1961 civil rights sit-in, Montgomery
from williamsloanecoffin.org
Sermon Archive Project by David Coffin
(The arrest referred to in the third poem was in 1972, after crossing the picket line in DC to protest the Cambodia bombings.)
Psalm 97
Who Can You Trust?
We had a black lab once who,
one day when we were away,
tore up all the downstairs door frames
when a fierce thunderstorm rolled through.
I was not happy, of course,
at the subsequent repairs,
but you have to admit,
maybe he knew what he was doing.
I mean, if that mountain a mile away
had melted like wax, what
would have happened to that poor dog
cooped up with no way to get out?
Sometimes you can’t beat
the Psalmist’s imaginations,
not so much on the subject of fear,
but in knowing whose side to trust.
Scott L. Barton
The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many
coastlands be glad!
Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness
and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him,
and consumes his adversaries on every
side.
His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and
trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord
of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples
behold his glory.
All worshipers of images are put to shame,
those who make
their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him.
Zion hears and is glad,
and the towns of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O God.
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are
exalted far above all gods.
The Lord loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of
his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in
heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his
holy name!
+ + +
John 17:20-26
He Asks That They Be One
He asks that they be one just as
The Father and he are one;
It's not an idle prayer, because
It seems we've only begun
To realize just what he means -
He never meant to divide;
The love that opens you to pain
Is love which is bona fide.
The day will come when you and I
Will never, by faith, condemn;
But each will know the other just
As Christ made God known to them.
Scott L. Barton
(2016)
I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of
those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As
you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the
world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I
have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in
me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you
have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me,
may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you
loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does
not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your
name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you
have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
+ + +
Acts 16:16-34
Blessed Be the Tie That Binds
We sang it yesterday with gusto;
The old timers love it,
- and the new ones will;
What, do you suppose,
Did Paul and Silas sing,
Bound with ties, as they were
To the walls of that Philippi jail?
Perhaps you, too, have read
How Bill Coffin sang in a D.C. jail,
After marching for peace on the Capitol steps,
"Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,"
His Messiah in his heart,
Encouraging the others there,
And probably himself, too,
Binding them together in the same One
Who set free that slave girl,
And who re-binds us still,
Re-ligaments us all,
So our re-ligion, at its best,
Is the song we have to sing,
No matter what.
Scott L. Barton
(2013)
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a
slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal
of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out,
“These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of
salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed,
turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her.” And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their
hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into
the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the
magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and
are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or
observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them
stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they
had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the
jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the
innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an
earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and
immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword
and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had
escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are
all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas.Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I
do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to
all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and
washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.
He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his
entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
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