Cooper was a remarkable dog, a beloved member of the family of my Alabama friends, Matt and Rebecca Harnesss. For years, he was at my side as I trained for several marathons. He passed away earlier this month and will be sorely missed. In recent years when I visited, he was unable to run. Still, whenever I showed up, he found his way to me and stood beside me. Becca remembers how protective he was of Anne Marie after she was born, hovering close by and keeping a watchful eye whenever visitors held her. She summed up well Cooper’s life: “He was a good friend and a loyal companion.” This picture was taken in 2011. I wrote then: It’s fall,…
Read MoreLike all Christians, I follow the Lord’s example and give thanks at meals for the food I receive (Matthew 15:36), the food that our generous heavenly Father “created to be received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:3). One of Willa Cather’s remarkable characters, missionary Bishop Latour, labors far from his native France in the American southwest. His traveling companion, fellow French priest and dearest friend carefully prepares a bowl of onion soup with croutons and places it in front of him. The Bishop reflects: I am not deprecating your individual talent, Joseph . . . But when one thinks of it, a soup like this is not the work of one man. It is the result of a constantly refined tradition.…
Read MoreDay of all the week the best, Emblem of eternal rest.* Preparing for the Lord’s Day is the obligation of every Christian, and especially gospel ministers. A part of that preparation means cultivating the right attitude toward Sunday. Yes, it is the best day of the week! Francis Grimké has just the attitude we need: Sunday is a great day for the minister; and if he is the right kind of a minister, it will also be a great day for his flock. Sunday is the day particularly on which he is to meet his flock, on which he is to feed them, to lead them into green pastures and beside still waters. It is the day particularly in which he…
Read MoreMy first attempt to become a candidate for ministry stalled in the early 80s. I was a member of a rural church in Middle Tennessee, and my session enthusiastically recommended me to Presbytery. We were an evangelical congregation in a theologically liberal Presbyterian denomination and that was a problem. Far from home, studying at Princeton Theological Seminary, the Presbytery informed me that my candidacy would not move forward. I was so disappointed. Soon, notes and letters began arriving from members of my congregation telling me how proud they were of me, assuring me of their prayers, and urging me to persevere. Notes and letters from caring people were God’s gift to me – just at the right moment when I…
Read MoreBooknote: “Meditations on Preaching” by Francis James Grimké
First year students at Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson are introduced to the remarkable life, ministry, and writings of Francis James Grimké through Thabiti Anywabile’s The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three Pioneering African-American Pastors. Born in 1850 to a white South Carolina plantation owner and slave mother, Grimké lost his father at an early age and, along with him, the protective care that sheltered him from some of the inherent brutality of the slave system. After escaping the cruelty of a white half-brother, he was recaptured and sold to a Confederate officer. After emancipation, Grimké proved himself a gifted and industrious student, graduating from Lincoln University and, later, Princeton Theological Seminary. At Princeton, he was among the last of Charles…
Read More140 years ago today, Francis James Grimké was ordained and installed as pastor of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., a congregation he would serve during two stints for most of the next five decades. His Meditations on Preaching begin with this observation: “Every preaching service on the Sabbath is a feast spread by God, and to it all are invited. But not a great many come, and the excuses given are various. Even professing Christians are found dodging behind excuses of one kind or another, of which they ought to be ashamed – excuses that would not keep them away from business, or pleasure, or anything they really want to do.”
Read MoreRape is a horrific weapon of ancient and modern warfare. When countenanced by leaders of armed forces, it is a tool that brutalizes, demoralizes, and subjugates occupied peoples, leaving them hopeless and despairing, unable to resist. Those who survive the savagery bear wounds that never heal. Few survivors have either the desire to recount their experiences or the ability to voice articulately the cries of their fellow victims – which is why Nadia Murad’s The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State is so valuable. One of the million or so adherents of the Yazidi faith, Murad was born in 1999 in the remote northern Iraq village of Kocho. Although their safety was always precarious,…
Read MoreThank you Women in the Church and Deacons for undertaking exterior renovations to the Tinnin Home! Our Deacons are overseeing many improvements to our main building, the Cookie House, and the Tinnin Home. I am thankful for their leadership in caring for the property God has entrusted to our care. First Presbyterian Church of Yazoo City is located at the corner of North Washington and Powell Streets in Yazoo City.
Read MoreLynne and I are grateful for the students and faculty who joined us for last night’s Summer Institute for Biblical Languages Dinner. Under the leadership of Dr. Miles Van Pelt, students are given the invaluable opportunity to learn biblical Greek and Hebrew without the distraction of additional academic work. Because the Bible, as originally given, is God’s inspired and inerrant word, the biblical languages are the foundation of pastoral studies.
Read MoreBefore the end of the year, I hope to have reread Calvin’s Institutes. This morning I completed Book 1, which concludes with Calvin’s teaching on God’s providence. To aid me in my readings, I am using David Calhoun’s fine devotional volume on the Institutes. I found these words especially helpful: The doctrine of providence for Calvin is not so much a matter of explanation of what happens as it is a confession of faith. It does not answer all our questions, but it enables us to live without answers until the time comes when we will live without questions. Calvin’s understanding of the Bible’s teaching on providence has immensely practical application. “Gratitude of mind for the favorable outcome of things, patience…
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