November 21, 2013 (Thursday)
I have mentioned before in these blogs that during my time as pastor at Vickery Baptist Church in Dallas, the 600-seat auditorium usually had about 135 worshipers on any Sunday, but there were two Sundays when the room was packed with people. One of them was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the mayor had called upon the residents of Dallas to attend church that Sunday and pray, because nuclear war seemed to be imminent. Subsequent revelations of history have proved that warning to have been appropriate because the threat was real. I do not remember my sermon that day in 1962.
The other occasion for the sanctuary to be filled was on the Sunday following the assassination of President Kennedy in our city two days before. People came to church spontaneously. We were all bewildered by the events of the previous 48 hours. None of us had ever expected such a thing to happen anywhere, much less in our own home town.
I have the outline of the sermon I preached in Dallas November 24, 1963 somewhere in my files, but I cannot find it today. I know it’s there–I’ve run across it many times as I leafed through the outlines, looking for information. But I cannot find it. I know it had three points: 1.The President Is Dead 2.The United States of America Is Not Dead 3.God Is Not Dead.
Sermon point number 1 recounted the recent tragic events, recognizing the awful fact that it had all taken place on streets very familiar to us all, streets that we often traveled. I joined with the congregation in its sorrow over this. There had been political differences, to be sure, but everyone was horrified when they heard the news.
Sermon point number 2 served to remind us of the strength of our nation and its constitutional processes. I sought to call their attention to the orderly transfer of power and the inauguration of a new president without the mayhem, riots and civil unrest that many countries had experienced under similar conditions.
Sermon point number 3 was devoted to our faith in God and reliance upon Him in difficult times. I’m sure I reminded ourselves that repentance is always appropriate in our walk with God and prayer is never out of place in our lives. We needed to face the future with hope.
If I locate the actual outline, I may publish it as a photocopy. Stay tuned.
The next time I preached such a sermon was after September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the United States. I was interim pastor at the First Baptist Church of Refugio at the time. (I cannot find that outline either).