Sermons and Talks at Myers Park Baptist Church

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: Mark 12:38-44 – The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise or to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our morality. – Adam SmithThe vast majority of Americans would not say that their God is Money–they’d say their God is Love. – Marianne WilliamsonThere’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.– Warren BuffettI do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare . . . if our giving does not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say it is too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our commitment to giving excludes them. –  C.S. Lewis

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: Mark 12:13-17 – Jesus’ punchline meant: “Give Caesar nothing, God everything.” A cryptic way of saying that Caesar’s taxes were unlawful and should not be paid at all.Jesus believed no one could serve two masters at the same time (Mt. 6:24; Lk. 16:13) and followed the early Israelite tradition that since God was king, no one else could be (Judges 8:22-23; I Sam 8:4-7; Hosea 8:4).Richard Horsley, Jesus and the Spiral of Violence“The body and soul of man, however, do not bear Caesar’s image. Whose image they do bear we are told in Holy Scripture. It is the image of God. Obviously, therefore, as we are to render to Caesar what bears his image, namely, money, we are to render to God, not to Caesar, what bears not Caesar’s stamp, but God’s; namely, human beings.”Dorothy Day. “The Catholic Worker,” January 1943“Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn’t have the slightest idea what’s really going on.” Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

Rev. Joseph Aldrich: Mark 12:28-34When it’s over, I want to say: all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement.I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.When it’s over, I don’t want to wonderif I have made of my life something particular, and real.I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,or full of argument.I don’t want to end up simply having visited the world.from “When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver

Reverend Leigh Anne Hagerman: Mark 10:17-31No one has ever become poor by giving. ~ Anne FrankWe make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. ~ Winston ChurchillMake all you can, save all you can, give all you can. ~ John Wesley It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving. ~ Richard BraunsteinThe only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord.~ J.L. Kraft (head of Kraft Cheese Corporation)Stewardship is partnership with God. ~ UnknownStewardship is not about raising money; it’s about raising Christians who willingly trust God. ~ Unknown

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: Mark 10:35-45The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others. ~ Mahatma Gandhi When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. ~ Audre Lorde Love in action is service to the world. ~ Lynne Namka I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. ~ Rabindranath Tagore Give your hands to serve, and your hearts to love. ~ Mother Teresa

REV. DR. EBONI MARSHALL TURMAN: Mark 3:14-15 and Mark 5:9 – Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world…if we want a beloved community, we must stand for justice, have recognition for difference without attaching difference to privilege. – bell hooksThe larger your beloved community, the more you can accomplish in the world. – Thich Nhat HanhWe are living in an historic moment. We are each called to take part in a great transformation. Our survival as a species is threatened by global warming, economic meltdown, and an ever-increasing gap between rich and poor. Yet these threats offer an opportunity to awaken as an interconnected and beloved community. – Desmond Tutu

Testimonies from our Awakening to Immigrant Injustice Pilgrimage and from the Youth Mission and Choir Trip

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: James 2:12-26Therefore, St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.   ~ Martin LutherThe Sermon on the Mount appears almost in its entirety in the letter of James.  ~ Elsa TamezThe Bible never draws the antithesis between faith and good works so sharply as to maintain that good works undermine faith. No, it is evil works rather than good works which hinder and destroy faith.  ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: James 1:17-27If the letter of James were sent today to the Christian communities of certain countries that suffer from violence and exploitation, it would very possibly be intercepted by government security agencies, branded as subversive, and criticized as a reduction of the gospel or as Marxist-Leninist infiltration in the churches.– Elsa TamezIt is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards themselves as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion.– Mahatma GandhiThe hands that help are far better than the lips that pray.– Robert Ingersoll

Ched Myers and Elaine Enns: Proverbs 22:2,8,22 | Psalm 146:7-9 | James 2:1-6, 15-16 | Mark 7:24-37