Sermons and Talks at Myers Park Baptist Church

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: Romans 12:9-21  – William Blake “The Divine Image”To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,All pray in their distress:And to these virtues of delightReturn their thankfulness.For Mercy has a human heart,Pity, a human face:And Love, the human form divine,And Peace, the human dress.Then every one of every clime,That prays in their distress,Prays to the human form divine,Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.And all must love the human form,In heathen, Turk, or Jew.Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell,There God is dwelling too.

Rev. Chrissy Tatum Williamson: Romans 12:1-8  The budstands for all thingseven for those things that don’t flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing; . . .Galway Kinnel, “St. Francis and the sow”

Rev. LeDayne McLeese Polaski: Matthew 15:10-28 – Although we do not bring about God’s intended alternative future through sheer force of will, in our waiting, we do try to place ourselves in a posture so that we might become partners with God in the advent of a new reality.  ~ Jennifer Ryan Ayres

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: Matthew 14:22-33 – Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ~ Marianne Williamson

Rev. W. Benjamin Boswell: Matthew 14:12-21 – Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Reverend Dr. Bill Leonard: Genesis 29:15-28 – It wasn’t Holy Hell that God gave [Jacob], . . . but Holy Heaven, not to mention the marvelous lesson thrown in for good measure. The lesson was, needless to say, that even for a dyed-in-the-wool, double-barreled con artist like Jacob there are a few things in this world you can’t get but can only be given, and one of these things is love in general, and other is the love of God in particular. ~ Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures