February 10 Worship: Lincoln Sunday

Another Lincoln Sunday has come and gone.  Aside from the beautiful weather, we enjoyed a wonderful worship service -- if parts of it felt a little different to how we normally gather for worship.  Lincoln Sunday is always a little more traditional, with older music, readings from the King James Version, and a preacher who stays behind the pulpit.  While I wouldn't like to worship that way always (I feel so far away from everyone behind the pulpit), I like it every once in a while.

The Lincoln Sermon is also more traditional, both in form and format.  Usually I preach in a narrative style, drawing out lessons from Bible stories.  19th Century preaching was very analytic and structured in a specific way.  A sermon began with a presentation of the text and its context, followed by theological reading and implication of the text, and then concluding with an application section.  With the Lincoln Sermon, I try to stay within this older structure, even though I adapt it (partially because a traditional 19th Century sermon would put most people to sleep).

I put a lot of effort into the Lincoln Sermon every year, and I felt extra pressure this year because I was dealing with Lincoln's most famous words, the Gettysburg Address.  By and large, I was pleased with the sermon, and I am glad that a few weeks ago I changed my Biblical text to Paul's sermon at Antioch in Pisidia, which I think offered a great parallel to the Gettysburg Address.  The result is "A Few Appropriate Remarks: Abraham Lincoln and the Search for Meaning."

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.