Sermons from Mabel Memorial Chapel

Sermons from Mabel Memorial Chapel is a record of the preaching at a chapel in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Each entry carries a sermon title, the speaker's name and a date, and the names change from one entry to the next. In a recent stretch, Philip Martin, Kevin Sommers, John Perfect and Randy Horst all take the pulpit. Some are morning sermons, one of which opens with thanks for a prayer from Brother Joe and for the men's Sunday school class; others are evening messages. The approach holds steady across speakers. A passage is read aloud, often in older wording with 'ye' and 'dwelleth', a single detail is singled out, and many messages close on a question aimed at the room and at the speaker alike. Philip Martin's 'The Glorious Face' shows the pattern well. He describes a child learning to trust what it perceives by seeing its own delight reflected in another face, then turns the idea on himself and asks what he is doing with his own face. In 'Handling Change Successfully' he picks up from an earlier Sunday's message about what he called monuments and reads from Philippians 3. Along the way he explains why his household required button-up shirts away from home. It was a family position, not a church one, and he held it for the values the shirt represents. Kevin Sommers opens 'What is Filling Your Life' with the familiar idea that you are what you eat, reads 1 Corinthians 3, and turns to the scene where onlookers claim the disciples are full of new wine. He admits that in Puerto Rico he wished he could speak the local language that naturally, and that it did not work that way. His 'Communion Message' asks why Jesus gave thanks before breaking the bread, then ends with a call to faithful, thankful observance. Randy Horst works through revival principles from the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5, recapping earlier evenings before adding the next point. Among them: a mighty man can still be in need, and revival often requires a unified effort. Then there is 'Our Ordination Process', which John Perfect says plainly is not a normal sermon. He sets out the nuts and bolts of how nominations work in the district, why three are sought, and how that is meant to reflect the voice of the church, and he answers questions as he goes. Brothers, bishops and the district are part of the everyday vocabulary. The delivery is earnest and conversational, with the odd dry aside, such as his note that Paul never actually mentions the nose. The back catalog is large. 'The Glorious Face' works as a self-contained starting point, and 'Our Ordination Process' gives a candid view of how ordination is handled in the district.