June 21, Centennial 2115? Job 38:1-14 Psalm 133 II Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41

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1 June 21, 2015 Centennial 2115? Job 38:1-14 Psalm 133 II Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41 I am delighted that the Centennial Committee, so ably chaired by Linda Thomson, has produced this magnificent day for us. And I get to give a particular kind of speech that goes back at least to Aristotle the epidictic speech. It was originally considered a piece of ceremonial oratory, but as Perelman, in The New Rhetoric, makes clear it is really a persuasive speech that sets out to increase the intensity of adherence to certain values. The speaker tires to establish a sense of communion centered around particular values recognized by the audience. It is a speech that looks back and looks forward. History is not only important; it is essential. Neil Postman says that if you teach in a college or university, no matter what you teach, you are a historian. The purpose of higher education, in all the disciplines, is history. It is one generation telling the next generation what we found out. To be a teacher of any kind is to allow the past to have its way with us. And that s powerful stuff. The people who built this sanctuary challenge us to the very core of our being. And as Lucy Marsden says in a Allan Gurganus novel, we keep getting re-elected to represent these folks even though they are long dead. Bill Trollinger has reminded us that Dr. Massee, our pastor in 1915, was one of the leading lights of American Fundamentalism and that is so precious. He must be spinning in his grave at a rate fast enough to create a tornado in his section of heaven as he fumes over allowing a non-fundamentalist like me to preach in his pulpit. A church founded by Calvinists a group of people who believed in predestination a people who came up out of the great flood and started anew, gave us this cathedral. God is good. Let s look back. Today, we honor the good people who built this building the people because I don t want us to think that a building is actually the church. This building, of course, would have never been built, were it not for the 8 rock-solid Calvinists who remained faithful. They resisted the teachings of Alexander Campbell: Andrew Clark, Lydia Huffman, Daniel Kizer, Moses Stout, Elizabeth Crowell, Elizabeth Bowen, Rachel Bradford, and Mrs. Daniel Kizer. Five women and three men. FBC has always been a stout supporter of

2 women including women in ministry. One of my favorite quotes was from a woman preacher: If a woman could bear Jesus in her body she can certainly proclaim him with her mouth. The feminist movement of the 1970 s is deeply rooted in this church and is a particular point of pride. Among others, Barb Bogan and Donna Curry maintain the vigilance required for us not to take a step backward. This cathedral was born of dreams, sweat, and hard work, but also of water and the Spirit. It came to fruition only after its basement, the only part completed at the time, was caught up in the currents of the Great Dayton Flood. A committee met in 1912 to consider purchasing the 111 W. Monument property. Dr. Whidden made an impassioned appeal for FBC always being as close to the center of the city as possible. Well we certainly got as close to the river as possible. Dr. J. C. Massee became pastor in March, 1913 and later that month, the rain fell, the flood came, and the water filled the basement. Oh, yes we are Baptists. Even our building has been immersed. In the 1940 s there were book review classes on Sunday evenings, lectures on world problems on Wednesday evenings, participation in Brotherhood Dinners at Temple Israel, and participation by FBC in the Church Federation of Greater Dayton. This has always been a church that values loving God with all our minds. We did have a slip-up on March 7, 1917 when the church voted approval of a bill before the Ohio legislature to require the reading of the Bible in the public schools. Today, the Idaho legislature is trying to pass similar legislation. Some states have tried to make the Bible the official state book. The state should keep its grubby hands off the Bible. Our pastor from was Dr. Charles Lyon Seasholes. Some of you have remarked to me that he was so brilliant you never understood a word he said. The problem you have with me is that you do understand what I am saying. He is our beloved senior pastor emeritus for eternity and presides over this ceremony this morning from his lofty condo in the attic of FBC Dayton. The Beaver Wing was dedicated in On November 8, 1953, a chapel was dedicated, a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Kohnle. The sanctuary was air conditioned in Thank God! We had 3 buildings the first 91 years before we finally settled here. This building has been redecorated at least 5 times. We have invested over a million dollars in its upkeep the last 8 years. The older you get the more it costs to stay beautiful, especially if you have your plastic surgeon on speed dial.

3 What we attempt to do here every Sunday is make God present. Because it is the presence of God, the people, and what gets taught here that makes a building a church. You are a compliment to the staying power of what has been taught here for the last 100 years even though there is a difference between what Dr. Massee preached in 1915 as a fundamentalist, and what Steve Jones taught, a thoroughly liberal preacher. Our order of worship this morning was used here in The sermon Dr. Massee preached that Sunday: The Ancient Order of Rechabites. It is the biblical name for one of the many organizations that promoted prohibition. The War-time Prohibition Act became official on June 30, 1919 and July 1 was known as Thirstyfirst. We will give our pastor this one on the credit because we probably have as few teetotalers in this bunch as tithers. And I d rather have more tithers. Let s look forward. We can make sure the folks who gather here in June of 2115 will tell stories of our faithfulness. So I have suggestions. When they gather to tell stories let them say that we taught that God loves all creatures, children should not go to bed hungry anywhere in this world, Christian involvement in war is always problematic, people should never be treated as inferior, no one should suffer from fewer rights, because of whom they love; discrimination is always wrong; there are peace-loving Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, atheists; we have only one planet and we are determined to take good care of it. And that is just the no-brainer stuff. I haven t gotten to the radical beliefs of the gospel yet. I want them to remember that we learned that the location of the church is wherever the gospel is preached and the Sacrament of Communion is observed, that the way of Jesus is peace not violence. I hope they will say that we believed that the church is the body of Christ only by the gift of the Holy Spirit a Spirit clearly not under our control, that we were never ecclesiologically docetic or politically domesticated (That phrase was for Dr. Seasholes). All the Amens here are scheduled, tutti-frutti, with whipped cream Amens! I would triple my pledge if one Sunday one or two of you, captured by the Holy Spirit, would lose your famous reticence and studied indifference and spring up for your pew, fists clenched, arms waving in the air, heads thrown back and mouth stretched open in a silent scream of horrified joy. Whether that would scare me more or you is a subject for debate. Then, there are the really tough stories. The business of the church is unfinished business all the way. We are not finished with race relations in this country. In June 2115 I hope they will tell the story of how First Baptist

4 countered the hatred in this country with a full-out assault on racism. I hope they will tell the story of how we made real the radical equalitarian spirit of the good news of Jesus Christ by making this a more racially diverse congregation. I hope they will tell the story of how we invited African Americans into our homes to break bread together, with glad and generous hearts praising God and having the goodwill of the people (Acts 2:46). This might take another 100 years. Speaking of race, some of you ed me and asked me to respond to the act of terrorism at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. My response is that of the prophet Habakkuk: How long, O Lord, must we look on violence? The response of the friends of Job: When they saw [Job] they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. 13 They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. The response of Jesus to violent people: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Let us pray for those murdered: Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, 26; Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., DePayne Doctor, the Rev. Clementa Pickney, the pastor of the church and a South Carolina state senator. I was deeply moved by a letter to the editor in Friday s NY Times: I am Southern. I am white. I am Republican. I am conservative and I am heartbroken (KURT A RAULIN, Atlanta). When they gather to tell our story in 2115, I want them to tell that we kept our commitment to education. Two years ago I invited Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, one of America s leading scientists, to speak at First Baptist. Dr. Collins is also a Christian. He declined my offer and said that he didn t speak at churches any longer. Why? Because church people walked out shaking their heads in dismay after Dr. Collins made speeches. There are Christians determined to undermine our scientific achievements. Not at FBC Dayton and that has been true for more than a century. This commitment to education needs to extend to our mission to improve education in Dayton Public Schools. I find it ironic that we Americans hate losing in sports, but we are losing in science and math and achievement

5 across the country. We should be outraged that students are 30 nd in math and 23 rd in science. We are not in the Top Twenty. That would get the football coach at THE Ohio State University fired. If we allow the other countries of this world to out-educate us, they will out-compete us tomorrow. The gospel, race, and education that ought to keep us busy for the next century. Help me spread the word: There ain t no need to hate anyone! Getting the word around about that that is our business! Let the haters hate but in this house we will love God with heart, mind, and strength and our neighbors all our neighbors. One hundred years from now, let it be said that this generation took care of business and got the word of reconciliation around to everyone. Let it be said that we faced, in our lives, the floods of racism, hatred, violence, and ignorance and we won the victory. Let it be said that we fought the good fight. We finished the race. We kept the faith. Thank you, God bless you. God bless the First Baptist Church of Dayton. Rodney Wallace Kennedy Lead Pastor First Baptist Church Dayton 111 West Monument Avenue Dayton, OH

Written by: The Reverend James W. Dennis, III (2018) Edited by: The Reverend Samuel L. Green, Jr. Director of Christian Education

Written by: The Reverend James W. Dennis, III (2018) Edited by: The Reverend Samuel L. Green, Jr. Director of Christian Education The Right Reverend Samuel L. Green, Sr. Presiding Prelate The Call To Remembrance