April 14, 2015

Dear Lakeshore,
Today, April 14th, is the 150th Anniversary of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.. Tomorrow, April 15th, is the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s death. In 1865 the 14th fell on a Friday and the 15th on a Saturday. The next day, Sunday the 16th, was Easter Sunday.
Many preachers changed their Easter sermons to address the theological significance of Lincoln’s life and death. They tried to help their congregations answer the question, “Where is God in all this?”
Passover coincided with Easter that year so many rabbis also considered the theological significance of Lincoln’s life and death in their services. They to asked the question, “Where is God in all this?”
In a Smithsonian magazine article titled, “Afterlife: America’s First Assassinated President Wasn’t Universally Mourned-Even In The North,” Harold Holzer reports, ” Christian ministers took to their pulpits on Easter Sunday, April 16 , to liken the slain president to a second Jesus, who, like the first. died for their people’s sins and rose to immortality. During Passover observances, Jewish rabbis mourned the murdered leader as a born-again Moses – who as if echoing the words of Leviticus – had proclaimed liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof. Yet, like the ancient lawgiver in the Book of Exodus, Lincoln had not lived to see the Promised Land himself.”
The question “Where is God in all this?’ is both long-standing and essential. It is the question Jesus’ followers asked following his crucifixion and resurrection. It is a question often raised  as we ponder our own life and time. It is the question I will raise for our consideration on Sunday.
Peace,
Jim H.

Prayers of the Congregation

• David Bartlett, our former pastor, as he mouns the death of his mother, Jean
• Rick Mixon as he mourns the death of his sister, Joan
• Geoffrey Pete as he mourns the death of his brother, Greg
• The Roy Martin family as they mourn his death
• LeAnn Flesher as she mourns the death of her cousin
• Alean Saunder-Coffey she ministers to the Pantoja-Reddick family in their time of grief
• Barbara Bowman as she mourns the death of two friends and supports their families
• Laramie, Wyoming, and Palo Alto, California, in the wake of a rash of suicides in their communities
• LABC’s Grief and Loss Ministry
• Tayari Sampson and his family
• Sydney Webster, surgery on 4-13
• Chuck Johnston for his step mother following  an automobile accident
• Larry Sims for his sister Renee, and his brother, Leslie
• Jim Dorr for Bob Raybourne
• Bjoe Morris as he searches for housing
• Beverly and Jim Jeffery for brother-in-law, Willis and daughter Cynthia
• Rowena Jackson for the residents and staff of Grand Lake Gardens
• Jim Cheatham for his wife Claudia as she recuperates from surgery
• Nigeria as its police and military search for the thousands of women and girls abducted by Boco Haram and as it works to prevents further abductions
• Pastor Tanner, Wally Bryen, Cecil White and Ruben Artery as the travel to Atlanta to represent LABC at the Alliance of Baptists Convocation
• Thanksgiving with Karen Hopkins that her recuperation is on track
• Thanksgiving with Mariel Paul that her housing issue has been resolved

Announcements

The funeral for Roy Martin will be this Friday, April 17, at 11:00 at LABC
Please join us at 2:00 this Sunday for our monthly Stand and Sing for Justice (In the park at the corner of Lakeshore and Mandana)