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"When you let go, and let God…"
More than 100 worshipers assembled in St. Mark’s Lutheran Church for the non-traditional Lutheran service. Dr. Featherstone says, "Lutherans are generally a little more circumspect in their behavior. But, when the spirit gets a hold of you, you can’t sit down. You gotta move, you groove, you gotta slide, you gotta glide…something’s gotta happen to you!" Dr. Featherstone, a self proclaimed "Lutherian," preached on 1 John 3:2: "Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." The term "Lutherian" – partially Lutheran but with more theory than Luther – was coined by the Rev. Dr. Wyatt T. Walker of New Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in New York, New York.
"Did you hear that report from a friend?" asked Dr. Featherstone. "Would you like to know who it was? The report was written at Crozer Theological Seminary on December 1, 1950. The student was a young man by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. See, it does not appear yet, what we shall become! When you let go, and let God, then we together can discover the future that God has out there for us!" Dr. Featherstone entertained a discussion and asked many questions in the "afterglow" session after the sermon. When asked about his preaching style, he simply stated, "I leave the Bible to the Bible scholars. I depend on the movement of the spirit."
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PHILADELPHIA
(March 22, 2004) – "We are going through the season of Lent,"
started the Rev. Dr. Rudolph Featherstone, retired associate professor
of Cross Cultural Theological Studies and Mission at Trinity Lutheran
Seminary in Columbus, OH. "And much of the stuff we give up, we
didn’t need in the first place, so there is an appearance of sacrifice,
when in reality, it’s the same soup warmed over lightly." Dr. Featherstone
preached the final sermon in this year’s 22nd annual Preaching
with Power forum.
Dr.
Featherstone illustrated the scripture with a real-life example. "Sometimes
in life during our pain pilgrimage, friends who have our best interest
lovingly challenge and critique us. Friends will do that. And friends
find it necessary at times to challenge us and seemingly kick us to
the curb." He then read an evaluation of a seminary student’s fieldwork
experience and religious development "from a friend." The
student’s evaluation was average at best, and described the student’s
chief weaknesses as having "an attitude of aloofness, disdain,
and possible snobbishness. This snobbishness prevents him from coming
to grips with the rank and file of ordinary people. He also has a smugness
that refuses to adapt itself to the demands of ministry effectively
in the average black congregation."