Baptist Preaching: A Global Anthology

14. How to Dance in Graveyard Situations

114 Baptist Preaching 14 How to Dance in graveyard Situations (Luke 7:11-17) Simeon B. Hall New Covenant Baptist Church Nassau, The Bahamas BIOGRAPHY Simeon Hall was converted to the Christian faith in an Evangelistic service at Central Gospel Chapel in 1964 while listening to a sermon by the late Tom Skinner of New York. He presently serves as senior pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church; moderator emeritus, Bethel Baptist Association; and chairman of the National Advisory Council on Crime in the Ministry of National Security. Hall graduated from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in 1973. He has done studies at Vanderbilt University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Billy Graham School of Evangelism. He was made a justice of the peace in August 1999. On June 14, 2000, Hall was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honors as an officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Bishop Hall was elected president of the Bahamas Christian Council of Churches in 1997 and served the full term of three years. He is the author of numerous books, the husband of the former Linda Farrington, the parent of three children (Shacantilla, Simeon Brendford , Jr., and Sanderia), and also a grandparent. SERMON COMMENTARY Simeon Hall brings us a sermon that is indeed graveyard humor. One is reminded of C. S. Lewis’ epigraph in Screwtape Letters, quoting Sir Thomas More: “The devil . . . that proud spirit cannot endure to be mocked.”1 In this sermon Hall intends to do just that. The sermon generates its rhetorical power from the unlikely juxtaposition of a funeral procession with a celebrative dance. Throughout the message he maintains the ironic tension between the widow who lost her only son and dancing. A leitmotif complementing the dance imagery is a similar trope of music moving from a minor to a major key. He sustains this celebratory mood in the unlikely atmosphere of one of Jesus’ three recorded resurrection miracles. Hall clearly defines his “central point” early in the message: “Don’t let life’s circumstances steal your joy.” Later in the message he identifies his “most salient point” with the memorable phrase, “On your way to the graveyard , look out of the corner of your eye for Jesus.” The message throughout Part III—Caribbean 115 embraces an upbeat—almost jaunty—word of encouragement in the face of the worst. His trope of dancing reaches its highest point when he affirms that in life’s most difficult moments, “Christ comes dancing through the darkness saying, ‘I am the Light.’” The sermon’s units of thought move freely through the narrative of the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain. Hall uses whimsical anachronistic narration: “Look yonder! Here she comes with the band playing ‘Shall We Gather at the River?’” Further humorous anachronisms are the gravedigger leaning on his shovel with no one to bury and Jesus requesting the undertaker to refund the cost of the funeral. Two more profound christological elements in the message relate to Jesus’ initiative in this miracle, even though he was not asked to take the initiative. Similar and not unrelated to that, Hall touches on the divine prearrangement that placed Jesus in the vicinity of this situation. This speaks to a sense of sovereign intentions and divine strategies in life’s darkest hours. Theologically the message uses some of the language of the Word of Faith movement. This evidences itself in the phrases “Speak life to dead situations ” and “That dead situation you have been silently carrying will not turn around until you speak firmly to it.” This perspective is first attributed to E. W. Kenyon (1867–1948) and many others who use similar language, such as the late Kenneth Hagin (1917–2003). The movement itself has no central personality, is not a denomination, and might be better described as an influence across a number of denominations. Behind the popular language may stand the biblical theology of the dabar yahweh, the powerful word of God that accomplishes the thing for which it is sent. Hall’s use of this language in his Baptist church is only one of scores of examples to be found in many Baptist churches of a confluence of evangelical thought from numerous streams. Hall’s sermon also sponsors a high view of the cosmic battle between the triumphant Christ and a personal Satan. In this battle there is no doubt of the Christian’s victory and the defeat of the enemy. This rests both in “the...