No Gospel in Rev. Levenson's homily

Lamb

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I was reading this morning on a Lutheran forum how Reverend Levenson who preached at Bush's funeral had NO Gospel in it. He alluded to the Gospel but did not preach it.
 
Albion

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Lämmchen said:
I was reading this morning on a Lutheran forum how Reverend Levenson who preached at Bush's funeral had NO Gospel in it. He alluded to the Gospel but did not preach it.
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do you mean that he did not QUOTE it? I ask because your post caught my attention so I went looking for more information and found this--

https://pjmedia.com/faith/pastor-us...each-resurrection-at-george-h-w-bush-funeral/

I would say that that report provides a quite different analysis of the matter.
 
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Lämmchen said:
I was reading this morning on a Lutheran forum how Reverend Levenson who preached at Bush's funeral had NO Gospel in it. He alluded to the Gospel but did not preach it.
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This is what comes of having less liturgy in a funeral!

:smirk:
 
Lamb

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Albion

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Without checking back, I cannot comment on that particular point, but the sermon certain appears to be Gospel-centered and appropriate for a funeral. All I can guess about the criticism was that Dr. Levenson did not salt the sermon with a lot of direct quotes from the Bible (along with the appropriate Bible book names, chapter numbers, and verses). There is nothing wrong with not doing that, especially when the audience is drawn from a wide cross-section of people in the community, as was the case there.
 
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I'd be hesitant to use the 'platform' of a funeral service for a Gospel presentation. Some pastors/bishops/priests/insert-title-here have a fondness for it, and I've always questioned the motives. It seems, from Albion's link, that the context and how it was addressed (i.e. the faith of Pres. Bush) was more than appropriate to make the point.
 
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The Apostle Paul said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16).

Is it truly a Christian funeral if the Gospel is not even preached? Are we afraid to offend others by preaching the Gospel because there are some in the audience who do not believe? What an empty service that is.
 
Albion

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Lämmchen said:
The Apostle Paul said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16).

Is it truly a Christian funeral if the Gospel is not even preached?
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According to the news reports about the sermon, such as the one I referred to and gave the link to, the Gospel WAS indeed preached.
 
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There's no need to go by second hand reports in the media; you can watch and listen to the homily here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms6hvva0p8o

After watching/listening to it you can decide for yourself if it contains "the gospel" whatever you conceive "the gospel" to be.

The sermon is about 13 minutes long. A little excessive perhaps, but much shorter than the typical Puritan/con-liturgical "sermon".
 
Lamb

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Albion

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I think it means to expound upon or relate the principles that the Gospels teach. It appears that Fr. Levenson did just that. In fact, he not only referred to the Gospel that had been read to the congregation prior to the homily but quoted from it and then extrapolated a message from it!
 
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Albion said:
I think it means to expound upon or relate the principles that the Gospels teach. It appears that Fr. Levenson did just that. In fact, he not only referred to the Gospel that had been read to the congregation prior to the homily but quoted from it and then extrapolated a message from it!
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"The gospel" was a reading from a passage in one of the four canonical gospels. Is that what you mean by "the gospel was preached"?
 
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The readings are not part of the homily. There is no mention of Jesus dying for sins or forgiveness which is the Gospel...the good news. Giving the Law (the commandments of how we love God and our neighbor) is not the Gospel. The Reverend did not PREACH the Gospel.
 
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Lämmchen said:
The readings are not part of the homily. There is no mention of Jesus dying for sins or forgiveness which is the Gospel...the good news. Giving the Law (the commandments of how we love God and our neighbor) is not the Gospel. The Reverend did not PREACH the Gospel.
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This is nuts. Unless the pastor, in every sermon, restates that one point out of all that the Gospel teaches us, then he is not preaching the Gospel?? How ridiculous is that notion.
 
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Albion said:
This is nuts. Unless the pastor, in every sermon, restates that one point out of all that the Gospel teaches us, then he is not preaching the Gospel?? How ridiculous is that notion.
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The Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Maybe it's not so ridiculous after all.
 
ImaginaryDay2

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Lämmchen said:
The readings are not part of the homily. There is no mention of Jesus dying for sins or forgiveness which is the Gospel...the good news. Giving the Law (the commandments of how we love God and our neighbor) is not the Gospel. The Reverend did not PREACH the Gospel.
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It wasn't really the venue for it. Why would it be relevant in that context, other than in the way it was referenced by the faith of Pres. Bush?
 
Lamb

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ImaginaryDay2 said:
It wasn't really the venue for it. Why would it be relevant in that context, other than in the way it was referenced by the faith of Pres. Bush?
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Could you explain to me why you don't think it's relevant for a pastor to preach about Christ if he's preaching before a group of people? That doesn't make sense to me! It's HIS VOCATION!
 
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