Published 4:27 pm Thursday, July 11, 2024 By The Daily News I was fifteen years old when I preached my first sermon. The notes or the script are no longer with me, but I remember some of the feelings as I ascended the steps of the pulpit; rising to the point described by some as six feet above contradiction. It was only a few years earlier that I started to attend the church – Christ Church in Highbury, London.
My family was, as the term used to be, “unchurched” and were quite indifferent as to how I chose to spend Sunday mornings. Between my first church attendance and my first sermon, I had attended a Billy Graham Crusade – that changed my experience of life and, eventually, my future as I welcomed Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Friend into my life. But, back to the first sermon.
I know I was nervous, aware of the privilege and the responsibility. I know also that the minister and the congregation were supportive and encouraging. I suspect the sermon was a little stilted and awkward, the sentences were far too long for public speaking, but I am sure of the text.
I was reminded of the text earlier this week during my daily prayers – it was a passage from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, chapter 8 and, especially, verses 37-39: “37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anythi.