Church in the Wildwood: Sermons and Prayers by a Lay Leader

By Clyde A. Weber

This book is a collection of sermons, reminisces, and prayers, by a former Lay Leader of a small rural non-denominational Christian chapel or church. The author had no formal training. He was asked to fill in for the preacher who was afflicted with cancer of the larynx. The author joined another country church, this time of an organized Christian religion (United Methodist Denomination).He was greatly inspired by the minister, the religion, and the people, and decided to take the Lay Leader training offered by the Conference. Just about the time that he was certified as Lay Leader he was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease. Since this is a neurological disease, and it affects the speech, and enunciation he could not properly preach or deliver a sermon. Hence it gave rise to this book, the written word in place of the spoken word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781462865079

Clyde A. Weber

Clyde Weber was born in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1931 when the Great Depression was still young. He spent his early years developing a growing interest in science and nature. Now retired, his career was that of an applied research chemist, in petroleum oils, glyceride oils, resin development, for industrial coatings, in that order. He also spent thirty years of his career in the development of radiation curable coatings for ecological compliance. His avocation was the operation of an ornamental tree and shrub nursery and he has had a lifetime interest in the outdoors, backpacking, camping, ecology, and gardening and all agricultural subjects. It is his belief is that Science and Religion are compatible, with identical objectives that of searching for truth and increasing the knowledge of man. Clyde also possesses a deep interest in religion and its relationship to all of the above interests and as part of an unfathomable universe we owe God respect, worship, and love. “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, or blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.” Einstein

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Clyde A. Weber.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013917576

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4628-6506-2

                  Softcover      978-1-4628-6505-5

                  Ebook           978-1-4628-6507-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 10/17/2013

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Contents

Prologue

Epilogue

Chapter 1 The Word Of God

Chapter 2 The Kingdom Of God

Chapter 3 Dreams And Visions

Chapter 4 Ecclesiastical Wisdom

Chapter 5 War Chariots (Dreams Of War)

Chapter 6 Navajo Creation Story

Chapter 7 Living Water I

Chapter 8 Living Water Ii

Chapter 9 Cloud Watcher

Chapter 10 Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 11 Sermon On The Mount

Chapter 12 There Is Music Throughout God’s Creation

Chapter 13 Pascal’s Wager: Belief In God In Defense Of Christianity

Chapter 14 In Memoriam

Chapter 15 Call Ye Now On God Your Father

Chapter 16 Thoughts On Prayer

Chapter 17 Prayer And Meditation

Chapter 18 Creation Ex Nihilo

Commentary

Hope Bible Mission: Help Open Paths To Evangelize

Memory Chapel Bulletin

Prayers Section

Eulogy

Bibliography Page

[Dedication]

This book would not have been possible if it were not for the dedicated care that my wife, Betty, has given me over the many months of my illness. Special thanks to Reverend Tom Hoeke, Reverend Eric Park, Cheryl Gereshenski, and Tim McCann.

Prologue

Memory Community Chapel is an old country church where the cows in the pasture across the road almost always outnumbered the attendees at Sunday worship service, at least since I have been attending. I began attending Sunday services after my uncle (Lee Willis Dryer) passed away in 1984 and my aunt (Marie Dryer) wanted to attend church on a regular basis. She was previously denied this opportunity by the demands of farm life. I was her caretaker, so I assumed the duty of seeing that she got to worship service each and every Sunday if we could possibly do so. I had only attended one or two Sunday services at Memory Chapel previously as I was driving to a nearby city every Sunday morning to attend church service.

I immediately felt at home in this country church or chapel. It was an enjoyable five-mile drive, and we were surrounded by the natural world the entire distance. A better way to say it is we were immersed in the natural world the entire distance. There were rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, and chipmunks scurrying across the road. There were deer and wild turkey to be seen in the fields. One mile down the road where we drove through the covered bridge and over the North Fork of Pigeon Creek was a small pool where our twelve-year-old son, Mike, caught a seventeen-inch catfish. I had told him that the pool was too shallow to support any fish bigger than a minnow.

It seems as though I am extolling the beauty of the drive through the countryside rather than the virtue of the church, but what better way is there to put one in the proper frame of mind to worship God, our Creator? I was immersed in his Creation, I was part of his Creation, and therefore, I was predisposed to think of his Creation all day. I remember that I was especially enthralled by the clouds and the weather. I had become a cloud watcher, as well as a mountain watcher. So my wife, Janet, and I, with our teenage children, Lisa and Michael, and Aunt Marie found a place to worship. We were to be seen every Sunday morning immersing ourselves in the natural world in the drive to church so that we might be immersed. When asking yourself in church, where is the dividing line between the natural and the supernatural? Come to think of it, I can ask the next question: what is the difference between the supernatural and the spiritual? Or to put it another way, I was having a spiritual experience while driving to church.

So it continued for two or three years, and then one Sunday morning, Reverend Drodge announced that he would not be in church next week, but he said not to worry, You will be in good hands as we will have a guest speaker.

Who will be our guest speaker next Sunday? I asked after the service.

You will, he replied.

But I don’t have any experience preaching.

You don’t need any experience preaching. I know that you have a lot of stories to tell. Tell a story and relate it to the scripture reading when you can. With this advice, I received my first preaching lesson.

I didn’t know it then, but Reverend Drodge had a health problem. I was to find out that he was afflicted with cancer of the larynx, and I was to learn that the doctors had decided that to save his life, they had to perform surgery, which would deprive him of his natural voice and end his preaching career.

On February 15, 1987, I was instructed to announce in church that Reverend Drodge has decided not to have surgery. He wants to continue preaching, and he will rely on radiation treatment only. He told me to tell you that it took four days to make his decision, which was contrary to the decision of his three doctors. Each of the doctors told him that not having the operation would mean forfeiting his life.

It took four days to make the decision, but he finally decided that he had enough faith that he would be able to preach again. He would be a daily outpatient until his treatments were done. In the meantime, we kept him in our prayers until he was able to come back to church.

During Reverend Drodge’s recovery (and he did miraculously recover to be pronounced clinically free of cancer), I had the privilege of conducting Sunday services; and when he was well enough, we shared many of the services. After he had recovered, I still filled in for him on Sundays when he was ill or on vacation.

At first, I was nervous when conducting a service. As I gained experience, I lost my nervousness and learned to enjoy and take pride in what I was doing, for I was teaching and it was