 Philip Seymour Hoffman attends Day 2 of Oakley Learn To Ride With AOL At Sundance on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
The heroin overdose of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is a reminder to Christians that they are called to be the salt and light to the world -- which means using relationships to bring healing to all who suffer, Pastor Susan Rogers preached at The Well in Jacksonville, Fla., on Sunday.
Jacksonville, Fla., resident Josiah Monks stood before his congregation Sunday morning and admitted how being fully immersed in Bible and worship a few years back did nothing to ease the nightmare of his addictions.
But one-on-one meetings with another Christian, just three or four hours a week, transformed his life, said Monks, 27, a member at The Well at Springfield, a missional church plant of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida and Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church.
"I realized how an hour of honesty means more than 1,000 hours of church," he said.
His remarks were not coordinated with the sermon that had just been preached by Pastor Susan Rogers, but perfectly illustrated it nonetheless.
Moved by the recent overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rogers delivered a message blending the lectionary reading from Matthew, calling believers to be the salt and light of the world, with a reminder that addiction is a disease of personal isolation and broken relationships.
The Internet shows Rogers wasn't alone in seeing spiritual lessons in Hoffman's passing.
Some pastors wrote blogs and sermons referring to sadness at Hoffman's addiction to heroin. Others on how he deserved a Catholic funeral despite not adhering -- at least publically -- to the faith for many years.
"This is who we are: men and women of inestimable worth ... marked with a dignity and glory of divinity that beams brilliant and true," Pastor Laura Sumner Truax blogged on Feb. 2, the day Hoffman was found dead in his New York City apartment with a syringe in his arm.
Truax, who leads LaSalle Street Church in Chicago, added: "This is who we are: creatures of dust ... pulsating energies of insecurity and fragility."
Rogers decided to preach about Hoffman as she saw the outpouring of grief for Hoffman on Facebook.
"And we have several people at The Well who struggle with addiction, and who are current or former members of recovery programs," she said after worship on Sunday.
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: Associated Baptist Press
Jeff Brumley
OUR NEW MIXTAPE IS OUT!!! MALACHI & DJ I ROCK JESUS PRESENT DETOX : BLEND FEATURING BEATS BY DR. DRE |
Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel
You need to be a member of The Oracle Mag to add comments!
Comments