Pastor Daniielle Pilgrim, Up to Bat for the First Time at Berean, Manages to Knock One Out of the Park!

Pastor Pilgrim’s Sermon “Joy in the Midst of Trials" 

Preparations for a reception for new Berean Pastor Danielle Pilgrim, scheduled to follow her inaugural sermon this Sabbath.

 

In order to maximize the efficient use of your valuable time, you need read no further. Here, as usual, is a YouTube link to the ENTIRE SERVICE. Further condensation may be achieved by advancing to time marker 1:17:20, the beginning point of freshman Pastor Danielle Pilgrim’s debut sermon entitled “Joy In the Midst of Trials.” A hesitant entry into her topic quickly yielded to a very professional presentation, one that all of the congregants I overheard, after the service, express the greatest admiration for. George Washington Vanderbilt, something of an eccentric, had a hobby of translating modern literature into ancient Greek. My synopsis of Pastor Pilgrim’s sermon, featured at the tail of this post, is a similarly questionable activity. It does, however, have a way of fixing the day’s proceedings in my deteriorating memory.

 

SABBATH SERMON: APOLLONIAN AND DIONYSIAN AT ONCE

 

The eyes, and instinctively judgmental attitudes of thousands of members of Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church were focused on 26 year old Pastor Danielle Pilgrim this morning. Most attendees had fond memories of our last female pastor, Rebecca Davis. This LINK is to a YouTube video of Pastor Davis preaching her first sermon in Washington, Georgia. She is currently Lead Pastor at nearby Canaan Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church in Thomson, Georgia.

 

The text that forms the theme of the weekly sermons is read, in two versions, at the beginning of the service. This week, James 1:1-4 was recited. When Pastor Pilgrim began her talk, she narrowed this down to verse 2: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,” but in the versions cited, the word “trials” appears in place of the King James usage “temptations.” Hence the title of the sermon, “Joy In the Midst of Trials.” She provided two analogous verses; Romans 5:3: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (“tribulation again restated as “suffering” or “trials” in other versions), and John 16:33: “…In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” James, Paul, and Jesus Himself have attested to the possible existence of “joy in the midst of trial.” It is a useful and universal condition, and a fitting subject for a first sermon, allowing the pastor to put her “best foot forward.”

Berean Pastor Danielle Pilgrim, a YouTube capture from this Sabbath’s sermon, complete with a ghostly image of an ad for Windows 10.

Pastor Pilgrim is a very recent (very!) graduate of Andrews University. I don’t know much about seminaries. A relatively famous one exists here in Atlanta, in the “University Center” district, the Interdenominational Theological Center. I am sure that doctrinal and theological curricula is absorbed in these places. I have often wondered how much of the discipline the ancients referred to as “rhetoric” is covered. This LINK is to the syllabus of a course at ITC entitled “Introduction to Preaching.” The content is not described until you scroll down to the end of page 6. Students are required to preach at least one sermon during the course. The refinements of presentation structure and style may be incorporated in an informal manner, and capabilities the result of individual aptitudes (meaning “talent”). The final page of the syllabus has a checklist for a critique of the student sermons. One of the questions is very interesting: “What were the moves?”

 

Pastor Pilgrim deserves an “A+” for her effort. She disarmingly admitted that she put quite an effort into it, working until 6:30 a.m. this morning. As far as her “moves” go, she seemed to be reluctant to stray from the podium, resting place for her notes (although she rarely consulted them). When she develops the self-confidence of Lead Pastor Fredrick Russell (a thirty-year veteran), she will be wandering all around the auditorium, just like he does. My earlier reference to the art of “rhetoric,” and it’s application to Pastor Pilgrim’s sermon, is best explained by dragging in a very topical personality, also a preacher, and a recognized master of oratory.

 

A sermon by guest Pastor Tyrone Boyd was very much like MLK’s “I have a Dream,” but it would have been discourteous to note it in that post. It featured the reiterated phrase “I Believe…”

After attending Morehouse here in Atlanta, Dr. Martin Luther King took his first divinity degree at Crozer Theological Seminary, now merged into an entity known as the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. I recall from watching a video exhibit at the King Historical Site that he wanted to be familiar with the “latest developments in theology,” so this may explain his decision to attend Boston University, a non-sectarian place, but a United Methodist influenced School of Theology. (Note: all of these sites are extremely proud of their association with King.) This timely digression is primarily intended to comment on the structure of the climactic moments of Dr. King’s most famous speech, “I Have A Dream.”

 

The repetition of the introductory phrase “I have a dream…” followed by various subsequent statements is an oft utilized “rhetorical device,” one so common (especially among some preachers) that I suspect it has it’s roots in antiquity, and even possesses a unique technical designation (one I do not know). Dr. King used this device eight times near the end of his speech. At the very end, he similarly employs the introductory phrase “Let freedom ring…” eight times (example: “Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi!” I think this was a humorous reference to the bad vision of some contemporary Mississippi “moles”). This repetitive structure sets up a musical rhythm in a speech or sermon, and is a great aid to the memory.

 

“The Stoning of Saint Stephen,” attributed to Luigi Garzi. Stephen is in the worst possible position, yet is filled with joy!

The “repetitive” device (for lack of an accurate term) that Dr. King employed recurred in Pastor Pilgrim’s sermon, sometimes abbreviated to one or two repetitions, and sometimes extended to the lengths that “I Have A Dream” features. In architectural design, an affinity between macro and micro detail is considered a great unification method. In the work of Arkansas architect Faye Jones, sometimes the shape of an entire building is the same as the shape of just a doorknob, a trick he learned from his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright. Pastor Danielle structured her sermon out of a large assemblage of “repetitive” devices, and this adds “architectural” unity to her “thematic” unity.

 

Here are a few highlights from “Joy In the Midst of Trial.” Pastor Pilgrim began her sermon by noting that there are some things that, because of “sin,” are inevitable. Ageing is one of these. People do all they can to forestall the ageing process, even resorting to “butt lifts” (a salty statement that occurs at time marker 1:24:11). But gravity will triumph. Another inevitable thing? Trials and troubles! Rhyme, also a great rhetorical device, made a brief, and perhaps even unconscious appearance: “Whether rich or poor, trials will show up at your door!” She said that we tend to experience more troubles after we join a church. “After you sing, ‘I Surrender All,’ all Hell breaks loose” (a touch more of saltiness).

 

Acts 16:25: “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God.” Joyful even before this evangelistic opportunity presented itself.

Though trials are inevitable, it is your “reaction” to them that is important, and not the event itself. The truth of the matter is that “God has already won your battles for you. It is not your battle, but the Lord’s.” Three variations on the “battle” theme marked the first appearance of the “repetitive” device, She bet us that we could not name a single instance where the Lord did not bring us through our trials. She repeated this assertion twice, a utilization of the “repetitive” device without variations, but in a stimulating, and not in a boring manner. Pastor noted that: 1:”the Bible says that when you go through trials” you can consider it an opportunity for joy (James).  2:”the Bible says that when you go through trials” you can consider it an opportunity to be of good cheer (Jesus speaking, from John). And “repetitive” device # 3:”the Bible says that when you go  through trials” rejoice (James again, I think).

 

Skipping ahead a little, Pastor Pilgrim asked a “rhetorical” question (there I go with that “rhetoric” fixation again). “How can I have joy in the midst of trials, in the midst of pain?” Three answers were provided.

• You need to have FAITH. Faith that the outcome will be far greater than the trials. Faith that sees the impossible as possible. (Here a series of short scriptural references regarding the power of faith ensued, commencing, “faith that moves mountains, faith that parts the Red Sea, &etc. &etc.) The subject of the season, Dr. King, was quoted: “The ultimate measure of a man is where he stands in moments of trial and controversy.”
• You have got to KNOW THE WORD. Romans 10:17 was cited: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Pastor Pilgrim made some amusing autobiographical remarks about having checked out the employee benefits pertaining to her new job with the North American Division. She drew an analogy with our personal benefits as guaranteed, in writing, in the Bible. But to use these benefits, you have to be aware of them. In a short, “repetitive” passage, she noted that, in times of trouble, the Bible was better than 1: Hugs and kisses, 2: Chocolate and roses, and 3: Balloons and get-well cards.
• You must be CONNECTED TO THE MAN THAT IS THE WORD. Pastor Pilgrim asserted that, no matter what type of circumstance you may find yourself in, if you are connected to Jesus, that is all you need.

Stick close by this man if you want to make it out of this place alive! “Jesus Preaching”, or “La Tombe” by Rembrandt, 1652.

Many of us are optimistically looking forward in 2016, the pastor stated, Repetition does not look as good as it sounds, but here is a quote of her warning. “The devil wants to kill! The devil wants to steal! The devil wants to destroy!” Here was inserted a “pause for effect,” the first in the sermon, and thus especially effective. The soft music that accompanies the close of most Berean sermons began to underscore Pastor Pilgrim’s final comments. She told us that we could overcome, because the battle was not our own. She urged us to listen closely to the words of the song that was now presented (located at YouTube time marker 1:51:15 or thereabout). The song was “The Battle Is Not Yours” (link is to a Yolanda Adams version, but the Berean version is it’s equal).

After the song, Pastor Pilgrim resumed the sermon with some personal testimony. She realated how she arrived in this country from Trinidad and Tobago when she was 14. Due to a glitch, she did not secure official recognition (and a subsequent capability to obtain a driver’s license, a bank account, or a social security number) until 12 years later. Nevertheless, she managed to survive, work, and, thanks to the Lord, she just graduated from Andrews with no debt. “Is anything too hard for God?” she asked, referring to Jeremiah 32:27. I must add similar statements by Jesus found in Mark 10:27 and Matthew 19:26: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”  In a final display of “repetition” as sermon structure, Pastor Pilgrim stated, just before her appeal, “There is nothing, there is nothing, there is nothing that is too hard for God!”

Lead Pastor Fredrick Russell is doing work at the North Bahamas conference this weekend, located at this little red marker. It is a few blocks from the “Memories Grand Bahama Beach Resort.” I admit that I am Jealous!