November 7, 2010

A Sermon For All Saints
By Scott R. Cooper

Given at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon
November 7, 2010


Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our celebration of the Feast of All Saints, celebrated the first Sunday in November.  Because of the way the calendar falls this year, we are celebrating a bit later than usual, but this is the day appointed, and even if we did sang “For All The Saints” last Sunday, you should sing it even louder today because this is the day it is SUPPOSED to be sung! Let’s kick off with a simple question:  Who can name a saint?

(audience participation)

October 17, 2010

The Back of the Book

A message by Scott Cooper

Delivered October 17, 2010

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon

Faith-- more specifically the source of our faith—is the theme of today’s service.

Listen again to these words from today’s second lesson from Second Timothy:

 “Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed…All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” 

Hear the words of Jesus from today’s gospel:

 “I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. …Always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”

Powerful words of instruction.  Clear direction to be rooted in God’s word and to use it to minister to others.

I wonder if these were words that were familiar to the Episcopal saints whose commemoration day we celebrated yesterday.

August 22, 2010

A Graceful Sound

A message by Scott R. Cooper

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon

August 22, 2010 (13^th Sunday after Pentecost)

Much to the consternation of the Worship Committee and Sally, I like to choose my own hymns on Sunday mornings when I am leading worship.

It’s not that there is anything inferior or wrong with the choices that others make. I like to do my own thing just because I generally have a message in mind and I want everything in the service to support that message. So I choose hymns as well as collects and prayers that are intended to support the central themes that I intend to emphasize as the morning’s readings and the morning’s message unfold.

Now honestly, I don’t know whether this really works or not. After all, music impacts people differently.

Music is very important to me.

July 11, 2010

A Manageable Task

A message delivered by Scott R. Cooper

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon

July 11, 2010

This morning’s gospel is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

It is easily one of the most familiar passages in the Bible—the subject of sermons and Sunday school for sure but also the subject of great art, movies, poems and songs and lots of other secular attention.

Gary Cooper made a film called “Good Sam” in 1948 about a man who gave help to others at the expense of his own family. More recently, the popular TV show, NCSI titled an episode, “The Good Samaritan.”

Rembrandt and Van Gogh, among others, painted The Good Samaritan. Rembrandt’s picture is a rather dull composition of the poor Samaritan being lifted from a saddle horse at the inn. Van Gogh reversed the image and shows the Jewish trader lifting the Samaritan on to the horse in a brightly colored scene that looks a lot like something Meredith or Cecily might have painted.

Clearly, this is a story that resonates across the ages. So let’s take a moment before we delve into it and go back and review the basics of what it is all about.

June 20, 2010

The Plumber’s Tale

A message delivered by Scott R. Cooper

at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville

June 20, 2010 (Father’s Day)

My father would have been 71 this year, had he lived.

He was a good man, my father. He was quirky and independent and a model of self-sufficient. And he imprinted his values very strongly on me. For the most part, I liked him, and I remember him fondly this Father’s Day. At the same time, I freely acknowledge that like most father-and- son relationships, ours was complicated.

Dad’s life and mine have taken sharply divergent paths. I enjoy different pastimes than he did. The lifestyle that I have chosen is different than the one he chose. He was very much a product of his generation and his Oklahoma roots. I am very much a product of my generation and my Oregon values. But notwithstanding the differences, I recognize that there is still a lot of him in me. Even though it has been 10 years since I lost him following a cruel, brief and emotionally searing battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, I still find myself using his ideas, his values and his frame of reference to answer the questions of the world, both big and small.

Let’s take plumbing, for example:

April 28, 2010

Shepherds Among the Pews

A message by Scott Cooper,

Delivered at St. Andrews Episcopal Church

Prineville, Oregon, April 28, 2010

People who follow the news—even casual readers—have been aware in recent weeks of the growing scandal consuming the Roman Catholic Church. Our hearts go out to the victims of terrible crimes of abuse perpetuated against innocent youth, this time in schools and churches across Europe. It was not that long ago that this same storm was raging on our own shores.

Over Easter Week this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury managed to inject the Anglican Communion into the fray by observing that the Catholic Church in Ireland has lost its credibility. While he singled out the Roman Catholic Church, he might well have mentioned all churches. As the poet says, “No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is part of the main…Send Not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

January 24, 2010

The Case for Listening

A message delivered by Scott Cooper

at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon

January 24, 2010

Let’s start this morning with a conversation I recently overheard between a young student and her elementary school teacher:

The teacher said: “Patty, if I give you two dogs and two more dogs and another two dogs, how many dogs have you got?” Patty, being a smart little kindergartener replied, “Seven!”


The teacher said patiently, “ Patty, you need to listen carefully. Let’s try this again: if I give you two dogs and two more dogs and another two dogs, how many dogs have you got?” Patty thought hard about this for a few seconds and replied again, “Seven!”


The teacher sighed. Obviously this wasn’t working.