June 11 – Ruling Elder Barkley Butler
Elder Barkley Butler grew up near Albany, NY. and graduated from Guilderland Central High School in 1960. He received a B.A. in Zoology from Miami University in 1964 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1969. Following a postdoctoral position at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, also at the U.W. Madison, he did breast cancer research at what was then the Michigan Cancer Foundation in Detroit. He came to IUP in 1988 and taught in the Department of Biology for twenty-two years before retiring in 2010.
Barkley met his late wife, Christine, in Detroit. A counselor who, following her retirement from IUP in 2010, served as founding counselor for Calvary’s Counseling Ministry. She provided insights into human nature that found their way into several of his Calvary sermons over the years.
Raised in the Reformed Church in America Barkley has been an American Baptist, a United Methodist and, since 1989, a member of Calvary Presbyterian Church. He was ordained an Elder at Calvary and has served on the Session several times. He was the scientist Co-Director with Rev. Hanna on a Scientists in Congregations grant to Calvary from the Templeton Foundation (2011-2012). Elder Butler is a member of Calvary’s “Preaching Team” which fills in for David from time to time.
Introduction to the Genesis Series
Sermons to be preached in June and July 2023 by Elder Barkley Butler
The lectionary for year A has thirteen readings from Genesis and choosing only four from such a fascinating book was difficult. I was aided in both choice and, more importantly, interpretation by several sources and it is easier to acknowledge them together here rather than cite them repeatedly in the course of these sermons.
- The text used was the New Revised Standard Version of Genesis – the one found in our pew bibles.
- God Has a Story Too: Sermons in Context by James A. Sanders (Fortress Press 1979) inspired me when I first read it and has rewarded rereading numerous times over the years. His sermons on Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and Joseph revealing himself to his brothers shaped my understanding of these stories in ways that have made it difficult to be completely original in my interpretations of them.
- Genesis: A Living Conversation (Doubleday 1996) is an expanded transcript of the PBS series by that name. These discussions of some of the familiar stories found in Genesis by persons coming from a wide variety of backgrounds were fascinating and provided insights not found in traditional bible commentaries. (Jim Patten took us through this series and I think Calvary has the DVDs somewhere.)
- In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis by Karen Armstrong (Alfred A. Knopf 1996) is a brief, but insightful take on Genesis by a woman well known for her writings in the field of religion.
- Genesis by Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar, is part of the Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching series (Westminster John Know Press 1986, PB 2010) and provides useful commentary based on the best of contemporary scholarship. Reading it in its entirety helped me understand the chosen texts in their broader perspective.
- The New Interpreter’s Bible (Abingdon Press 1994-2004) is the major reference work to which I always refer.
The choice of these four texts was not arbitrary. Brueggemann divided his commentary into four sections:
- “Pre-History”: The Sovereign Call of God (Genesis 1:1-11:29)
- The Abraham Narrative: The Embraced Call of God (Genesis 11:30-25:18)
- The Jacob Narrative: The Conflicted Call of God (Genesis 25:19-36:43)
- The Joseph Narrative: The Hidden Call of God (Genesis 37:1-50:26)
My choices were made before I got to Brueggemann’s four divisions but don’t stray too far from them. Two are from his first division with one from the second and one from the fourth.
- Genesis 1:1-2:4a – the full story of creation ending with God resting on the seventh day.
- Genesis 6:9-22 – the story of Noah and the flood – God trying for a fresh start.
- Genesis 21:8-21 – the challenging story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.
- Genesis 45:1-15 – Joseph revealing himself to his brothers when they come to buy food in Egypt.
These ancient stories describe early struggles to understand and respond to God’s creation and call. It is my hope that they can speak afresh to us in relevant ways all these years later.
June 18 – Ruling Elder Barkley Butler (Rev. Dan Little – Ordination/Installation of New Officers)
June 25 – Ruling Elder Barkley Butler
July 2 – Ruling Elder Barkley Butler
July 9 – Rev. Dr. Angela Hancock, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Rev. Dan Little presiding at the Table
The Rev. Dr. Angela Dienhart Hancock serves as the vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty and Howard C. Scharfe Associate Professor of Homiletics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and has served as pastor to churches in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Tennessee. She holds a B.Mus. degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, and M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, where, as a student, she won the Weadon Prize in Sacred Music and the Davies Prize in Preaching. Dr. Hancock is the author of Karl Barth’s Emergency Homiletic, 1932-1933: A Summons to Prophetic Witness at the Dawn of the Third Reich, a contextual interpretation of Swiss theologian Karl Barth’s lectures on preaching in the early 1930s, based on unpublished archival material. Her current research explores Karl Barth’s contribution to the ethics of deliberation in Christian communities and the relationship between political and theological rhetoric. She continues to preach, teach, and lead worship in a variety of settings.
July 16 – Rev. Dr. Angela Hancock, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
July 23 – Rev. Dr. Angela Hancock, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
July 30 – Rev. Dr. Angela Hancock, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
August 6, Rev. Dr. Don Wilson, General Presbyter Returning
August 13, David Hanna, preaching and presiding at the Table
