Matching and Dispatching

by Chatham, James O.; Kuykendall, John

• ISBN13: 9781610978712
• ISBN10: 1610978714
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-23
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

This book takes you behind the scenes of the weddings and funerals you attend to show the not-so-visible side of what occurs. The picture can be marvelously heroic, deeply inspiring, fun, hilarious, tragic, angering, or disgustingly pathetic. The one thing certain is that you will see a comprehensive portrait of the human condition, the assorted things we people do when we marry and bury one another. We are at our best and our worst, and we reveal it clearly. The purpose of Matching and Dispatching is to entertain and provide enjoyment, but also to show a rich, usually hidden side of the pastor's world, the pastor being the chief architect behind weddings and funerals. To this end, Jim Chatham has drawn from his four decades of experience as a Presbyterian pastor.

Author Biography

James O. Chatham is Pastor Emeritus of Highland Presbyterian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, where he served for twenty-five years. He is the author of Sundays Down South, a Pastor's Stories (1999), Is It I, Lord? Discerning God's Call to Be a Pastor (2002), Enacting the Word, Using Drama in Preaching (2002), and Creation to Revelation: A Brief Account of the Biblical Story (2006). He currently resides in Asheville, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Matching
Candid Granny	p. 11
Holy Crow! What Have I Done?	p. 14
With Sammy Sosa Attending	p. 16
Against Great Odds	p. 25
Expecting the Unexpected	p. 29
Fifty-One/Forty-Nine	p. 31
Get Me to the Church on Time	p. 35
Nightmare Day	p. 37
A Great Cloud of Witnesses	p. 46
Dispatching
A Garland Instead of Ashes	p. 53
Big Plans and Little People	p. 60
The Mayfield Mandate	p. 66
ClemÆs Visit	p. 69
Mortified!	p. 72
Angels and Satellites	p. 75
The Ultimate Why?	p. 78
Gonzo Funeralism	p. 82
CassieÆs Torment	p. 89
Encounter with the Unknown	p. 94
Larry's Legacy	p. 97
Losing Her Faith?	p. 100
Terror on the Interstate	p. 103
Death of an Era	p. 107
Saying Goodbye to Albert	p. 111
NettieÆs Lure	p. 124
Sagacious Old Man	p. 128
The Southbrook Saga	p. 132
Rest, My Soul	p. 144
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.