Dad's Last Sermon (1998)
January 25, 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of my father's death, and by a strange and—I've always thought—beautiful coincidence, the 25th anniversary of his final sermon. On the last Sunday in January, 1998, the Rev. Gilbert J. Horn, Co-Pastor of the Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver read the gospel lesson and then preached it for two church services and taught a Sunday school class before succumbing to esophageal cancer at home that afternoon. He was 57.
It happened to be Super Bowl Sunday, and the Denver Broncos would be facing the Green Bay Packers in San Diego in a few hours. From the standpoint of a preacher in Denver trying to get congregants in the pews, this was a challenge. What was my dad's marketing solution? Exploiting the familiar trope of the football player who tells the sports reporter that Jesus is his quarterback, Dad titled his sermon "Jesus' Playbook."
I’m pleased to be able to share in this special episode my dad’s last—and perhaps most important—sermon. [Image: All Saints’ Celebration at Montview, November 1995]
At a Justice for Janitors rally on May Day 1989. Dad was a card-carrying member of the Service Employees International Union. [Image: Denver Post/Getty]
In Memoriam
1982 file photo from Buffalo News.
Buffalo News, February 1998.
After my graduation from high school, 27 June 1993. My smile may or may not have inspired the original Point of Learning avatar!
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Current supporters include: Aaron Bartley, Gilberto Belaval, Mary Rappl Bellanti, Melinda Bihn, Gretchen & David Brand, Jenni Brand, Jake Brown, Heather Carson-Wake, Patty Cruice, Ryan Daly, David Davis, James Duggan, Dave Eisenberg, Phillip Ellis, Anna Falicov, Errick L. Greene, Jonathan Hiam, Gregory Horn, Janice & John & Ava & Brooke Horn, Robyn Lee Horn, Greg Jackson, Kevin Johnson, Zack Kramer, Tim Lear, Janet & Robert Lee, Kristen Lee, Tom Loughlin, Susan Lytle, Carol MacVey, Linda B. Matt, Ellen McLaughlin, J. W. Gregg Meister, Miriam Meister, Sarah & Peter Meister, Dwight Nolt, Julia Olff, John Opera, Gail Radford, Monica & Rowland Richards, Gail & Frank Richeson, Friends of Diana Rochford, Stacy Rodgers, Elizabeth & Terry Rowlands, Paula A. Roy, Emily Style, Marue Walizer, John B. Webb, Keith Zemsky
My graduation from Kindergarten, June 1981. Either Dad was not overly impressed, or he had some sense of the scandals tan suits might engender in the coming years.
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