United Church of Christ United Church News The Rev. J. Bennett Guess, news director 216-736-2177 newsroom@ucc.org www.ucc.org
For immediate release April 13, 2006
UCC MOURNS DEATH OF WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, LEGENDARY 'PASTOR, PROPHET, POET'
The Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., a United Church of Christ minister known globally for his peace and justice advocacy, died April 12 at his home in rural Strafford, Vermont. He was 81.
According to Associated Press, Coffin had been suffering from congestiv e heart failure and had been under hospice care.
"Bill was an exuberant prophet who had the unique capacity to love us toward our better selves," said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC General Minister and President. "His prophetic vision brought the imagination o f the Biblical prophets and of Jesus to life in our time. He was urgent a nd clear, but never stern. His love for life in the world that is never blinded him to a yearning for life in the world that ought to be."
Ordained in 1956 as a Presbyterian, he later sought ordained ministeria l standing in the United Church of Christ, a relationship he maintained u ntil his death. Since retirement, he was a member of the United Church of Strafford. Long active in his support of the United Church of Christ's justice and peace agenda, Coffin keynoted a UCC convocation in 2003 on how to revitalize its "just peace church movement."
"Bill understood that a minister was always pastor and prophet, and his gift for language reminded us that, at our best, pastors and prophets a re always poets," Thomas said.
From 1976 to 1987, Coffin was senior minister of one of the UCC's most
prominent congregations, The Riverside Church in New York City. More th an 20 years ago, Coffin led Riverside Church in becoming the UCC's first " open and affirming" church, a denominational movement that today includes ne arly 600 congregations committed publicly to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons.
In 1983, only 10 days after the death of his 24-year-old son in a tragi c car accident, Coffin delivered his sermon "Eulogy for Alex" at Riversid e Church. It remains a heartfelt classic in homiletics.
"So I shall ? so let us all ? seek consolation in that love which never dies, and find peace in the dazzling grace that always is," Coffin preached.
During the 1960s and 70s, he served as university chaplain at Yale wher e he spoke out passionately in favor of Civil Rights and against the Vietnam War. In the 1980s, Coffin headed the anti-nuclear SANE/Freeze campaign, where he became a major voice in opposition to the U.S. nuclear weapons buildup.
Coffin's likeness and passion were later immortalized as the fictitious "Rev. Sloan" by cartoonist Garry Trudeau in his celebrated strip "Doonesbury."
Last year, when major networks first rejected the UCC's TV ad campaign as "too controversial," Coffin authored a stinging op-ed column. "The UCC properly implied that millions of American Christians are at odds with the Christian Right," Coffin wrote. "? In reality, there are no biblical literalists, only selective literalists. By abolishing slavery and ordaining women, millions of Protestants have gone far beyond biblical literalism."
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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