Word: sermonizer
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...airport, Graham gave waiting reporters a canned version of the sermon he'd deliver in different forms for the next week. It went something like this: No man can solve the problems of poverty and oppression on this earth. But people can learn to find peace within their limitations, realize that this life is not the theater for our salvation, redirect their energies, accept. In acceptance lies the Answer...
Before beginning his sermon, Graham would let loose a sales pitch for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), a non-profit corporation that oversees and budgets all his activities. "We can't keep bringing me into your living room without your help, folks," he'd say in sermonic tones with arms flailing. He'd direct the crowd's attention to the collection buckets being passed around, the concession stand inside the stadium with scores of books by and about Graham and religious experiences. Then he'd remind them to send contributions to the national association: "Now that address again...
After that pitch, Graham went into a windup for the real product--and his salesmanship was equally masterful. Each night it was a little different. Two nights were "youth nights," so his special guests were disproportionately sports celebrities and rock singers, and his sermon played with the theme of romantic love...
...Plymouth, Mass., where the holiday has been observed since 1621, disgruntled Indians insisted that this year's traditional, Pilgrim-dominated celebration take long-overdue notice of who taught the English intruders to plant corn in the first place. The city's religious sermon was delivered by an Indian, and the town pageant did not feature the usual costumed Pilgrims carrying muskets ? a historical falsification, say the Indians, since the 17th century Chief Massosoit by keeping his peaceful pledge to the Pilgrim settlers all his life never gave them reason to carry guns...
...Chiang, whose lessons in life and philosophy and heightened consciousness take a hint from Dale Carnegie, a leaf from Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and a volume from Kahlil Gibran. Thus enlightened, Jonathan is apparently reborn. He returns to his flock and spreads the good word in a sort of Sermon on the Garbage Mount: "Listen, everybody! There's no limit to how high we can fly! We can dive for fish and never have to live on garbage again...