Sarah Bowen, the daughter of a late reverend, is working to spread the teachings of her father through a collection of his sermons that have since become her book, “Void if Detached: Seeking Modern Spirituality through My Father’s Old Sermons.”
Bowen’s father, Rev. Dr. Richard “Dick” Murdoch, was a senior pastor at Rye Presbyterian Church for 10 years. During his time in Rye, Murdoch was involved with the Rye Youth Council, the Rye Nature Center and the Rye Interfaith Housing Corp.
Dan Love, a co-pastor at Rye Presbyterian Church, worked alongside Murdoch from 1997 to 2004. “[Murdoch] was always looking for a way to reach out beyond the church, beyond the city of Rye to do good for people,” he said.
After he died of cancer in 2004, Bowen was given her father’s sermons by the church. Bowen said that she had boxes full of manila folders containing 1,500 of her father’s teachings from 1967 to 2004.
When Bowen, 46, first received the sermons, she wasn’t sure what to do with them. “I was afraid that reading my father’s sermons might make me miss him more than I already did,” Bowen said.
It would take her five years until she was ready.
“I missed my dad,” she told the Review, “and I thought, well maybe I’ll read these, and I’ll see what happens.”
While reading the sermons, Bowen said she felt as if she was having a conversation with him about his work. “Amazingly, it helped me feel connected to him and heal much of my pain,” she said.
After finishing his works, Bowen felt the sermons needed to be transformed into a book. With the encouragement of her sister, she embarked on making that idea come to life.
Bowen was 37 when she began working on her book.
She compiled more than 50 of her father’s sermons that she felt people of all religious faiths could relate to. “These are the ones that will appeal to people regardless of whether they happen to be Baptist, Jewish or atheist,” she said.
was a senior pastor at Rye Presbyterian Church. Photo courtesy Sarah Bowen
Since the book was released in December 2016, Bowen has become a gold medalist for the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards under the “religion” category.
The book is available online from Barnes and Noble, Amazon and in stores at Arcade Booksellers in Rye.
The book’s name was inspired by one of her father’s sermons.
The sermon discusses how with the assistance of God’s power, people are able to accomplish great things. Murdoch tells the story of a doctor who believes that God didn’t give him his ability to heal the sick, but he does believe that God gave him the tools he would need to learn how to help them.
When Bowen was 14 years old, she felt herself begin to detach from her religious upbringing.
“I didn’t want to be thought of as the square preacher’s kid,” she said.
When she was growing up, her father never told her that she had to believe in the things he would preach about. Bowen explained that she had “a lot of room for self-expression.”
The religious journey she went on while writing the book, brought back fond memories.
Bowen said that her father never really looked like a Christian preacher, so it confused people when they found out what his profession was.
“He was just a really funny, social guy who would help anybody out and was just so caring,” she said.
Murdoch received his B.A. in history with a minor in English at Furman University. His studies led him to become interested in the link between history and religion.
Bowen said her father was interested in civil rights issues like the Fair Housing Movement and stopping segregation in neighborhoods.
“My father worked all the time to try and make communities stronger,” she said.
A prominent member of the Rye community, having served at Rye Presbyterian Church from 1994 to 2004, Murdoch was the recipient of the prestigious Rye Commission on Human Rights Award in 2004. He received the award because of his position as a pastor which led him to create a religious dialogue amongst people of different faiths.
Murdoch also has an award in his name that was created after his death by members of the Rye Presbyterian Church. The Dick Murdoch Legacy Award is presented at the Rye Youth Council Scholarship Awards Breakfast along with a college scholarship every year to a high school senior.
“We were looking for a way to honor his memory,” Love said about how the award came to be.
The award is given to a student who is working to better oneself at whatever they’re pursuing. The student has to have a clear vision for their future by becoming accepting and open to new opportunities.
Bowen, who lived in Rye for just under two years, travels back to the city from her current home in Rhinebeck, New York, every year to present the award.
“Rye was a very welcoming community, and I still have strong ties,” she said.
Since rediscovering her interest for religion, Bowen has begun focusing on animal chaplaincy, by providing grief counseling for those who have lost a pet, are able to perform animal blessings, and can speak at pet funerals.
Bowen writes in a blog post that when she was growing up, she would bring home dead animals she found because she felt they needed a proper burial.
“I want to have a bigger impact,” she said.
Bowen, who now says her relationship is continuing to expand, is also working to follow in her father’s footsteps to become a reverend herself.
“Focusing on the deep truths that are the foundation of all religions, rather than harping on our differences, is where I want to be,” she said.
