Schuller Returns to Cathedral Pulpit

Less than two months after undergoing brain surgery, an introspective but still upbeat Rev. Robert H. Schuller preached three sermons Sunday at the Crystal Cathedral.

“I’m terrific. I feel great,” proclaimed Schuller, 65, as he blew kisses to his congregation.

Unlike usual services where he sits behind a marble pulpit for the entire hour, Schuller appeared for 30-minute speeches, then retired backstage, apparently to rest.

The popular author and televangelist underwent brain surgeries on Sept. 3 and Sept. 10 in Amsterdam after sustaining a head injury. Schuller fell into a coma hours after striking his head while getting into a car.

Over each parking lot at the Crystal Cathedral on Sunday, arches of multicolored balloons carried banners that read “Welcome Home Dr. Schuller!” Co-pastor Bruce Larson read congratulatory telegrams from Gov. Pete Wilson, Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and evangelist Billy Graham. U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) attended the 11 a.m. service, which was taped for broadcast on the “Hour of Power,” now the most-watched religious television program in the nation.

At each service, Schuller received a prolonged standing ovation.

In his messages, Schuller described his ordeal--including a decision by his wife, who, fearful of AIDS, postponed his second operation because it would have required a blood transfusion.

After his first operation, he said, his brain continued to bleed as a result of blood thinned out by aspirin. Doctors told his wife, Arvella, that he would need a second operation and a blood transfusion, but they could not assure her that the blood would be free of infection. Schuller said it was his wife’s decision to wait three days until his own blood became thicker. In the end, a transfusion was not necessary in the second procedure, he said.

Unusually introspective and theological, Schuller told his followers that during his recovery, the thought of their prayers made him cry.

As a professional “care-giver,” he said, he experienced for the first time being on the receiving end of so much prayer. “Thank you. It worked,” he said. “I kept the faith.”

The congregation listened intently as Schuller said he never felt fear, depression or anxiety during his recovery, even when he contemplated his own death.

He said he had accomplished all he had been driven to do in his younger days: completing the Crystal Cathedral, its spire and an on-site cemetery.

Schuller, who has said he has no plans to cut back his schedule, praised the work of Larson and his son, Robert A. Schuller, who filled in for him during his absence. Schuller said that during his recovery, he drove to church and listened from his car to his son’s preaching.

“I enjoyed his sermons,” Schuller said. “There’s always the possibility that he might be my successor. We have to pick somebody--25 years from now.”

Some church members watched from their automobiles on a new, giant television screen in the parking lot.

“If there’s a way to be positive, I’m sure he will find it,” said Ronald Young of Orange, who attended with his wife, Lynn, and their three children.

After the service, the on-site bookstore was doing a brisk business with Schuller’s latest book--”Life Is Unfair, But God Is Good”--which sells for $18.95 and was used as the basis of his sermons.