(choir singing Praise to the Lord, The Almighty) (organ playing) (choir singing In Christ There is no East or West) 

- Dear friends and brothers, we are in the presence of God, not simply in a house dedicated to His worship, but as we were yesterday so are we today, in His presence. We are now intentionally and consciously in the presence of God. Let us therefore offer unto Him our prayer of confession. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we are contrite in heart as we make our confessions before You. You know our hearts better than we know them, and yet we need to express our sins in Your presence. We acknowledge that we have not beaten our swords into plowshares nor our spears into pruning hooks. Nation still lifts up sword against nation, and mankind still learns to make war. We who call ourselves by Your Name, and identify ourselves with You, do not act as though we love our neighbors as ourselves as You have bidden us to do. And we are more careful to protect our pride than we are to protect our character. We often expect the impossible, O God. We have not been poor in spirit and yet we assume somehow that we shall enter the kingdom of Heaven. We have not been very meek and yet we act as though we ought to inherit the earth. We have not been merciful but we are bold enough to ask for mercy, even now. We have not been pure in heart, still we wonder why we do not see God, and we blame You, O God, for being so hard to find, and sometimes contend that You are even dead. We often are unwilling to endure persecution for righteousness' sake, and yet we claim the kingdom of Heaven. But now, in Your presence, in Your house, we are aware of how wrong it all seems. We are pained by the estrangement which our sins have brought about. Yet mercifully we find grace in our hearts that prompts us to repent and to seek Your forgiveness. Grant us more grace, that our sins may be forgiven, that we may amend our ways and live godly lives for Your Name's honor and glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. Brothers and sisters, hear the word of God that comforts our hearts even now. Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy, chapter one verse fifteen, "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And then he wrote to Romans in chapter eight, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." And because of these assuring words we are thankful in heart. And we need to express our thanksgiving to God. Let us unite our hearts and our voices in our unison prayer of thanksgiving. Let us pray. O Most High, Almighty Lord God, to You belong praise, glory, honor, blessing and thanksgiving. We thank You for the sun which brings us the day, and for the moon and the stars. We thank You for the wind, and for the air and cloud and all weather, by which You uphold life in all creatures. We are grateful for water which is very serviceable unto us and precious and clean. We bless You for fire through which You give us light in darkness, it is bright and pleasant. We thank You for the earth which sustains and keeps us, and which brings forth fruits and flowers. Praised be the Lord for all who pardon one another for love's sake, who endure weakness and tribulation. We thank You for those who peaceably endure. We thank You for those who are found walking by Your most holy will, for earth shall have no power over them. We praise and bless You, O Lord, and give thanks unto You. Through Jesus, amen. (organ plays) (choir sings) 

- It has been an exceptional privilege for Duke University, as well as for Durham and the state of North Carolina and indeed the United States, to be host to a very distinguished group of international athletes, mainly from the continent of Africa. And all of us surely know by now what a blessing this has been. We are honored this morning to have one of the African coaches in our service as lector. He is a Christian. He will read the Scripture lesson. His name is Mr. (unintelligible) Teti. He is from La Croix in Ghana, and he one of four track coaches from the continent. Mr. Teti. 

- Here beginneth the lesson from first Corinthians, chapter nine, verses twenty-four through twenty seven, and Hebrews chapter twelve, verses one and two. "Do You not know that in a race all the runners compete but only one receives the prize? So run, that You may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. Well, I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. But I pommel my body and subdue it lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Hebrews chapter twelve, verses one and two, "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Amen. And may the Lord add His blessing to the reading of the lesson. (organ playing) (choir singing) 

- The Lord be with you. Let us pray. (congregation murmuring) 

- Almighty God, we come now to ask for blessings for others, and for ourselves. Our Father, we know that there is a great deal that needs to be done in the world for Your glory and for our good. And we are deeply impressed as we realize that everything which is for your glory is for our good. And that whatever is for human welfare is entirely and fully consistent with Your glory. And this is one of the reasons we adore You and love You, is that Your will is a loving will. And as we think of these many things that need to be done in Your Name, in Your Spirit and by Your power, we are prompted to rush out and do them all today. For they all need to be done. And yet there is a kind of wisdom that we need, and for which we pray, that would show us how we can accomplish some things today, and make plans to accomplish other things tomorrow. Keep us from thinking that we can fulfill the perfect dream of brotherhood immediately. But, O God, keep us from thinking that since we cannot fulfill it totally, instantly, that there is little that we can do now. Show us clearly those things which we can do now that would help to bring in the day of brotherhood and establish justice and righteousness. Help us to change what we can change, to be willing temporarily to accept what we cannot change, and give us wisdom to know the difference. Help us to think less of what other people can do to establish justice and to think more of what we can do ourselves that doesn't depend on others, and then give us the grace to do it. We offer prayers of intercession for those who do not know what they do. Those who crucify, those who loot, the arsonists, the bigots, the violent, those who concentrate on race and emphasize race, and segregate by race, whether white or black, or red or brown. Hasten the day when people will not think of race at all. But will think of the spirit, the person, the soul, the mind, the heart. O God, we pray for ourselves, that bright accomplishments may not make us vain, or that unexpected and crushing disappointments may not break our spirits. That unexpected new truth may not too greatly confuse us, but just enough. That broken human relationships may not discourage us, nor make us forget the relationship we have to Jesus Christ. In our times of testing may we not only be faithful but learn what the times of testing teach us. Heavenly Father, we pray you so to move Your Holy Spirit in our hearts and in the hearts of men everywhere, that they shall learn the lessons which we have been permitted to see and understand here in Durham, North Carolina during these past two days. Help all men to see that there is glory and fraternity in staging our great national competitions on the athletic field rather than staging our great national competitions on the sinful field of war. Grant that men everywhere may learn your wisdom and respond to the Prince of Peace, to the end that such blessings as we have shared this week may increase, and that the shameful competition of human slaughter and destruction may quickly end and be forever banished. To the glory of Your Son our Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose Name we offer our prayer, and in the words of whose prayer we now pray, "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen." 

- The grace of God be with us all. Have you ever heard the comment that while a lie may not be justifiable it is sometimes inevitable? It was Henry Van Dyke who said that in his pleasing, little Christmas book, "The Story of the other Wise Man." "A lie may not be justifiable, it is sometimes inevitable." I'm going to apply the dictum to another area of life, to the preaching of an old sermon. It may not be justifiable, though my wife says it is. Her justification by analogy is that singers sing the same songs over and over again. Thank you, my wife. My defense of preaching this particular old sermon is that it is inevitable. With the Pan-Africa USA track meet just over in Wallace Wade stadium, with memories of names like (unknown), Mirah Sifter and Steve Prefontaine, and our lector this morning, and especially Dr. Leroy T. Walker, with women participants from Europe, South America, Canada, Australia. Is it any wonder that we sang as our opening hymn, "In Christ there is no east or west, in Him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth?" The sad fact is, that its affirmation is probably truer in athletics than it is in the Church, which is supposed to be the Body of Christ. Well, the theme of this old sermon is an athlete, a Christian athlete, a Scot born in china, an Olympic runner, a graduate of Edinburgh University, that's the only disappointing fact about him. An international rugby player, and a missionary back in China where he died. His name is Eric Liddel. Here is his story. Eric Liddell was born in Tientsen, North China, on January sixteen, nineteen-two, the son of missionary parents, both of whom haled from Scotland. He spent the first years of his life in China. Nineteen-seven saw him at school in Scotland, and from nineteen-eight until nineteen-twenty, he was a pupil in England at the School for the Sons of Missionaries. He came to Edinburgh university in nineteen-twenty, and graduated with a B.S.C. degree in pure science in nineteen-twenty four. He spent the next year at the Congregational College, and in nineteen-twenty five, returned to China as a missionary and died there, a prisoner of the Japanese in the Shentong compound, age forty three. Now that is a good life well spent, but as outlined there is nothing unusually unusual about it. Liddel is worthy of esteem, but others have lived lives of service without public acclaim. There is nothing in that curriculum vitae which tells how he captured his imagination of the Scots, especially the student generation, my student generation. Why his name was a household word throughout Scotland, yes, and even in England. To another aspect of his life we must turn for his astounding popularity. When he came up to Edinburgh university, nineteen-twenty, he brought with him quite a record as an athlete. At his prep school, he had been captain of cricket, which is almost a point of view, rather than a game. He was also captain of rugby, which is a refined form of American football. He also won several cups for his prowess in track, and at Edinburgh he continued his track career which left his opponents both breathless and defeated, and made him the most popular and best loved athlete Scotland has ever produced. From nineteen-twenty one to nineteen-twenty three, he played rugby for Edinburgh University and was chosen to represent Scotland as one three quarter in the international matches against France, Ireland, Wales and England. And something happened at one of these matches I have never seen happen at the Duke stadium. Scotland beat Wales in Cardiff, on Wales' home territory, fourteen to eleven. And at the end of the game, the Welsh team carried the four Scottish three quarters off the field shoulder high, to recognize their brilliance. Now I've seen some of our opponents carried off, but not shoulder high. However rugby interfered with track. So after two seasons, he dropped rugby to concentrate on running. Brethren, how can I help you to capture the enthusiasm and the admiration which grew and grew, meet after meet, as he emerged the winner? Will statistics help? My wife says no, but I'm going to risk it. As a freshman in nineteen-twenty one, he won the hundred and the two-twenty at Edinburgh University. He also won both races in the Scottish inter varsity meet. He won them both again at the Scottish championships, as a freshman. In fact, he won the hundred and the two-twenty in the Scottish championships from nineteen-twenty one to nineteen-twenty five and added the four-forty in nineteen-twenty four and twenty five. And on four of these five occasions, he also lead the Edinburgh University relay team to victory. In nineteen-twenty three, he was the British amateur champion in the hundred and the two-twenty, and a week later, at the triangular international contest with England and Ireland, he not only won the hundred and the two-twenty, but also the four forty. Something that had never been done before and has never been done since in Great Britain. A triple international victory in the short distance races. Now that winter he looked forward to just one thing, the hundred meters at the Olympic games in Paris, in July nineteen-twenty four. He was the first choice of the British committee. He went into serious training and then refused to run. Why? The heats for the one hundred were announced to be run on a Sunday. The British committee had done all in its power to have the day altered. Its members knew that Liddell would not run on Sunday. They recognized that they were dealing with a man of religious principle. Liddell made his statement in three words, "I'm not running." It took Pres. Coolidge six words to say the same thing, "I do not choose to run." But Liddell was an economic Scot. However it was not the end of the Olympic games for Liddell. He switched his training to the four hundred meters, and on Friday, July eleventh, nineteen-twenty four, he won that race, breaking the world's record. There's an interesting anecdote connected with that race. On the morning of the final four hundred meters dash, his masseur, a man who assisted his trainer, wrote a note and gave it to Liddell. Here is what he wrote, "In the old Book it says, 'He that honors me, I will honor.' Wishing you the best of success, always." The reference is to first Samuel, two thirty. A week later, Liddell was back in Edinburgh to graduate, and I wish there were time to tell you of the reaction of Edinburgh to her most recent hero. A laurel wreath, as well as a (inaudible) graduation, and a drive through the streets of Edinburgh with the carriage drawn by a group of university blues, which being interpreted is litter men. Three complementary dinners, now when Scotland gives one complementary dinner that's something! Three! Staid old Edinburgh, lifted her petticoats and did a highland fling. Nineteen-twenty four, twenty five, was spent in special study for his projected work in China, and in an evangelistic campaign among students and the unemployed, a not unreasonable combination. Then for twenty years he served his Lord in China with occasional (inaudible) to Scotland to persuade others to join him in the far east. He died of a brain tumor in that interment camp on May eighth, nineteen-forty five, and Scotland went into mourning. Now Landon Gilkey, who was professor of theology in Chicago, and is now I think on the faculty of Vanderbilt university, was in that prison camp too. He wrote a book about it, "Shantung Compound." He has two paragraphs about Eric Liddell. Here is one sentence, "It is rare indeed when a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but Liddell came as close to it as anyone I have ever known." It is rare indeed when a Baptist theologian refers to anyone as a saint. There's but one aspect of his life's story that we might reflect on. I shall say nothing about the academic aspect of his life, except for the observation that any of you who are undergraduates may rejoice to know that he was not a brilliant student. You may be embarrassed to know that he was a steady and conscientious worker. I shall say nothing about the athletic aspect of his life, except to comment that while he trained with serious purpose there was also fun in it. He used to race the corporation buses up the mound in Edinburgh, regularly winning to the chagrin of the transit company. As a golfer, he also practiced iron shots over the home of the president of Edinburgh University. I do not recommend this at Duke. (congregation laughing) It's the spiritual aspect of his character that should interest us just now, that should say something to us. The things of the Spirit were basic for Eric Liddell, the groundwork on which all else was built. H. M. Abrams, the captain of the British Olympic team, who took Liddell's place in the hundred meters, and won it, he said this about his teammate, "Eric Liddell was a man whose intense spiritual convictions contributed largely to his athletic triumphs." While his ability must have been great, but for his profound intensity of spirit, he surely could not have achieved so much. He sought first the kingdom, and the other things were added to him, even though his running style was atrocious. Atrocious! But highly effective. Here are just two reflections on that spiritual life which I would share with you. First, his refusal to run on a Sunday was the symbol of a principle, his primary loyalty to God. Religion is self committal to the more-than-self. It's the recognition of something, someone, other than ourselves, greater than ourselves, to whom we render our willing obedience, homage, worship. God is first. Nothing may come before Him. This is always the central fact in any high religion. Any high religion. Liddell knew that. He believed it. The keeping of the Lord's day holy, in a manner different from the other days of the week, was for him both a requirement, and a sign of his particular, conservative Christian loyalty. In an age and in a world of compromise it's salutary to have one central loyalty which is constant. And one symbol which signifies an eternal loyalty. I do not suggest that you choose Liddell's symbol. It is not mine. And yet, Sandy Koufax of the Dodger's would not pitch on Yom Kippur, the Jewish holy day. And Bobby Richardson of the Yankees always arrived late for batting practice on Sunday because he worshiped at eleven o'clock. What I am asking is that we have one hill in our heart which towers above the rolling plains of inevitable compromise in our lives maybe our attitude to people of other races, born of religious conviction. Maybe our attitude to the use of alcohol born of religious conviction. It may be a religious pacifism in a bewildered world which resorts to undeclared and un-understood war. It may center on honesty and an honor code on chastity or (inaudible) and one day on that hill in the heart a cross may be erected and one of us may be on the cross. The second reflection is this, Liddell never insisted that others should stop running on Sunday. He never tried to change the day of the heat. Though the British committee did for patriotic reasons. He did not force his views on others. The freedom he rightly claimed to keep the Sabbath, he willingly granted to others to ignore the Sabbath, or more accurately, the Lord's day. Liddell did not demand that others have the courage of his convictions, but he had the courage not to yield to the convictions of others when they were contrary to what he believed to be of spiritual importance. Therefore as Christians, we should not insist or even expect that others accept the symbol of ultimate loyalty which is particularly dear to us. Be it total abstinence, or no movies on Sunday, or church attendance morning and evening, or tithing, or the like. We live under tremendous pressures to conform. Even our contemporary nonconformity is organized in a conforming mode. Weird hairstyles, innumerable marches, noisy picketing, petition signing. Grant every person the spiritual freedom we desire. Grant him the right to be different from us. Provided he is reasonably quiet during the normal hours of sleep and study. It's good to have a center of reference which is holy and a symbol of that holiness which is sacred. It's also good to make no demands that others adopt our center, and our symbol. These were twin loyalties for Eric Liddell. For many of you it's normal that a sermon begin with a text from the Bible. I would close with one. If I had been asked to choose the words to place on a memorial tablet to Eric Liddell, I would have turned to the two verses from our lesson, which opened the twelfth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith." Remember "the race that is set before us!" Us! Eric Liddell might be a good coach for that race. Let us pray. Almighty God, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, help us to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of Thy throne. Amen. (organ playing) (choir singing) (organ playing) (choir singing) (organ playing) (choir singing Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow) 

- Almighty God, we offer this money and ourselves in dedication to You. Asking that this dedication may not be so general that never becomes specific. May each one of us be really dedicated to Christ. We ask in His Name, amen. (choir singing Amen)