Edmund A. Steimle - "Address Not Known" (March 7, 1971)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(faint solemn music) | 0:02 | |
("Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee") | 0:50 | |
♪ Giver of immortal gladness ♪ | 2:10 | |
♪ Fill us with the light of day ♪ | 2:16 | |
♪ All Thy works with joy surround You ♪ | 2:24 | |
♪ Earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays ♪ | 2:30 | |
♪ Stars and angels sing around Thee ♪ | 2:36 | |
♪ Center of unbroken praise ♪ | 2:41 | |
♪ Field and forest, vale and mountain ♪ | 2:48 | |
♪ Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea ♪ | 2:53 | |
♪ Chanting bird and flowing fountain ♪ | 2:59 | |
♪ Call us to rejoice in thee ♪ | 3:05 | |
♪ Thou art giving and forgiving ♪ | 3:14 | |
♪ Ever blessing, ever blest ♪ | 3:19 | |
♪ Well-spring of the joy of living ♪ | 3:25 | |
♪ Ocean depth of happy rest ♪ | 3:31 | |
♪ Thou our Father, Christ our brother ♪ | 3:37 | |
♪ All who live in love are thine ♪ | 3:43 | |
♪ Teach us how to love each other ♪ | 3:49 | |
♪ Lift us to the joy divine ♪ | 3:55 | |
♪ Mortals, join the mighty chorus ♪ | 4:04 | |
♪ Which the morning stars began ♪ | 4:09 | |
♪ Love divine is reigning o'er us ♪ | 4:15 | |
♪ Binding all within its span ♪ | 4:21 | |
♪ Ever singing, march we onward ♪ | 4:28 | |
♪ Victors in the midst of strife ♪ | 4:33 | |
♪ Joyful music leads us sunward ♪ | 4:40 | |
♪ In the triumph song of life ♪ | 4:45 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 4:53 | |
- | The love of the Scriptures say to us, | 5:07 |
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves | 5:11 | |
and the truth is not in us. | 5:15 | |
If we confess our sins, | 5:18 | |
He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins | 5:21 | |
and cleanse us from all uncleanness. | 5:24 | |
Now with an inviting promise like that before us, | 5:28 | |
let us turn to number 562 | 5:32 | |
in this altar section of our hymnal | 5:36 | |
and pray together responsively our prayer of confession. | 5:39 | |
It also contains the words of assurance. | 5:44 | |
Let us pray. | 5:48 | |
To Thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul. | 5:52 | |
O my God, in Thee I trust. | 5:56 | |
Let me not be put to shame. | 5:59 | |
Let not my enemies exult over me. | 6:02 | |
Make me to know Thy ways, O Lord. | 6:06 | |
Teach me Thy paths. | 6:09 | |
Lead me in Thy truth and teach me | 6:11 | |
for Thou art the God of my salvation. | 6:15 | |
For Thee I wait all the day long. | 6:18 | |
Be mine full of Thy mercy, O Lord, | 6:21 | |
and of Thy steadfast love | 6:24 | |
for they have been from above. | 6:27 | |
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions. | 6:29 | |
According to Thy steadfast love, | 6:34 | |
remember me for Thy goodness sake, O Lord. | 6:36 | |
Good and upright is the Lord, | 6:41 | |
therefore He instructs sinners in the way. | 6:44 | |
He leads the humble in what is right | 6:47 | |
and teaches the humble his way. | 6:50 | |
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love | 6:53 | |
and faithfulness, | 6:56 | |
for those who keep His covenant | 6:58 | |
and His testimonies. | 7:00 | |
For Thy name's sake, O Lord, | 7:02 | |
pardon my guilt for it is great. | 7:06 | |
Who is the man that fears the Lord? | 7:09 | |
Him will He instruct in the way that he should choose. | 7:12 | |
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him | 7:16 | |
and He makes known to them His covenant. | 7:21 | |
May integrity and uprightness preserve me | 7:24 | |
for I wait for Thee. | 7:30 | |
Amen. | 7:32 | |
(faint solemn music) | 7:38 | |
(faint solemn music) | 8:46 | |
- | Matthew 25 1 through 13. | 11:27 |
Then shall the kingdom of heaven | 11:30 | |
be like 10 bridesmaids who took their lamps | 11:32 | |
and went forth to meet the bridegroom. | 11:34 | |
Five of them were wise and five were foolish. | 11:37 | |
They who were foolish took their lamps | 11:41 | |
but took no extra oil with them, | 11:43 | |
but the wise took some oil and flasks | 11:45 | |
as well as in their lanterns. | 11:48 | |
As the bridegroom was laid and coming, | 11:50 | |
they all dozed off to sleep. | 11:52 | |
At midnight there came a shout. | 11:54 | |
"Behold here comes the bridegroom. | 11:56 | |
"Come ye forth to meet him." | 11:58 | |
With that all the girls got up and trimmed their lamps, | 12:00 | |
and the foolish ones said unto the wise ones, | 12:03 | |
"Share your oil with us for our lamps are going out." | 12:06 | |
But the wise ones answered, "No, there will never be | 12:10 | |
"enough for us both. | 12:13 | |
"Go to the store and buy your own oil." | 12:15 | |
And while they went to buy the bridegroom came, | 12:18 | |
and they who were ready escorted him to the wedding. | 12:21 | |
But presently the other girls returned saying, | 12:24 | |
"Master, master, open up. | 12:26 | |
"Let us in." | 12:28 | |
But he replied, "Truly I say unto you I do not know you. | 12:30 | |
"Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day | 12:34 | |
"nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh." | 12:37 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 13:29 |
- | And with your spirit. | 13:31 |
- | Let us pray. | 13:32 |
Heavenly Father, as we come now to offer our | 13:40 | |
prayers of thanksgiving, | 13:45 | |
we don't wanna be in the position of thanking You | 13:47 | |
routinely over the same things over and over again. | 13:50 | |
And yet it seems that this is the way joy comes to us | 13:56 | |
most of the time. | 14:00 | |
We're glad if we got over that last code | 14:03 | |
or recovered from one more six bell, | 14:06 | |
we're feeling good if we passed yet | 14:09 | |
one more exam, one more important ball game. | 14:11 | |
We're able to pay our bills one more month. | 14:16 | |
So we do express our gratitude | 14:20 | |
for just the continuation of a thousand things | 14:22 | |
for which we're already thanked you 100 times. | 14:25 | |
The air we breathe, the sunshine, | 14:29 | |
people who still act like friends, | 14:33 | |
great music, inspiring creatures, | 14:36 | |
the opportunity to have fellowship with You in prayer. | 14:40 | |
We're among those for whom Christ died, | 14:45 | |
that's wonderful and we thank You. | 14:48 | |
Heavenly Father we pray for other blessings. | 14:53 | |
We pray that understanding may be given | 14:57 | |
to those who are struggling and wrestling now | 15:00 | |
with the choice of their life vocation, | 15:04 | |
or the vocations of social change. | 15:08 | |
Grant unto them the grace of patience, | 15:12 | |
the grace of wisdom, | 15:15 | |
and at last a firm and resolute mind. | 15:17 | |
We intercede for those who are planning marriage, | 15:22 | |
for those who are beginning marriage, | 15:27 | |
those who have a new baby. | 15:30 | |
We offer unto You our earnest petitions | 15:33 | |
for those who are still sick, | 15:35 | |
those who are sick again and again. | 15:38 | |
We pray for the confused, for the bereaved, | 15:42 | |
or the lonely. | 15:47 | |
O God, we ask you to keep us | 15:51 | |
in proper spiritual balance. | 15:53 | |
We're inclined to get off balance, | 15:57 | |
to get hipped on this or that. | 16:00 | |
Give us grace not to do that. | 16:05 | |
Deliver us from fanaticism. | 16:08 | |
May we have the grace to discern | 16:11 | |
between the practical and the spiritual. | 16:12 | |
May we have such a humble acceptance | 16:17 | |
of the commonplace and the routine | 16:20 | |
duties of life that we may be able | 16:23 | |
to glorify You through them. | 16:25 | |
And as we perform our menial tasks and our routine behavior, | 16:28 | |
may our friends and associates see Christ in us. | 16:34 | |
Grunt unto us and to all men, O God, | 16:40 | |
an attitude of true responsibility for the church, | 16:43 | |
for the university, for the nation, for the world, | 16:47 | |
for ourselves individually. | 16:52 | |
May we have charity, that is to say real love | 16:55 | |
in our hearts toward all men. | 16:59 | |
Keep us from bitterness when we've been disappointed, | 17:02 | |
or pride when we have been successful, | 17:07 | |
and from thinking of ourselves | 17:10 | |
more highly than we ought to think. | 17:12 | |
Help us to put ourselves in the place | 17:15 | |
of our neighbor or our roommate, | 17:17 | |
to see things as he sees them | 17:20 | |
before we offer harsh criticism. | 17:22 | |
Most of all may we actually pray in our hearts | 17:26 | |
that we may see our neighbor as Christ sees him. | 17:32 | |
Give unto us the blessing of remembering | 17:36 | |
that we ourselves are judged, | 17:39 | |
so may we be given live to see ourselves as you see us. | 17:42 | |
And today gracious God we offer our prayer | 17:47 | |
of supplication for the children | 17:50 | |
whose lives are touched by the Edgemont Community Center. | 17:53 | |
May our love for them be as pure and strong | 17:58 | |
as Your love for them. | 18:00 | |
Grant a special benediction upon those | 18:03 | |
who invest their time and their talents and their hearts | 18:06 | |
and their money in the program of the center. | 18:09 | |
Use the feeble efforts of our hands to bring about | 18:14 | |
great good to these children | 18:16 | |
and great glory to Thee. | 18:18 | |
Heavenly Father we also pray | 18:22 | |
for the children of the world. | 18:25 | |
Bless the little children of Russia, of Hungary, | 18:28 | |
of Israel and the Arab nations, | 18:32 | |
of China, Vietnam, Japan, | 18:35 | |
Cuba, Hawaii. | 18:40 | |
So work through us, O God, | 18:44 | |
that a peaceful world shall be provided | 18:46 | |
for boys and girls of every land. | 18:48 | |
Give peace in our time, O God, | 18:52 | |
and break the hardness of our hearts | 18:55 | |
which seems to forbid us to see the things | 18:57 | |
which make for peace. | 19:00 | |
Give unto all men the will to peace, we humbly pray. | 19:02 | |
Give us all of those things for which | 19:08 | |
your son Jesus asked us to pray when He taught | 19:11 | |
his disciples to say | 19:15 | |
Our Father who art in heaven | 19:18 | |
hallowed by Thy name. | 19:20 | |
They kingdom come, Thy will be done | 19:22 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 19:26 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 19:28 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 19:31 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 19:34 | |
And lead us not into temptation | 19:37 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 19:40 | |
For Thine is the kingdom and the power | 19:42 | |
and the glory forever. | 19:45 | |
Amen. | 19:47 | |
In W.H. Auden's Victor ballad, | 20:10 | |
Victor is betrayed by his wife. | 20:15 | |
So Victor walked out into the high street. | 20:18 | |
He walked to the edge of the town. | 20:22 | |
He came to the allotments and the rubbish heap | 20:24 | |
and his tears came tumbling down. | 20:27 | |
Victor looked up at the sunset | 20:30 | |
as he stood there all alone, cried, | 20:32 | |
"Are you in heaven, Father?" | 20:35 | |
But the sky said, address not known. | 20:38 | |
I suspect that experience is not an unfamiliar one | 20:45 | |
to any one of us here. | 20:48 | |
Maybe brought on by a personal crisis as with Victor, | 20:51 | |
or perhaps by a kind of endless national crisis | 20:56 | |
when the stalemate in our policy at Vietnam | 20:59 | |
seems to have yield no end to the frustration | 21:01 | |
and the agony of war. | 21:04 | |
Or maybe simply as a result of the wearing down | 21:07 | |
by the years. | 21:09 | |
When all this talk of a good and loving father in heaven | 21:12 | |
seems absurd, when there seems to be no ground | 21:15 | |
of existence anywhere so far as we can see, | 21:20 | |
when life seems quite literally to be | 21:25 | |
no more than a tale told by an idiot, | 21:27 | |
and to our attempts to find God somewhere | 21:31 | |
to listen to His voice, | 21:35 | |
to get some assurance that there really is a Father | 21:37 | |
up in the sky somewhere or in the depths of our being | 21:40 | |
or at work in the world. | 21:43 | |
As the saying goes these days, | 21:46 | |
the answer is the same. | 21:47 | |
Address not known. | 21:50 | |
Some of course will say that we're simply growing up, | 21:54 | |
outgrowing the superstition of years past | 21:57 | |
and that all talk of God is foolish talk. | 21:59 | |
So some theologians talk of God being dead. | 22:03 | |
Some scientists throw up their hands | 22:07 | |
at any kind of God talk. | 22:09 | |
He's obviously not to be found in measurable | 22:10 | |
or verifiable terms anywhere. | 22:12 | |
We now are living in a secular world | 22:16 | |
and have to get along by ourselves | 22:17 | |
as men without this God crutch, | 22:19 | |
this pie in the sky by and by, | 22:22 | |
this residue of another day when men | 22:25 | |
filled the vast gaps in their knowledge of themselves, | 22:27 | |
of nature, of history, with talk about God. | 22:30 | |
But what is so often forgotten in all this | 22:37 | |
is that way back in that never never land of the Bible, | 22:40 | |
when it seems that God was apparently so obviously present, | 22:44 | |
forever coming to men in dreams and visions, | 22:48 | |
His voice so clear and unmistakable | 22:52 | |
in the mouths of patriarchs and prophets, | 22:54 | |
and supremely in the man Jesus. | 22:58 | |
What is so often forgotten in all this is that | 23:01 | |
the overriding and normal experience | 23:04 | |
of God in those days was not of God present | 23:06 | |
but of God absent. | 23:10 | |
The Psalms for example, those soaring, | 23:13 | |
outpouring of faith are full of it. | 23:16 | |
Will the Lord spurn forever | 23:21 | |
and never again be favorable? | 23:22 | |
Has His steadfast love forever ceased? | 23:25 | |
Are His promises at an end for all time? | 23:29 | |
How long, O Lord? | 23:33 | |
Wilt Thou forget me forever? | 23:36 | |
How long will Thou hide Thy face from me? | 23:40 | |
Over and over again the theme is God | 23:45 | |
not momentarily absent, you see, | 23:47 | |
like the sun disappearing for a moment behind a cloud, | 23:49 | |
but a prolonged absence. | 23:52 | |
To be sure there were visions and voices | 23:56 | |
in men who spoke of God as the living God, | 23:57 | |
but these were the occasional, | 23:59 | |
the momentary experiences. | 24:01 | |
The ordinary day by day, | 24:04 | |
year by year experiences were of God absent | 24:06 | |
or silent. | 24:11 | |
How long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me? | 24:13 | |
Forever? | 24:16 | |
But not only the old testament, | 24:19 | |
that record of centuries of God | 24:21 | |
occasionally experiences present but normally absent. | 24:22 | |
In the New Testament too, the same experiences reflect it | 24:26 | |
and surprisingly enough in that familiar parable | 24:29 | |
of the wise and foolish bridesmaids | 24:32 | |
read just a few moments ago, | 24:35 | |
which on the surface seems to point | 24:37 | |
to the necessity of being forever | 24:39 | |
on the kiviv because God might arrive at any moment | 24:41 | |
we might not be ready. | 24:44 | |
It seems to be a story about God's coming. | 24:47 | |
And the last line, watch therefore, | 24:51 | |
for you know neither the day nor the hour | 24:55 | |
simply misses the point. | 24:59 | |
Scholars agree that this line was added | 25:03 | |
by some ancient editor to the original story. | 25:05 | |
And this last line throws us off the track. | 25:09 | |
All the bridesmaids fell asleep. | 25:13 | |
And apparently there was nothing wrong in that. | 25:16 | |
It was a long wait. | 25:18 | |
And that is precisely the point. | 25:20 | |
It was a long wait. | 25:23 | |
The bridegroom was delayed. | 25:26 | |
And the foolish bridesmaids were unprepared for that, | 25:28 | |
for the delay, for absence. | 25:32 | |
It was originally a word to the hipped up followers of Jesus | 25:36 | |
into a hipped up early church to cool it. | 25:39 | |
Be ready for God's absence. | 25:42 | |
It may be a long time before you'll have | 25:45 | |
unmistakable assurance that God is present. | 25:47 | |
The wise bridesmaids were ready for the bridegroom | 25:51 | |
when he arrived precisely because | 25:53 | |
they had taken along extra oil for their lamps | 25:56 | |
in the event of a long wait. | 26:00 | |
So how then do we wait? | 26:05 | |
In the face of delay, | 26:07 | |
in the face of God's absence or silence? | 26:10 | |
Well if we fail to take into account | 26:15 | |
the necessity of waiting, of long waiting, | 26:18 | |
chances are we'll start looking around for God | 26:22 | |
for the assurance of His presence | 26:24 | |
in the wrong places. | 26:26 | |
The late Samuel Miller quotes a delightful story | 26:29 | |
of a former Munich comedian, Karl Valentin. | 26:32 | |
The curtain goes up on a darkened stage, | 26:37 | |
and in this darkness is a solitary circle of light | 26:40 | |
shed by a streetlamp. | 26:44 | |
Valentin with his long drawn and deeply worried face | 26:46 | |
walks round and round this circle of light | 26:49 | |
earnestly looking for something. | 26:53 | |
A policeman wanders by. | 26:57 | |
"What have you lost?" | 26:59 | |
"The key to my house." | 27:01 | |
Upon which the policeman joins Valentin | 27:04 | |
in his search and they find nothing. | 27:07 | |
And after a while he asked, "Are you sure you lost it here?" | 27:10 | |
"No." | 27:14 | |
And pointing to a darkened corner of the stage, | 27:16 | |
"Over there." | 27:19 | |
"But why in God's name are you looking for it here?" | 27:21 | |
"There's no light over there." | 27:25 | |
So maybe, you know, just maybe | 27:28 | |
we look for God in the wrong places. | 27:31 | |
Not in the dark places where we may have lost sight of Him, | 27:34 | |
but in the light. | 27:39 | |
Chances are we'll look for God's presence | 27:41 | |
in Bible, creeds, liturgy, worship, | 27:43 | |
in the places where obviously | 27:47 | |
there seems to be some light in religion. | 27:48 | |
But maybe He's to be found not in religion at all | 27:53 | |
but in the dark places, | 27:57 | |
in the gaunt body of a mutilated child in Laos, | 28:00 | |
in a broken down tenement in Harlem, | 28:04 | |
in the grief of the widow of some Vietcong, | 28:08 | |
or in deaths of American men daily in Vietnam. | 28:12 | |
Or maybe in the beard and long hair of a student rebel. | 28:18 | |
As Samuel Miller says, we never see Him directly. | 28:23 | |
He is always mediated by the very things | 28:27 | |
that seem to deny Him. | 28:30 | |
And of course that's why so many in the New Testament | 28:33 | |
missed Him entirely | 28:35 | |
and finally decided to rid the world | 28:37 | |
of this obvious impostor. | 28:39 | |
Imagine God, Yahweh, | 28:42 | |
born of peasant stock walking around | 28:45 | |
incognito as Mary's son, | 28:47 | |
spending his time with callgirls and racketeers | 28:50 | |
that was obviously too dark a spot for a lost God. | 28:53 | |
If he was around at all he'd be in the temple | 28:59 | |
or in the synagogue or with a learned | 29:01 | |
and pious pillars of the church, | 29:02 | |
in the brightly religious spots on the landscape | 29:04 | |
not hiding off in the shadows. | 29:08 | |
Maybe that's why so often He seems to be absent | 29:11 | |
or silent for us too. | 29:16 | |
Or it may be that we spend our time waiting | 29:22 | |
by asking the wrong questions. | 29:24 | |
And the most familiar and often agonizing question | 29:27 | |
while we wait is why. | 29:30 | |
Why, if there is a good and loving God, | 29:33 | |
the misery in ghettos and cancer wards? | 29:36 | |
Why the overwhelming misery of hungry people | 29:40 | |
in the third world? | 29:43 | |
Why the recurring agony of war? | 29:45 | |
Why the persistent and pernicious evil in the world | 29:49 | |
and in you and me? | 29:52 | |
Why are we forever messing up our lives, you know, | 29:56 | |
with too much alcohol, too much sex, too much drugs, | 29:59 | |
too much fear of others, | 30:03 | |
of ourselves, of the future, of change? | 30:06 | |
Why, God, the persistence absence? | 30:13 | |
It all comes to a burning point in that cry on the cross, | 30:17 | |
Why, God, why have You forsaken me? | 30:19 | |
Why are you silent? | 30:25 | |
But God dispenses no information, | 30:28 | |
no daily press releases to let us in on what's going on | 30:31 | |
in the heavenly White House today. | 30:34 | |
No voices in the ear, no visions, | 30:37 | |
even on the cross, no answer, | 30:38 | |
no angels came and ministered unto him there | 30:42 | |
as in the wilderness. | 30:46 | |
As someone has written, | 30:49 | |
the cross was God's greatest silence. | 30:50 | |
Then the demons were unleashed | 30:53 | |
in the most dreadful passion since the fall of Adam | 30:55 | |
were given free reign and God had nothing to say. | 30:57 | |
There was simply the cry of the dying | 31:02 | |
asking of the silence, why? | 31:05 | |
God was silent even when dumb nature | 31:10 | |
began to speak in eloquent gesture | 31:12 | |
and the sun withdrew its light, | 31:13 | |
the stars cried out and God was silent. | 31:15 | |
Apparently God gives out no information | 31:21 | |
when we demand to know why. | 31:23 | |
And yet in answer to other questions, | 31:27 | |
that dark spot in history, | 31:29 | |
that unlikeliest of unlikely places | 31:31 | |
for God to be hiding, that dying man, | 31:33 | |
has told us worlds about the mystery of God. | 31:37 | |
But there's another reason why God seems to be absent, | 31:43 | |
why he doesn't seem to be around. | 31:46 | |
And it may be the deepest reason of them all. | 31:48 | |
Because in the depths of our being | 31:51 | |
we couldn't really stand it if He were. | 31:53 | |
To be known all through | 32:01 | |
not only in the depth side, | 32:06 | |
I don't think I'd mind God being privy | 32:07 | |
to my depths, my unconscious, | 32:10 | |
which I don't understand anyway. | 32:12 | |
But in the trivial and the superficial | 32:15 | |
to have the evasions, the hypocrisies, | 32:16 | |
the fake in me and in every last one of us | 32:20 | |
laid bare for Him for all the world to see. | 32:26 | |
Oh I'm sure there's a God we wouldn't mind having around. | 32:32 | |
The God who is our best instincts writ large, | 32:35 | |
the kind of magnified me in my best moments. | 32:38 | |
But that isn't the God that Jesus | 32:43 | |
is talking about certainly. | 32:45 | |
This is the God who slams the door | 32:47 | |
in the face of those not prepared | 32:49 | |
to wait with the terrible words 'I do not know you'. | 32:51 | |
It's the God who demands everything | 32:56 | |
as well as gives everything. | 32:58 | |
The kind of God who demands the crucifixion | 33:01 | |
of His only obedient one. | 33:03 | |
Job had his moments when he hated this God, | 33:07 | |
the God who will never leave us alone. | 33:10 | |
After all, who wants a companion like that | 33:13 | |
for whom we can never be separated, | 33:18 | |
who haunts us from morning till night | 33:21 | |
and on through the long night | 33:23 | |
watches like the hound of heaven that He is, | 33:24 | |
who in the fury of His love terrifies | 33:26 | |
as well as heals. | 33:31 | |
Small wonder we find that God absent. | 33:34 | |
For many of the time we want Him absent. | 33:39 | |
But supposing now, | 33:43 | |
just supposing we do desire this presence, | 33:46 | |
this healing fire, | 33:50 | |
and how should we prepare ourselves for the delay, | 33:53 | |
for the times of absence? | 33:57 | |
Well first of all we have to disabuse ourselves | 34:00 | |
of any notions of the experience | 34:02 | |
of the absence is unusual. | 34:04 | |
Rid ourselves of all those sentimental notions | 34:07 | |
of wanting to get back to a time | 34:09 | |
when God was apparently present, | 34:11 | |
and His presence was as plain | 34:14 | |
as the nose on your face. | 34:16 | |
You know, if only I could've been with Him then. | 34:19 | |
But as someone once said, it's very hard to make out | 34:26 | |
what God is doing anywhere at any time. | 34:28 | |
Where would you have liked to live and when, | 34:33 | |
just to be sure. | 34:37 | |
In pilot's shoes for example? | 34:41 | |
With Jesus in the wilderness? | 34:44 | |
With Paul in prison? | 34:48 | |
In shipwreck, stoned, beaten with lashes? | 34:50 | |
With Peter in the courtyard taunted by a girl? | 34:55 | |
With looters splitting the church into bits? | 34:59 | |
My God, we can't even stand a little tension | 35:03 | |
and disagreement in the typical Paris church. | 35:05 | |
It's not Christian. | 35:08 | |
There was no time, no time, | 35:11 | |
when God's presence was as plain | 35:14 | |
as the nose on your face. | 35:18 | |
He delays. | 35:20 | |
He refuses to answer the question why. | 35:22 | |
And when you come right down to it, | 35:25 | |
isn't this exactly what faith is all about? | 35:27 | |
And our freedom as His creatures, | 35:31 | |
if He were forever whispering in the ear, | 35:35 | |
tapping us on the shoulder, | 35:38 | |
tripping us up just to let us know He's around, | 35:39 | |
He wouldn't be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob | 35:42 | |
or the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. | 35:47 | |
So there will be the willingness not to have Him, | 35:51 | |
in ear or vest pocket or Bible creed or liturgy | 35:55 | |
or some specific program for social action, | 35:59 | |
or to long nostalgically for a never ever time | 36:03 | |
when others had Him in a way we don't. | 36:06 | |
God never has been had. | 36:10 | |
There have been only times | 36:14 | |
when men and women very much like ourselves | 36:17 | |
struggled with His absence | 36:22 | |
as well as His presence, | 36:25 | |
and the record of the struggle you will find in Bible | 36:27 | |
and in creed and liturgy. | 36:31 | |
An evidence of that struggle occasionally crops up | 36:34 | |
as in the march on Selma | 36:36 | |
or a quarter of a million marching on Washington for peace. | 36:40 | |
But beyond that, it just may be | 36:45 | |
that God speaks to us most clearly | 36:50 | |
and is closest to us simply | 36:52 | |
in the awareness of His absence. | 36:54 | |
Paul Shera finds the answer to Paul's prayer | 36:58 | |
about the thorn in his flesh. | 37:00 | |
You remember how he prayed three times | 37:04 | |
that he be removed, and all he got was silence for an answer | 37:06 | |
until the words came "My grace is sufficient for you." | 37:10 | |
And it is suggested that the answer came in the silence | 37:17 | |
rather than in some mysterious voice in his ear, | 37:23 | |
for isn't it so, you know? | 37:26 | |
The only time we can possibly know | 37:29 | |
that His grace is sufficient | 37:32 | |
is precisely when He's not at our beck and call. | 37:36 | |
Of course that's not all we have to say. | 37:43 | |
To be sure we ought to be on the kiviv, | 37:46 | |
lest God's presence, like a thief in the night, | 37:48 | |
catch us unawares. | 37:50 | |
But we will miss any coming, any visitation, | 37:54 | |
any assurance of presence if we are not | 37:57 | |
first prepared for delay, for absence, | 38:00 | |
for silence. | 38:05 | |
The foolish ones in the parable were ready for a presence, | 38:08 | |
for a coming, but not for a delay. | 38:12 | |
And for those foolish ones, there was no coming at all, | 38:17 | |
no visitation. | 38:22 | |
The door was shut. | 38:25 | |
I do not know you. | 38:27 | |
I suppose it all adds up to whether | 38:32 | |
in the face of the question, | 38:33 | |
are You in heaven, Father? | 38:34 | |
We can take the reply, address not known, | 38:38 | |
and hang in there and wait. | 38:45 | |
And maybe that's what this season of Lent is all about. | 38:51 | |
At any rate, if you who are here this morning | 38:57 | |
are here because you are more disturbed by a delay, | 39:01 | |
by absence, by silence, | 39:04 | |
then you're in better shape religiously | 39:10 | |
than those who are not, | 39:14 | |
at least so this parable reads. | 39:18 | |
Let us pray. | 39:24 | |
O God, our Father, keep us faithful | 39:30 | |
precisely when we need most to be kept faithful, | 39:32 | |
when Your face is veiled, | 39:37 | |
when there is no voice, | 39:41 | |
when Your presence is most deeply felt in absence. | 39:45 | |
Through Christ our Lord. | 39:54 | |
Amen. | 39:56 | |
(solemn organ music) | 40:01 | |
(solemn music) | 42:03 | |
(solemn music) | 49:00 | |
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power | 50:22 | |
and the wisdom and the majesty, | 50:27 | |
for all that is in the heaven and on earth is Thine. | 50:29 | |
Both richness and honor come of thee | 50:33 | |
and of Thine own do we now give thee | 50:36 | |
for the good of Thy church | 50:39 | |
and the glory of Thy name. | 50:40 | |
Now may the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ | 50:48 | |
be with us all. | 50:52 | |
(solemn music) | 50:58 | |
(bell tolling) | 52:34 | |
(discordant organ music) | 52:55 |