Robert E. Cushman - "The Time of Thy Visitation Vision" (December 16, 1956); John Baillie - "The Theology of Sleep" (January 20, 1957)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
Announcer | Sunday morning, December 16th, 1956. | 0:04 |
Preacher, | 0:09 | |
Dr. Robert E Cushman, | 0:10 | |
(choir singing) | ||
professor Duke Divinity School. | 0:11 | |
Minister | Let us pray. | 4:49 |
Glory be to thee oh Father Almighty, | 4:54 | |
who hast given us thine only begotten son, | 4:59 | |
that we might live through Him. | 5:03 | |
Glory be to thee Lord Jesus Christ, | 5:07 | |
who became man | 5:13 | |
that we might become sons of God. | 5:15 | |
Glory be to thee oh Holy Spirit, | 5:21 | |
who does direct and rule our hearts. | 5:25 | |
Oh glory be to thee | 5:30 | |
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, | 5:33 | |
one God, what are we without Him. | 5:37 | |
We bless and the adore thee oh Christ, | 5:44 | |
son of God, | 5:48 | |
yet born of Mary. | 5:51 | |
Son of God, | 5:54 | |
yet our brother. | 5:56 | |
Eternal world, | 6:00 | |
yet a child without speech. | 6:03 | |
Clothed in glory, | 6:07 | |
yet wrapped in swaddling bands. | 6:10 | |
Lord of heaven and earth, | 6:15 | |
yet lying in a manger. | 6:18 | |
We confess unto thee that we have lost | 6:23 | |
our childlike innocence | 6:26 | |
and have not attained to holiness. | 6:29 | |
We have despised too often what is tender and pure | 6:34 | |
and have corrupted ourselves with worldly opinions and ways. | 6:40 | |
At this Christmas tide, | 6:48 | |
forgive us oh God. | 6:51 | |
And make us like little children | 6:55 | |
in faith | 6:59 | |
and hope | 7:00 | |
and love, | 7:02 | |
so that we may wonder | 7:05 | |
and worship | 7:07 | |
at thy manger throne. | 7:09 | |
Hear us oh God | 7:14 | |
and grant us pardon and remission of all our sins | 7:16 | |
through the same Jesus Christ, | 7:21 | |
our Lord. | 7:25 | |
And now was our savior Christ has taught us, | 7:28 | |
we humbly pray together saying. | 7:32 | |
Our Father, Who art in heaven, | 7:36 | |
hallowed be Thy name; | 7:40 | |
Thy kingdom come; | 7:43 | |
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 7:45 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread | 7:50 | |
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive | 7:53 | |
those who trespass against us | 7:57 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 8:00 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 8:03 | |
For thine is the kingdom and the power | 8:05 | |
and the glory forever, | 8:09 | |
amen. | 8:12 | |
(choir singing) | 8:16 | |
Hear the word of God, | 11:10 | |
as it is spoken to us | 11:13 | |
in the 1st chapter of St. Luke's gospel, | 11:16 | |
in the words of the father of John the Baptist. | 11:21 | |
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit | 11:27 | |
and prophesied saying, | 11:31 | |
"blessed, be the Lord the God of Israel | 11:35 | |
for he has visited and brought redemption for his people | 11:39 | |
and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in | 11:43 | |
the house of his servant David, | 11:47 | |
as he spoke by the mouth of his prophets | 11:50 | |
that have been from above. | 11:55 | |
Salvation from our enemies and from | 11:57 | |
the hand of them that hate us, | 12:00 | |
to show mercy towards our fathers | 12:03 | |
and to remember His holy covenant, | 12:07 | |
the oath which He swear unto Abraham our father, | 12:10 | |
to grant unto us that we being delivered out of | 12:15 | |
the hands of our enemies, | 12:18 | |
should serve him without fear in holiness | 12:21 | |
and righteousness before him all our days. | 12:25 | |
Yay and thou child shall be called | 12:31 | |
the prophet of the Most High, | 12:34 | |
or thou shalt go before the face of the Lord | 12:37 | |
to make ready his ways, | 12:40 | |
to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, | 12:43 | |
in the remission of their sin. | 12:46 | |
Because of the tender mercy of our God, | 12:49 | |
whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us. | 12:53 | |
To shine upon them that sit in darkness | 12:58 | |
and the shadow of death. | 13:01 | |
To guide our feet into the way of peace. | 13:04 | |
And from the 19th chapter | 13:11 | |
of the same gospel according to Luke. | 13:13 | |
"And when he drew nigh He saw the city | 13:18 | |
and wept over it saying, | 13:22 | |
'if thou hadst known in this day, | 13:26 | |
even thou the things which belong unto peace, | 13:28 | |
but now they are hide from thine eyes | 13:33 | |
for the days shall come upon thee | 13:37 | |
when dine enemies shall cast up abank about thee | 13:39 | |
encompass thee round about | 13:44 | |
and keep thee in on every side. | 13:46 | |
They shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, | 13:50 | |
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." | 13:55 | |
Hear endeth the reading of the morning lesson. | 14:02 | |
Amen | 14:06 | |
and amen. | 14:08 | |
(gentle music) | 14:14 | |
(choir singing) | 14:59 | |
The Lord to be with you. | 19:17 | |
Congregation | Let us pray. | 19:20 |
- | Let us pray. | 19:21 |
Oh God, | 19:30 | |
to Whom glory is song in the highest | 19:32 | |
and peace proclaimed on earth to men of goodwill. | 19:36 | |
Hear our litany of thanksgiving, | 19:42 | |
intercession, | 19:45 | |
and supplication. | 19:47 | |
For the Christmas season | 19:51 | |
and it's yearly reminder of the gift of Jesus Christ | 19:54 | |
thy son, our Lord. | 19:58 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 20:02 |
of thanksgiving. | 20:04 | |
Minister | For the disclosure of thyself | 20:06 |
in thoughtful loving, | 20:10 | |
and gracious humility | 20:13 | |
through the child born at Bethlehem for our advantage. | 20:16 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 20:21 |
of thanksgiving. | 20:24 | |
Minister | For the indwelling of His spirit, | 20:26 |
which can make our lives the constant revelation | 20:29 | |
of His presence on earth. | 20:33 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 20:36 |
of thanksgiving. | 20:38 | |
Minister | For our world which needs | 20:41 |
the love He manifested | 20:45 | |
in its daily walk and conversation. | 20:47 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 20:51 |
of intercession. | 20:53 | |
Minister | For common folk and wise men, | 20:56 |
for kings and presidents, | 21:00 | |
for all people everywhere. | 21:03 | |
Congregation | We go to thee our prayer of intersession. | 21:06 |
Minister | For our weary creation, | 21:11 |
which cannot understand the things that make for its peace. | 21:14 | |
Congregation | We are to thee our prayer of intercession. | 21:19 |
Minister | For the church, | 21:24 |
of which we are members, his continuing body in the world. | 21:26 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 21:34 |
of supplication. | 21:35 | |
Minister | For our homes, made radiant by the memory of | 21:37 |
the Christ child born into an earthly home. | 21:42 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 21:47 |
of supplication. | 21:50 | |
Minister | For ourselves, | 21:52 |
who could reveal to the world | 21:55 | |
the Christ dwelling within us. | 21:58 | |
Congregation | We offer to thee our prayer | 22:01 |
of supplication. | 22:03 | |
Minister | Oh Father, | 22:05 |
who has declared thy love to men | 22:07 | |
by the birth of the Holy Child at Bethlehem, | 22:10 | |
help us to welcome Him with gladness | 22:15 | |
and to make room for Him in our common days | 22:19 | |
so that we may live at peace with one another | 22:25 | |
and in goodwill with all thy family, | 22:30 | |
through the same thy son, | 22:35 | |
Jesus Christ, | 22:38 | |
our Lord. | 22:40 | |
Amen. | 22:42 | |
(gentle music) | 22:46 | |
(choir singing) | 25:09 | |
- | Our Father God, | 30:19 |
Who hast given unto us thy dearest gift in Jesus Christ | 30:22 | |
accept these our gifts | 30:30 | |
as symbols of our gratitude to thee, | 30:34 | |
and our love for him. | 30:38 | |
Amen. | 30:41 | |
(gentle music) | 30:44 | |
Cushman | Let us pray. | 31:14 |
Oh God, Who hast so loved the world | 31:19 | |
that thou has visited and redeemed thy people | 31:24 | |
in Jesus Christ, | 31:27 | |
open our eyes that we may behold and receive thy salvation, | 31:30 | |
prepared before the face of all peoples, | 31:37 | |
a light for revelation to the Gentiles | 31:41 | |
and the glory of my people Israel. | 31:46 | |
Amen. | 31:50 | |
It may be that some of you, | 32:02 | |
were as pressed as impressed as I was | 32:05 | |
last Wednesday on Founder's Day. | 32:10 | |
Impressed by the sage observations | 32:15 | |
of Justice Parker on the occasion of the 100th anniversary, | 32:19 | |
of the birthday of James B. Duke. | 32:26 | |
As the Justice spoke, I had the impression | 32:32 | |
that here was a man big enough for the day. | 32:36 | |
And what the speaker had to say, | 32:42 | |
came not only from breath | 32:45 | |
and range of experience, | 32:48 | |
many men have that. | 32:50 | |
But from purposeful and mature reflection upon it, | 32:53 | |
there was a refreshing vigor of conviction, | 32:59 | |
coupled with a rightness of mind | 33:03 | |
and with the rightness | 33:07 | |
there went a capacity to pierce through | 33:08 | |
the confusing and multitudinous aspects | 33:11 | |
of our common life and to grasp it in it's essential. | 33:16 | |
Now in this regard I was particularly struck | 33:22 | |
by Justice Parker's assertion | 33:27 | |
that what has made our country great | 33:30 | |
is not her natural resources, | 33:33 | |
not her legal and educational institutions, | 33:37 | |
not even her business acumen, | 33:42 | |
but a conviction at the very center of her life. | 33:45 | |
I believe in the freedom | 33:49 | |
and dignity of the individual man. | 33:52 | |
If this is true and I think it is, | 33:57 | |
then it plainly means that the source of | 34:01 | |
whatever greatness we have as a people, is nothing material, | 34:03 | |
nothing merely technological, | 34:10 | |
not even anything constitutional. | 34:13 | |
Although these have been instruments of our greatness, | 34:17 | |
rather it suggests | 34:21 | |
that the source and spring of our nation's greatness | 34:23 | |
has always been an act of faith. | 34:28 | |
A conviction about man. | 34:31 | |
It is evidently a conviction which has had | 34:35 | |
and can have no demonstration | 34:39 | |
or anything that we call a scientific proof. | 34:42 | |
Nevertheless, it is a faith we have lived by, | 34:46 | |
and it is a faith which in our tormented century | 34:52 | |
has been powerfully challenged by unbelievers. | 34:57 | |
But there was something else about | 35:03 | |
the Founder's Day address which impressed me. | 35:05 | |
It was the invigorating realization | 35:09 | |
that here before me, | 35:13 | |
was a life and a mind | 35:15 | |
that living out of a long past was yet fully | 35:18 | |
alert to the present | 35:21 | |
and liveth now with imagination | 35:23 | |
and concern for the future. | 35:27 | |
This in itself was startling | 35:31 | |
for most of us die before we are 30. | 35:34 | |
So far as sentiment and creative thinking are concerned, | 35:37 | |
and we live thereafter pretty much on the measure we took of | 35:42 | |
the world when we were young. | 35:47 | |
In consequence, most of our reflection after 30, is only a | 35:51 | |
kind of consultation of sentiments and opinions | 35:55 | |
that long have been fixed. | 35:59 | |
Thinking or a good deal of it under such circumstances | 36:03 | |
tends to be come a shuffling around of prejudgments | 36:08 | |
or what we call prejudice. | 36:13 | |
Now this latter observation I pause to state, | 36:17 | |
is distinctly not a message I intend you should carry home | 36:21 | |
to your parents for Christmas. | 36:25 | |
The education of your parents is not your specific vocation. | 36:30 | |
Although it may be regarded in the most tenuous sense | 36:37 | |
as your avocation. | 36:40 | |
I have mentioned this matter of dying intellectually | 36:45 | |
before 30, primarily as a warning to you. | 36:47 | |
But also I have referred to it | 36:53 | |
because it explains my satisfaction | 36:54 | |
in Justice Parker's description of a certain progression | 36:58 | |
through which American life has passed | 37:03 | |
for its radical transformation | 37:06 | |
in the course of three generations. | 37:09 | |
But Justice said that when he was a boy in North Carolina, | 37:13 | |
life was mainly local in range and interest. | 37:17 | |
Later it became national in outlook. | 37:22 | |
Eventually he said, "our life has become international | 37:27 | |
in scope and perspective," and he added "in responsibility." | 37:31 | |
Now this generalization may seem commonplace, | 37:38 | |
but to have actually lived through these three phases | 37:43 | |
and to have faced and understood their import | 37:47 | |
is far from trivial. | 37:51 | |
I for example, grew up in the second phase | 37:54 | |
and have lived into the third phase. | 37:58 | |
And I know from my parents and my grandparents, something of | 38:01 | |
the character of the first or local phase. | 38:05 | |
I know that with the passing of the local phase, | 38:09 | |
something else passed, namely that | 38:14 | |
which Henry Seidel Canby once called the Age of Confidence. | 38:16 | |
Living in the third phase, | 38:23 | |
those whose memories reach back far enough | 38:25 | |
know through experience and shock | 38:29 | |
that the relatively simple | 38:33 | |
and conceptually manageable world | 38:35 | |
of an earlier day is gone. | 38:38 | |
And in its place, | 38:41 | |
the fear full and tumultuous multiplicity | 38:43 | |
of world events hammers on the doorstep of every home | 38:47 | |
and in an unparalleled way, | 38:53 | |
pours its tidings into the mind of every person. | 38:57 | |
Daily lay the world pours it's word of war | 39:03 | |
of human wheel and woe, | 39:07 | |
of revolutions, | 39:09 | |
national convulsion, | 39:11 | |
of world unsettlement, | 39:14 | |
and the mind staggers unto the avalanche | 39:17 | |
of the interminable flow of portance | 39:20 | |
of an comprehensible future. | 39:24 | |
Fateful for human destiny | 39:27 | |
and always a tangled mixture of promise and peril. | 39:30 | |
The trouble is that the mind each of us | 39:37 | |
is always at the center. | 39:41 | |
And the vast cinematic flow of contemporary existence | 39:44 | |
is however fragmentary or episodic in for. | 39:50 | |
Comes into focus in the midst of us, | 39:55 | |
and in our minds. | 39:59 | |
At first, we are only bewildered | 40:02 | |
and over run. | 40:05 | |
Then as we eagerly search for some clue, | 40:07 | |
some pattern of meaning in terms of which | 40:11 | |
the boiling confusion may take on direction and purpose, | 40:15 | |
bewilderment gives way to perplexity | 40:20 | |
and perplexity to anxiety. | 40:24 | |
Our search is no longer casual. | 40:28 | |
It becomes frantic, | 40:31 | |
and we try and fail to order and understand | 40:33 | |
the overwhelming onslaught of events | 40:38 | |
and hopelessly complex relations | 40:42 | |
with which our lives are interwoven. | 40:46 | |
Let us be honest now, | 40:50 | |
for very many of our contemporaries, | 40:52 | |
the landmarks are down and cosmos has given way to chaos. | 40:56 | |
Now indeed, the age of anxiety replaces | 41:03 | |
the age of confidence, | 41:07 | |
for all of us have become the focus | 41:09 | |
of a welter of world forces | 41:13 | |
that defy our puny intellectual capacity to manage | 41:16 | |
and the world becomes for us intellectually | 41:22 | |
and emotional centerless. | 41:27 | |
Now that the local world is totally penetrable, | 41:31 | |
is proved by the fact that only last week, | 41:37 | |
the Duke Chronicle reported an invasion of | 41:42 | |
our provincial boundaries in the visit of Istvan Laszlo. | 41:45 | |
Two short weeks earlier, | 41:52 | |
he had been a student leader in one of | 41:53 | |
the most courageous revolts, I believe | 41:56 | |
against tyranny in the history of modern times. | 42:00 | |
Now he was here, on this very campus, | 42:05 | |
in your midst, not to leave you alone, | 42:10 | |
but to plea that you students do something | 42:14 | |
to help his countries cause in a fight for freedom. | 42:17 | |
So the world penetrates our boundaries. | 42:24 | |
When he indicated his intention to return to Hungary, | 42:29 | |
he was asked if it would not be dangerous. | 42:33 | |
He replied in words that for their moral authenticity | 42:37 | |
deserve to be remembered on this campus. | 42:41 | |
He said, "I do not know what will happen to me, | 42:46 | |
but there is no security for anybody." | 42:51 | |
Now here I think speaks the self forgetfulness, | 42:55 | |
which causes men to transcend themselves | 42:59 | |
and become greater than they are. | 43:03 | |
And then the words, "no security for anybody." | 43:06 | |
Certainly that would be known for Istvan Laszlo. | 43:11 | |
And does he ask us to share his insecurity | 43:15 | |
or rather is he saying that all of us do | 43:20 | |
in fact share it. | 43:23 | |
That all the misery and anguish of the world | 43:25 | |
in the measure we have the attention to give it | 43:29 | |
comes to focus on us here | 43:32 | |
within the seemingly remote precincts of our ivied walls | 43:35 | |
and storied halls. | 43:40 | |
Even here, we are swept | 43:43 | |
by the world's confused alarms of struggle and flight. | 43:46 | |
Even here at Christmas time, | 43:51 | |
the agony and the torment of our era | 43:54 | |
far from having any geographical confinement | 43:57 | |
cause sensitive minds to walk in darkness | 44:01 | |
and in the land of the shadow of death. | 44:06 | |
Not in spite of this, | 44:11 | |
but because of it. | 44:15 | |
It can be said | 44:17 | |
the saving and wholesome thing | 44:21 | |
is advent, | 44:24 | |
which also comes to focus in our lives this time of year. | 44:26 | |
It may be that what can save us both in | 44:32 | |
and from our insecurity, what can overpower | 44:35 | |
the anxiety of meaninglessness | 44:39 | |
is not any rosy future prefigured by a glorified technology | 44:42 | |
or wangled by source theological technic. | 44:48 | |
It may be that what can save us | 44:52 | |
if we will allow it to assert its claim upon us, | 44:55 | |
is what we remember out of the past history of our race. | 44:59 | |
What do I mean? | 45:05 | |
I mean the personal event in our history, | 45:07 | |
we remember as Jesus Christ. | 45:11 | |
The Christ in whose life and ministry, | 45:14 | |
we all know in our heart of hearts, | 45:17 | |
if we will but let them testify, man's miserable existence | 45:20 | |
was transfigured into the very image of the eternal God. | 45:25 | |
And after all it is, this image we believe in | 45:31 | |
that Justice Parker says, has been at the very center of | 45:35 | |
our life as a nation, man, | 45:39 | |
as set forth in promise in Jesus Christ. | 45:43 | |
If we are not preoccupied these in days and giving | 45:49 | |
and receiving gifts, | 45:52 | |
it may be that we shall be open to God's gift of His Son. | 45:55 | |
It may be we shall discovered in the form of his life, | 46:00 | |
the pattern and purpose by which first we may order | 46:04 | |
the chaotic world within ourselves | 46:09 | |
as an indispensable preliminary to reshaping | 46:13 | |
the world without. | 46:17 | |
We need as the hymn writer said, "a principle within | 46:20 | |
for the world menaces us with its own intelligibility | 46:25 | |
until there comes to birth in us | 46:29 | |
through an act of decision in faith, | 46:32 | |
a principle of interpretation." | 46:35 | |
And so Christmas wears down upon us once more, | 46:39 | |
as a time for decision, | 46:44 | |
as the time | 46:46 | |
of our visitation. | 46:49 | |
"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel | 46:52 | |
for he hath visited and redeemed his people. | 46:57 | |
He has raised up a horn of salvation | 47:01 | |
for us in the house of his servant, David." | 47:04 | |
These words are those of Luke, the evangelist, | 47:09 | |
which I've read you this morning. | 47:14 | |
And he speaks with gladness of heart. | 47:16 | |
And as he speaks, he snatches out of | 47:20 | |
the mouth of Zacharias words of praise and thanks giving, | 47:22 | |
for a redemptive deed of God | 47:29 | |
in the ministry of Jesus Christ. | 47:32 | |
In Christ there is for him, a visitation of God. | 47:36 | |
The age old longing voiced by Isaiah is fulfilled. | 47:42 | |
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. | 47:47 | |
They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, | 47:52 | |
upon them hath the light shined. | 47:56 | |
Make no mistake about it, | 48:01 | |
for Luke and his fellow Christians, the world is no longer | 48:03 | |
without a center and a meaning and a loyalty. | 48:08 | |
A horn of salvation has been lifted up, | 48:13 | |
the symbol of sanctuary and refuge | 48:16 | |
and Christ is sanctuary for St. Luke, | 48:20 | |
because Christ is for him | 48:24 | |
the ultimate word, God's word, not man's word, | 48:27 | |
a word of meaning in and for life. | 48:31 | |
Whereas the gospel of Luke begins on the note of exalt | 48:38 | |
and praise, this is the part we like best to dwell upon. | 48:42 | |
It approaches its close and tones of ultimate sadness. | 48:48 | |
For when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem | 48:53 | |
to make his final appeal, it reported, "He saw the city | 48:56 | |
and wept over it saying, 'if thou has known in this day, | 49:01 | |
even thou, the things that belong unto peace, | 49:06 | |
but now they are hide from thine eyes, | 49:11 | |
because thou knewest not, the time of life visitation.' | 49:15 | |
He came unto His own." | 49:21 | |
And here in lies the tragedy of human existence, | 49:28 | |
that men will not receive the word ultimate meaning | 49:32 | |
when it visits them, | 49:36 | |
because it contradicts and even defies their expectations. | 49:38 | |
So the old Israel, | 49:45 | |
orphans still in an alien world, | 49:47 | |
still waits looking for a future it does not yet know | 49:51 | |
has already a come to pass in Jesus Christ. | 49:56 | |
And present day political Zionism, is a deluded | 50:00 | |
and disturbing anachronism in our world precisely | 50:05 | |
because centuries ago, Israel did not know | 50:09 | |
the time of its visitation. | 50:13 | |
Blinded by fantasies of national self-realization, Israel | 50:17 | |
could not credit the divine authorization | 50:22 | |
of a humble carpenter who's only claim | 50:25 | |
to man's loyalty was that He came not | 50:29 | |
to be ministered unto, but to minister. | 50:32 | |
How could a people who did not recognize in | 50:36 | |
their own election God's call | 50:39 | |
to subordinate national self foot to service? | 50:43 | |
How could they recognize in him whose only purpose was | 50:47 | |
to fulfill that calling in his own person? | 50:51 | |
How could they recognize in him, | 50:54 | |
the one who cometh? | 50:57 | |
So, men's expectations | 51:01 | |
are contrary | 51:04 | |
and more glittery. | 51:06 | |
The world does not want something | 51:09 | |
so unpretentious as a human life absolutely submissive | 51:11 | |
to the divine and therefore wholly transparent to | 51:15 | |
the goodness at the heart of reality. | 51:19 | |
But now Christmas comes to you, | 51:25 | |
and to me once more. | 51:28 | |
We do not really know how many more times it | 51:31 | |
will come to us. | 51:34 | |
And here we sit, | 51:37 | |
you and I, | 51:39 | |
as foresight into which the world pours | 51:42 | |
it's endless flux | 51:45 | |
of in conceivably interwoven events | 51:47 | |
and our minds real under the impact | 51:52 | |
within the midst stands the man, Jesus, | 51:56 | |
with the words, "being not anxious." | 51:59 | |
And is standing there is the time of our visitation. | 52:04 | |
Shall it be said of us hast thou, | 52:09 | |
but known the things that belong unto peace. | 52:13 | |
We have to make answer. | 52:19 | |
There is no one else to answer in our generation, | 52:21 | |
this is our time. | 52:25 | |
And the world about us so blinding, | 52:28 | |
on every side, it rises up to distract us from the issue, | 52:31 | |
even Santa Claus. | 52:36 | |
That patron saint of good cheer is commandeered | 52:39 | |
by the marketplace and transformed into | 52:43 | |
an adversary of light. | 52:47 | |
And men's gifting to one another becomes | 52:50 | |
a screen to obstruct the consciousness of God's gift | 52:53 | |
to man in His son. | 52:57 | |
But these impediments I think, real as they are, | 53:01 | |
are all only symptoms of our true blindness. | 53:06 | |
The fact is that we have never grown up in | 53:10 | |
our understanding of Christmas. | 53:13 | |
In our hearts, one can count on a responsive thrill | 53:17 | |
to the words of Zacharias. | 53:22 | |
"Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel for he hath visited | 53:25 | |
and redeemed his people." | 53:30 | |
But there are not many adult Christians | 53:32 | |
who could give a coherent account of how this is so. | 53:36 | |
Year by year we hail the solitary star | 53:42 | |
and with the shepherds listen for the angel song | 53:47 | |
of peace and goodwill. | 53:51 | |
Year by year in varying ways we gather around | 53:53 | |
the rowed manger, the mother and the child. | 53:57 | |
Year by year we listened with hushed breath | 54:02 | |
to the astonishing incongruent of kings | 54:06 | |
wending their way to an obscure province | 54:10 | |
with fabulous gifts, to come at length | 54:14 | |
to a humble barnyard stable, | 54:18 | |
there to adore, a child of peasant birth. | 54:21 | |
All this, | 54:26 | |
discussly comes over us | 54:28 | |
that the stories are parables in comparably, well suited | 54:31 | |
to point us to the incredible spiritual majesty | 54:36 | |
and an alterable goodness of a grown man. | 54:40 | |
A man who turned the scale of human values upside down | 54:45 | |
and in His own person, fulfilled the intention of God | 54:50 | |
that the greatest are they who serve most. | 54:55 | |
The stable of humanity. | 55:00 | |
The whole life, the whole of our life | 55:02 | |
is in Jesus transfigured | 55:07 | |
as all that is in human in Him | 55:10 | |
is not asserted, not claimed, but sacrifice | 55:13 | |
to the purpose of God. | 55:18 | |
And in that sacrifice, the election of Israel is fulfilled. | 55:20 | |
My four year old daughter loves the Christmas season. | 55:29 | |
Early in December she begged her mother to bring | 55:35 | |
the creche from the attic. | 55:38 | |
This will be the third season, it has been mauled. | 55:41 | |
There is the stable, the crib of straw, | 55:47 | |
the cattle and the shepherds | 55:51 | |
and the wise men | 55:55 | |
and there is Mary and Joseph and the Christ child. | 55:57 | |
Beth loves the Christ child most of all | 56:03 | |
and fondles it continuously. | 56:06 | |
But Beth's baby Jesus is a girl. | 56:10 | |
And I protested the other day that | 56:16 | |
the baby Jesus was really a boy | 56:18 | |
and she very promptly, "my baby Jesus is a girl. | 56:22 | |
She is not the baby Jesus that grew up to be a man." | 56:27 | |
There is a time in our lives when the baby Jesus | 56:33 | |
must be allowed to become a man and be understood | 56:37 | |
as the man he was, holy and without reserve, | 56:41 | |
God's man. | 56:45 | |
And when this happens, in our case, we like Luke | 56:47 | |
and the other disciples, will find in him | 56:52 | |
the one who with no constraint, | 56:56 | |
other than his matchless love | 57:00 | |
does win dominion over our lives | 57:03 | |
and can receive our trust and devotion. | 57:07 | |
That it is he who thereby restores to us | 57:11 | |
a meaning and center for living. | 57:16 | |
I leave you now with a word that comes fresh out of | 57:21 | |
the maelstrom of Eastern Europe and the Hungarian revolt. | 57:24 | |
It is a word from a youthful and valiant Protestant, | 57:29 | |
who is laboring in Austria under great financial limitations | 57:34 | |
to assist with something more than bread, the refugees. | 57:40 | |
His word came Friday in time to be a word of God to you | 57:47 | |
and from the heart of an oppressed humanity, | 57:52 | |
and I read only one paragraph, | 57:55 | |
"we faced a big task," he said, | 57:58 | |
"most of these refugees have been away from God | 58:01 | |
for the last 12 years and that which they know | 58:05 | |
about religion is often a very superstitious thing. | 58:08 | |
It is interesting too, that they seek very | 58:13 | |
much a living faith. | 58:16 | |
We asked what it was they missed most in Hungary. | 58:18 | |
They answered, 'we did not have anything to believe in | 58:22 | |
when that which we were told to believe in failed.'" | 58:27 | |
Then he adds, "you in America are going to have | 58:31 | |
a big responsibility helping these Hungarian immigrants | 58:35 | |
find such a faith. | 58:41 | |
Evidently man does not live by bread alone. | 58:43 | |
And what is man, when he has nothing to believe in, | 58:47 | |
but how can we help those who come to our shores | 58:52 | |
unless we possess the faith that is their help." | 58:56 | |
And so Christmas comes and offers Christ | 59:01 | |
as the key to our lives meaning and most of us have | 59:06 | |
that key already in our hand. | 59:10 | |
Will we use it? | 59:15 | |
Let us pray. | 59:18 | |
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 59:28 | |
who according to his great mercy, begat us again, | 59:34 | |
unto a living hope. | 59:37 | |
And now may the blessing of God, All Mighty, Father, Son, | 59:40 | |
and Holy Spirit, be amongst you and abide with you, | 59:45 | |
now and ever more, | 59:51 | |
amen. | 59:53 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:59 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:08 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:18 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:44 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:57 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:01:17 | |
(church bell ringing) | 1:01:34 |
Anchor | Sunday morning, January the 6th, 1957. | 0:06 |
Preacher, Dr. John Bailey, | 0:11 | |
visiting professor of Union Theological Seminary | 0:14 | |
in New York City. | 0:17 | |
♪ The Lord is in his holy temple ♪ | 0:20 | |
♪ Let all the earth keep silence ♪ | 0:30 | |
♪ Before him ♪ | 0:40 | |
(organ playing stately music) | 0:50 | |
♪ Joyful, joyful, we adore thee ♪ | 1:24 | |
♪ God of glory, Lord of love ♪ | 1:28 | |
♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before thee ♪ | 1:32 | |
♪ Opening to the sun above ♪ | 1:36 | |
♪ Melt the clouds of sin and sadness ♪ | 1:40 | |
♪ Drive the dark of doubt away ♪ | 1:44 | |
♪ Giver of immortal gladness ♪ | 1:48 | |
♪ Fill us with the light of day ♪ | 1:52 | |
♪ All thy works with joy surround thee ♪ | 1:59 | |
♪ Earth and heaven reflect thy rays ♪ | 2:03 | |
♪ Stars and angels sing around thee ♪ | 2:07 | |
♪ Center of unbroken praise ♪ | 2:11 | |
♪ Field and forest, valley and mountain ♪ | 2:16 | |
♪ Flowery meadow, flashing sea ♪ | 2:20 | |
♪ Chanting bird and flowing fountain ♪ | 2:24 | |
♪ Call us to rejoice in thee ♪ | 2:28 | |
♪ Thou art giving and forgiving ♪ | 2:34 | |
♪ Ever blessing, ever blessed ♪ | 2:38 | |
♪ Wellspring of the joy of living ♪ | 2:42 | |
♪ Ocean depth of happy rest ♪ | 2:47 | |
♪ Thou our Father, Christ our brother ♪ | 2:51 | |
♪ All who live in love are thine ♪ | 2:55 | |
♪ Teach us how to love each other ♪ | 2:59 | |
♪ Lift us to the joy divine ♪ | 3:03 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 3:09 | |
Dr. John Bailey | Let us offer unto God | 3:31 |
our unison prayer of confession. | 3:33 | |
Let us pray. | 3:36 | |
Oh, most merciful Father, | 3:39 | |
we confess before thee, that we have done little | 3:41 | |
to forward thy kingdom in the world, | 3:45 | |
and to advance thy glory. | 3:48 | |
We would humble ourselves before thee | 3:50 | |
for our past neglects | 3:53 | |
and seek for mercy and forgiveness. | 3:55 | |
Pardon our shortcomings, | 3:59 | |
give us greater zeal for thy glory. | 4:01 | |
Make us more ready and diligent by our prayers, | 4:04 | |
by our gifts, and by our examples | 4:08 | |
to spread abroad, the knowledge of thy truth | 4:12 | |
and to enlarge the boundaries of thy kingdom, | 4:15 | |
may the love of Christ constrain us, | 4:18 | |
and may we do all to thy glory. | 4:21 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | 4:24 | |
And now as our savior Christ hath taught us, | 4:29 | |
we humbly pray. | 4:32 | |
Our father who art in heaven, | 4:34 | |
hallowed be thy name. | 4:37 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 4:39 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 4:42 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 4:45 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 4:48 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 4:51 | |
and lead us none to temptation | 4:55 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 4:57 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 5:00 | |
and the glory, forever. | 5:03 | |
Amen. | 5:05 | |
(gentle organ music) | 5:09 | |
(church choir singing) | 6:00 | |
(gentle organ music) | 7:19 | |
Hear the word of God | 7:35 | |
as written in the book of Psalms | 7:37 | |
two psalms, number 121 | 7:40 | |
and 127. | 7:44 | |
I will lift up mine eyes onto the hills | 7:50 | |
from whence cometh my help. | 7:53 | |
My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. | 7:56 | |
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. | 8:01 | |
He that keepeth thee will not slumber. | 8:04 | |
Behold He that keepeth Israel | 8:08 | |
shall neither slumber nor sleep. | 8:11 | |
The Lord is thy keeper, | 8:14 | |
the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. | 8:17 | |
The sun shall not smite thee by day | 8:21 | |
nor the moon by night. | 8:23 | |
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. | 8:26 | |
He shall preserve thy soul. | 8:30 | |
The Lord shall preserve | 8:33 | |
thy going out and thy coming in | 8:34 | |
from this time forth and even forever more. | 8:37 | |
Except the Lord build the house, | 8:45 | |
they labor in vain that build it. | 8:48 | |
Except the Lord keep the city, | 8:51 | |
the watchman waketh but in vain. | 8:54 | |
It is vain for you to rise up early, | 8:58 | |
to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows | 9:01 | |
for so he giveth his beloved sleep. | 9:05 | |
Your children are an heritage of the Lord | 9:10 | |
and the fruit of the womb is his reward. | 9:14 | |
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, | 9:18 | |
so are children of the youth. | 9:22 | |
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. | 9:25 | |
They shall not be ashamed, | 9:29 | |
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gay. | 9:31 | |
May God bless to us the reading of his holy word | 9:35 | |
and to his name, be all praise and glory forever. | 9:39 | |
(organ music) | 9:48 | |
(church choir singing) | 10:10 | |
The Lord be with you. | 12:24 | |
Church Members | (murmurs) | 12:26 |
Dr. John Bailey | Let us pray. | 12:27 |
Oh God, eternal and changeless, | 12:39 | |
who, through ever changing scenes of joy and pain, | 12:44 | |
effort and rest, leades thy people | 12:49 | |
to a nobler destiny, | 12:52 | |
than they ever of themselves conceive. | 12:55 | |
We give to thee our hearty thanks | 12:59 | |
for the many blessings | 13:02 | |
that thou has bestowed upon us. | 13:04 | |
For the light that never failed | 13:08 | |
and the grace that never left us in the days gone by. | 13:11 | |
For the visions that dispelled our doubt, | 13:16 | |
and the hopes that chastened our sorrow. | 13:19 | |
We lift up our hearts to thee, in praise and joy. | 13:22 | |
For the increasing mastery of special skills, | 13:28 | |
for victory over ills which man has suffered | 13:32 | |
through his own ignorance. | 13:36 | |
For confidence in the reliable order of nature | 13:39 | |
and for the wisdom which long experience | 13:43 | |
adds to much learning. | 13:46 | |
We lift up our hearts to thee in praise and joy. | 13:49 | |
We also give thee thanks | 13:54 | |
for the revelation of thyself | 13:57 | |
in the person of Jesus Christ, | 13:59 | |
and for his followers, | 14:03 | |
who through the centuries have spread thy good news | 14:05 | |
to the peoples of every country. | 14:08 | |
Oh Lord, who has given us the church, | 14:12 | |
we come with repentance for our misuse of thy gift. | 14:18 | |
Forgive us of the pride, which convinces | 14:25 | |
that our part of the body of Christ as the whole. | 14:29 | |
For our harsh judgments, | 14:34 | |
our prejudices nourished as a virtue, | 14:37 | |
our scorn of others, | 14:41 | |
and the denial of the worth of others views | 14:44 | |
and our self will, we ask thy forgiveness. | 14:47 | |
Receive our contrition and heal us of the sin, | 14:52 | |
which keeps us apart. | 14:56 | |
Open our eyes to the inside of others. | 15:00 | |
Help us to appreciate those of other lands | 15:04 | |
and of other races, | 15:07 | |
who differing from a us in much, | 15:09 | |
are yet one with us in faith. | 15:12 | |
Let no little matter obscure the blinding fact of Christ, | 15:15 | |
no small opinion hide from us, | 15:20 | |
His power to redeem the world. | 15:22 | |
Almighty father, | 15:27 | |
who aren't afflicted in the afflictions of thy people, | 15:30 | |
and art full of compassion and tender mercy, | 15:34 | |
hear us as we pray for those who suffer. | 15:38 | |
For those who have had to leave their homes | 15:43 | |
and flee to another country | 15:47 | |
because of their desire for the freedom | 15:50 | |
which thou has given to all by children. | 15:53 | |
For the members of their families | 15:57 | |
who have not yet escaped. | 15:59 | |
For those who are opening their hearts and homes | 16:02 | |
to these dispossessed strangers. | 16:06 | |
For all who are handicapped in the race of life, | 16:10 | |
through no fault of their own. | 16:15 | |
For the defective and the delicate | 16:17 | |
and all who are permanently injured. | 16:20 | |
For little children, | 16:24 | |
whose surroundings hide from them thy love and beauty | 16:26 | |
and for the fatherless and the motherless. | 16:30 | |
For those who are in doubt and anguish of soul, | 16:34 | |
for those who are over-sensitive and afraid. | 16:39 | |
For those whose suffering is unreleased | 16:44 | |
by the knowledge of thy love. | 16:47 | |
And for those who suffer through their own wrongdoing. | 16:51 | |
Set free, oh Lord, the souls of thy servants | 16:57 | |
from all restlessness and anxiety. | 17:02 | |
Give us that peace and power, which flow from thee. | 17:06 | |
And keep us in all perplexities and the stresses, | 17:10 | |
in all griefs and grievances, | 17:15 | |
from any fear of faithlessness | 17:18 | |
that so upheld by thy strength | 17:21 | |
and stayed on the rock of thy faithfulness | 17:25 | |
through storm and stress, we may abide in thee. | 17:28 | |
Amen. | 17:33 | |
(organ music) | 17:39 | |
(church choir singing) | 19:27 | |
(slow melodious music) | 21:38 | |
(church choir singing) | 23:03 | |
- | Gracious God, we offer these gifts | 23:41 |
as a simple expression of our love to thee, | 23:45 | |
our loyalty to thy church | 23:49 | |
and our eagerness to sharing the work of thy kingdom. | 23:52 | |
Accept these offerings of thy people | 23:56 | |
and bless the causes to which they are devoted. | 23:59 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | 24:03 | |
I take my text from one of the short Psalms | 24:43 | |
that were writ as our lesson. | 24:48 | |
The 127th Psalm, the first two verses. | 24:51 | |
Except the Lord build the house, | 24:56 | |
they labor in vain that build it. | 24:59 | |
Except the Lord keep the city, | 25:02 | |
the watchman waketh but in vain. | 25:04 | |
It is vain for you to rise up early, | 25:08 | |
to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows | 25:12 | |
for so he giveth his beloved sleep. | 25:16 | |
My subject is, "The Theology of Sleep." | 25:20 | |
It's an unusual subject, but I make no apology for it. | 25:25 | |
I think we hear too few sermons about sleep. | 25:31 | |
After all, | 25:36 | |
we spend a very large share of our lives, sleeping. | 25:37 | |
I suppose that on an average, | 25:42 | |
I've slept for eight hours out of every 24 hours | 25:44 | |
during the whole of my life. | 25:50 | |
And that means that I've been asleep | 25:52 | |
for well over 20 years. | 25:55 | |
What an old Rip Van Winkle I am. | 26:00 | |
But then what Rip Van Winkles you all are | 26:04 | |
or will soon become. | 26:07 | |
Don't you agree then, that the Christian gospel | 26:11 | |
should have something to say | 26:13 | |
about the sleeping third of our lives | 26:16 | |
as well as about the waking two-thirds of them? | 26:19 | |
I believe it has something to say. | 26:25 | |
And that this text from the 127th Psalm | 26:28 | |
serves as a good beginning for the exposition of it. | 26:33 | |
The point this Psalmist is making is | 26:40 | |
that we should not carry our cares | 26:43 | |
and anxieties to bed with us. | 26:46 | |
Beds were made for sleeping in, | 26:49 | |
not for worrying in. | 26:52 | |
He takes two examples. | 26:55 | |
If a man is building a house for himself | 26:57 | |
how likely he is to carry the care of it to bed with him | 27:01 | |
anxiously going over the details of it in his mind | 27:05 | |
and counting up all the things | 27:10 | |
that might possibly be going wrong. | 27:13 | |
Or again, he says | 27:16 | |
how often men lie awake from fear of danger. | 27:19 | |
That would perhaps be more common | 27:24 | |
in the Psalmist's day than in our own. | 27:27 | |
The cities of Judea were not as well policed | 27:31 | |
as New York or Washington or Duren, | 27:34 | |
nor were the frontiers of Judea as well guarded | 27:39 | |
against external enemies, | 27:44 | |
as those of our own land today. | 27:46 | |
And yet, I suppose there are some | 27:50 | |
who are kept from sleep even now | 27:53 | |
by the thought, shall I say, of burglars? | 27:55 | |
Or perhaps a fire? | 27:59 | |
But the Psalmist is only giving examples | 28:02 | |
and we can think of many others. | 28:05 | |
Do not many citizens of today, | 28:08 | |
carry their business worries to bed with them? | 28:10 | |
Do not housewives carry their household worries? | 28:15 | |
Perhaps worries as to how to make the two ends meet | 28:19 | |
or as to how one pair of hand | 28:24 | |
as can do all the things | 28:26 | |
that ought to be done on the (murmurs) | 28:28 | |
And how well I know that many students | 28:32 | |
carry their examination worries to bed with them. | 28:35 | |
To the great detriment I may say, | 28:40 | |
to the great detriment of the scripts they write. | 28:43 | |
Well, what the psalmist says to all such is | 28:47 | |
that they are forgetting God. | 28:51 | |
They're forgetting that when they are asleep | 28:54 | |
God is wide awake. | 28:57 | |
They're forgetting what the other psalmist we read from | 29:00 | |
had already taught them | 29:03 | |
that the Lord is thy keeper. | 29:05 | |
He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. | 29:08 | |
What man can do towards the success of his plans | 29:13 | |
is very little. | 29:17 | |
Man proposes we say, but God disposes. | 29:19 | |
What you and I can do for the security | 29:23 | |
of those dear to us, is equally little | 29:27 | |
if God is not caring for them. | 29:30 | |
Except the Lord build the house, | 29:34 | |
they labor in vain that build it. | 29:37 | |
Except the Lord keep the city, | 29:40 | |
the watchman waketh but in vain. | 29:42 | |
Therefore it is vain for you to rise up early, | 29:45 | |
to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows | 29:49 | |
for so he giveth his beloved sleep. | 29:52 | |
First then, | 30:00 | |
sleep is one of God's most precious gifts. | 30:01 | |
This is something that none know better | 30:07 | |
than those who are the victims of insomnia. | 30:10 | |
It has been ordained | 30:15 | |
that our lives here below shall consist | 30:16 | |
in an alternation of activity and rest, | 30:20 | |
of sleeping and waking. | 30:25 | |
But we could not support the activity | 30:28 | |
if we had no rest or the waking hours, | 30:31 | |
if we have no sleep. | 30:34 | |
How blessed a thing it is then, | 30:37 | |
that we're not expected | 30:40 | |
to retain the conscious control of our lives | 30:42 | |
by night as well as by day. | 30:46 | |
But that we're allowed to lay the reigns in God's hands | 30:48 | |
and trusting ourselves to his care | 30:54 | |
when we're least able to care for ourselves. | 30:57 | |
Only, we must really entrust ourselves. | 31:01 | |
Sleep comes best to those | 31:06 | |
who most put their trust in God. | 31:08 | |
That is what the psalmist means by saying | 31:12 | |
he giveth his beloved sleep | 31:15 | |
because beloved means those who trust him. | 31:18 | |
There is no better soporific than a trustful heart. | 31:23 | |
There's no surer way of having a good night's rest | 31:28 | |
than to commend ourselves to God's keeping, | 31:33 | |
in believing prayer, before we go to sleep. | 31:36 | |
Of course, some men and women | 31:41 | |
are constitutionally light sleepers. | 31:44 | |
But if the commonest cause of this | 31:48 | |
is a mind unrelaxed from care, | 31:53 | |
then its best cure is to cast all our cares | 31:58 | |
upon the keeper of Israel, | 32:03 | |
who neither slumbers nor sleeps. | 32:05 | |
I suppose few people read | 32:09 | |
Elizabeth Barrett Browning nowadays, | 32:12 | |
and I don't much blame them. | 32:15 | |
But perhaps no poem of hers is better remembered | 32:19 | |
than the one that begins with a verse | 32:24 | |
Of all the thoughts of God that are | 32:27 | |
born inward into souls afar, | 32:30 | |
along the psalmist's music deep. | 32:33 | |
Now tell me if that any is, | 32:37 | |
for gift or grace surpassing this, | 32:40 | |
He giveth his beloved sleep. | 32:43 | |
But no second, | 32:49 | |
if instead of following the king James' version, | 32:51 | |
we consult the revised version, | 32:54 | |
we shall find this different rendering. | 32:57 | |
He giveth unto his beloved, in sleep. | 33:02 | |
He giveth unto his beloved, in sleep. | 33:06 | |
And that is the rendering | 33:10 | |
accepted by most of the commentators. | 33:12 | |
It also embodies the rich (murmurs) | 33:16 | |
for it speaks not only of the blessedness of sleep itself, | 33:20 | |
but of the blessed things that are given us | 33:24 | |
through its agency. | 33:27 | |
When we sleep, we are not merely being released, | 33:30 | |
we are also being restored. | 33:34 | |
Without any effort of our own, | 33:38 | |
a new supply of energy is being built up within us. | 33:41 | |
We wake with fresh vigor, | 33:46 | |
we look out on the world with different eyes. | 33:49 | |
Our minds are clearer. | 33:52 | |
And very often we find | 33:55 | |
that the problems of the day before | 33:57 | |
have settled themselves while we sleep. | 34:00 | |
Settled of themselves, settled themselves we say. | 34:04 | |
The psalmist would rather have said | 34:09 | |
that God had settled them for us. | 34:11 | |
My teacher of theology in Edinburgh, Hugh McIntosh | 34:15 | |
used to quote a saying | 34:20 | |
of the Scottish novelist, George McDonald, | 34:24 | |
"Sleep is God's contrivance for giving man the help | 34:30 | |
he cannot get into him while he is awake." | 34:35 | |
You see, during the day we're so anxious | 34:41 | |
to keep the reigns of our destiny | 34:44 | |
so entirely in our own hands, | 34:47 | |
that God has to wait until we're asleep, | 34:51 | |
in order to do for us and in us, | 34:56 | |
those things, which we cannot do for ourselves. | 34:58 | |
Some of the saints have gone so far as to say | 35:03 | |
that among the things God gives to his beloved in sleep | 35:07 | |
is an increase in their love of him. | 35:12 | |
They have claimed that their growth in grace | 35:16 | |
has not been confined to their waking hours. | 35:20 | |
For instance, in that beautiful little book, | 35:24 | |
The Practice of the Presence of God, | 35:28 | |
you will read how brother Lawrence, | 35:31 | |
the 17th century monk of Lorraine, used to say, | 35:35 | |
"Those whose spirits are stirred | 35:40 | |
by the breath of the holy spirit of God, | 35:43 | |
go forward even in sleep." | 35:46 | |
That is, they wake up better men | 35:50 | |
than they went to bed. | 35:55 | |
Now, is that difficult to believe? | 35:58 | |
Well, I think we find it difficult to believe | 36:02 | |
only because we habitually suppose ourselves | 36:05 | |
to be much more the masters of our own spiritual development | 36:09 | |
than we actually are. | 36:15 | |
If some of the processes | 36:18 | |
that are necessary for our physical wellbeing, | 36:20 | |
go on, as the doctors say they do | 36:24 | |
more advantageously in sleep than in waking life | 36:27 | |
because the will then relaxes | 36:32 | |
it's too despotic control. | 36:35 | |
Why then shouldn't the same be true | 36:38 | |
of the processes that advance our spiritual wellbeing? | 36:41 | |
Do you remember Wordsworth's lines, | 36:48 | |
Nor less I deem that there are powers | 36:51 | |
which of themselves, our minds impress, | 36:54 | |
that we can feed this mind of ours in a wise passiveness. | 36:58 | |
Think you, mid all this mighty stream | 37:05 | |
of things, for ever speaking | 37:08 | |
that nothing of itself will come, | 37:11 | |
but we must still be seeking. | 37:13 | |
I want to read you also, the prayer | 37:17 | |
with which the great Dr. Arnold of rugby school | 37:21 | |
that is, Matthew Arnold's father, | 37:25 | |
the prayer that he used to repeat every morning | 37:29 | |
before beginning his days work as headmaster in the school. | 37:33 | |
Oh Lord, we have a busy world around us. | 37:39 | |
Eye, ear and thought will be needed | 37:44 | |
for all our work to be done in the world. | 37:46 | |
Now, here we again, enter into it. | 37:50 | |
We would commit eye, ear and thought to thee. | 37:54 | |
Do thou bless them and keep their work thine | 37:58 | |
that as through thy natural laws, | 38:02 | |
our hearts beat and our blood flows | 38:08 | |
without any thought of ours for them. | 38:11 | |
So our spiritual life may hold on its course | 38:13 | |
at those times when our minds | 38:18 | |
cannot consciously turn to thee | 38:21 | |
to commit each particular thought to thy service | 38:24 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. | 38:29 | |
That is a good prayer to say | 38:33 | |
when we get up in the morning, | 38:36 | |
but I would put it to you | 38:39 | |
whether there is not one very like it | 38:40 | |
which it is good to say when we lie down at night. | 38:43 | |
But now, third and last, | 38:51 | |
I can't leave the subject of the theology of sleep | 38:54 | |
without saying something about the theology of dreams. | 38:59 | |
Some people say they never dream. | 39:05 | |
And if that's true of you, | 39:09 | |
you don't need to listen to the rest of my sermon. | 39:11 | |
But dreams have played a large part in religious history. | 39:17 | |
All through the ages, men have believed | 39:23 | |
that God visited them in dreams, | 39:25 | |
ever since Jacob's dream at Bethel, | 39:28 | |
from which he woke up saying to himself, | 39:31 | |
"Surely the Lord is in this place." | 39:34 | |
And do you remember Mercy's dream? | 39:38 | |
Mercy's dream in John Bunyan's, Pilgrim's Progress. | 39:41 | |
Let me remind you of it. | 39:47 | |
I think this is a fine passage, | 39:49 | |
wonderful English for one thing. | 39:52 | |
Nobody could write better English ever, | 39:56 | |
than John Bunyan, but also wonderful for its thought. | 39:59 | |
Mercy's mother Christiana asked her one morning, | 40:04 | |
"What was the matter with you that you did laugh | 40:10 | |
in your sleep last night? | 40:13 | |
I suppose you were in a dream." | 40:15 | |
To which Mercy replied thus: | 40:19 | |
"I was adream that I sat all alone in a solitary place | 40:22 | |
and was bemoaning the hardness of my heart. | 40:27 | |
Now I had not sat there long, | 40:31 | |
but me thought many were gathered about me | 40:34 | |
to see me and to hear what it was that I said. | 40:37 | |
So they harkened and I still went on bemoaning | 40:42 | |
the hardness of my heart. | 40:46 | |
At this, some of them laughed out, laughed at me. | 40:48 | |
Some called me fool | 40:52 | |
and some began to thrust me about. | 40:54 | |
With that me thought, I looked up | 40:58 | |
and saw one coming with wings toward me. | 41:00 | |
So he came directly to me and said, | 41:04 | |
Mercy, what a live thee? | 41:08 | |
Now, when he had heard me make my complaint, he said | 41:11 | |
"Peace be to thee." | 41:15 | |
He also wiped mine eyes with his handkerchief | 41:17 | |
and clad me in silver and gold. | 41:21 | |
He put a chain about my neck and earrings in my ears | 41:24 | |
and a beautiful crown upon my head. | 41:30 | |
Then he took me by the hand and said, | 41:33 | |
"Mercy, come after me." | 41:35 | |
So he went up and I followed | 41:38 | |
till we came at a golden gate. | 41:39 | |
Then he knocked. | 41:42 | |
And when they within had opened, the man went in | 41:43 | |
and I followed him up to a throne | 41:46 | |
upon which one sat and said to me, | 41:49 | |
"Welcome daughter." | 41:52 | |
So I woke from my dream, but did I laugh? | 41:54 | |
"Laugh?" Replied Christiana. | 41:59 | |
"I and will you mate, to see yourself so well | 42:03 | |
for you must give me leave to tell you | 42:07 | |
that I believe it was a good dream | 42:10 | |
and that as you have begun to find the first part true, | 42:14 | |
so you shall find the second true at last. | 42:18 | |
We need not." Christiana went on, | 42:23 | |
"We need not when a bed lie awake to talk with God, | 42:26 | |
he can visit us while we sleep | 42:30 | |
and cause us to hear his voice. | 42:33 | |
Our heart oft times wakes when we sleep | 42:36 | |
and God can speak to it either by words, | 42:40 | |
by proverbs, by signs and similitudes | 42:43 | |
as well as if one was awake. | 42:47 | |
"Well," said Mercy. | 42:49 | |
"I am glad of my dream, for I hope | 42:51 | |
and long to see it fulfilled | 42:55 | |
to the making of me laugh again." | 42:58 | |
I remember during the terrible bombing of London | 43:03 | |
in the last war, | 43:07 | |
a woman was heard to excuse herself | 43:10 | |
for having stayed quietly in bed as the bombs fell. | 43:14 | |
She said, "Well, I reflected | 43:20 | |
that God does not sleep. | 43:24 | |
And there seemed no reason | 43:27 | |
why both of us should stay awake." | 43:29 | |
Now, of course, the great change | 43:36 | |
that has overtaken the theology of sleep is | 43:39 | |
that the ancients believe dreams to be premonitory | 43:43 | |
of the unborn future. | 43:47 | |
Whereas we moderns, regard them | 43:50 | |
as uprisings from the half buried past. | 43:52 | |
Yes? But this difference of interpretation | 43:57 | |
does not at all affect Christiana's main contention, | 44:01 | |
namely that God can be with us even in our dreams. | 44:07 | |
You see, you and I are still too apt to think | 44:13 | |
that our dreams come to us by mere chance. | 44:18 | |
That there's no rhyme or reason about them. | 44:22 | |
And yet, such a notion is quite as much opposed | 44:25 | |
by the modern Freudians as by the ancient soothsayers. | 44:29 | |
Nothing happens by chance. | 44:36 | |
Again, we think that we have no control over our dreams | 44:40 | |
and indeed it is true | 44:46 | |
that we have no direct control over them. | 44:47 | |
We cannot, as we lie awake, | 44:50 | |
exactly decide what we are going to dream about | 44:52 | |
after we go to sleep. | 44:56 | |
And yet we can be certain | 44:58 | |
that the power which controls our dreams | 45:00 | |
is the same power that controls our life as a whole. | 45:03 | |
If we have surrendered our hearts to God in the sunlight, | 45:08 | |
he will be with us no less during the hours of darkness. | 45:13 | |
Nor can the devil get at us by night | 45:19 | |
if we haven't allowed him some entry by day. | 45:24 | |
It is certain that if there were no evil | 45:29 | |
in our waking souls, | 45:31 | |
there would be no evil in our dreams. | 45:34 | |
But of course, | 45:38 | |
of course, evil is always at our doors, | 45:40 | |
at least in the form of temptation. | 45:43 | |
Even the greatest saints have never got rid of that. | 45:47 | |
So long as we remain in the flesh, | 45:51 | |
suggestions of evil will continue to appear | 45:55 | |
on the thresholds of our minds and imaginations. | 45:58 | |
And I think, | 46:03 | |
I think we shouldn't allow that to trouble us unduly | 46:04 | |
so long as we do our best by God's help | 46:08 | |
to refuse them any effective harbor. | 46:12 | |
And if that is true of our waking life, | 46:17 | |
how much more likely is it to be true of our dreams | 46:20 | |
when sleep relaxes the will, | 46:25 | |
when what the Freudians used to call the sensor | 46:28 | |
and now call the super ego, is no longer on guard. | 46:32 | |
If therefore our dreams are sometimes unsavory, | 46:38 | |
I think we shouldn't let that worry us over much. | 46:43 | |
We shouldn't brood over them. | 46:48 | |
I think we should rather laugh at them. | 46:51 | |
They are of the devil. | 46:54 | |
And that wonderful English woman of the 14th century, | 46:57 | |
Lady Juliana of Norwich, tells us | 47:00 | |
that she always used to laugh at the devil. | 47:04 | |
I refuse, she said, | 47:09 | |
to take his caperings seriously. | 47:10 | |
And yet, and yet, | 47:14 | |
there is after all one way | 47:17 | |
in which we can exercise some control, | 47:20 | |
even over our dreams and that is | 47:24 | |
by the proper direction of our thoughts before we retire. | 47:28 | |
All experience goes to show | 47:33 | |
that the quality of our night's rest, | 47:37 | |
depends in large measure, on the frame of mind | 47:40 | |
in which we go to bed | 47:44 | |
and compose ourselves to sleep. | 47:46 | |
I therefore conclude by saying this. | 47:53 | |
I say it to you | 47:57 | |
because it's something of which | 47:58 | |
I find I have continually to remind myself. | 48:00 | |
Every man who calls himself a Christian | 48:08 | |
should go to sleep thinking about the love of God | 48:14 | |
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 48:19 | |
Is that too much | 48:24 | |
for me to ask of myself? | 48:27 | |
Is it too much for you to ask of yourselves? | 48:32 | |
Every man who calls himself a Christian | 48:37 | |
should go to sleep thinking about the love of God | 48:41 | |
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 48:46 | |
Let us pray. | 48:50 | |
Although without whom nothing is good | 49:03 | |
and nothing holy, | 49:06 | |
grant that all our speaking and hearing at this time | 49:10 | |
may be to our increase in holiness | 49:15 | |
and to the glory of thy holy name | 49:19 | |
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 49:22 | |
And may the peace of God, | 49:26 | |
which passeth all understanding | 49:28 | |
keep your hearts and minds | 49:31 | |
in the knowledge and love of God | 49:33 | |
and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 49:35 | |
And the blessing of God, father, son and Holy Spirit | 49:40 | |
descend upon you and remain with you, forever more. | 49:44 | |
(church choir singing) | 49:57 |