Eugene Carson Blake - "Even the Desert Shall Bloom" (April 7, 1957); Waldo Beach - "Education for Failure" (April 28, 1957)
Loading the media player...
Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | Sunday April 7th, 1957. | 0:06 |
Preacher, Dr. Eugene Carson Blake president | 0:09 | |
of National Council of Churches. | 0:13 | |
(instrumental song) | 0:16 | |
(congregation singing hymn song) | 0:59 | |
- | Let us all put onto God, our unison prayer of confession. | 3:03 |
Let us pray, Almighty God father | 3:10 | |
of our own Lord Jesus Christ, | 3:15 | |
maker of all things, judge of all men, | 3:18 | |
we acknowledge our manifold, sins and wickedness, | 3:22 | |
which we have committed by thought, word and deed. | 3:26 | |
We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry | 3:31 | |
for these our misdoings, | 3:35 | |
have mercy upon us most merciful father, | 3:38 | |
forgive us all that is past | 3:42 | |
and grant that you may ever hear after (mumbles) | 3:45 | |
and please thee in newness of life. | 3:48 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. | 3:52 | |
And now as our savior Christ has taught us. | 3:56 | |
We humbly pray, our father who art in heaven, | 4:00 | |
hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come, | 4:06 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 4:10 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread | 4:15 | |
and forgive us our trespasses. | 4:18 | |
As we forgive those who trespass against us | 4:21 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 4:25 | |
but deliver us from evil | 4:28 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 4:30 | |
and the glory forever, Amen. | 4:34 | |
(instrumental song) | 4:42 | |
(congregation singing hymn song) | 5:22 | |
Here beginneth the first verse | 9:58 | |
of the 55th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah | 10:00 | |
(coughs) | 10:06 | |
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, | 10:09 | |
and he that hath no money come ye, buy and eat. | 10:16 | |
Yea, come buy wine and milk | 10:22 | |
without money and without price. | 10:25 | |
Wherefore, do ye spend money for that | 10:31 | |
which is not bread? | 10:33 | |
and your labor for that which satisfieth not? | 10:36 | |
Hearken, diligently unto me, | 10:41 | |
and eat ye that which is good, | 10:43 | |
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. | 10:46 | |
Incline your ear and come unto me, | 10:50 | |
here and your soul shall live | 10:54 | |
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, | 10:57 | |
even the sure mercies of David. | 11:00 | |
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, | 11:04 | |
a leader and commander to the people. | 11:08 | |
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, | 11:12 | |
and nations that knew not thee shall run | 11:17 | |
unto thee because of the Lord, thy God, | 11:20 | |
and for the Holy one of Israel | 11:23 | |
for he hath glorified thee. | 11:26 | |
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, | 11:30 | |
call ye upon him while he is near. | 11:34 | |
Let the wicked forsake his way, | 11:38 | |
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, | 11:40 | |
and let him return unto the Lord, | 11:44 | |
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, | 11:46 | |
for he will abundantly pardon. | 11:52 | |
For my thoughts are not your thoughts | 11:55 | |
neither are my ways your ways saith the Lord. | 12:00 | |
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, | 12:05 | |
so are my ways higher than your ways | 12:08 | |
and my thoughts than your thoughts. | 12:11 | |
For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven | 12:15 | |
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, | 12:20 | |
and maketh it bring forth and bud, | 12:24 | |
that it may give seed to the sower | 12:27 | |
and bread to the eater. | 12:30 | |
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth | 12:33 | |
it shall not return unto me void, | 12:38 | |
but it shall accomplish that which I please, | 12:42 | |
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. | 12:46 | |
For ye shall go out with joy | 12:51 | |
and be led forth with peace. | 12:53 | |
The mountains and the hills shall break | 12:56 | |
forth before you into singing, | 12:58 | |
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. | 13:01 | |
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, | 13:07 | |
and instead of the brier shall come up the Myrtle tree | 13:11 | |
and the shall be to the Lord for a name, | 13:16 | |
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. | 13:20 | |
Here end of the lesson. | 13:27 | |
May God blessed to us this reading from his holy word. | 13:29 | |
(instrumental song) | 13:36 | |
(congregation singing hymn song) | 14:03 | |
The Lord be with you? | 15:31 | |
(Congregation murmurs) | 15:33 | |
Let us pray. | 15:34 | |
We beseech thee Almighty God | 15:42 | |
mercifully to look upon thy people, | 15:46 | |
that by thy great goodness, they may be governed | 15:50 | |
and preserved evermore both in body and soul | 15:54 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 16:00 | |
Oh God, by whose word and wisdom | 16:05 | |
we automate partakers of the life eternal, | 16:10 | |
according to what we know and comprehend, | 16:15 | |
we thank thee for life and it's daily Providences. | 16:18 | |
For the fresh aids to holy living which experience provides, | 16:25 | |
for all thy servants past and present, | 16:32 | |
who have lived by faith and in nobleness of deed. | 16:37 | |
But chiefly, we thank thee for Jesus Christ | 16:44 | |
for the battle fought and the victory won in him | 16:49 | |
for his abiding presence in the world he loved, | 16:56 | |
for the promise that all nations and kingdoms | 17:01 | |
shall finally acknowledge him, for Lord and savior. | 17:05 | |
We beseech the soul to create us new | 17:11 | |
that living as he gave example, | 17:16 | |
we may overcome lawlessness, | 17:18 | |
hinder wrong comfort sorrow | 17:23 | |
and bring the joys and peace of thy heavenly kingdom | 17:28 | |
wherever we go, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 17:33 | |
oh God, who has made the church our Royal priesthood, | 17:41 | |
that we may offer onto thee prayers of intercession. | 17:47 | |
Hear us as we pray for the gifts of gaiety | 17:52 | |
and freedom and simplicity | 17:56 | |
for clean laughter, kindness, generosity, | 18:00 | |
gentleness, honor, courtesy and self-control. | 18:07 | |
For the consecration of the discontent of the young, | 18:15 | |
for wisdom in the conservatism of the middle aged | 18:21 | |
for resiliency in the obstinacy of the aging, | 18:28 | |
help us both to know and acknowledge | 18:34 | |
that the standard for man's life | 18:38 | |
has been shown us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 18:42 | |
Almighty and eternal God before who space | 18:48 | |
the nations rise and fall men come and go | 18:52 | |
and places of learning flourish and decay. | 18:58 | |
We the children of time and the day cometh | 19:04 | |
to thee our university founded in great hope, | 19:08 | |
continued in a measure of success | 19:16 | |
dedicated to your unite knowledge and religion. | 19:21 | |
We ask thee to confirm it where it is wrong, | 19:27 | |
to strengthen it where it is weak, | 19:33 | |
to correct it where it is an error, | 19:38 | |
to discipline it where it is disordered | 19:43 | |
and to bless it where it combines truth and love | 19:49 | |
in the glads service of man | 19:56 | |
and in the happy acknowledgment of thee | 20:00 | |
and the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ | 20:06 | |
be with us all evermore, Amen. | 20:11 | |
(instrumental song) | 20:21 | |
(someone coughs) | 22:42 | |
(instrumental song) | 22:44 | |
(congregation singing hymn song) | 23:09 | |
(instrumental song) | 26:53 | |
(congregation singing hymn song) | 27:40 | |
All mighty God thou giver of every good and perfect gift. | 28:12 | |
We all (mumbles) present unto thee, | 28:19 | |
these symbols of ourselves, | 28:22 | |
our souls and bodies to be a reasonable true | 28:27 | |
and living sacrifice unto thee, | 28:33 | |
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. | 28:37 | |
(instrumental song) | 28:43 | |
My text is the first verse of the 55th chapter of Isaiah. | 29:14 | |
Ho, everyone one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters | 29:22 | |
and he that hath no money come ye, buy and eat. | 29:29 | |
Yea come, buy wine and milk | 29:36 | |
without money and without price. | 29:41 | |
Poetry is often hard to interpret, | 29:49 | |
this 55th chapter of Isaiah is acknowledged | 29:55 | |
to be great and beautiful poetry. | 30:00 | |
Anyone with literary sensibility is moved | 30:05 | |
by the beauty of its images, | 30:09 | |
the grandeur of its language. | 30:12 | |
But most of us even those who like poetry | 30:16 | |
would probably be put to it familiar as it is | 30:19 | |
to interpret the full sense of the chapter. | 30:24 | |
What does it all mean anyway? | 30:30 | |
What was the situation that called this writing forth? | 30:33 | |
What did it signify to the people | 30:38 | |
to whom it was originally addressed? | 30:40 | |
And what does it mean if anything to us, | 30:44 | |
gathered here this morning, | 30:47 | |
poetry is different from prose, we know that. | 30:51 | |
But the exact difference is sometimes hard | 30:56 | |
to analyze or to express. | 30:59 | |
I remember studying once a whole term | 31:02 | |
in a college English course on this very subject. | 31:05 | |
And even when we were finished and I passed the course, | 31:10 | |
none of us were quite sure that we knew exactly | 31:14 | |
what made a poem, a poem, | 31:18 | |
much less what made a good poem, a good poem. | 31:21 | |
But there is one thing that remains with me | 31:27 | |
still after all these years in that course in poetics, | 31:30 | |
that is the poetry is pictures, images, concreteness. | 31:37 | |
Prose may contain pictures too, | 31:46 | |
but prose is often abstract. | 31:48 | |
Let me take an example | 31:54 | |
during World War Two at the darkest hour of Britain's trial, | 31:57 | |
when it looked as if the mighty power | 32:05 | |
of the Nazi air force and armies was just waiting | 32:08 | |
until it could come and take over Britain. | 32:12 | |
Winston Churchill made a speech, | 32:19 | |
and this is part of what he said | 32:25 | |
to the beleaguered British people. | 32:28 | |
"We shall go on to the end, | 32:33 | |
we shall fight in France, | 32:37 | |
we shall fight on the seas and oceans, | 32:40 | |
we shall fight with growing confidence | 32:44 | |
and growing strength in the air. | 32:46 | |
We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. | 32:50 | |
We shall fight on the beaches, | 32:55 | |
we shall fight on the landing grounds. | 32:58 | |
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, | 33:01 | |
we shall fight in the hills. | 33:05 | |
We shall never surrender." | 33:08 | |
Churchill was speaking pure poetry, | 33:13 | |
for putting prose all that the prime minister said, | 33:18 | |
was that," whatever the Germans attack us, | 33:21 | |
we shall fight them and we won't give up." | 33:24 | |
Clear enough too, but no pictures, no images, | 33:28 | |
no flashes in your mind, no warming in your heart. | 33:36 | |
To understand poetry then, | 33:44 | |
the first requirement is that we see the picture | 33:46 | |
and then seeing the pictures, | 33:49 | |
if we can if we will, in quite prosaic fashion, | 33:52 | |
understand what those pictures mean? | 33:58 | |
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters | 34:05 | |
and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. | 34:11 | |
Yea come, buy wine and milk | 34:17 | |
without money and without price. | 34:21 | |
Let's look at the picture behind that text. | 34:27 | |
It's a picture of a dry land where water is scarce | 34:31 | |
and where because of the scarcity | 34:36 | |
food and drink of all kinds | 34:38 | |
were becoming more and more expensive each year. | 34:40 | |
And more and more out of the reach of ordinary people. | 34:44 | |
For a thousand years and more of this land | 34:50 | |
of Mesopotamia have been to the center, | 34:53 | |
the cradle of culture and of civilization. | 34:56 | |
Even before history began to be written, | 35:00 | |
there were traditions that this fertile land lying | 35:03 | |
between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers | 35:07 | |
had been inhabited by peoples extinct long | 35:10 | |
before men had begun to write. | 35:14 | |
Even the garden of Eden was placed in Mesopotamia | 35:17 | |
by the ancient stories which had been told and retold. | 35:21 | |
The cities of the plain had been sought for prizes, | 35:27 | |
by (mumbles) empire after empire, | 35:31 | |
which had risen and fallen through | 35:34 | |
the centuries of recorded history. | 35:37 | |
So not grip, | 35:40 | |
I shall bang appall, they had conquered them. | 35:42 | |
Ramesses of Egyptian tried and failed. | 35:46 | |
And even now Cyrus, the Persian was on the March | 35:50 | |
once more toward these great cities of the plain. | 35:55 | |
During all that time of history Mesopotamia, | 36:01 | |
had been watered well by it two great rivers flowing | 36:04 | |
from their sources far to the north | 36:08 | |
in the snow capped mountains of Iran, | 36:11 | |
but of late the last century or two, | 36:15 | |
water had begun to be a problem. | 36:20 | |
To many of the hills that have been deforested, | 36:24 | |
the flood waters each spring carried more and more | 36:28 | |
of the precious topsoil into the sea. | 36:32 | |
And dry seasons came it seemed with increasing frequency | 36:36 | |
and that winds would blow away in powdery dust tons more | 36:41 | |
of the precious life giving soil. | 36:47 | |
And so it came to be finally that in normal seasons | 36:53 | |
the rains themselves what a mixed blessing, | 36:56 | |
they ran off so fast over that sun baked soil | 37:00 | |
almost as hard was the soil as the clay bricks | 37:04 | |
from which they had built their palaces and the houses, | 37:07 | |
the sun baked soil soaked in | 37:11 | |
but little of the needed water. | 37:13 | |
But man had been in genius, | 37:17 | |
Canals, irrigation ditches had criss-crossed | 37:20 | |
the whole land and still year after year, | 37:26 | |
water became more scarce. | 37:31 | |
And because of it food became more expensive. | 37:34 | |
Not merely I remind you in money prices | 37:38 | |
for that can be adjusted, | 37:42 | |
but food became more expensive in the labor required | 37:45 | |
to produce it and to transport it. | 37:50 | |
And thus by the time our prophet poet wrote | 37:54 | |
even the fairly thoughtless ordinary people | 37:57 | |
had become aware of the fact that water | 38:02 | |
was the most precious of all commodities. | 38:05 | |
And that gentle rain was the gift of life itself. | 38:09 | |
And so what we were watching was the caving in | 38:16 | |
of a great civilization due to the lack of water. | 38:20 | |
Babylon was doomed although it did not know it. | 38:26 | |
And at this time the prophet was speaking his message | 38:33 | |
to his fellow captives from Israel | 38:38 | |
who had been transported there | 38:41 | |
to Babylon a generation or two before. | 38:43 | |
Nor was it long after as history has measured | 38:49 | |
that Babylon and the whole region | 38:54 | |
between the rivers was no longer the center | 38:57 | |
of culture at all. | 39:01 | |
But it turned into a sudden baked sleepy | 39:03 | |
outpost of civilization, | 39:06 | |
which had remained until well was found. | 39:08 | |
Where a few scattered remnants of people | 39:14 | |
picked out a living in poverty | 39:16 | |
where once great cities had stood proudly | 39:21 | |
with their fabled hanging gardens | 39:26 | |
and a great marketplaces teeming with life and with beauty. | 39:29 | |
This is the background of the prophet's poem. | 39:37 | |
In it he pictured an open marketplace, | 39:43 | |
hawkers and farmers are calling to the crowds | 39:47 | |
there are various wealths, | 39:50 | |
the produce which is for sale, | 39:52 | |
but prices are high, terribly high. | 39:56 | |
So high that businesses slack, | 40:01 | |
the people don't have the money | 40:04 | |
to buy even the necessities, | 40:05 | |
when suddenly above the other voices | 40:09 | |
of the marketplace sounds out a new cry. | 40:12 | |
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, | 40:17 | |
water was being sold now | 40:25 | |
to drink it was so expensive, so scarce, | 40:27 | |
Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters | 40:31 | |
and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. | 40:36 | |
Yea, come buy wine and milk | 40:41 | |
without money, without price. | 40:44 | |
You can picture for yourself the surprise, | 40:49 | |
the incredulity, the wonder of those poor | 40:53 | |
and discouraged people. | 40:57 | |
What kind of bad joke is this? | 41:00 | |
Free wine, free milk can't be true? | 41:03 | |
As the prophet spoke, | 41:10 | |
his poem to his people gathered near him at day's end. | 41:11 | |
He caught their attention, | 41:17 | |
we may be sure with his startling picture | 41:19 | |
of free water, food, wine and milk, | 41:22 | |
but of course he made it clear immediately | 41:27 | |
that the picture was not a literal one. | 41:30 | |
He had no more water than they, he was as poor | 41:35 | |
and they understood that he was teaching them in poetry, | 41:42 | |
a lesson about their God, about the God of Israel | 41:47 | |
whom they'd almost forgotten so long | 41:53 | |
had they been in exile from their land | 41:56 | |
and so hard where the economic realities | 41:59 | |
of life as it pressed in upon them. | 42:03 | |
Always in hard times men and women seem | 42:10 | |
to think a little bit more about religion. | 42:15 | |
Not that hard times make people religious, | 42:19 | |
but hard times make people think more about religion | 42:24 | |
for when the materials of life | 42:29 | |
become harder and harder to get. | 42:31 | |
There is obviously and naturally | 42:36 | |
more interested possible spiritual goods. | 42:38 | |
Men ask, after all what does life mean? | 42:45 | |
Is it worth it? | 42:49 | |
What must I do to be saved? | 42:52 | |
How can I find God? | 42:57 | |
And those who become really interested in religion | 43:01 | |
tend to think of spiritual goods as too hard to get | 43:03 | |
that they too must be struggled for as other goods. | 43:09 | |
That faith and hope and peace and power, | 43:13 | |
require the same kind of competitive effort | 43:18 | |
that water and food and milk require. | 43:22 | |
And so what the prophet was saying to them in this poem, | 43:27 | |
what this preacher was saying to these people, | 43:31 | |
these thirsty and hungry people, | 43:34 | |
thirsty as much for God almost as they were for a water, | 43:37 | |
hungry for God almost as much as they | 43:42 | |
were for bread or milk. | 43:46 | |
To these people a prophet was saying, | 43:49 | |
God's not hard to find, he's not far off, | 43:53 | |
he's not the end or the goal | 43:59 | |
of a long and difficult search. | 44:01 | |
Your God is near, as near as the market place, | 44:07 | |
and his word of hope and his word of comfort | 44:13 | |
and his word of power are free no price at all. | 44:17 | |
All you must do is listen, | 44:24 | |
heed what he says to you | 44:27 | |
hear, hear and your soul shall live. | 44:30 | |
God does this prophet pictured him is | 44:38 | |
continually offering us the greatest bargains imaginable | 44:42 | |
in the very things that we most want and need. | 44:49 | |
Peace in a troubled warlike world, | 44:55 | |
forgiveness to men who are accustomed | 45:01 | |
to being bargained for the final penny of indebtedness. | 45:03 | |
In this word freely coming from God. | 45:10 | |
The prophet says will produce in your life, fruit, | 45:16 | |
just as the rain will make flowers blossom | 45:23 | |
when it gently falls on fertile soil. | 45:28 | |
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, | 45:33 | |
call ye upon him while he is near. | 45:36 | |
Let the wicked forsake his way | 45:40 | |
on the unrighteous man his thoughts | 45:42 | |
and let him return unto the Lord, | 45:45 | |
and he will have mercy upon him | 45:46 | |
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. | 45:48 | |
For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven | 45:53 | |
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth | 45:58 | |
and make it bring forth and bud, | 46:03 | |
that it may give seed to the sower | 46:06 | |
and bread to the eater. | 46:09 | |
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. | 46:12 | |
It shall not return unto me void, | 46:18 | |
but it shall accomplish that which I please, | 46:22 | |
and it shall prosper | 46:27 | |
in the thing whereto I sent it. | 46:29 | |
One very simple idea is the essential | 46:34 | |
of this word of hope to that people have long ago. | 46:39 | |
God, a God of mercy, generous at heart, rich with grace, | 46:45 | |
God was seeking them. | 46:57 | |
He had gifts and they were free | 47:01 | |
reach forth your hands receive them. | 47:06 | |
And rich would be first the blossoming | 47:12 | |
and then the fruitage in battered lives. | 47:16 | |
Religion is not essentially the struggle | 47:21 | |
we so often make it. | 47:25 | |
Faith is the end of struggle. | 47:28 | |
God is good. He is gracious. | 47:32 | |
He cannot be won by our effort | 47:36 | |
nor bought with our money. | 47:39 | |
God is a God of grace, | 47:43 | |
whose gifts are yours for the asking. | 47:46 | |
Let me pause a moment here to note | 47:53 | |
the result of this prophet preaching | 47:56 | |
for the result was almost unbelievable. | 48:00 | |
Those people heard, they heeded | 48:05 | |
and what's more they repented and turned to God. | 48:10 | |
They soon returned many of them to their own land. | 48:15 | |
And based upon their new insight and understanding | 48:19 | |
of what faith could be they build a new culture | 48:22 | |
and a new civilization in the Holy land, | 48:27 | |
a culture and a civilization good enough | 48:32 | |
for Jesus Christ that lasts to grace | 48:35 | |
by his birth and by his life. | 48:40 | |
Now if any religious message could so create | 48:44 | |
a new blossoming in the desert of this world, | 48:48 | |
we may well ask what this ancient poem | 48:53 | |
means to us this morning. | 48:56 | |
Far with minor and unimportant variations our need, | 49:00 | |
our human need is about the same | 49:05 | |
as was theirs so long ago. | 49:07 | |
That God is seeking us out in his grace, | 49:12 | |
always before we think to seek for him, | 49:16 | |
that faith is after all not one by our human struggle, | 49:21 | |
but rather by our acceptance of God's | 49:26 | |
in the false and worthless struggling. | 49:29 | |
That God is willing to make a covenant with you and me | 49:34 | |
a bargain so generous on his part, | 49:42 | |
that skeptically we're assured too good to be true. | 49:47 | |
Wherefore do you spend money? | 49:52 | |
For that which is not bread | 49:55 | |
and your labor for that which satisfies if not, | 49:58 | |
you want life, you want joy. | 50:03 | |
You want to find it. | 50:07 | |
All of us are on this quest, true happiness. | 50:11 | |
Then turn to God, receive his gifts. | 50:17 | |
His word planted in your heart will blossom, | 50:23 | |
and the (mumbles) desert of that soil. | 50:31 | |
This is the gospel, the good news of God. | 50:36 | |
When we Christian preachers try to make you see it, | 50:42 | |
we have the more specifically Christian poem | 50:46 | |
full of beauty and of power | 50:51 | |
to save even more than that of the ancient prophet. | 50:55 | |
The late Canon Streeter once put it this way, | 51:00 | |
there is an ancient story, | 51:06 | |
Is it a parable or something more? | 51:10 | |
He might've asked is it a poem? | 51:15 | |
There is an ancient story, | 51:20 | |
which has a strangely moving power. | 51:23 | |
First of all, the scene is set in heaven before all worlds. | 51:27 | |
It changes for a while to earth under Pontius Pilate, | 51:32 | |
and then were back in heaven till the final end of things. | 51:39 | |
Very God of very God for us man | 51:46 | |
and our salvation so the story run. | 51:51 | |
So the poem has it, very God of very God for us man | 51:56 | |
and our salvation came down from heaven, | 52:03 | |
was incarnate of the Virgin and was made man. | 52:08 | |
Crucified also for us. | 52:14 | |
He rose again, ascended into heaven, | 52:17 | |
sitteth on the right hand of the father. | 52:22 | |
And shall come again with glory | 52:25 | |
to judge both quick and debt. | 52:28 | |
This is the story poem that is told | 52:33 | |
and retold at all Christian churches in every way we speak, | 52:37 | |
the coming of God to his people in Jesus Christ. | 52:43 | |
But we must remember it is a poem, | 52:49 | |
a mighty work of God to move us. | 52:53 | |
And we must see its imagery with the Spirit's eyes | 52:57 | |
until it find its place and blossom in our battered lives. | 53:01 | |
The part of the wonder of it is that | 53:09 | |
when we find this Christian faith, | 53:10 | |
when we really hear this word to us from God, | 53:13 | |
we find that we have not found an escape. | 53:20 | |
We're not turning our backs upon the hard | 53:25 | |
and harsh realities of daily life, | 53:28 | |
the marketplaces and the high prices | 53:32 | |
and the too little water for irrigation | 53:35 | |
and lack of rainfall for the fields | 53:38 | |
or any of the other more modern economic problems. | 53:41 | |
No we find that the end of the story | 53:48 | |
as the prophet pictures it and as it is through, | 53:51 | |
is not some bodiless spiritual existence | 53:55 | |
that Christ and his gospel brings to men. | 54:00 | |
Rather, we find ourselves committed | 54:05 | |
to a rescued to a redeemed earth as well. | 54:08 | |
The mountains and the hills shall break forth | 54:15 | |
before you in the singing | 54:18 | |
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. | 54:21 | |
That's poetry alright? | 54:25 | |
The image of a fertile peaceful earth, | 54:28 | |
and the prophet continues, instead of the thorn | 54:33 | |
shall come up the fir tree, | 54:36 | |
and then instead of the brier shall come up the Myrtle tree. | 54:39 | |
(someone coughs) | 54:43 | |
That's the climactic end of the poem, | 54:44 | |
a very accurate description by the way, | 54:47 | |
of what must grow up on the hills fir trees | 54:50 | |
instead of cactus, | 54:53 | |
if the earth is to produce abundance. | 54:55 | |
And if there is to be peace and prosperity among men. | 54:59 | |
There are two kinds of people | 55:06 | |
to whom I speak this morning, | 55:07 | |
those of you first to find religion and effort | 55:11 | |
hard like all the rest of life | 55:18 | |
a struggle and unequal competition a strain, | 55:22 | |
to you once more comes the gospel promise. | 55:29 | |
God is near, his gifts are free receive them thou. | 55:35 | |
And to those of you who hardly know you want God at all. | 55:44 | |
So busy, you have been in searching for bread, | 55:50 | |
which doesn't satisfy. | 55:55 | |
And the other things on the other trinkets | 55:58 | |
with which men try to fill their days | 56:01 | |
and satisfy restless hearts. | 56:04 | |
You two are thirst for God. | 56:08 | |
Though you know it not until | 56:12 | |
you two comes the invitation | 56:15 | |
framed in the ancient prophets words. | 56:19 | |
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters | 56:24 | |
and he that hath money, come ye buy and eat. | 56:31 | |
Yea, come and buy wine and milk | 56:38 | |
without money and without price. | 56:44 | |
Let us pray. | 56:51 | |
Oh, thou gracious heavenly father, | 57:00 | |
God of the past, the end of this hour, | 57:05 | |
father of our Lord Jesus Christ (mumbles) | 57:09 | |
who has called us to be thy sons. | 57:12 | |
We pray thee that hearing thy word of truth. | 57:20 | |
We may respond to it in our hearts and with our lives | 57:25 | |
that receiving thy good gifts we may learn | 57:31 | |
to share them with all thy children everywhere. | 57:34 | |
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, | 57:42 | |
keep your hearts and minds and the knowledge | 57:47 | |
and love of God and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 57:50 | |
And the blessing of God Almighty the Father, the Son, | 57:56 | |
and the Holy Ghost rest upon you | 58:00 | |
and remain with you always. | 58:05 | |
(congregation singing hymn song) | 58:31 |
(organ music) | 0:03 | |
- | Sunday morning, April 14th, 1957. | 0:06 |
Preacher the Reverend Professor Waldo Beach | 0:11 | |
from the Divinity School | 0:14 | |
(organ music) | 0:16 | |
(choir sings) | 0:29 | |
(organ music) | 1:03 | |
(choir sings) | 1:38 | |
- | Let us offer unto God, our unison prayer of confession. | 4:22 |
Let us pray. | 4:27 | |
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 4:31 | |
maker of all things, judge of all men | 4:36 | |
we acknowledge our manifold sins and wickedness | 4:40 | |
which we have have committed by thought, word and deed. | 4:44 | |
We do earnestly repent and are heartedly sorry | 4:49 | |
for these our misdoings, have mercy upon us | 4:53 | |
most merciful father, forgive us all that is passed, | 4:57 | |
and gran that we may ever hereafter | 5:02 | |
serve and please thee in newness of life | 5:05 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 5:09 | |
And now as our Lord Christ had taught us | 5:14 | |
we pray together saying. | 5:17 | |
Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, | 5:19 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 5:25 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 5:29 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 5:32 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 5:35 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 5:37 | |
and lead us not into temptation | 5:41 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 5:44 | |
For thine is the kingdom | 5:47 | |
and the power and the glory forever, amen. | 5:49 | |
(organ music) | 5:56 | |
(choir music) | 6:37 | |
(organ music) | 8:49 | |
- | Let us hear the word of God, | 9:11 |
as it is written in the gospel of Look 19:29-41. | 9:13 | |
When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany | 9:23 | |
at the mount that is called Olivet, | 9:26 | |
he sent two of the disciples saying, | 9:29 | |
"Go into the village opposite | 9:32 | |
where on entering, you will find a colt tied | 9:34 | |
on which no one has ever yet sat. | 9:37 | |
Untie it and bring it here. | 9:41 | |
If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' | 9:43 | |
You shall say this, 'The Lord has need of it.'" | 9:47 | |
So those who were sent away, | 9:52 | |
went away and found it as he had told them. | 9:54 | |
And as they were untying the coat, his owner said to them, | 9:58 | |
"Why are you untying the colt?" | 10:02 | |
And they said, "The Lord has need of it." | 10:05 | |
And they brought it to Jesus. | 10:09 | |
And throwing their garments on the colt. | 10:11 | |
They set Jesus upon it. | 10:13 | |
And as he rode along, | 10:15 | |
they spread their garments on the road. | 10:17 | |
And he was now drawing near | 10:20 | |
at the dissent of the Mount of Olives. | 10:21 | |
The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice | 10:24 | |
and praise God with a loud voice, | 10:27 | |
for all the mighty works that they had seen saying. | 10:30 | |
"Blessed be the king who comes in the name of the Lord, | 10:34 | |
peace in heaven and glory in the highest." | 10:38 | |
And when he drew near and saw the city, | 10:43 | |
he wept over it saying, | 10:46 | |
"Would that even today, | 10:50 | |
you knew the things that make for peace | 10:52 | |
But now they are hid from your eyes. | 10:56 | |
For the days all come upon you | 11:00 | |
when your enemies will cast up a bank about you | 11:02 | |
and surround you, and hem you in on every side, | 11:05 | |
and dash you to the ground, | 11:09 | |
you and your children within you, | 11:11 | |
and they will not leave one stone upon another in you | 11:15 | |
because you did not know the time of your visitation." | 11:19 | |
May God bless into our understanding | 11:24 | |
this reading of his holy word, amen. | 11:28 | |
(organ music) | 11:32 | |
(choir sings) | 12:16 | |
- | The Lord be with you | 14:52 |
Congregation | And with your spirit. | 14:54 |
- | Let us pray. | 14:56 |
O Lord and creator of all things, | 15:07 | |
we lift to thee for thy praise, | 15:11 | |
our prayers of Thanksgiving and adoration | 15:14 | |
for the wonder and blessings of this season. | 15:18 | |
For the glory and beauty with which thou has crowned nature | 15:24 | |
in this springtime, | 15:29 | |
so that the earth is indeed full of thy glory, | 15:31 | |
we thank thee, O Lord. | 15:32 | |
For the symphony of nature | 15:33 | |
that is heard in the singing of birds. | 15:44 | |
That is seen in the blending patterns of color. | 15:48 | |
That is felt in the earth beneath us | 15:53 | |
The air that surrounds us, and in the heavens above | 15:57 | |
so that creation declares thy harmony, | 16:02 | |
we thank thee, O Lord. | 16:06 | |
For our new life brings from seeds planted into good earth | 16:11 | |
to bring forth harvest the flowers and food, | 16:16 | |
so that our Providence is made man to feast, | 16:20 | |
we give thee thanks O Lord. | 16:25 | |
For the capacity within us to see, to hear, | 16:31 | |
and to feel thy creation, | 16:36 | |
that makes us stand in wonder and excitement | 16:39 | |
before thy handy work. | 16:43 | |
And to know that our art God, | 16:46 | |
we offer unto thee | 16:50 | |
our heartfelt thanksgiving and adoration. | 16:52 | |
O God of life, as nature manifests thy beauty, | 16:58 | |
and harmony and providence, | 17:03 | |
enable us, we pray thee, | 17:07 | |
to open our lives to thy creative power, | 17:08 | |
so that we too may live to thy glory. | 17:13 | |
Then we shall praise thee, not only with our lips | 17:17 | |
but with our lives. | 17:21 | |
We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 17:23 | |
O Lord and giver of every good relationship among men, | 17:32 | |
on this day when mothers visit their daughters | 17:38 | |
on this campus, we give the humble thanks | 17:41 | |
for homes of this earth, and parents of our flesh. | 17:46 | |
We blessed thy name for every sacrifice of theirs, | 17:53 | |
for every gentle thought and deed, | 17:58 | |
for every truth imported by their lips and their lives. | 18:03 | |
Hold them in the benediction of thy presence | 18:11 | |
And strengthen us to fill their days with double joy. | 18:15 | |
For every early thoughtlessness of ours, | 18:20 | |
carried our Lord within our homes, | 18:26 | |
making them die for the sake of Jesus Christ. | 18:30 | |
And now our father, we offer unto thee, | 18:37 | |
our special prayers of thanksgiving and petition | 18:39 | |
for this holy day, and for this holy week, which it begins. | 18:43 | |
As this day we keep the special memory | 18:49 | |
of our redeemers entry into the city, which hailed him, | 18:52 | |
and then rejected him. | 18:56 | |
We give thee thanks that his spirit | 19:00 | |
is forever seeking entrance into our world life. | 19:02 | |
He comes as the impulse to sympathy | 19:07 | |
and compassion between man and man. | 19:10 | |
As the will to brotherhood eager | 19:14 | |
to banish all suspicion and hatred. | 19:15 | |
As the self-giving spirit | 19:19 | |
which bears the burdens of others even to a cross. | 19:21 | |
Give us responsive spirits | 19:26 | |
that as he meets us in the life of time, | 19:30 | |
we may know him for the revelation of thy truth, | 19:33 | |
and receive him as our Lord and king. | 19:37 | |
Forbid that we should hail him as master | 19:41 | |
when all men speak well of him, | 19:43 | |
and then deny him in the lonely hour of his rejection. | 19:45 | |
Increase our faith in him as thine own word to us. | 19:51 | |
That we may deny ourselves | 19:56 | |
and take up what cross thou givest us | 19:59 | |
and follow him for his sake. | 20:03 | |
O most compassionate father, | 20:08 | |
who long is to lead all thy children | 20:11 | |
out of darkness into light, | 20:13 | |
send the spirit of son this day | 20:16 | |
to all who sit in darkness | 20:18 | |
within the walls of their own sorrows or perplexities. | 20:21 | |
May they hear the song of rejoicing | 20:26 | |
of those who had found him, their savior and helper. | 20:29 | |
And fleeing wide the gates of their spirits. | 20:33 | |
That he may bring them peace. | 20:37 | |
And now may thy grace and peace be upon us all. | 20:42 | |
We pray for the sake of Christ, our Lord, amen. | 20:46 | |
(organ music) | 20:56 | |
♪ Lord have mercy ♪ | 24:10 | |
♪ Lord have mercy ♪ | 24:22 | |
♪ Lord have mercy ♪ | 24:32 | |
(choir sings) | 24:39 | |
(organ music) | 28:23 | |
(choir sings) | 29:39 | |
- | O God of love, who has offered to us the perfect gift | 30:14 |
of redemption through thy son, | 30:19 | |
accept this offering of thanksgiving | 30:22 | |
and dedication from thy children. | 30:24 | |
And though it be unworthy and incomplete, | 30:28 | |
make us more worthy as we seek to grow in thy grace. | 30:33 | |
For the sake of Christ, our Lord, we pray, amen. | 30:39 | |
(organ music) | 30:45 | |
- | One of our favorite American words is the word success. | 31:17 |
Like a great blinking neon light, | 31:24 | |
the word success presides over our culture, our business, | 31:30 | |
our politics, our churches, our clubs, | 31:34 | |
our entertainment, even our campus. | 31:39 | |
What we are here for is to succeed. | 31:44 | |
There's no clear consensus as to exactly | 31:50 | |
what the word means, | 31:52 | |
but it's usually taken to mean | 31:55 | |
the delight in winning the prize on the TV show. | 31:56 | |
It means arrival at the top of a ladder. | 32:02 | |
It means being over somebody, not as fortunate | 32:05 | |
or as hardworking. | 32:08 | |
It means a sales record for cars, | 32:11 | |
or for a class enrollment that beats everybody else. | 32:15 | |
It means getting to wherever you set out for. | 32:21 | |
It means hitting the jackpot. | 32:26 | |
It means winning the championship. | 32:29 | |
Copping the Oscar. | 32:33 | |
University culture mirrors | 32:39 | |
this American ideal very faithfully. | 32:42 | |
And the phrase common among educators | 32:46 | |
and college catalogs is, education for success, | 32:49 | |
training for a successful living. | 32:56 | |
And our community life here is set up | 33:01 | |
as a kind of rehearsal in the small | 33:03 | |
of the great American success story. | 33:08 | |
Everyone aims to be the successful student, the leader | 33:13 | |
the president of this or that tapped for ODK, | 33:16 | |
elected to Phi Beta Kappa. | 33:21 | |
And his quality points shine in his crown at graduation. | 33:24 | |
And promise him success in the next chapter of his life. | 33:30 | |
For eternities are commended because they provide | 33:35 | |
connections which will help the Duke get established | 33:39 | |
in the business jungle after college, | 33:44 | |
or at least that's what is said during rushing. | 33:48 | |
The chanticleer is a kind of Bible of campus success. | 33:54 | |
Full of kings and queens and heroes. | 33:59 | |
And the reason it is so thick every year | 34:05 | |
is that it must do honor to all the leaders, | 34:07 | |
all the students most likely to succeed. | 34:10 | |
And in such a place as this, | 34:14 | |
we have too many chiefs not enough Indians. | 34:16 | |
(congregation laughs) | 34:22 | |
No one dares stop in the great rat race | 34:26 | |
to suggest that the American ideal of success | 34:29 | |
may be a mirage, | 34:34 | |
or if he does suggest that he's written off | 34:37 | |
as a dower cynic. | 34:39 | |
The American dogma is that every story | 34:43 | |
must have a happy ending. | 34:45 | |
Everybody is destined for success, | 34:50 | |
if only they take advantage of the opportunity, | 34:52 | |
and mail in the entry blank. | 34:56 | |
Everybody has to be a winner, | 35:00 | |
is just a law of the universe. | 35:02 | |
This is dramatized daily in the arrangements made | 35:06 | |
in the TV giveaway and quiz shows, | 35:11 | |
which are Roman circuses | 35:13 | |
for even the loser to being a winner. | 35:17 | |
"I'm so sorry," says the MC, | 35:22 | |
"You can't name five generals in World War II. | 35:25 | |
Do take this small check for $500 just for trying so hard." | 35:30 | |
And then there's great applause. | 35:35 | |
So everybody will come to some part of gold | 35:38 | |
at the end of the rainbow. | 35:41 | |
This is the gospel of Hollywood, and TV, | 35:43 | |
and pocket size magazines and serial boxes. | 35:47 | |
And much of the psychological quackery | 35:52 | |
which passes for religion helps | 35:55 | |
to sustain and perpetuate this American dream of success. | 35:58 | |
Vital successful living is guaranteed | 36:07 | |
if you practice these scientific 10 steps | 36:10 | |
it's so simple, you can't lose. | 36:13 | |
It's rare that anyone challenges this Abra Cadabra. | 36:18 | |
But the fatal weakness in the whole scheme is suggested. | 36:24 | |
In an exchange of letters in the newspaper sometime back, | 36:28 | |
somebody wrote a testimonial describing glowingly | 36:34 | |
how a certain athlete of indifferent ability | 36:39 | |
by virtue of practicing the 10 steps to success | 36:45 | |
had won the 440 race handly in the next meet | 36:50 | |
But then somebody else rode in asking, | 36:57 | |
"All right, but what if the 10 steps to success | 37:00 | |
had been practiced by all the runners in the meet?" | 37:05 | |
The question punctures neatly the whole inflated | 37:12 | |
fantastic illusion, everybody can't be a winner. | 37:17 | |
There have to be also rams. | 37:23 | |
Everybody can't be an A, | 37:27 | |
there have to be Bs and Cs and Ds and Fs. | 37:30 | |
This is life's built in great curve. | 37:37 | |
And there's a great peril | 37:42 | |
in the whole idea of education for success. | 37:44 | |
And especially the way success is understood on campus | 37:47 | |
as meaning, coming in first, winning out. | 37:50 | |
I suspect that we are vaguely aware | 37:56 | |
of the falsity of success once in a while. | 37:59 | |
What we call senior jitters | 38:05 | |
As common, an ailment as spring fever, this time of year | 38:09 | |
or falling in love. | 38:13 | |
Senior jitters arises from the awareness that sneaks up | 38:17 | |
on us some April morning with two months of college to go. | 38:20 | |
That along the line somewhere somebody fooled us. | 38:27 | |
And the quality points and prizes and cups and crowns | 38:33 | |
look a little small, a little dingy | 38:40 | |
Even the BMOC, | 38:46 | |
who has worked for four years to get on top | 38:50 | |
may find himself disillusion to discover | 38:53 | |
that the elevation is slight. | 38:57 | |
But wore to the student who takes campus success | 39:01 | |
as the goal of life as the be all and end all of his days. | 39:07 | |
There's not think more pathetic | 39:14 | |
than the May Queen who never quite got over it. | 39:17 | |
(congregation laughs) | 39:20 | |
And there's a distinct shock in store | 39:25 | |
for the young alumni who comes back for a visit, | 39:27 | |
and finds women student government operating well | 39:32 | |
without her services. | 39:36 | |
And the common trouble with a successful student | 39:40 | |
who has had no sense of the falsity of the mirage, | 39:42 | |
the BMOC, and is it like all big wheels, | 39:47 | |
his center is a long way from the ground. | 39:51 | |
To educate for success | 39:56 | |
is to ride for a fall sooner or later. | 39:58 | |
To assume that life is a movement towards a happy ending | 40:03 | |
is to set us up as easy victims | 40:10 | |
for disillusionment and despair. | 40:12 | |
We need also to educate for failure, for tragedy, | 40:15 | |
for the perversities of human nature, | 40:21 | |
the let downs of human existence, | 40:26 | |
for the gremlins who inhabit our universe | 40:30 | |
as surely as fairy godmothers. | 40:33 | |
To educate for failure means the equipment of mind | 40:38 | |
and heart to meet the tragic element, | 40:42 | |
which is built into the structure of human life. | 40:46 | |
It means preparation for being up against it. | 40:51 | |
I was curious that in that phrase, | 40:57 | |
being up against it, it always refers | 41:00 | |
to something tragic. | 41:06 | |
Tragedy comes in many forms. | 41:11 | |
It may mean the sudden catastrophic blow of a sudden death. | 41:15 | |
It smashes in our house of serenity. | 41:22 | |
Leaves us numb and powerless | 41:27 | |
unless we have acquired some resources | 41:30 | |
of spirit and mind to draw on. | 41:34 | |
Everyone encounters some smashing tragedy of this sort. | 41:41 | |
Or at least as a brush with it along the way. | 41:46 | |
And yet our education is so carefully oblivious | 41:50 | |
to this radical evil in life. | 41:54 | |
So preoccupied with successful and happy living | 41:58 | |
that the specter of death of tragedy | 42:03 | |
is avoided until unavoidable. | 42:07 | |
We practically have a phobia about it, | 42:11 | |
like William Randolph Hearst, who refused to have | 42:14 | |
anyone mention the word death in his presence. | 42:18 | |
The catastrophic, devastating, the emergency | 42:24 | |
just doesn't fit our scheme. | 42:28 | |
So we are not on like third grade school children | 42:32 | |
in a civil defense air raid test. | 42:37 | |
Who must be considerably mystified | 42:42 | |
about human destiny. | 42:45 | |
When they crawl down under their desks for the air raid, | 42:48 | |
and then crawl out to resume reading "Cinderella" | 42:51 | |
where they left off when the siren sounded. | 42:55 | |
Though, there are the sharp and the sudden tragedies, | 43:02 | |
the usual kind of failure are of another sort. | 43:06 | |
These are the slow and seeping failures of daily living. | 43:11 | |
The gradual dying of hopes and dreams. | 43:18 | |
The gray disenchantment of the years. | 43:22 | |
The slow attrition of times blows. | 43:27 | |
The unspectacular failures of talent, | 43:34 | |
and intelligence into dull mediocrity. | 43:38 | |
The settling down of bright courage | 43:43 | |
into a tired middle aged cynicism. | 43:46 | |
Countering at every point in life. | 43:52 | |
the hope for a better day tomorrow, | 43:54 | |
the hope for the achievement | 43:56 | |
surpassing the old winning out | 43:59 | |
is the opposite limiting factor, | 44:02 | |
Which turns back the hope, | 44:06 | |
which makes living a slow form of dying. | 44:10 | |
Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" | 44:18 | |
was a play that struck home sharply | 44:23 | |
to its audiences because it epitomized | 44:25 | |
the failure of the American success story. | 44:29 | |
Willie Loman is a pathetic bewildered product | 44:35 | |
of education for success | 44:39 | |
And he had no resource with which to meet failure. | 44:42 | |
And Willie's sons whom he tries to indoctrinate | 44:48 | |
with the formula for success. | 44:53 | |
They are disillusioned when Willie proves much less | 44:56 | |
than a hero and a paragon of virtue. | 45:02 | |
The play puts well one of life's continual | 45:06 | |
processes of disillusionment | 45:11 | |
when we realize that our parents, | 45:15 | |
beneath their elaborate disguises are not heroes and saints | 45:19 | |
but about average, about C minus people. | 45:26 | |
Or when our children failed to realize our hopes for them. | 45:32 | |
And they turned out to be about average too. | 45:36 | |
Now, is this a fitting word to speak to undergraduates | 45:42 | |
for a mother daughter weekend in the springtime of the year? | 45:46 | |
When life looks like an upward road full of bright promise | 45:53 | |
time enough later, you say for the troubles | 46:00 | |
for now we live by hope that sends a shining ray | 46:04 | |
far down the futures broadening way. | 46:10 | |
But what of the fact that the future is a narrowing way? | 46:16 | |
If there be a running down of life, | 46:25 | |
as much as a running up. | 46:27 | |
should not education equip us somewhere, | 46:30 | |
if it claims to see life steadily and hold | 46:34 | |
to reckon with this tragic element, | 46:39 | |
this dark tomb, | 46:42 | |
somehow to be mindful of the transiency | 46:47 | |
the passing away of all hopes, all persons. | 46:51 | |
Somehow to remember the Biblical note, | 46:57 | |
as for man his days are his grass, | 47:01 | |
as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. | 47:05 | |
For the wind passes over it and it is gone. | 47:10 | |
And the place they're off shall know it no more. | 47:13 | |
There are many kinds of responses | 47:21 | |
of faith to the failures of life. | 47:23 | |
Either it's stark tragedies, or its slow letdowns. | 47:27 | |
In which men repeat ancient answers. | 47:33 | |
One I suppose, would be a kind of Epicureanism | 47:37 | |
which would simply refuse to face the tragic | 47:42 | |
Continue to have fun. | 47:47 | |
Life is a comedy before us. | 47:51 | |
Continual cabin party to be played for the kicks. | 47:54 | |
But sooner or later the morning after comes. | 48:02 | |
The funny man has nothing to say. | 48:06 | |
Or the response of faith to failure | 48:11 | |
may be a kind of grim stoicism, | 48:14 | |
which sees the whole shell as tragic, | 48:19 | |
concocted by a perverse demon, as a cruel joke. | 48:22 | |
We are here to sweat it out | 48:27 | |
and to brave it through like | 48:28 | |
perhaps houseman's straps in your lad. | 48:31 | |
The troubles of our proud and angry dust | 48:35 | |
are from eternity and shall not fail. | 48:38 | |
Bear than we can, and if we can | 48:43 | |
we must shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ail. | 48:45 | |
The Christian faith offers a profoundly different answer | 48:53 | |
to the problems of failure. | 48:58 | |
For Christianity, the drama of human existence is | 49:01 | |
neither a fuss nor a grim tragedy. | 49:06 | |
But a drama for the education of the soul. | 49:12 | |
Wherein it can learn by way of failure or success. | 49:16 | |
The true purpose of human life. | 49:24 | |
The true understanding of what we are here for. | 49:26 | |
The point of relevance of the Christian faith | 49:33 | |
to this issue is that it provides an answer | 49:36 | |
beyond success or failure. | 49:41 | |
According to the gospels, according to Christian theology | 49:46 | |
where the sign of the faith is a cross, | 49:51 | |
life is not a success story, everybody a winner. | 49:55 | |
And at this point Christianity becomes | 50:02 | |
the criticism of the American fable. | 50:04 | |
It educates us to see how misleading | 50:08 | |
the American ideal is at its heart. | 50:10 | |
But more importantly the Christian faith enables us | 50:15 | |
to redefine the content of success and failure. | 50:19 | |
If the last question asked by American culture is, | 50:28 | |
were you successful? | 50:32 | |
Did you win? | 50:34 | |
The last question asked by Christianity is, | 50:37 | |
Were you faithful? | 50:42 | |
It is integrity, not success | 50:45 | |
Which is the Christian mark of worth. | 50:49 | |
And though it may take some long time to find this out, | 50:53 | |
and perhaps a long way around, | 50:59 | |
yet it is the Christian answer, | 51:01 | |
which goes beyond success or failure . | 51:04 | |
To be a little more specific. | 51:10 | |
What most of you confront after college | 51:12 | |
is far from glamorous, romantic, successful. | 51:15 | |
Far from being queen. | 51:21 | |
Rather it's life in the ranks. | 51:26 | |
Life at the level of gray Monday morning doings. | 51:28 | |
There are the drudgeries of the menial | 51:35 | |
and the humdrum miles from shoe and slipper weekend. | 51:37 | |
There are miles of typewriter ribbon to bang. | 51:45 | |
Or on the average, | 51:49 | |
per housewife for a year 39,000 dishes to wash. | 51:51 | |
There is considerable contrast | 52:00 | |
between white duchy and dirty diapers. | 52:02 | |
(congregation laughs) | 52:06 | |
And by this fact there's not much success | 52:08 | |
by chanticleer standards. | 52:14 | |
But education informed by the Christian faith | 52:17 | |
can equip the student ahead of time | 52:22 | |
to realize that the meaning of life | 52:24 | |
does not consist in success, but in faithfulness, | 52:25 | |
in trust, in love, in patience, in long suffering, | 52:30 | |
in the daily meeting of human need, in thankless devotions. | 52:37 | |
We are here not to succeed, but to love. | 52:45 | |
Whether our love has a happy ending or a sad one. | 52:53 | |
It's worth stands in failure as much as in success. | 52:58 | |
In this sense, Christian faith is disenchantment | 53:05 | |
with a success fable, but it is re-enchantment | 53:10 | |
with authentic success. | 53:16 | |
Christianity never should be construed | 53:20 | |
to offer the cash prize, the straight A, the presidency. | 53:22 | |
What it does offer is the reward of serenity and confidence | 53:29 | |
Which is nonchalant about success. | 53:36 | |
And which is serene within failure. | 53:40 | |
It is educated in equanimity for life or death. | 53:45 | |
This is what St. Paul means when he says, | 53:54 | |
whether we live or whether we die, | 53:57 | |
we are the Lords. | 54:01 | |
Unless a duke student gets some inkling | 54:03 | |
of this ideal he's headed for or despair and frustration. | 54:06 | |
But if he's learned to see beyond the mirage of success | 54:12 | |
to the truth of the cross, he will hear even now | 54:18 | |
be putting on something of the armor of God. | 54:24 | |
In a curious way, the Palm Sunday story | 54:33 | |
can be seen as appropriate to this Christian truth. | 54:37 | |
It's usually taken in a Hollywood sense | 54:43 | |
as being a success story. | 54:47 | |
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the shouts of the crowd | 54:50 | |
a happy day when the Messiah arrives. | 54:55 | |
But this is entirely the wrong way to take it. | 55:01 | |
It just wrenches it out of its context in holy week. | 55:05 | |
It is rather a day of tragic irony | 55:11 | |
where success and failure are all mixed up. | 55:16 | |
The crowd missed the point of the story in the entry. | 55:21 | |
They took Christ for what he was not. | 55:25 | |
They missed the symbolism of his ridding on a colt, | 55:28 | |
the symbol of suffering servant. | 55:32 | |
They took him for a military hero | 55:36 | |
who would bring them political success | 55:38 | |
through some magical trick. | 55:43 | |
And in the grand manner of a Cecil B. DeMille, | 55:46 | |
Christ alone understands the irony. | 55:51 | |
He knows the thinness of their loyalty. | 55:56 | |
He knows their disillusionment. | 56:00 | |
He can see the shadow of the cross prefigured | 56:03 | |
over the palms of the Jerusalem road. | 56:06 | |
I mean all the parading and rejoicing, | 56:11 | |
he weeps Jerusalem does not know the time of its visitation. | 56:13 | |
Palm Sunday is not a success story, | 56:24 | |
it is a story of failure by the standards of the world. | 56:27 | |
But it is a story of integrity and faithfulness | 56:34 | |
even unto the cross of Good Friday, | 56:40 | |
where man's faithfulness within failure | 56:47 | |
is transmuted into victory. | 56:52 | |
Let us pray. | 57:01 | |
Almighty God who has granted to us, | 57:13 | |
the perilous gift of freedom, | 57:17 | |
and has set our way amid hard choices | 57:21 | |
of good and evil. | 57:25 | |
Grant us by thy grace, the wisdom to discern | 57:30 | |
the eternal from the temporal, | 57:35 | |
the treasures of heaven from the treasures of earth. | 57:38 | |
That in seeking first thy kingdom, and thy righteousness, | 57:43 | |
we may learn and possess the peace | 57:51 | |
which the world can either give nor take away. | 57:57 | |
Now unto him, who is able to you from falling | 58:04 | |
and to present you faultless before the presence | 58:09 | |
of his glory with exceeding joy, | 58:12 | |
to the only wise God, our savior, | 58:16 | |
the glory and majesty dominion | 58:18 | |
and power both now and ever more. | 58:22 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 58:30 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 58:37 |