James T. Cleland - "On Getting into Heaven or Hell" (July 13, 1969)
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| (organ playing) | 0:05 | |
| (choir singing) | 0:09 | |
| - | The Lord is in his holy temple. | 2:27 |
| Let all the earth keep silence before him. | 2:29 | |
| I was glad when they said unto me, | 2:33 | |
| we will go into the house of the Lord. | 2:35 | |
| Do be seated. | 2:38 | |
| Let us humbly confess our sins to God, our heavenly father. | 2:44 | |
| Most holy and merciful father, | 2:49 | |
| we confess to you and to one another, | 2:52 | |
| under the whole communion of saints in heaven and earth, | 2:55 | |
| that we have sinned against you, by what we have done, | 3:00 | |
| and by what we have left undone. | 3:04 | |
| We have not loved you with our whole heart | 3:07 | |
| and mind and strength. | 3:10 | |
| We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 3:12 | |
| We have not had in us, the mind of Christ. | 3:16 | |
| We have grieved your Holy Spirit. | 3:20 | |
| You alone know how often we have sinned and grieved you | 3:23 | |
| by wasting your gifts, by wandering from your ways, | 3:28 | |
| by forgetting your love. | 3:32 | |
| Forgive us, we pray you most merciful father, | 3:34 | |
| and free us from our sin. | 3:38 | |
| Renew in us, again, the grace and strength | 3:41 | |
| of your Holy Spirit for the sake of Jesus Christ, | 3:44 | |
| your son, our savior. Amen. | 3:48 | |
| Here are the words of assurance. | 3:52 | |
| God shows his love for us, | 3:55 | |
| while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. | 3:58 | |
| If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. | 4:03 | |
| The old has passed away. | 4:07 | |
| Behold, the new has come. | 4:10 | |
| All of this is from God who, through Christ, | 4:14 | |
| reconciled us to himself. | 4:18 | |
| If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, | 4:22 | |
| Jesus Christ, the righteous, | 4:26 | |
| and He is the expiation for our sins. | 4:29 | |
| And not for ours only, | 4:32 | |
| but also for the sins of the whole world. | 4:35 | |
| Almighty God, our heavenly father, who of his great mercy, | 4:39 | |
| have promised forgiveness of sins, | 4:43 | |
| to all those who turn to him | 4:46 | |
| with true repentance and sincere faith, have mercy upon you, | 4:49 | |
| pardon and deliver you from all your sins, | 4:55 | |
| confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, | 4:58 | |
| and bring you to everlasting life | 5:02 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. | 5:05 | |
| (organ playing) | 5:20 | |
| (choir singing) | 6:03 | |
| The scripture lesson, is written in the 25th chapter | 7:40 | |
| of the gospel according to Saint Matthew, | 7:45 | |
| verses 31 through 46. | 7:48 | |
| "When the son of man comes in his glory | 7:53 | |
| "and all the angels with him, | 7:56 | |
| "then will he sit on his glorious throne. | 7:59 | |
| "Before him will be gathered all the nations | 8:02 | |
| "and he will separate them one from another, | 8:05 | |
| "as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. | 8:08 | |
| "And he will place the sheep on his right hand, | 8:12 | |
| "but the goats at the left. | 8:16 | |
| "Then the king shall say to those that his right hand, | 8:19 | |
| "'Come oh, blessed of my father. | 8:23 | |
| "'Inherit the kingdom prepared for you | 8:25 | |
| "'from the foundation of the world. | 8:27 | |
| "'For I was hungry and you gave me food. | 8:31 | |
| "'I was thirsty and you gave me drink. | 8:34 | |
| "'I was a stranger and you welcomed me. | 8:39 | |
| "'I was naked and you clothed me. | 8:42 | |
| "'I was sick and you visited me. | 8:44 | |
| "'I was in prison and you came to me. | 8:47 | |
| "Then the righteous will answer him, | 8:52 | |
| "'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed thee? | 8:55 | |
| "'Or thirsty and gave thee drink? | 8:59 | |
| "'Or when did we see that you were a stranger | 9:02 | |
| "'and welcomed thee? | 9:05 | |
| "'Or naked and clothed thee? | 9:07 | |
| "'And when did we see thee sick | 9:09 | |
| "'or in prison and visit thee?' | 9:11 | |
| " And the king will answer them, | 9:15 | |
| "'Truly, I say to you, | 9:18 | |
| "'as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, | 9:20 | |
| "'ye did it to me.' | 9:23 | |
| "And he will say to those at his left hand, | 9:26 | |
| "'depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire, | 9:29 | |
| "'prepared for the devil and his angels. | 9:32 | |
| "'For I was hungry and you gave me food. | 9:36 | |
| "'I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. | 9:40 | |
| "'I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. | 9:43 | |
| "'Naked, and you did not clothe me. | 9:47 | |
| "'Sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.' | 9:49 | |
| "Then they will answer, | 9:54 | |
| "'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty | 9:55 | |
| "'or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, | 10:00 | |
| "'and did not minister to thee?' | 10:04 | |
| "Then he will answer them, | 10:07 | |
| "'Truly, I say to you, | 10:10 | |
| "'as you did it not to one of the least of these, | 10:12 | |
| "'ye did it not to me.' | 10:14 | |
| "And they will go away into eternal punishment, | 10:17 | |
| "but the righteous into eternal life." | 10:20 | |
| Here endeth the morning's lesson. | 10:24 | |
| (organ playing) | 10:28 | |
| (choir singing) | 10:34 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 11:04 | |
| Congregation | And with your spirit. | 11:05 |
| - | Let us pray. | 11:07 |
| Let us say together our unison prayer of thanksgiving. | 11:09 | |
| For all the things for which we have never given you thanks, | 11:13 | |
| oh Lord, we humbly bow our hearts. | 11:16 | |
| For common things of earth, | 11:20 | |
| which sustain our bodies and health and strength. | 11:22 | |
| Though we pay scout attention to them, we thank you. | 11:26 | |
| For far off things and the ages past, | 11:30 | |
| or in lands distant from us, | 11:33 | |
| which enlarge our heritage and expand our horizons, | 11:36 | |
| we give you thanks. | 11:40 | |
| For invisible things of heaven and earth, | 11:42 | |
| which sweeten life with beauty and grace, | 11:45 | |
| we express our thanks. | 11:49 | |
| For things of the spirit, | 11:51 | |
| which disclosed to us the grace, | 11:53 | |
| and sanctify the passing time with eternal meaning, | 11:56 | |
| we give you thanks. | 12:00 | |
| For things bought with a great price, | 12:02 | |
| given to us without cost, | 12:05 | |
| by which we are deepened and heightened | 12:08 | |
| to the measure of Christ, our Lord, we give you thanks. | 12:10 | |
| Though there'll be no end to your gifts, | 12:15 | |
| help us to number them | 12:17 | |
| as they are revealed to us day by day. Amen. | 12:19 | |
| And now let us pray for others and ourselves. | 12:29 | |
| In peace, in the peace of God from above, | 12:34 | |
| let us pray to our Lord. | 12:38 | |
| For the peace, unity and faithful service | 12:41 | |
| of the churches of God in this and every land, | 12:45 | |
| we beseech thee to hear us, oh Lord. | 12:49 | |
| For all Christian people, their are ministers and teachers, | 12:52 | |
| that by word and example, they may bring many to faith | 12:58 | |
| and obedience in Christ. | 13:02 | |
| Hear us, oh Lord. | 13:05 | |
| For those in authority among the nations, | 13:07 | |
| and especially for the president, the Congress, | 13:10 | |
| and the Supreme court of the United States, | 13:14 | |
| that they may govern with justice | 13:17 | |
| and promote peace and unity among all men. | 13:20 | |
| Hear us, oh Lord. | 13:24 | |
| For all on whose labor we depend, | 13:27 | |
| especially those whose duty brings them into danger, | 13:30 | |
| that they may have courage and strength | 13:34 | |
| to serve the common good. | 13:36 | |
| Hear us oh Lord. | 13:39 | |
| For those who seek out knowledge and guide our thought, | 13:41 | |
| for those who help us laugh and play, | 13:45 | |
| the truth and beauty, they give joy to daily life. | 13:48 | |
| Hear us, oh Lord. | 13:53 | |
| For all who suffer, the poor and lonely, | 13:56 | |
| the sick and afflicted, | 14:01 | |
| the tempted and the bereaved. | 14:03 | |
| For prisoners and those who are oppressed or persecuted, | 14:06 | |
| that they may have strength to be delivered. | 14:11 | |
| Hear us, oh Lord. | 14:15 | |
| For those who are enemies of the gospel of Christ, | 14:17 | |
| and who wrong their fellow men, that they may be reconciled. | 14:20 | |
| Hear us, oh Lord. | 14:25 | |
| For the dying that they may rise to eternal life. | 14:28 | |
| And for the departed that they may rest in peace. | 14:32 | |
| Hear us oh Lord. | 14:37 | |
| For our astronauts who will soon embark | 14:39 | |
| upon new explorations of thy universe, | 14:42 | |
| that their journey may be conducted in safety. | 14:45 | |
| Hear us, oh Lord. | 14:49 | |
| Let us commit ourselves one to another and to our God. | 14:52 | |
| Lord have mercy. | 14:57 | |
| Let us ask the Lord brotherly love | 14:59 | |
| by the help of his Holy Spirit. | 15:02 | |
| And for each one of us, the grace of a holy life. | 15:04 | |
| Lord have mercy. | 15:09 | |
| Let us remember before God, all who are near and dear to us, | 15:11 | |
| those present and those absent. | 15:16 | |
| That we may love and serve one another | 15:20 | |
| in the bond of Christ. | 15:22 | |
| Lord have mercy. | 15:24 | |
| Let us pray for our community and nation, | 15:27 | |
| that in all things, we may be honest and just, | 15:30 | |
| and free from prejudice, bitterness, sprain and fear. | 15:34 | |
| Lord have mercy. | 15:40 | |
| Heavenly father, you have promised to hear what we ask | 15:42 | |
| in the name of your son. | 15:46 | |
| We pray you accept and fulfill our petitions. | 15:49 | |
| Not as we ask in our ignorance and unworthiness, | 15:53 | |
| nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as you know, | 15:57 | |
| and love us in your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 16:01 | |
| Amen. | 16:06 | |
| And now we are bold to say, our father in heaven, | 16:07 | |
| holy be your name, your kingdom come, | 16:12 | |
| your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 16:16 | |
| Give us today our daily bread. | 16:21 | |
| Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. | 16:23 | |
| Save us on the time of trial and deliver us from evil. | 16:29 | |
| For yours is the kingdom, | 16:35 | |
| the power and the glory forever, amen. | 16:37 | |
| The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God | 16:41 | |
| and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, | 16:44 | |
| be with us always, amen. | 16:47 | |
| - | Grace to you and peace from God, our father, | 17:10 |
| and the Lord, Jesus Christ. | 17:14 | |
| Do you know what a parable is? | 17:19 | |
| Do you remember learning about it in Sunday school? | 17:24 | |
| I know that you can tell me the names | 17:30 | |
| of some of the parables. | 17:32 | |
| The good Samaritan, the prodigal son, | 17:35 | |
| the wise and foolish virgin, the talents. | 17:40 | |
| But can you define the word parable? | 17:45 | |
| Here is the definition which I learned | 17:52 | |
| in a Sunday school class in Glasgow, | 17:54 | |
| a parable is an earthly story, | 17:59 | |
| with a heavenly meaning. | 18:04 | |
| Parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. | 18:07 | |
| Do you know why I remember that? | 18:12 | |
| Because a classmate, | 18:15 | |
| on being asked to repeat the definition said, | 18:17 | |
| "A parable is a heavenly story with no earthly meaning." | 18:21 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 18:25 | |
| And there are many folk, even here this morning, | 18:29 | |
| who think just that. | 18:33 | |
| Parable is a short story usually, | 18:36 | |
| though not always, with one main point, | 18:40 | |
| which seeks to teach a spiritual or ethical lesson | 18:46 | |
| by making use of ordinary everyday events and experiences. | 18:51 | |
| Like a woman sweeping a room to find a lost coin, | 18:56 | |
| or a shepherd hunting for a sheep, | 19:03 | |
| which had become separated from the flock. | 19:06 | |
| Or a traveler who was beaten up | 19:11 | |
| on the Jerusalem-Jericho road. | 19:15 | |
| Now this morning's lesson, which Mr. Shepherd read for us, | 19:20 | |
| is listed under the heading parable, | 19:27 | |
| but it hardly fits in with the... | 19:32 | |
| Either with the usual definition | 19:35 | |
| or the normal subject matter. | 19:38 | |
| For the scene, is heaven. | 19:41 | |
| The time, is the end of the world or of the age. | 19:45 | |
| The setting, is the last judgment. | 19:51 | |
| It does seem to be a heavenly story with no earthly meaning. | 19:56 | |
| And yet here are two estimates of Matthew, 25:31-46. | 20:02 | |
| One interpreter says, "This passage, | 20:09 | |
| "is one of the supreme glories of the New Testament." | 20:14 | |
| And Montefiore, the famous Jewish commentator, | 20:21 | |
| says of this passage, "No pure account, | 20:27 | |
| "no more exquisite delineation of Christian philanthropy | 20:33 | |
| "was ever penned. | 20:38 | |
| "It is broad, liberal and truly religious." | 20:41 | |
| Now that is a Jewish scholar's estimate. | 20:47 | |
| I hope to show you that this is a heavenly story | 20:52 | |
| with a very earthly meeting. | 20:56 | |
| Will you think along with me about it? | 20:59 | |
| The setting of the parable | 21:03 | |
| is eschatological and apocalyptic. | 21:06 | |
| Now doesn't that sound awful, as well as in comprehensible? | 21:10 | |
| Let me try to explain it. | 21:15 | |
| Jesus is sitting, talking with his disciples | 21:17 | |
| at the end of a ministry which has failed. | 21:22 | |
| There are a few folk who are loyal to him, | 21:29 | |
| though they don't understand him. | 21:34 | |
| But he has been rejected and despised of men, | 21:37 | |
| all kinds of men. | 21:43 | |
| So his mind turns to the idea | 21:46 | |
| that the end of this old world maybe near. | 21:49 | |
| God may intervene dramatically | 21:57 | |
| with legions of the heavenly armies | 22:01 | |
| and establish his kingdom either on a renewed earth, | 22:05 | |
| or in heaven. | 22:09 | |
| There will be a day of testing, a final exam. | 22:13 | |
| When those who are not approved for membership in heaven, | 22:20 | |
| will be separated and excluded from those authenticated | 22:25 | |
| as citizens of the kingdom of God. | 22:31 | |
| Now Jesus' picture of the last things, | 22:35 | |
| is entirely conventional in its setting, | 22:39 | |
| though not in it's content. | 22:43 | |
| He uses the imagery of his Jewish contemporaries | 22:46 | |
| with all the nations gathered before the throne | 22:51 | |
| of the King Messiah, | 22:54 | |
| to hear the endless verdict. | 22:57 | |
| They're separated into two classes, | 23:00 | |
| white sheep and black goats, | 23:03 | |
| which colors we must remember, are first century | 23:07 | |
| Palestinian distinction without any eternal significance. | 23:12 | |
| The sheep, those on the right, are approved on six counts. | 23:18 | |
| They fed, watered, welcomed, clothed, | 23:24 | |
| called on and visited the King Messiah. | 23:30 | |
| And that floored the righteous. | 23:36 | |
| They knew that someone had blundered | 23:41 | |
| in deciding the quality points. | 23:45 | |
| And one can almost hear their minds working | 23:48 | |
| along this kind of a line, sir, your honor, your majesty, | 23:51 | |
| someone has made a lulu of a mistake. | 23:58 | |
| Someone has fouled up the celestial IBM cards, | 24:05 | |
| great cards. | 24:11 | |
| When did any one of us see you, of all people, | 24:14 | |
| hungry or thirsty or a stranger | 24:18 | |
| or in need of clothes or in hospital | 24:23 | |
| or in jail and sought to look after to you? | 24:28 | |
| You know we would have done it gladly, | 24:34 | |
| but to our best remembrance, we didn't. | 24:37 | |
| Sir, you've got the wrong gang. | 24:43 | |
| Though thank you very much, | 24:48 | |
| and all that kind of thing, you know. | 24:50 | |
| And the Rigo judge answered, | 24:55 | |
| "You did it quite unconsciously, | 24:57 | |
| "quite unknowingly to me. | 25:01 | |
| "Because what ever you did, | 25:06 | |
| "however insignificant for one of my brothers on earth, | 25:09 | |
| "however humble, you did it for me. | 25:15 | |
| "Come on in, you deserve it." | 25:21 | |
| And you can see the worthy sheep looking at one another, | 25:28 | |
| scratching their heads and saying, | 25:32 | |
| "Well, it doesn't make sense, but if it's okay by him, | 25:35 | |
| "it's okay by us." | 25:41 | |
| And the unintentional saints go marching in, | 25:45 | |
| thoroughly embarrassed and astonishingly amused. | 25:50 | |
| And then the judge turns to the black goats, | 25:57 | |
| and he says, "Go to hell." | 26:03 | |
| Now this rendition upsets my wife, | 26:09 | |
| because she doesn't think that the king Messiah, | 26:15 | |
| especially if he be Jesus, would use language like that. | 26:19 | |
| Well, verse 41 says, | 26:26 | |
| in the good old authorized King James version, | 26:28 | |
| and agreed to buy the revised standard version, | 26:32 | |
| and the new English Bible, | 26:35 | |
| "Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire | 26:38 | |
| "prepared for the devil and his angels." | 26:44 | |
| Which seems to me to be a highfalutin way | 26:48 | |
| of saying, go to hell. | 26:52 | |
| But like Queen Victoria and some of you here, now listening, | 26:56 | |
| my wife is not amused. | 27:01 | |
| Neither are the folk on the left. | 27:05 | |
| They are all upset. | 27:10 | |
| And their unspoken reaction is, | 27:13 | |
| "Sir, your honor, "your majesty, | 27:15 | |
| "there has been a terrible mistake made somewhere. | 27:20 | |
| "Some bookkeeper has goofed magnificently. | 27:25 | |
| "We would have been the first people | 27:30 | |
| "to take care of any of your needs on earth. | 27:33 | |
| "Food, drink, introductions to the right people, | 27:36 | |
| "clothing, sickness. | 27:42 | |
| "We would even have visited you in jail. | 27:45 | |
| "Though why you would have landed there is beyond our ken. | 27:49 | |
| "Do you realize that we are pillars of the church? | 27:54 | |
| "Not flying buttresses supporting from the outside. | 27:59 | |
| "But pillars, folk who hold up your church from the inside. | 28:04 | |
| "One of my brothers is on the board of stewards | 28:11 | |
| "in the Methodist church. | 28:14 | |
| "Another is an Episcopalian Bess Truman. | 28:16 | |
| "And I'm a Presbyterian elder on the Kirk session. | 28:20 | |
| "My wife is always the Madonna in the Christmas pageant. | 28:25 | |
| "Don't you know us? | 28:30 | |
| "What did we do wrong? | 28:33 | |
| "Where did we go wrong?" | 28:34 | |
| And the judge will tell them, | 28:39 | |
| "You paid no personal conscious attention to the poor, | 28:41 | |
| "the underprivileged, the down and almost out, | 28:48 | |
| "who are, you'll never believe this, | 28:55 | |
| "my brothers and sisters. | 28:59 | |
| "So go away. | 29:03 | |
| "You wouldn't be happy in heaven anyhow, | 29:07 | |
| "among all that spiritual riffraff, | 29:11 | |
| "as you must have considered them." | 29:15 | |
| And, listen to this, and according to the editing | 29:19 | |
| of Matthew, Mark and Luke, | 29:24 | |
| the sheep and the goats was the last parable | 29:30 | |
| which Jesus ever told. | 29:35 | |
| The last parable he ever told. | 29:41 | |
| Now isn't that a word from God in this parable? | 29:50 | |
| I know that one must be canny | 29:55 | |
| about constructing a theology from these picture stories, | 29:58 | |
| at least so the biblical and systematic theologians warning. | 30:03 | |
| And yet the parable seemed to have been the main vehicle | 30:09 | |
| of Jesus' teaching when he talked. | 30:14 | |
| And one New Testament scholar, | 30:19 | |
| goes so far as to say about this parable, | 30:21 | |
| "Few passages so disclosed the mind of Christ | 30:25 | |
| "as this one does." | 30:30 | |
| What Jesus seems to offer here, | 30:36 | |
| is the test, | 30:40 | |
| positive and negative for entrance into heaven and hell. | 30:42 | |
| What is it? | 30:52 | |
| Well, let's ask a question or two. | 30:54 | |
| What lands a person in hell? | 30:57 | |
| Strangely enough, nothing is said here about any evil | 31:01 | |
| which he actually does. | 31:08 | |
| What are known as the sins of commission, commission. | 31:11 | |
| It is what a person doesn't do, | 31:18 | |
| the sins of omission, which damn him. | 31:23 | |
| He may be a respectable sort of soul | 31:30 | |
| in the eyes of his neighbors, | 31:33 | |
| but his final score is, no runs, no hits, no errors. | 31:35 | |
| He's an all round cipher. | 31:43 | |
| Nothing like Tomlinson in Kipling's poem. | 31:46 | |
| He is insensitive to others, | 31:51 | |
| blind to needs not his own, | 31:55 | |
| separated, except superficially, | 31:59 | |
| from those who are not of the same past, race, denomination. | 32:03 | |
| He is impassive, unconcerned | 32:11 | |
| and unfeeling outside his own circle. | 32:15 | |
| He may pass for a good man, | 32:20 | |
| but it's good in the worst sense of the word. | 32:24 | |
| There's no breadth to his vision, no depth to his spirit. | 32:30 | |
| No great dimension to his heart. | 32:35 | |
| On the other hand, what gets a person into heaven? | 32:41 | |
| Strangely enough, his good deeds for others | 32:47 | |
| do not expect and guarantee his entry. | 32:52 | |
| In the story, the heaven bound were completely surprised | 32:58 | |
| that that was their destination. | 33:04 | |
| The end of the line. | 33:08 | |
| There is no justification of justification by works | 33:10 | |
| in this parable. | 33:16 | |
| Their deeds were but the outward and visible sign | 33:19 | |
| of an inward character, | 33:24 | |
| which was shot through with concern and caring | 33:28 | |
| and outgoing goodwill. | 33:34 | |
| There is within them, a wellspring of human kindness, | 33:37 | |
| which is not exhibited in occasional philanthropy, | 33:43 | |
| but in a steady, faithful flow of love. | 33:48 | |
| I noticed this, unmotivated, | 33:53 | |
| unmotivated by any sense of reward. | 33:58 | |
| They are good for nothing. | 34:06 | |
| For free. | 34:11 | |
| The test then for entrance into heaven or hell is character. | 34:15 | |
| Inclusive or exclusive. | 34:21 | |
| Other embracing or self seeking. | 34:25 | |
| Benevolent or hard-hearted. | 34:30 | |
| Do you know what this parable does not tell us | 34:36 | |
| in so many words? | 34:39 | |
| That the sheep reveal God's character, | 34:42 | |
| Jesus' character. | 34:49 | |
| And do you know what character is? | 34:53 | |
| That which is durably engraved | 34:56 | |
| in the deep places of a person's spirit. | 35:02 | |
| That which is durably engraved in the deep places, | 35:07 | |
| of a person's spirit. | 35:14 | |
| Now if character is the test | 35:18 | |
| for membership in heaven or hell, | 35:20 | |
| there are going to be some surprising folk in both places. | 35:25 | |
| Now what does this say to us today? | 35:33 | |
| There are just three suggestions, I'm making closing. | 35:35 | |
| First, do not despise or poo poo | 35:39 | |
| or underestimate these practical, concrete, | 35:45 | |
| physical manifestations of a loving spirit. | 35:50 | |
| Let one illustration dramatize their exemplary value. | 35:54 | |
| Two weeks ago, I talked to you about Albert Schweitzer. | 36:00 | |
| Probably one of the few people in the world who has ever | 36:05 | |
| earned four doctors' degrees, | 36:09 | |
| and must have about 30 others, in fact, | 36:15 | |
| Edinburgh university didn't know what to do to honor him. | 36:17 | |
| He'd been honored so much, so you know what they did? | 36:20 | |
| They gave him two different honorary degrees | 36:23 | |
| at the same ceremony. | 36:25 | |
| Now when a Scottish university gives you one, | 36:27 | |
| that's something. | 36:29 | |
| But when they give you two at once.. | 36:31 | |
| Well, old Albert Schweitzer | 36:34 | |
| came to this country 20 years ago, 20 years ago this month, | 36:37 | |
| for his only visit to the United States. | 36:41 | |
| He left the train in Chicago to stretch his legs | 36:45 | |
| and chat with some friends. | 36:49 | |
| Suddenly, he saw a woman | 36:51 | |
| struggling to carry two heavy suitcases. | 36:54 | |
| And Schweitzer deserted his friends, | 37:00 | |
| grabbed the bags and carried them into the train for her. | 37:04 | |
| You know, what happened? | 37:10 | |
| An ethical chain reaction set in. | 37:12 | |
| Overawed and shamed by this display of spiritual gallantry | 37:17 | |
| on the part of a 74 year old, | 37:23 | |
| several others spotted heavily-laden travelers, | 37:25 | |
| and went to their assistance. | 37:30 | |
| And I wonder if Schweitzer heard a voice say to him, | 37:33 | |
| after he died, | 37:38 | |
| "I was a wayfarer, and you carried my bag. | 37:40 | |
| "Two of them." | 37:47 | |
| Isn't this the kind of thing the BlueJeans | 37:50 | |
| do on this campus and in Durham? | 37:53 | |
| Isn't this the kind of work which our students do | 37:58 | |
| at the VA Hospital and the Spastic Hospital. | 38:00 | |
| Aren't some of them, thanks to our offerings, | 38:05 | |
| at this university service of worship, | 38:08 | |
| acting in this fashion right now, | 38:11 | |
| in Bolivia and Nicaragua? | 38:14 | |
| And time fails me to tell of the pink ladies | 38:18 | |
| and the candy stripers in the hospital auxiliary, | 38:22 | |
| and rooms painted at the Negro YWCA. | 38:28 | |
| And the day in day out service at Egmond. | 38:33 | |
| This parable is being repeated daily, | 38:37 | |
| and repeated by people who aren't particularly worried | 38:43 | |
| about getting into heaven. | 38:49 | |
| Second, let us recognize that there is such a thing | 38:53 | |
| as holy, H O L Y, | 38:57 | |
| holy secularism. | 39:00 | |
| The outgoing goodness of people | 39:04 | |
| who make no outward profession of religious commitment. | 39:07 | |
| There are many such people on this campus. | 39:13 | |
| They love, though they do not recognize God as their father. | 39:17 | |
| Though I think he recognizes them as his sons and daughters. | 39:27 | |
| Hospital chaplain called me the other day | 39:35 | |
| about the dedication of the hospital chapel. | 39:37 | |
| It is an interfaith worship center, | 39:43 | |
| therefore representatives of Judaism, Roman Catholicism | 39:46 | |
| and Protestantism, will have to take part in the service. | 39:51 | |
| The chaplain then said, "I want a fourth person. | 39:56 | |
| "A representative of the gracious goodness, | 40:01 | |
| "which makes no usual credal affirmation." | 40:06 | |
| I told him ,I was writing this sermon, | 40:13 | |
| and that I just had to agree with him, | 40:18 | |
| because of the parable. | 40:21 | |
| Evidently our Lord was aware of a holy secularism. | 40:25 | |
| And third, and last, but remember this parable, | 40:34 | |
| when we think of James Foreman and his black manifesto, | 40:40 | |
| demanding $500 million, | 40:47 | |
| from the racist religious establishment. | 40:50 | |
| If we concentrate on the demands | 40:55 | |
| and the interruption of services of worship, | 41:00 | |
| and the seizure of buildings, | 41:04 | |
| and the disruption of our normal ecclesiastical tenor, | 41:08 | |
| then we shall be provoked, and defensive and angry, | 41:12 | |
| and probably rightly so. | 41:19 | |
| But if we hear what he's really asking us, do you care? | 41:25 | |
| Do you care much? | 41:32 | |
| Do you care enough? | 41:38 | |
| Then in the light of the last parable of Jesus, | 41:43 | |
| what are we going to say in response? | 41:49 | |
| But after one studies the parable, | 41:55 | |
| James Foreman begins to haunt the reader, | 42:00 | |
| because we have to answer James Foreman and Jesus. | 42:06 | |
| Well, have I made my point? | 42:16 | |
| Does this parable seem to be a heavenly story, | 42:18 | |
| with an earthly meaning? | 42:23 | |
| Is it frask to give us counsel for the direction | 42:26 | |
| of our lives in the present | 42:31 | |
| rather than to picture what's going to take place | 42:35 | |
| in the future? | 42:39 | |
| Is it, as Hunter said, | 42:41 | |
| one of the supreme glories of the New Testament? | 42:43 | |
| What are we gonna do about it? | 42:51 | |
| Well, let us concentrate on it now, | 42:54 | |
| as we adapt a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi | 42:59 | |
| to conclude this sermon. | 43:04 | |
| Let us pray. | 43:07 | |
| Lord, make us instruments of thy peace. | 43:11 | |
| Where there is hatred, Let us sow love. | 43:17 | |
| Where there is injury, pardon. | 43:24 | |
| Where there is despair, hope. | 43:29 | |
| Where there is darkness, light. | 43:35 | |
| Where there is sadness, joy. | 43:39 | |
| Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled | 43:44 | |
| as to console. | 43:50 | |
| Not so much seek to be understood, | 43:54 | |
| as to understand. | 43:57 | |
| Not so much seek to be loved, | 44:01 | |
| as to love. | 44:07 | |
| Amen. | 44:10 | |
| (organ playing) | 44:20 | |
| (choir singing) | 45:13 | |
| (organ playing) | 47:17 | |
| (choir singing) | 48:20 | |
| (organ playing) | 51:25 | |
| (choir singing) | 54:14 | |
| Let us pray. | 54:46 | |
| All things are thine, | 54:48 | |
| no gift have we Lord of all gifts to offer thee, | 54:50 | |
| and hence with grateful hearts today, | 54:55 | |
| thy noon before thy feet, we lay, amen. | 54:58 | |
| And now may the peace of God | 55:03 | |
| which passeth all understanding, | 55:04 | |
| keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God | 55:07 | |
| and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 55:11 | |
| And the blessing of God almighty, the father, | 55:15 | |
| the son, and the Holy Ghost, | 55:18 | |
| be amongst you and remain with you always. | 55:21 | |
| Amen. | 55:26 | |
| (choir singing) | 55:31 | |
| (bell clanging) | 56:46 | |
| (organ playing) | 57:05 | |
| (congregation chattering) | 57:47 | |
| (woman vocalizing) | 58:16 | |
| (congregation chattering) | 58:22 | |
| (whistling) | 1:00:56 | |
| (congregation chatter) | 1:01:03 |