Creighton Lacy - "No Strings?" (November 16, 1969)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(hymnal singing overshadowed by instruments) | 0:03 | |
- | Let us offer unto God our unison prayer of confession | 5:16 |
and for pardon, let us pray. | 5:23 | |
Almighty God, we humbly acknowledge before thee, | 5:30 | |
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed | 5:36 | |
by our fault, our own fault, | 5:43 | |
our own most grievous fault. | 5:48 | |
Merciful Lord, we confess our sins, | 5:52 | |
have mercy upon us and help us. | 5:58 | |
Blot out our many sins and offenses, pardon and deliver us | 6:03 | |
and give grace of amendment to us | 6:12 | |
and to all thy faithful people. | 6:15 | |
Make us worthy to offer unto thee glory and thanksgiving. | 6:20 | |
Wash away oh, Lord God, the foul pollution | 6:28 | |
of our souls and cleanse us with the water of life | 6:33 | |
that in all purity and holiness | 6:39 | |
we may be accounted worthy to enter thy presence, | 6:43 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 6:49 | |
Amen. | 6:53 | |
And hear these words of assurance of the forgiveness | 6:56 | |
of sins as recorded in the New Testament. | 7:01 | |
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just | 7:09 | |
and we'll forgive our sins and cleanse us | 7:18 | |
from all unrighteousness. | 7:24 | |
Jesus said, him who comes to me | 7:27 | |
I will not cast out. | 7:34 | |
This saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance | 7:39 | |
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. | 7:46 | |
Therefore be of good courage. | 7:56 | |
(hymnal singing) | 8:06 | |
♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪ | 8:59 | |
♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪ | 9:37 | |
♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪ | 10:00 | |
♪ Amen, amen ♪ | 10:25 | |
(opera hymnal singing) | 10:53 | |
- | Today's lesson is taken from the Luke 9. | 11:57 |
Now about eight days after these sayings, | 12:02 | |
he took with him Peter and James and John | 12:05 | |
and went up on the mounting to pray and as he was praying | 12:10 | |
his appearance of his countenance was altered | 12:16 | |
and his reignment became dazzling white | 12:21 | |
and behold two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah | 12:24 | |
who appeared in holy and spoke of his departure | 12:31 | |
which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. | 12:36 | |
Now, Peter, and those who were | 12:41 | |
with him were heavy with sleep, but kept awake. | 12:43 | |
And they saw his glory and the two men who stood | 12:48 | |
with him and as the men were partying from him | 12:52 | |
Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is well that we are here. | 12:58 | |
Let us make three booths, | 13:05 | |
one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah, | 13:07 | |
not knowing what he said. | 13:13 | |
As he said this, a cloud came and overshadowed them | 13:16 | |
and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. | 13:22 | |
And a voice came out of the cloud saying, | 13:27 | |
this is my son, my chosen, listen to him. | 13:32 | |
And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone | 13:38 | |
and they kept silence and told no one in those days | 13:43 | |
anything of what they had seen. | 13:49 | |
On the next day when they had come down | 13:53 | |
from the mountain, a great crowd met him and behold | 13:56 | |
a man from the crowd cried, | 14:02 | |
teacher, I beg you to look upon my son | 14:05 | |
for he is my only child and behold a spirit seizes him | 14:10 | |
and he suddenly cries out, it convulses him till he falls | 14:17 | |
and shatters him and will hardly leave him. | 14:25 | |
And I begged your disciples to cast it out, | 14:30 | |
but they could not. | 14:35 | |
Jesus answered, oh faithless and perverse generation. | 14:38 | |
How long am I to be with you and bear with you? | 14:44 | |
Bring your son here, while he was coming | 14:50 | |
the demon tore him and convulsed him, | 14:56 | |
but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit | 15:00 | |
and healed the boy and gave him back to his father | 15:05 | |
and all were astonished at the majesty of God. | 15:11 | |
May God bless to us the reading of his own word. | 15:17 | |
♪ Glory be to the Father ♪ | 15:33 | |
♪ And to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ♪ | 15:38 | |
♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ | 15:49 | |
♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪ | 15:55 | |
♪ World without end, amen, amen ♪ | 16:01 | |
The Lord be with you. | 16:15 | |
- | And with your spirit. | 16:18 |
- | Let us pray. | 16:20 |
Let us offer first to prayer of Thanksgiving. | 16:31 | |
We do praise and thank thee oh God, | 16:37 | |
for all great and simple joys, | 16:41 | |
for the gift of wonder and the joy of discovery. | 16:47 | |
For the everlasting freshness of experience. | 16:54 | |
For all that comes to us through sympathy and through sorrow | 17:01 | |
and for the joy of work attempted and achieved. | 17:10 | |
For musicians, poets and craftsmen | 17:17 | |
and for all who work in form and color | 17:23 | |
to increase the beauty of life. | 17:28 | |
For the likeness of Jesus in ordinary people, | 17:34 | |
their forbearance, courage and kindness | 17:41 | |
and for all obscure and humble lives of service. | 17:50 | |
For all these great and simple joys, | 17:57 | |
we give thee humble and hearty thanks. | 18:03 | |
And let us offer two prayers of intercession. | 18:11 | |
One for the astronauts and the other | 18:17 | |
for the world in trouble. | 18:23 | |
All mighty God, creator and sustainer | 18:29 | |
who knows the paths of the air. | 18:36 | |
We commend to thee the three astronauts, courageous, skilled | 18:42 | |
confident, keep them in the hollow of thy hand, | 18:52 | |
be it in life or in death. | 19:00 | |
Thou Father of us all. | 19:05 | |
Oh God, the Father who has made of one blood, | 19:11 | |
all the nations of the earth. | 19:15 | |
We pray that strength and courage abundant | 19:20 | |
be given to all who work for a world of reason | 19:23 | |
and understanding. | 19:29 | |
We pray that the good which lies in every man's heart | 19:33 | |
may day by day, be magnified. | 19:38 | |
We pray that men will come to see more clearly | 19:43 | |
not that which divides them, but that which unites them. | 19:48 | |
We pray that each hour may bring us closer | 19:57 | |
to a final victory, not of nation over nation, | 20:01 | |
but of man over his own evils and weakness. | 20:11 | |
And all this we pray for Jesus Christ sake. | 20:18 | |
And let us offer a prayer of supplication. | 20:26 | |
Oh, God, who hast made the church a Royal priesthood, | 20:32 | |
hear us as we pray for the gifts of gaiety and freedom | 20:39 | |
and simplicity, for laughter, kindness, generosity | 20:46 | |
gentleness, honor, courtesy and self control. | 20:57 | |
For the consecration of the discontent of the young. | 21:09 | |
For wisdom in the conservatism of the middle aged. | 21:17 | |
For resiliency in the obstinacy of the aged, | 21:26 | |
help us both to know and to acknowledge that the standard | 21:35 | |
for man's life has been shown us in Jesus Christ, Our Lord. | 21:42 | |
And now as our savior Christ has taught us | 21:55 | |
we humbly pray together saying. | 21:59 | |
Our father who art in heaven. | 22:03 | |
Hallowed to thy name, thy kingdom come. | 22:08 | |
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 22:14 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread | 22:20 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 22:25 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 22:28 | |
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us | 22:33 | |
from evil for thine is the kingdom | 22:38 | |
and the power and the glory forever. | 22:42 | |
Amen. | 22:49 | |
- | This past summer the Christian Science Monitor | 23:18 |
printed a bit of free verse that captured my fancy | 23:22 | |
as I hope it will capture yours. | 23:26 | |
For what you do with it is far more important | 23:29 | |
than what I try to with it this morning. | 23:33 | |
It is entitled "Inkling by Inkling", by Doris Peel. | 23:37 | |
There are I think two kinds of people on this our earth, | 23:46 | |
those for whom paradise presents itself | 23:52 | |
as a point of arrival, a perfection of stillness, | 23:56 | |
an ineffable cessation of all the sound. | 24:01 | |
And those for whom always the ultimate delight must lie | 24:06 | |
in what perpetually glimmers ahead, | 24:10 | |
the mystery and the miracle of the undisclosed | 24:14 | |
of the path curved frontally through the secret wood | 24:18 | |
or swung out bolded precocious height. | 24:23 | |
Neither prepduction it would seem has anything, | 24:28 | |
whatever to do with race or nationality | 24:32 | |
or class or sex or with age either if it comes to that, | 24:37 | |
for I asked yesterday a little girl I know, | 24:44 | |
what do you think heaven is like? | 24:48 | |
And she said gazing rapidly at where we sat | 24:52 | |
in a Psalm of a valley full of flowers, | 24:56 | |
oh, like this only all the time. | 25:00 | |
When I asked a little boy flying a kite | 25:07 | |
not quite the same thing, | 25:09 | |
but what if he could, he would always do. | 25:12 | |
He said looking up, be like a kite | 25:17 | |
and added as if tugging from his own two shoes, | 25:22 | |
but without any strings | 25:27 | |
Most of us find ourselves at one time or another | 25:33 | |
with these conflicting impulses, these contrasting natures. | 25:38 | |
There are times when we yearn | 25:44 | |
for the stillness of wooded hills | 25:45 | |
and other times when we need | 25:48 | |
the turbulence of the sea shore. | 25:50 | |
But even then our temperaments steer us on different quests. | 25:53 | |
One may choose the mountains to gaze | 25:58 | |
at Tramco vistas or to test his vigor against rugged peaks | 26:01 | |
which must be scaled because they are there. | 26:07 | |
One may exalt in the challenge of the surf, | 26:11 | |
the wind and the spray and the ceaseless tides | 26:14 | |
or one may prefer the beach for a quiet snooze | 26:19 | |
on sun baked sand with the waves no more than a lullaby. | 26:23 | |
So let us assume that the poet is right | 26:29 | |
that their are two kinds of people on this our earth | 26:31 | |
and try to identify ourselves and our priorities. | 26:37 | |
The designations of active and passive are far too simple | 26:44 | |
but there are people for whom paradise presents itself | 26:49 | |
as a point of arrival, a perfection of stillness | 26:54 | |
an end to striving, a haven of detachment. | 26:59 | |
Some of us in this mood have stood this past fortnight | 27:05 | |
awed by the splendor of an autumn maple | 27:09 | |
and cried with Edna St. Vincent Malay, | 27:13 | |
Lord, I do fear thou made the world too beautiful this year. | 27:17 | |
My soul is old but out of me, let fall no burning leave. | 27:23 | |
Privy let no bird call. | 27:28 | |
There are some students and faculty | 27:34 | |
for whom the academic life is indeed an ivory tower, | 27:38 | |
a sanctuary and an escape | 27:43 | |
from what we glibly term involvement. | 27:46 | |
This is not to deny the importance of scholarship | 27:50 | |
of abstract as well as applied research. | 27:54 | |
On the contrary most of us spend far too little of our time | 27:58 | |
of our education, as well as our total life | 28:03 | |
in meditation, in evaluation, in contemplation of the deeper | 28:07 | |
broader implications of what we read or do. | 28:13 | |
But all of us are aware of the temptation | 28:20 | |
to accept an ineffable cessation of all effort | 28:23 | |
to regard college as a point of arrival instead | 28:27 | |
of a point of departure. | 28:30 | |
Outwardly free of any responsibility | 28:33 | |
more taxing than term papers or girls in dormitory rooms | 28:36 | |
in this carefree interlude while daddy or big daddy Duke | 28:42 | |
is paying the bills, it is not difficult | 28:48 | |
even in the midst of fashionable objections | 28:51 | |
to act as if heaven is all like this, | 28:55 | |
only all the time. | 29:00 | |
Charles Morgan in a sensitive description | 29:05 | |
of liberal education says of teachers, | 29:08 | |
he whom we love and remember will pull the curtain away | 29:12 | |
from the classroom window and let us see | 29:16 | |
our own heaven with our own eyes. | 29:20 | |
But he goes on to add, this enables mind of mankind. | 29:25 | |
I take to be the function of true education | 29:30 | |
for the very word means a leading out and to lead | 29:33 | |
out the spirit of man through the wise liberating | 29:39 | |
self discipline of learning and wonder | 29:43 | |
has been the glory of great teachers | 29:48 | |
and great universities since civilization began to flower. | 29:50 | |
Surely today, as never before that leading out | 29:58 | |
pulls us away from the blissful window toward heaven | 30:02 | |
into the dark alley of slums, | 30:07 | |
into peace Corps projects in Nigeria and Nepal. | 30:11 | |
Into death marches on behalf of life. | 30:16 | |
For others the church remains a sum of a valley | 30:23 | |
full of flowers. | 30:27 | |
When traditional values are in flux, | 30:29 | |
when one stable institutions are under attack | 30:32 | |
a faithful few, still run to the church as a hiding place, | 30:35 | |
a shelter from the storms of life. | 30:40 | |
When, as in the moral debates | 30:45 | |
which surrounded air raid shelters, a few panicky years ago | 30:47 | |
Christians still barricade the doors | 30:52 | |
against those of the wrong color or creed, | 30:55 | |
the heresy grows more blasphemous. | 30:59 | |
The most moving and perhaps most ironic moment | 31:04 | |
in two years in India came for me when | 31:07 | |
a spectacular, colorful republic day festivities | 31:11 | |
in the capital are closed with an old British custom | 31:15 | |
of beating the retreat. | 31:20 | |
Amid military pomp and circumstance | 31:23 | |
and haunting Indian melodies, | 31:26 | |
the Bugle Corps plays a version of "Abide With Me", | 31:30 | |
echoing and re-echoing from the balconies | 31:36 | |
of the imposing sandstone secretariat. | 31:40 | |
Change and decay in all around I see, | 31:44 | |
oh thou who changes not, abide with me. | 31:51 | |
But so often we Christians mistake the eternal God | 31:59 | |
who changes not for his very human institution, the church, | 32:04 | |
and pray for it to preserve and protect us | 32:09 | |
instead of for him to abide vital and active in our lives. | 32:14 | |
But the world does change whether | 32:23 | |
we regard it as decay or progress. | 32:25 | |
The structures of empire pass into other hands. | 32:30 | |
The valley rose cold. | 32:35 | |
The leaf does fall, paradise as a perfection | 32:38 | |
of stillness becomes deafening and deadening. | 32:44 | |
Even for this quiet ascent temperament human restlessness | 32:50 | |
rebels at anything which goes on all the time. | 32:54 | |
One of our international students brought to me this week | 33:01 | |
a moving poem, eloquent in thought and in feeling | 33:04 | |
and especially in the use of a foreign language. | 33:09 | |
In it he likened his new insights, his expanded intellectual | 33:13 | |
and theological horizons to Niagara falls, | 33:19 | |
which he saw for the first time last summer. | 33:24 | |
A tremendous outpouring of energy | 33:28 | |
from the racing stream at the top to the tempestuous | 33:31 | |
and terrifying whirlpools at the bottom. | 33:35 | |
Yet he was profoundly conscious of the continuity | 33:39 | |
of water and of motion and of power. | 33:44 | |
And that suggests quite naturally the alternative kind | 33:52 | |
of people on this, our earth, those for whom the ultimate | 33:56 | |
delight must lie in what perpetually glimmers ahead, | 34:01 | |
the mystery and the miracle of the undisclosed. | 34:06 | |
Expert participant or envious spectator | 34:11 | |
thrills to the excitement of a crouching figure | 34:14 | |
riding the crest of a snow bank or a gigantic breaker. | 34:18 | |
For centuries, man has looked up into space | 34:23 | |
and yearned to be like a kite. | 34:27 | |
Compare for example the number of people who will be gazing | 34:31 | |
at the moon through electronic eyes this week | 34:35 | |
with a number who even know or care | 34:40 | |
what went on in Washington yesterday | 34:44 | |
or in Helsinki, Finland tomorrow. | 34:48 | |
When the human spirit no longer soars in music and art, | 34:54 | |
in the scientific laboratory, | 34:59 | |
in outer space and in the inner depths of man, it will die. | 35:02 | |
That is why CP Snow sounded a sober warning | 35:10 | |
after the first moon landing, but limitations of time | 35:14 | |
and space may make the moon or Mars a final barrier | 35:19 | |
to man's distant exploration rather than an open door. | 35:25 | |
It surely it must be our Christian hope that even | 35:31 | |
before we come to the outer limits of our cosmic dreams | 35:36 | |
we may turn in to find a challenge, a joy, | 35:41 | |
a thrill in exploring and enabling the interpersonal | 35:47 | |
and the inner personal relationships of this little globe. | 35:54 | |
What the boy with the kite failed to realize | 36:02 | |
like so many of us is the importance of that string. | 36:06 | |
Art or science, casual exaltation, or earnest effort, | 36:12 | |
flying kites depends directly | 36:17 | |
on the tug of the wind against that string | 36:20 | |
on the tension between unpredictable air and guiding hand. | 36:24 | |
There are many situations where that restraining rope | 36:32 | |
comes in handy. | 36:35 | |
All you water skiers know what happens when | 36:38 | |
your toe line breaks or gets entangled. | 36:41 | |
A few weeks ago, I saw a movie shot about sky divers | 36:45 | |
jumping from their planes, clasping hands | 36:50 | |
and performing incredible ballets in space. | 36:53 | |
With the carefree ease and grace | 36:58 | |
mankind has always envied birds, | 37:00 | |
but sooner or later generally sooner, | 37:05 | |
the pool of gravity went out and the sky dancers | 37:09 | |
had to jerk the cord which released | 37:13 | |
a billowing parachute above them | 37:15 | |
and even supported by dozens of strings, | 37:19 | |
some of them suffered ignominiously, bumpy landings | 37:23 | |
as a price for their dalliance on the wind. | 37:27 | |
Some of you come to college eager to make | 37:34 | |
like a kite carefree and blowing in the wind, | 37:37 | |
but without any string. | 37:41 | |
Some of you want your religious | 37:44 | |
or even your moral lives to float unrestrained | 37:46 | |
in a dazzling sky only to end in a tangled mess. | 37:49 | |
Freedom without responsibility. | 37:57 | |
Self expression without service. | 38:00 | |
Kites without strings. | 38:05 | |
The ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel is full of incidents | 38:13 | |
involving this tension between freedom and responsibility. | 38:17 | |
Mrs. Cash read only a small portion of it. | 38:22 | |
The chapter begins with Jesus sending out | 38:26 | |
the 12 disciples on a somewhat random journey. | 38:29 | |
They were to be foot loose gypsies | 38:34 | |
or should I say bearded hippies with long hair | 38:37 | |
and sandals taking with them, no bag or bread or money | 38:40 | |
not even a second shirt to wear | 38:45 | |
while they waited in the laundromat | 38:47 | |
Their route was vague, their accomodation questionable, | 38:51 | |
but they had been given a mission, | 38:57 | |
specific power and authority | 39:00 | |
and they accomplished their task of preaching | 39:04 | |
the good news of the kingdom of God | 39:07 | |
and healing people everywhere. | 39:10 | |
Jesus was not going to allow them to sit any longer rapidly | 39:15 | |
in a Psalm of a valley only all the time | 39:19 | |
nor did he encourage as he sent them forth to soar | 39:23 | |
in his kingdom, that their journey could be | 39:27 | |
without purpose without any strings. | 39:30 | |
We are told that Herod the Tetrarch was perplexed, | 39:36 | |
he thought he was in control of that region. | 39:40 | |
He thought he'd taken care of unauthorized agitation | 39:42 | |
by having John the Baptist beheaded. | 39:46 | |
Yet here were more itinerants wandering around his territory | 39:50 | |
performing a mission of physical | 39:55 | |
and spiritual reconciliation under the authority | 39:57 | |
of a Galilee carpenter. | 40:02 | |
So Herod wanted to see this young prophet who was hailed | 40:04 | |
as a reincarnate John or Elijah | 40:09 | |
When the disciples returned, they needed rest and meditation | 40:14 | |
and quiet conversation, but crowds followed them | 40:19 | |
and Jesus welcomed the opportunity to preach and to heal. | 40:23 | |
And then comes that too familiar story | 40:29 | |
of the loaves and the fishes. | 40:32 | |
We usually focus on the miracle itself | 40:35 | |
and on the astonishing party of food left | 40:38 | |
over 12 baskets of broken pieces. | 40:41 | |
But you will remember | 40:46 | |
that the disciples tried to duck responsibility | 40:47 | |
for the crowd, send them away into the villages | 40:51 | |
and country roundabout to lodge and get provisions, | 40:55 | |
they advised Jesus. | 40:59 | |
For we are here in a lonely place. | 41:01 | |
In one of the sharpest commands recorded in the Gospels, | 41:06 | |
Jesus retorted, you give them something to eat. | 41:10 | |
Sure, we didn't invite them here on the mountain | 41:18 | |
and we haven't got enough money to call | 41:20 | |
out the caterer's truck. | 41:23 | |
But those who join the company of Jesus, | 41:26 | |
who venture out into the mystery | 41:29 | |
and the miracle of the undisclosed, | 41:32 | |
cannot do so without responsibility without strings. | 41:35 | |
Then came the embarrassing inquiry about who people | 41:43 | |
thought Jesus really was John, the Baptist, | 41:46 | |
Elijah, one of the old prophets arisen, | 41:50 | |
the same answers that had been given to Herod. | 41:54 | |
But when Peter blurted out his conviction | 41:57 | |
that this was the Christ of God, | 42:01 | |
swung out bold at precipice height, as our poet put it | 42:04 | |
his pride and joy were quickly sobered. | 42:09 | |
Peter and the others may have felt that in this revelation | 42:14 | |
they could soar with their master | 42:17 | |
into the kingdom of heaven, politically and spiritually | 42:19 | |
liberated from the mundane world. | 42:23 | |
But again, Jesus rebuked them admonishing | 42:27 | |
not only secrecy, but suffering. | 42:31 | |
Warning them not only of his own rejection and death, | 42:35 | |
but of the cross that they too would have to carry. | 42:40 | |
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, | 42:45 | |
take up his cross daily, lose his life for my sake. | 42:51 | |
As if fearing that the import of these episodes | 43:01 | |
might still be overlooked, | 43:04 | |
Luke picks up yet another incident eight days later, | 43:06 | |
the account of the transfiguration | 43:11 | |
in this morning's lesson. | 43:13 | |
Drowsily while Jesus himself had been praying, | 43:17 | |
Peter and James and John saw a dazzling vision | 43:21 | |
and overheard Moses and Elijah | 43:25 | |
speaking about the Messiah's destiny in Jerusalem. | 43:28 | |
How tempting to make three booths, to build three shrines, | 43:33 | |
to celebrate a spectacular event. | 43:41 | |
Paradise had presented itself to them | 43:45 | |
as a point of arrival, a sensation of all climbing. | 43:48 | |
According to Luke's narrative, | 43:54 | |
Moses and Elijah had been doing the talking | 43:56 | |
yet, God's voice from the cloud was unequivocal. | 44:00 | |
This is my son, my chosen listen to him. | 44:05 | |
At least Stevenson in, "Called To Greatness" | 44:15 | |
wrote, I sometimes think that what Americans need more | 44:19 | |
than anything else is a hearing aid. | 44:23 | |
This applies not only to hearing | 44:29 | |
and heeding the voice of other people's whose destinies | 44:31 | |
we so often manipulate with guns or dollars, | 44:35 | |
but also to listening to God's son. | 44:41 | |
Jesus frequently needed a retreat for prayer | 44:47 | |
and meditation for the renewal of strength and direction, | 44:51 | |
but he made it repeatedly clear that paradise was more | 44:55 | |
than a perfection of stillness. | 44:59 | |
That his mission must lie | 45:02 | |
in what perpetually glimmers ahead. | 45:05 | |
Jesus own road to Jerusalem was no path curved firmly | 45:10 | |
through the secret wood. | 45:15 | |
It moved directly in the Lunik account | 45:17 | |
from the Mount of Transfiguration | 45:19 | |
to the plain of confrontation and agony. | 45:22 | |
The next day in the midst of a great crowd | 45:27 | |
a man called out on behalf of his tormented child. | 45:30 | |
And while he was coming to Jesus, the demon tore him | 45:35 | |
and convulsed him. | 45:40 | |
A not uncommon experience for the space | 45:45 | |
which separates us from Christ is seldom smooth and gentle. | 45:48 | |
The very effort to move toward him, to throw ourselves | 45:54 | |
on his mercy and healing may be a traumatic struggle | 45:57 | |
with all sorts of devils, including ourselves. | 46:02 | |
At the moment when his voice bidding us come seems clearest, | 46:08 | |
our human resistance may be strongest | 46:14 | |
for he threatens our pet prejudices and preconceptions, | 46:17 | |
overturns our lesser loyalties and values. | 46:22 | |
Everyone knows the conversion through which | 46:29 | |
St. Paul came to the feet of Jesus. | 46:33 | |
Those of us who are Methodists quote, | 46:37 | |
so incessantly the single clause, | 46:39 | |
I felt my heart strangely warmed, | 46:43 | |
but we assumed John Wesley's | 46:46 | |
"Supreme Religious Moment" | 46:48 | |
was a quiet sedate transfiguration. | 46:50 | |
Yet in addition to all the struggles which preceded it, | 46:55 | |
Wesley says in his journal only a few sentences later. | 46:59 | |
"After I returned home, | 47:06 | |
I was much buffeted with temptations, | 47:07 | |
but cried out and they fled away. | 47:11 | |
They returned again and again. | 47:14 | |
Here in I found the difference | 47:17 | |
between this and my former state chiefly consisted. | 47:19 | |
I was striving striving, fighting with all my might | 47:24 | |
under the law as well as under grace. | 47:28 | |
But then I was sometimes if not often conquered. | 47:33 | |
Now, I was always conqueror." | 47:38 | |
That while he was coming to Jesus | 47:45 | |
the demon tore him and convulsed him. | 47:49 | |
So often our attempts to soar like a kite | 47:54 | |
or anchor to earth by our own two shoes, | 47:58 | |
but when the commitment is made, | 48:02 | |
when we respond with unhesitating trust | 48:05 | |
we discover anew that kites fly | 48:09 | |
by tugging against both wind and strings intention. | 48:12 | |
And we are astonished at the majesty of God. | 48:18 | |
What about the disciples? | 48:26 | |
Despite their affirmation of faith | 48:28 | |
in the Christ God, despite their exhilarating vision | 48:31 | |
they had been unable to cure the epileptic boy. | 48:35 | |
Jesus despair and disappointment over the faithless | 48:40 | |
and perverse generation swept the wide circle | 48:44 | |
of disciples farther and crowd. | 48:49 | |
Yet he did not withhold his healing grace. | 48:54 | |
Some of you have returned from a mountaintop experience | 49:01 | |
in Washington yesterday. | 49:05 | |
Thrilling to the sense of participation in a so movement | 49:08 | |
of vast proportions. | 49:12 | |
Amid the clamor of many voices | 49:15 | |
prophets and protestors, enthusiasts, and hecklers, | 49:19 | |
it is often hard to tune in the one voice | 49:24 | |
that we are admonished to hear. | 49:28 | |
And it is even more difficult to realize | 49:31 | |
that the making of peace, the task of reconciliation | 49:34 | |
and healing is a convulsive long range, struggle | 49:38 | |
demanding wisdom and sacrifice and love. | 49:45 | |
The ninth chapter of Luke goes on with still more examples | 49:56 | |
of the human urge to achieve freedom, success, authority, | 50:00 | |
without responsibility. | 50:06 | |
Jesus warned that he would be delivered | 50:09 | |
into the hands of men and they didn't understand him. | 50:12 | |
The disciples argued over which was the greatest | 50:17 | |
and he rebuked them with the presence of a child. | 50:21 | |
John rejected a man who was healing in Jesus name, | 50:26 | |
but the master insisted on counting him in. | 50:32 | |
On the road to Jerusalem the Samaritans refused | 50:37 | |
to provide accommodations for Jesus party | 50:40 | |
and the disciples wanted to destroy them with fire. | 50:43 | |
And the Christ would have none of such vengeance. | 50:48 | |
Finally, the Lord demanded that those who would truly | 50:53 | |
follow him should cut loose from selfish, | 50:57 | |
personal ties, shelter, ritual duties, family, | 51:00 | |
but the alternative was not escape from all strengths. | 51:09 | |
It was commitment to a single, higher, more direct loyalty | 51:14 | |
which Christ defined as the kingdom of God. | 51:20 | |
You will suspect that I made a drastic break | 51:28 | |
in the middle of this sermon from the simple verse | 51:32 | |
about a girl among the flowers and the boy | 51:35 | |
with a kite to the discussion of a complex chapter | 51:38 | |
in St. Luke's gospel. | 51:42 | |
Not so, even the geographic ethical setting is the same. | 51:46 | |
For I did not read the last four lines | 51:54 | |
of Doris Peels poem. | 51:57 | |
Here they are. | 52:01 | |
This was in Galilee, where both you might say, | 52:04 | |
were once being reconciled, proved true. | 52:11 | |
Said the little girl in the valley, | 52:20 | |
heaven is like this only all the time. | 52:24 | |
Said the disciples, it is well that we are here | 52:31 | |
let us make three booths. | 52:35 | |
Said the boy, let me be like a kite, | 52:40 | |
but without any string. | 52:45 | |
Said Jesus, if any man would come after me, | 52:50 | |
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily | 52:55 | |
and follow me. | 53:02 | |
This was in Galilee where both you might say, | 53:06 | |
were once being reconciled, proved true. | 53:11 | |
Let us pray. | 53:22 | |
Grant us soul Lord, never to sleep | 53:28 | |
through the vision on the mountain top. | 53:31 | |
Never to be content with remaining there. | 53:36 | |
Never to cease our efforts to soar like a kite. | 53:41 | |
Never to shun the pain and struggle | 53:47 | |
of responsible service in this, our earth and yours. | 53:50 | |
Amen. | 54:02 | |
(hymnal singing overshadowed by instruments) | 54:05 |