James T. Cleland - "19 Men and Asahel" (March 1, 1970)
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| (organ music) | 0:03 | |
| Pastor | It is a great and thrilling thing | 0:08 |
| to praise our maker for his truth, for his holiness | 0:10 | |
| and his love. | 0:15 | |
| But in so doing, we become aware of our lack of greatness | 0:17 | |
| at all these points, and of our need | 0:22 | |
| for relying upon the forgiveness of God | 0:25 | |
| made available to us through his son, | 0:29 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Lord, may we therefore be seated | 0:32 | |
| and join together our hearts and voices in singing | 0:36 | |
| our confession of reliance upon Jesus. | 0:40 | |
| ♪ Lo, the Good Shepherd ♪ | 1:11 | |
| ♪ For the sheep is offered ♪ | 1:18 | |
| ♪ The slave hath sinned ♪ | 1:27 | |
| ♪ And the Son hath suffered ♪ | 1:32 | |
| ♪ For our atonement ♪ | 1:43 | |
| ♪ While we nothing heeded ♪ | 1:51 | |
| ♪ God interceded ♪ | 1:59 | |
| ♪ For me kind Jesus ♪ | 2:10 | |
| ♪ Was thy incarnation ♪ | 2:18 | |
| ♪ Thy mortal sorrow ♪ | 2:27 | |
| ♪ And thy life's oblation ♪ | 2:35 | |
| ♪ Thy death of anguish ♪ | 2:44 | |
| ♪ And thy bitter passion ♪ | 2:53 | |
| ♪ For my salvation ♪ | 3:03 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 3:16 | |
| Pastor | The love that let us hear | 3:33 |
| these comforting words of assurance, Jesus Christ, | 3:34 | |
| our God own son, for us to Earth descended | 3:40 | |
| and all our sin has he atoned. | 3:46 | |
| And so death's rule has ended, all death's power here below | 3:48 | |
| is now avain, an empty show, his sting is lost forever. | 3:54 | |
| Hallelujah, Amen. | 4:00 | |
| (gentle organ music) | 4:10 | |
| The gospel is made known and is celebrated | 10:13 | |
| in a wide variety of ways through the reading | 10:16 | |
| of the gospels, through the preaching of the gospel, | 10:20 | |
| through the singing of hymns, of anthems | 10:24 | |
| through organ music, other instrumental music, | 10:29 | |
| through art and architecture. | 10:33 | |
| In recognition of this, Dr. Rudolph Kramer | 10:37 | |
| will play an organ concert in the chapel | 10:42 | |
| next Sunday afternoon. | 10:45 | |
| Dr. Kramer, as you will remember, was for two years, | 10:48 | |
| our chapel organist, he is Head of Organ | 10:51 | |
| at the University of North Carolina. | 10:54 | |
| I call this to your attention because | 10:57 | |
| there was as an announcement erroneously printed | 10:59 | |
| in yesterday's Durham's Sun, that he would play today. | 11:02 | |
| He will not play here today, but he will play next Sunday. | 11:06 | |
| Trust the announcement that you find | 11:10 | |
| printed in today's chapel bulletin, not the one | 11:13 | |
| in yesterday's newspaper. | 11:17 | |
| Now I'm not giving that to you as a general principle, | 11:19 | |
| because we are as capable of making errors as anyone else. | 11:22 | |
| But in this specific instance, trust the chapel bulletin | 11:26 | |
| rather than the newspaper, thank you. | 11:29 | |
| Man | The scripture lesson this morning | 11:43 |
| is found in the second, the book, the second book of Samuel, | 11:45 | |
| the second chapter, it concerns David's succession | 11:49 | |
| to the throne of Israel, the translation is by Moffatt. | 11:55 | |
| We begin to read from the eighth verse. | 12:00 | |
| "Now Abner, the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, | 12:05 | |
| had taken Saul's son Ishbel, across the Mahanaim, | 12:09 | |
| where he made him king over Gilead, the Asherites, | 12:13 | |
| Jezreel, Ephraim and Benjamin. | 12:17 | |
| In fact, over all Israel, only the house of Judah | 12:19 | |
| adhered to David, then Abner the son of Ner | 12:23 | |
| and the adherence of Ishbel, the son of Saul, | 12:28 | |
| marched from Mahanaim nine to Gibeon. | 12:30 | |
| Joab, the son of Zeruiah and David's adherence, | 12:34 | |
| also marched out and met them at the reservoir at Gibeon. | 12:38 | |
| That day, the fight that followed was most fierce, | 12:43 | |
| but Abner, the son of Ner and the men of Israel | 12:49 | |
| were beaten by the adherence of David. | 12:52 | |
| Zeruaih's three sons were there, | 12:56 | |
| Joab, Abushai and Asahel, Asahel was swift-footed | 13:00 | |
| as a wild deer. | 13:05 | |
| So Asahel chased Abner, and as he ran, | 13:07 | |
| he turned neither to left nor right in his pursuit of Abner, | 13:11 | |
| then Abner glanced behind him and said, | 13:14 | |
| 'Is that you, Asahel?' | 13:17 | |
| 'Yes.' | 13:19 | |
| He answered. | 13:20 | |
| So Abner said to him, | 13:21 | |
| 'Turn to your left or turn to your right, | 13:24 | |
| catch one of the young men and take his spoil.' | 13:26 | |
| But Asahel would not turn aside from his chase. | 13:30 | |
| Then Abner's said again to Asahel, | 13:35 | |
| 'Turn aside from following me, why should I strike you down? | 13:37 | |
| How could I look your brother Joab in the face after that?' | 13:41 | |
| But he would not turn aside. | 13:45 | |
| And so Abner gave him a backwards stroke in the belly. | 13:47 | |
| The spear came out of his back | 13:50 | |
| and he dropped dead on the spot. | 13:51 | |
| All before noon, Abner and his men | 13:55 | |
| made their way through the wadi of Araba, | 13:57 | |
| crossing the Jordan and passing right through the ravine | 14:00 | |
| until they had reached Mahanaim. | 14:04 | |
| As for Joab, he returned from his pursuit of Abner. | 14:06 | |
| When he had mustered all the troops, 19 of David's adherence | 14:11 | |
| were missing, besides Asahel, Asahel they lifted | 14:16 | |
| and buried him in his father's grave in Bethlehem." | 14:20 | |
| Let us pray that God will bless to us | 14:25 | |
| the understanding of this scripture, Amen. | 14:28 | |
| ♪ Glory be to the Father ♪ | 14:42 | |
| ♪ And to the Son ♪ | 14:46 | |
| ♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪ | 14:49 | |
| ♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ | 14:54 | |
| ♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪ | 14:58 | |
| ♪ World without end ♪ | 15:04 | |
| ♪ Amen, Amen ♪ | 15:07 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 15:16 |
| Congregation | And with your spirit. | 15:17 |
| - | Let us pray. | 15:19 |
| Almighty God, by whose wisdom the earth was founded | 15:30 | |
| and the heavens established, thou has taught us that wisdom | 15:35 | |
| is more precious than rubies. | 15:40 | |
| That it is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon it. | 15:42 | |
| We therefore gather here and do now pause | 15:47 | |
| to give thee thanks that the founders of thy church | 15:51 | |
| and of this university fulfill their obligation | 15:55 | |
| to impart the treasures of faith and knowledge | 16:00 | |
| to succeeding generations, and that they gave us | 16:03 | |
| a place where by searching, wisdom and faith may be found. | 16:07 | |
| We thank thee that by their planning and sacrifice, | 16:14 | |
| we have come into a great inheritance of truth. | 16:17 | |
| Enable us, we pray thee, to guard and to expand | 16:23 | |
| this blessing. | 16:27 | |
| We offer our gratitude that we were born into a generation, | 16:30 | |
| which has a great and challenging responsibility. | 16:34 | |
| We are thankful, oh God, that the times | 16:39 | |
| call out the best that is in us and will not allow us | 16:41 | |
| to be complacent. | 16:45 | |
| We blessed thee that before this world was ours, | 16:47 | |
| it belonged to thee, that before the responsibilities | 16:50 | |
| of this university were upon our shoulders, | 16:55 | |
| thou didst love it and care for it. | 17:00 | |
| And that even now the administrators, | 17:03 | |
| the faculty and the students here are more truly | 17:06 | |
| thy children than they are any of ours. | 17:10 | |
| For thy divine companionship in this endeavor, | 17:16 | |
| we are profoundly grateful, and so God, | 17:21 | |
| we offer our prayers of intercession for students everywhere | 17:26 | |
| that they may have grace to learn both facts and wisdom, | 17:30 | |
| to learn about life and to learn to live, | 17:36 | |
| as they achieve their own individuality, | 17:40 | |
| their own separate personhood, grant them the grace | 17:43 | |
| to rebel without becoming rebellious, | 17:47 | |
| that they may be able to handle skepticism fully, | 17:51 | |
| without becoming paranoid. | 17:56 | |
| That they may have good judgment to hear all voices, | 17:59 | |
| without becoming the slaves of any. | 18:04 | |
| Grant that they may choose just one master, Jesus. | 18:07 | |
| We offer, oh God, also our prayers for administrators, | 18:14 | |
| that they may be given the grace of wisdom | 18:19 | |
| in the midst of confusion, the grace of patience | 18:22 | |
| under continual annoyance, the grace of independence | 18:26 | |
| in a network of interrelatedness. | 18:30 | |
| The grace to wait while immature people grope for maturity, | 18:33 | |
| give them the understanding which is necessary | 18:40 | |
| to accept the misunderstanding of the public, | 18:42 | |
| give them skill in attracting necessary financial support, | 18:45 | |
| and success in maintaining academic freedom. | 18:50 | |
| Give them strength in defending the university | 18:55 | |
| against both the anarchists and the bigots, | 18:57 | |
| and oh God grant them that degree of human | 19:01 | |
| and divine support without which no individual can endure. | 19:03 | |
| Oh God who art the judge of all, | 19:10 | |
| who knowest what is in man and requires truth. | 19:13 | |
| We pray on behalf of all our fellows, | 19:19 | |
| not simply those here at the university, hear us | 19:22 | |
| as we pray for the poor and the ignorant, | 19:27 | |
| the friendless and the lonely. | 19:30 | |
| Those who are tempted, those who are unbelieving, | 19:34 | |
| be merciful to those who had counted | 19:38 | |
| on being in happier circumstances | 19:40 | |
| than they are this morning. | 19:42 | |
| Soothe their disappointment and help them to understand it. | 19:45 | |
| Grant strength to those who carry a cross of suffering. | 19:50 | |
| Be thou the strong arm of those in danger. | 19:54 | |
| We pray thee, to pour out thy spirit upon all of us, | 19:59 | |
| that we may learn how to have clean laughter | 20:03 | |
| and good sportsmanship, that we may know how to be happy | 20:07 | |
| as well as to follow duty. | 20:12 | |
| May we be simple in purpose and noble in achievement | 20:17 | |
| and oh God, as we are so often impressed with our failures | 20:24 | |
| and with our inability to measure up to the challenge | 20:27 | |
| of the day, keep us openly mindful of our need | 20:30 | |
| to rely upon thee, so that in our weakness we may be strong | 20:34 | |
| through thy strength. | 20:39 | |
| Give us the capacity to love our fellows, | 20:43 | |
| for all of us need to receive and to give love. | 20:46 | |
| And without it, we are sick. | 20:49 | |
| Do thou make us whole, we pray for grace | 20:52 | |
| to love beyond the circle of our friends, | 20:56 | |
| our teammates, our fraternity brothers, | 20:58 | |
| those who see things as we do and agree with us | 21:01 | |
| and compliment us, help us to love the unlovely. | 21:05 | |
| Even as we who are unlovely have been loved. | 21:09 | |
| Oh thou who doest send rain and sunshine upon the just, | 21:14 | |
| and the unjust, send thy spirit into our hearts. | 21:19 | |
| That we may love as thou dost love. | 21:24 | |
| We pray in the name of him who revealed this love to us, | 21:28 | |
| even Jesus Christ our Lord. | 21:32 | |
| Now, in order that we may capture more of his spirit, | 21:36 | |
| we use the words, oh God, | 21:40 | |
| which he has taught us to use in prayer to thee, | 21:42 | |
| saying, Our Father who art in Heaven, | 21:45 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 21:49 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 21:51 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 21:54 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 21:57 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those | 21:59 | |
| who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, | 22:03 | |
| but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom | 22:07 | |
| and the power and the glory forever, Amen. | 22:11 | |
| Man | The peace of God be with you | 22:37 |
| and with all the people of God. | 22:40 | |
| Let us place in juxtaposition two stories, | 22:46 | |
| one contemporary, and one biblical, both concerned | 22:52 | |
| with soldiers who died in war. | 22:58 | |
| The first story is told in the November 26th issue | 23:04 | |
| of the Christian Century for last year. | 23:08 | |
| It describes Veterans Day, November 11 | 23:12 | |
| in Birmingham, Alabama. | 23:18 | |
| It was an opportunity for understandable | 23:21 | |
| national and civic pride, for a school holiday | 23:25 | |
| and an elaborate parade, for a Veterans Day | 23:32 | |
| world peace luncheon and the patriotic rally | 23:37 | |
| at the municipal auditorium. | 23:42 | |
| The celebration ended with a pledge of allegiance | 23:45 | |
| to the flag, and that was that. | 23:49 | |
| Or was it? | 23:56 | |
| The new story has another side to it, I quote, | 23:59 | |
| "The real drama of the day unfolded | 24:05 | |
| during the noon hour, away from the downtown area | 24:08 | |
| at Elmwood cemetery. | 24:13 | |
| For over 60 years, the final resting place | 24:18 | |
| of the city's aristocracy, outside the main gate | 24:22 | |
| some 300 people gathered for a prayer vigil | 24:28 | |
| in memory of private first class Bill Terry, | 24:32 | |
| killed in action in Vietnam in July. | 24:38 | |
| Bill had requested that in the event of his death | 24:44 | |
| in the war, he be buried in Elmwood. | 24:47 | |
| So his mother could see his grave | 24:53 | |
| from the family home nearby, | 24:55 | |
| but his request had been denied by the cemetery management. | 24:58 | |
| On the sole ground that his skin | 25:04 | |
| was the wrong color, black. | 25:07 | |
| November 11 was the biggest Veterans Day | 25:13 | |
| yet seen in Birmingham, perhaps in the nation, | 25:17 | |
| the soldiers marched, the bands played, | 25:21 | |
| the politicians made their speeches | 25:25 | |
| and Bill Terry's father sat outside the gates | 25:29 | |
| of Elm cemetery and wept. | 25:34 | |
| Bill Terry died in the service of a democracy. | 25:41 | |
| He could not be buried Democratic. | 25:46 | |
| Now the other story is from second Samuel, chapter two, | 25:52 | |
| our scripture lesson, it tells of a civil war | 25:55 | |
| long, long ago For the control | 25:59 | |
| of the succession of the throne of Saul, | 26:04 | |
| the first king of Israel who had been slain in action | 26:09 | |
| against the Philistines. | 26:13 | |
| The party which backed Ishbel, Saul's son, | 26:16 | |
| was led by Abner, the party which followed David | 26:20 | |
| the giant killer was under the command of Joab. | 26:25 | |
| Joab defeated Abner in the first trial of strength. | 26:31 | |
| And at this point Asahel, the brother of Joab, | 26:35 | |
| comes into the picture. | 26:38 | |
| He was the youngest son of David's sister, | 26:41 | |
| and was famed for his speed. | 26:44 | |
| "As swift of food as a wild gazelle," | 26:47 | |
| is how the Bible describes him. | 26:52 | |
| He was one of David's 30 heroes, | 26:54 | |
| commander of a division in David's army. | 26:57 | |
| He decided to kill or capture Abner | 27:02 | |
| as the Davidic followers pursued the defeated enemy | 27:07 | |
| from the battlefield. | 27:10 | |
| He had almost overtaken his quarry | 27:13 | |
| when Abner suggested that he ease up and slow down. | 27:15 | |
| With the argument that he would rather not kill Asahel, | 27:21 | |
| as he could never look Joab, Asahel's brother, | 27:25 | |
| in the face again. | 27:29 | |
| Asahel persisted, so Abner slew him. | 27:32 | |
| And the verse which intrigues me is the one | 27:37 | |
| which enumerates the casualties among David's followers. | 27:40 | |
| There lack is they were missing of David servants, | 27:45 | |
| 19 men and Asahel, 19 men and Asahel. | 27:51 | |
| Now, where was Asahel buried? | 28:02 | |
| In the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. | 28:04 | |
| Why not? | 28:09 | |
| Bethlehem was David's town. | 28:11 | |
| And David was Asahel's uncle, | 28:14 | |
| two dead soldiers and two cemeteries. | 28:18 | |
| These are our two stories in juxtaposition, | 28:26 | |
| two dead soldiers and two cemeteries, | 28:32 | |
| why the difference? | 28:34 | |
| Oh, one answer is obvious, Asahel was top brass. | 28:36 | |
| Terry was a private first class, | 28:42 | |
| the Bible tells us that as Asahel's mother | 28:47 | |
| was David's sister. | 28:50 | |
| The newspaper article does not say who Terry's mother is, | 28:53 | |
| Asahel was a member of the dominant race. | 28:59 | |
| Terry was not, Asahel belonged to the in-group. | 29:03 | |
| Terry certainly as a corpse, belonged to an out group, | 29:11 | |
| far out, Asahel was an all-Israelite. | 29:18 | |
| Terry was not, for most people and all-American. | 29:24 | |
| One wonders if the attitude of Birmingham | 29:30 | |
| would've been different if Terry had been | 29:32 | |
| a brigadier general or even a bird colonel. | 29:35 | |
| Or if he'd just been a white private first class? | 29:43 | |
| His color was wrong, his rank was wrong. | 29:48 | |
| His family tree was wrong, his community status was wrong. | 29:52 | |
| He was just a Christian and an American | 30:00 | |
| and a soldier who had died in war for his country. | 30:05 | |
| But that was not enough to make him | 30:10 | |
| persona grata, corpus gratum. | 30:13 | |
| For some people in one part of our democratic republic. | 30:20 | |
| One would think that a cemetery, | 30:25 | |
| as the ante room to heaven or hell | 30:28 | |
| would be a place of no discrimination. | 30:31 | |
| Is it the Morovians who call a graveyard | 30:36 | |
| the city of the equal death? | 30:38 | |
| That thought came to my mind some years ago in Salisbury, | 30:43 | |
| Salisbury North Carolina, not England. | 30:46 | |
| There's a Negro college there. | 30:51 | |
| Livingstone college, named for David Livingstone. | 30:53 | |
| Scotland's greatest missionary, | 30:59 | |
| an African explorer and an opponent of slavery. | 31:02 | |
| Now there are both drama and irony | 31:09 | |
| in the commemoration of David Livingstone | 31:12 | |
| in this neighboring town. | 31:17 | |
| Why? | 31:21 | |
| Because David Livingstone's eldest son | 31:24 | |
| was buried there in Salisbury, | 31:30 | |
| before his father knew that such a place existed. | 31:33 | |
| Perhaps Robert Livingstone, his father | 31:39 | |
| couldn't get along with each other. | 31:43 | |
| In despair, the boy fled from Africa, | 31:45 | |
| not to Scotland, but to the United States. | 31:49 | |
| He had resolved to fight in the civil war. | 31:53 | |
| Landing in New York he enlisted in the Northern forces | 31:56 | |
| under an assumed name, | 32:00 | |
| lest he dishonor his father's reputation. | 32:02 | |
| He was wounded near Laurel Hill in Virginia, captured, | 32:07 | |
| detained in a prisoner of war camp at Salisbury | 32:12 | |
| and died there on December 5th, 1864, age 18. | 32:17 | |
| I visited the national cemetery there | 32:25 | |
| and asked to see his grave. | 32:27 | |
| I was told that the actual grave is unmarked and unknown. | 32:29 | |
| If Robert Livingstone had been an officer, | 32:36 | |
| the burial site would be known. | 32:39 | |
| He was just a private, and his remains | 32:43 | |
| are in one of 18 trenches set apart | 32:46 | |
| as a common burying ground for ordinary soldiers, | 32:50 | |
| the city of the equal dead? | 32:56 | |
| David Livingstone's body lies in Westminster Abbey, | 33:01 | |
| the historic Valhalla of the late British empire. | 33:06 | |
| Now we know the rebuttal in theory, | 33:14 | |
| to such discrimination, be the corpse | 33:17 | |
| Robert Livingstone or Bill Terry. | 33:20 | |
| It's in the Old Testament and the New Testament. | 33:25 | |
| It's in the creeds and hymns of Judaism and Christianity. | 33:29 | |
| It tells us that there can be no love of God | 33:35 | |
| without love of his most beloved creature, man. | 33:40 | |
| That's how the Dutch catechism puts it. | 33:46 | |
| It adds, | 33:49 | |
| "The law of love knows no limits. | 33:51 | |
| Love never says it is enough." | 33:55 | |
| Love never says it is enough, to put it pedantically, | 34:01 | |
| the principle of respect for personality in all men | 34:08 | |
| is a fundamental, the fundamental | 34:12 | |
| Christian social principle. | 34:17 | |
| To put it absolutely, Christian love recognizes | 34:20 | |
| the infinite worth of the downest man, | 34:24 | |
| to put it practically, Christian love | 34:30 | |
| means reading statistics with compassion, | 34:34 | |
| "Reading statistics, with compassion." | 34:42 | |
| That's how the late Bishop Gore put it. | 34:46 | |
| Robert Burn summed it all up in seven words. | 34:50 | |
| "A man's a man for all that." | 34:54 | |
| A man is not an IBM card, not a social security number, | 35:00 | |
| not a dog tag. | 35:05 | |
| He's a man, a child of God, a comrade, | 35:09 | |
| a brother for all that than for all anything else. | 35:13 | |
| Is this too highfalutin for us? | 35:20 | |
| Too idealistic, too impossible? | 35:24 | |
| Then listen to a page or two from a novel, | 35:29 | |
| which has just been made into a motion picture | 35:31 | |
| for the second time. | 35:35 | |
| Last year, Judith Chris listed | 35:38 | |
| among the 10 worst movies of 1969. | 35:41 | |
| It's James Hilton's, | 35:46 | |
| Goodbye, Mr. Chips. | 35:49 | |
| Mr. Chips has come out of retirement | 35:53 | |
| to become acting headmaster of an English prep school. | 35:55 | |
| During the First World War. | 35:58 | |
| One of his duties was to read in chapel, | 36:00 | |
| the names of old boys who had been killed in the war. | 36:04 | |
| Here are two pages from the book. | 36:09 | |
| "On Sundays in chapel it was he who now read out | 36:13 | |
| the tragic list, and sometimes it was seen and heard | 36:16 | |
| that he was in tears over it. | 36:20 | |
| Well, why not? | 36:24 | |
| The school said, he was an old man. | 36:25 | |
| They might have despised anyone else for the weakness. | 36:30 | |
| One day he got a letter from Switzerland, | 36:35 | |
| from friends there. | 36:37 | |
| It was heavily censored, but conveyed some news. | 36:39 | |
| On the following Sunday after the names and biographies | 36:44 | |
| of old boys, he paused a moment and then added, | 36:47 | |
| 'Those few of you who were here before the war | 36:52 | |
| will remember Max Staefel, the German master. | 36:56 | |
| He was in Germany visiting his home when war broke out. | 37:02 | |
| He was popular while he was here and made many friends. | 37:09 | |
| Those who knew him will be sorry to hear | 37:13 | |
| that he was killed last week On the Western front.' | 37:17 | |
| He was a little pale when he sat down afterward, | 37:23 | |
| aware that he had done something unusual. | 37:26 | |
| He had consulted nobody about it. | 37:29 | |
| No one else could be blamed, | 37:33 | |
| later outside the chapel he heard an argument. | 37:35 | |
| 'On the Western front?' Chip said, | 37:39 | |
| 'Does that mean he was fighting for the Germans?' | 37:42 | |
| 'I suppose it does.' | 37:45 | |
| 'Seems funny then to read his name out with all the others, | 37:47 | |
| after all, he was an enemy.' | 37:52 | |
| 'Oh, just one of Chip's ideas I expect, | 37:57 | |
| the old boy still has 'em.' | 38:01 | |
| Chip's in his room again, was not displeased by the comment. | 38:05 | |
| Yes, he still had 'em, those ideas of dignity and generosity | 38:10 | |
| that were becoming increasingly rare in a frantic world." | 38:18 | |
| Those ideas of dignity and generosity that were becoming | 38:24 | |
| increasingly rare in a frantic world, | 38:30 | |
| each dead alumnus had his name read out, | 38:34 | |
| in that school service, there was no summary sentence, | 38:39 | |
| 'There were killed 19 men and Asahel.' | 38:42 | |
| Each man, whatever his family, his rank, | 38:47 | |
| his prowess, was an Asahel. | 38:50 | |
| Some of you're going to Scotland this year, as tourists, | 38:55 | |
| as students, as assistant ministers. | 39:00 | |
| Visit Iona, that little island off the west coast, | 39:05 | |
| where Columba brought Christianity to the Highlands | 39:11 | |
| in 563, visit the graveyard, 60 Kings are buried there. | 39:15 | |
| 48 are Scottish, eight are Norwegian and four are Irish. | 39:25 | |
| Macbeth is in interred there. | 39:34 | |
| So is Duncan, who Macbeth murdered. | 39:38 | |
| There are other folk also, clan chiefs, ecclesiastics. | 39:43 | |
| There is about one 20th century grave. | 39:47 | |
| If my memory is accurate, that of a Nazi aviator, | 39:51 | |
| whose body was washed to shore on Iona | 39:59 | |
| in the Second World War, he lies among the Kings. | 40:04 | |
| I wonder if anyone knows his name. | 40:14 | |
| I wonder if his family ever came over from Germany | 40:17 | |
| to stand beside his grave on that foreign holy island. | 40:21 | |
| This sermon began with a new story from Birmingham, Alabama, | 40:31 | |
| but it concluded with another one from Birmingham. | 40:37 | |
| Here it is as recorded in the Durham Morning Herald | 40:41 | |
| of January 4th, 1970, and in the Christian century | 40:44 | |
| of January 14th, on Saturday, January three, | 40:48 | |
| private first class Bill Terry was buried | 40:54 | |
| in Elmwood cemetery after a five month legal battle | 40:59 | |
| against racial restriction. | 41:07 | |
| A federal judge ruled last week that the restrictive clauses | 41:11 | |
| in the contracts with other plot owners were illegal. | 41:16 | |
| Elmwood did not appeal the decision. | 41:21 | |
| Bill Terry lies within sight of the house | 41:26 | |
| in which he grew up. | 41:30 | |
| His white pastor, father Eugene Farrow | 41:33 | |
| said to the congregation, | 41:38 | |
| "I hope this burial is a symbol of a new age. | 41:41 | |
| This may be the last barrier of discrimination. | 41:46 | |
| This is not a time of mourning, it is a time of rejoicing." | 41:52 | |
| Then Bill Terry is a contemporary Asahel? | 41:59 | |
| No, he probably wouldn't want to be. | 42:05 | |
| He probably would rather be Bill Terry, | 42:12 | |
| a Roman Catholic Christian, a black American | 42:15 | |
| who died in one of his country's wars. | 42:21 | |
| He was and is a child of God, he's in that white cemetery | 42:26 | |
| because a group of blacks and whites under God | 42:34 | |
| and through the law, were able to make a point clear | 42:40 | |
| that inner democracy, which owes so much | 42:46 | |
| to the Judeo-Christian heritage, a man is a man, is a man. | 42:51 | |
| Be he Jew or Christian, black or white, | 42:59 | |
| Asahel or Bill Terry. | 43:04 | |
| We worshipping in this service know that in Christ, | 43:09 | |
| there is no East or West, in him no North or South. | 43:14 | |
| So let us affirm that faith by singing it, | 43:22 | |
| the hymn is 1, 9, 2. | 43:28 | |
| ♪ In Christ there is no East or West ♪ | 43:54 | |
| ♪ In Him no South or North ♪ | 44:00 | |
| ♪ But one great fellowship of love ♪ | 44:06 | |
| ♪ Throughout the whole wide Earth ♪ | 44:11 | |
| ♪ In Him shall true hearts everywhere ♪ | 44:17 | |
| ♪ Their high communion find ♪ | 44:23 | |
| ♪ His service is the golden cord ♪ | 44:29 | |
| ♪ Close binding all of mankind ♪ | 44:35 | |
| ♪ Join hands then people of the faith ♪ | 44:41 | |
| ♪ Whate'er your race may be ♪ | 44:47 | |
| ♪ Who serve thy Father lamb of God ♪ | 44:53 | |
| ♪ Is surely kin to me ♪ | 44:59 | |
| ♪ In Christ now meet both East and West ♪ | 45:05 | |
| ♪ In Him meet South and North ♪ | 45:12 | |
| ♪ All Christly souls are one in Him ♪ | 45:17 | |
| ♪ Throughout the whole wide Earth ♪ | 45:24 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 45:31 | |
| (gentle organ music) | 45:50 | |
| (congregation singing) | 47:44 | |
| Pastor | Eternal God, giver of every good | 52:46 |
| and perfect gift, who seekest above all thy gifts, | 52:49 | |
| to give thyself to us. | 52:53 | |
| Grant that with these token gifts of our hands, | 52:56 | |
| we may more fully give ourselves in joyous obedience | 53:00 | |
| and service through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 53:04 | |
| Now may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ be with us all. | 53:13 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 53:22 |