Stuart C. Henry - "Instant Millennium" (May 10, 1970)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ plays, choir singing) | 0:03 | |
- | Christian brothers and sisters. | 2:49 |
We've come to that part in our service of worship, | 2:53 | |
where we confess before God | 2:58 | |
and in the company of each other, | 3:01 | |
not only the fact that we are sinners | 3:05 | |
and in need of forgiveness, | 3:09 | |
But the particular ways in which we need to be forgiven. | 3:12 | |
We do not all have exactly the same needs | 3:18 | |
at the point of confession and forgiveness. | 3:23 | |
And each one of us is expected silently and personally | 3:27 | |
to give conscious expression to God | 3:33 | |
of his own sense of guilt. | 3:36 | |
But in this particular instance, | 3:41 | |
as in every other prayer of confession | 3:42 | |
and corporate worship, | 3:46 | |
we use words which have been found by the church | 3:48 | |
through the ages | 3:53 | |
to be spiritually useful to Christian people in expressing | 3:55 | |
their sense of guilt and their need of forgiveness. | 4:02 | |
Today, we use the words of John Knox. | 4:06 | |
So may we join together in this unison, | 4:09 | |
prayer of confession, let us pray. | 4:12 | |
Oh, eternal God and most merciful father we confess | 4:15 | |
and acknowledge here before thy divine majesty | 4:20 | |
that we are miserable sinners. | 4:24 | |
That in us, there is no goodness, | 4:27 | |
but since we are displeased with ourselves, | 4:30 | |
for the sins that we have committed against thee, | 4:32 | |
and do sincerely repent of the same, | 4:36 | |
we most humbly beseech thee, for Jesus Christ's sake | 4:39 | |
to show thy mercy upon us, | 4:44 | |
to forgive us all our sins, and to increase thy | 4:47 | |
holy spirit in us, | 4:51 | |
help us to bring forth such fruits as may be agreeable | 4:53 | |
to thy most blessed will, | 4:57 | |
not because of the worthiness thereof, | 4:59 | |
but for the merits of the ideally beloved son, Jesus Christ. | 5:02 | |
Our only savior, amen. | 5:07 | |
In the book of Micah, we hear again today, | 5:13 | |
the familiar words, which are so assuring and comfortable. | 5:18 | |
Who is like unto God, who pardons inequity, | 5:25 | |
and passes over transgression. | 5:30 | |
He does not retain his anger forever | 5:34 | |
because he delights in steadfast love. | 5:38 | |
He will again have compassion upon us. | 5:42 | |
He will tread our inequities under foot. | 5:45 | |
He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. | 5:49 | |
So be it. | 5:54 | |
(organ plays) | 5:58 | |
(distant door shuts) | 8:56 | |
(choir singing) | 9:21 | |
Scripture lesson this morning comes from the 12th and 13 | 12:06 | |
chapters of Matthew. | 12:09 | |
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, | 12:12 | |
he passes through waterless places seeking rest, | 12:14 | |
but he finds none. | 12:17 | |
Then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. | 12:19 | |
And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, | 12:23 | |
and put in order. | 12:26 | |
Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits, | 12:27 | |
more evil than himself. And they enter and dwell there. | 12:30 | |
And the last state of man becomes worse than the first. | 12:34 | |
So shall it be with this evil generation, | 12:38 | |
another parable he put before them saying the kingdom of | 12:42 | |
heaven may be compared to a man | 12:45 | |
who sowed good seed in his field. | 12:47 | |
But while men were sleeping, | 12:50 | |
his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat | 12:51 | |
and went away. | 12:54 | |
So when the plants came up in bore grain, | 12:55 | |
then the weeds appeared also. | 12:58 | |
And the servants of the household came and said to him, sir, | 13:00 | |
did you not sow good seed in your field? | 13:04 | |
How then has it weeds? He said to them, | 13:06 | |
an enemy has done this. The servants said to him, | 13:09 | |
then do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, | 13:12 | |
no, blessed in gathering the weeds. You root up the wheat, | 13:15 | |
along with them, let both grow together until the harvest. | 13:19 | |
And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, | 13:22 | |
gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles | 13:25 | |
to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. | 13:28 | |
May the Lord blessed us, the reading of this word. | 13:32 | |
Amen. | 13:34 | |
(organ plays, choir sings) | 13:36 | |
The Lord be with you. | 14:18 | |
(audience murmurs) | 14:20 | |
Let us pray. | 14:21 | |
Almighty God, | 14:32 | |
on a day when action is the order of the day, | 14:34 | |
we pause in thy presence to get our bearings. | 14:39 | |
All about us, and within us, we are aware of stirring action | 14:44 | |
In distant lands, men take up arms against each other. | 14:53 | |
In our land, | 14:58 | |
we strive earnestly against those who oppose our policies. | 14:59 | |
O creator of the universe. | 15:05 | |
Help us to know thou art also active, | 15:08 | |
that the living God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. | 15:13 | |
Grant unto us the vision to see thy works | 15:19 | |
and the wisdom to join the divine action. | 15:23 | |
Heavenly father, we are not sure that all the voices we hear | 15:29 | |
or all the words we speak are really very wise. | 15:34 | |
We pray for grace to know where good judgment may be found. | 15:39 | |
We don't mind being disturbed and in turmoil, | 15:44 | |
if progress is really being made. | 15:48 | |
And if thy will is being worked out. | 15:51 | |
So amid all the loud contentions and counterclaims, | 15:55 | |
help us to hear thy still small voice, | 16:01 | |
God, we ask this both for others and for ourselves, | 16:06 | |
O Lord, as the end of the academic year comes swiftly | 16:14 | |
enable us to compose our thoughts to sift the important | 16:19 | |
from the expendable. | 16:24 | |
To make good use of the remaining time. | 16:26 | |
While in thy Providence, | 16:30 | |
we follow the holy vocation of being students | 16:31 | |
and scholars. | 16:35 | |
Do thou give clarity to the confused, | 16:39 | |
give nerve to the hesitant, | 16:43 | |
give tranquility to the fevered mind, | 16:46 | |
give love to the lonely, | 16:50 | |
give relaxed courage to the defeated. | 16:53 | |
We pray for fresh grace to be given to those who suffer | 16:57 | |
from the traditional ills. | 17:01 | |
Sickness, sorrow, tragic accidents, and that sort of thing. | 17:03 | |
But who find these traditional problems | 17:08 | |
very pointedly personal, when they become the victim, | 17:11 | |
we pray for them. | 17:16 | |
We pray for those who plan their marriage. | 17:20 | |
For those who have a new baby, | 17:23 | |
We pray for our student leaders, for the faculty, | 17:27 | |
for the administration, | 17:33 | |
for the trustees. | 17:36 | |
That all of these people may see themselves, | 17:39 | |
not mainly in these roles, | 17:43 | |
but see themselves standing under thy awful judgment | 17:46 | |
And see themselves as candidates | 17:54 | |
for thine amazing grace. | 17:59 | |
We pray also for the parents who sacrifice | 18:03 | |
that we may be here. | 18:08 | |
Especially today, we offer our prayers | 18:11 | |
for the mothers of the world upon whom so very much depends. | 18:14 | |
Give them sobriety, give them love, | 18:21 | |
patience, strength. | 18:27 | |
Give them the willingness to wait many years for the reward | 18:31 | |
of their devotion. | 18:35 | |
And now unto all men and to us. | 18:38 | |
Grant thyself most of all, O God. | 18:44 | |
And grant unto us. | 18:49 | |
Not mainly the answer to our prayers, | 18:52 | |
But the spirit of prayer is taught by thy son, | 18:57 | |
our Lord Jesus Christ, | 19:00 | |
who has taught us when we pray to say, | 19:03 | |
our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, | 19:06 | |
thy kingdom come, | 19:11 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 19:13 | |
Give us this day, | 19:17 | |
our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive | 19:18 | |
those who trespass against us | 19:23 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 19:26 | |
but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom | 19:28 | |
and the power and the glory forever. Amen. | 19:32 | |
In the name of the father and of the son | 19:58 | |
and of the holy spirit. | 20:02 | |
Amen. | 20:04 | |
One hears a great deal these days | 20:12 | |
about America being a violent nation. | 20:15 | |
No doubt it is. | 20:19 | |
But truth, we think, is better served by remembering | 20:23 | |
that it is man, raw human nature, | 20:27 | |
that is violent. | 20:33 | |
Cruelty has no nationality, | 20:36 | |
and violence neither has nor needs a flag. | 20:39 | |
To the extent that we are members of the human race, | 20:44 | |
just to that extent, we are at least by imports, however, | 20:49 | |
civilized or however sublimated, at least by imports, | 20:54 | |
we are violent. | 21:00 | |
And to the extent that we live in company with our fellows, | 21:02 | |
we live in company with violent men and in a violent culture | 21:07 | |
potential always, actual to often, | 21:13 | |
it is not by accident that God spoke to Kane of sin | 21:19 | |
being like a beast, crouching, | 21:24 | |
always ready to spring upon a victim, | 21:27 | |
for it is this way with sin and violence, | 21:31 | |
which issues from it. | 21:34 | |
Verily we are men of violence. | 21:37 | |
And we live in the midst of a people of violence, | 21:41 | |
and yet it is possible, | 21:44 | |
even for this violence to be born of good intention, | 21:47 | |
of the desire and the touching faith that life can be good. | 21:52 | |
So much is true. | 21:58 | |
Our indignation is often as not, righteous, | 22:01 | |
even though our actions, God forgive us are self righteous. | 22:06 | |
We assume for ourselves the aura of nobility, | 22:12 | |
of self-sacrifice, and of grandeur by the actions that we do | 22:16 | |
sometimes even with justification. | 22:23 | |
But for the most part, | 22:27 | |
we are rather like the apostle Peter | 22:28 | |
on the night of the arrest of Jesus | 22:32 | |
in the garden of Gethsemane. | 22:34 | |
He saw the one whom he had followed | 22:37 | |
set upon like a common felon. | 22:39 | |
He was threatened and in danger | 22:43 | |
and Peter, impulsive, angry and involved | 22:46 | |
snatched his sword and lashed out about him madly, | 22:51 | |
he was not able to forestall the arrest of Jesus, | 22:56 | |
he did actually no injury to the enemies of Jesus. | 23:01 | |
He simply succeeded in cutting off the heir | 23:05 | |
of the servant of the high priest. | 23:08 | |
And yet we are sympathetic with Peter because he was crowded | 23:12 | |
by powers and forces, which he could not understand. | 23:16 | |
And he felt he had to do something, | 23:20 | |
that he must take some action, | 23:23 | |
that any action was better than no action. | 23:25 | |
And we understand quite well this experience, | 23:29 | |
for we have met it in our own personal and inner histories. | 23:33 | |
When we look about us and we see ignorance and weakness | 23:38 | |
and squalor, and disease, and bloodshed, and death, | 23:43 | |
we want to do something about it. | 23:49 | |
We want to tear down walls. | 23:51 | |
We want to burn away barriers. | 23:54 | |
Most of all, we want to strike out at the oppressor, | 23:57 | |
but alas, we do not always know who the oppressor is. | 24:01 | |
And so we lash out blindly at that person or institution | 24:07 | |
that is nearest at hand, | 24:13 | |
because we feel we must do something. | 24:15 | |
And any action is better than no action. | 24:18 | |
But sadly, | 24:21 | |
we are very often like those pitiful blind children | 24:22 | |
of whom we read. | 24:28 | |
Striking their sightless eyes | 24:30 | |
because they know instinctively | 24:33 | |
that they should be able to see, | 24:35 | |
even though they cannot, they must do something. | 24:38 | |
Now, whatever else this kind of behavior | 24:44 | |
reveals about ourselves, | 24:47 | |
it is of clear admission | 24:50 | |
that we acknowledge a man's own heart | 24:52 | |
as the nursery of evil. | 24:56 | |
We know this, we have lived in the midst of sin, | 24:59 | |
which is the product of greedy and apathetic | 25:05 | |
and prideful hearts. | 25:08 | |
And we have seen that sin added and multiplied | 25:09 | |
so that in the end, it creates out of our own hearts, | 25:14 | |
vicious systems and tolerates oppressive powers. | 25:20 | |
Consider, surely no one, | 25:25 | |
except the psychopath is eager willfully to bring down | 25:28 | |
wasting disease upon his neighbor. | 25:33 | |
We do not revel in human suffering. | 25:36 | |
And yet we live in the midst of much disease and sickness | 25:40 | |
because our hearts are evil. | 25:45 | |
We have not visited ourselves to make intelligent warfare | 25:49 | |
upon disease. | 25:53 | |
Not because we hate our brothers, | 25:55 | |
but because we forget them or ignore them. | 25:58 | |
And yet out of our own selfish concern for our comfort | 26:02 | |
and for our pleasure, | 26:07 | |
we have allowed the inevitable infection to spread | 26:09 | |
and to bring down as its victims, | 26:14 | |
those ill housed and undernourished folk who are defenseless | 26:17 | |
and powerless against it. | 26:22 | |
We have encouraged the spread of epidemic | 26:25 | |
because we have tolerated the rat infested slums, | 26:29 | |
where it can fester. | 26:34 | |
And we know this somehow in our heart of hearts, | 26:36 | |
each man knows it. | 26:40 | |
We do not have to look too deeply to realize that the ills | 26:42 | |
which beset the society that we know | 26:48 | |
are finally the responsibility of individual men | 26:51 | |
and mortals, | 26:55 | |
for the fault is not with ourselves, but with our stars. | 26:57 | |
But with ourselves that we live in the midst | 27:03 | |
of a social mores, | 27:06 | |
we have done it to ourselves and to our brothers, | 27:09 | |
or let me put it this way. | 27:14 | |
Jesus knew this, | 27:16 | |
everything that he said and everything that he did | 27:19 | |
was upon the assumption that there will never | 27:24 | |
be a better world | 27:27 | |
until there are better people in the world. | 27:29 | |
Again and again, | 27:32 | |
he spoke of ultimates | 27:34 | |
in terms of the lowest common denominator, the human factor. | 27:35 | |
And so it is not strange that he should give to us a comet | 27:42 | |
that sheds a bleak light upon the origin | 27:46 | |
and the problem of evil by looking at the human heart, | 27:50 | |
which begets it. | 27:54 | |
For he knew where evil comes. | 27:56 | |
The wisdom is contained in an eerie story | 28:00 | |
about a haunted house. | 28:03 | |
But the parable throws light | 28:06 | |
upon our present predicament, | 28:09 | |
upon the chaos, which is in essence upon the frustration, | 28:11 | |
which it begets and upon the violence, | 28:16 | |
which always follows it. | 28:20 | |
Once upon a time, | 28:23 | |
there was a demon who lived with what measure of comfort | 28:25 | |
we can only imagine, but we think rather happily, | 28:30 | |
a demon who lived in that favorite of all hearts for demons, | 28:35 | |
a human heart, better than a deserted place, | 28:40 | |
better than an empty tomb. | 28:45 | |
A demon preferred the heart of a man. | 28:47 | |
Now, this particular demon, | 28:50 | |
for what reasons we can only conjecture, | 28:53 | |
had at the part at which Jesus began his story, | 28:56 | |
left his familiar home. | 29:00 | |
And the suggestion is very strong | 29:03 | |
that he had been turned away. | 29:06 | |
And so he went, | 29:09 | |
as the Bible tells, through the waterless places, | 29:10 | |
seeking for a place to domicile and rest. | 29:15 | |
Now demons seem to be fond of desert places, | 29:19 | |
but they are fonder of compatibility. | 29:24 | |
And so, 'cause he was a resourceful, | 29:28 | |
as well as an evil and unclean spirit. | 29:31 | |
He bethought himself of his former life. | 29:35 | |
And he said, I will go back to the house from which I came | 29:38 | |
and he returned and sad to relate. | 29:42 | |
Say from the demon's point of view, | 29:45 | |
he found that house empty and swept and in perfect order, | 29:48 | |
he did not even stop, but went quickly. | 29:54 | |
I imagine, and gathered to himself seven other demons, | 29:57 | |
more wicked and more sinister than he | 30:01 | |
and they established residence in that cursed soul. | 30:04 | |
And so concludes Jesus. | 30:09 | |
The end of that man, | 30:11 | |
his latter state was worse than the first. | 30:13 | |
Now we have had this story repeated often enough in our own | 30:18 | |
experience and in the society about us, | 30:23 | |
that we cannot deny it's true, whatever else it says. | 30:26 | |
It says this, depressing as the story may be, | 30:32 | |
that evil finally cannot be destroyed. | 30:36 | |
It can banished. | 30:41 | |
It can be riposte. | 30:44 | |
It can be conquered, but it cannot be destroyed. | 30:46 | |
Like the lurking beast, | 30:52 | |
it is waiting always on the threshold of consciousness | 30:53 | |
for evil is a force at bay, | 30:58 | |
but never an enemy that is slain. | 31:02 | |
The implication is very clear in this story. | 31:06 | |
Negative action alone is not enough. | 31:10 | |
It does no good to turn the evil out of the heart | 31:14 | |
unless we have something constructive and positive | 31:18 | |
to put in its place. | 31:21 | |
It is useless to slay the lie | 31:23 | |
unless we give birth to the truth. | 31:27 | |
It is futile, always, | 31:30 | |
to stop the war unless we begin the peace. | 31:33 | |
For in doing so, we do nothing less | 31:38 | |
than to deny temporary lodging to a demon who will wander | 31:42 | |
and in due course come again to his old heart | 31:47 | |
and establish residence there with other devils | 31:50 | |
even worse than himself. | 31:54 | |
What this means is that so long as they are only negative, | 31:56 | |
all our rallies, all our marches, all our enthusiasms, | 32:03 | |
all our actions, violent or otherwise, are of little worth. | 32:10 | |
There must be something embraced and established | 32:16 | |
in the place of that which is destroyed, | 32:20 | |
nor is this a provincial truth that I speak. | 32:23 | |
Even the most jaded of us | 32:28 | |
subjected as we are, | 32:31 | |
not simply to the huckstering intimidation of television, | 32:33 | |
but exposed also to the beautiful and strange | 32:38 | |
and far away sights. | 32:43 | |
Even the most sophisticated and the most jaded of us | 32:45 | |
is likely to be breathless on first encounter | 32:49 | |
with the Indian God Shiva in his native land. | 32:53 | |
There is a kind of snakey bird, | 32:58 | |
a fascination about this destroyer who dances before us. | 33:00 | |
We see him upon the squirming, | 33:06 | |
writhing body of the demon of destruction. | 33:09 | |
He waves forearms gracefully. | 33:13 | |
A crescent moon is upon his head, | 33:15 | |
the water of the Ganges flows in his hair. | 33:18 | |
And he is called the destroyer, the manslayer, | 33:22 | |
the threatener, his presence is always in disease and death. | 33:26 | |
And he stands close by every funeral power. | 33:31 | |
And we identify with him. | 33:35 | |
We too would like to be able strike down our enemies | 33:37 | |
with the twinkling of an eye, | 33:42 | |
to destroy those who oppose us with a word of our mouths. | 33:44 | |
Particularly when those who oppose us seem to stand | 33:49 | |
in the way of progress, | 33:54 | |
or seem to condemn the innocent to undeserved | 33:56 | |
and cruel death. | 34:00 | |
And yet even as the parable of the demon | 34:01 | |
turned out of his home, | 34:05 | |
illustrates that destructive action alone is not enough. | 34:07 | |
So the truth is built also into the myth of Shiva. | 34:12 | |
In his dim beginnings, when he first appeared, | 34:17 | |
he used to descend from his mountain home | 34:21 | |
in raids that were punitive and destructive. | 34:24 | |
And yet those who penetrated his remote | 34:28 | |
and mountain fastness found curiously there, | 34:32 | |
that there were medicinal herbs growing under his watchful | 34:36 | |
and tender care, | 34:40 | |
which were meant for the healing of nations and of man. | 34:42 | |
Could it be that man had misunderstood Shiva? | 34:46 | |
Was it possible that his visitations | 34:51 | |
were blessings in disguise? | 34:54 | |
Gradually as they reflected, | 34:58 | |
they understood the true role and the principle incorporated | 35:00 | |
in the person of Shiva. | 35:04 | |
While he was a destroyer, | 35:06 | |
not by way of being negative, | 35:08 | |
but because of the activity that was itself constructed, | 35:11 | |
he destroyed in order to bring into being a new creation. | 35:16 | |
Is it not ever thus? | 35:21 | |
The egg disappears when the throb of life begins, | 35:24 | |
the embryo is destroyed when the child is born. | 35:28 | |
When the man appears the child is no more, | 35:33 | |
this is ever the way it is. | 35:37 | |
Or if we say it in Christian idiom, | 35:40 | |
a man dies to the world, and he lives to Christ | 35:43 | |
and is made a new being. | 35:47 | |
Now, what we have tried to say is obvious enough, | 35:50 | |
what we have communicated is another matter, let us review. | 35:56 | |
There is violence in the world | 36:01 | |
and we contribute to the violence. | 36:04 | |
We live in a violent time. | 36:06 | |
And so periodically we lash out against the violence, | 36:09 | |
but our efforts are not effective. | 36:13 | |
We are somehow not able to restore. | 36:16 | |
And we find ourselves in a situation like that described | 36:20 | |
in the parable told by Jesus | 36:24 | |
of a man who banished a demon from himself | 36:27 | |
and yet was visited subsequently by others. | 36:30 | |
So that the last state was worse than the first. | 36:33 | |
This suggests to us, | 36:37 | |
that part of our difficulty is that we lack positive | 36:39 | |
and constructive action. | 36:42 | |
Destruction itself is of little value, | 36:45 | |
except as the poet tells, | 36:49 | |
we do so to build more stately mansions, oh my soul. | 36:51 | |
Recently, Hannah Arendt has reminded us yet again, | 36:57 | |
that violence may be the tool of power, | 37:01 | |
but violence can never be power. | 37:05 | |
And so we come to focus finally, to the insistent question | 37:09 | |
that will not be pushed. | 37:14 | |
Why, why? | 37:16 | |
And the riddle, | 37:19 | |
and the question does not ask | 37:20 | |
why our efforts are ineffective. | 37:23 | |
It does not ask why we have built nothing in the place of | 37:25 | |
that which we have destroyed. | 37:29 | |
Rather, the question asked, | 37:31 | |
why have we not been able enthusiastically and actively | 37:34 | |
to embrace and to build something with the same deep vigor | 37:39 | |
and the same devotion and the same energy | 37:44 | |
that we turn upon the structure, | 37:46 | |
and I'll submit to you that the answer lies in our idealism, | 37:50 | |
naive, touching, impractical. | 37:56 | |
Yes, but naive even so, | 38:01 | |
but we have not been able to give ourselves wholeheartedly | 38:05 | |
to building again for the simple reason that we have not | 38:08 | |
found the perfect program in which we can participate. | 38:13 | |
Do you see what we want is instant millennium | 38:17 | |
and the world is not structured after this fashion. | 38:22 | |
Because we want to do away with all the poverty. | 38:26 | |
Now, we find it difficult | 38:30 | |
to be glad that 100 men can be spared. | 38:33 | |
Because we want to stop all the war | 38:37 | |
and have all the men home. | 38:40 | |
Now, we cannot rejoice in one life that is spared. | 38:42 | |
But we found ourselves rather in the role of starving men | 38:48 | |
who, because they are not bidden to a feast | 38:53 | |
are unwilling to feed upon path alone, | 38:56 | |
much less upon crimes. | 39:00 | |
Does it surprise you that our offer in support and | 39:03 | |
illustration of this point of view, | 39:07 | |
yet another parable that was told by Jesus, | 39:09 | |
in the once upon a time of this parable, | 39:14 | |
the time is your time. | 39:18 | |
Anytime, my time, | 39:20 | |
all the days of our lives, | 39:24 | |
for whatever else the parables are, they are universal. | 39:26 | |
Once upon a time, | 39:30 | |
there was a man who sold good seed in a field. | 39:32 | |
What were the seed? | 39:36 | |
Whether your dreams, your plans, | 39:38 | |
your program for a school where children might learn, | 39:43 | |
not simply their letters, but their lives, | 39:46 | |
your plan for a community where people could live together | 39:49 | |
in love, your plan. | 39:53 | |
Even for a world without war, a plan that would work, | 39:56 | |
no matter. | 40:01 | |
We all sow our seed and have our dreams. | 40:02 | |
And once upon a time, a man sold good seed in the field. | 40:06 | |
And as he slept, | 40:10 | |
an enemy came and sowed darn weeds amongst the wheat | 40:12 | |
so that when the grain was green | 40:17 | |
and the crop began to develop, the weeds appeared also, | 40:19 | |
did you find that those working closest with you | 40:25 | |
were not always responsible or always trustworthy, | 40:29 | |
were not always interested in the movement or in the cause? | 40:34 | |
No matter, the weeds appeared then as they always will, | 40:39 | |
and as they always do. | 40:43 | |
And his servants came and told him and he said, | 40:46 | |
an enemy has done this. | 40:49 | |
And his servants were eager to root out the weeds, | 40:50 | |
all the weeds then, | 40:54 | |
but the master did not suffer them to do so. No. | 40:57 | |
He said, let them grow. | 40:59 | |
For in the end, the weeds will be destroyed. | 41:02 | |
Meanwhile, the wheat will be preserved. | 41:06 | |
And so the story ended. | 41:09 | |
But for our part, let us end the story at that part | 41:11 | |
when the master gave advice to his servants and said, | 41:15 | |
do not destroy the weeds, | 41:19 | |
rather accept the world as it is. | 41:21 | |
Distressing advice, | 41:25 | |
but realistic advice, and merciful. | 41:28 | |
To you, and to me. | 41:33 | |
I dare not expect or demand a perfect student | 41:37 | |
until I am a perfect teacher. | 41:43 | |
I dare say the converse is true. | 41:47 | |
We cannot expect a perfect university until each of us | 41:51 | |
is ready to contribute, however modest and small | 41:56 | |
our participation in the university is, perfection. | 42:00 | |
And the same thing might be said of the community | 42:05 | |
or the world in which we live. | 42:08 | |
Or shall I put it this way? | 42:11 | |
We are such ambivalent men, | 42:13 | |
that we can build no more than an ambivalent world. | 42:17 | |
Why do we think that our brothers who also are man | 42:21 | |
will build anything but an ambivalent world? | 42:25 | |
Mind you, I am not saying that one | 42:29 | |
should ever want or seek less than perfection. | 42:32 | |
We should not suffer for less than millennium. | 42:36 | |
This is what we should desire and seek and draw after. | 42:38 | |
But since we cannot achieve it instantly, | 42:43 | |
let us not be unwilling in the place of that | 42:46 | |
which we destroy, to plant something positive. | 42:49 | |
However modest. | 42:53 | |
However tentative, we are men of ambivalence. | 42:55 | |
A contemporary novelist has said | 43:00 | |
that men are much of a mediocrity | 43:03 | |
be they British or Russian or German or French or Spanish. | 43:06 | |
And he might have added or be they Asian or African. | 43:13 | |
But this is true. | 43:18 | |
We are not so much men as we are civil wars | 43:20 | |
within ourselves. | 43:24 | |
We are voters about what we can't do. | 43:26 | |
We are humble about what we can. | 43:30 | |
We are liars in safety, but we are truthful in danger. | 43:33 | |
We are cowardly in smoke rooms, | 43:39 | |
but we are courageous and brave in shell holes. | 43:44 | |
Lewd with strange women. | 43:49 | |
Tender with our wives. | 43:52 | |
We live ourselves beneath the stars in the sky, | 43:55 | |
not caring and yet look at poor pathetic human nature. | 43:59 | |
All these men with bellies and eyes and fingernails | 44:06 | |
and hair, all stamped with God's image. | 44:11 | |
And also very pitiful when they are asleep. | 44:16 | |
Surely it is our business and our duty to teach them | 44:20 | |
how to love one another. | 44:24 | |
But for God's sake, | 44:27 | |
while we strive and long and wait for the millennium, | 44:29 | |
let us not forbear to do whatever little we can positive. | 44:34 | |
Because the perfect is not available to us. | 44:39 | |
Millennium does not come instantly. | 44:44 | |
It may never come, | 44:48 | |
but it will surely never come at all | 44:51 | |
if we forbear to do anything in God's cause. | 44:55 | |
No one calling himself a Christian dare do less. | 45:02 | |
Because we cannot instantly and now achieve. | 45:05 | |
Almighty God, | 45:13 | |
forgive us for the infirmity of our purpose, | 45:18 | |
for the weakness of our will, | 45:22 | |
for the littleness of our imagination. | 45:26 | |
Grant unto us the faith to hope when hope seems hopeless. | 45:30 | |
Grant unto us, | 45:39 | |
the faith to strive when striving seems of nothing worth. | 45:40 | |
Grant unto us indeed, | 45:46 | |
the grace to be embraced within thine own purpose and will, | 45:48 | |
and to seek, to discover thou will for us | 45:54 | |
rather than proudly to invent | 45:58 | |
the goals that we have established as eternal. | 46:01 | |
Through Jesus Christ. Our Lord. | 46:06 | |
Amen. | 46:08 | |
(organ plays) | 46:10 | |
(choir sings) | 46:41 | |
(opera singing) | 51:29 | |
(organ playing) | 53:32 | |
(choir singing) | 53:53 | |
Almighty God, we give thee thanks. | 54:49 | |
That in making thy marvelous creation | 54:52 | |
thou has told us it will not be complete | 54:55 | |
without our own contribution. | 54:58 | |
And so now as we see the challenge before us, | 55:02 | |
help us to dedicate even our imperfect efforts | 55:05 | |
and our imperfect abilities to a perfect effort | 55:10 | |
of helping to finish thy creation | 55:15 | |
for the glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 55:17 | |
Now may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ be with us all. | 55:25 | |
(choir singing) | 55:33 | |
(church bell rings) | 57:11 | |
(peaceful music) | 57:28 |