J. Lem Stokes II - "An Educated Odyssey"; Robert T. Young - "A Church Truly Catholic" (June 28, 1970)

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-	The following is the service of Sunday, July 5th, 1970.	0:06
	♪ Come like a strong wind ♪	0:31
	♪ Crushing each walls ♪	0:34
	♪ I will shake the earth ♪	0:36
	♪ To rejoice for our Majesty ♪	0:40
	♪ On all the earth is great ♪	0:45
	(organ music)	0:52
	(choir singing indistinctly)	1:28
	(organ music)
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:46
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:49
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:52
	♪ To the Lord most high ♪	1:55
	(choir singing indistinctly)	1:59
	(organ music)
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	2:21
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	2:24
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	2:27
	♪ To the Lord most high ♪	2:29
	(choir singing indistinctly)	2:34
	(organ music)
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	2:56
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	2:59
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	3:02
	♪ To the Lord most high ♪	3:04
	(choir singing indistinctly)	3:09
	(organ music)
	♪ To the Lord most high ♪	3:28
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	3:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	3:35
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	3:38
	♪ To the Lord most high ♪	3:40
	(organ music)	3:46
-	Seek ye the Lord while He may be found,	4:04
	call you upon Him, while He is near.	4:08
	Let the wicked forsake his way,	4:14
	and the unrighteous man his thoughts,	4:19
	and let him return unto the Lord.	4:23
	And He will have mercy upon him	4:27
	and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.	4:32
	Therefore, let us offer unto God, a prayer of confession.	4:40
	Almighty and eternal God.	4:48
	Thou searcher of the hearts of men,	4:52
	with sorrow, we acknowledge before thee	4:56
	the faults and failures, which haunt our memories.	4:59
	We acknowledge our failure to be true,	5:04
	even to our own accepted standards.	5:08
	Our self deception in the face of temptation,	5:13
	our choosing of the worse,	5:19
	when we know the better.	5:22
	We acknowledge our failure to apply to ourselves	5:26
	the standards of conduct we demand of others.	5:30
	Our complacent toward wrongs that do not touch our own case	5:36
	and our over sensitiveness to those that do,	5:43
	our hardness of heart toward our neighbor's faults	5:49
	and our readiness to make allowance for our own.	5:55
	In thy holy presence,	6:03
	we confess our faults and our failures,	6:05
	knowing that they are our sins.	6:10
	Forgive us, Lord.	6:17
	And now hear what comfortable words the scripture says	6:25
	to those that truly turn to God.	6:29
	God so loved the world That he gave only begotten son,	6:33
	that whoever believes in Him should not perish,	6:41
	but have eternal life.	6:46
	If we confess our sins, He is faithful	6:49
	and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us	6:54
	from all unrighteousness.	7:01
	Therefore be of good courage.	7:04
	And now let us offer unto God,	7:10
	our unison prayer of Thanksgiving.	7:13
	We give the thank our father, that thou has guided us safely	7:19
	over land and ocean, that in the kindly providence,	7:24
	thou has permitted our lot to be cast	7:29
	in this pleasant place	7:32
	that we are privileged to live in a land founded under God.	7:34
	We give thanks that this land was settled by men and women	7:40
	who came here as we did,	7:44
	in order that they might live in the light of freedom	7:47
	in order that they might worship thee	7:51
	according to the dictates of their consciences.	7:54
	Help us never to forget our father,	7:58
	that all the rights and privileges we enjoy here	8:01
	have blood on them.	8:06
	That every good gift was bought and paid for	8:08
	in human sacrifice.	8:12
	This goodly heritage is ours by choice and by adoption,	8:15
	may we never likely regard it.	8:21
	May we ever be grateful to those who in years past,	8:24
	have labored and loved in order that we might have something	8:28
	to inherit, this we pray in humbleness and Thanksgiving,	8:33
	amen.	8:40
	(organ playing)	8:46
	♪ And Jesus the Christ is born ♪	9:38
	♪ Give thanks now, every one ♪	9:44
	♪ Rejoice, ye great ones and ye small ♪	9:49
	♪ God's will, hit has been done ♪	9:55
	♪ Ye mighty kings of earth ♪	9:59
	♪ Before the manger bed ♪	10:04
	♪ Cast down, cast down your golden crown ♪	10:10
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	10:15
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	10:24
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	10:32
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	10:42
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	10:51
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	11:00
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	11:08
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	11:18
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	11:27
	♪ When Jesus Christ was born in Judea ♪	11:36
	It is unusual for us to introduce the	12:12
	preacher of the morning,	12:17
	that is done the Sunday before in the bulletin,	12:19
	but I wish to make an exception in this case.	12:22
	Our preacher has come to the Divinity school	12:29
	as Assistant Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs.	12:31
	He's a graduate of the University of North Carolina	12:37
	in Chapel hill.	12:39
	Where he was president of student government.	12:42
	His wife is a graduate of the University of North Carolina	12:48
	in Chapel hill,	12:50
	where she was secretary of student government.	12:52
	Came to the Divinity school	12:57
	and became President of student government.	12:59
	Then he went to Scotland for a year.	13:04
	Unusually, but wisely chose Glasgow rather than Edinburgh	13:08
	and studied there for a year.	13:13
	Came back to the Western conference.	13:14
	His most recent parish was in Boon.	13:16
	He's one of my OS students, and therefore I welcome him.	13:20
	As I know you do to the pulpit at this service.	13:23
	And now let us hear the Word of God	13:30
	as it is recorded first in the gospel,	13:32
	according to St. John, the 17th chapter at the 20 verse.	13:36
	This is the end of the high priestly prayer of our Lord,	13:44
	Where he has been praying for the 12 who have been given Him	13:51
	by God Praying for them just before the betrayal	13:55
	in the garden of Gethsemane.	14:01
	"I do not pray for these only,	14:06
	"but also for those who are to believe in me	14:10
	"through their word, that they may all be one,	14:13
	"even as thou father art in me and I in thee,	14:19
	"that they also may be in us	14:26
	"so that the world may believe that thou has sent me.	14:30
	"The glory, which thou has given me,	14:36
	"I have given to them that they may be one,	14:40
	"even as we are one.	14:46
	"I in them and thou in me, that they may become	14:50
	"perfectly one so that the world may know	14:56
	"that thou has sent me and has loved them	15:01
	"even as thou has loved me.	15:06
	"Father, I desire that they also,	15:10
	"whom now has given me maybe with me,	15:14
	"where I am to behold my glory,	15:16
	"which now has given me in thy love for me	15:20
	"before the foundation of the world.	15:24
	"Oh, righteous father, the world has not known thee,	15:27
	"but I have known thee,	15:34
	"and these know that thou hast sent me.	15:38
	"I made known to them thy name,	15:43
	"and I will make it known	15:48
	"that the love with which thou hast loved me,	15:51
	"maybe in them and I in them."	15:55
	And in the epistle to the Ephesians,	16:02
	the fourth chapter versus one to six,	16:07
	where the same idea is picked up	16:11
	by the writer of this letter,	16:14
	be it Paul or be it someone else.	16:17
	"I therefore a prisoner for the Lord,	16:22
	"beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling,	16:26
	"to which you have been called	16:30
	"with all loneliness and meekness,	16:33
	"with patience for bearing one another in love	16:36
	"eager to maintain the unity of the spirit	16:41
	"in the bond of peace.	16:45
	"There is one body and one spirit,	16:48
	"just as you were called to the one hope	16:53
	"that belongs to your call.	16:56
	"One Lord, one faith, one baptism,	16:58
	"one God and father of us all,	17:04
	"who is above all and through all	17:08
	"and in all."	17:13
	And may God bless unto us the reading of His word.	17:17
	(organ playing)	17:24
	(choir singing indistinctly)
	Lord, be with you.	18:05
-	And also with you.	18:08
-	Let us pray.	18:09
	Let us offer unto God a prayer of intercession	18:18
	for our country.	18:21
	Grant us oh God, a vision our land,	18:24
	fair as she might be, a land of justice,	18:27
	where nun shall pray on others.	18:31
	A land of plenty who are bison, poverty shall cease fester.	18:35
	A land of brotherhood where success shall be founded	18:42
	on service and honor be given to worth alone.	18:46
	A land of peace where order need no longer rest and force,	18:54
	but on the love of all for their country.	19:01
	And grant us God to pledge our time and strength	19:06
	and thought to hasten the day	19:10
	of our beauty and righteousness.	19:13
	Let us offer a prayer of intercession for the homes,	19:19
	from which we come.	19:23
	Oh God, our father, creator, sustainer.	19:26
	We thank thee for the home into which each one of us came	19:32
	when we entered this world, where duty was made sacred	19:36
	and love nurtured,	19:43
	and where we learned to call thee, father.	19:46
	Hello, we pray the all homes with thy presence,	19:51
	to bless, to judge, to forgive.	19:56
	And be with all who are homeless,	20:03
	and may each find a place in the larger household	20:09
	where is our true home, now and evermore.	20:15
	And let us offer a prayer of intercession for our hospitals,	20:23
	almighty God whose blessed son went about doing good,	20:29
	healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people.	20:34
	Continue His gracious work among us,	20:39
	comfort and heal all sufferers.	20:44
	Grant to physicians and surgeons, wisdom and skill.	20:48
	To nurses, sympathy and patients	20:55
	To hospital, administrators, diligence and foresight.	21:01
	Prosper their work oh, God	21:08
	and send down thy blessing	21:10
	on all who give up their substance or their service	21:12
	for its maintenance.	21:18
	And let us offer a prayer of supplication	21:22
	for the assurance of God's presence.	21:26
	Eternal God in whom is our health and our peace.	21:32
	How may we utter our need of thee.	21:37
	Our minds need thee to give them points.	21:42
	Our will need thee to give them strength.	21:48
	Our hearts need thee to give them quiet.	21:55
	We need thee as we worry about a better world,	22:03
	very urgent is our need of thee	22:09
	if we are to face persistent evil	22:12
	with hopeful determination,	22:15
	And with thou who understands us better than we do ourselves	22:20
	grant unto us a healing heartening consciousness	22:26
	of thy presence.	22:30
	As revealed in Jesus Christ, our Lord.	22:32
	And now let us offer a prayer of supplication for ourselves	22:39
	for the rest of this day.	22:43
	Help us this day of God to serve thee devoutly	22:48
	and the world visibly.	22:52
	Maybe do our work wisely.	22:55
	Give sucker secretly, go to our meat appetite.	22:58
	Sit there at discreetly, arise temperately.	23:06
	Please our friend dearly,	23:13
	go to our bed narrowly and sleep surely.	23:17
	For the joy of our Lord, Jesus Christ.	23:22
	And now as our savior, Christ has taught us.	23:29
	We humbly pray together saying,	23:32
-	Our father who art in heaven,	23:36
	hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	23:40
	thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.	23:44
	Give us this day, our daily bread	23:49
	and forgive us our trespass	23:52
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	23:55
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	23:59
	For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory,	24:04
	forever, amen.	24:09
-	And I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge that	24:26
	warm and cordial welcome to my wife and me.	24:32
	In spite of the fact that I am an old Carolina man,	24:38
	do not feel completely estranged in these surroundings.	24:44
	We are indeed delighted to be back in this area,	24:50
	and look forward to many meaningful experiences of worship	24:54
	and of service in this community.	24:57
	Bishop James K. Matthews of the Boston area	25:04
	of the United Methodist Church,	25:06
	writes in a new book which he has just recently written	25:09
	entitled, "A Church Truly Catholic."	25:13
	There is a kind of eschatological dimension to our times.	25:19
	Some things cannot wait.	25:25
	Translated it seems to me that that means	25:29
	that there is an air of the end of things around us.	25:31
	An atmosphere of finality,	25:36
	a feeling that we are indeed in the midst of perilous times	25:37
	and that some things can't wait.	25:41
	One of the things that cannot wait,	25:45
	is uniting of the body of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.	25:48
	That is the union of the church of Jesus Christ.	25:53
	We can't wait any longer to move directly and speedily	25:58
	toward a church, truly Catholic.	26:03
	The time is now indeed.	26:07
	The time was yesterday,	26:10
	not tomorrow, as the late William Temple said	26:12
	when in 1937, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury.	26:16
	We are obliged to express the amount of unity	26:22
	we can express at this time.	26:25
	And in 1970, it seems to me that	26:28
	we are more obliged to express the unity	26:31
	that we can now,	26:34
	the most unity we can express at any given time and moment.	26:36
	Surely Bishop Matthews was correct as he wrote,	26:41
	"There is only one direction for us to move, forward."	26:44
	But then I think we may legitimately ask the question is,	26:50
	why is church union imperative	26:54
	and why is it a must for our day?	26:59
	Because the late Arch Bishop William Temple says so?	27:01
	Because Bishop James K. Matthews tells us	27:05
	that there is only one way for us to go?	27:08
	Because Eugene Carson Blake,	27:11
	who is now the President of the World Council of Churches	27:13
	preached a sermon in 1960 on the call	27:16
	to protestants in this country to unite?	27:19
	Or because the general conference	27:22
	of the United Methodist church meeting recently	27:24
	in St. Louis considered a report on church union	27:26
	and recommended that all United Methodists study it by 1972?	27:30
	Or because some of you probably, feel it,	27:35
	or even because I feel it as necessary and desirable today?	27:39
	Not at all.	27:43
	None of these is sufficient reason for saying that	27:46
	a church truly Catholic cannot wait.	27:48
	But God's word gives us our ground	27:53
	and our hope.	27:57
	The book of Ephesians you heard,	28:00
	there is one body and one spirit,	28:02
	just as you were called to the one hope	28:06
	that belongs to your call, one Lord, one, faith,	28:08
	one baptism, one God and father of us all,	28:12
	who is above all and in all and through all.	28:15
	Then our Lord prayed in the gospel of John.	28:21
	"I do not pray for these only,	28:24
	"but also for those who believe even me through their word,	28:26
	"that they may all be one."	28:29
	And then Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 1:12-13.	28:34
	What I mean is that each one of you says,	28:38
	I belong to Paul or I belong to Apollo,	28:41
	or I belong to Cesar, or I belong to Christ.	28:44
	Is Christ divided?	28:47
	He writes.	28:48
	And the very clear expectation is that a resounding,	28:51
	no, Christ is not divided,	28:55
	will be heard in reply to this question.	28:58
	There are some negative reasons I think,	29:02
	for feeling that church union is a must.	29:04
	First of all, our dividedness is expensive.	29:10
	We divide our dollars and our cents here and abroad.	29:14
	There are many places and many of them close at hand	29:19
	where the simple cost of paid ministers	29:21
	for a multitude of churches is burdening indeed.	29:24
	Right here in this one county,	29:29
	there are probably are a hundred or more paid ministers,	29:31
	I would imagine serving probably 150 or more	29:35
	different Christian churches.	29:39
	Division is costly.	29:42
	So we ask, why not unite?	29:46
	Why not unite our publishing interests,	29:49
	our boards of missions, our educational institutions,	29:52
	our children's homes, our homes for the aging?	29:56
	Why not come combine our finances	30:00
	and coordinate our efforts?	30:01
	It is indeed expensive the way we now operate	30:03
	our splinter churches and denominations.	30:07
	The second place, from a negative point of view,	30:11
	we have a divided confusing witness.	30:14
	One example will be sufficient.	30:19
	In South Africa, a country that so I'm told,	30:23
	has a population of only 12 million persons,	30:26
	also has 1500 different Christian denominations.	30:32
	As Bishop Matthews says,	30:38
	"No under the thundered body of Christ	30:41
	"is considered by him to be the sixth wound."	30:44
	Our division not only brings confusion in other nations,	30:51
	it also brings undesirable competition in our own land.	30:54
	Why should there be a church on every corner, in any city?	30:58
	Why not cooperative, supported, complimentary,	31:04
	redemptive fellowships of all Christians	31:08
	in any given community?	31:11
	Why not?	31:13
	Well, a third negative impulse I think,	31:15
	comes when we realize that we Christians	31:19
	are diminishing in number and also in percentage	31:21
	in our countries and in the world's population.	31:25
	From a negative point of view it seems to me	31:28
	that we had better be renewed inwardly and outwardly,	31:31
	into one strong body rather than be splintered	31:34
	weakly into some 3,500 or so parts.	31:38
	Our world is physically smaller today.	31:42
	We are being forced to be neighbors and brothers,	31:45
	the man in Peru or Nigeria or Cambodia	31:49
	or Russia or China or Sweden or Turkey.	31:54
	What happens to one man is known and is of significance	31:58
	to us all.	32:01
	We are no longer just (indistinct) or north Carolinians	32:03
	or Americans or even Christians.	32:07
	We are global persons, residents indeed of the world.	32:09
	And ours is a world that is two thirds, non Caucasian,	32:16
	and 70% non Christian.	32:23
	We had better get together as Christians	32:29
	from a sheer survival point of view.	32:32
	Then also I think, people in	32:38
	the Christian churches today are less concerned	32:42
	over the minutia that ones concerned our church leaders	32:46
	and that still bug many of our institutional leaders.	32:51
	In England, as many of you probably know,	32:55
	the Anglicans and the Methodist have been talking	32:57
	about church union for several years.	33:00
	And they've been discussing a number of these minutia.	33:03
	To show you how little this trivia	33:09
	does mean to some of the leaders of the church today,	33:12
	let me share with you a few words from Cole Morris's book.	33:17
	Cole Morris is President of the United Church of Zambia.	33:21
	Share with you a few words that Morris has as he reacts,	33:26
	over some of the trivia that trouble the folks	33:30
	in great Britain, and the Methodist and Anglican churches.	33:33
	Trouble such as what are we going to do	33:38
	with the leftover bread and wine, after communion,	33:40
	where in the order of worship,	33:44
	will the words of absolution be put?	33:46
	If the Methodist ministers are to be reordained,	33:49
	will they be reordained, kneeling, sitting or standing?	33:53
	These are the sort of things that have been concerning	33:57
	the deliberations for church union.	34:02
	And Morris writes in a little paperback book	34:04
	entitled "Include Me Out."	34:06
	"I don't really care whether I end up in a union church	34:09
	"or as a residual Methodist.	34:12
	"I don't really care whether I am ordained, reordained	34:15
	"reconciled or commissioned by bishops, presidents, priests,	34:18
	"or presbyters.	34:22
	"I don't care where they put the words of absolution,	34:24
	"so long as there is some point in the sacrament	34:27
	"where I can unload my conscience.	34:30
	"I don't even care in what sense holy communion	34:33
	"is to be regarded as a sacrifice	34:35
	"for its all a play on words."	34:37
	And he says,	34:40
	"I'm willing to go through that service of reconciliation,	34:41
	"kneeling, standing, sitting, or lying flat on my face	34:44
	"if it will make some dear souls happy.	34:48
	"If that rigamarole can add anything by way of authority,	34:51
	"to what God has already given me,	34:54
	"I shall be humbly grateful, or as sure as fate,	34:56
	"it can't take anything away."	35:00
	And then he concludes,	35:03
	"Is it not time we distinguish between what is genuine	35:04
	"and what is useless in our present concerns?	35:08
	"If I am not humanely useful to the life of the world,	35:12
	"then the laying on of hands of every Bishop in Christendom	35:16
	"will not validate my ministry.	35:20
	"And so if the church is not humanely useful	35:24
	"to the life of the world in sharing God's love and concern,	35:28
	"then all the church unions in the world, will add nothing."	35:33
	Amen.	35:37
	And then one other negative factor I think is with us.	35:40
	And it's rather strong negative force that is behind us.	35:50
	'Cause I think that the rest of the world outside the church	35:57
	is standing aside and saying to us,	36:00
	"We really couldn't care less."	36:03
	What difference do you make all ye Christians who pass us by	36:08
	what are your differences,	36:14
	your divisions and your deliberations?	36:15
	We really don't care.	36:18
	And until we move beyond our divisions and our differences	36:23
	and our deliberations,	36:28
	the rest of the world is going to stand there	36:29
	and continue to say, "We really don't care."	36:33
	And then I think we have the right to ask the question,	36:40
	what is the alternative to church union?	36:44
	Further confusion, more competitiveness, more costliness.	36:49
	And I think less obedience to the truth of scriptures.	36:55
	My friends, this sermon this morning has not just happened.	37:02
	I'm bold enough to say that God's spirit is	37:07
	right in the midst of some of these words today,	37:10
	because rarely am I moved in preparing a sermon,	37:13
	but as I prepared this sermon, I was move intellectually,	37:17
	physically and spiritually as I wrote, moved by a power,	37:20
	not of me, moved by a power that caused me to feel inside	37:24
	praise God from whom all blessings flow.	37:28
	That caused me to recall that the church of Christ is one.	37:32
	It is we, who are divided.	37:35
	That caused me to remember that church is not a plural word.	37:39
	It has no plural.	37:43
	That caused me to recall	37:47
	there is an eschatological dimension to our times,	37:48
	some things cannot wait.	37:51
	One Lord, one faith, one baptism,	37:54
	one God and father of us all,	37:57
	these are the words of the scripture.	38:00
	And there have been this week and recently some experiences	38:02
	and events that have led me to believe	38:06
	that God is alive today, is alive very much in His church.	38:09
	I told the confirmation class, for example,	38:15
	just the other day, that until the year 1054,	38:18
	the church was in essence, one.	38:24
	And then the first great split came.	38:29
	In other words, we lived for over half	38:36
	of our 2000 years history as one church.	38:38
	And then in less than one half of our years,	38:43
	we have become broken into tiny fragments of groups.	38:46
	One church however, that claims in its history	38:51
	St. Augustin, St. Francis, St. Thomas,	38:55
	as well as Martin Luther, John Calvin,	38:58
	St. Jones, John Wesley,	39:01
	Pope John, the 23rd, Martin Luther King,	39:04
	and you and me, one Church.	39:07
	I was lifted not too long ago,	39:16
	by the words in the presence of a man by the name	39:18
	of Dr. George Schweitzer, who has three earned doctorates.	39:20
	Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee,	39:23
	who gave a series of lectures	39:27
	rather than a preaching mission	39:28
	to Boone United Methodist church not too long ago,	39:30
	he came to Boone teaching us the gospel of God's love.	39:33
	And this my friends is a Southern Baptist	39:38
	of Episcopalian background,	39:41
	lecturing in a United Methodist church,	39:44
	where all kinds of folk, from all kinds of religious	39:46
	persuasions came and heard him enthusiastically.	39:50
	I was also moved recently by the church	39:54
	in our midst at Boone, a few Sundays ago,	39:56
	when 50 young people from Burlington,	39:59
	some of you may know this group,	40:01
	sponsored by the Burlington YMCA,	40:04
	a group of young people called The New Directions.	40:06
	Black and white, rich and poor,	40:08
	from many different church groups	40:12
	as they sang and witnessed to their one Lord, one faith,	40:14
	one baptism, and one God.	40:18
	Recently in our church at Boone,	40:23
	we discussed a topic of timely concern to all of us.	40:26
	Birth control and abortion laws.	40:32
	And do you know who the panelists were?	40:36
	An Episcopalian psychiatrist, a United Methodist lawyer,	40:40
	and a Roman Catholic priest.	40:46
	In April, the general conference	40:49
	of the United Methodist church received a report	40:51
	from its delegates to Coco.	40:53
	That is to the consultation on church union.	40:55
	This report proposes a plan of union for nine denominations	40:59
	in the United States with a total membership	41:02
	of almost 28 million persons.	41:05
	The United Methodist church, thank God, is one of these nine	41:07
	one that has been in on the discussion for church union	41:11
	since its very beginning in 1960.	41:13
	This is a plan of union of some 30,000 words,	41:17
	a plan in which every member of every church,	41:20
	in every denomination involved is invited	41:23
	to study and react to, between now and 1972.	41:25
	And the hope is that by 1976,	41:29
	these nine denominations will be ready to vote on the plan.	41:33
	The nine denominations,	41:37
	over half of them are of Methodist heritage.	41:39
	Three of them are predominantly black.	41:43
	The nine are the African Methodist Episcopal church,	41:45
	the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church,	41:48
	the Christian Church,	41:51
	the Christian Methodist Episcopal church,	41:53
	the Episcopal church, the Presbyterian church in the U.S,	41:55
	the United Church of Christ,	41:59
	the United Presbyterian church in the USA,	42:01
	and the United Methodist church.	42:04
	The proposed name of the new church,	42:06
	the Church of Christ Uniting.	42:08
	So it is indeed a joyful time, I think,	42:15
	when we can see many movements	42:20
	toward a church truly Catholic.	42:24
	Some positive thrusts, I think.	42:28
	The first place, I believe that God's spirit	42:32
	is leading us in this direction.	42:40
	As one of our adult Sunday school lesson materials says,	42:45
	a strange wind is moving over my world.	42:49
	I believe that.	42:56
	And I believe that that strange wind is drawing us together	42:58
	and it's blowing from many different directions in 1966,	43:04
	at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond,	43:09
	I heard a Presbyterian theologian speak about it.	43:12
	At Lake Juka a Methodist assembly in 1968,	43:17
	I heard a Roman Catholic priest from Chapel Hill	43:23
	preach about it.	43:25
	And I just read recently a report of the	43:28
	world council of churches that said,	43:30
	the member churches of the world council	43:32
	have pledged themselves and listen,	43:35
	to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.	43:38
	Strange that they would have to spell it out, isn't it?	43:42
	But to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in this matter	43:46
	of a church truly Catholic,	43:50
	I believe that the Holy Spirit is calling us to deemphasize	43:53
	those things which divide us	43:56
	and to concentrate on those things which unite us.	43:58
	As the late Archbishop Jeffrey Fisher once put it,	44:03
	we may not like each other, but we are strangely alike.	44:08
	And then a second positive thrust remind us,	44:16
	that a church truly Catholic, would witness as one.	44:19
	We could eliminate much confusion,	44:27
	competitiveness and wasted effort.	44:30
	A third positive thrust says quite simply,	44:36
	that we need unity,	44:42
	but we neither need nor desire uniformity.	44:43
	We do not have to worship the same way,	44:48
	or believe the same way or behave the same way	44:51
	or even read and interpret scriptures in the same way,	44:55
	but we can belong to one another and can all belong to God	44:58
	through Christ, as East Stanley Jones,	45:02
	is opposed to have said on one occasion,	45:05
	"Every person belongs to every person,	45:08
	"who belongs to Christ."	45:12
	And then a fourth positive thrust is plainly, God's Word.	45:17
	You heard it, Ephesians four says,	45:23
	"There is one body and one spirit."	45:26
	Paul raised the question, is Christ divided?	45:32
	Jesus Himself, our Lord prayed,	45:39
	that they may all be one.	45:44
	And a bit positive thrust at think is saying,	45:50
	let's get the structure and the organization,	45:54
	the machinery and the mass institutional work behind	45:58
	so that we can get on with the task,	46:03
	which God is calling us to live out.	46:05
	That is as active living, loving, serving,	46:07
	sharing, helping, redeeming persons in the world, today.	46:13
	There is an eschatological dimension to our times.	46:21
	Some things cannot wait.	46:25
	A church truly catholic, cannot wait.	46:29
	I'm no scientist and don't pretend to be.	46:35
	But I understand that there is a real lesson for the church	46:42
	to learn from science today,	46:45
	because I'm told that power is generated by nuclear fishing.	46:48
	That a certain amount of power is generated	46:55
	by the splitting of atoms.	47:00
	But I am also told that far greater power	47:03
	is generated by nuclear fusion.	47:07
	That is by the coming together.	47:11
	Arch Bishop Temple said,	47:17
	"I believe in one holy Catholic church,	47:19
	"And I wish that it were so."	47:25
	In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.	47:32
	Amen.	47:39
	(organ music)	47:42
	(choir singing indistinctly)	48:13
	(organ music)
-	All things come of thee oh, God,	56:47
	our silver and our gold.	56:51
	And our (indistinct) do we give thee,	56:56
	as the symbol of ourselves.	56:59
	In the name of Jesus, the Christ, our Lord.	57:03
	May the blessing, God Almighty,	57:13
	come upon you and God be with you.	57:17
	May He show us (indistinct).	57:21
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	57:28
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	57:37
	♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord ♪	57:41
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	57:44
	♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord ♪	57:48
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	57:52
	♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord ♪	57:55
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	57:58
	♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord ♪	58:01
	(church bells ringing)	58:09
	(organ music)	58:21
	(choir singing indistinctly)
	(indistinct chatter)	59:14

	(silence)	0:00
	(hymnal singing)	0:07
-	If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves	4:11
	and the truth is not in us.	4:18
	Therefore, let us offer unto God a prayer of confession.	4:22
	Let us pray.	4:27
	Almighty God, we come before thee as a disobedient church.	4:30
	Our loyalty to the has sometimes been lost	4:38
	in the conflict of human loyalties.	4:42
	Our own self-interests has at times made us insensitive	4:47
	to thy commands.	4:53
	Our past is precious to us and we have allowed it	4:57
	to set limits upon the future.	5:03
	Our worship and our service have often been feeble.	5:09
	We have not responded in love to the nor to the needs	5:16
	of thy church,	5:20
	Break our apathy and any arrogance	5:23
	with the judgment of thy love.	5:30
	And then in thy mercy heal with the Holy Spirit	5:36
	causing us as a community to be born and new	5:42
	in Jesus Christ our Lord.	5:48
	And hear those words of assurance of forgiveness	5:55
	from the first epistle of John.	5:58
	Our sins are forgiven For Jesus' sake,	6:03
	therefore be of good courage and let us offer unto God,	6:12
	our unison prayer of Thanksgiving.	6:18
	Almighty God, our heavenly Father,	6:24
	we bless and magnify thy holy name for the gift	6:28
	of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Redeemer	6:31
	and for all his apostles, prophets, martys evangelists,	6:38
	teachers and pastors whom he had sent abroad into the world	6:44
	for thy holy church universal,	6:50
	the ministry of the latey and the ministry	6:53
	of the ordained.	6:56
	We do give the hearty thanks for the privilege,	6:58
	which each one of us has a bearing witness to the saving	7:02
	grace of our Lord.	7:06
	We express our gratitude.	7:08
	We thank thee for life for a measure of health, for friends,	7:10
	for food, for clothing,	7:16
	and for all the purposes os Christ	7:19
	which give meaning to these greatly goods.	7:21
	We make our prayer of thanks in Jesus name.	7:25
	Amen.	7:30
	(silence)	7:31
	(faint hymnal singing)	8:29
	Let us hear the word of God as it is contained in the	12:27
	scriptures of the New Testament.	12:31
	In the book of the Acts of the Apostles 6:8-15.	12:35
	Dr. Lamb Stokes, whom we welcome to our pulpit	12:47
	this morning has asked me to read this passage	12:51
	from the New English Bible.	12:54
	Stephen, who was full of grace and power	13:00
	began to work great miracles and signs among the people.	13:06
	But some members of the synagogue	13:13
	called the "Synagogue of Freed Men".	13:15
	Comprising Cyrene and Alexandrians	13:20
	and people from Cilicia and Asia	13:23
	came forward and argued with Stephen.	13:28
	But could not hold their own against the inspired wisdom	13:32
	with which he spoke.	13:38
	They then put up men who alleged that they had	13:42
	heard Stephen make blasphemous statements against Moses	13:45
	and against God.	13:51
	They stirred up the people and the elders and doctors	13:54
	of the law set upon him and seized him	13:59
	and brought him before the council.	14:05
	They produced false witnesses is who said,	14:10
	this man is forever saying things against this holy place	14:15
	and against the law for we have heard him say	14:23
	that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place	14:30
	and alter the customs handed down to us by Moses.	14:36
	And all who were sitting in the council,	14:46
	fixed their eyes on Stephen	14:48
	and his face appeared to them Like the face	14:53
	of an angel.	15:01
	Amen.	15:04
	Here end the morning lesson.	15:06
	(hymnal singing)	15:10
	♪ Amen, amen. ♪	15:43
	The Lord be with you, let us pray.	15:51
	Let us offer first three prayers of intercession,	16:06
	one for the church, one for all who labor	16:11
	for peace and one for the United Nations.	16:16
	Oh God, our shepherd give to the church,	16:22
	a new vision and a new charity,	16:27
	new wisdom and fresh understanding.	16:31
	The revival of her brightness and the renewal of her unity.	16:36
	That the eternal message of thy son	16:43
	undefiled by the traditions of men may be hailed	16:48
	as the good news of the new age,	16:53
	through him who make it all things new.	16:57
	Even Jesus Christ our Lord.	17:02
	Our almighty and merciful God	17:08
	who would just have the kingdoms of this world	17:12
	become the kingdoms of thy Son,	17:15
	bestow thy blessing upon all who labor	17:18
	for peace and for righteousness among the people	17:21
	that the day may be hastened when war shall be no more.	17:28
	And thy holy will shall govern the nations upon earth	17:34
	through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.	17:40
	Our heavenly Father we thank thee	17:46
	for those who out of the bitter memories of strife and loss	17:48
	conceived a more excellent way for the nations of the earth	17:55
	whereby justice and order may be maintained	18:01
	and the differences of people may be resolved in equity	18:08
	We pray thee to help men of goodwill to establish	18:15
	their purpose on sure foundations,	18:20
	prosper their labors,	18:25
	that they will may be done in love,	18:29
	in peace and in the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.	18:34
	And let us offer unto God a prayer of supplication	18:47
	for a realization of God, deepen and quicken	18:49
	within us oh God the sense of thy presence	18:55
	and refresh us with thy power,	18:59
	quiet our understanding and give ease to our hearts	19:03
	by bringing us close to things infinite and eternal.	19:08
	Grant us dignity in our own eyes	19:13
	by taking us into thy service.	19:14
	Humble us by laying bare before us,	19:22
	our littleness and our sin,	19:26
	and then exalt us by revealing thyself to us	19:30
	as our counselor, our father, and our friend	19:34
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	19:37
	And let us offer a prayer of supplication that God	19:44
	will grant us a sense of joy,	19:47
	grant to us oh Lord, the royalty of inward happiness	19:53
	and the serenity which comes from living close to thee.	19:58
	Daily renewal in us the sense of joy and let thy eternal	20:03
	Spirit dwell in our souls and bodies	20:08
	filling us with light and grace.	20:13
	So that bearing about with us,	20:17
	the infection of a good courage	20:20
	we may be diffusers of life and may meet all ills	20:23
	and cross all accidents With gallant	20:30
	and high hearted happiness giving thee thanks	20:34
	for all things.	20:40
	And now as our savior Christ taught us,	20:43
	we humbly pray together saying,	20:47
	our Father who art in heaven,	20:51
	hallowed be thy name by kingdom come,	20:55
	they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	21:00
	Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive	21:04
	us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass	21:08
	against us and lead us not into temptation,	21:12
	but deliver us from evil.	21:17
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	21:19
	and the glory forever.	21:23
	Amen.	21:25
	(silence)	21:27
-	Whenever I visit in Pittsburgh,	21:52
	I try to make it a point to stop by the first	21:57
	Presbyterian church, where for many years	22:00
	Dr. Clarence McCartney was the distinguished minister.	22:05
	One incident from his pan above all others	22:12
	always stands out in my mind when I leave the church	22:17
	and cross the river that winds through	22:23
	the heart of the city.	22:26
	Dr. McCartney says that he paused one day	22:29
	in the middle of the bridge that spans the Allegheny	22:32
	and was leaning over the parapet watching	22:37
	the scene below and before him,	22:40
	the sun setting beyond the steep Hills,	22:45
	the smoke rising from engines and factories,	22:49
	the steamboats pushing their barges up and down the river.	22:54
	The houseboats clustering along the banks and the river	22:59
	itself flowing rapidly away like the river of a man's life.	23:05
	Suddenly his fascination with the scene below and before him	23:11
	was interrupted by the words of a passer by on the bridge.	23:17
	Just the beginning of a sentence.	23:24
	If I had my life to live over again,	23:28
	the remainder of the sentence was lost in the rumble	23:32
	of traffic and in the din of confusion on the bridge,	23:35
	leaving him only to conjecture how the stranger	23:41
	might have completed his thought.	23:45
	It would be intriguing to know just how those lost words	23:49
	were put together and what their significance might have	23:52
	been for a man whose name and place	23:57
	will remain forever anonymous,	24:01
	but more are important to us is the fact that these words	24:06
	lose their anonymity when they repeat thoughts	24:11
	that often recur to us.	24:15
	When I was a student at Yale more years ago	24:18
	than I like to admit now,	24:21
	I spent a considerable amount of time deciphering Greek	24:24
	papyri fragments, which the university	24:28
	possessed in rather large quantities.	24:32
	Again and again, I found myself tantalized	24:36
	by the realization that the missing pieces	24:40
	contained information about the writers,	24:44
	which might have completed some important	24:47
	story of their lives.	24:50
	It was like an unfinished sentence,	24:54
	an interrupted conversation,	24:56
	a profound observation lost in the cacophony of sounds	25:00
	on a busy city bridge.	25:06
	We need no scientist philosopher or psychologist or religion	25:10
	for that matter to tell us that life	25:14
	cannot be lived over again,	25:18
	but we defy these or any others to tell us	25:21
	that we cannot at any juncture of our lives	25:25
	make a fresh start a beginning again in the long days,	25:27
	journey new adventure in our educational odyssey.	25:32
	Surely if anywhere, the university	25:38
	is a setting made for this.	25:41
	All of us have come to junctures in life	25:45
	when our resolves our aspirations for glowing achievements,	25:49
	like pretty bubbles blown into the sky	25:54
	have seemed only a momentary reality.	25:58
	We have felt the need for something less transitory,	26:02
	more enduring in the midst of the confusion of sounds	26:06
	on the modern university campus.	26:10
	Is there any possibility that this enduring note	26:14
	can be heard an older theologian in a textbook	26:19
	written for a previous generation,	26:25
	including it in his table of contents	26:28
	two interesting entries.	26:31
	Chapter one, hell, chapter two, hell continued.	26:34
	We do not need to subscribe to this older theology to see	26:43
	something significant in the wording	26:47
	for nothing could be more tragic as far as	26:51
	our lives are concerned than for chapter two,	26:53
	a new chapter in our educational Odyssey to be merely	26:58
	a repetition of some of the disappointing experiences	27:02
	that have gone before.	27:07
	So then let us agree at the outset that the university must	27:09
	provide a beginning again, in the lofty realms of the mind.	27:14
	We should forever give a lie to the assertion	27:20
	of Mumford Jones of Harvard University,	27:23
	that ours is an age that is proud of its machines	27:26
	that think and suspicious of its people who try to.	27:30
	To be sure we must have our machines,	27:37
	our electronic devices,	27:40
	our computers that speed the processes of education,	27:42
	but we must not forget that it is the mind behind	27:48
	the machine that makes it work.	27:51
	Bernardo Overstreet in the book,	27:57
	"Brave Enough For Life" has a striking chapter entitled,	28:00
	choosing one's ancestors.	28:05
	Now there's a new wrinkle for you,	28:08
	choosing one's ancestors indeed it is all we can do	28:12
	to cover up for them.	28:15
	They are as irrevocable as history born,	28:17
	lived, died forever a part of the record like	28:20
	the big ATS of the Bible,	28:25
	but let us not miss the point of this chapter	28:28
	for their is a real sense in which ancestors can be chosen.	28:32
	And in the choosing, we expand our intellectual horizons	28:37
	through the pages of history we March with Jenkis Khan,	28:42
	with Caesar and Charemien, with the crusaders and the Yanks.	28:46
	Through the laboratory we work beside Pastor Kuli,	28:52
	Van Bush and the long list of distinguished names	28:56
	in today's scientific world.	29:00
	We lift our souls into realms of beauty	29:04
	as we make friends with B and Beethoven	29:07
	with Scher and Chopan with Chaka.	29:11
	We learn of lines and colors from such masters	29:16
	of their craft as Michael Angelo and Rembrandt,	29:17
	Leonard DaVinci and Rubens, Whistler, and Picasso.	29:25
	We seek the answer to some of life's profoundest questions,	29:30
	with Plato and chop with Nigel and Lieber	29:35
	with Hum and James and Jesus.	29:40
	We break into flights of song and inspiration with Homer	29:44
	and Dante with GTI and Shakespeare,	29:49
	with long fellow and Kipling with Whitman and frost	29:53
	and with all of the newer breed.	29:57
	We follow the intricate patterns of the mind created	30:00
	by McCauley and Scott, by Dickens and do GSKi,	30:04
	by Hugo and Tall Story by Stevenson and Conrad	30:08
	by O'Neil and Wolf and all the rest.	30:12
	But the university must not stop here,	30:17
	if our education odyssey is to be complete,	30:20
	it must be willing to scrutinize its entire	30:24
	reason for being.	30:28
	If I do not miss my guess here is where the next campus	30:30
	revolution will center.	30:35
	Such student activism may not be as exciting as some	30:39
	that have been popular on campuses around	30:43
	the nation of late,	30:47
	but it will strike it issues that are a vital concern	30:48
	to every segment of the institution.	30:53
	There is something quite irritating about what Gus Tyler	30:57
	of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union	31:01
	says about our colleges and universities.	31:05
	"They are less a Collegium than a crazy collage of trade	31:09
	turfs for the campus alone seems to retain its campus,	31:14
	its classic favor of battleground.	31:21
	The university has gone multi and the community	31:25
	of scholars has become a disunity of disciplines.	31:29
	It increasingly resembles Andrea Noyo groups	31:35
	of individuals held together by mutual animosity	31:41
	who could not survive had they no friends to hate.	31:45
	Confronted with unwanted chaos,	31:51
	the survivalist does not know whether to cry, laugh,	31:54
	or pass a resolution oversimplified perhaps,	31:59
	but words to give us pause for thought,	32:05
	pause to cease wondering why the next campus revolution	32:09
	might just be directed against the crimes,	32:13
	we insist upon perpetrating in the name of scholarship.	32:19
	I wish I had time to document them all.	32:23
	I give you only one small sample as an appetizer.	32:27
	The other day I chanced to sit at lunch	32:32
	with an honor graduate of one of our colleges	32:34
	who was headed for graduate school this fall.	32:38
	But first she must return to her Alma mater to complete	32:42
	a sophomore level course, which owing	32:47
	to a schedule conflict she had not been able	32:50
	to get in, but get this.	32:53
	Her college had permitted her in instead to enroll	32:57
	in a senior level course in the same discipline.	33:01
	and she had made an A in it, but all because on page 51,	33:05
	of the graduate catalog,	33:10
	the sophomore course was listed as a prerequisite an honor	33:13
	student was spending precious time and money that might much	33:18
	more profitably have been spent upon her graduate career.	33:22
	Such stupidity, such colossal disregard for common sense,	33:27
	such inflexibility perpetrated by supposedly educated	33:33
	people can be documented all over the place	33:38
	and I assure you that in my present job,	33:42
	I am finding more than I can enumerate almost every day	33:45
	in my visitations of the universities of this state.	33:50
	And I am solidly with the students in insisting that this	33:54
	antiquated adherence to outdated practices has got to go.	33:58
	But there is another area of beginning again	34:07
	in the education odyssey,	34:10
	I am thinking of the area of human relationships	34:13
	in the broadest sense it is the breakdown	34:17
	of these relationships that has time after time	34:19
	brought our world for the brink of disaster.	34:24
	The inability or unwillingness of people to get along with	34:28
	each other has caused and is continuing to cause us	34:31
	to write much of our history deep red hues of blood.	34:37
	One has only to refer to troubled campuses across the land	34:43
	to point out that needing to get along with one another	34:48
	is not just a problem for the nations,	34:52
	it is a problem for administrators,	34:55
	for faculty and for students sharing dormitories	34:58
	and showers, classrooms and chapel pews,	35:02
	cafeteria lines and campus walks, library	35:07
	and stadia is only a part of the story for here	35:11
	there is a constant clash of ideas and polarization	35:16
	and things getting out of control.	35:21
	It is not always easy to make peace with deans and with	35:25
	classmates and girlfriends perhaps in the end,	35:29
	the answer to be is to be found in one man's prescription	35:33
	of a happy home said he having a happy home is not so much	35:37
	finding the right person as in being the right person.	35:43
	Jesus put it another way,	35:48
	when he commanded love thy neighbor,	35:50
	as I saw all the book learning in the world can mean little	35:54
	if along with it, one does not learn to live with people.	36:00
	I recall the story of the railway conductor who retired	36:05
	after some 40 years of service	36:09
	at the ceremonial in his honor,	36:13
	a newspaper reporter asked him what was the most difficult	36:15
	part of his job.	36:19
	Without hesitation the conductor replied in just one word.	36:21
	People.	36:26
	I understand that this year's graduates are finding it more	36:28
	difficult to secure jobs than has been the case with past	36:32
	generations of graduates.	36:36
	Most of the difficulty is attributable	36:39
	to economic factors to be sure.	36:41
	The rise in an unemployment, inflation,	36:45
	the loss of purchasing power.	36:48
	But in some instances it is due to a history of hard	36:50
	to get along with traits.	36:55
	My attention was called the other day to a large national	36:57
	firm employing several thousand persons that turned down	37:00
	applicants applications from honor graduates	37:06
	in favor of students with lower academic attainments,	37:10
	because the latter gave better promise of getting	37:15
	along with people.	37:18
	There is a good word in the American vocabulary.	37:20
	It is the word cooperate.	37:24
	This does not mean passivity simply means learning	37:27
	how to work with others for the common good,	37:32
	the word calls to mind an incident that happened many years	37:36
	ago before the days of rural electrification in a little	37:39
	country church where a new pipe organ had been installed.	37:44
	On the Sunday set aside for the dedication.	37:48
	A distinguished organist was secured for a special concert	37:51
	behind the scenes, a strong,	37:56
	able bodied local citizen was put on the manual pumping	37:58
	device all went well during the first half of the program,	38:03
	the organist and the organ functioned perfectly.	38:09
	But at the intermission,	38:12
	the guest artist slipped from the bench at the console	38:14
	and retired to the rear for a breath of fresh air	38:17
	and smoked.	38:20
	As he reached the anti room,	38:22
	the man on the pump dripping with perspiration,	38:24
	smilingly stepped up to greet the musician.	38:28
	We certainly have been giving them a good concert.	38:32
	The man explained half facet.	38:35
	Well, the organist did not share either	38:39
	the humor or the idea that the two of them	38:41
	were engaged in some kind of joint enterprise.	38:45
	So he replied a bit stiffly, sir,	38:49
	I would have you to know that I am giving them	38:52
	a good concert.	38:55
	Needless to say that stopped the conversation.	38:57
	When the intermission was over the performer	39:01
	returned to his console.	39:03
	and as the whispering subsided in the sanctuary began	39:05
	arranging his stops for the first number	39:10
	to make the story more dramatic,	39:13
	I should say that this was a full organ composition	39:15
	depicting the thunder,	39:18
	depicting the thunder and lightning of a storm to the hush	39:20
	of the audience he came down sharply on the keys,	39:25
	but there wasn't a sound.	39:29
	He fumbled with the stops,	39:31
	a moment adjusted himself again on the seat and came,	39:33
	came down forcefully upon the keys,	39:36
	but it was no use the organ that had produced	39:39
	such beautiful music a short while before	39:43
	as now silent as dead as a last year's romance.	39:46
	But the organist was not what he had first seemed	39:52
	to be amidst the tittering audience,	39:55
	he slid off the bench and made his way to the rear.	39:59
	Sure enough there was the big fellow	40:03
	perspiration gone sitting in the cross current of a breeze,	40:06
	calmly smoking his pipe as though nothing in all the world	40:11
	was bothering him.	40:15
	Sir, said to musician holding out his hand,	40:17
	you were quite right a while ago,	40:21
	we were giving them a good concert.	40:23
	And if you will return to the pump,	40:26
	we will give them an even better one	40:29
	during the second half,	40:31
	the reporter concluded his story by saying	40:34
	together they did.	40:38
	So must it be on these college and university	40:41
	campuses across the land.	40:44
	We have the intelligence and the means	40:47
	for getting the job done, please God,	40:49
	this we will do together altogether to Tarly.	40:52
	I come to a third and final observation.	40:58
	In this educational odyssey the university	41:02
	must insist that there be a beginning	41:07
	again, in the realm of the spirit,	41:11
	in the familiar story of the prodigal son,	41:14
	Jesus paints an ugly picture of a young man who had left	41:18
	home for the first time, the place to which he journeyed	41:22
	might for all we know have been as beautiful	41:26
	as a university campus or your own hometown.	41:29
	There might have been some prospects for good training	41:33
	in a respected vocation, but something happened.	41:36
	He got in with the wrong crowd,	41:40
	let's say egged on by his new freedom	41:42
	he decided to live it up, spending lavishly,	41:45
	drinking with dangerous abandon.	41:49
	He soon found himself a delinquent deliric	41:52
	cast out by the society that had	41:55
	befriended him only so long as he had something to spend.	41:58
	Words are scarcely adequate to describe the depths	42:04
	to which he had fallen.	42:07
	And in which a stubborn pride seem determined to keep him	42:09
	rather than admit his error and call back home,	42:14
	he lived the life of a tramp.	42:17
	Then one day in his extremity, he came to himself.	42:21
	Thoughts about the good things of home flashed inevitably	42:25
	across his mind.	42:30
	What a beautiful picture in contrast is the return	42:31
	of the prodigal,	42:36
	a father watching the road, rushing out to meet him,	42:37
	the happy tearful reunion and it last the transformed man,	42:42
	freshly groomed and clothed.	42:48
	No wonder the father proudly declared as he called	42:51
	for a celebration, my son was dead and is alive again.	42:54
	He was lost and is found.	43:01
	I know it is easy for us in this 20th century	43:04
	to dismiss the picture.	43:08
	None of us you see could stoop so low, could be so degraded.	43:11
	So utterly lost or it might have put to a few hippies	43:16
	here and there to some drug addicts perhaps,	43:20
	or to a few runaway bumps,	43:24
	but not to us white color and typos, never.	43:27
	And yet let me say it gently,	43:32
	character can be rumpled in so many ways.	43:35
	No one has to be a puritan to know when the heart is soiled,	43:39
	when ideals get canceled out by situation ethics,	43:43
	when it was said of Jesus that he took issue	43:48
	with the customs of the day,	43:51
	that he attempted to alter them in the hearing	43:52
	of our scripture today,	43:57
	it is not difficult for the free man of day's university	43:59
	world to get the picture.	44:03
	He was not content, nor are we	44:06
	to mouth ancient to go through the motions	44:09
	of religious exercise.	44:14
	Ye have heard that it had been said,	44:16
	but I say unto you was his constant reminder.	44:19
	In applauding Jesus criticism of the establishment	44:24
	of the day let us not derive comfort however,	44:27
	in our own critical outbursts against some of the empty	44:32
	religious practices of our time for behind his criticism,	44:36
	as there must be behind ours is the clear mandate to do away	44:41
	with all sham and hypocrisy to make the religious experience	44:47
	a very personal relationship between ourselves and our God.	44:52
	I like the story that comes from	44:59
	a little Kentucky mining community.	45:00
	One evening at the local elementary school,	45:04
	a program of music was being presented by the children	45:07
	for the benefit of their parents and friends.	45:10
	In one song entitled, "I want to be an angel",	45:14
	which possessed some rather doubtful religious connotations,	45:18
	but which was set to lively music,	45:22
	a little fellow at the end of the chorus line,	45:25
	sang with such gusto and enthusiasm that he attracted	45:28
	the entire audience.	45:33
	When the performance was over the minister in the audience,	45:35
	sought the youngster out,	45:38
	slapped him good naturedly on the back and inquired.	45:40
	So you want to be an angel, do your son?	45:43
	To which without change of expression,	45:47
	the little fellow replied shocks Mr,	45:49
	I don't wanna be no angel, I just wanna be somebody.	45:53
	I doubt that any of us is quite ready for wings and a heart,	45:59
	but I'm sure that all of us can echo the sentiments behind	46:04
	such a moving desire.	46:08
	The modern campus counterpart is perhaps found in some lines	46:10
	panned recently in the latest issue of "Change" magazine	46:15
	by Kate Hara, an honor student at Michigan state university.	46:20
	Said she, I am sitting here at the typewriter.	46:26
	It's really a rotten system because you have to spend	46:30
	all your time working on the papers.	46:34
	The profs assign for the end of the term.	46:37
	There is never enough time just to relax.	46:41
	I want time to be me.	46:45
	A lot of crafts still have the great whole notion	46:49
	that education is only books and that one should	46:53
	spend all one's time developing one's mind.	46:56
	Today's university is not geared for the total person.	47:01
	You take neatly compartmentalized courses	47:06
	in neat departments.	47:10
	You live in a made by Nabisco dorm.	47:12
	You do certain things at certain times, for instance,	47:16
	you can't take a, a class at 3:00 AM	47:19
	when I'm wide awake and all those nice old	47:22
	deans and profs wonder why students are upset.	47:26
	I want to be me.	47:31
	I want the right to be a total person.	47:34
	Jesus in subscribing to the same sentiment said,	47:39
	what is a man profiteth if he gained the whole world	47:44
	and lose his own soul in the implications of this question,	47:48
	has a happy ending of a perfect educational odyssey.	47:55
-	Let us pray.	48:04
	Almighty eternal God, for the promptings	48:09
	of the spirit that have brought us here	48:14
	together to fellowship one with another	48:16
	to express again our loyalty to thee,	48:22
	to seek afresh thy forgiveness we be bless thee.	48:26
	Go with us now upon our several ways and to a trying	48:31
	difficult world in the realization	48:38
	that we walk life's way not alone, but when we will it so.	48:41
	With the companionship of him who in the longer ago said	48:47
	and says, I will not leave thee nor forsake thee	48:50
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	48:58
	Amen.	49:01
	(organ music)	49:04
	(hymnal singing)	49:28
	Oh God, Father of all mercies receive this offering,	58:01
	which we present to thee as part of our worship,	58:06
	may these gifts with a symbol of our consecration	58:11
	unto thee and to thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.	58:15
	Amen.	58:23
	May the blessing of God be upon you now.	58:28
	May he keep you strong	58:36
	through Jesus Christ.	58:43
	Amen	58:46
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	58:52
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	59:09
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	59:28

Item Info

Title:

J. Lem Stokes II - "An Educated Odyssey"; Robert T. Young - "A Church Truly Catholic" (June 28, 1970)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r44f1rk6s

Date:

June 28, 1970

Speaker:

Stokes, J. Lem, II

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0527
ref6259_zut
uachapelsermaud
duke:628463
dcrau002517
ark:/87924/r44f1rk6s
60f52288-352d-4452-acc4-1cd76f4ca91c

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

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This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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