James T. Cleland - "Three Rooms in Jerusalem" (March 14, 1971)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(choir singing hymn) | 0:05 | |
(choir continues singing) | 0:40 | |
(organ playing) | 1:24 | |
(organ continues playing) | 1:46 | |
(congregation sings) | 2:14 | |
(congregation continues singing) | 2:42 | |
(congregation sings) | 5:01 | |
Priest 1 | Grace be to you and peace from God our father, | 6:43 |
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. | 6:46 | |
Christians are a people who believe | 6:50 | |
that their lives are gifts from God. | 6:52 | |
Gifts to be accepted joyfully | 6:56 | |
and shared freely with their fellow man. | 6:58 | |
We affirm we have been given life, | 7:02 | |
but most of us have not truly lived. | 7:04 | |
As a people we have talked peace while we made war. | 7:08 | |
We have not heard nor responded to the cry of the poor | 7:12 | |
for bread and justice in our own land and in the world. | 7:16 | |
We have forgotten our mission as a people of God | 7:21 | |
and a headlong hurry of the times | 7:26 | |
we have lost our own personal and social peace. | 7:29 | |
And although our tongues are little used to real confession, | 7:33 | |
our lives and our history make unavoidably plain, | 7:37 | |
the fact that we are neither sustained | 7:41 | |
nor satisfied nor whole. | 7:45 | |
The word of God states that we | 7:49 | |
who are his people have but to ask, | 7:51 | |
to seek and to knock. | 7:54 | |
Confident then that if we truly confess | 7:57 | |
the state of our lives before God's forgiving love, | 8:00 | |
our lives will be forgiven, restored, | 8:04 | |
and returned to us with new meaning and with hope. | 8:07 | |
Let us offer unto God, our unison prayer of confession. | 8:11 | |
Let us pray. | 8:16 | |
Oh Lord most holy, | 8:19 | |
God most mighty who hath found us wanting | 8:21 | |
and yet has not forsaken us. | 8:25 | |
Deliver us in these days of Lenten devotion | 8:28 | |
from all the luxuries and comforts | 8:32 | |
of a smug private righteousness. | 8:35 | |
Search us deeply, oh God, | 8:38 | |
that in remembering the passion | 8:41 | |
of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, | 8:43 | |
our minds and hearts may be cleansed of all insincerities, | 8:46 | |
of merely formal poses and dubious devotions. | 8:51 | |
Oh God, we have failed to practice with diligence, | 8:56 | |
the elementary drudgery of training souls | 9:00 | |
to be spiritually competent. | 9:03 | |
Forgive us, Lord, | 9:06 | |
for words uttered without serious purpose, | 9:08 | |
words that have helped us to forget our need of Thee. | 9:11 | |
Help us to turn again to Thee, | 9:15 | |
with a real hunger for Thy righteousness | 9:18 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. | 9:21 | |
Let us hear these assuring words from the New Testament. | 9:28 | |
"If anyone is in Jesus, the Christ, he is a new being. | 9:33 | |
The old has passed away and the new has come." | 9:40 | |
And these words from Jesus himself, | 9:45 | |
"Be of good cheer. | 9:48 | |
Your sins are forgiven, | 9:51 | |
Go and sin no more." | 9:53 | |
And I say to you, | 9:57 | |
knowing that we are received by a loving God, | 9:58 | |
let us choose his acceptance. | 10:02 | |
Accept the fact that you are accepted | 10:04 | |
by God's amazing grace. | 10:07 | |
The chain of complicity linking our lives | 10:10 | |
to pass guilt has been snapped by the Father's love. | 10:14 | |
The door of our freedom is open | 10:20 | |
and we may walk forward together in hope | 10:23 | |
and in peace, and in grace. | 10:28 | |
(organ playing) | 10:38 | |
(congregation singing hymn) | 11:31 | |
(hymn continues) | 11:59 | |
(hymn continues) | 12:59 | |
(congregation continues singing) | 13:26 | |
(congregation sings) | 14:19 | |
The first part of today's lesson is from the 137th Psalm | 15:37 | |
versus one through six. | 15:42 | |
"By the waters of Babylon, | 15:46 | |
there we sat down and wept | 15:48 | |
when we remembered Zion. | 15:50 | |
On the willows there | 15:53 | |
we hung up our lyres. | 15:54 | |
For there our captors | 15:56 | |
required of us songs, | 15:58 | |
and our tormentors, mirth, saying, ' | 16:00 | |
'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' | 16:03 | |
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? | 16:06 | |
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. | 16:10 | |
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. | 16:15 | |
If I do not remember you, | 16:17 | |
if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." | 16:19 | |
The second part of today's Scripture is | 16:27 | |
from the fifth chapter of Matthew versus 21 through 24. | 16:29 | |
"You have heard that it was said to the men of old, | 16:37 | |
'You shall not kill. | 16:39 | |
And whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' | 16:42 | |
But I say to you that everyone who is angry | 16:46 | |
with his brother shall be liable to judgment. | 16:48 | |
Whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council. | 16:52 | |
And whoever says, "You fool!" shall be liable | 16:56 | |
to the hell of fire. | 16:58 | |
So if you are offering your gift at the altar | 17:01 | |
and there remember that your brother | 17:04 | |
has something against you, | 17:06 | |
leave your gift there before the altar and go. | 17:07 | |
First be reconciled to your brother | 17:11 | |
and then come and offer your gift." | 17:13 | |
(organ playing) | 17:18 | |
(congregation singing another hymn) | 17:27 | |
The Lord be with you. | 18:00 | |
Congregation | And with you also. | 18:02 |
Let us pray. | 18:03 | |
Let us offer unto God our prayers of Thanksgiving. | 18:12 | |
Oh God, invisible and eternal, | 18:17 | |
Thou of a hundred names, | 18:21 | |
but ever the same in mercy and in love. | 18:22 | |
We praise Thee for creation and all its power. | 18:28 | |
For the things made in the beginning | 18:32 | |
that have come in the spring. | 18:35 | |
We praise and thank thee, oh God, | 18:37 | |
for the rebirth of green foliage and of color, | 18:40 | |
for the ease to the eyes and for the sure restoration | 18:44 | |
of what is burned out, frozen out, | 18:48 | |
dried out and drowned out. | 18:52 | |
We praise Thee for the daily power of conceiving new life. | 18:55 | |
We praise Thee for grass to walk in, | 19:00 | |
to water and to wait on. | 19:03 | |
And for it signed to us of Thy power | 19:07 | |
and Thy glory in heaven and on the earth. | 19:10 | |
And for making green in this Lenten season, | 19:14 | |
a time and a sign of healing for us. | 19:18 | |
Lord, we thank Thee and offer our praise unto Thee | 19:23 | |
for all the rhythms of life. | 19:26 | |
We praise Thee for the beat of sound, | 19:29 | |
the beat of the heart, | 19:32 | |
the beat of the drum, | 19:34 | |
the pulse beat of new life and tree and bird and flower. | 19:36 | |
We praise Thee for the clapping of hands | 19:41 | |
and the tapping of toes, | 19:43 | |
the snapping of fingers and the nod of the head. | 19:45 | |
We praise Thee for the rhythm of seasons. | 19:49 | |
For warm noons and the cool nights, | 19:52 | |
for sunset and sunrise, for the new moon. | 19:55 | |
We praise Thee oh God our Father, | 20:00 | |
for the rhythm of the cycle of the seasons, | 20:02 | |
the cycles of the octaves, | 20:05 | |
the cycles of the seed and the cycles of the spirit. | 20:07 | |
Lord creator, we thank Thee for birth and for rebirth, | 20:12 | |
for childhood and parenthood, | 20:18 | |
for men and for women, | 20:20 | |
for life and life to come. | 20:23 | |
We thank Thee, | 20:26 | |
for the cycle of salvation and the rhythm of life | 20:28 | |
by which we live and move and have our being. | 20:32 | |
God of liberation and reconciliation, | 20:38 | |
to whom all things are possible. | 20:41 | |
We offer our prayers of concern and petition for our world, | 20:44 | |
for our brothers and our sisters, | 20:49 | |
and for ourselves. | 20:51 | |
We call on Thy Spirit, oh God. | 20:54 | |
And we ask Thy presence and Thy power | 20:57 | |
for all poor and hungry, | 21:00 | |
for those who are outcast and unemployed, | 21:03 | |
for children, unwanted in their homes, for the wounded, | 21:07 | |
for prisoners and exiles, | 21:12 | |
for all those persecuted for conscience-sake. | 21:15 | |
We call on Thy spirit | 21:19 | |
and we ask Thy presence and Thy power, | 21:22 | |
for all who are sick and suffering in mind and in body, | 21:25 | |
for all those who are made slaves | 21:30 | |
by drugs or fear or wealth. | 21:32 | |
We call on Thy presence | 21:36 | |
and we ask Thy saving power, oh Lord, | 21:39 | |
for all those whom we fear | 21:42 | |
or resent or cannot love. | 21:44 | |
We ask Thy presence for all those who are close to us here, | 21:48 | |
and in every place. | 21:52 | |
We pray that all couples may realize their union | 21:55 | |
within the universal flow of Thy love. | 21:58 | |
We pray that our tables may be spread | 22:02 | |
with the natural fruits of Thy earth. | 22:04 | |
That every person in his work and in his life | 22:07 | |
may express the vision of a child. | 22:11 | |
And we call on Thy Spirit. | 22:14 | |
We ask Thy presence and Thy power, oh Lord, | 22:17 | |
that we may give to our grandchildren, | 22:20 | |
a restored and a whole planet. | 22:23 | |
Be with all those who need Thee, | 22:27 | |
the dying and those who are to die. | 22:30 | |
May Thy love penetrate their condition | 22:34 | |
and quench their hunger and bring peace. | 22:37 | |
Oh God, within us here assembled, | 22:42 | |
there are prayers that know no words. | 22:44 | |
There are joys that seem to have come | 22:48 | |
from some high heaven above the earth, | 22:49 | |
bringing new life to our souls | 22:52 | |
and lifting them beyond their strength, | 22:55 | |
to things that are eternal. | 22:57 | |
In some of us, there are sorrows | 22:59 | |
that stand forever in silence before Thy face. | 23:01 | |
Humbled by a mystery in which light and darkness | 23:05 | |
are mingled deeper than our sight. | 23:08 | |
In some of us there are exaltations and ecstasies | 23:11 | |
that brighten our brows like the flames of Holy Spirit, | 23:15 | |
burning the despair away until truth shines | 23:19 | |
through flesh and blood. | 23:22 | |
In some of us there are remembrances and memories | 23:25 | |
that lay their hallowing hands on all hours | 23:29 | |
with a benediction that is deeper than peace itself. | 23:31 | |
Hear us, oh God, as we offer | 23:35 | |
unto Thee our individual petitions in our silence, | 23:37 | |
though we do not speak. | 23:42 | |
Send us forth we ask, oh Lord, | 23:49 | |
from this place of worship | 23:51 | |
and this hour of community as whole persons. | 23:53 | |
Well loved by Thee into a world in need of much love, | 23:57 | |
where there is no father or no mother, | 24:01 | |
may we take those persons and make it our family. | 24:03 | |
Where there is no brother, no sister, no son, no daughter. | 24:08 | |
May we host that place and make it a home of friends | 24:12 | |
where there is no hope, no freedom, no joy. | 24:17 | |
May we go among that people as Thy servants | 24:21 | |
and build a family of man. | 24:25 | |
In the name of Jesus, our only Lord, | 24:28 | |
who taught us to pray together saying, | 24:31 | |
"Our Father who art in heaven, | 24:33 | |
hallowed be Thy name. | 24:36 | |
Thy kingdom come, | 24:39 | |
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 24:41 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 24:45 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 24:48 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 24:50 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 24:54 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 24:57 | |
For Thine is the kingdom and the | 24:59 | |
power and the glory forever. Amen". | 25:01 | |
Priest 2 | Grace to you and peace from God our father | 25:28 |
and the Lord Jesus Christ. | 25:31 | |
Come with me to Jerusalem, | 25:37 | |
not to the Jerusalem of the first century AD, | 25:40 | |
but to the Jerusalem of our century. | 25:44 | |
Come with me into three rooms, | 25:48 | |
three unusual rooms located in the middle | 25:52 | |
of the magnificent YMCA building. | 25:56 | |
That palatial structure, | 26:01 | |
probably the most splendid 'Y' edifice in the world | 26:05 | |
stands on the west side of Jerusalem, | 26:11 | |
looking towards the walled city and the Dome of the Rock | 26:14 | |
and the Mount of olives and the Blue Hills of Moab. | 26:20 | |
It is an impressive and satisfying pile of masonry | 26:26 | |
as its stone glows with a reddish brown color. | 26:31 | |
It houses what a 'Y' might be expected to house. | 26:37 | |
Dormitory, cafeteria, auditorium, gymnasium, swimming pool. | 26:41 | |
All the paraphernalia of normal muscular Christianity. | 26:50 | |
But it is out of the ordinary | 26:57 | |
in the lavishness of these appointments. | 26:59 | |
It even has a great four-manual pipe organ, | 27:04 | |
and a carillon of 35 bells. | 27:09 | |
It is unique also in that before the present troubles, | 27:14 | |
Muslims, Jews and Christians gathered in its rooms. | 27:19 | |
Quotations from these three monotheistic faiths | 27:26 | |
are carved on the central facade. | 27:30 | |
In Hebrew, 'The Lord our God is one Lord.' | 27:34 | |
In Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke, | 27:41 | |
'I am the way.' | 27:46 | |
In Arabic, 'There is no God, but God.' | 27:49 | |
The central thought of the Quran. | 27:56 | |
To all three faiths, Jerusalem is a holy city. | 27:59 | |
The dominating feature architecturally | 28:07 | |
of this 'Y' building is the lofty central tower. | 28:09 | |
The Jesus tower. | 28:15 | |
In that tower are three rooms. | 28:18 | |
Rooms which reveal the soul of the Jerusalem 'Y'. | 28:22 | |
Into these three rooms that we would go now, | 28:28 | |
three quiet rooms set amid the rush and din of a city YMCA, | 28:31 | |
they tell us in eye-catching fashion of three aspects. | 28:41 | |
Three emphasis in the daily walk conversation | 28:47 | |
of the Christian, | 28:51 | |
as he goes his pilgrim way through the world. | 28:54 | |
The season of Lent is a good time for us to recall | 28:59 | |
what is basic in our faith. | 29:04 | |
We shall begin at the top of the Jesus tower. | 29:07 | |
In the topmost tip of the tower is a tiny room | 29:13 | |
whose only furniture is three kneeling benches. | 29:18 | |
Three pews where one may pray to God. | 29:23 | |
This is the room where a person is alone with God. | 29:29 | |
Before one enters, | 29:35 | |
he's asked to observe absolute silence in the room. | 29:37 | |
And to indicate his acceptance of the vow of silence, | 29:42 | |
he signs the book placed at the entrance. | 29:47 | |
When he closes the door, | 29:52 | |
he notices carved on the inside, an empty picture frame | 29:54 | |
with these words below, | 30:01 | |
'Whom having not seen Ye love.' | 30:04 | |
Whom having not seen ye love. | 30:10 | |
The room is covered by a double dome. | 30:15 | |
The upper dome is blue and star-studded. | 30:18 | |
It reflects light into the room from concealed windows, | 30:22 | |
through an opening in the center of the inner dome. | 30:26 | |
Now here, a person is alone. | 30:31 | |
The room practically compels him to go inside his own soul | 30:36 | |
and pull the door shut. | 30:40 | |
Yet he's not lonely. | 30:44 | |
He talks quietly, but assuredly with God. | 30:46 | |
Moreover, because this is private prayer, not public prayer, | 30:53 | |
that person may speak to God frankly, | 30:58 | |
without reservation, intimately. | 31:01 | |
An old Arab Sufi was once asked how he addressed God. | 31:05 | |
And he replied, "When I speak to God in public, | 31:10 | |
I call Him, 'Sir.' | 31:14 | |
And I speak to God in private. | 31:18 | |
I call Him, 'My Beloved.'" | 31:21 | |
That's a valid distinction and one to be remembered. | 31:25 | |
Now let me share with you the kind of prayer | 31:29 | |
which may well have risen from that room. | 31:31 | |
Help me this day, oh God, | 31:35 | |
to serve Thee devoutly | 31:37 | |
and the world busily. | 31:39 | |
May I do my work wisely. | 31:42 | |
Give succor secretly. | 31:45 | |
Go to my meat appetite-ly. | 31:47 | |
Sit there at discreetly, | 31:50 | |
Arise temperately. | 31:53 | |
Please, my friend, | 31:55 | |
duly go to my bed merrily and sleep shortly, | 31:56 | |
for the joy of my Lord, Jesus Christ. | 32:00 | |
It comes from the early 16th century. | 32:05 | |
Or this little prayer of the Breton fisherman. | 32:08 | |
'Dear God be good to me. | 32:11 | |
The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.' | 32:14 | |
Or this one. | 32:23 | |
'Set a watch, oh Lord, | 32:24 | |
upon my tongue, that I may never speak | 32:25 | |
the cruel word which is untrue | 32:29 | |
or being true, is not the whole truth. | 32:34 | |
Or being wholly true is merciless, | 32:39 | |
for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord.' | 32:44 | |
If you want something even freer, | 32:51 | |
seemingly more spontaneous than these, | 32:54 | |
may hold in this book. | 32:57 | |
'I've Got to Talk to Somebody, God' by Marjorie Holmes, | 33:00 | |
who writes for newspapers and magazines, | 33:07 | |
teaches in various universities | 33:09 | |
and is the author of seven novels. | 33:12 | |
This volume loaned to me by one who worships here, | 33:15 | |
is published by Doubleday, 1969. | 33:20 | |
And is subtitled, 'A Woman's Conversations with God.' | 33:25 | |
It's mostly woman talk. | 33:31 | |
So I wouldn't dare read most of it. | 33:34 | |
But there's one of the less intimate ones | 33:38 | |
I'd like to read you. | 33:40 | |
It's entitled, 'On Making Beds.' | 33:42 | |
'Dear Lord, or maybe His Mother, | 33:47 | |
Please help me to learn the simple secrets | 33:51 | |
of making a bed. | 33:54 | |
However I try, there are always these bumps and wrinkles | 33:56 | |
or something's trailing. | 34:00 | |
And the pillows never quite match, | 34:02 | |
But even if I never do learn, | 34:06 | |
let me be conscious how lucky I am, | 34:09 | |
to have these comfortable beds. | 34:12 | |
Thank you that my children aren't sleeping | 34:15 | |
on ragged quilts on a floor. | 34:17 | |
Or on straw in a mud hut. | 34:20 | |
Or huddling like animals on city streets. | 34:24 | |
As hordes of people still do. | 34:27 | |
God, surely all mankind is equally dear to you. | 34:31 | |
I don't know why millions of your children | 34:37 | |
are doomed to live in want, | 34:39 | |
while the rest of us have it so good. | 34:42 | |
I know that you don't will it so. | 34:46 | |
Yet your world is bitterly unfair. | 34:49 | |
Have pity on them, Lord. | 34:54 | |
Bless all your creatures. | 34:57 | |
Forever a man, woman, or child, | 35:00 | |
or even an animal lies down tonight, | 35:02 | |
let him be warm. | 35:06 | |
Let him be comfortable. | 35:08 | |
Bless his rest. | 35:11 | |
Meanwhile, forgive my foolish fussing | 35:14 | |
as I struggle with this bed. | 35:17 | |
Thank you for the good mattress, the crisp white sheets, | 35:21 | |
the nubby blankets, the lovely spread. | 35:25 | |
Thank you that I'm physically able to see them, feel them | 35:28 | |
and despite a few bumps and wrinkles, cope with them, | 35:31 | |
Thank you for the task and the trial | 35:37 | |
and the privilege of making beds.' | 35:41 | |
Now this is one emphasis in the pilgrimage through life. | 35:46 | |
A person alone, but not lonely. | 35:50 | |
Because God is there too. | 35:55 | |
Just above the vestibule is the second room, | 36:00 | |
a small upper room reminiscent of the Last Supper. | 36:04 | |
Around the walls are bas-reliefs illustrating the events | 36:08 | |
connected with that supper. | 36:12 | |
One, Jesus asked two disciples to prepare the supper. | 36:16 | |
Two, discussion at the table of the betrayal. | 36:20 | |
Three, washing of the disciples feet. | 36:24 | |
Four, Jesus dipping the sop into the dish. | 36:26 | |
Five, the departure of Judas. | 36:31 | |
Six, the breaking of bread. | 36:33 | |
Seven, the giving of the cup. | 36:34 | |
Eight, the departure to the garden of Gethsemane. | 36:37 | |
Now what do we have here? | 36:42 | |
It's the inevitable consequence of the first room. | 36:45 | |
A man who has been alone with God is apt to seek | 36:49 | |
the companionship of others, of like spirit. | 36:54 | |
Man's a social animal. | 37:00 | |
So said Aristotle and we confirm his observation. | 37:02 | |
Therefore fraternities and sororities, | 37:08 | |
trade unions and employers associations, | 37:10 | |
the NAACP and the KU Klux Klan. | 37:13 | |
Therefore the church too, | 37:18 | |
which is supposed to be the kind of community | 37:21 | |
which draws circles to include rather than to exclude, | 37:24 | |
though not always successfully. | 37:31 | |
Life needs its common rooms, as well as its private rooms. | 37:34 | |
No disciple ever forgot the upper room. | 37:39 | |
It was too much for Judas. | 37:42 | |
Became the headquarters of the Jerusalem church. | 37:46 | |
And the common meal eaten there on the night | 37:50 | |
before a bad Friday was repeated down the centuries | 37:53 | |
across all kinds of boundaries in remembrance of Him, | 37:58 | |
the founder and the host of the feast. | 38:04 | |
We shall remember him here quite soon | 38:08 | |
on the night before Good Friday. | 38:13 | |
And we bid you welcome. | 38:17 | |
A person by himself too much in isolation | 38:20 | |
may cease to be a person. | 38:24 | |
Person by himself, | 38:28 | |
even with God may lose contact with his fellows. | 38:29 | |
The individual finds his individuality. | 38:34 | |
That which makes him unique, | 38:37 | |
in relation to that which he calls God | 38:40 | |
and in relation to others. | 38:44 | |
Christian life is corporate life. | 38:47 | |
The church is the family of God. | 38:51 | |
It needs the common room around a table. | 38:54 | |
I saw that at a mission | 38:58 | |
in Lexington, North Carolina, last fall. | 39:00 | |
Several Protestant denominations | 39:04 | |
and the Roman Catholic church sponsored | 39:06 | |
four evening services. | 39:09 | |
They invited me to be the preacher. | 39:12 | |
The opening service in the Baptist church | 39:15 | |
was preceded by a procession through the town, | 39:18 | |
where at each participating church, | 39:22 | |
the marchers were augmented by other members. | 39:26 | |
The priest was the officiating minister in a Baptist church, | 39:31 | |
preparing the way for a Presbyterian sermon. | 39:37 | |
But how to finish the series on the fourth day? | 39:42 | |
There was but one way. | 39:47 | |
The Lord's Supper. | 39:50 | |
But sacrament, ordinance, the mass, | 39:52 | |
Eucharist, holy communion collided, and clashed, | 39:57 | |
and threatened to fragment the unity. | 40:04 | |
Nevertheless, it was saved. | 40:07 | |
The Moravians came from Winston-Salem | 40:10 | |
and served us in church, coffee and buns. | 40:15 | |
In a rendition of their love feast, their agape. | 40:20 | |
I'll never forget the joy on the faces of two Catholic nuns | 40:27 | |
as they broke bread with their Protestant brethren | 40:33 | |
after so many centuries of separation. | 40:37 | |
The floor should be on one level | 40:42 | |
in the upper room. | 40:46 | |
This is the second emphasis in our earthly pilgrimage. | 40:48 | |
The third room is in the underground base of the tower. | 40:53 | |
A small room reminiscent of the holy places, | 40:57 | |
scattered throughout Palestine | 41:01 | |
and in carved pictures. | 41:04 | |
It suggests three attitudes which should be reflected | 41:06 | |
in the daily life of the man | 41:10 | |
who has spent time alone with God | 41:13 | |
and time in the company of folk of like mind. | 41:16 | |
First is the lesson of humility. | 41:22 | |
Illustrated by a carving in the floor | 41:27 | |
of the Syrophoenician woman | 41:30 | |
and the dogs eating the crumbs from the master's table. | 41:33 | |
You recall the incident. | 41:38 | |
A Caananite woman had asked Jesus | 41:41 | |
to help her demon possessed daughter. | 41:43 | |
For some unknown reason, | 41:48 | |
Jesus told her that he was sent only to the Jews. | 41:50 | |
She knelt in front of him and said, "Lord, help me." | 41:57 | |
He answered again for some unknown reason, | 42:03 | |
"It's not fair to give the children's food to dogs." | 42:07 | |
She replied, "The dogs eat of the crumbs | 42:14 | |
that fall from the master's table." | 42:19 | |
And Jesus said, "Oh woman, great is your faith. | 42:22 | |
Be it done for you as you desire." | 42:28 | |
And the last words are, "Her daughter was healed instantly." | 42:31 | |
Now there's nothing weak or sentimental about this woman. | 42:37 | |
She humbly asks Jesus for a favor, a boon. | 42:41 | |
When he raises doubt, | 42:47 | |
she answers with wit and with spirit. | 42:48 | |
Dog or no dog, she too must eat. | 42:52 | |
Even if it be but crumbs. | 42:57 | |
And Jesus listened to her. | 43:00 | |
This is humbleness without a basement. | 43:03 | |
It's freedom from arrogance. | 43:06 | |
It's the recognition of worth | 43:09 | |
which in turn receives recognition from worth. | 43:11 | |
And she is remembered whenever we come to the Lord's table. | 43:15 | |
For the prayer of humble access recalls her. | 43:20 | |
'We do not presume to come to this Thy table, oh Lord. | 43:26 | |
Trusting in our own righteousness. | 43:30 | |
But in Thy manifold and great mercies. | 43:33 | |
We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs | 43:36 | |
under Thy table.' | 43:43 | |
And immediately following that prayer, | 43:45 | |
we are served with the bread and the wine of heaven. | 43:49 | |
This is a proper self-effacement in the presence of God. | 43:56 | |
Absence of self-pride is a continuing mark | 44:01 | |
of the Christian who lives by faith, in grace. | 44:05 | |
A second attitude is revealed in four bas-reliefs. | 44:11 | |
The man to man relationship which marks the humble person. | 44:15 | |
It's the capacity for reconciliation, for forgiveness. | 44:20 | |
In the first panel, two Jews are quarreling | 44:25 | |
with excited gesticulation and enthusiastic bitterness. | 44:29 | |
In the second, one of them places his offering on the altar | 44:35 | |
and nothing happens. | 44:40 | |
It just sits there, blah. | 44:42 | |
In the third panel, | 44:47 | |
he returns to opponent and with their arms about each other, | 44:49 | |
they reconciled in forgiveness. | 44:55 | |
In the fourth, | 44:58 | |
he returns to the altar to find a flame | 44:59 | |
from heaven consuming it which signifies | 45:02 | |
that he is accepted of God. | 45:06 | |
This eradication of hate is the joint outcome | 45:10 | |
of humility and forgiveness. | 45:14 | |
Jesus stressed this constantly. | 45:19 | |
One petition we prayed this morning is | 45:22 | |
that we be forgiven | 45:26 | |
as we forgive. | 45:29 | |
How did we really mean that? | 45:35 | |
That we be forgiven as we forgive? | 45:38 | |
The parable of the sheep and the goats tells us | 45:43 | |
that entrance into heaven is dependent | 45:45 | |
on goodwill to our fellows. | 45:49 | |
We cannot get through to God if we hate, | 45:52 | |
We can't get through | 45:59 | |
if we do not forgive. | 46:01 | |
The third attitude is inevitable. | 46:05 | |
After the first two, humility and reconciliation | 46:07 | |
lead to the joy which gives vent to praise. | 46:12 | |
Carved on the oak door to the basement corridor, | 46:16 | |
are five representatives of all the races | 46:19 | |
with heads unitedly uplifted in praise to God. | 46:23 | |
We may think of it in the language | 46:28 | |
of the Old Testament prophet who wrote, | 46:30 | |
"I will spin around with joy | 46:32 | |
in the the God of my salvation." | 46:35 | |
Or on the ecstasy of the Salvation Army convert. | 46:38 | |
'I'm so happy I could burst the big drum.' | 46:42 | |
Or in the more accustomed words of the doxology, | 46:46 | |
which we shall sing, | 46:49 | |
'Praise God for whom all blessings flow.' | 46:51 | |
It all points to the same thing. | 46:54 | |
An upwelling of gratitude to God | 46:56 | |
and of reconciliation to man. | 47:00 | |
This third room pictorially exemplifies | 47:04 | |
the daily life of the child of God in the everyday world. | 47:07 | |
These then are the three rooms in the Jesus tower | 47:13 | |
of the Jersusalem 'Y' building. | 47:16 | |
Some of you've seen them. | 47:19 | |
Some of you will see them, | 47:21 | |
but that's not of major importance. | 47:23 | |
These three rooms are an architectural parable | 47:27 | |
of three emphasis which should be in each one of us. | 47:32 | |
Contact with God, fellowship with folk of like spirit, | 47:37 | |
the humble, reconciling joy | 47:44 | |
which comes from our relationship with God and man. | 47:46 | |
Then our bodies will be what St. Paul hope they would be. | 47:52 | |
Temples of the Holy Spirit | 47:57 | |
or to stay with our own metaphor. | 48:01 | |
Each one of us will be a Jesus tower. | 48:06 | |
Let us pray. | 48:14 | |
Our Father God, | 48:17 | |
whose will it is that we be temples of Thy Spirit. | 48:18 | |
Keep us in communion with Thee. | 48:22 | |
Keep us in fellowship with others of like spirit. | 48:26 | |
Keep us at peace with our neighbors | 48:30 | |
that our lives may express Thy praise | 48:34 | |
in the manner of Thy Son our Lord, amen. | 48:39 | |
(organ playing) | 48:47 | |
(organ playing continues) | 49:09 | |
(congregation sings together) | 49:29 | |
(congregation continues singing) | 51:13 | |
(congregation sings) | 54:42 | |
(organ plays) | 57:25 | |
Priest 1 | Almighty God our Father, | 58:43 |
we accept the discipleship you have given us | 58:46 | |
in your in Son, Jesus Christ. | 58:49 | |
And here we offer ourselves and our gifts to you | 58:51 | |
and the service of all men. | 58:55 | |
Give us the strength and the faith, | 58:58 | |
the fight against the forces of evil | 59:00 | |
and oppression in our world, and to work | 59:02 | |
for justice and for dignity for all men everywhere | 59:05 | |
as we build your kingdom here on this, your earth. | 59:10 | |
Go forth now to do the work of God in the world. | 59:19 | |
And may you have peace with the deep restlessness of God. | 59:24 | |
May you have love to cure and heal the necessary wounds. | 59:29 | |
And may you have joy to fill the cup | 59:35 | |
of all your celebrations. | 59:37 | |
(congregation sings together) | 59:45 | |
(congregation singing continues) | 1:00:11 |