James T. Cleland - "Three Rooms in Jerusalem" (March 14, 1971)

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	(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

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "Three Rooms in Jerusalem" (March 14, 1971)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dn43x25

Date:

March 14, 1971

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0563
ref6329_i8w
uachapelsermaud
duke:628022
dcrau002550
ark:/87924/r4dn43x25
0ecc713e-ec7e-4d19-8103-7538401c82b3

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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James T. Cleland - "Three Rooms in Jerusalem" (March 14, 1971)

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Duke University Archives