Ernest T. Campbell - "What's the Story?"Baccalaureate Service L - Z (May 11, 1975)
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| (organ music) | 0:03 | |
| (choral singing) | 9:06 | |
| (organ music) | 10:29 | |
| (choral singing) | 11:56 | |
| - | Oh, Lord, thou has searched me and known me. | 14:45 |
| Whither shall I go from thy spirit? | 14:52 | |
| Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? | 14:56 | |
| If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. | 15:00 | |
| If I make my bed in hell, thou art there. | 15:04 | |
| Search me, oh, God and know my heart. | 15:09 | |
| Try me and know my thoughts. | 15:14 | |
| And see if there be any wicked way in me. | 15:17 | |
| And lead me in the way everlasting. | 15:22 | |
| Together, let us confess our sins before God. | 15:26 | |
| And with one another, let us pray. | 15:31 | |
| Oh, God, in whose mystery we abide. | 15:36 | |
| And by whose mercy we are redeemed, | 15:40 | |
| we confess our sin against one another and against you. | 15:43 | |
| All our transgressions hidden and open, | 15:48 | |
| the evil done and the goodness left undone. | 15:52 | |
| We have deceived ourselves about ourselves | 15:56 | |
| and worn masks and not trusted in love. | 16:00 | |
| We confess that we have been careful with things, | 16:04 | |
| careless with persons, adept in taking, | 16:08 | |
| awkward in giving. | 16:12 | |
| In love with our fears and in fear of our loves. | 16:14 | |
| Forgive us for the times of our anger | 16:19 | |
| and the occasions of our stupidity. | 16:22 | |
| For the times of our cowardice | 16:25 | |
| and the places of our hesitation. | 16:28 | |
| For every time we did not love the goodness of persons | 16:31 | |
| nor praise the glory of God. | 16:35 | |
| Forgive us, lift us up and heal us this day | 16:38 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 16:43 | |
| Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, | 17:07 | |
| whose sins are covered. | 17:11 | |
| Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. | 17:14 | |
| But those who trust in the Lord, | 17:18 | |
| mercy shall compass them about. | 17:20 | |
| Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous | 17:23 | |
| and shout for joy. | 17:27 | |
| All you who are upright in heart... | 17:29 | |
| Grace and peace | 17:34 | |
| be to you. | 17:37 | |
| Amen. | 17:39 | |
| (organ music) | 17:42 | |
| (choral singing) | 17:55 | |
| - | From Genesis. | 21:07 |
| Now the Lord said to Abraham, | 21:10 | |
| "Go from your country and your kindred | 21:12 | |
| "and your father's house | 21:15 | |
| "to the land that I will show you. | 21:17 | |
| "And I will make you a great nation | 21:20 | |
| "and I will bless you and make your name great | 21:22 | |
| "so that you will be a blessing. | 21:25 | |
| "I will bless those who bless you and him | 21:28 | |
| "who curses you, I will curse. | 21:30 | |
| "And by you all the families of the Earth | 21:33 | |
| "will bless themselves." | 21:36 | |
| So Abraham went, as the Lord had told him | 21:38 | |
| and Lot went with him. | 21:42 | |
| Abraham was 75 years old when he departed | 21:44 | |
| from Haran and Abraham took Sarah, his wife | 21:47 | |
| and Lot, his brother's son and all their possessions, | 21:51 | |
| which they had gathered | 21:53 | |
| and the persons that they had gotten in Haran | 21:55 | |
| and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. | 21:58 | |
| When they'd come to the land of Canaan, | 22:02 | |
| Abraham passed through the land to the place of Shechem, | 22:04 | |
| to the oak of Moreh. | 22:06 | |
| At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. | 22:09 | |
| Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, | 22:12 | |
| "To your descendants, I will give this land." | 22:14 | |
| So he built there an altar | 22:18 | |
| to the Lord who had appeared to him. | 22:21 | |
| And thence he removed to the mountain to the east of Bethel | 22:24 | |
| and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west | 22:27 | |
| and Ai on the east. | 22:31 | |
| And there, he built an altar to the Lord | 22:33 | |
| and called on the name of the Lord. | 22:35 | |
| And Abraham journeyed on still going toward Negeb. | 22:38 | |
| And from... | 22:45 | |
| Hebrews. | 22:47 | |
| And what more shall I say? | 22:50 | |
| For time would fail to tell of Gideon, Barak | 22:53 | |
| and Sampson and Jephthah, | 22:56 | |
| of David and Samuel and the prophets | 22:58 | |
| who through faith conquered kingdoms, | 23:01 | |
| enforced justice, received promises, | 23:04 | |
| stopped the mouths of lions, | 23:07 | |
| quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, | 23:09 | |
| one strength out of weakness became mighty in war, | 23:12 | |
| put foreign armies to flight. | 23:17 | |
| Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, | 23:19 | |
| that they might rise again to a better life. | 23:23 | |
| Others suffered mocking and scourging | 23:27 | |
| and even chains and imprisonment. | 23:29 | |
| They were stoned, they were sawn in two. | 23:32 | |
| They were killed with the sword. | 23:34 | |
| They went about in skins of sheep and goats, | 23:37 | |
| destitute, afflicted, ill treated. | 23:40 | |
| Of whom the world was not worthy. | 23:44 | |
| Wandering over deserts and mountains | 23:46 | |
| and in dens and caves of the Earth. | 23:48 | |
| And all these, though well attested by their faith, | 23:53 | |
| did not receive what was promised. | 23:58 | |
| Since God had foreseen something better for us. | 24:00 | |
| That apart from us, they should not be made perfect. | 24:05 | |
| (organ music) | 24:11 | |
| (choral singing) | 24:21 | |
| - | With one voice, will you join with me now | 25:00 |
| as we affirm our faith? | 25:02 | |
| We are not alone. | 25:05 | |
| We live in God's world. | 25:07 | |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating. | 25:10 | |
| Who has come in the true man, Jesus, | 25:15 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 25:18 | |
| Who works in us and others by his spirit. | 25:21 | |
| We trust him. | 25:25 | |
| He calls us to be in his church | 25:27 | |
| to celebrate his presence, | 25:30 | |
| to love and serve others, | 25:32 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 25:35 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 25:38 | |
| our judge and our hope | 25:42 | |
| in life, in death. | 25:45 | |
| In life beyond death, God is with us. | 25:47 | |
| We are not alone. | 25:52 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 25:54 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 25:58 | |
| Let us pray. | 26:01 | |
| Oh, God... | 26:14 | |
| Eternal and ever present spirit, | 26:16 | |
| most awesome, most gentle, | 26:20 | |
| most patient, most wise, | 26:23 | |
| most loving, | 26:27 | |
| most freeing. | 26:29 | |
| More pervasive than the air. | 26:32 | |
| Less noticed, more needed. | 26:34 | |
| Let us... | 26:39 | |
| Perceiving your gentleness, | 26:41 | |
| conceive of your awesomeness. | 26:44 | |
| Realizing your potential. | 26:47 | |
| Know your power. | 26:50 | |
| Experiencing your freedom. | 26:53 | |
| Come to understand your love. | 26:57 | |
| Oh, God... | 27:02 | |
| In the midst of the pain and agony | 27:04 | |
| and struggle and hurt of the world, | 27:06 | |
| and in the midst of some of our own personal loneliness | 27:11 | |
| and estrangement and uncertainty and confusion, | 27:15 | |
| we pause on this holy day to rejoice and to celebrate. | 27:21 | |
| We celebrate, oh, God, this time of graduation. | 27:27 | |
| A moment of individual achievement for many, surely. | 27:32 | |
| But a moment also for attainment of our corporate | 27:36 | |
| community goals. | 27:39 | |
| To be a university of loving, learning, | 27:42 | |
| supporting, challenging, demanding, | 27:44 | |
| and giving persons. | 27:48 | |
| Concerned about each student | 27:50 | |
| and his or her needs and potential. | 27:53 | |
| We celebrate, oh, God, with parents, | 27:57 | |
| husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends. | 28:00 | |
| Those who have cared and shared in special ways | 28:05 | |
| to make this moment possible. | 28:08 | |
| Oh, God... | 28:12 | |
| We give you thanks. | 28:14 | |
| For the past, from which much has come to bless us. | 28:17 | |
| And for the future to which we lift our eyes in hope. | 28:22 | |
| For our bodies, in which our souls are nurtured | 28:26 | |
| and for our souls by which our bodies are glorified. | 28:30 | |
| For our minds which ask the mighty questions | 28:36 | |
| and for our spirits by which the mysteries | 28:39 | |
| of life are exalted. | 28:42 | |
| For truth which binds our consciences in law. | 28:45 | |
| And for mercy which frees us from bondage. | 28:49 | |
| Or love that redeems our hearts from fear. | 28:54 | |
| And for grace that sustains us | 28:59 | |
| in every adversity. | 29:02 | |
| Gracious Lord, our God, | 29:04 | |
| we pray for ourselves in this place of truth, | 29:08 | |
| that seeing clearly, | 29:13 | |
| feeling deeply, | 29:15 | |
| caring personally | 29:17 | |
| and serving willingly, | 29:19 | |
| we may go now to be in the world | 29:22 | |
| as those who give of themselves. | 29:25 | |
| Oh, God... | 29:30 | |
| Send us out into life. | 29:32 | |
| Not for cheap things and not just for self. | 29:35 | |
| But to fulfill your love | 29:39 | |
| and to care for others. | 29:42 | |
| In this moment, oh, God, we ask of the future, | 29:45 | |
| not for easy tasks | 29:49 | |
| but for grace and strength equal to whatever tasks | 29:52 | |
| life may bring to each of us. | 29:57 | |
| Hear us as we pray these words, our feelings, our thoughts. | 30:01 | |
| All that we are comes to you. | 30:06 | |
| And hear us as we pray the prayer which our Lord | 30:10 | |
| has taught us, praying, | 30:12 | |
| our father who art in heaven, | 30:15 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 30:18 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 30:21 | |
| on Earth as it is in heaven. | 30:25 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 30:28 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses. | 30:31 | |
| As we forgive those who trespass against us. | 30:33 | |
| Lead us not into temptation | 30:37 | |
| and deliver us from evil. | 30:40 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, | 30:42 | |
| the power and the glory | 30:44 | |
| forever, amen. | 30:47 | |
| - | I'd like to say good morning to all of you L to Zs. | 31:00 |
| Gathered here in this second service. | 31:07 | |
| I'd also like to confess that my attitude | 31:11 | |
| as a front row sitter through my academic years, | 31:16 | |
| my attitude towards those in the back rows | 31:20 | |
| was rather negative. | 31:22 | |
| I've tried to deal with this negativity. | 31:25 | |
| I think it was jealousy. | 31:29 | |
| When you sit up front, you have to look interested | 31:32 | |
| and pay attention. | 31:34 | |
| And I always thought that the L to Z types | 31:37 | |
| had all the fun | 31:39 | |
| and did none of the work. | 31:42 | |
| I'm not sure that I know how you made it to this hour | 31:45 | |
| if that reading is correct. | 31:48 | |
| But I congratulate you for it. | 31:52 | |
| And I'd like to express my gratitude | 31:55 | |
| for being part of this convocation today. | 31:57 | |
| Some of you may come to New York City | 32:03 | |
| to try to make your fortune | 32:08 | |
| and establish yourself. | 32:10 | |
| I'd like to hereby pledge you the hospitality | 32:13 | |
| of my home in my church. | 32:17 | |
| But I'd like to warn you that things are a little | 32:21 | |
| on the tight side in New York. | 32:23 | |
| And that only those who are inclined towards austerity | 32:27 | |
| had better think about coming. | 32:32 | |
| Some years ago, the national radio pulpit | 32:36 | |
| featured a man by the name of Parkes Cadman. | 32:40 | |
| And he was one of the earliest | 32:44 | |
| coast to coast radio broadcasters. | 32:45 | |
| And he used to answer questions over the air. | 32:49 | |
| Questions that came in from all over the country. | 32:52 | |
| And on one occasion, a letter came in from Iowa. | 32:56 | |
| With the question, | 33:00 | |
| "Is it possible to live the Christian life | 33:02 | |
| "in New York City on $19 a week?" | 33:06 | |
| (audience laughing) | 33:10 | |
| To which Dr. Cadman replied, | 33:14 | |
| "On $19 a week, the Christian life is the only life | 33:15 | |
| "you can live in New York City." | 33:19 | |
| (audience laughing) | 33:21 | |
| We hear much these days about four letter words, | 33:31 | |
| some good and some bad. | 33:35 | |
| Today, I should like to attempt some improvisations around | 33:39 | |
| a five letter word that is heavily used | 33:44 | |
| and frequently misunderstood. | 33:48 | |
| The word is faith. | 33:51 | |
| At the risk of being either heretical or simplistic or both, | 33:55 | |
| I should like to who de-theologize that term, | 34:01 | |
| take some of the starch out of it. | 34:06 | |
| And describe faith as an act of commitment | 34:09 | |
| by which one inserts himself into a new story. | 34:13 | |
| Faith is an act of commitment | 34:19 | |
| by which one inserts herself | 34:22 | |
| into a new story. | 34:26 | |
| Every life needs a storyline. | 34:29 | |
| Our years are sequential. | 34:33 | |
| Yesterday carries over into today and today into tomorrow. | 34:36 | |
| And some organizing theme must be discerned or ascribed. | 34:41 | |
| We cannot live as if life were a patternless | 34:47 | |
| mass of unconnected fragments. | 34:51 | |
| For some, the story is the self. | 34:55 | |
| The perpendicular pronoun is the maypole | 34:59 | |
| around which the steps of life are danced. | 35:02 | |
| These potent egos trade in the marketplace of society | 35:07 | |
| under the firm name, Me, Myself and I, incorporated. | 35:11 | |
| Ethical decisions are made on the basis of self reference. | 35:16 | |
| What is good for me is right, what bad for me is wrong. | 35:22 | |
| For all such, the world turns on the narrow axis | 35:27 | |
| of the self. | 35:31 | |
| This perception of life can actually find support | 35:34 | |
| in a pseudo kind of religion. | 35:39 | |
| Abraham Heschel, the distinguished Jewish mystic, | 35:42 | |
| who is still missed and mourned on Morningside Heights | 35:46 | |
| in New York and in other places around the world, | 35:50 | |
| spoke of a view of prayer, which he said | 35:54 | |
| could only be described as religious solipsism. | 35:57 | |
| He described it this way, "The individual self of the one | 36:02 | |
| "who prays is the whole sphere of prayer life." | 36:05 | |
| The assumption is that God is an idea, a process, | 36:10 | |
| a source, a fountain, a spring, a power. | 36:13 | |
| But one cannot worship an idea. | 36:18 | |
| One cannot address his prayers | 36:21 | |
| to a fountain of values. | 36:24 | |
| One cannot pray to whom it may concern. | 36:27 | |
| To whom then do we direct our prayers? | 36:31 | |
| Yes, there is an answer. | 36:34 | |
| We address prayers to the good within ourselves. | 36:37 | |
| For some, the story is the family. | 36:44 | |
| The needed meaning is found in family history. | 36:47 | |
| It is enough to be a Jones. | 36:52 | |
| A Johnson, a Jenkins. | 36:55 | |
| Pride of blood is still a centering force | 36:59 | |
| for multitudes in our society. | 37:02 | |
| Mail order houses continue to do a brisk business, | 37:06 | |
| tracing family trees and selling coats of arms. | 37:11 | |
| The wag rises up to say that the best thing | 37:16 | |
| to do with a family tree is to spray it. | 37:19 | |
| But those who derive the essential meaning of life | 37:24 | |
| from the family are not put off by such whimsical advice. | 37:27 | |
| And in a world in which there are three and a half | 37:34 | |
| billion of us... | 37:36 | |
| Crowded together... | 37:39 | |
| We can be forgiven for seeking solace | 37:41 | |
| and closure within the family. | 37:44 | |
| But can the family supply all the needed meaning? | 37:48 | |
| All in the Family may make a durable television series. | 37:52 | |
| But All in the Family is hardly an adequate base for life. | 37:57 | |
| And thus, in our time, we are witnessing forces | 38:03 | |
| that are driving us out of the nuclear family | 38:06 | |
| towards an extended family. | 38:09 | |
| Daniel Day Williams put it this way. | 38:13 | |
| "Family love does not exempt us from the claims | 38:17 | |
| "of the kingdom of God. | 38:21 | |
| "No person is ever fulfilled in the family alone | 38:23 | |
| "and no romanticism about love should obscure this fact. | 38:27 | |
| "The person is fulfilled in the world | 38:32 | |
| "where God's work is being done. | 38:34 | |
| "We have to find a union of love in its obligation | 38:37 | |
| "to those with whom our lives are immediately bound | 38:41 | |
| "and love which calls upon each to become | 38:45 | |
| "a creative member of the full society." | 38:49 | |
| For some, the story is the nation. | 38:55 | |
| Before and above all else, they know themselves as Americans | 38:58 | |
| or Germans or French or Puerto Ricans. | 39:03 | |
| Surely it is not wrong for one to love her country. | 39:07 | |
| But it is wrong for one to love her country uncritically. | 39:12 | |
| Hyper patriotism contributed more than its share | 39:20 | |
| to the national grief that we call Watergate. | 39:23 | |
| I fear that we are overly stocked in this country | 39:30 | |
| with Americans who happen to be Christian | 39:33 | |
| rather than with Christians who happen to be Americans. | 39:37 | |
| Some years ago, when we were serving | 39:44 | |
| a church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, | 39:46 | |
| we became good friends of | 39:49 | |
| one of the distinguished professors there. | 39:52 | |
| He has since gone on to a post | 39:55 | |
| at McGill University in Canada. | 39:58 | |
| A while ago we met and I inquired about his national status. | 40:01 | |
| He said, "Right now in Canada, I am known | 40:07 | |
| "as a resident immigrant and from that particular | 40:10 | |
| "category, I can go on to full citizenship or not." | 40:15 | |
| But this is the interesting point. | 40:20 | |
| He said, "I'm not in any hurry to make up my mind. | 40:22 | |
| "For I do not need a national identity to know who I am." | 40:25 | |
| For some, the story is the job. | 40:33 | |
| They define their lives by their livelihood. | 40:36 | |
| Who are you? | 40:40 | |
| I'm a plumber. | 40:42 | |
| I'm an economist. | 40:45 | |
| I'm a theologian. | 40:47 | |
| I'm a policeman. | 40:48 | |
| Back in the middle ages, there were guilds | 40:51 | |
| that served as organizing foci for a variety of people. | 40:53 | |
| Carpenters, writers, actors, and others. | 40:59 | |
| Today, the slack has been taken up by unions | 41:04 | |
| and professional associations. | 41:07 | |
| I have known professors over the years, | 41:11 | |
| living in the world of academia whose day | 41:15 | |
| would be perfectly made | 41:17 | |
| upon the discovery that they were being quoted | 41:20 | |
| in some obscure footnote | 41:23 | |
| in a book on their given field. | 41:26 | |
| It is not discounting the worth of work | 41:30 | |
| to say that there is something questionable, | 41:33 | |
| yes, even dangerous about allowing ourselves | 41:36 | |
| to be defined functionally. | 41:39 | |
| Carlisle Marnie, who is well known in this place, | 41:43 | |
| tells in one of his books about a doctor | 41:48 | |
| that he tried to help, | 41:51 | |
| a man who had a domestic problem | 41:53 | |
| to which he would not face up. | 41:55 | |
| After much maneuvering, Marnie arranged | 41:58 | |
| to have a round of golf with this individual. | 42:00 | |
| And long about the eighth or ninth hole, | 42:04 | |
| their drives fell reasonably close. | 42:06 | |
| And so they walked up the fairway side by side. | 42:10 | |
| And Marnie took a deep breath and decided this was the time. | 42:14 | |
| So he turned to his friend and said, "John, tell me, | 42:18 | |
| "what are you when you're not a doctor?" | 42:21 | |
| His friend, angered and stiffened, | 42:25 | |
| and replied, "By God, I'm always an MD." | 42:29 | |
| There's something sinister and weak | 42:35 | |
| about having to know ourselves in terms of function. | 42:38 | |
| There is both judgment and warning | 42:45 | |
| in that ancient epitaph. | 42:48 | |
| Born a man, | 42:52 | |
| he died... | 42:54 | |
| A grocer. | 42:56 | |
| Every life needs a storyline. | 42:59 | |
| For our years are sequential. | 43:03 | |
| And my question is, what is the story? | 43:07 | |
| Is it self or family? | 43:10 | |
| Is it nation or job? | 43:14 | |
| Or are all of these merely sub plots | 43:17 | |
| that stand in constant danger of being falsely magnified? | 43:22 | |
| The good news of the Bible is of another story | 43:29 | |
| to which any may belong. | 43:32 | |
| Once upon a time, God created the heavens and the Earth. | 43:36 | |
| God said, "Let us make man in our image." | 43:41 | |
| And the eyes of them both were opened | 43:44 | |
| and they knew that they were naked. | 43:46 | |
| The story goes on and touches down in places | 43:49 | |
| like Babylon and Egypt. | 43:52 | |
| Sinai and Palestine and Assyria. | 43:55 | |
| Judea, Sumeria and the uttermost parts of the Earth, | 43:58 | |
| including New York and North Carolina. | 44:01 | |
| It runs through names like Abraham and Moses, | 44:06 | |
| Saul and David, Jesus of Nazareth, | 44:09 | |
| Saul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, | 44:13 | |
| Calvin of Geneva, Francis of Assisi, | 44:16 | |
| King of Atlanta, Schweitzer of Lambarene, | 44:19 | |
| Chavez of Delano and many, many more. | 44:23 | |
| For the story continues and the beat goes on. | 44:27 | |
| And of those who have preceded us | 44:32 | |
| in this developing drama, | 44:34 | |
| it may be said that these, all having obtained | 44:37 | |
| a good report through faith, receive, not the promise. | 44:40 | |
| God having provided some better thing for us. | 44:45 | |
| That they, without us, should not be made perfect. | 44:49 | |
| Faith is more than mental ascent | 44:56 | |
| to fixed propositions about a static God. | 45:00 | |
| For God is not a problem to be solved. | 45:05 | |
| He is a worker to be joined. | 45:07 | |
| Jesus said, "If any man will do his will, | 45:10 | |
| "he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God." | 45:14 | |
| God is at work in our world. | 45:18 | |
| Not to evacuate the righteous. | 45:21 | |
| But to redeem and transform | 45:25 | |
| and recapture his vast creation. | 45:29 | |
| I fear that we are saddled | 45:33 | |
| in much of American Christianity | 45:35 | |
| with what I would call a hovercraft theology. | 45:38 | |
| The hovercraft is that strange contraption | 45:43 | |
| that one finds increasingly in coastal cities. | 45:46 | |
| It just goes above the ground without touching it. | 45:51 | |
| Over the water without touching it. | 45:55 | |
| There is a view of God that sees him | 45:58 | |
| as distant from history. | 46:00 | |
| More or less floating in a suspended way. | 46:03 | |
| In timeless impassability. | 46:07 | |
| But this is not the view of God as given in the Bible. | 46:09 | |
| He is not simply interested in trying | 46:15 | |
| to evacuate those who love his name | 46:20 | |
| but rather to redeem the whole. | 46:23 | |
| And so by loving lures and beckonings, | 46:26 | |
| God bids us forward. | 46:30 | |
| That we might will and work with him | 46:33 | |
| in the restoration of this vast creation. | 46:35 | |
| Abraham is prototype here. | 46:39 | |
| Going out, not knowing whither he is going. | 46:42 | |
| Simply acting on a promise that had been confirmed | 46:46 | |
| in his heart. | 46:49 | |
| Willing to leave the conventional securities | 46:51 | |
| of his home country. | 46:54 | |
| That he might follow God | 46:57 | |
| in the outer frontiers of his will. | 46:59 | |
| No contemporary writer that I have come upon | 47:04 | |
| has grasped the motion and the flow that I speak of here, | 47:07 | |
| any better than Nikos Kazantzakis. | 47:12 | |
| And I invite you | 47:16 | |
| to allow his words | 47:18 | |
| to kind of wash over your souls | 47:21 | |
| in the hope that they might repristinate | 47:24 | |
| your own confidence in the purpose of life. | 47:27 | |
| He writes, "Blowing through heaven and Earth | 47:32 | |
| "and in our hearts and the heart of every living thing | 47:35 | |
| "is a gigantic breath, a great cry, which we call God. | 47:38 | |
| "Plant life wish to continue its motionless sleep | 47:44 | |
| "next to stagnant waters but the cry leaped up | 47:48 | |
| "within it and violently shook its roots. | 47:52 | |
| "Away, let go of the Earth, walk. | 47:55 | |
| "Had the tree been able to think and judge, | 47:59 | |
| "it would've cried, I don't want to. | 48:01 | |
| "What are you urging me to do? | 48:04 | |
| "You are demanding the impossible. | 48:06 | |
| "But the cry, without pity, | 48:09 | |
| "kept shaking its roots and shouting away, | 48:11 | |
| "let go of the Earth, walk. | 48:13 | |
| "It shouted in this way for thousands of eons | 48:16 | |
| "and lo, as a result of desire and struggle, | 48:20 | |
| "life escaped the motionless tree and was liberated. | 48:23 | |
| "Animals appeared, worms, | 48:29 | |
| "making themselves at home in water and mud. | 48:31 | |
| "We're just fine here, they said. | 48:34 | |
| "We have peace and security, we're not budging. | 48:37 | |
| "But the terrible cry hammered itself | 48:40 | |
| "pitilessly into their loins. | 48:43 | |
| "Leave the mud, stand up, give birth to your betters. | 48:45 | |
| "We don't want to, we can't. | 48:50 | |
| "You can't but I can. | 48:53 | |
| "Stand up. | 48:56 | |
| "And lo, after thousands of eons, man emerged. | 48:58 | |
| "Trembling on his still un-solid legs. | 49:02 | |
| "The human being is a centaur, his equine hoofs | 49:06 | |
| "are planted in the ground. | 49:09 | |
| "But his body from breast to head | 49:12 | |
| "is worked on and tormented by the merciless cry. | 49:14 | |
| "He has been fighting, again for thousands of eons | 49:19 | |
| "to draw himself like a sword | 49:22 | |
| "out of his animalistic scabbard. | 49:24 | |
| "He is also fighting, this is his new struggle, | 49:26 | |
| "to draw himself out of his human scabbard. | 49:29 | |
| "Man calls in despair, where can I go? | 49:34 | |
| "I have reached the pinnacle. | 49:38 | |
| "Beyond is the abyss. | 49:40 | |
| "And the cry answers, | 49:43 | |
| "I am beyond. | 49:45 | |
| "Stand up." | 49:48 | |
| This is the story... | 49:53 | |
| to which salvation | 49:56 | |
| reconnects us. | 50:00 | |
| Follows then that faith | 50:05 | |
| has to do with this life. | 50:07 | |
| It is not some esoteric quality | 50:10 | |
| that relates us to a mystical realm | 50:13 | |
| somewhere that is hard to define. | 50:17 | |
| Biblical faith concentrates on events as they happen | 50:21 | |
| in the world as it is. | 50:26 | |
| It is not a faculty that relates us to a specialized order | 50:29 | |
| of reality that is far away and distant to the life of man. | 50:34 | |
| If I were to ask you, do you have faith? | 50:42 | |
| You might presume that I meant by that question, | 50:46 | |
| do you believe in miracles? | 50:48 | |
| Do you believe in an afterlife? | 50:51 | |
| Do you believe in the veracity of the Bible? | 50:54 | |
| Do you believe in the inherent worth of prayer? | 50:57 | |
| Do you believe in going to church? | 51:01 | |
| Do you believe in taking theology seriously? | 51:02 | |
| All of those questions suggest that faith | 51:07 | |
| deals with something that is somewhat distant | 51:10 | |
| and irrelevant to man's life here and now. | 51:14 | |
| My friend, William Dixon Gray, whom I refer to | 51:19 | |
| as the resident sage of Nashville, Tennessee, | 51:23 | |
| complains that the churches even take from their own people | 51:28 | |
| who are in the secular world, a confidence | 51:32 | |
| that the secular is God's interest and love. | 51:35 | |
| "Churches," he says, "want their people | 51:39 | |
| "to stay unsophisticated in bondage | 51:41 | |
| "to an irrelevant idiom." | 51:45 | |
| My young friends, I'm trying to suggest to you that faith | 51:49 | |
| is the stance that you take towards all of the reality | 51:53 | |
| that rides in upon you. | 51:57 | |
| The two story S-T-O-R-E-Y view of life is gone. | 52:00 | |
| That view that was so well received in the middle ages, | 52:05 | |
| in which there was an ideal world above | 52:09 | |
| where eternal essences abide. | 52:12 | |
| While down below in the flickering shadows of history, | 52:15 | |
| men and women put in their time until death | 52:19 | |
| releases their souls to realms above. | 52:23 | |
| That view is gone but the two story, S-T-O-R-Y | 52:26 | |
| view of life is very much in. | 52:31 | |
| For in, with, and under the historical circumstances | 52:34 | |
| of our lives, both personal and corporate, | 52:38 | |
| God almighty is at work to will | 52:42 | |
| and to do of his own good pleasure. | 52:45 | |
| I have been helped | 52:52 | |
| toward the point of view | 52:55 | |
| that I share with you today | 52:56 | |
| by a volume that came from Bishop Robinson's pen, | 52:58 | |
| The Human Face of God. | 53:03 | |
| Hang on as I share with you, what I think is his germinal | 53:07 | |
| thought on the subject. | 53:11 | |
| He says, "Much theological language has a way of defining | 53:14 | |
| "Christ out of universal common experience. | 53:18 | |
| "If I am asked, do you believe in the atonement? | 53:22 | |
| "Or the resurrection or the parusia? | 53:26 | |
| "The questioner expects to elicit my attitude | 53:30 | |
| "to something Jesus is supposed to have done on the cross. | 53:34 | |
| "Something that is alleged to have happened on the third day | 53:38 | |
| "or something that may happen at the end of the world. | 53:42 | |
| "Contrast the effect when you leave out | 53:45 | |
| "the definite article. | 53:48 | |
| "Do you believe in atonement? | 53:50 | |
| "Do you believe in resurrection? | 53:53 | |
| "Do you believe in parusia? | 53:56 | |
| "That is presence or coming? | 53:58 | |
| "The, the, of the traditional Christian myth | 54:01 | |
| "removes the reality of Christ | 54:05 | |
| "from the kind of present where every eye | 54:08 | |
| "might in fact see him | 54:11 | |
| "to the distant past or to the remote future | 54:13 | |
| "or to the divine super world | 54:18 | |
| "where Christ lives in a timeless realm, | 54:21 | |
| "unrelated to the continuing course of events." | 54:24 | |
| If somewhere there is a man and woman... | 54:31 | |
| Technically and legally married... | 54:35 | |
| Who are wearing on each other's nerves, | 54:39 | |
| going further and further apart, | 54:43 | |
| the place for them to begin to understand atonement | 54:46 | |
| is at the point of their own differences. | 54:52 | |
| Here and now. | 54:56 | |
| I'd like to demystify faith, it's not all that complicated. | 55:01 | |
| What is the aim of faith in this world? | 55:06 | |
| What is the purpose of this story to which I invite you? | 55:09 | |
| The aim of faith is to refine life where it is coarse. | 55:14 | |
| To soften it where it is hard. | 55:19 | |
| To reconcile it where it is divided. | 55:22 | |
| To heal it where it hurts. | 55:25 | |
| To recover it where it is lost. | 55:28 | |
| To value it where it is debased. | 55:30 | |
| To celebrate it where it is doubted. | 55:33 | |
| To free it where it is hung up | 55:36 | |
| and to illuminate where it is in darkness. | 55:39 | |
| What then of self or family? | 55:46 | |
| What then of nation or of job? | 55:50 | |
| All of these in this perspective | 55:54 | |
| are seen then as vital | 55:57 | |
| and necessary sub plots | 55:59 | |
| to the story itself. | 56:03 | |
| And at the same time, each is freed of the strain | 56:06 | |
| of trying as a part, to function as the whole. | 56:10 | |
| Faith is an act of commitment. | 56:17 | |
| By which one inserts himself | 56:21 | |
| into a new story. | 56:25 | |
| Jesus came to invite us | 56:28 | |
| into the joy of this venture. | 56:33 | |
| "The times are fulfilled," he said. | 56:36 | |
| "The kingdom is at hand. | 56:39 | |
| "Repent and believe in the gospel." | 56:41 | |
| For in Jesus of Nazareth, the scope | 56:46 | |
| and the substance of this story is prefigured. | 56:48 | |
| He is its embodiment, | 56:53 | |
| its epitome, | 56:56 | |
| and the source of our empowerment. | 56:58 | |
| Years ago, Josiah Ross Royce... | 57:03 | |
| Teaching out of Harvard University, | 57:08 | |
| said that "Our life consists | 57:12 | |
| "in the search for loyalty | 57:16 | |
| "to an adequate cause." | 57:19 | |
| The two most important days | 57:24 | |
| in a person's life | 57:27 | |
| are the day on which she was born. | 57:31 | |
| And the day on which she discovers | 57:36 | |
| why she was born. | 57:41 | |
| Let us pray. | 57:45 | |
| Gracious God... | 57:53 | |
| Forgive what we have been. | 57:56 | |
| Correct what we are. | 58:00 | |
| And order what we yet shall be. | 58:04 | |
| For thy sake and ours. | 58:07 | |
| Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 58:11 | |
| Amen. | 58:15 | |
| (organ music) | 58:26 | |
| (choral singing) | 58:57 | |
| (choral singing) | 59:21 | |
| (organ music) | 1:01:40 | |
| (choral singing) | 1:02:11 | |
| (organ music) | 1:03:45 | |
| (choral singing) | 1:03:53 | |
| - | Will you join with me as we pray responsibly | 1:05:18 |
| this prayer of thanksgiving and commitment? | 1:05:21 | |
| Let us pray. | 1:05:26 | |
| Oh, God, we rejoice now that not only have we learned | 1:05:29 | |
| and worshiped together, | 1:05:33 | |
| we also bring before you the symbols | 1:05:36 | |
| and reality of our very lives. | 1:05:38 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:05:42 | |
| We give thanks for the universe. | 1:05:58 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:01 | |
| For the Earth. | 1:06:02 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:04 | |
| For communities and neighborhoods. | 1:06:07 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:10 | |
| For the revolutions which shake our world. | 1:06:14 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:18 | |
| For the power of our learning. | 1:06:22 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:24 | |
| For the perplexities which confront us. | 1:06:27 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:31 | |
| For our heritage. | 1:06:34 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:36 | |
| For the visions of this university's students, | 1:06:39 | |
| staff, and faculty. | 1:06:43 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:46 | |
| We are given the eyes of the spirit. | 1:06:49 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:06:53 | |
| The promise is to each of us, | 1:06:58 | |
| we may see, we may receive, | 1:07:01 | |
| we may love. | 1:07:04 | |
| (audience murmuring) | 1:07:06 | |
| To such a life of seeing, receiving, and loving, | 1:07:18 | |
| we now commit our very lives, amen and amen. | 1:07:22 | |
| (organ music) | 1:07:29 | |
| (choral singing) | 1:08:08 | |
| Oh, eternal God... | 1:12:05 | |
| The light of minds that know you... | 1:12:08 | |
| The joy of hearts that love you | 1:12:12 | |
| and the strength of wills that serve you... | 1:12:15 | |
| Grant us, so to know you, that we may truly love you. | 1:12:20 | |
| So to love you, that we may fully serve you. | 1:12:25 | |
| And in loving, serving you | 1:12:30 | |
| may love and serve and care | 1:12:33 | |
| for our neighbors. | 1:12:37 | |
| The grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ... | 1:12:40 | |
| The love of God, the father... | 1:12:44 | |
| The communion and fellowship of the holy spirit be with you | 1:12:47 | |
| and with those whom you love, | 1:12:52 | |
| now and forever. | 1:12:56 | |
| (choral singing) | 1:13:00 | |
| (bell ringing) | 1:14:09 | |
| (organ music) | 1:14:24 |
