Wesley A. Kort - "Calculating Exclusion Risk" (January 4, 1976)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(orchestral music) | 0:20 | |
(crowd murmurs) | 3:44 | |
- | Let's make our corporate confession before God, | 3:49 |
who knows who we are | 3:52 | |
and loves us even as we are. | 3:54 | |
But also who frees us from our bondage, | 3:58 | |
when we acknowledge that we need to be freed, | 4:01 | |
to be forgiven. | 4:05 | |
Let us pray. | 4:07 | |
Almighty and most merciful God, | 4:09 | |
we acknowledge and confess | 4:13 | |
that we have sinned against you | 4:15 | |
in thought, word and deed | 4:17 | |
that we have not loved you | 4:20 | |
with all our heart and soul, | 4:22 | |
with all our mind and strength | 4:25 | |
and that we have not loved our neighbor | 4:28 | |
as ourselves. | 4:30 | |
We beseech you, | 4:33 | |
Oh God, | 4:34 | |
to be forgiving to what we have been, | 4:35 | |
to help us to amend what we are | 4:39 | |
and of your mercy to direct what we shall be, | 4:42 | |
so that the love of goodness | 4:46 | |
may ever be first in our hearts. | 4:48 | |
And we may follow onto our life sin | 4:51 | |
and the steps of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 4:54 | |
Amen. | 4:59 | |
Amen. | 5:15 | |
Believe the good news | 5:17 | |
that God is loving | 5:18 | |
and forgiving | 5:20 | |
and move into this new year, | 5:21 | |
as forgiven people | 5:24 | |
with hope for the future. | 5:25 | |
Amen and Amen. | 5:28 | |
(orchestral music) | 5:33 | |
♪ I wonder, as I wander ♪ | 6:05 | |
♪ Out under the sky ♪ | 6:10 | |
♪ How Jesus the saviour ♪ | 6:15 | |
♪ Did come for to die ♪ | 6:18 | |
♪ For poor ordinary people ♪ | 6:24 | |
♪ Like you and like I ♪ | 6:27 | |
♪ I wonder, as I wander ♪ | 6:33 | |
♪ Out under the sky ♪ | 6:40 | |
♪ When Mary birthed Jesus ♪ | 6:47 | |
♪ Was in a cow's stall ♪ | 6:50 | |
♪ With wisemen and farmers and shepherds and all ♪ | 6:55 | |
♪ But high from God's heaven ♪ | 7:03 | |
♪ A star's light did fall ♪ | 7:06 | |
♪ And the promise of ages ♪ | 7:12 | |
♪ It then did recall ♪ | 7:18 | |
♪ If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing ♪ | 7:26 | |
♪ A star in the sky or a bird on the wing ♪ | 7:32 | |
♪ Or all of God's angels in heaven for to sing ♪ | 7:39 | |
♪ He surely could have had it ♪ | 7:48 | |
♪ For he was their king ♪ | 7:55 | |
♪ I wonder, as I wander ♪ | 8:03 | |
♪ Out under the sky ♪ | 8:07 | |
♪ How Jesus the savior ♪ | 8:12 | |
♪ Did come for to die ♪ | 8:18 | |
- | Hear the reading of the Old Testament lesson, | 8:38 |
from the 24th chapter of Joshua. | 8:41 | |
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel | 8:44 | |
to Shechem and summoned the elders, | 8:48 | |
the heads, the judges, | 8:50 | |
and the officers of Israel. | 8:52 | |
And they presented themselves before God. | 8:54 | |
And Joshua said to all of the people, | 8:57 | |
"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, | 9:00 | |
'Your fathers lived of old, beyond the Euphrates, | 9:03 | |
Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor | 9:07 | |
and they served other Gods. | 9:11 | |
Then I took your father Abraham | 9:13 | |
from beyond the river | 9:15 | |
and led him through all the land of Canaan | 9:18 | |
and made his offspring many. | 9:20 | |
I gave him Isaac. | 9:23 | |
And to Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau. | 9:24 | |
And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, | 9:27 | |
but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. | 9:31 | |
And I sent Moses and Aaron | 9:35 | |
and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it. | 9:37 | |
And afterwards, I brought you out. | 9:41 | |
Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt | 9:45 | |
and you came to the sea. | 9:47 | |
And the Egyptians pursued your fathers, | 9:49 | |
with chariots and horsemen to the red sea. | 9:51 | |
And when they cried to the Lord, | 9:54 | |
he put darkness between you and the Egyptians | 9:56 | |
and made the sea come upon them and cover them. | 9:59 | |
And your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. | 10:03 | |
And you lived in the wilderness a long time. | 10:07 | |
Then I brought you out of the land of the Amorites, | 10:10 | |
who lived on the other side of the Jordan. | 10:12 | |
They fought with you | 10:15 | |
and I gave them your hand | 10:16 | |
and you took possession of their land. | 10:18 | |
And I destroyed them before you. | 10:20 | |
Then Balak the son of Zippor, | 10:23 | |
king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. | 10:25 | |
And he sent and invited Balaam | 10:29 | |
and the son of Beor to curse you. | 10:31 | |
But I would not listen to Balaam. | 10:34 | |
And therefore he blessed you. | 10:36 | |
So I delivered you out of his hand. | 10:38 | |
And you went over to the Jordan and came to Jericho. | 10:42 | |
And the men of Jericho fought against you | 10:45 | |
and the Amorites and the Perizzites | 10:47 | |
and the Canaanites and Hittites | 10:49 | |
and the Girgashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. | 10:50 | |
And I gave them into your hand. | 10:54 | |
And I sent the hornet before you, | 10:57 | |
which drove them out before you, | 10:58 | |
the two Kings of the Amorites. | 11:01 | |
And it was not by your sword or by your bow. | 11:03 | |
I gave you a land on which you had not labored | 11:06 | |
and cities, which you had not built | 11:09 | |
and you dwell there in. | 11:11 | |
You eat the fruit of the vineyards and the olive yards, | 11:13 | |
which you did not plant'. | 11:16 | |
Now, therefore, | 11:19 | |
feel the Lord and serve him in sincerity | 11:20 | |
and in faithfulness. | 11:24 | |
Put away the Gods, | 11:26 | |
which your father serve beyond the river and in Egypt | 11:27 | |
and serve the Lord. | 11:30 | |
And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, | 11:32 | |
choose this day whom you will serve. | 11:35 | |
Whether the Gods your father served | 11:39 | |
in the region beyond the river | 11:41 | |
or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. | 11:43 | |
But as for me and my house, | 11:47 | |
we will serve the Lord". | 11:50 | |
Then the people answered, | 11:52 | |
"Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord | 11:54 | |
to serve other Gods, | 11:57 | |
for it is the Lord, our God, | 11:59 | |
who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, | 12:02 | |
out of the house of bondage | 12:05 | |
and who did those great signs in our sight | 12:07 | |
and preserved us in all the way that we went | 12:10 | |
and among all the peoples through whom we passed. | 12:14 | |
And the Lord drove out before us, all the peoples, | 12:17 | |
the Amorites who lived in the land. | 12:20 | |
Therefore we also will serve the Lord, | 12:22 | |
for he is our God". | 12:26 | |
But Joshua said to the people, | 12:28 | |
"You cannot serve the Lord, | 12:31 | |
for he is a holy God. | 12:32 | |
He is a jealous God. | 12:35 | |
He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. | 12:37 | |
If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign Gods, | 12:41 | |
then he will turn and do you harm | 12:45 | |
and consume you after having done you good". | 12:48 | |
And the people said to Joshua, | 12:51 | |
"No, but we will serve the Lord". | 12:52 | |
Then Joshua said to the people, | 12:55 | |
"You are witnesses against yourselves | 12:57 | |
that you have chosen the Lord to serve him". | 13:00 | |
And they said, "We are witnesses". | 13:02 | |
He said, "Then put away the foreign Gods, | 13:05 | |
which are among you | 13:08 | |
and incline your heart to the Lord, | 13:10 | |
the God of Israel". | 13:12 | |
And the people said to Joshua, | 13:14 | |
"The Lord, our God, we will serve | 13:16 | |
and his voice, we will obey". | 13:19 | |
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day | 13:22 | |
and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem. | 13:26 | |
And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. | 13:30 | |
And he took a great stone and he set it up under the oak | 13:33 | |
in the sanctuary of the Lord. | 13:36 | |
And Joshua said to all the people, | 13:38 | |
"Behold, | 13:41 | |
this stone shall be a witness against us, | 13:42 | |
for it has heard all the words of the Lord, | 13:46 | |
which was spoken to us. | 13:49 | |
Therefore it shall be a witness against you, | 13:51 | |
lest you deal falsely with your God". | 13:53 | |
So Joshua sent the people away, | 13:56 | |
every man to his inheritance. | 13:59 | |
The congregation will stand | 14:03 | |
for the reading of the Gospel Lesson. | 14:04 | |
Hear the reading from the second chapter of Matthew. | 14:11 | |
13 through the 23rd versus. | 14:15 | |
Now when they had departed, behold, | 14:18 | |
an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, | 14:21 | |
"Rise, take the child and his mother | 14:24 | |
and flee to Egypt | 14:26 | |
and remain there until I tell you, | 14:28 | |
for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him". | 14:29 | |
And he rose and took the child and his mother by night | 14:33 | |
and departed to Egypt | 14:36 | |
and remained there until the death of Herod. | 14:38 | |
This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, | 14:41 | |
"Out of Egypt, have I called my son". | 14:45 | |
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked | 14:48 | |
by the wise men, was in a furious rage | 14:51 | |
and he sent and killed all the male children | 14:54 | |
in Bethlehem. | 14:56 | |
And in all that region, who were two years old or under, | 14:57 | |
according to the time which he had to ascertain | 15:01 | |
from the wise men. | 15:04 | |
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, | 15:06 | |
"A voice was heard in Ramah, | 15:10 | |
wailing and loud lamentation, | 15:12 | |
Rachel weeping for her children, | 15:15 | |
she refused to be consoled, | 15:18 | |
because they were no more". | 15:20 | |
But when Herod died, behold, | 15:23 | |
an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, | 15:25 | |
in Egypt saying, "Rise, | 15:28 | |
take this child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. | 15:30 | |
For those who sought the child's life are dead". | 15:35 | |
And he rose and took the child and his mother | 15:38 | |
and went to the land of Israel. | 15:42 | |
And when he heard that Arcelaus reigned over Judea, | 15:44 | |
in place of his father Herod, | 15:47 | |
he was afraid to go there. | 15:49 | |
And being warned in a dream, | 15:51 | |
he withdrew to the district of Galilee | 15:52 | |
and he went and dwelled in a city called Nazareth. | 15:56 | |
And what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled. | 15:59 | |
"He shall be called a Nazarene". | 16:03 | |
Here ends our morning lesson. | 16:07 | |
Thanks be to God. | 16:09 | |
(orchestral music) | 16:11 | |
Let us with one voice affirm our faith. | 16:55 | |
We are not alone. | 17:00 | |
We live in God's world. | 17:02 | |
We believe in God, | 17:05 | |
who has created and is creating, | 17:07 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus | 17:10 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 17:13 | |
who works in us and others by the spirit. | 17:16 | |
We trust God | 17:20 | |
who calls us to be the church, | 17:22 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 17:25 | |
to love and serve others, | 17:28 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 17:30 | |
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, | 17:34 | |
our judge and our hope. | 17:37 | |
In life, in death, | 17:40 | |
in life beyond death, God is with us. | 17:43 | |
We are not alone. | 17:47 | |
Thanks be to God. | 17:49 | |
The Lord be with you. | 17:52 | |
- | And with your spirit. | 17:54 |
- | Let us pray. | 17:55 |
Oh, holy and loving God of our Lord Jesus Christ. | 18:05 | |
We passed before the mystery | 18:11 | |
and the miracle of this Christmas season. | 18:13 | |
You came to us, | 18:17 | |
that we might come to you. | 18:19 | |
We wait before you to adore you, | 18:22 | |
to praise you, | 18:25 | |
to proclaim you | 18:27 | |
and to receive your word. | 18:29 | |
Oh God of our past and our future, | 18:33 | |
we accept this day and this new year as a gift. | 18:37 | |
Like other days and other years and other beginnings, | 18:42 | |
it comes with joy and tears and promise. | 18:46 | |
Joy and the awareness of your presence | 18:53 | |
and the good memories of the past, | 18:55 | |
joy that comes from being encompassed by the love | 18:58 | |
of our family and friends. | 19:01 | |
Tears for those who are separated from you | 19:05 | |
and from those they love, | 19:09 | |
tears for those who are suffering, | 19:12 | |
who are sick, who are hungry, | 19:14 | |
who are homeless, | 19:17 | |
who live in terror filled days. | 19:19 | |
Promise that is offered to us | 19:24 | |
in all new beginnings. | 19:26 | |
We are people of God who need new beginnings daily. | 19:29 | |
So we give you thanks, | 19:34 | |
for the new possibilities offered to us | 19:36 | |
each day, each year | 19:38 | |
and for the future and the hope, | 19:40 | |
which is ours. | 19:43 | |
We accept again, Oh God, | 19:46 | |
our privilege and responsibility to love and care | 19:48 | |
and pray for our neighbors. | 19:52 | |
Hear us as we pray. | 19:56 | |
For all who labor with their hands, | 19:59 | |
that they may enjoy the rewards of their industry. | 20:02 | |
For all who bear responsibilities of leadership | 20:07 | |
and administration, | 20:10 | |
that they may not use their authority and power | 20:12 | |
for selfish advantage, but be guided to do justice | 20:15 | |
and love mercy. | 20:20 | |
For those who have suffered in the battles of life, | 20:23 | |
through the inhumanity of their fellas, | 20:27 | |
their own limitations | 20:31 | |
or the incomprehensible forces of evil, | 20:32 | |
that they may contend against injustice, | 20:36 | |
without bitterness. | 20:40 | |
Overcome their weakness with diligence | 20:42 | |
and learn to accept with patience what cannot be altered. | 20:46 | |
For the rulers of the nations | 20:51 | |
that they make act wisely and without pride | 20:54 | |
and seek to promote peace among peoples | 20:58 | |
and establish justice in our common life. | 21:02 | |
For teachers and ministers of the world, | 21:08 | |
for artists and interpreters of our spiritual life, | 21:12 | |
that they may rightly divide the word of truth | 21:17 | |
and not be tempted by any noble passion to grow up the truth | 21:21 | |
to which they are committed. | 21:26 | |
For prophets and saints, | 21:29 | |
who awaken us from slow, | 21:32 | |
that they may continue to hold that torches high | 21:35 | |
in a world darkened by prejudice and sin | 21:38 | |
and ever be obedient to the heavenly vision. | 21:42 | |
- | Oh God. | 21:46 |
- | Oh God, | 21:47 |
who has brought us to gather in this bundle of life, | 21:49 | |
give us grace to understand | 21:53 | |
how our lives depend upon the courage, | 21:55 | |
the industry, the honesty | 21:58 | |
and the integrity of our brothers and sisters, | 22:02 | |
that we may be mindful of their needs, | 22:05 | |
grateful for their faithfulness | 22:08 | |
and faithful and our responsibilities to them. | 22:10 | |
And now, Oh Lord, | 22:15 | |
hear us as we live to you, | 22:17 | |
our personal needs | 22:19 | |
are those persons for whom we have personal concern. | 22:22 | |
And hear us also, Oh Lord, | 22:49 | |
as we pray the prayer | 22:51 | |
of Jesus, the Christ. | 22:53 | |
Our Father, | 22:56 | |
who art in Heaven, | 22:57 | |
hallowed be thy name; | 22:59 | |
thy Kingdom come, | 23:01 | |
thy will be done on earth | 23:03 | |
as it is in Heaven. | 23:05 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 23:07 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 23:10 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 23:12 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 23:16 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 23:19 | |
For thine is the kingdom, | 23:21 | |
and the power and the glory, | 23:23 | |
for ever and ever. | 23:25 | |
Amen. | 23:27 | |
You will notice there are two announcements in the bulletin | 23:30 | |
for something that's happening at four o'clock, | 23:32 | |
next Sunday afternoon. | 23:34 | |
Dr. Benjamin Mays, | 23:36 | |
will speak here at a community rally, | 23:38 | |
honoring the me memory of Martin Luther king | 23:40 | |
at four o'clock, next Sunday afternoon. | 23:42 | |
The concert in recital will be on January, the 18th, | 23:46 | |
which will be a week from next Sunday afternoon. | 23:49 | |
You are invited to join | 23:52 | |
in a celebration of holy communion, | 23:55 | |
immediately after this service in the Memorial chapel. | 23:57 | |
There are some people who have requested | 24:00 | |
that we have communion at least once a month. | 24:03 | |
So the worship committee has decided | 24:06 | |
that on the first Sunday of every month, | 24:08 | |
as a continuation of the morning worship, | 24:11 | |
we will move to the Memorial chapel | 24:13 | |
for holy communion. | 24:16 | |
It will not be a long service | 24:18 | |
since it will be a continuation of this service. | 24:19 | |
So we invite you to begin the new year by selling, | 24:22 | |
celebrating communion with us. | 24:25 | |
And we do welcome into our puit today | 24:28 | |
Wesley Court. | 24:31 | |
(paper flaps) | 24:34 | |
- | Our text for this second Sunday in Christmas tide | 24:47 |
and this first Sunday of our bicentennial year, | 24:50 | |
is found in the second half of the 15th verse | 24:53 | |
of the second chapter of the gospel, | 24:57 | |
according to St. Matthew. | 24:58 | |
This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, | 25:01 | |
"Out of Egypt, have I called my son". | 25:05 | |
"Out of Egypt, have I called my son". | 25:11 | |
People of God, | 25:16 | |
this is a curious story | 25:17 | |
in the birth and infancy narratives | 25:20 | |
and a curious text before us this morning. | 25:22 | |
And the first question I'd like to ask is, why it's here? | 25:25 | |
It's here because Matthew has an intense interest | 25:30 | |
in seen in the life of Jesus. | 25:34 | |
All of that was important for Israel | 25:35 | |
and all that's important for the Old Testament | 25:38 | |
taken up and surpassed. | 25:41 | |
That Jesus takes up into his own life into himself. | 25:44 | |
All that went before him, that was crucial. | 25:47 | |
It takes this up, summarizes it and goes beyond it. | 25:50 | |
So Matthew engages in this kind of rehearsal | 25:56 | |
of the prophecies. | 25:59 | |
And it's a repeated formula. | 26:01 | |
This was done, so that it could be fulfilled, | 26:03 | |
which was spoken by the prophet. | 26:05 | |
And this is not a way so much to legitimize | 26:07 | |
the presence of Jesus at who he is and his work, | 26:10 | |
as to reveal what the prophets really had in mind, | 26:13 | |
to realign and interpret the past. | 26:18 | |
So also it could be thought that the Sermon on the Mount, | 26:22 | |
presents Jesus as giving a new law | 26:26 | |
as taken the Sinai experience of Israel | 26:30 | |
into his own ministry and going beyond it. | 26:34 | |
And it presents Jesus as saying, | 26:36 | |
"Moses said this to you, but now I say this to you. | 26:38 | |
The Passover is by Matthew | 26:43 | |
closely tied to the Lord's supper", | 26:46 | |
Jesus' last meal with his disciples. | 26:49 | |
And it could even be thought | 26:54 | |
that the center of the gospel of Matthew | 26:55 | |
is divided into five books. | 26:58 | |
To take up again, | 27:01 | |
the theme of the books of the law, | 27:03 | |
into the gospel of Matthew. | 27:05 | |
Again, to see that in the presence in the life of Jesus, | 27:07 | |
all that's crucial, | 27:11 | |
all that's important is taken up | 27:11 | |
reconstituted and gone beyond. | 27:14 | |
So in our text for this morning, | 27:20 | |
we find the Exodus experience | 27:21 | |
that was crucial and creative event | 27:23 | |
in the people's life. | 27:25 | |
That the Exodus experience is seen as anticipating Jesus, | 27:27 | |
that in Jesus, | 27:32 | |
this great event is also taken up included and gone beyond. | 27:33 | |
And this is a rather different way of viewing | 27:40 | |
the biblical use or presence in time | 27:43 | |
from what we generally think is true of religious people. | 27:46 | |
There's another way of being in time. | 27:50 | |
We saw that in the Old Testament lesson. | 27:52 | |
The covenant making ceremony of Shechem with Joshua. | 27:55 | |
Perhaps annually, Israel celebrated such an event | 28:00 | |
had ritual in which the year was begun, | 28:03 | |
the year was recreated | 28:06 | |
by making contact with an original past. | 28:09 | |
A rehearsal of all the things | 28:12 | |
that God had done for his people | 28:14 | |
and then the people covenanting agreeing once more | 28:16 | |
for a new year to keep his commands and to serve only God. | 28:19 | |
Only God. | 28:25 | |
This is a different way of being in time. | 28:27 | |
You know, in a sense, the year wears out, | 28:30 | |
Peter's out, | 28:33 | |
becomes fatigues broken | 28:34 | |
and has to be recreated a new year, | 28:36 | |
recreated by making contact with an original time. | 28:38 | |
With that time in the past, which is always fresh, | 28:42 | |
always new, always powerful. | 28:45 | |
And we celebrate that kind of time | 28:48 | |
and we are in that kind of time, | 28:49 | |
also in the celebration of the Eucharist. | 28:50 | |
And we are in the presence of Jesus once more, | 28:54 | |
in that ritual coming into his presence, | 28:57 | |
because he is in that time, | 28:59 | |
which is always fresh, always there to be returned to. | 29:00 | |
But when the Jews celebrates passover, | 29:05 | |
he is always coming out of Egypt | 29:07 | |
as much as those people once did, | 29:09 | |
who came out. | 29:11 | |
But this is a different way of being in time | 29:14 | |
that we find in Matthew. | 29:16 | |
It's not found only in the new Testament. | 29:17 | |
It's also present | 29:19 | |
in the people's rethinking of their traditions | 29:20 | |
in the light of the exile in the old Testament. | 29:23 | |
But Matthew here is looking at the past | 29:27 | |
in terms of the present and the future, | 29:30 | |
interpreting the past, realigning, | 29:32 | |
reseeing | 29:35 | |
the past in terms of the present and the future. | 29:36 | |
A different and interesting way of being in time. | 29:41 | |
The next question I'd like to ask is, | 29:50 | |
what coming out of Egypt means for the old Testament?. | 29:52 | |
It means two interestingly complimentary | 29:59 | |
and complicating things. | 30:02 | |
First of all and most obviously, | 30:06 | |
it means coming out of Egypt is coming out of captivity. | 30:07 | |
It means that God went into a place | 30:11 | |
that was governed by hostile spiritual powers, | 30:14 | |
that God sent his representative, Moses into that place, | 30:18 | |
armed also with power | 30:21 | |
in order to outmatch, | 30:24 | |
in order to outstrip the powers of Egypt. | 30:25 | |
He stood up against those magicians, | 30:28 | |
the prestige in power, | 30:30 | |
the spiritual powers that were resonant there, Moses did. | 30:32 | |
And the plagues were signs of God's ability | 30:35 | |
to do more, | 30:40 | |
to be better than, to be bigger than more powerful | 30:40 | |
than those powers. | 30:43 | |
He reached into those hostile powers, | 30:45 | |
pushed them back and brought his people out, | 30:47 | |
a new creation. | 30:50 | |
It's a creation story. | 30:52 | |
A story of conflict and newness, | 30:53 | |
the Exodus event. | 30:56 | |
A new beginning with cosmic significance. | 31:00 | |
But Egypt means something else. | 31:07 | |
Something very different from that, | 31:08 | |
also Egypt is also a place of stability and security. | 31:10 | |
Remember that when Abraham came into that land, | 31:17 | |
that was promised to him, he couldn't live there. | 31:20 | |
He had immediately to go down to Egypt | 31:23 | |
because he couldn't find any pasture for his herds. | 31:25 | |
Egypt was a reliable food source. | 31:28 | |
Egypt had a fairly stable political and economic situation. | 31:31 | |
The patriarchs were retiring frequently to Egypt | 31:35 | |
in order to find something to eat. | 31:38 | |
So also Jacob sent his sons to Egypt | 31:41 | |
to get food during famine. | 31:44 | |
And Joseph was a food administrator, | 31:46 | |
parcel out the storehouses of food to the people in need. | 31:51 | |
Egypt was a place of security, comfort, | 31:55 | |
a refuge in time of stress. | 31:59 | |
And you remember God's people in the wilderness. | 32:03 | |
They wanted always to return to Egypt, | 32:05 | |
particularly when things became uncertain | 32:08 | |
or where they felt they were vulnerable, | 32:10 | |
but things became unpleasant for them. | 32:12 | |
They wanted to go back to Egypt, | 32:14 | |
where it was secure and safe | 32:16 | |
and the very threshold of the promised land. | 32:19 | |
When they saw in a military way, | 32:23 | |
what would sligh in ahead for them, | 32:24 | |
they wanted to return to Egypt, | 32:27 | |
the place of safety, | 32:30 | |
place that's reliable of security. | 32:32 | |
That is the place of captivity in the old Testament, | 32:40 | |
is the place of comfort. | 32:45 | |
Place of freedom, | 32:48 | |
is the place of living under God's creative power. | 32:50 | |
The place of freedom, | 32:54 | |
is living with insecurity and uncertainty, | 32:55 | |
living with the unexpected in the old Testament. | 32:59 | |
Coming out of Egypt means living under God, | 33:03 | |
coming out of Egypt means being vulnerable. | 33:06 | |
Enslavement means | 33:10 | |
or rests with psychic and physical comfort | 33:13 | |
and security of an immediate kind. | 33:17 | |
Two very different things. | 33:22 | |
But interestingly, complicating and complimentary. | 33:26 | |
The third thing I'd like to ask is, | 33:35 | |
what this text means for the life of Jesus?. | 33:37 | |
Well, first of all, | 33:43 | |
it means that Jesus is not a rehearsal | 33:44 | |
of something in the past | 33:46 | |
nor does it mean that Jesus has made legitimate by the past | 33:50 | |
and authorized by the past. | 33:53 | |
But rather it means that Jesus is the one | 33:56 | |
in whom the past is given meaning. | 33:58 | |
That Jesus is the new beginning, | 34:02 | |
who reshapes reconstitutes time and history. | 34:04 | |
In whom all that has gone before has now understood | 34:09 | |
and re understood | 34:12 | |
and re-appreciated. | 34:13 | |
We need to remember that. | 34:16 | |
This crucial character of our Lord | 34:19 | |
in relation to what goes before him and what follows. | 34:21 | |
Also, it seems to me, | 34:28 | |
this text means it suggests for Jesus | 34:29 | |
and our understanding of him and our relation to him | 34:32 | |
that it is in him, | 34:35 | |
that those hostile powers are subdued. | 34:37 | |
That it is in him, | 34:41 | |
that we could have confidence | 34:43 | |
that all that lies beyond our understanding and control. | 34:44 | |
All that we would be easily in a position of fearing | 34:50 | |
has been subdued and tamed and named | 34:55 | |
because of him. | 34:58 | |
But there is nothing that lies in those areas, | 35:02 | |
which are beyond us, which intimidate us. | 35:05 | |
But there's nothing that lies there that we need to fear. | 35:09 | |
There's nothing that can overcome us there, | 35:14 | |
because it has been overcome. | 35:18 | |
We need not live in a world that we do understand | 35:23 | |
and can control. | 35:26 | |
We cannot live in such a world. | 35:28 | |
We need not try to live in such a world. | 35:29 | |
We can live toward. | 35:32 | |
We can live at ease with what we do not understand | 35:33 | |
and cannot control. | 35:37 | |
The future, particularly. | 35:39 | |
But all that lies beyond | 35:43 | |
the familiar, the tribe. | 35:45 | |
All that lies beyond what has precedent. | 35:49 | |
These hostile powers. | 35:55 | |
These foreign powers. | 35:57 | |
These alien powers | 35:58 | |
have been subdued and overcome. | 36:00 | |
Also, it means for the life of Jesus, | 36:07 | |
that he is the one who lives under God, | 36:10 | |
in the place of insecurity and uncertainty. | 36:12 | |
He comes out of Egypt | 36:14 | |
and he goes where Herod has been reigning. | 36:16 | |
And whereas things are still uncertain and risky. | 36:19 | |
He's coming out of Egypt means he does not live | 36:25 | |
in a place of prestige | 36:27 | |
and stability and comfort, | 36:29 | |
but he lives in those places | 36:33 | |
of uncertainty and danger | 36:36 | |
and the unprecedented. | 36:39 | |
This passage is here in Matthew | 36:50 | |
because of Matthew's interest | 36:51 | |
in seeing present as reinterpreting the past. | 36:53 | |
It refers to Egypt, which is a place of captivity, | 37:00 | |
but also a place of comfort and security. | 37:03 | |
It is here, this text is here, | 37:07 | |
because it helps us to understand who Jesus is | 37:09 | |
and the importance and authority of his life. | 37:13 | |
But it is also here, | 37:18 | |
I would suggest Christian friends | 37:19 | |
for us. | 37:22 | |
And I'd like to suggest some things that it may mean | 37:23 | |
for us as individual members of the church | 37:26 | |
and as individual citizens of this country | 37:30 | |
in a bicentennial year. | 37:32 | |
And don't presume to exhaust the meanings | 37:36 | |
and pray only that the spirit, | 37:38 | |
will teach you the meanings of this text | 37:41 | |
in your own and for your own lives. | 37:44 | |
First of all, as Matthew is always, | 37:50 | |
apparently always one who is rethinking | 37:53 | |
the life of the people. | 37:57 | |
So we are in constantly in the business as individuals, | 38:01 | |
as a church, | 38:04 | |
as a nation in the process of rethinking and reinterpreting | 38:06 | |
our lives, our stories, | 38:10 | |
understanding, re appropriating those stories. | 38:13 | |
Now we are in that process to take history seriously. | 38:20 | |
And perhaps we do not take it seriously enough. | 38:25 | |
But it seems to me, | 38:29 | |
we ought not to take it seriously in this way, | 38:30 | |
as has been said, | 38:32 | |
going down the highway with our eyes on a rear view mirror. | 38:35 | |
In order to take history seriously in this way | 38:39 | |
is to attack the present with the past. | 38:42 | |
But we ought to take history seriously this way, | 38:46 | |
it seems to me. | 38:49 | |
To re appropriate and re-understand the past | 38:51 | |
in terms of the challenges and needs | 38:54 | |
and opportunities of the present and the future. | 38:57 | |
To be re-understanding, re appropriate in our stories, | 39:04 | |
not only in terms of the past, | 39:07 | |
but also in terms of the present and the future. | 39:08 | |
And in this bicentennial year, it seems to me, | 39:11 | |
we err seriously, | 39:14 | |
by thinking of ourselves as responsible citizens | 39:17 | |
who visit historic sites alone | 39:20 | |
or have our eyes now fixed on the past for a year. | 39:22 | |
But rather, I think we become responsible citizens | 39:27 | |
during this crucial year, | 39:30 | |
this interesting year. | 39:32 | |
We become responsible citizens | 39:33 | |
by taking up the challenges of the present and the future | 39:35 | |
and re-understanding and re appropriate in the past | 39:38 | |
in terms of those challenges and possibilities. | 39:40 | |
Secondly, it seems to me, | 39:51 | |
we can never beat people. | 39:52 | |
As individual members of the church | 39:54 | |
or as individual citizens of this country, | 39:56 | |
we could never beat people | 39:58 | |
who have fallen into the dullness of thinking | 40:02 | |
that we cannot be recreated | 40:04 | |
and rebuilt and refreshed. | 40:06 | |
But we have always to live on the threshold | 40:12 | |
of something new of a possibility. | 40:14 | |
Always expectant. | 40:17 | |
What happens to us?, | 40:22 | |
what kind of spiritual flabbiness sets in | 40:23 | |
when we lose that kind of faith for ourselves | 40:27 | |
as members of the church, | 40:30 | |
or for ourselves as citizens of this country?. | 40:33 | |
We lose the faith in the possibility | 40:38 | |
of being reshaped, renewed, | 40:40 | |
reconstituted in this year, in the future, | 40:44 | |
in the present and in the future. | 40:47 | |
In ways that we cannot expect. | 40:49 | |
In ways unprepared for, | 40:52 | |
to be open to and flexible to such possibilities. | 40:56 | |
Say what dullness, what deadness, | 41:02 | |
what captivity realign, | 41:03 | |
we suffer, | 41:08 | |
if we lose that expectancy, | 41:09 | |
if we lose faith that such can happen to us. | 41:12 | |
We think of God as in his senility or in his weakness, | 41:16 | |
unable any longer to do such things. | 41:19 | |
Or we, in our lack of confidence or a lack of faith, | 41:24 | |
living in a world of the familiar, | 41:27 | |
of the established, of the secure | 41:29 | |
and no longer being expected. | 41:32 | |
No longer being alive with possibility, | 41:35 | |
no longer engage in a valley of transcendent possibility. | 41:39 | |
And third, it seems to me | 41:50 | |
and most difficult to hear | 41:52 | |
is that this text tells us, | 41:55 | |
that maybe one thing we ought to watch out for, | 41:57 | |
that the one thing that may be enslaving us | 42:00 | |
and limiting us unnecessarily, | 42:02 | |
confining us, putting us to sleep and imprisoning us. | 42:05 | |
The one thing that may be doing that the most | 42:10 | |
is what gives us greatest psychic | 42:12 | |
and physical and spiritual comfort and security. | 42:14 | |
We set a very high value on physical | 42:22 | |
and psychic comfort and security. | 42:25 | |
Now we believe that in Christ can have comfort and security. | 42:31 | |
That the life of faith is a life of assurance. | 42:37 | |
But as a substitute for that kind of God given assurance, | 42:42 | |
we grasp quickly it seems to me | 42:45 | |
for things more immediately at hand, | 42:47 | |
things that which, make us feel good, | 42:50 | |
which comfort us, give us stability and security | 42:52 | |
and spiritual substitutes. | 42:56 | |
Imprisoned as we are by these now hostile powers, | 42:59 | |
these powers that work against God's kingdom. | 43:03 | |
We are crippled. | 43:10 | |
We shall never end this err | 43:12 | |
and into the wilderness of history. | 43:14 | |
We always live with vulnerability and risk and uncertainty | 43:18 | |
under God's direction. | 43:24 | |
We never come to an end. | 43:30 | |
We never put the last word to the sentence. | 43:32 | |
The period. | 43:36 | |
We never live with finality and ending. | 43:39 | |
We're always on the way. | 43:45 | |
But to be on the way we have to be prepared for, | 43:48 | |
we have to be capable of the uncertain. | 43:50 | |
"Out of Egypt, have I called my son" | 43:55 | |
It was said of Jesus, | 43:59 | |
as once it had been said of Israel, | 44:02 | |
so that it may also be said of us. | 44:05 | |
That commemoration is also present and forward looking, | 44:09 | |
that ease and comfort are enslaving | 44:14 | |
and that freedom and faith are marked by a readiness | 44:18 | |
to live with uncertainty and vulnerability, | 44:23 | |
open to the unprecedented and the new. | 44:28 | |
Amen. | 44:34 | |
Let us pray. | 44:35 | |
Call us our father out of those Egypts, | 44:44 | |
where we find ourselves, | 44:47 | |
given over to comforts and securities, | 44:51 | |
which though immediately available | 44:55 | |
if the long run cripple us. | 44:58 | |
Allow us as a nation also to pick up | 45:02 | |
the challenges and possibilities | 45:06 | |
of this present and future, | 45:08 | |
so that our pasts may constantly be remade, | 45:12 | |
rebuilt, refreshed. | 45:17 | |
But what we are called to do in the present | 45:20 | |
and what lies | 45:23 | |
ahead of us in the future. | 45:24 | |
Give us the faith to know that we do not walk in darkness, | 45:28 | |
but then we walk with the light of your word | 45:34 | |
and under the commanding light of your power and will. | 45:39 | |
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 45:43 | |
Amen. | 45:45 | |
(orchestral music) | 45:52 | |
(bright orchestral music) | 47:56 | |
(dramatic orchestral music) | 49:31 | |
♪ The shepherds sing ♪ | 49:36 | |
♪ And shall I silent be ♪ | 49:39 | |
♪ My God ♪ | 49:45 | |
♪ No hymn for thee ♪ | 49:48 | |
♪ My soul's a shepherd too ♪ | 49:57 | |
♪ A flock it feeds ♪ | 50:02 | |
♪ Of thoughts of words and deeds ♪ | 50:05 | |
♪ The pasture is thy word ♪ | 50:10 | |
♪ The streams, thy grace ♪ | 50:16 | |
♪ Enriching all the place ♪ | 50:19 | |
♪ Shepherds and flock shall sing ♪ | 50:28 | |
♪ And all my powers outsing ♪ | 50:32 | |
♪ The daylight hours ♪ | 50:38 | |
♪ Then we will chide the sun ♪ | 50:42 | |
♪ For letting night ♪ | 50:47 | |
♪ Take up his place and right ♪ | 50:50 | |
♪ We sing one common Lord ♪ | 50:56 | |
♪ Wherefore he should himself ♪ | 51:02 | |
♪ The candle hold ♪ | 51:07 | |
♪ I will go searching ♪ | 51:12 | |
♪ Till I find a sun ♪ | 51:15 | |
♪ Shall stay, till we have done ♪ | 51:20 | |
♪ A willing shiner ♪ | 51:25 | |
♪ That shall shine as gladly, ♪ | 51:28 | |
♪ As frost-nip sunshines look sadly ♪ | 51:34 | |
♪ Then we will sing ♪ | 51:44 | |
♪ And shine on our own day ♪ | 51:48 | |
♪ And one another day ♪ | 51:56 | |
♪ His beams shall cheer my breast ♪ | 52:05 | |
♪ And both so twine ♪ | 52:12 | |
♪ Till evening his beams sing ♪ | 52:16 | |
♪ And my music ♪ | 52:26 | |
♪ Shine ♪ | 52:33 | |
(orchestral music) | 52:57 | |
- | Accept, Oh, Lord, | 54:10 |
this offering of our monies, | 54:12 | |
which are symbols of our lives. | 54:14 | |
Use this money and us | 54:18 | |
to care for your children in need. | 54:21 | |
Amen. | 54:24 | |
(orchestral music) | 54:39 | |
Go now into the future | 57:44 | |
with the comfort and support | 57:46 | |
of God, our creator, our redeemer | 57:49 | |
and our sustainer. | 57:52 | |
Amen and Amen. | 57:54 | |
(dramatic orchestral music) | 57:59 | |
(crowd murmurs) | 1:01:34 | |
(crowd murmurs) | 1:01:56 |