Robert T. Young - "What Is the Message?" (January 25, 1976)
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| (choir singing indistinctly) | 0:29 | |
| (inspirational organ music) | 1:27 | |
| (organ drowns out singers) | 1:48 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 2:54 | |
| (organ music continues) | 3:58 | |
| - | Let us now examine ourselves before God, | 5:20 |
| humbly confessing our sins and watching our hearts. | 5:24 | |
| Lest by self deceit | 5:28 | |
| we shut ourselves out from his presence. | 5:30 | |
| Let us pray. | 5:34 | |
| Oh God, you who have set forth the way of life for us | 5:37 | |
| in your beloved son, | 5:41 | |
| we confess with shame our slowness to learn of him, | 5:44 | |
| our reluctance to follow him. | 5:49 | |
| You have spoken and called and we have not given heed. | 5:52 | |
| Your beauty has shown forth and we have been blind. | 5:57 | |
| You have stretched out your hands to us | 6:03 | |
| through our neighbors and we have passed by. | 6:06 | |
| We have taken great benefits with little thanks. | 6:11 | |
| We have been unworthy of your changeless love. | 6:15 | |
| Forgive us that so little of your love | 6:20 | |
| has reached others through us | 6:23 | |
| and that we have borne so lightly | 6:26 | |
| wrongs and sufferings that were not our own. | 6:29 | |
| Forgive us wherein we have cherished | 6:33 | |
| the things that divide us from others | 6:36 | |
| and wherein we have made it hard for them to live with us. | 6:39 | |
| And wherein we have been thoughtless in our judgements, | 6:45 | |
| hasty in condemnation, grudging in forgiveness. | 6:49 | |
| If we have made no ventures in fellowship, | 6:54 | |
| if we have kept in our heart a grievance against another, | 6:58 | |
| if we have not sought reconciliation, | 7:03 | |
| if we have been eager for the punishment of wrongdoers, | 7:07 | |
| and slow to seek their redemption, | 7:11 | |
| have mercy upon us and forgive us oh Lord. | 7:15 | |
| Let each of us in silence make confession to God. | 7:21 | |
| Have mercy upon us, oh God, | 7:33 | |
| according to your loving kindness, | 7:36 | |
| according to the multitude of your tender mercies, | 7:39 | |
| blot out our transgressions, | 7:43 | |
| wash us thoroughly from our iniquities | 7:46 | |
| and cleanse us from our sin. | 7:49 | |
| Create in us clean hearts, oh God, | 7:52 | |
| and renew right spirits within us. | 7:56 | |
| Through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 7:59 | |
| It is written, "I sought the Lord and he answered me | 8:05 | |
| "and delivered me from all my fears." | 8:10 | |
| It is written, "If we confess our sins | 8:14 | |
| "he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins | 8:17 | |
| "and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." | 8:21 | |
| Amen. | 8:26 | |
| (organ music) | 8:30 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 9:28 | |
| - | The Old Testament lesson for this, | 12:14 |
| the third Sunday after Epiphany Day | 12:16 | |
| is coming from the Book of Jonah, | 12:19 | |
| the third chapter verses 1:5 and verse 10. | 12:21 | |
| Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time | 12:27 | |
| saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city | 12:30 | |
| "and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." | 12:34 | |
| So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, | 12:37 | |
| according to the word of the Lord. | 12:40 | |
| Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, | 12:43 | |
| three days journey in breadth. | 12:45 | |
| Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey | 12:48 | |
| and he cried, "Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," | 12:51 | |
| and the people of Nineveh believed God. | 12:56 | |
| They proclaimed a fast and put on sack cloth | 12:59 | |
| from the greatest of them to the least of them. | 13:02 | |
| When God saw what they did, | 13:07 | |
| how they turned from their evil way, | 13:09 | |
| God repented of the evil which he had said | 13:11 | |
| he would do to them and he did not do it. | 13:14 | |
| The gospel reading this morning is from Mark, | 13:19 | |
| the first chapter verses 14:20. | 13:22 | |
| Will you stand for the reading of the gospel? | 13:26 | |
| "Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee | 13:35 | |
| "preaching the gospel of God | 13:39 | |
| "and saying, 'The time is fulfilled | 13:41 | |
| "'and the kingdom of God is at hand. | 13:44 | |
| "'Repent and believe in the gospel.' | 13:46 | |
| "And passing along by the sea of Galilee, | 13:49 | |
| "he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, | 13:51 | |
| "casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen | 13:54 | |
| "and Jesus said to them, | 13:58 | |
| "'Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men,' | 13:59 | |
| "and immediately they left their nets and followed him. | 14:03 | |
| "And going a little farther | 14:06 | |
| "he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, | 14:08 | |
| "who were in their boat mending the nets | 14:11 | |
| "and immediately he called them | 14:13 | |
| "and they left their father, Zebedee in the boat | 14:16 | |
| "with the hired servants and followed him." | 14:18 | |
| May the light of the word of God | 14:22 | |
| illumine our lives this day. | 14:24 | |
| (organ music) | 14:26 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 14:35 | |
| - | Let us together affirm our faith. | 15:12 |
| We are not alone. | 15:16 | |
| We live in God's world. | 15:19 | |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating. | 15:21 | |
| Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 15:27 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 15:30 | |
| Who works in us through the spirit. | 15:33 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 15:37 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 15:43 | |
| to love and serve others, | 15:46 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 15:49 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 15:52 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 15:56 | |
| In life, in death. In life beyond death. | 15:59 | |
| God is with us. We are not alone. | 16:05 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 16:09 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 16:13 | |
| - | And with your spirit. | |
| - | Let us pray. | 16:17 |
| Great God, these are days of destiny and decision. | 16:31 | |
| We of this congregation would give praise, | 16:39 | |
| especially at this time, | 16:42 | |
| for the integrity and the courage and the dedication | 16:45 | |
| of the president of this university. | 16:51 | |
| And we give thanks for his continuing service | 16:54 | |
| in this community. | 16:57 | |
| For many of your people in far parts of the world | 17:01 | |
| these are days of destruction and death. | 17:05 | |
| Yet so many of us seek momentary gratification | 17:10 | |
| instead of lasting commitment. | 17:14 | |
| Pleasure and privilege and pride instead of responsibility. | 17:17 | |
| Revise our priorities. Lift up our values. | 17:22 | |
| Redirect our aims. | 17:28 | |
| Oh God, who gives us more than we deserve, | 17:32 | |
| more than we dare to ask, | 17:35 | |
| more than we know we need, | 17:39 | |
| Keep our thanksgiving and our intercession | 17:42 | |
| ever mindful of others. | 17:45 | |
| We thank you for food and shelter, | 17:49 | |
| reminded daily that millions lack even these. | 17:51 | |
| We thank you for peace when in many lands | 17:57 | |
| and in many souls there is no peace. | 18:01 | |
| We thank you for the rich privilege of learning, | 18:06 | |
| for opportunity to deepen our understanding | 18:09 | |
| of your will and your ways, | 18:12 | |
| when countless multitudes possess such limited horizons. | 18:15 | |
| We thank you for the love of family and friends, | 18:21 | |
| so often ignoring or forgetting | 18:24 | |
| the loneliness and despair next door. | 18:27 | |
| We thank you for the life transforming truth | 18:31 | |
| that you have come into the world in redemptive power, | 18:34 | |
| even though we are so often reluctant | 18:38 | |
| to share that good news. | 18:41 | |
| What can we ask of you who are so much more ready | 18:45 | |
| to give than we to receive? | 18:48 | |
| We pray for faithfulness, to our studies, | 18:52 | |
| to our calling, to our loved ones, to our God, | 18:57 | |
| knowing how often we are men and women of very little faith. | 19:03 | |
| We pray for hope, yet we do so little | 19:09 | |
| to change the conditions of hunger and hatred and injustice | 19:13 | |
| in our society and in the world. | 19:18 | |
| We pray for truth but seldom use it to set people free. | 19:22 | |
| We pray for freedom but seek it in self assertiveness | 19:28 | |
| instead of in your truth. | 19:32 | |
| We pray for love, | 19:36 | |
| make us as willing to show your love to others | 19:38 | |
| as to receive it for ourselves. | 19:42 | |
| We pray in the name of incarnate, love, | 19:46 | |
| and truth and freedom. | 19:50 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior. | 19:53 | |
| Let us pray also in his immortal words, | 19:57 | |
| "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 20:02 | |
| "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 20:08 | |
| "on earth as it is in heaven. | 20:13 | |
| "Give us this day our daily bread | 20:16 | |
| "and forgive us our trespasses, | 20:19 | |
| "as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 20:22 | |
| "And lead us not into temptation, | 20:27 | |
| "but deliver us from evil. | 20:30 | |
| "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. | 20:32 | |
| "Forever and ever. Amen." | 20:38 | |
| Your attention is called to the announcements | 20:48 | |
| in the printed bulletin. | 20:52 | |
| One additional announcement concerns a meeting | 20:56 | |
| of the Hunger Task Force at 7:00 pm tonight, Sunday, | 20:59 | |
| in the YMCA/YWCA office area in the basement of the chapel. | 21:05 | |
| All persons who are interested | 21:10 | |
| in working in this critical area, | 21:13 | |
| of local and world hunger needs, | 21:16 | |
| are urged to come tonight at 7:00 pm. | 21:19 | |
| - | In the name of God who creates, redeems, and sustains. | 21:39 |
| Amen. What is the message? | 21:46 | |
| Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel | 21:52 | |
| of the kingdom of God and saying, | 21:56 | |
| "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. | 21:59 | |
| "Repent and believe in the gospel." | 22:05 | |
| What is the message? | 22:09 | |
| Over the holidays, Harry Reasoner was commenting | 22:12 | |
| on the contrast between our obsession to observe Christmas | 22:15 | |
| and the continuing tensions in the world and concluded, | 22:21 | |
| perhaps it is all right for us to pause one day of the year | 22:24 | |
| with some degree of hope, even if it is only for one day, | 22:30 | |
| perhaps there really is hope. | 22:35 | |
| What is the message? | 22:39 | |
| Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in a recent interview in Washington | 22:44 | |
| said, "The situation in the world today is not dire. | 22:46 | |
| "The situation is not threatening. | 22:52 | |
| "The situation," he said, "is catastrophic." | 22:56 | |
| What is the message? | 23:02 | |
| Edward B. Lindaman in his recent book, | 23:06 | |
| "Space: a New Direction for Mankind" writes, | 23:08 | |
| "Many officials speak of recent insurrections | 23:12 | |
| "in terms of doomsday. | 23:15 | |
| "They say we have come to a time, | 23:17 | |
| "like the fall of Rome and the fall of Bastille, | 23:19 | |
| "when civilizations collapse because belief is dead, | 23:22 | |
| "but others think just the opposite is happening. | 23:27 | |
| "That passionate belief has come alive | 23:30 | |
| "for the first time in centuries." | 23:33 | |
| What is the message? | 23:35 | |
| Dr. George Schweitzer, Professor of Chemistry | 23:39 | |
| at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, | 23:42 | |
| as he began a lecture on the future of science | 23:44 | |
| and the future of the Christian faith at Lake Junaluska | 23:47 | |
| last summer wrote on the blackboard the words 2000. | 23:49 | |
| Whose year 2000. | 23:54 | |
| What is the message? | 23:59 | |
| A recent note in the "Christian Advocate" | 24:03 | |
| a publication of the United Methodist Church tells us, | 24:05 | |
| quote, "The relentless decline of denominational membership | 24:08 | |
| "which began for United Methodists in 1965 | 24:12 | |
| "continued again last year as membership | 24:16 | |
| "in the United Methodist Church | 24:19 | |
| "has now fallen below the 10 million mark. | 24:21 | |
| "It declined this past year of 105,336 persons | 24:26 | |
| "to the present level of 9,957,710. | 24:31 | |
| "Non-white membership in the United Methodist Church | 24:38 | |
| "is only 4.2% of that total. | 24:42 | |
| "But," the article said, "average attendance | 24:46 | |
| "at United Methodist Churches is up." | 24:48 | |
| What is the message? | 24:51 | |
| Last Sunday, and a memorable and historic moment | 24:56 | |
| for Protestant and Catholic Christians in this area, | 24:59 | |
| in this community and in this place, | 25:03 | |
| Bishop F. Joseph Gossman proclaimed, among other words, | 25:05 | |
| "I believe," he said, "that our dividedness stands | 25:09 | |
| "in painful conflict with the will of God. | 25:12 | |
| "Our unlovingness before the world | 25:15 | |
| "toward our brothers and sisters in the faith | 25:17 | |
| "is a stumbling block to hope | 25:20 | |
| "and a scandal to the faith of others. | 25:22 | |
| "The diversity of our gifts should be shared | 25:24 | |
| "so that we may become a model of real unity, | 25:27 | |
| "of continuing dialogue and of loving creative service." | 25:31 | |
| What is the message? | 25:37 | |
| On the threshold of a new year, | 25:42 | |
| the year 1976, the 200th year of this nation's existence, | 25:46 | |
| the beginning of the sixth year of this decade, | 25:54 | |
| the first year of the last quarter of the 20th century, | 25:59 | |
| we read and hear all kinds of messages | 26:04 | |
| assessing the past and projecting the future, | 26:07 | |
| examining and evaluating the past 199 years, | 26:11 | |
| or the past year, or the past five years, | 26:15 | |
| and prophesying the year or the years ahead, | 26:18 | |
| the New York Times, Newsweek, Saturday Review, | 26:21 | |
| Christian Century, Sylvia Porter, James Reston, | 26:24 | |
| Patrick Moynihan, Julian Bond, Billy Graham, | 26:28 | |
| poets, philosophers, artists, editors, journalists, | 26:31 | |
| commentators, bishops, politicians, preachers, educators, | 26:34 | |
| all are interpreting the times for us | 26:38 | |
| past present and future. | 26:41 | |
| All of this reminds me of a word from a friend of mine | 26:45 | |
| in his church bulletin. | 26:48 | |
| Recently he writes, "Back in my high school days | 26:49 | |
| "there were many Sunday afternoons when a car | 26:53 | |
| "filled with other young people | 26:55 | |
| "would drive up in front of my house. | 26:56 | |
| "One of these friends would call out to me, | 26:59 | |
| "'Brian, do you want to go with us?' | 27:01 | |
| "and I would call back, 'Well, where are you going?' | 27:05 | |
| "and the answer he said was always unvarying, | 27:09 | |
| "'Nowhere especially, we're just going,' | 27:11 | |
| "but always we went somewhere," he said. | 27:14 | |
| And then he says, "We are a part of a generation and a world | 27:18 | |
| "that is in movement, we become captivated by the activity | 27:21 | |
| "and do not give consideration to the destination. | 27:25 | |
| "We think we are on the move | 27:28 | |
| "but then we are really not going anywhere, | 27:29 | |
| "but the truth of the matter is that we are going somewhere | 27:31 | |
| "and the question is, | 27:34 | |
| "'When you get where you are going where will you be, | 27:35 | |
| "'and what will life be like and who will be with you?'" | 27:41 | |
| What is the message? | 27:48 | |
| It takes Mark only 13 verses to get to the real message. | 27:53 | |
| The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. | 27:57 | |
| Repent and believe in the gospel. | 28:01 | |
| All that Mark says prior to this point | 28:04 | |
| is that Isaiah prophesied that John prepared | 28:06 | |
| and then Jesus came preaching, proclaiming, | 28:10 | |
| saving, giving us the message. | 28:12 | |
| And so during the past few days | 28:17 | |
| as I have read analyses of what has happened to us | 28:19 | |
| the past 200 years and what will our third century be like, | 28:22 | |
| I have gone back to the scriptures | 28:28 | |
| to try to see the message of this man, Jesus, The Christ. | 28:30 | |
| This, after all, was the first message | 28:34 | |
| which Jesus apparently proclaimed. | 28:37 | |
| And after all I am a Christian. | 28:40 | |
| Jesus is my Lord. | 28:43 | |
| I do believe that he lived | 28:45 | |
| and taught and preached the truth. | 28:47 | |
| I also believe that there is a timelessness to his message, | 28:50 | |
| rightly understood and interpreted and applied, | 28:54 | |
| I believe that the message of Jesus Christ is as relevant | 28:57 | |
| to those of us who walk these walks around here | 29:01 | |
| and who look at these Gothic buildings | 29:04 | |
| as it was relevant those who walked | 29:06 | |
| the sandy shores of Galilee. | 29:08 | |
| So, what is the message? | 29:13 | |
| "The time," Jesus said, "is fulfilled. | 29:19 | |
| "The kingdom of God," he said, "is at hand. | 29:24 | |
| "Repent," he said, "and be believe in the gospel." | 29:27 | |
| Surely there is truth in this message. | 29:31 | |
| Mark does not tell us who first heard this message | 29:34 | |
| and contrary to many of Jesus other teachings | 29:37 | |
| and parables and sayings and miracles. | 29:39 | |
| These words were not spoken to any specific person | 29:41 | |
| or to any specific group. | 29:45 | |
| Just that Jesus came into Galilee preaching. | 29:47 | |
| And this is the message. | 29:52 | |
| Listen if you will, because there may not be | 29:54 | |
| a great deal of difference | 29:58 | |
| between what Jesus was saying in AD 25 | 30:00 | |
| and what many others are saying to us in AD 1976. | 30:02 | |
| So what then is the message? | 30:06 | |
| "The time in the first place," he said, "is fulfilled." | 30:10 | |
| And I see Dr. Schweitzer write on that blackboard again, | 30:14 | |
| "2000 AD," dash, "if we make it." | 30:18 | |
| Or, a current magazine had its leading article read, | 30:24 | |
| "Our third century," dash, "can we survive?" | 30:27 | |
| Poet Allen Ginsberg, along with many others warns us, | 30:34 | |
| that we must become conscious of the ecological imbalance | 30:38 | |
| that we are imposing on nature. | 30:41 | |
| That is, that we must be aware of our destruction | 30:44 | |
| of human nature and of our natural resources, | 30:47 | |
| of water, land, and air, | 30:51 | |
| above and below the earth's surface, | 30:53 | |
| or else we're going to destroy ourselves | 30:55 | |
| with our gas fumes, our smoke, our waste | 30:58 | |
| and our wanton abuse of our resources. | 31:02 | |
| Dr. Colin Morris tells us that, quote, | 31:06 | |
| "The moment of truth for humanity, | 31:10 | |
| "unless we change our direction and our ways drastically | 31:15 | |
| "will come sometime in the year 2330 AD." | 31:21 | |
| That is not the year that he predicts | 31:29 | |
| for the second coming of the Messiah. | 31:31 | |
| That is the year, according to demographers, | 31:33 | |
| when the world's population will exactly equal | 31:36 | |
| the number of square yards on the Earth's land surface. | 31:40 | |
| One person, one square yard. | 31:44 | |
| "Our time," he says, "is almost up." | 31:46 | |
| The time is fulfilled | 31:52 | |
| and it is for you and for me. | 31:56 | |
| What is the message? | 32:00 | |
| The kingdom of God is at hand. | 32:01 | |
| Whose kingdom? | 32:03 | |
| Kingdom of God. | 32:06 | |
| Oh I know about Castro's kingdom and Sadat's rule, | 32:08 | |
| I knew about the power of the Perons, | 32:12 | |
| Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong. | 32:14 | |
| I know of Brezhnev and Kocigan, | 32:17 | |
| I even know of the rule and the dynasties | 32:19 | |
| of JFK and LBJ and RMN now of Jerry's rule. | 32:22 | |
| I know of the goddesses of sex and free love | 32:28 | |
| and amorality and immorality, | 32:31 | |
| I even know something of the power of Wall Street, | 32:34 | |
| the might of the Pentagon and the influence of the press. | 32:37 | |
| We know of Rusk and McNamara, Rogers, Mitchell | 32:40 | |
| Hoover, Laird, and Kissinger. | 32:44 | |
| There is the awesomeness of nuclear missiles, | 32:47 | |
| the vastness of the universe | 32:49 | |
| and the attractiveness of living in the country again. | 32:51 | |
| There is the rule of the church, the power of the Pope, | 32:55 | |
| black power, white power, woman power, | 32:58 | |
| student power, love power. | 33:01 | |
| But what about this rule of God? This reign of God? | 33:02 | |
| This sovereignty of God over heart and mind of will | 33:06 | |
| that Jesus said is at hand. | 33:10 | |
| At hand? At hand? Close by? | 33:13 | |
| Why that means really close. | 33:16 | |
| It means right on top of us or on the way or nearby. | 33:18 | |
| It means it is imminent or right beside us or in us | 33:22 | |
| or on us or with us. | 33:26 | |
| Kingdom of God? At hand? | 33:28 | |
| And now I interject a serious and legitimate question | 33:35 | |
| to ask very simply, | 33:37 | |
| if the kingdom of God was at hand 2000 years ago | 33:40 | |
| when Jesus first preached it, why hasn't it already come? | 33:45 | |
| What did being at hand mean to Jesus | 33:52 | |
| and to others in his day? | 33:54 | |
| When is it coming | 33:58 | |
| or has it come? | 34:00 | |
| I think we can be sure of two things. | 34:03 | |
| One, that if Jesus was talking | 34:05 | |
| about the kingdom of God coming to the church | 34:08 | |
| and perfecting the church with the love of God, | 34:10 | |
| the kingdom is still far from ever having arrived. | 34:13 | |
| The church today is still very much | 34:17 | |
| like the church of the first century. | 34:19 | |
| Self-centered, self righteous, | 34:21 | |
| straining at gnats and swallowing camels. | 34:24 | |
| Hung up on legalisms and moralisms and negativisms, | 34:26 | |
| and also though, doing some truly great | 34:30 | |
| insignificant acts of healing and redemption | 34:32 | |
| in the name and in the spirit of Christ. | 34:35 | |
| A second thing we can be sure of is that if Jesus | 34:40 | |
| we're speaking of the kingdom of God being near at hand | 34:42 | |
| in the world at large, | 34:44 | |
| then the kingdom is still a long way off. | 34:47 | |
| A current popular magazine has a series of articles | 34:52 | |
| on just some of the dilemmas facing our own nation today. | 34:56 | |
| They talk about the economic gap, the racial gap, | 35:00 | |
| the sexist movement, the generation gap, | 35:05 | |
| the credibility gap, and we know how true it is | 35:08 | |
| that our world is divided Angolans against Angolans. | 35:11 | |
| Irish against Irish. | 35:15 | |
| Muslims against Christians in Lebanon. | 35:18 | |
| Communist and non communist. | 35:22 | |
| Black and white. Rich and poor. | 35:23 | |
| East and west. Israeli and Arab, labor and management. | 35:26 | |
| And the list goes on and on and on. | 35:30 | |
| Not even to mention the disunity | 35:33 | |
| and the divisiveness within the church. | 35:35 | |
| So if the kingdom of God at hand has anything at all | 35:37 | |
| to do with unity, peace, understanding, | 35:40 | |
| trust, respect and acceptance in the family of all people's | 35:44 | |
| then the kingdom of God is still not yet. | 35:48 | |
| It is still at hand. | 35:51 | |
| So what is the message? | 35:57 | |
| If the kingdom of God was at hand in the time of Jesus | 36:01 | |
| and if the kingdom of God has not yet come in the church | 36:05 | |
| or in the world, then this kingdom of God of Jesus preaching | 36:08 | |
| may well refer to something else, | 36:13 | |
| to something very personal to you and to me. | 36:18 | |
| Personal but not private. | 36:24 | |
| Individual but not separate. | 36:28 | |
| What is Jesus talking about here? | 36:33 | |
| Well, I'm really not so sure, | 36:35 | |
| but it may be just this real and just this personal, | 36:39 | |
| as personal and as real as a word from Will Campbell. | 36:43 | |
| Will Campbell, as he was writing a memoir | 36:48 | |
| of his nephew's death, which was caused when he was | 36:50 | |
| run over by an automobile, as he was riding his new bicycle | 36:54 | |
| and Will Campbell, in recounting his own thoughts | 36:59 | |
| and feelings about this experience | 37:01 | |
| as he ministered to this little boy | 37:03 | |
| and to other members of his family, | 37:06 | |
| writes in this memoir, "Every offspring is an only child." | 37:10 | |
| That's perhaps how the kingdom of God is at hand. | 37:23 | |
| To tell you and me that everyone is an offspring, | 37:27 | |
| every one of us is an only child of God, | 37:31 | |
| that God's presence is here now, right inside within. | 37:35 | |
| We seek this kingdom of God, do we? Yes. | 37:42 | |
| And Pascal in his Pensees tells us, | 37:46 | |
| "Console yourself for thou would not be seeking me, | 37:49 | |
| "hast thou not already found me." | 37:53 | |
| And knowing this, that God has already found us, | 37:59 | |
| makes the rest of Jesus' message possible to accept | 38:03 | |
| and to understand and even possible to respond to. | 38:06 | |
| With the kingdom of God at hand | 38:11 | |
| Jesus then tells us repent and believe in the gospel. | 38:13 | |
| So it is that with the presence of God within | 38:16 | |
| it is then possible for us to repent, | 38:18 | |
| for repent, metanoo, in Greek means | 38:22 | |
| to change one's mind or to change directions | 38:25 | |
| and I can't do that on my own power. | 38:29 | |
| And I speak from personal experience. | 38:33 | |
| I know from having tried to change my attitude | 38:37 | |
| and my ways of relating to my wife or my children, | 38:40 | |
| or to some of you, | 38:43 | |
| or relating within this university community | 38:44 | |
| that I cannot do it on my own power | 38:47 | |
| and with my own strength. | 38:50 | |
| it is impossible for me to change my attitude or behavior | 38:51 | |
| or action or direction with my own strength. | 38:55 | |
| But by and with the grace of God, metanoo, | 38:58 | |
| repentance is possible. | 39:02 | |
| Is there anyone here this morning | 39:06 | |
| who does not have some area of your life | 39:08 | |
| in which you need to change your mind or change direction? | 39:10 | |
| Do you not need to change in some very significant way? | 39:21 | |
| Attitude or thought or behavior or commitment | 39:28 | |
| or as Corky prayed for us and with us, | 39:35 | |
| change some of your priorities or values. | 39:39 | |
| Miguel de Unamuno once wrote, | 39:45 | |
| "God does not deny anyone peace | 39:49 | |
| "except to give that same one glory." | 39:54 | |
| God does not deny you or me any peace at all | 39:59 | |
| except to give us some glory. | 40:04 | |
| Glory which comes with metanoo, with repentance, | 40:07 | |
| with changing one's mind and belief, | 40:10 | |
| then in the goodness of God, it is personal. | 40:13 | |
| It is for you and for me, repent, believe, | 40:18 | |
| so that the kingdom of God which is within | 40:23 | |
| may become alive and radiant and healing to us and to others | 40:25 | |
| so that we may find and know and fulfill | 40:30 | |
| the life that God has for each of us. | 40:32 | |
| Abraham Joshua Heschel, of the truly great thinkers, | 40:37 | |
| writers, theologians, witnesses for God, of this century | 40:43 | |
| was interviewed just 10 days before he died recently | 40:49 | |
| and the last question he was asked by Carl Stern was, | 40:54 | |
| is there anything Dr. Heschel, that you would like to say | 40:57 | |
| in closing to those who may be listening? | 41:00 | |
| Dr. Heschel replied, "Yes. | 41:03 | |
| "Look at your life as a work of art. | 41:06 | |
| "Look at your life," he said, "as a work of art | 41:10 | |
| "and work on it slowly, surely, steadily, | 41:13 | |
| "patiently, faithfully, all the days of your life." | 41:19 | |
| Your life is a work of art. | 41:27 | |
| Someone has written, | 41:31 | |
| "If redemption has happened the world is already saved." | 41:34 | |
| What is the message? | 41:46 | |
| Jesus came preaching. | 41:48 | |
| The time is fulfilled. | 41:51 | |
| Repent and believe in the good news of the kingdom of God. | 41:55 | |
| Redemption has already happened. | 42:02 | |
| Let each of us, in the name of God, claim that redemption. | 42:07 | |
| Thanks be to thee, oh God, | 42:18 | |
| for thou hast already found us. | 42:27 | |
| May we know this deep within our very souls | 42:34 | |
| for now and for eternity. | 42:37 | |
| May we, by thy grace, be enabled to change and believe, | 42:42 | |
| truly believe, | 42:47 | |
| so that the good news of thy ever present love | 42:51 | |
| may be known in us and through us to others. | 42:56 | |
| Through thy son, our savior, even Jesus the Christ we pray. | 43:04 | |
| Amen. | 43:11 | |
| (organ music) | 43:16 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 44:33 | |
| (organ music) | 47:28 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 49:02 | |
| (organ music) | 52:42 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 53:01 | |
| - | Receive, oh Lord, the gifts of our hands. | 54:04 |
| Receive, oh Lord, the commitment of our hearts and minds | 54:08 | |
| to your purposes and your will. | 54:12 | |
| Receive, oh Lord, the rededication of our lives | 54:17 | |
| in service, in fellowship, in peace. | 54:21 | |
| In Jesus name. Amen. | 54:27 | |
| (organ music) | 54:32 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 55:06 | |
| - | The Lord bless you and keep you. | 57:02 |
| The Lord make his face to shine upon you | 57:05 | |
| and be gracious to you. | 57:08 | |
| The Lord lift up his countenance upon you | 57:10 | |
| and give you peace. | 57:13 | |
| Amen | 57:15 | |
| (choir singing indistinctly) | 57:18 | |
| (inspirational organ music) | 58:34 | |
| (crowd noise) | ||
| (congregation applauding) | 1:01:45 |
