Robert T. Young - "Journey Inward, Journey Outward" (May 2, 1976)
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| - | Let us join in our corporate responsive prayer | 11:33 |
| of confession. | 11:36 | |
| Have mercy upon us, O God, | 11:40 | |
| according to thy loving kindness, | 11:43 | |
| according unto the multitude of that tender mercies. | 11:45 | |
| Black out our transgressions. | 11:49 | |
| (audience collectively replying) | 11:52 | |
| For we acknowledge our transgressions | 12:00 | |
| and our sin is ever before us. | 12:02 | |
| (audience collectively replying) | 12:07 | |
| Purge us with his and we shall be clean. | 12:23 | |
| Wash us and we shall be whiter than snow. | 12:27 | |
| (audience collectively replying) | 12:31 | |
| Restore unto us the joy of thy salvation | 12:39 | |
| and uphold us with thy free spirit. | 12:42 | |
| (audience collectively replying) | 12:48 | |
| For thou desires its not sacrifice. | 12:55 | |
| Else, we give it. | 12:59 | |
| Thou delight is not in burnt offering. | 13:02 | |
| (audience collectively replying) | 13:06 | |
| Hear our confessions for Christ sake. | 13:17 | |
| O God of justice and mercy. | 13:42 | |
| Grant us the assurance of your forgiveness and pardon. | 13:47 | |
| So that we will not be paralyzed by our sin and guilt. | 13:52 | |
| But may be restored to a loving relationship, | 13:57 | |
| to you, our family, our neighbors and our world. | 14:02 | |
| We pray in the spirit of Jesus, | 14:10 | |
| the forgiving and loving Christ. | 14:13 | |
| Amen. | 14:17 | |
| (church music) | 14:23 | |
| (church music continues) | 15:09 | |
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| (church music ends) | 20:48 | |
| - | Let us hear the word of God, | 21:05 |
| as it is contained first | 21:07 | |
| in the scriptures of the Old Testament. | 21:08 | |
| In the book of the Psalms, | 21:12 | |
| selected verses from the 139 Psalm, | 21:15 | |
| O Lord thou has searched me and known me. | 21:23 | |
| Now know'st when I sit down and when I rise up. | 21:28 | |
| Thou dicern'st my thoughts from afar. | 21:33 | |
| Now searches out my path and my lying down | 21:37 | |
| and art acquainted with all my ways. | 21:42 | |
| Even before a word is on my tongue, | 21:46 | |
| lo, O Lord, thou know'st it altogether. | 21:52 | |
| Thou has beset me behind and before, | 21:59 | |
| and lay'st thine hand upon me, | 22:02 | |
| Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. | 22:06 | |
| It is high. | 22:12 | |
| I can entertain it. | 22:14 | |
| Whither shall I go from thy spirit? | 22:17 | |
| Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? | 22:22 | |
| If I ascend to heaven, thou art there. | 22:26 | |
| If I make my bed in hell, thou art there. | 22:33 | |
| If I take the wings of the morning | 22:39 | |
| and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; | 22:42 | |
| Even there, thy hand shall lead me, | 22:46 | |
| and thy right hand shall hold me. | 22:50 | |
| If I say, let only darkness cover me | 22:56 | |
| and the light about me be night. | 23:00 | |
| Even the darkness is not dark to thee, | 23:05 | |
| The night is as bright as the day, | 23:10 | |
| for darkness is as light with thee. | 23:15 | |
| Search me, O God, and know my heart. | 23:21 | |
| Try me and know my thoughts | 23:25 | |
| and see if there'd be any wicked way in me | 23:29 | |
| and lead me in the way everlasting. | 23:34 | |
| Here end'th the Old Testament lesson. | 23:41 | |
| The New Testament lesson is from the Gospel, | 23:46 | |
| according to St. Matthew, | 23:49 | |
| the 17th chapter verses 1 to 18. | 23:52 | |
| After six days, Jesus took with him, | 24:00 | |
| Peter, James and John his brother, | 24:03 | |
| and led them up a high mountain apart. | 24:09 | |
| And he was transfigured before them | 24:13 | |
| and his face shone like the sun | 24:16 | |
| and his garments became quite as light. | 24:20 | |
| And behold that appeared to them, | 24:27 | |
| Moses and Elijah talking with them. | 24:29 | |
| And Peter said to Jesus, | 24:34 | |
| "Lord, it is well that we are here. | 24:36 | |
| If you wish I will make three booths here, | 24:40 | |
| one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." | 24:45 | |
| he was still speaking | 24:52 | |
| when low a bright cloud overshadowed them | 24:53 | |
| and a voice from the cloud said, | 24:57 | |
| "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. | 25:00 | |
| Listen to him." | 25:08 | |
| When the disciples heard this, | 25:11 | |
| they fell on their faces and were filled with awe. | 25:13 | |
| But Jesus came and touched them saying, | 25:17 | |
| "Rise and have no fear". | 25:20 | |
| And when they lifted up their eyes, | 25:23 | |
| they saw no one, but Jesus only. | 25:27 | |
| And as they were coming down the mountain, | 25:31 | |
| Jesus commanded them. | 25:34 | |
| "Tell no one, the vision until the Son of Man | 25:35 | |
| is raised from the dead. | 25:41 | |
| And the disciples asked him, | 25:45 | |
| "Then why do the scribe say that first Elijah must come". | 25:47 | |
| He replied, "Elijah does come. | 25:56 | |
| And he has to restore all things. | 26:00 | |
| I tell you that Elijah has already come | 26:03 | |
| and they did not know him, | 26:07 | |
| but did to him, whatever they pleased. | 26:11 | |
| So also the Son of Man will suffer at their hands". | 26:16 | |
| Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them, | 26:23 | |
| of John the Baptist. | 26:27 | |
| And when they came to the crowd, | 26:31 | |
| a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, | 26:32 | |
| "Lord have mercy on my son, but he is an epileptic. | 26:36 | |
| And he suffers terribly. | 26:42 | |
| For often, he falls into the fire and often into the water. | 26:46 | |
| And I brought him to your disciples. | 26:51 | |
| And they could not heal him. | 26:54 | |
| And Jesus answered, "O, faithless and perverse general. | 26:59 | |
| How long am I to be with you? | 27:05 | |
| How long am I to bear with you? | 27:09 | |
| Bring him here to me". | 27:13 | |
| And Jesus rebuked him. | 27:17 | |
| And the demon came out of him | 27:19 | |
| and the boy was cured instantly. | 27:23 | |
| Amen. | 27:30 | |
| (church music) | 27:34 | |
| (church music continues) | 28:00 | |
| (church music ends) | 28:15 | |
| Let us in unison, affirm our faith. | 28:19 | |
| We are not alone. | 28:24 | |
| We live in God's world. | 28:26 | |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 28:29 | |
| who has come in the truly groom in Jesus. | 28:35 | |
| To reconcile and make new. | 28:38 | |
| Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 28:42 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 28:46 | |
| to set celebrate life and its fullness, | 28:51 | |
| to love and serve others, | 28:54 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 28:57 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 29:00 | |
| our judge and our hope, | 29:05 | |
| in life in death, in life beyond death, | 29:08 | |
| God is with us. | 29:13 | |
| We are not alone. | 29:15 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 29:18 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 29:21 | |
| Let us pray. | 29:26 | |
| Let our first be one of Thanksgiving. | 29:35 | |
| Blessed and eternal God from whom we come, | 29:39 | |
| by whom we are sustained and to whom we shall return. | 29:44 | |
| We thank thee for the good things bequeathed to us, | 29:50 | |
| by the journeying generations. | 29:55 | |
| Others labored, | 29:59 | |
| and we have end turned into the profits of their labor | 30:01 | |
| Churches, we did not build | 30:05 | |
| are centers for our worship and inspiration. | 30:08 | |
| Liberties, we did not earn are our birthright. | 30:14 | |
| Truths, we did not discover | 30:20 | |
| are a lamp to our feet and a light upon our path. | 30:22 | |
| As we have freely received, so may we freely serve. | 30:29 | |
| Make us wise in the arts of stewardship. | 30:36 | |
| Grant that we may so live and work | 30:40 | |
| that those who come after us shall rejoice, | 30:43 | |
| that we pass this way. | 30:49 | |
| But our second prayer be one of intercession for others. | 30:53 | |
| We bring before thee, O God, | 31:00 | |
| the troubles and perils of peoples and nations. | 31:02 | |
| The sign of prisoners and captives and refugees. | 31:06 | |
| The sorrows of the bereaved, | 31:15 | |
| the necessities of strangers, | 31:17 | |
| the helplessness of the weak, | 31:20 | |
| the despondency of the weary. | 31:22 | |
| The failing powers of the aged. | 31:26 | |
| O God, even through folks like us. | 31:31 | |
| Draw near to them for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 31:37 | |
| And third, let us offer a prayer of supplication | 31:45 | |
| that we may have a sense of joy. | 31:48 | |
| Grant to us O Lord, the royalty of inward happiness | 31:53 | |
| and the serenity which comes from living close thee. | 31:59 | |
| Daily renew us in the sense of joy | 32:06 | |
| and let thy eternal spirit dwell in our souls and bodies, | 32:09 | |
| filling us with light and grace. | 32:15 | |
| So that bearing about with us | 32:20 | |
| the infection of a good courage. | 32:22 | |
| We may be diffusers of life | 32:26 | |
| and may meet all ills and cross accidents | 32:28 | |
| with a gallon and high hearted happiness. | 32:34 | |
| Giving thee thanks always for all things. | 32:38 | |
| And now as our savior Christ has taught us. | 32:44 | |
| We humbly pray together saying, | 32:48 | |
| our father, who aren't in heaven, | 32:51 | |
| hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. | 32:55 | |
| Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 32:59 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 33:04 | |
| and forgive us our trespass | 33:07 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 33:09 | |
| And lead us, not into temptation, | 33:13 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 33:16 | |
| While thine is the king and the power and the glory forever. | 33:20 | |
| Amen. | 33:25 | |
| The Lord's supper will be celebrated | 33:30 | |
| at the close of this service | 33:32 | |
| and everyone present is invited. | 33:35 | |
| Do not come because you must, | 33:39 | |
| come because you may. | 33:43 | |
| And the preacher this morning | 33:48 | |
| is our own Robert Young, the Minister to the University. | 33:50 | |
| - | Some of you in the midst of reading and writing this week | 34:09 |
| may have missed yesterday's Funky winkerbean cartoon. | 34:13 | |
| Funky is sitting, studying, he says, | 34:21 | |
| "You know, when you think about it, | 34:23 | |
| there are are a lot of questions in life | 34:27 | |
| that I really don't know the answer to. | 34:31 | |
| And the last picture says, | 34:36 | |
| it's just too bad that so many of them happen | 34:37 | |
| to turn up on this test. | 34:39 | |
| (audience laughs) | 34:42 | |
| Well, if it's been that kind of week for you, | 34:45 | |
| blessings on you this morning. | 34:47 | |
| If some of the days during the coming week | 34:51 | |
| promised to be that kind of experience for you, | 34:54 | |
| blessings on you, even more. | 34:57 | |
| In the name of God who creates us, | 35:03 | |
| redeems us and sustains us. | 35:05 | |
| Amen. | 35:10 | |
| When it comes to our Christian faith, | 35:13 | |
| that is how we believe it, | 35:15 | |
| how we live it, | 35:17 | |
| how we act it out. | 35:18 | |
| We often move in either one of two | 35:20 | |
| often diametrically opposed directions. | 35:24 | |
| Either we become quote spiritual. | 35:28 | |
| That is, we become preoccupied with prayer | 35:31 | |
| and Bible reading and meditation | 35:33 | |
| to the neglect of the social. | 35:36 | |
| Or else we become activist or political or issue oriented | 35:38 | |
| to the exclusion of the biblical and the spiritual. | 35:43 | |
| One of these, stresses the inward journey | 35:47 | |
| of the spiritual life. | 35:50 | |
| The other stresses, | 35:52 | |
| the outward journey of caring for others. | 35:53 | |
| But our call is to pursue them both, | 35:56 | |
| neither to the exclusion of the other, | 35:58 | |
| but both of them simultaneously. | 36:01 | |
| For there is always something more, | 36:03 | |
| something new, something different | 36:06 | |
| that you can discover about yourself | 36:08 | |
| on an endless journey inward. | 36:11 | |
| There is always also someone who needs you reach them, | 36:14 | |
| touch them, heal them, help them, | 36:19 | |
| on the journey outward. | 36:23 | |
| Jesus life put these two together in a rich way | 36:26 | |
| worthy of our study and worthy of our following. | 36:31 | |
| The journey inward toward the self, | 36:36 | |
| the journey outward toward others. | 36:39 | |
| Each endless each limitless, each boundless, | 36:43 | |
| each full of surprises, | 36:48 | |
| each full of risk and danger and full of the unknown. | 36:50 | |
| Each full of potential fulfillment | 36:55 | |
| and even moments of ecstasy. | 36:57 | |
| Henry Allen writes in out of solitude, | 37:01 | |
| 'Expectation itself is what brings new joy to our lives. | 37:03 | |
| Expectation that is both on the inward journey | 37:10 | |
| and the outward journey brings joy to our lives.' | 37:13 | |
| We can see these journeys though as dull or monotonous, | 37:18 | |
| ordinary, routine, blize, pohum or humdrum. | 37:23 | |
| Or we can see them as if there are moments of | 37:28 | |
| potential, goodness, ready to explode | 37:32 | |
| around us, behind us, beside us or within us | 37:34 | |
| at any moment of time. | 37:38 | |
| But listen, if you will, | 37:40 | |
| to this rather severe indictment of contemporary living. | 37:42 | |
| The Chicago Suburban Junior Executive said | 37:47 | |
| of his and his wife's relationships with others | 37:50 | |
| in their neighborhood. | 37:53 | |
| He said, "Our relationships never were very exciting, | 37:55 | |
| but after all, | 37:59 | |
| no one expected them to be more than just ordinary". | 38:00 | |
| Well, my friends, if you don't expect life to be | 38:07 | |
| anything more than just ordinary, | 38:09 | |
| then that's precisely what it will be. | 38:11 | |
| As we come to the close of this academic year, | 38:15 | |
| 1975-76 in the life of our university, | 38:19 | |
| I want to reaffirm the central importance | 38:23 | |
| of the journey inward and the journey outward | 38:25 | |
| for you and for me. | 38:28 | |
| And these journeys need not be just ordinary, | 38:30 | |
| after all Jesus referred to early disciples, how? | 38:33 | |
| As Lemon, as salt, as new wine, | 38:37 | |
| as light, as a candle on a bushel. | 38:41 | |
| There is to be air of excitement and exuberance | 38:46 | |
| and enthusiasm and contagious joy | 38:49 | |
| in the life of a Christian man or woman | 38:52 | |
| that makes life much more than just ordinary. | 38:55 | |
| The inward journey then for a moment or two, | 39:01 | |
| a pilgrimage toward understanding one's cell. | 39:04 | |
| Meister Eckhart wrote centuries ago, | 39:08 | |
| 'To get at the core of God at his greatest, | 39:10 | |
| one must get an to the core of himself at his least, | 39:14 | |
| or no one can know God who has not first known himself, | 39:19 | |
| go to the depths of the soul, | 39:23 | |
| the secret place of the most high | 39:26 | |
| to the roots to the heights, | 39:29 | |
| for all that God can do is focus there'. | 39:31 | |
| Meaning of self, of life, of God, of others, | 39:36 | |
| all that God can do is focus right there | 39:40 | |
| in the depths of your soul. | 39:43 | |
| In the innermost parts of your being and my being. | 39:46 | |
| But we need time and space for this inward journey. | 39:50 | |
| And that unfortunately is part of our problem for today. | 39:55 | |
| For we do not allow or make time and space | 40:00 | |
| for a journey inward. | 40:05 | |
| For life is too busy, too full, too hectic, | 40:06 | |
| too frantic, too active, too noisy, too demanding, | 40:10 | |
| too much in motion for us to have time and space | 40:12 | |
| for this inward journey, | 40:16 | |
| which is so rich and full of potential. | 40:18 | |
| Robert Rains in his little book entitled, Creative Brooding. | 40:21 | |
| Says that, 'One of the problems for us in our society today | 40:24 | |
| is that there is nowhere to go to brood | 40:27 | |
| or to think creatively. | 40:31 | |
| Everywhere you go, he says, | 40:33 | |
| and you can listen to this and imagine what he's describing. | 40:35 | |
| He says, "Everywhere you go, there is noise. | 40:38 | |
| You go to the supermarket, | 40:41 | |
| you ride the elevator, you sit in the dentist chair, | 40:42 | |
| you ride a taxi or you walk the streets. | 40:44 | |
| There is music, noise. | 40:47 | |
| There is no silence. | 40:48 | |
| There is no time or space for the inward journey. | 40:51 | |
| And we need time and space. | 40:54 | |
| Quiet and free to time for brooding and meditating, | 40:57 | |
| for reflecting, for praying, for growing. | 41:01 | |
| Each of us needs a rest, a break, | 41:04 | |
| a change of pace, some time apart, a quiet time. | 41:07 | |
| A time to think and reason and grow and change. | 41:14 | |
| A time to grow and a time to change.' | 41:19 | |
| That's what this inward journey really is. | 41:25 | |
| I used to think that the inward spiritual journey | 41:28 | |
| upon which I was traveling and which others | 41:32 | |
| also were traveling, | 41:36 | |
| was a journey that would end. | 41:38 | |
| As I was growing up, somehow or other, | 41:43 | |
| I received the message that, | 41:46 | |
| you would really get to the point | 41:48 | |
| where the Christian faith was clear and understandable, | 41:51 | |
| where you would have all of the answers | 41:56 | |
| and everything you needed to know about the faith | 41:59 | |
| would be known. | 42:01 | |
| I heard and even remember today, such phrases, | 42:05 | |
| if you only believe or get your heart right with God | 42:08 | |
| or commit your life to Christ | 42:12 | |
| or recommit your life to Christ. | 42:14 | |
| I'm not sure as I try to recall this exactly | 42:17 | |
| what the words were that were used | 42:20 | |
| as these messages were communicated, | 42:22 | |
| but I understood others to be telling me | 42:24 | |
| that there would come a point in my life, | 42:27 | |
| if I believed enough and if I were faithful enough, | 42:29 | |
| when my spirit would grow calm, | 42:32 | |
| and I would not worry or struggle or search | 42:34 | |
| about matters of faith any longer. | 42:36 | |
| I would have arrived. | 42:39 | |
| I thought that once, I no longer believe that. | 42:43 | |
| I believe that the life of the spirit | 42:49 | |
| involves us in an endless journey, | 42:51 | |
| a pilgrimage, a journey inward, if you please. | 42:53 | |
| And that we will never, never have all of the answers | 42:56 | |
| nor will matters of faith ever be settled | 42:59 | |
| fully and finally for us. | 43:01 | |
| Now, I always knew that there would be | 43:06 | |
| an endless journey for the mind. | 43:08 | |
| Maybe it's because I understood how limited my mind was, | 43:10 | |
| but I always knew that there would be | 43:13 | |
| an endless journey for the mind, | 43:16 | |
| that one could never know all that there was to be known. | 43:18 | |
| Now, while on earth, | 43:22 | |
| I ever believe that one would ever be able to understand | 43:24 | |
| all that there is to believe. | 43:27 | |
| I really don't know, but I did. | 43:29 | |
| I now know, that the mysteries of God and Christ | 43:34 | |
| and life and faith will never be comprehended | 43:38 | |
| fully this side of eternity. | 43:43 | |
| Surely Paul was right when he said, | 43:45 | |
| "Now we do see through a glass darkly". | 43:46 | |
| We do not understand all or believe all or know all. | 43:52 | |
| The life of the mind and the spirit | 43:59 | |
| is one of continuous search and struggle. | 44:01 | |
| And that used to bother me, | 44:03 | |
| because I still had this childhood or teenage hangover | 44:05 | |
| that said, you know, | 44:09 | |
| there must be something wrong with you | 44:11 | |
| if you're still doubting and still questioning, | 44:12 | |
| until I heard Dr. Bryant Kirkland, | 44:15 | |
| who's Minister of Fifth Avenue Church in New York city. | 44:18 | |
| Gave a series of lectures one time, | 44:22 | |
| at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. | 44:24 | |
| And I heard those lectures five or six of them there were | 44:27 | |
| during the course of a week when I was there. | 44:30 | |
| And then about three years later, | 44:32 | |
| I heard Dr. Kirkland again. | 44:34 | |
| And they sounded to me very much like the same lectures | 44:36 | |
| and yet they weren't the same. | 44:40 | |
| And so I went up to Bryant after the service, | 44:41 | |
| after the hearing the lectures for the second time. | 44:43 | |
| And I said, Bryant, you know, | 44:47 | |
| those lectures sound very, very familiar. | 44:49 | |
| They sound almost as if they were the same lectures | 44:51 | |
| I heard you give three years ago. | 44:54 | |
| And yet in substance, they are quite different | 44:55 | |
| at very, very important points. I said, they sound the same | 44:58 | |
| and yet they don't sound the same. | 45:01 | |
| He said, "They're not the same | 45:03 | |
| because my faith is not the same. | 45:04 | |
| For you see, I have had a daughter who has gotten married. | 45:07 | |
| I have stood beside of beds of those in our church | 45:12 | |
| who have died. | 45:16 | |
| I have baptized babies. | 45:17 | |
| I have conducted weddings for young couples. | 45:19 | |
| I have worked through the hell of divorce | 45:22 | |
| with many other couples. | 45:25 | |
| In other words, | 45:28 | |
| life has been a series of changing experiences for me. | 45:29 | |
| And so has my faith. | 45:31 | |
| They're not the same". | 45:33 | |
| And so, faith is a constantly moving, | 45:35 | |
| changing, growing, searching, struggling experience. | 45:40 | |
| Somewhat like, the late Dr. Samuel H. Miller, | 45:44 | |
| former Dean of Harvard School of Divinity says | 45:46 | |
| in one of his books, "Believing means that one must stand | 45:50 | |
| at the edge of uncertainty. | 45:53 | |
| One must stand at the edge of uncertainty | 45:56 | |
| where the dark dims the sureness of sight, | 45:59 | |
| and one must find a solid stone for as forward step". | 46:03 | |
| It means that one must do more than add things together | 46:08 | |
| in some sort of precarious pile, | 46:11 | |
| but one must find a way | 46:14 | |
| to fit the experiences of life together. | 46:16 | |
| And so, we keep searching for that solid stone, | 46:20 | |
| wanting to do more than add things in life | 46:25 | |
| together in a precarious pile. | 46:28 | |
| Wanting to find a way somehow or other to fit them together. | 46:31 | |
| Journey inward, journey outward. | 46:36 | |
| We see this epitomized magnificently in the life | 46:40 | |
| ad ministry of Jesus, our Lord. | 46:45 | |
| Jesus life was one where prayer and meditation, | 46:48 | |
| where the inward journey | 46:51 | |
| was a very important, a major part of his life. | 46:52 | |
| Often Jesus withdrew from his disciples, | 46:57 | |
| from the hustle and bustle in which he was engaged. | 47:00 | |
| He withdrew for prayer and meditation. | 47:01 | |
| There times the scriptures tell us | 47:04 | |
| when Jesus prayed all night. | 47:07 | |
| He often prayed, perhaps always prayed | 47:09 | |
| before important decisions and before difficult experiences. | 47:12 | |
| That's only a half the story. | 47:15 | |
| Charles Wesley in one of his prayers | 47:19 | |
| once remarked about Jesus. | 47:20 | |
| He said, "All I life Christ was prayer and love". | 47:22 | |
| That's a pretty accurate description | 47:27 | |
| of the life of our Lord, isn't it? | 47:30 | |
| A life of prayer and love. | 47:32 | |
| A journey inward and a journey outward. | 47:35 | |
| There is a constant important and essential connection | 47:40 | |
| between these two, the inward in the outward. | 47:47 | |
| Or if one gets preoccupied with just the inward | 47:50 | |
| or personal or spiritual journey, | 47:53 | |
| one tends to develop spiritual neurosis. | 47:55 | |
| But if one is always on the outward journey toward others, | 48:00 | |
| one tends to find one self in the world with nothing to say | 48:03 | |
| and no help to offer. | 48:07 | |
| That's why we need to maintain | 48:09 | |
| a healthy relationship between the two. | 48:10 | |
| Between the inward and the outward. | 48:13 | |
| Between the contemplative and the active. | 48:16 | |
| Between the meditative and the assertive. | 48:19 | |
| Between the silent and the spoken. | 48:21 | |
| Between the thinking and the doing. | 48:22 | |
| Between the feeling and the active. | 48:25 | |
| Nowhere that I know of, | 48:29 | |
| is this healthy, important, essential balance, | 48:30 | |
| seen more powerfully and more poignantly. | 48:34 | |
| Then in the Matthew passage, | 48:39 | |
| which Dean Clengan read | 48:39 | |
| as our Gospel lesson for this morning. | 48:41 | |
| Chapter 17, versus 1 through 18, | 48:44 | |
| the story of Jesus on the Mount of transfiguration. | 48:48 | |
| As was often Jesus custom, according to the gospels, | 48:55 | |
| he took his three favorite disciples, | 48:59 | |
| Peter, James and John. | 49:02 | |
| And he went up on the mountain, | 49:03 | |
| both figuratively and literally, | 49:06 | |
| symbolically and practically | 49:08 | |
| went apart on an inward-upward journey. | 49:10 | |
| This surely has to be | 49:15 | |
| one of the most dramatic encounters with God | 49:19 | |
| that any human beings have ever had, | 49:22 | |
| probably likened only to Moses experience on Mount Sinai, | 49:25 | |
| when the 10 commandments were delivered to him. | 49:30 | |
| Momentous, powerful, awesome. | 49:34 | |
| When the numinous presence of almighty God | 49:35 | |
| was visible and powerfully real | 49:39 | |
| and quite present to all who were there. | 49:42 | |
| This was such a magnificent and majestic spiritual moment. | 49:49 | |
| That according to Matthew's Gospel, | 49:55 | |
| Jesus became transfigured, | 49:58 | |
| his face shown as the son | 50:02 | |
| and his clothing was as white as the light. | 50:04 | |
| And then on top of that, | 50:11 | |
| the whole, immediately Moses and Elijah appeared with him. | 50:12 | |
| All of the history and the tradition of Jesus | 50:18 | |
| were symbolically represented here in Moses, the law. | 50:20 | |
| And in Elijah, representing the prophets. | 50:26 | |
| What a magnificent, powerful, rich, full, incomparable | 50:31 | |
| religious experience for a human being, | 50:36 | |
| even a divine human being to experience. | 50:39 | |
| And Dear old Peter, blustering impetuous Peter, | 50:44 | |
| one who always had good intentions, | 50:48 | |
| but often said some of the most inappropriate things, | 50:50 | |
| came up to Jesus and he said, | 50:55 | |
| "Jesus, this has been such a glorious experience. | 50:57 | |
| Let's just stay here forever. | 50:59 | |
| Let's build three Tabernacles. | 51:01 | |
| Let's build three monuments here | 51:03 | |
| and let's stay here and let's worship God, | 51:05 | |
| your father, our father, our Lord. | 51:06 | |
| Let's worship God here forever". | 51:08 | |
| Peter really didn't know what he was saying, | 51:12 | |
| but Jesus would have none of this. | 51:16 | |
| And so, the next few verses tell the rest of the story, | 51:17 | |
| the outward journey. | 51:22 | |
| And Matthew says, as they were coming down the mountain, | 51:23 | |
| when they came to a crowd, a man came up to him and said, | 51:26 | |
| "Lord, have mercy on me for my son is an epileptic". | 51:29 | |
| And then Matthew says, and Jesus answered him. | 51:34 | |
| And the boy was cured instantly. | 51:36 | |
| This my beloved sisters and brothers in Christ | 51:44 | |
| is the full journey. | 51:51 | |
| The journey inward to the mountain, surely. | 51:55 | |
| The journey outward to others, certainly. | 51:59 | |
| It's an endless circle, | 52:05 | |
| inward to outward, outward to inward. | 52:08 | |
| In reality, the two journeys are one. | 52:11 | |
| One absorbed in the other, | 52:16 | |
| one superimposed on the other. | 52:18 | |
| Martin Buber in his incomparable little writing, | 52:22 | |
| 'I and Thou' writes, | 52:27 | |
| real self-knowledge leads a person | 52:30 | |
| either to self destruction or to rebirth. | 52:34 | |
| This is the inward journey, | 52:42 | |
| towards self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-assurance, | 52:44 | |
| which means rebirth, which means continuous new life | 52:48 | |
| for oneself and for others. | 52:53 | |
| Ellie Wizzel in his book Knight writes. | 52:56 | |
| We do not know the worth | 53:02 | |
| of one single drop of blood, one single tear. | 53:05 | |
| Inward-outward. | 53:12 | |
| Colin Morris says, "That today Christians | 53:16 | |
| are being called upon to feel more deeply | 53:19 | |
| and to absorb more punishment". | 53:26 | |
| Inward-outward. | 53:30 | |
| Langston Hughes, several decades ago wrote, | 53:34 | |
| what happens to a dream deferred? | 53:39 | |
| Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? | 53:41 | |
| Or fester like a sore and then run? | 53:45 | |
| Does it stink like rotten meat or crust | 53:49 | |
| or sugar over, like syrupy sweet? | 53:52 | |
| Maybe, it just sags like a heavy load | 53:56 | |
| or does that dream explode? | 53:59 | |
| Inward-outward. | 54:05 | |
| Dag Hammarskjold in his book Markings says, | 54:11 | |
| "Life demands from you only the strength which you possess. | 54:17 | |
| The only thing demanded of you is that you not run away". | 54:25 | |
| My friends, the only thing that anyone can ask of you or me, | 54:34 | |
| whether it's God, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, | 54:39 | |
| husband to be, wife to be, classmate, roommate, suite mate, | 54:42 | |
| teacher, mother, father, sister, brother, whomever it is. | 54:47 | |
| The only thing that anyone can ask of you or me | 54:51 | |
| is simply the strength that you possess. | 54:54 | |
| The only thing ask of us in life is that we not run away. | 54:56 | |
| Run inward, run outward, but don't run away. | 55:01 | |
| Journey inward, journey outward. | 55:07 | |
| Yes, but don't run away. | 55:11 | |
| Jesus led them up to a high mountain apart, | 55:15 | |
| then as they were coming down the mountain, | 55:18 | |
| a man came up to him whose son was a leper, | 55:21 | |
| journey inward my friend, and be with the Lord. | 55:25 | |
| Journey outward, my friend and the Lord be with you. | 55:30 | |
| But blessed journey, blessed Journey to you. | 55:35 | |
| From now to the end. | 55:40 | |
| Amen, amen. | 55:45 | |
| (church music) | 55:50 | |
| (church music continues) | 56:39 | |
| (church music continues) | 57:29 | |
| (church music continues) | 58:19 | |
| (church music continues) | 59:09 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:00:01 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:00:49 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:01:39 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:02:28 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:03:19 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:04:09 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:04:59 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:05:50 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:06:08 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:06:59 | |
| (church music ends) | 1:07:52 | |
| - | O Lord, from whom we receive all | 1:07:58 |
| and upon whom we are ever dependent. | 1:08:03 | |
| Accept this offering of ourselves to you. | 1:08:07 | |
| For the service of all persons. | 1:08:13 | |
| Use we pray our being and our doing, | 1:08:17 | |
| our gifts and our lives and all of our journeying | 1:08:23 | |
| for your glory and the wellbeing of ourselves | 1:08:31 | |
| and all of your creation. | 1:08:35 | |
| We pray in the spirit of Christ. | 1:08:38 | |
| Amen. | 1:08:41 | |
| (church music) | 1:08:46 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:09:40 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:10:30 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:11:18 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:12:09 | |
| (church music ends) | 1:12:51 | |
| The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God | 1:13:20 | |
| and the communion and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. | 1:13:28 | |
| Be with us now and forever. | 1:13:33 | |
| (church music) | 1:13:37 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:14:29 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:15:18 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:16:09 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:16:59 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:17:49 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:18:41 | |
| (church music continues) | 1:19:30 | |
| (church music ends) | 1:20:18 |
