William D. Davies - "The Bible Today" (October 24, 1976)
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| (fast paced organ music) | 5:59 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 9:33 | |
| (light music) | 10:22 | |
| (choir continues vocalizing) | ||
| (light organ music) | 10:50 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 11:39 | |
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| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 12:27 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 13:11 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 13:54 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 14:28 | |
| - | In preparation for our confession, | 15:34 |
| we ask for the grace to see ourselves in the light | 15:37 | |
| of God's holiness and God's intention for us, | 15:42 | |
| so that we may be cleansed of pride, | 15:49 | |
| which obscures the truth of who we are. | 15:53 | |
| Humans and the need of forgiveness, | 15:59 | |
| we know that from God no secrets are hidden, | 16:04 | |
| so let us now make our corporate confession. Let us pray. | 16:10 | |
| All | Oh holy and merciful God, | 16:19 |
| we confess that we have not always taken | 16:21 | |
| and lead ourselves with joy, the yolk of obedience, | 16:25 | |
| nor been willing to seek and do your perfect will. | 16:31 | |
| We have not loved you with all our heart | 16:35 | |
| and mind and soul and strength. | 16:39 | |
| Neither have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 16:43 | |
| You have called us to respond to the need | 16:48 | |
| of our brothers and sisters, | 16:52 | |
| and we have passed, unheeding, on our way. | 16:55 | |
| In the pride of our hearts and our unwillingness to repent, | 16:59 | |
| we have turned away from the cross of Christ | 17:05 | |
| and have grieved your Holy Spirit. | 17:09 | |
| Forgive us, we pray, amen. | 17:12 | |
| And now, oh Lord, | 17:17 | |
| hear us as we make our personal confession to you. | 17:18 | |
| Amen. | 17:41 | |
| One fact remains unchanging. | 17:43 | |
| God loves us as we are, | 17:48 | |
| and always will love us. | 17:51 | |
| And this love is a forgiving love | 17:54 | |
| which frees us from being chained to our guilt of the past. | 17:57 | |
| So let us give thanks and rejoice that | 18:05 | |
| we can move into the future | 18:08 | |
| as people who are forgiven, loved eternally, | 18:11 | |
| and ever becoming more loving Christians. Amen and amen. | 18:16 | |
| (light organ music) | 18:31 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 19:13 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 19:47 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 19:58 | |
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| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 21:03 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 22:20 | |
| (light organ music) | 22:34 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 22:45 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 23:38 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 23:43 | |
| ♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪ | 23:49 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 23:54 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 23:57 | |
| (holds note) | ||
| - | The scripture readings for this morning are | 24:21 |
| from Psalm eight and Matthew six, 24 through 34. | 24:25 | |
| Oh Lord, our Lord, | 24:36 | |
| how majestic is thy name in all the Earth? | 24:39 | |
| Thou who's glory above the Heavens is chanted | 24:44 | |
| by the mouths of babes and infants. | 24:49 | |
| Thou has founded a bullwork because of thy foes, | 24:53 | |
| to still the enemy and the avenger. | 24:58 | |
| When I look at thy Heavens, the work of thy fingers, | 25:03 | |
| the moon and the stars which thou hast established, | 25:09 | |
| what is man that thou art mindful of him? | 25:15 | |
| And the son of man, that thou doth care for him? | 25:18 | |
| Yet thou hast made him little less than God, | 25:25 | |
| and dost crown him with glory and honor. | 25:29 | |
| Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands. | 25:34 | |
| Thou hast put all things under his feet. | 25:39 | |
| All sheep and oxen, and also the beast of the field, | 25:43 | |
| the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, | 25:47 | |
| whatever passes along the paths of the sea. | 25:51 | |
| Oh Lord, our Lord, | 25:56 | |
| how majestic is thy name in all the Earth? | 26:00 | |
| Will the congression please rise for | 26:06 | |
| the reading of the gospel? | 26:09 | |
| No one can serve two masters. | 26:20 | |
| For either he will hate the one and love the other, | 26:23 | |
| or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. | 26:27 | |
| You cannot serve both God and mammon. | 26:32 | |
| Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. | 26:38 | |
| What you shall eat or what you shall drink, | 26:43 | |
| nor about your body, what you shall put on. | 26:47 | |
| Is not life more than food? | 26:52 | |
| And the body more than clothing? | 26:55 | |
| Look at the birds of the air. | 26:59 | |
| They neither sow nor reap, | 27:02 | |
| nor gather into barns, | 27:05 | |
| and yet your Heavenly father feeds them. | 27:07 | |
| Are you not of more value than they? | 27:12 | |
| And which of you, by being anxious, | 27:16 | |
| can add one cubage to his span of life? | 27:19 | |
| And why are you anxious about clothing? | 27:24 | |
| Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. | 27:28 | |
| They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, | 27:33 | |
| even Solomon in all his glory | 27:38 | |
| was not arrayed like one of these. | 27:42 | |
| But if God so clothes the grass of the field, | 27:46 | |
| which today is alive, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, | 27:50 | |
| will he not much more cloth you, oh men of little faith? | 27:56 | |
| Therefore do not be anxious, saying, | 28:01 | |
| "What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? | 28:05 | |
| "Or what shall we wear?". | 28:09 | |
| For the gentiles seek all of these things, | 28:12 | |
| and your Heavenly father knows that you need them all. | 28:15 | |
| But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, | 28:19 | |
| and all these things shall be yours as well. | 28:24 | |
| Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, | 28:28 | |
| for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. | 28:33 | |
| Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day. | 28:37 | |
| Here ends the scripture reading. | 28:41 | |
| (mid tempo organ music) | 28:45 | |
| ♪ Glory to the father, and to the son ♪ | 28:55 | |
| ♪ And to the Holy host ♪ | 29:00 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 29:07 | |
| ♪ Amen, amen ♪ | 29:22 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 29:31 |
| Let us pray. | 29:35 | |
| Let us pray. | 29:42 | |
| Oh Holy God, | 29:56 | |
| we marvel at the beauty of the changing seasons, | 30:00 | |
| the excitement of our world of work and study, | 30:06 | |
| and the joys of our relationships with our friends | 30:12 | |
| and colleagues and exultation of our spirit, | 30:16 | |
| as we gather to worship you. | 30:22 | |
| Hear us now as we pray for persons who feel little joy | 30:27 | |
| or exultation in their lives. | 30:33 | |
| We pray for those who are grieving | 30:39 | |
| the loss of ones they love. | 30:42 | |
| For those who are suffering physical | 30:46 | |
| and mental pain and anguish. | 30:49 | |
| For those who are frightened by the expectations | 30:55 | |
| which are placed on them. | 30:58 | |
| For those who seek love and are rejected. | 31:03 | |
| For those whose future seems bleak and hopeless. | 31:10 | |
| For those who are carrying heavy burdens of guilt | 31:18 | |
| and are unable to accept forgiveness. | 31:24 | |
| For those who are torn by conflicting loyalties. | 31:32 | |
| For our whole world fractured by war | 31:39 | |
| and hunger and oppression. | 31:43 | |
| Oh God, we pray for all people who are seeking to serve you | 31:49 | |
| as they dedicate their lives to these needs | 31:54 | |
| and problems of your children, and all of your creation. | 31:58 | |
| Oh Holy God, we who worship you in this place | 32:07 | |
| have so much to give you thanks for. | 32:12 | |
| Hear us as we pray for ourselves, | 32:16 | |
| that we may be responsible and loving | 32:21 | |
| in the use of all that is ours. | 32:25 | |
| Our physical resources, our mental abilities, | 32:32 | |
| our abundance of the physical necessities, | 32:38 | |
| our gifts of hearing, of loving, and of caring. | 32:43 | |
| We give you thanks for your love and grace, | 32:52 | |
| which sustains us both in the times of joys | 32:55 | |
| and fullness of life. | 32:59 | |
| And we pray that we will not become self centered and trite. | 33:02 | |
| And we pray that this same grace and love | 33:11 | |
| will also sustain us in the time of pain | 33:16 | |
| and anguish and loneliness, | 33:20 | |
| so that we may not become bitter and callous and hopeless. | 33:24 | |
| We give you thanks for your care, | 33:32 | |
| which comes to us in unexpected and surprising ways, | 33:35 | |
| and pray that we may ever be open to receive these gifts | 33:42 | |
| and share these gifts which comes tho us | 33:47 | |
| through others and to others. | 33:51 | |
| Hear us now as we pray the prayer of our Lord Jesus, | 33:56 | |
| who taught us how to love and give and pray. | 33:59 | |
| All | Our Father who art in Heaven, | 34:05 |
| hallowed be thy name. | 34:08 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 34:11 | |
| on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 34:15 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 34:19 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 34:22 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 34:25 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 34:29 | |
| but deliver us from evil, | 34:33 | |
| for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. | 34:35 | |
| Forever and ever. Amen. | 34:41 | |
| - | At two o'clock this afternoon, in this chapel, | 34:46 |
| there will be a memorial service for Carl Binamine, | 34:50 | |
| who was killed last summer. | 34:54 | |
| After we affirm our faith together, | 35:01 | |
| it will be our privilege and our joy to hear one | 35:04 | |
| of the great men we have in this university. | 35:08 | |
| But first I want to say to you a very special welcome, | 35:10 | |
| to those of you who always worship with us, | 35:15 | |
| to those of you who have returned | 35:19 | |
| to the place that you worshiped in the university. | 35:22 | |
| And to those of you who are visiting us for the first time. | 35:27 | |
| We often give thanks to the choir, to the organist, | 35:32 | |
| to the people who bring the word, | 35:37 | |
| for what they contribute to our worship. | 35:40 | |
| But it's also important that we affirm and know that | 35:44 | |
| without this glorious congregation, | 35:50 | |
| our worship would be an empty show. | 35:53 | |
| And so as an affirmation of the importance | 35:56 | |
| that you mean to the worshiping community of this chapel | 36:00 | |
| and to the witness you make to this university | 36:05 | |
| and to this community, | 36:09 | |
| let us with joy stand and affirm what we believe. | 36:11 | |
| We are not alone. We believe in God. | 36:24 | |
| All | Who has created and is creating, | 36:29 |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus | 36:33 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 36:37 | |
| Who works as us and others by the Spirit. | 36:40 | |
| We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 36:45 | |
| to celebrate life and it's fullness. | 36:51 | |
| To love and serve others, | 36:54 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil. | 36:57 | |
| To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 37:01 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 37:05 | |
| In life and death, and life beyond death, | 37:08 | |
| God is with us. We are not alone. | 37:14 | |
| Thanks be to God. Amen and amen. | 37:19 | |
| - | And welcome Dr. Davies. | 37:24 |
| - | Let us pray. | 37:41 |
| May the words of my mouth and the mediation | 37:44 | |
| of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, | 37:49 | |
| our strength and our redeemer. Amen. | 37:55 | |
| Our text is seen is Psalm eight at verse six, | 38:03 | |
| and in the gospel according to St. Luke, | 38:09 | |
| chapter 12, verse 15. | 38:12 | |
| He hath put all things under his feet, | 38:17 | |
| and in Luke, for a man's life dependeth not on | 38:22 | |
| the abundance of his positions. | 38:28 | |
| In 1964, at the end of one of my classes, | 38:34 | |
| when I had been lecturing on the New Testament, | 38:39 | |
| one of my students asked, | 38:43 | |
| "Why do you get so excited about the Bible? | 38:46 | |
| "After all, what importance has it | 38:50 | |
| "for this modern, secular society?" | 38:54 | |
| That was the first time that I had ever been asked | 38:59 | |
| by anyone, let alone a theological student, | 39:03 | |
| to justify my discipline in Biblical scholarship. | 39:07 | |
| To defend the importance of the Bible, | 39:14 | |
| not on cultural or historical grounds, | 39:18 | |
| which would have been very easy, | 39:22 | |
| but on pure religious ones. | 39:25 | |
| I knew then that I was moving into a new world, | 39:29 | |
| which questioned familiar assumptions. | 39:33 | |
| Today I want to share with you some of the answers | 39:39 | |
| that I have tried to give to that question. | 39:43 | |
| What is the role of this sacred book | 39:47 | |
| in our secular society? | 39:51 | |
| First, what does the phrase 'the secular society' mean? | 39:56 | |
| 50 years ago it would have been easy | 40:02 | |
| to define it something like this. | 40:05 | |
| The word secular comes from the Latin (speaks Latin), | 40:08 | |
| meaning the time of the age, or the spirit of the age. | 40:12 | |
| A secular society is one bound in by the spirit of its age, | 40:20 | |
| confined to itself and content with this world. | 40:27 | |
| And this meaning still remains. | 40:34 | |
| But in our generation, the term 'secular society' | 40:37 | |
| has gained a wider sense. | 40:41 | |
| Perhaps the chief mark of our age has been | 40:45 | |
| the fantastic development of applied science. | 40:49 | |
| That is the growth of technology. | 40:55 | |
| The ability of man to control the forces of nature | 40:58 | |
| by his intelligence and his mechanical skill. | 41:03 | |
| I need not label the obvious. | 41:08 | |
| The term 'secular society' for us is a description | 41:11 | |
| of our scientifically conditioned world. | 41:16 | |
| Now, this modern secular society | 41:23 | |
| has certain characteristics. | 41:26 | |
| It can be technically very efficient. | 41:28 | |
| It is international. | 41:32 | |
| It is as evident in Japan as in America. | 41:35 | |
| In Vietnam as in Brazil. | 41:38 | |
| It spreads, it seems, uncontrollable, | 41:43 | |
| and it brings untold wealth and benefits for us all. | 41:47 | |
| It is not surprising, therefore, | 41:54 | |
| that the secular society has been highly confident. | 41:56 | |
| The achievements of science have been so spectacular | 42:02 | |
| that nothing seems beyond its reach. | 42:06 | |
| It seems to be the open sesame to the good life. | 42:10 | |
| The great successes of technology have produced in some | 42:15 | |
| the conviction that we have now come of age, | 42:20 | |
| we can stand on our own feet. | 42:25 | |
| The primordial notion that we need the help | 42:29 | |
| of a divine being or of divine beings, | 42:32 | |
| or need appeal to another world, | 42:36 | |
| to adjust the balance of this, is impetuous. | 42:40 | |
| Our problems will ultimately be solvable, if at all, | 42:46 | |
| not primarily at least through | 42:51 | |
| the ancient religious traditions. | 42:54 | |
| Even the so-called higher religious, | 42:58 | |
| Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, | 43:01 | |
| belong to a stage of human evolution which is past. | 43:06 | |
| They can largely be discarded. | 43:12 | |
| And much in the history of religion is primitive | 43:16 | |
| and is reactionary. | 43:21 | |
| In many of its forms, religion has been callously | 43:24 | |
| on the side of privilege, | 43:29 | |
| on the side of ignorance and superstition, | 43:32 | |
| rather than on the side of knowledge and of truth. | 43:36 | |
| A French philosopher has urged that God | 43:40 | |
| has been a restrictive force in human history. | 43:44 | |
| Our immoral problems are to be best solved | 43:51 | |
| by scientific research and technology | 43:56 | |
| and the advancement of science. | 44:00 | |
| In short, there has come about a profound revolution | 44:04 | |
| which we call secularization, on a world wide scale. | 44:09 | |
| In Niche's words, | 44:16 | |
| this secularization assumes that all the Gods are dead | 44:18 | |
| and we must be mature enough to go on from there, | 44:26 | |
| leaving all the dead Gods behind us. | 44:31 | |
| The attitudes and institutions of our society | 44:36 | |
| are more and more determined not by | 44:41 | |
| religious beliefs and movements, | 44:45 | |
| but by the pressures and demands of the techniques | 44:47 | |
| of mechanization and of production. | 44:51 | |
| And yet, there has recently been a change. | 44:57 | |
| The term 'secular society' has come to suggest | 45:03 | |
| to many something not all together desirable. | 45:08 | |
| Many find it even frightening. | 45:14 | |
| Even in its hay-day, some of the most intelligent students, | 45:18 | |
| in the universities and elsewhere, | 45:24 | |
| rejected it and dropped out. | 45:27 | |
| But even more, there is now an emerging general recognition | 45:33 | |
| that the secular society generates | 45:40 | |
| its own peculiar problems. | 45:43 | |
| Extremes of poverty persist despite its benefits. | 45:47 | |
| Congestion jams its speed, | 45:54 | |
| and pollution its abundance. | 45:58 | |
| The rich are getting richer, the poor poorer. | 46:00 | |
| The manipulation of nature. | 46:06 | |
| We now see in lights | 46:12 | |
| unforeseen and perhaps unforeseeable problems | 46:18 | |
| and disruptions of our very existence. | 46:23 | |
| There is a growing disenchantment. | 46:30 | |
| To use an overworked cliche, | 46:35 | |
| there is a failure of nerve. | 46:37 | |
| Because of the results of this scientific society, | 46:41 | |
| and this of course is intensified by the cosmological, | 46:47 | |
| the biological, and above all, the psychological knowledge, | 46:53 | |
| which we are increasingly discovering. | 46:59 | |
| We are discovering that we are puppets, | 47:03 | |
| apparently at the mercy of forces that we cannot control. | 47:06 | |
| Now one result of this has been a new openness to what | 47:15 | |
| the old religious traditions have to say. | 47:20 | |
| Recently we have seen an emerging interest | 47:25 | |
| in eastern as well as western religions. | 47:28 | |
| The search for the sacred has inched its way back | 47:34 | |
| in the last decade. | 47:40 | |
| In unfamiliar, diverse, and even bizarre ways. | 47:43 | |
| In such a period, what has this old book, the Bible, | 47:50 | |
| to say to our secular society? | 47:56 | |
| First we ask what we mean by the sacred book of the Bible. | 48:02 | |
| The word sacred is synonymous with the word Holy, | 48:08 | |
| and we normally speak of the Holy book or of the Holy Bible. | 48:14 | |
| In its root meaning, the word Holy suggests something | 48:23 | |
| that is apart, apart from everyday life. | 48:27 | |
| Something appropriated for strictly religious use. | 48:33 | |
| The Holy is the nonsecular. | 48:39 | |
| A Holy place like this chapel is that space which | 48:44 | |
| is set apart from ordinary commerce, | 48:49 | |
| and used for the approach to the divine. | 48:54 | |
| Now in this sense the Bible | 49:00 | |
| is not a Holy book. | 49:05 | |
| It is not a sacred book. | 49:09 | |
| We have much to learn from the Jews. | 49:15 | |
| They hardly ever use the term 'Holy Bible'. | 49:19 | |
| When they refer to what we call the Old Testament, | 49:25 | |
| they speak of the law, the prophets, and the writings, | 49:28 | |
| which have very much to do with everyday life. | 49:34 | |
| The Bible deals with the most ordinary, | 49:40 | |
| worldly, secular things. | 49:44 | |
| It describes war. | 49:48 | |
| The conquests and defeats of nations. | 49:51 | |
| It deals with human love and lust. | 49:55 | |
| It speaks of poverty and riches, | 49:59 | |
| of justice and injustice. | 50:03 | |
| It is a disturbingly, even coarsely, secular book. | 50:07 | |
| It is we Christians who have called it Holy | 50:16 | |
| and set it apart, perched on a pulpit, | 50:21 | |
| or removed to an alter. | 50:25 | |
| It is much healthier not to speak of the sacred book, | 50:30 | |
| or the Holy book, | 50:34 | |
| but of the book, the book we use in sermon, | 50:37 | |
| because it is in the very midst of our daily living. | 50:42 | |
| Now in what ways does this book confront our secular age? | 50:50 | |
| I'll only mentioned two ways. Very briefly. | 50:59 | |
| One positive, and the other negative. | 51:03 | |
| First then, the positive. | 51:10 | |
| The Bible says yes to the secular age. | 51:14 | |
| This secularization in certain aspects is to be welcomed. | 51:20 | |
| Our mastery over nature can be beneficial. | 51:28 | |
| It is under the blessing of God. | 51:34 | |
| In Psalm eight we read, | 51:38 | |
| "Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands. | 51:39 | |
| "Thou hast put all things under his feet." | 51:45 | |
| God himself has done this. | 51:49 | |
| The benefits of technology are to be enjoyed. | 51:53 | |
| The prophets of the Old Testament did not bleat | 51:59 | |
| for a simple past in the desert | 52:03 | |
| before the complexities of civilized life in Canon had come. | 52:06 | |
| They accepted cultural and technological change | 52:13 | |
| as a challenge to their moral integrity. | 52:19 | |
| It is not for us Christians to yearn for what we imagine | 52:23 | |
| to have been a simple past. | 52:29 | |
| To long to go back, to say, to the days of the early church, | 52:32 | |
| to the middle ages, or the reformation of the 19th century. | 52:36 | |
| It is for us to recognize the gifts of God | 52:43 | |
| in the marvelous achievements of the human mind in our day. | 52:47 | |
| In fact, the Bible is not only not the Holy book, | 52:55 | |
| it proclaims a faith which is highly materialistic. | 53:03 | |
| Christianity is probably the most materialistic | 53:11 | |
| of all the higher religions. | 53:16 | |
| It is not for nothing that communistic materialism | 53:21 | |
| can be regarded as a Christian apparition. | 53:27 | |
| The essence of the Christian faith is expressed in | 53:34 | |
| the first verses of the first gospel. | 53:38 | |
| In the beginning was the word, | 53:42 | |
| and the word was with God, and God was the word, | 53:45 | |
| and the word became flesh, | 53:50 | |
| and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. | 53:55 | |
| The word became flesh. | 53:59 | |
| One aspect of this might be rendered, | 54:04 | |
| the divine has become secular. | 54:08 | |
| The word, the reason of thought, of principle, | 54:13 | |
| behind and in the universe, | 54:18 | |
| has become incarnate in Jesus Christ. | 54:21 | |
| It has taken his flesh. | 54:26 | |
| This means that all human flesh | 54:31 | |
| can become the vehicle of the divine. | 54:37 | |
| Everything that helps human flesh | 54:43 | |
| is to be welcomed. | 54:48 | |
| Everything that destroys, or tends to destroy that flesh, | 54:52 | |
| is to be opposed. | 54:59 | |
| In this sense, we celebrate secular achievement | 55:03 | |
| when we celebrate Christ. | 55:08 | |
| For example, the notion that it is possible to save souls, | 55:12 | |
| as if they could be isolated from their environment, | 55:19 | |
| as if they were not in the flesh, | 55:24 | |
| is a Christian apparition. | 55:29 | |
| But what of the negative aspect of | 55:34 | |
| the Bible's encounter with a secular age? | 55:37 | |
| The Bible has said that technology may be | 55:44 | |
| and is a good servant, but a bad master. | 55:47 | |
| It declares that the secular good that it is is not enough. | 55:53 | |
| In certain ways especially, | 56:01 | |
| and there are many which I cannot deal in this one sermon, | 56:03 | |
| the Bible puts a question to our secular society. | 56:07 | |
| We saw that all the secularists, | 56:16 | |
| there often seems to be no need to refer | 56:19 | |
| to anything beyond or outside this world. | 56:25 | |
| For explanation of it, for authority, or for salvation. | 56:30 | |
| But the Bible confronts us with | 56:38 | |
| a very strange people, the Jews. | 56:40 | |
| Ben Gurion thought that the Jews had created God. | 56:46 | |
| The Jews themselves most of them believed | 56:53 | |
| that they encountered a living God, | 56:57 | |
| who claimed ultimate allegiance. | 57:02 | |
| This living God of Israel cannot be contained | 57:08 | |
| within the confines of our control, | 57:14 | |
| but rather controls us and our destiny. | 57:18 | |
| The Bible compels us to face the mystery | 57:24 | |
| of the people of God, | 57:29 | |
| in its Jewish and in its Christian form. | 57:32 | |
| It speaks, in the words of John Wesley, | 57:38 | |
| of a traveler unknown, someone beyond, | 57:43 | |
| someone behind, someone before, | 57:48 | |
| someone outside this world, | 57:52 | |
| even though he is in this world, | 57:56 | |
| who has called into being the people in this world | 58:00 | |
| who cannot be explained simply in terms of this world. | 58:06 | |
| I say that the Bible is not a Holy book. | 58:16 | |
| That is, it is not separated from our daily life. | 58:21 | |
| Let me now equally emphatically say | 58:28 | |
| that by confronting us with the mystery of the people of God | 58:34 | |
| with the fact of the Jews and of the church, | 58:40 | |
| it points us to the Holy. | 58:44 | |
| Now what do we mean? | 58:50 | |
| The most probable origin | 58:53 | |
| of all our religious life seems clear. | 58:55 | |
| As we walk this Earth, we become aware of the mystery, | 59:00 | |
| a strange mystery, which terrifies us and fascinates us | 59:08 | |
| at the same time. | 59:15 | |
| To this mystery of our existence | 59:19 | |
| we have given the name the Holy. | 59:22 | |
| And it is our awareness and often the response | 59:27 | |
| to this holiness which alone makes us truly religious. | 59:31 | |
| Where there is no mystery, no wonder, | 59:39 | |
| there can be no religion. | 59:44 | |
| How shall we know this mystery, | 59:47 | |
| which we experience in ourselves, in our families, | 59:50 | |
| in our societies, and in the world around us? | 59:56 | |
| How shall we approach it? | 1:00:00 | |
| It is to this question that the Bible, | 1:00:02 | |
| in the end, addresses itself. | 1:00:06 | |
| All the great prophets and Priests of Israel agreed | 1:00:10 | |
| that the Holy mystery can only be approached | 1:00:16 | |
| and understood in moral terms. | 1:00:21 | |
| The way to approach the Holy is to do justice. | 1:00:27 | |
| But there is more than justice, | 1:00:34 | |
| and later in the New Testament, | 1:00:37 | |
| we find that in the fullness of time, | 1:00:40 | |
| the mystery appeared, | 1:00:45 | |
| concentrated in the face of a man, | 1:00:50 | |
| in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. | 1:00:55 | |
| In him the mystery is made known. | 1:01:01 | |
| He himself is Israel pointing us to the Holy. | 1:01:07 | |
| Now the secularists too certainly find life mysterious. | 1:01:15 | |
| There are secular poets, artists and thinkers, | 1:01:21 | |
| on this campus and elsewhere, | 1:01:26 | |
| who are profoundly aware of the mysterious. | 1:01:30 | |
| Very often they put us to shame by their sensitivities | 1:01:37 | |
| and their human concerns. | 1:01:43 | |
| We Christians need them. | 1:01:48 | |
| We should not define ourselves over/against | 1:01:51 | |
| them at any time. | 1:01:55 | |
| But the vision they have | 1:02:00 | |
| is mysterious in its own terms, | 1:02:04 | |
| and within its own limits. | 1:02:08 | |
| And man himself will be sufficient for it. | 1:02:12 | |
| Now here the Bible issues its challenge. | 1:02:21 | |
| Through this book, and through the mystery | 1:02:25 | |
| of Israel and the church, and of the Christ who is Israel, | 1:02:29 | |
| we are confronted in our pilgrimage with one beyond us, | 1:02:35 | |
| outside us, who claims to be our creator and our redeemer. | 1:02:40 | |
| We are challenged to discover ourselves as human | 1:02:48 | |
| in an encounter with and in response | 1:02:54 | |
| to this human figure, Jesus of Nazareth, | 1:02:59 | |
| who is the personal mystery of God in the flesh. | 1:03:04 | |
| Now all this means that the Bible challenges | 1:03:11 | |
| us with a question. | 1:03:15 | |
| What is the true nature of our human existence? | 1:03:18 | |
| Can we be satisfied within the confines of this world? | 1:03:25 | |
| Do we need more? | 1:03:31 | |
| A personal relation with | 1:03:34 | |
| and a conscience dependence upon | 1:03:38 | |
| the ultimate mystery, who is the God and father | 1:03:43 | |
| of our Lord, Jesus Christ. | 1:03:47 | |
| Human technical and ever achievement, we are to welcome. | 1:03:50 | |
| But will they ever, | 1:03:57 | |
| even in their most enhanced and refined forms, satisfy? | 1:04:00 | |
| Let me use a very simple analogy. | 1:04:09 | |
| A man and a maid get married | 1:04:14 | |
| and set out on their life together. | 1:04:16 | |
| They buy a house, | 1:04:19 | |
| they supply it with all the modern utilities. | 1:04:21 | |
| But in itself, it cannot be a home | 1:04:27 | |
| until there be established within its walls | 1:04:33 | |
| a personal relation of trust. | 1:04:37 | |
| So is it with our universe. | 1:04:42 | |
| We may indeed find that we are able to provide ourselves | 1:04:46 | |
| with all that we need, | 1:04:52 | |
| although we are not quite so sure of this as we once were. | 1:04:54 | |
| But without the dimension of dependence | 1:04:59 | |
| of personal trust on an ultimate mystery, | 1:05:08 | |
| we cannot make this world our home. | 1:05:13 | |
| To be at home without God is impossible. | 1:05:22 | |
| An English poet expressed this in these words. | 1:05:27 | |
| "We have hands that fashion and heads that know, | 1:05:33 | |
| "but our hearts we lost how long ago? | 1:05:39 | |
| "In a place no chart nor ship can show, | 1:05:44 | |
| "under the sky's dome. | 1:05:49 | |
| "For men are homesick in their homes, | 1:05:52 | |
| "and strangers under the sun. | 1:05:57 | |
| "And they lay their heads in a foreign land | 1:06:02 | |
| "whenever the day is done." | 1:06:07 | |
| The fact is that the Bible reminds us that if we betray God, | 1:06:14 | |
| we betray, no, we are betrayed, by everything. | 1:06:22 | |
| This then is the challenge of the Bible | 1:06:30 | |
| to a secular society. | 1:06:34 | |
| It proclaims the reality, the necessity, | 1:06:37 | |
| of the living God, Holy, righteous, and loving. | 1:06:44 | |
| And the necessity of the practice | 1:06:51 | |
| of his presence in our lives. | 1:06:53 | |
| As an ultimate suckle in a world which proclaims | 1:06:57 | |
| the death of God as an outvoted, primitive overhand. | 1:07:04 | |
| That this suckle brings with it its ultimate demand. | 1:07:14 | |
| I would also proclaim that that demand | 1:07:19 | |
| I cannot enlarge upon in this sermon. | 1:07:25 | |
| The Bible then speaks to us. | 1:07:30 | |
| It welcomes the positive aspects of our secular society. | 1:07:35 | |
| But it sets before us two questions. | 1:07:42 | |
| Do we know the reality of the presence of God in our lives? | 1:07:46 | |
| And do we acknowledge the mystery of his commandment? | 1:07:55 | |
| His infinite suckle and his infinite demand. | 1:08:02 | |
| The Bible is not an anchor to the past, to the primitive. | 1:08:09 | |
| It is not the sanction for our selfish status quo. | 1:08:16 | |
| It is a spur, a challenge, to our new creation in God. | 1:08:25 | |
| Amen. | 1:08:32 | |
| In the name of the father and of the son, | 1:08:35 | |
| and of the Holy ghost. | 1:08:38 | |
| (light organ music) | 1:08:42 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 1:09:34 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:10:13 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:10:18 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:11:05 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:12:25 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:13:01 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 1:13:26 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:14:01 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:14:10 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing increases) | 1:16:00 | |
| (light organ music) | 1:16:27 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing softens) | 1:16:31 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:17:08 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:18:09 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:18:13 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:19:01 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:19:32 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:19:37 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:20:06 | |
| (light organ music continues) | 1:20:28 | |
| (mid tempo organ music) | 1:21:15 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 1:21:52 | |
| (mid tempo organ music continues) | 1:21:58 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:02 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:05 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 1:22:09 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:23 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:25 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:28 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:31 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:22:34 | |
| (holds note) | ||
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:45 | |
| (holds note) | ||
| - | Oh Holy and loving God, we offer you these gifts, | 1:22:56 |
| symbols of our lives. | 1:23:02 | |
| Guide those who are responsible for the use of them, | 1:23:06 | |
| that they may express your love and concern | 1:23:11 | |
| for the well being of all of your creation. | 1:23:15 | |
| And we offer you our lives. | 1:23:21 | |
| Use them that your loved work may be expressed through us | 1:23:25 | |
| in the ordinary and the routine of our living. | 1:23:32 | |
| All this we pray, | 1:23:37 | |
| and the spirit of Jesus, the Christ. Amen. | 1:23:39 | |
| (mid tempo organ music) | 1:23:47 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing) | 1:24:21 | |
| (mid tempo organ music continues) | 1:25:09 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:25:14 | |
| (mid tempo organ music continues) | 1:26:10 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:26:18 | |
| (mid tempo organ music continues) | 1:26:57 | |
| (choir singing and vocalizing continues) | 1:27:03 | |
| (mid tempo organ music continues) | 1:27:27 | |
| And now may the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, | 1:28:16 | |
| the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 1:28:22 | |
| be with us all this day and forever more. | 1:28:28 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:28:36 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:28:42 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:28:51 | |
| (choir vocalizing) | 1:28:57 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:29:02 | |
| (choir vocalizing) | 1:29:04 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:29:11 | |
| (light music) | 1:29:18 | |
| (choir vocalizing) | 1:29:21 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:29:25 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:29:34 | |
| (bright organ music) | 1:30:07 | |
| (bright organ music continues) | 1:30:45 | |
| (bright organ music continues) | 1:31:07 |