Roy D. Nichols - "Redeeming the Future" (March 15, 1987)
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| (choir singing) | 0:00 | |
| Videographer | You can step back there if you want to. | 4:53 |
| - | Good morning, and welcome to this service | 5:02 |
| on the second Sunday in the Christian season of Lint. | 5:05 | |
| Our service has begun with music from the | 5:10 | |
| UNC Wilmington Concert Choir. | 5:12 | |
| Mr. Joe Hickman is their director. | 5:16 | |
| We're delighted that these young people have | 5:19 | |
| come across the state to be with us, | 5:21 | |
| and to help lead our worship this morning, | 5:23 | |
| and we welcome them the chapel. | 5:25 | |
| Next Sunday at the conclusion of the service, | 5:27 | |
| the annual Durham crop walk for world hunger, | 5:30 | |
| will leave from the steps of the chapel at 1 o'clock, | 5:34 | |
| and we invite you to participate in that worthy activity. | 5:39 | |
| Again this morning, we welcome those of you | 5:44 | |
| who are worshiping with us | 5:46 | |
| in the patient rooms of Duke Hospital. | 5:49 | |
| We have been enjoying this extension of | 5:53 | |
| the ministry of the chapel | 5:55 | |
| and thank you for your correspondence with us, | 5:57 | |
| and we welcome you to this service of worship. | 5:59 | |
| Our preacher this Sunday is Bishop Roy Nichols | 6:03 | |
| of the United Methodist Church. | 6:08 | |
| Bishop Nichols's last episcopal area of | 6:10 | |
| service was in New York. | 6:14 | |
| He is now in Oakland, California, | 6:15 | |
| where he is directing a project on church growth | 6:17 | |
| for the United Methodist Church. | 6:21 | |
| He is a gifted preacher and a popular speaker and | 6:23 | |
| well-known leader of the church. | 6:28 | |
| We are proud to invite him back, | 6:30 | |
| to welcome him back to Duke Chapel this Sunday, | 6:32 | |
| as a James T. Cleland preacher. | 6:35 | |
| Now let us continue our worship. | 6:38 | |
| (organ music) | 6:43 | |
| (choir singing) | 7:14 | |
| - | The season of Lent is a time for | 10:03 |
| introspection and reflection. | 10:06 | |
| When we gather to praise God, | 10:09 | |
| we remember the costs which God has paid for our salvation, | 10:11 | |
| and we also remember the gaps in our lives, | 10:16 | |
| the distance between God's will for us and the way we live. | 10:20 | |
| Therefore, let us begin by confessing our sin | 10:25 | |
| before God and one another. | 10:28 | |
| Be seated. | 10:31 | |
| Oh Almighty God, give us grace to approach thee | 10:43 | |
| at this time with penitent and believing hearts. | 10:47 | |
| We confess that we have sinned against thee, | 10:51 | |
| and are not worthy to be called thy children, | 10:54 | |
| yet do thou in mercy, keep us as thy own. | 10:58 | |
| Grant us true repentance, and forgive us all our sins. | 11:03 | |
| Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. | 11:08 | |
| Hear the good news, | 11:16 | |
| Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. | 11:18 | |
| That is God's own proof of his love towards us. | 11:23 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. | 11:29 | |
| Church Members | In the name of Jesus Christ, | 11:34 |
| you are forgiven, Amen. | 11:36 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 11:44 |
| Church Members | Open our hearts and minds oh God, | 11:46 |
| by the power of your Holy Spirit, | 11:49 | |
| so that is the word as rite. | 11:52 | |
| We might hear with joy what you say to us this day, Amen. | 11:56 | |
| - | The first lesson is taken from | 12:02 |
| Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. | 12:04 | |
| For though I am free from all, | 12:08 | |
| I have made myself a slave to all. | 12:10 | |
| That I might win the more. | 12:13 | |
| To the Jews, I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. | 12:16 | |
| To those under the law, I became as one under the law, | 12:22 | |
| though not being myself under the law, | 12:27 | |
| that I might win those under the law. | 12:30 | |
| To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. | 12:33 | |
| Not being without law toward God, | 12:39 | |
| but under the law of Christ, | 12:42 | |
| that I might win those outside the law. | 12:44 | |
| To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. | 12:48 | |
| I have become all things to all people, | 12:53 | |
| that I might by all means, save some. | 12:56 | |
| I do it all of the sake of the Gospel, | 13:00 | |
| that I may share in its blessings. | 13:02 | |
| Do you not know that in a race, | 13:06 | |
| all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? | 13:08 | |
| So run that you may obtain it. | 13:13 | |
| Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. | 13:15 | |
| They do it to receive a perishable wreath, | 13:20 | |
| but we an imperishable. | 13:24 | |
| Well I do not run aimlessly, | 13:27 | |
| I do not box as one beating the air, | 13:29 | |
| but I pummel my body and subdue it. | 13:32 | |
| Lest after preaching to others, | 13:35 | |
| I myself should be disqualified. | 13:38 | |
| This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 13:41 | |
| - | The psalter is number 572, | 13:48 |
| let us stand as we read responsively. | 13:50 | |
| Be merciful to me oh God, be merciful to me. | 14:03 | |
| Church Members | For my soul trusteth in thee. | 14:07 |
| - | In the shadow of thy wings, I will take refuge. | 14:11 |
| Church Members | The source of destruction has come. | 14:15 |
| - | I cry to God most high. | 14:18 |
| Church Members | to God who provides his service for me. | 14:21 |
| - | He will send from heaven and save me. | 14:24 |
| Church Members | God shall send forth his mercy and truth. | 14:28 |
| - | Be exalted oh God above the heavens. | 14:32 |
| Church Members | Let thy glory be above all the earth. | 14:37 |
| - | My heart is steadfast oh God, my heart is steadfast. | 14:40 |
| Church Members | I will sing and give praise. | 14:45 |
| - | I will gave thanks to thee oh Lord among the peoples. | 14:47 |
| Church Members | I will sing praises | 14:51 |
| of thee among nations. | 14:52 | |
| - | For thy steadfast love is great to the heavens. | 14:54 |
| Church Members | Thy truth unto the clouds. | 14:59 |
| - | Be exalted oh God above the heavens. | 15:02 |
| Church Members | Let thy glory be above all the earth. | 15:06 |
| - | Be seated. | 15:09 |
| - | The second lesson is taken | 15:20 |
| from Paul's letter to the Romans. | 15:21 | |
| What then shall we say about Abraham, | 15:27 | |
| our ancestor according to the flesh. | 15:30 | |
| For if Abraham was justified by works, | 15:33 | |
| he has something to boast about, | 15:36 | |
| but not before God. | 15:38 | |
| For what does the scripture say. | 15:41 | |
| Abraham believed God, | 15:44 | |
| and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. | 15:46 | |
| Now one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift, | 15:49 | |
| but as the workers' doom. | 15:53 | |
| And to one who does not work but | 15:56 | |
| trust him who justifies the ungodly, | 15:58 | |
| faith is reckoned as righteousness. | 16:01 | |
| So also David pronounces a blessing upon the person | 16:04 | |
| to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works. | 16:08 | |
| Blessed are those, | 16:13 | |
| who iniquities are forgiven, | 16:14 | |
| and who sins are covered. | 16:16 | |
| Blessed are those against whom the Lord | 16:18 | |
| will not reckon their sin. | 16:20 | |
| The promise to Abraham and his descendants, | 16:24 | |
| that they should inherit the world, | 16:27 | |
| did not come through the law, | 16:29 | |
| but through the righteousness of faith. | 16:31 | |
| If it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, | 16:34 | |
| faith is null and the promise is void. | 16:38 | |
| For the law brings wrath, | 16:42 | |
| but where there is no law, | 16:43 | |
| there is no transgression. | 16:45 | |
| That is why it depends on faith, | 16:48 | |
| in order that the promise may rest on grace, | 16:51 | |
| and be guaranteed to all their descendants. | 16:53 | |
| Not only to the adherents of the law, | 16:57 | |
| but also to those who share the faith of Abraham. | 16:59 | |
| For he is the father of us all, | 17:02 | |
| as it is written, | 17:05 | |
| I have made you the father of many nations. | 17:06 | |
| In the presence of the God in whom he believed, | 17:09 | |
| who gives life to the dead and calls into existence, | 17:12 | |
| the things that do not exist. | 17:16 | |
| This ends the reading of the second lesson. | 17:18 | |
| (organ music) | 17:32 | |
| (choir singing) | 17:37 | |
| - | The Gospel is taken from John. | 21:53 |
| Now there was a man of the Pharisee's named Nicodemus, | 21:56 | |
| a ruler of the Jews. | 22:00 | |
| Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said to him, | 22:03 | |
| "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. | 22:07 | |
| "For no one can do these signs that you do, | 22:12 | |
| "except by the power of God." | 22:15 | |
| Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly I say to you, | 22:18 | |
| "unless one is born anew, | 22:23 | |
| "one cannot see the kingdom of God." | 22:25 | |
| Nicodemus said to him, "How can someone be born | 22:28 | |
| "who is old?" | 22:32 | |
| "Can one enter a second time the womb of one's mother, | 22:33 | |
| "and be born?" | 22:36 | |
| Jesus answered, "Truly, truly I say to you, | 22:38 | |
| "unless one is born of water and the spirit, | 22:42 | |
| "one cannot enter the kingdom of God. | 22:45 | |
| "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, | 22:49 | |
| "and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. | 22:52 | |
| "Do not marvel that I said to you, | 22:56 | |
| "you must be born anew. | 22:59 | |
| "The wind blows where it wills, | 23:01 | |
| "and you hear the sound of it, | 23:03 | |
| "but you do not know whence it comes or whether it goes. | 23:05 | |
| "So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit." | 23:09 | |
| Nicodemus said to Jesus, "How can this be?" | 23:13 | |
| Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, | 23:17 | |
| "and yet, you do not understand this? | 23:21 | |
| "Truly, truly I say to you, | 23:23 | |
| "We speak of what we know, | 23:26 | |
| "and bear witness to what we have seen, | 23:28 | |
| "but you do not receive our testimony. | 23:30 | |
| "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, | 23:33 | |
| "how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? | 23:38 | |
| "No one has ascended into heaven but | 23:42 | |
| "He who descended from heaven, the son of man. | 23:44 | |
| "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, | 23:48 | |
| "so must the son of man be lifted up. | 23:52 | |
| "That whoever believes in Him, may have eternal life. | 23:55 | |
| "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, | 24:00 | |
| "that whoever believes in Him should not perish, | 24:04 | |
| "but have eternal life. | 24:07 | |
| "For God sent the son into the world, | 24:10 | |
| "not to condemn the world, | 24:13 | |
| but that the world might be saved through Him." | 24:15 | |
| This ends the reading of the Gospel. | 24:18 | |
| - | May we bow our heads in prayer. | 24:30 |
| Oh Lord our God, | 24:34 | |
| make acceptable unto thyself, | 24:38 | |
| all that we say, all that we do, | 24:41 | |
| all that we sing, and all that we think. | 24:46 | |
| In the name of the one God, | 24:50 | |
| father and mother of us all, | 24:53 | |
| the son and the Holy Spirit, | 24:56 | |
| so be it, | 25:00 | |
| and Amen. | 25:01 | |
| A special word of greeting to those of you | 25:08 | |
| who are present in the chapel this morning, | 25:13 | |
| and to those in the hospital | 25:18 | |
| who may be listening and looking, | 25:21 | |
| special words of greeting, | 25:25 | |
| and grace to you. | 25:28 | |
| Saint Paul took his religion | 25:33 | |
| utterly serious. | 25:36 | |
| When he thought the Christians were the enemies of God, | 25:40 | |
| he persecuted them and did all | 25:44 | |
| that he could to destroy the church. | 25:47 | |
| But when he became a believer, | 25:51 | |
| he turned all of that energy | 25:55 | |
| into a new channel. | 25:57 | |
| To construct and to support | 26:01 | |
| his growing church. | 26:05 | |
| The Damascus road experience is familiar to most of us, | 26:08 | |
| who have done a little bible study, | 26:11 | |
| riding on his horse | 26:14 | |
| on one of his persecution missions, | 26:17 | |
| Paul was struck down and a light | 26:20 | |
| from heaven illumined the place where he fell. | 26:24 | |
| And a voice saying, | 26:28 | |
| "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me. | 26:31 | |
| "It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks." | 26:35 | |
| And finally in compliance, | 26:39 | |
| realizing that the awesome presence of the one God | 26:41 | |
| was beaming upon him, Paul said, | 26:46 | |
| "Lord, what will you have me to do?" | 26:50 | |
| Once converted, it appeared he tried as hard as he could | 26:54 | |
| to compensate for all of those years | 26:58 | |
| of his ruthless errors. | 27:01 | |
| It is interesting the way he describes Christian experience, | 27:04 | |
| it's a contest. | 27:09 | |
| In one place it's wrestling, | 27:12 | |
| in another it's boxing, | 27:14 | |
| in another we are soldiers engaged in a war. | 27:17 | |
| He talks about putting on the whole armor of God. | 27:22 | |
| And in another, he pictures us as if | 27:27 | |
| we were long distance runners. | 27:30 | |
| The living bible paraphrases the punchlines of that | 27:35 | |
| First Epistle read this morning | 27:38 | |
| from first Corinthians like this. | 27:41 | |
| "Run the race to win. | 27:45 | |
| Run straight for the goal | 27:50 | |
| "and run with purpose | 27:53 | |
| in every step." | 27:55 | |
| Now Saint Paul was not talking about a personal victory | 27:58 | |
| in his admonition toward winning. | 28:03 | |
| He was talking about a community victory, | 28:05 | |
| the victory of the kingdom of God, | 28:08 | |
| the victory of the will of God | 28:11 | |
| on earth. | 28:15 | |
| Some modern theologians have attempted to reflect it | 28:18 | |
| with some kind of psycho-analytical approach to Paul | 28:22 | |
| to see if his compulsiveness suggested | 28:26 | |
| some sort of spiritual paranoia. | 28:30 | |
| For he always seemed to be striking out at something. | 28:34 | |
| But Paul, like all of the authentic prophets of God, | 28:39 | |
| felt that he was continually struggling | 28:42 | |
| against evil principalities and powers | 28:45 | |
| against the rulers of darkness in this world. | 28:49 | |
| And against spiritual wickedness in high places like, | 28:53 | |
| the Proverbial Man of La Mancha. | 28:58 | |
| Paul was always riding out in contest | 29:01 | |
| against the powers of evil. | 29:05 | |
| But there have always been laid back Christians | 29:10 | |
| who looked for comfort in the church. | 29:13 | |
| Wondering what this holy running and holy wrestling and | 29:16 | |
| holy boxing and holy fighting | 29:20 | |
| and holy rolling is all about. | 29:23 | |
| Why can't we just be holy | 29:27 | |
| without all that heavenly exercise? | 29:29 | |
| Well, all this heavenly exercise is about | 29:34 | |
| the mission of the church of Jesus Christ. | 29:39 | |
| To redeem the future | 29:44 | |
| from the power and the penalty, | 29:47 | |
| of human sin, | 29:51 | |
| in the name of Jesus Christ. | 29:53 | |
| And one of my favorite cartoons is Dennis the Menace. | 29:59 | |
| After reading many books as you have and | 30:04 | |
| discovering that if you just found | 30:08 | |
| the right two or three paragraphs, | 30:10 | |
| you could have saved yourself the whole trip. | 30:13 | |
| Because there in, you would have found | 30:16 | |
| the nucleus of what the author has to say. | 30:19 | |
| So it's nice to look at one picture | 30:22 | |
| that's worth a thousand words. | 30:25 | |
| It's bath time, | 30:29 | |
| and Dennis the Menace is resisting. | 30:30 | |
| I'm not sure what he had against taking baths, | 30:35 | |
| I think mostly it was just the time that it took. | 30:37 | |
| But in rebuttal against his mother's persuasion | 30:42 | |
| and all that she was saying about the goodness and | 30:45 | |
| the worthwhileness of bathing with such frequency, | 30:48 | |
| Dennis inquired, "Why doesn't somebody invite a bath | 30:52 | |
| with a lifetime guarantee." | 30:56 | |
| All of us, I'm sure at times, have wished, | 31:00 | |
| I mean beyond the limits of those | 31:03 | |
| refreshing showers that we take from time to time, | 31:05 | |
| that somebody would invent something that would | 31:09 | |
| settle something and do it permanently. | 31:12 | |
| As they say in the Portuguese, | 31:17 | |
| "A luta continua", | 31:21 | |
| "but the struggle continues." | 31:24 | |
| Young people growing up | 31:28 | |
| in the college or university community, | 31:30 | |
| who are formulating their approaches | 31:32 | |
| to whatever their vocations may be, | 31:34 | |
| are shaping also their personal integrity. | 31:39 | |
| And it is never quite one and assured. | 31:43 | |
| I remember a friend of mine, a professor at seminary, | 31:48 | |
| who said to me one day, | 31:51 | |
| "Roy, every person has a price, | 31:53 | |
| "but keeps your so high, | 31:58 | |
| "that nobody on Earth will pay it." | 32:00 | |
| He was talking about personal integrity, | 32:04 | |
| and that none of us, no matter how strong we thing we are, | 32:07 | |
| from cradle to the grave, are completely protected | 32:11 | |
| against the possibility of its loss. | 32:15 | |
| Paul is explaining that in the last section | 32:18 | |
| of that scripture where he says, | 32:22 | |
| "God be merciful and strengthen me, | 32:24 | |
| "lest after I have preached to others, | 32:28 | |
| "I myself should be a castaway." | 32:30 | |
| There are political ventures | 32:35 | |
| or economic put-togethers | 32:38 | |
| that we work at from time to time. | 32:41 | |
| Victory flags are raised as if we think it was settled, | 32:43 | |
| but in the next generation or | 32:47 | |
| even before that one has passed, | 32:50 | |
| the same struggle appears | 32:53 | |
| to be engaged in all over again. | 32:56 | |
| And to young lovers and marrieds and friends, | 33:01 | |
| I think many of the couples that I council | 33:05 | |
| when I was pastoring in a local church, | 33:09 | |
| were a little dismayed at my last point. | 33:11 | |
| When I told them after having been | 33:14 | |
| pierced by the arrow of love, | 33:17 | |
| that love is work. | 33:19 | |
| And when you stop working at it, | 33:23 | |
| all of those dainty little affections and niceties, | 33:25 | |
| begin to disappear. | 33:29 | |
| "A luta continua", | 33:33 | |
| even for love, the struggle continues | 33:37 | |
| over and over and over again. | 33:42 | |
| John Wesley, the father of the people called Methodists, | 33:48 | |
| was an extremely tough task master. | 33:53 | |
| He said his central doctrine was Christian perfection, | 33:57 | |
| though we don't hear very much about that these days. | 34:00 | |
| He took his cue from Jesus, who said | 34:04 | |
| "Be ye perfect even as your father in Heaven is perfect". | 34:06 | |
| Wesley was the first to admit | 34:11 | |
| that he had never achieved perfection, | 34:13 | |
| but he was also first to admit | 34:17 | |
| that he was continually striving toward it. | 34:20 | |
| Not for the sake of His salvation, | 34:24 | |
| for that was already assured, | 34:27 | |
| but because of his gratitude to God, | 34:28 | |
| for God's goodness. | 34:32 | |
| And for those of you who are resistant to the notion | 34:35 | |
| of perfection, | 34:37 | |
| then what on Earth are you striving for? | 34:39 | |
| If not to be fully | 34:43 | |
| all that God intends for us to be. | 34:46 | |
| 244 years ago, | 34:53 | |
| on the 12th day of March, in the year 1743, | 34:56 | |
| John Wesley on horseback, took a journey up toward | 34:59 | |
| Northern England to visit a group of his parishioners | 35:03 | |
| in a little town called Newcastle. | 35:07 | |
| In his journal which he kept copiously, | 35:10 | |
| he kept a record of the happenings there. | 35:13 | |
| I don't believe the sermon was recorded, | 35:16 | |
| but the discontents of Brother John | 35:17 | |
| were placed in his little book. | 35:21 | |
| Because before he left Newcastle, | 35:24 | |
| he dismissed 64 of the saints, dismissed them. | 35:26 | |
| We don't do that anymore. | 35:31 | |
| But John not only had a way of dismissing them, | 35:33 | |
| but there was also a way that they could be retrieved again. | 35:36 | |
| There were little seminars for repenting backsliders | 35:39 | |
| who could come in the side door and find their places again. | 35:42 | |
| But do you want to hear the list of happenings that caused | 35:47 | |
| him to do what he did to? | 35:49 | |
| He dismissed for cursing and swearing, | 35:54 | |
| two for habitual sabbath breaking. | 35:57 | |
| seventeen for drunkenness, | 35:59 | |
| two for selling spirituous liquors, | 36:01 | |
| three for quarreling and brawling, | 36:04 | |
| one for beating his wife, | 36:07 | |
| three for habitual lying, | 36:08 | |
| four for evil speaking, | 36:10 | |
| and one for idleness. | 36:11 | |
| Well, if Brother John were here today, | 36:14 | |
| his list might be a little different from that one. | 36:16 | |
| But you understand in the context of the times, | 36:19 | |
| what he was after. | 36:23 | |
| But the interesting thing is that 29 of the people | 36:25 | |
| that he dismissed, in addition to those that I numbered, | 36:29 | |
| hadn't done anything bad, | 36:34 | |
| but John couldn't find anything | 36:37 | |
| good that they had done either. | 36:39 | |
| And so they suffered the same fate with all the rest. | 36:42 | |
| I remember as a child, on the eastern shore of Maryland | 36:47 | |
| where I was born in a little clapboard church | 36:51 | |
| by the county road, | 36:53 | |
| watching the class leaders interrogating their members, | 36:55 | |
| who are expected to give forth in the presence | 36:59 | |
| of their colleagues and all the saints two things: | 37:01 | |
| one, their Christian experience. | 37:05 | |
| What has happened to you lately that would assure you | 37:09 | |
| of the pervasive influence of the grace of God in your life? | 37:13 | |
| And two: what is your determination? | 37:17 | |
| What are you going to do good in the future? | 37:22 | |
| This was always the most important part of the testimonies. | 37:27 | |
| I recall one good lady who after an all diligence | 37:32 | |
| laying before the saints, her determination. | 37:37 | |
| She would close with tears running down her face saying, | 37:41 | |
| "brothers and sisters pray for me because | 37:45 | |
| "I'm running for my life". | 37:47 | |
| Those in the fellowship understood clearly what she meant. | 37:51 | |
| The seriousness of her intent. | 37:55 | |
| For redeeming the future is preventing | 37:59 | |
| the repetition of past mistakes. | 38:03 | |
| It is setting a new course for ourselves in God's name. | 38:07 | |
| It is going on to accomplish | 38:12 | |
| the will of God in the world. | 38:15 | |
| I suspect if John Wesley and Saint Paul were alive today, | 38:19 | |
| they would be putting some questions to the saints | 38:24 | |
| that might run like this. | 38:28 | |
| What are you doing | 38:31 | |
| about the present state of moral | 38:33 | |
| and ethical degradation | 38:37 | |
| at large in the land? | 38:40 | |
| That is the absence of conscious, the forgotten line | 38:44 | |
| between what is right and what is wrong, | 38:48 | |
| the adopting of personal moralities | 38:52 | |
| based upon | 38:57 | |
| what we think is good for us, | 39:01 | |
| in quotes, | 39:03 | |
| "as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else". | 39:04 | |
| As if any of us could do anything on Earth | 39:07 | |
| that didn't have some relevance to someone else. | 39:10 | |
| I'm involved in a project in | 39:15 | |
| the area of local church revitalization, | 39:19 | |
| which is nation wide. | 39:22 | |
| And the first priority that I'm putting forth | 39:25 | |
| in the churches based upon what I'm discovering, | 39:27 | |
| is our ministries to children and to youth. | 39:30 | |
| Considering the millions of young American children, | 39:35 | |
| not in the slubs alone, but in the suburbs and | 39:40 | |
| in the best of homes, who are growing up like pagans, | 39:43 | |
| who have not had any experience at all of Christian nurture, | 39:46 | |
| because somehow in some way, | 39:51 | |
| we have not been aggressive enough | 39:53 | |
| in trying to nurture them, | 39:57 | |
| turning away from our self-centered presentness. | 40:02 | |
| Our future is in the perfection of our children, | 40:08 | |
| and the hope that they have for us | 40:13 | |
| and for all the world for tomorrow. | 40:17 | |
| I have mused with some sorrow as you have no doubt, | 40:21 | |
| in reflecting on the statistics | 40:25 | |
| relating to teenage suicides. | 40:28 | |
| You wonder how young people, | 40:32 | |
| with all the energy and future and everything before them, | 40:37 | |
| living in the best of circumstances, | 40:40 | |
| though we know there must've been some interior distortions | 40:43 | |
| about which we are not aware, | 40:46 | |
| could decide they didn't want to go on. | 40:49 | |
| My mathematics isn't too good but | 40:53 | |
| one fella always prone to talk about statistics, | 40:55 | |
| said it's happening in our nation at the rate of | 41:00 | |
| 6,000 a year, and then he went on to push it and | 41:01 | |
| said that's one every ninety minutes. | 41:05 | |
| I can't believe it. | 41:10 | |
| If John Wesley and Saint Paul were alive today, | 41:13 | |
| they might be asking us, | 41:17 | |
| what are we doing | 41:19 | |
| about the threat of nuclear war? | 41:20 | |
| Just a few months ago, | 41:25 | |
| I was over in the European theater holding seminars | 41:27 | |
| for chaplains in the Armed Forces of the Unites States, | 41:32 | |
| on a mission for the commission of chaplains | 41:37 | |
| of the United Methodist Church. | 41:39 | |
| And one of the things that I was bad to do was | 41:42 | |
| to discuss the recent paper by the Council of Bishops | 41:45 | |
| entitled in 'Defense of Creation'. | 41:48 | |
| It's all about really one simple topic. | 41:51 | |
| The cessation of testing of nuclear weapons worldwide, | 41:55 | |
| the outlawing of the probable use of nuclear weapons, | 42:00 | |
| and the dismantling of all that exists | 42:04 | |
| for the protection of the future of the whole human race. | 42:07 | |
| I discussed this with the chaplains, | 42:12 | |
| many of whom had read it. | 42:14 | |
| At first they were a little tense thinking that | 42:18 | |
| the document was aimed against their vocation. | 42:20 | |
| Well, I don't think any of us think the world is | 42:24 | |
| quite safe enough to do without police forces quite yet. | 42:27 | |
| But I said to them when they queried me, | 42:32 | |
| what else would you expect the | 42:36 | |
| followers of Jesus Christ to say? | 42:38 | |
| And then as clarification came to that point, | 42:42 | |
| which you know you can sense in any meeting, | 42:46 | |
| they said to me, 'Bishop, we're here to keep the peace, | 42:49 | |
| because you sent us', | 42:53 | |
| and I could understand that. | 42:55 | |
| They were our sons and daughters who were doing | 42:57 | |
| chaplain's mission to other sons and daughters, | 42:59 | |
| who were in these theaters because | 43:03 | |
| they had been commissioned by us to keep the peace. | 43:05 | |
| But they they said to me, 'Bishop, somebody has | 43:08 | |
| 'got to win the war against war'. | 43:12 | |
| I had conversation with the Generals. | 43:16 | |
| They were gracious enough to take me up in their offices. | 43:18 | |
| And one tall Air Force commander looked me in the eye | 43:22 | |
| and said, 'Bishop I hope to God we never have to use | 43:26 | |
| 'the stuff we have got, because if we do, | 43:30 | |
| 'it'll be the closest thing to judgment day | 43:35 | |
| 'this world has ever seen'. | 43:38 | |
| I remember the phrasing of Dwight D. Eisenhower, | 43:40 | |
| the leader of the so-called crusade | 43:44 | |
| in Europe during World War II, | 43:46 | |
| twice President elected by the American people. | 43:47 | |
| And in his parting statement, to paraphrase him, | 43:51 | |
| he said, "We must win the war against war and | 43:54 | |
| who knew more about war than Eich." | 43:58 | |
| And then he added, | 44:01 | |
| "If the politicians and the governments cannot, | 44:02 | |
| then the people must do it themselves." | 44:07 | |
| If Saint Paul and John Wesley were alive today, | 44:12 | |
| they would probably inquire of us, | 44:17 | |
| what are we doing in the battle for human subsistence, | 44:19 | |
| which would include the issues of hunger and homelessness, | 44:23 | |
| and racism and pollution, | 44:27 | |
| which is eroding the ozone area in frightful dimensions. | 44:30 | |
| Oh you know, because you read the papers, | 44:35 | |
| no doubt daily better than I do. | 44:38 | |
| The uneasiness and the unrest | 44:41 | |
| that prevails worldwide today. | 44:45 | |
| We were visiting in Zimbabwe in the | 44:49 | |
| southern regions of South Africa. | 44:50 | |
| And at breakfast I was giving them the traditional | 44:54 | |
| American greeting, you know, 'hi' and small talk, | 44:56 | |
| and I was informed by one of them, | 44:58 | |
| that in Zimbabwe, in the morning when we greet, | 45:00 | |
| one says, 'did you sleep well?'. | 45:04 | |
| And the other responds, | 45:07 | |
| 'I slept well if you slept well'. | 45:09 | |
| What a tremendous empathy | 45:14 | |
| is involved in that expression. | 45:17 | |
| How can I sleep well when there are so many people | 45:20 | |
| in so many parts of the world, who are not sleeping at all? | 45:25 | |
| Children, | 45:31 | |
| women, | 45:34 | |
| men in turmoil. | 45:36 | |
| How can the Church of Jesus Christ sleep well | 45:39 | |
| when so many of the children of | 45:45 | |
| God scattered here and 'yond, | 45:46 | |
| are not sleeping at all? | 45:49 | |
| I was looking at the TV screen some months ago. | 45:53 | |
| An evangelist was warning us | 45:57 | |
| that the clock of God is running down. | 46:00 | |
| There is nothing on Earth that any of us | 46:04 | |
| can do to stop it. | 46:08 | |
| The sequence of catastrophe and | 46:10 | |
| the impending horrendous happenings, | 46:13 | |
| he applauded | 46:17 | |
| for they predict | 46:19 | |
| the second coming of Christ. | 46:22 | |
| Well I understood a little of his theologizing, | 46:26 | |
| and shared with him the hope of the second coming. | 46:30 | |
| But when he said that we could do nothing, | 46:33 | |
| I was confused. | 46:36 | |
| Because he turned and asked us for three million dollars | 46:39 | |
| to finance one of his programs that he was doing overseas. | 46:41 | |
| And I crossed myself with all reverends, | 46:44 | |
| and agreed within myself | 46:48 | |
| that I'd not send him a cotton-pickin' penny. | 46:49 | |
| Because if what I give and what I do | 46:53 | |
| and what I pray for doesn't make any difference, | 46:55 | |
| then why waste all that energy and money and time. | 46:58 | |
| Jesus came to save us and to save the world. | 47:03 | |
| He didn't expect us to be a bunch of discontented losers. | 47:08 | |
| He taught us to pray thy will be done on Earth | 47:14 | |
| as it is in heaven. | 47:17 | |
| And He didn't tell us to watch the judgment day clock. | 47:19 | |
| He told us to go ye into all the world | 47:22 | |
| and make disciples. | 47:26 | |
| I was standing in a lawyer's office just a bit ago, | 47:28 | |
| and on his wall he had an interesting inscription. | 47:31 | |
| It simply said, "All good things come to those who wait | 47:35 | |
| "if you're willing to work | 47:40 | |
| like heaven while you're waiting". | 47:42 | |
| I close with this reference. | 47:46 | |
| Harvey Cox, a theologian from Harvard, | 47:48 | |
| who has done a lot to stimulate the thinking of our time, | 47:52 | |
| about seventeen years ago wrote a book called | 47:55 | |
| 'A Secular City', and I suspect on the basis of | 47:58 | |
| some of his meandering in the book, | 48:01 | |
| he thought the church would be out of business by this time, | 48:04 | |
| but here we are, still at it. | 48:06 | |
| So he wrote another book, | 48:09 | |
| entitled 'Religion in the Secular City'. | 48:11 | |
| And in this one he has a pity kind of thing that pierces. | 48:15 | |
| He said, "Through all the centuries, | 48:19 | |
| "the Church of Jesus Christ, | 48:21 | |
| "has made its crucifixion theology central | 48:24 | |
| "and that is the way it must be, for He was wounded | 48:27 | |
| "for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, | 48:32 | |
| "the chastisement of our peace was upon Him | 48:36 | |
| "and by His stripes, we are healed, | 48:38 | |
| "it is through the cross that | 48:40 | |
| "we perceive the meaning of grace." | 48:42 | |
| But Harvey says now is the time | 48:46 | |
| for us to raise to the same level of emphasis, | 48:50 | |
| the theology of the resurrection, | 48:55 | |
| because today, | 48:59 | |
| the world needs a winner. | 49:02 | |
| We need to announce to the world, | 49:05 | |
| that all that Christ has given us, | 49:08 | |
| the lessons, the life, | 49:12 | |
| the eternal dimension, the love, | 49:16 | |
| that is a winning message. | 49:21 | |
| It still has the comeuppance that can save | 49:24 | |
| us | 49:28 | |
| and can save the world. | 49:30 | |
| That is the race that we are in. | 49:32 | |
| Run the race to win. | 49:37 | |
| Run straight toward the goal. | 49:42 | |
| And run with purpose in every step. | 49:46 | |
| And run with patience looking unto Jesus, | 49:50 | |
| who is the author and the finisher of our faith. | 49:54 | |
| So be it, | 49:59 | |
| and Amen. | 50:01 | |
| (organ music) | 50:11 | |
| (choir singing) | 50:49 | |
| - | The Lord be with you | 53:35 |
| Church Members | And also with you. | 53:36 |
| - | Let us pray. | 53:38 |
| Great and loving God, | 53:48 | |
| you hear our prayers before we speak | 53:52 | |
| and answer before we even know our need. | 53:55 | |
| Though we cannot pray, | 54:00 | |
| may your spirit pray in us, | 54:03 | |
| drawing us to you and toward our neighbors. | 54:05 | |
| We pray for the Church of Jesus Christ, | 54:13 | |
| it begun maintained and promoted by your spirit | 54:16 | |
| may be true, glad, and active always, doing your will. | 54:19 | |
| We pray for those who serve the church in special ways, | 54:26 | |
| preaching and teaching, ruling and showing charity, | 54:31 | |
| that they may never lose heart. | 54:37 | |
| We pray for those who govern us, | 54:42 | |
| who make and administer or judge our laws, | 54:47 | |
| may this country ever be a land of free and abled persons, | 54:51 | |
| who welcome exiles and who work for justice. | 54:56 | |
| We pray for poor people who are hungry | 55:01 | |
| or who are housed in cramped places. | 55:04 | |
| Increase in us and all who prosper, | 55:08 | |
| concern for the disinherited. | 55:11 | |
| We pray for sick people who suffer pain | 55:15 | |
| or struggle with demons in the mind, | 55:19 | |
| who silently cry out for healing, | 55:21 | |
| particularly those in the hospital of this university. | 55:24 | |
| Pray they be patient, brave and trusting. | 55:28 | |
| We pray for the dying who face final mystery. | 55:33 | |
| May they enjoy light and life intensely. | 55:40 | |
| May they keep dignity and greet death unafraid, | 55:43 | |
| assured of your love. | 55:48 | |
| We pray for people who are alone and lonely, | 55:53 | |
| who have no one to call an easy friendship. | 55:57 | |
| May they be remembered and befriended | 56:00 | |
| and know of your care for them. | 56:02 | |
| We pray for families, for parents and children and youth, | 56:07 | |
| may they enjoy each other. | 56:13 | |
| May they honor one another and forgive | 56:17 | |
| as happily as we are forgiven in your great mercy. | 56:19 | |
| Hear these prayers, which we lift up for others, Amen. | 56:25 | |
| As a forgiving and reconciled people, | 56:34 | |
| let us now in generosity and spirit, | 56:37 | |
| return some of God's gifts for God's work in this place. | 56:41 | |
| (organ music) | 56:57 | |
| (solo opera singer) | 57:34 | |
| (choir singing) | 59:42 | |
| (organ music) | 1:01:56 | |
| ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 1:03:39 | |
| ♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪ | 1:03:46 | |
| ♪ Praise him above ye heavenly host ♪ | 1:03:54 | |
| ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:04:01 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:04:10 | |
| - | Gracious God, we give thanks that you | 1:04:19 |
| have granted us time and place apart, | 1:04:21 | |
| to hear your word and praise your name. | 1:04:24 | |
| We have felt your presence with us, | 1:04:28 | |
| and give thanks for your sustenance in life's way. | 1:04:30 | |
| Our Father, who art in heaven, hallow be thy name, | 1:04:36 | |
| thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth, | 1:04:40 | |
| as it is in heaven. | 1:04:44 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:04:45 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:04:48 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 1:04:50 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 1:04:53 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 1:04:56 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, | 1:04:58 | |
| of the power and the glory forever, | 1:04:59 | |
| Amen. | 1:05:02 | |
| (organ music) | 1:05:06 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:05:43 |