("All People That On Earth Do Dwell") 

- Beloved because we are sinners, having committed sins in particular and having sinful attitude in general, we do need to confess our sins before God, to repent of them and to seek his forgiveness. And because of that, let us join together our hearts and our voices in our unison prayer of confession and for pardon, let us pray. Oh Lord, most Holy, God, most mighty, who has found us wanting and yet has not forsaken us, deliver us in these days of Lenten devotion from all the luxuries and comforts of a smug private righteousness. Search us deeply, oh God, that in remembering the passion of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, our minds and hearts may be cleansed of all insincerities of merely formal poses and dubious devotions. Oh God, we have failed to practice with diligence, the elementary drudgery of training ourselves to be spiritually competent. Forgive us Lord for words uttered without serious purpose, words that have helped us to forget our need of thee. Help us now to turn again to thee, with real hunger for thy righteousness through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. God does not leave the repentant sinner uncertain about the ultimate outcome of his salvation. Again and again in scripture, the words are clear concerning those who are sorry for their sins and who intend by God's help to forsake them. He says, "Though, your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I invite you to take back to your room with you, the chapel bulletin in your hands, and to give attention to the items which are described in the announcements. There is one in which a change has been made just this morning. It is the one which has to do with the Afro-American society soul service to be held here in the chapel later today, it will be at five o'clock instead of at seven o'clock. (gentle uplift music) (singing) (singing continues) (singing continues) (singing continues) The scripture lesson this morning comes from Proverbs 1:7-9 and 20-33. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear my son, your father's instruction and reject not your mother's teaching for they are a fair garland for your head and pendant for your neck. Wisdom cries loud in the street, in the market she raises her voice; on top of the wall she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 'How long are simple ones will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you. I will make my words known to you because I have called and you refuse to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, and you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish comes upon you. Then they will call upon me but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently and will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. Would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacence of fools destroys them; but he who listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of evil.'" ("Doxology") ♪ Glory be to the Father, and to the Son ♪ ♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be ♪ ♪ World without end, amen, amen ♪ The Lord be with you? 

- And with your Spirit. 

- Let us pray. Eternal God, before whom the morning stars first sang together and who holdest in thy hands the destiny of every living thing, we worship thee. Blessed be the name of Jesus who tasted death for every man. And blessed be his glorious name that he is alive forevermore and have of the keys of death. We thank thee, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to thy abundant mercy hath begotten us again onto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Oh, thou who art the Lord of life, we pray thee to come close to each one of us and beyond the power of any human prayer, meet our secret inner needs today. Especially come to those upon whose lips, the song of triumph is weak, who see no sunshine breaking through the clouds of their shadowed lives. Make some spirit radiant today that had not expected it. Surprise with hope some who have not dared to hope, bring life to some who spirits are already dead. And from the grave of self-defeat, let there be a resurrection here of love, of joy, of strength. Oh, thou to whom a thousand years are but as yesterday when it is passed and as a watch in the night, speak to us in this holy hour and refresh our souls with a new hope. Father of all mercies, we lift to thee for healing and strength, our broken purposes and lives, remembering also all other needy ones everywhere. We pray for this bewildered world, may God sent justice and law yet rule throughout the earth that there may be peace. We pray for all whose lives are a wilderness that thou will water them with loving kindness until they bloom again. We pray for all who are beset by evil, that they may know thee as their great deliverer. For those who are afraid we pray, whether the dangers they fear are real or merely imaginary, be thou their confidence. To the lonely ones do thou show Christ as their elder brother and the holy spirit as their comforter. Especially to those who are lonely because they have been rejected by a fraternity or not chosen by a sorority, those whose imagined friends turned out not to be real friends, who feel lonely, remind them by thy grace, that the acceptance of their heavenly father is more important than the rejection of any human. Cool every fevered brow, heal every broken heart. All who are bowed down to thou lift up in thy mercy. And now God visit us through our prayer as through an open door, abide with us through this week and throughout our lives, never let us go, never let us stray from thee. We pray for this with assurance because thy son Jesus has told us to come with boldness to thee, bringing our petitions. And so we make our prayer in his name and we make our prayer in the words, which he has taught us to use in prayer saying, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. 

- May I express, first of all, my deep appreciation to Chaplain Wilkinson, to the members of the chapel board for giving me the privilege and opportunity of returning to North Carolina. As a native of this state, and one who lived here in childhood, it's always good to come back. I told the chaplain last night that I was tempted to take Tom Wolfe's, not last novel and turn it around and speak on you always go home again, because in the real sense of the word, you always look back and you always enjoy the opportunity to go home, to meet with so many old friends, to see president and Mrs. Sanford. So I congratulate you on getting, not as one president speaking about another president, but as a friend speaking about friends, that if you don't already know them and love them, you will come to know them and love them and know what a great contribution they will make to this institution. To see Ken people and to see former associates in school, former faculty associates, it is good to be back in North Carolina. Recently, I was engaged in a graduate seminar in which a student was presenting a paper on the theme that rote learning and memorization are the lowest forms of education. And I felt constrained because I was thinking about coming home at that time to disagree with the thesis, obviously a great deal of rote learning is low and the educational scheme of things, but some sticks with you. I could not help, but recall the second grade teacher that I had in Lexington, North Carolina, who had us memorize maxims or Bible verses for every letter of the alphabet. I shall not go through the whole list, but just to assure you that I can remember that; "As you would, that men should do unto you, do you even so unto them. Be sure your sins will find you out." And I can recall still the anticipation and the wonder as to what we were going to get when we got down to X, but she had one, "Except a man be born again, he will not see the kingdom of God." Beside, he drilled us well, and the drilling has stayed with me. One of the things that I recall still, one of the verses that sticks with me is the one for F, "Fear God, and keep his commandments." We hear rather little about the fear of God today. We hear instead that fear is something to be avoided in our lives, in our thoughts and in our spirits, we do not emphasize fear in educational circles as a pathway to knowledge anymore. Even though in the book of Proverbs, the thesis of that book is set out in the seventh verse of the first chapter, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and fools despise wisdom and instruction." I suppose, in part, this is due to the context in which we think about fear today. In our society and in our age, certainly Roosevelt captured the spirit of the times and the wish of the people when he listed the freedom from fear as one of the basic freedoms that we as an American people and people throughout the world we're striving for. But we are thinking of fear in terms of something to be dreaded, to be avoided at all costs. We think of it only in a negative sense of the word, about positive meaning seems to have escaped us in this day and age. Words do change their meaning. It is said that when Sir Christopher Wren had completed the construction and the planning of St Paul's, that a friend wrote him and described the new edifice as amusing, artificial and awful. And Sir Christopher Wren smile and was overjoyed because he had been complimented in every respect by that letter. For amusing was amazing. Artificial was something complimentary. It meant, not created by nature, but created in the best sense by a man. And awful meant, all inspiring or filled with awe. So it is that the word fear, while having a negative and an undesirable connotation in our time. In other times and under other circumstances, was looked upon as a desirable thing, was looked upon indeed as a pathway to knowledge, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." In our time, we have been engaged in seeking ways and means in which we could overcome our fears. It is true in religion as in every other area of life. The Old Testament has been described as a book of fear in which man stood in terror of God, in terror of the natural calamities that could beset him, in terror of the punishment that would be inflicted upon him for his evil deeds. The man trembled when he thought of it all and the majesty and the power of God almighty. But it has also been commented that the New Testament is a book of love. The theme of which perhaps can be understood in Paul's epistle to Timothy, where we are told that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. The New Testament with its emphasis upon love is designed to take the fears of man away, to remove him from trembling in contemplation of God almighty. And to think of him rather in terms of a God who is so concerned that even the hair on our head are numbered in his sights, this power that falls to the ground is known by him. And the one sheep who has gone astray is of even greater worth than all of those that are safely in the foal. Standing not in terror and in all, but rather in a relationship of love describes the emphasis of the New Testament. So it is that John Macmurray in his book 'Creative Society," published about 15 years ago, has this thesis; the task of religion is the conquest of fear. In 18th century America, the great preachers were preachers of fear and doom and terror. Jonathan Edwards, the new England congregationalist was said to speak so dramatically of the horrors of hell fire, the torments of damnation that people left his congregation literally shaking and trembling, fearful of the rath which was about to be vested upon them at any moment. In the 19th century, we saw a movement away from this. It is interesting that when the American revised version of the Bible was translated, the translators avoided the term fear in the book of Proverbs and substituted rather with the word reverence, reverence for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It represented something of the spirit of that time, for fear had a negative connotation completely. But in the American standard revised version, more recently, I'm told that this particular translation was debated at great length. And the original documents led the translators to conclude that the word fear was the proper translation to use here. And so the latest translations have returned to the word fear. Ours is a time that seeks freedom from fear, that seeks a religion, which says that the task of religion is the conquest of fear. It is true that we have overcome many of our fears. We're not afraid at least to the same thing that some of our forefathers word. Other than a few sections of Pennsylvania, you no longer see circles painted on barn doors to keep the devils out of the corners of the barns. When the Carolina and these chapel chimes, I dare say that no one gives an interpretation of the bells ringing, the fact that we are trying to drive out the devils and the demons by the noise that the bells made. And here in Christendom at one time, this was one of the primary functions of a carelog, to drive out from the community and the surrounding area, the demons, the devils, and those who would see the destruction of man. Yet in our day and time we have come to new fears. Rather than being free to fears, we probably have substituted new fears for old fears. Perhaps the most recent example of this is the attention being given to our environment and to the problem of pollution. We have suddenly become aware of the fact that through what we have been doing to our streams and to our air, we have come to a place where a man may perhaps not by an hydrogen bomb, but by the very environment we inhabit, bring about his own destruction and the destruction of our civilization. And every paper we pick up at this moment is filled with a note of fear and a note of warning. We have suddenly come to a fear of overpopulation, with the prediction that the doubling of our population in the next 30 years, may lead to food shortages and famine so severe that again, we bring about the extinction of a major portion of the human race on this planet we inhabit. In many communities of our land, there's a fear to walk in the streets. The crime wave has reached such proportions that literally individuals are unwilling to subject themselves to the dangers that may lurk. So instead of freeing ourselves from fears, we have produced new fears, or we have concentrated on new fears. The thesis of what I'm trying to say this morning is simply this; while we are engaged in trying to free ourselves from fears. And while the task of religion in the words of Macmurray is the conquest to fear. There is still a definite place, both in our lives and in our religious faith for fear and a need for fear. And it is true as it was in the Old Testament times that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There is a distinction that we need to draw about fear, and that is between what might be termed natural fears, and neurotic fears. There are some things which obviously we should be afraid of. And there are other fears that beset us, which are not fears that are justified. I was talking not long ago to my friend, George Starcher, who is president of the University of North Dakota. He told me of an experience in December that amused me. About two weeks before this incident took place, he had been approached by the student leadership on his campus who requested on a particular evening an audience with him. They wished, they said to talk about some of the problems on the campus and to present certain demands to the president. He agreed to meet at the appointed time and place. The afternoon of the meeting, he was called told that because of widespread interest among the student body, had them decided that they couldn't meet in the president's office and would have to meet in a classroom, because a number of people wanted to come. He went to the classroom and there were only two or three people there. And he was informed at that point that so many had indicated an interest in attending that they had had to move it to the gymnasium. And so they were going there. George said that as he approached the gymnasium, he saw what looked like six to 7,000 cars around. And then fear and trembling and wondering what in the world was going to take place. He entered the building where upon he was greeted by a sign, happy birthday, George, and the song being sang by the student body. It was a little surprising because his birthday was in January, but they explained to him that examinations would be going on in January so they decided to have his birthday party in December, total surprise. But he said that you have no idea the kind of fear that overcomes you when you think that perhaps suddenly you're going to be confronted by 6,000 complainers, demanders, all of them are going to wish to have a voice and expressing the concerns of the student body at a particular time. Well, he said looking back, he had no reason to be afraid, and yet he's trembled. A natural fear and a neurotic fear, perhaps it's best illustrated by the fact that when you leave this chapel and start to cross the street, it will be the path of wisdom and good judgment to look both ways. Not only are college driver is dangerous, but all other drivers are dangerous and you need to have a positive kind of fear that causes you to be cautious before you step out into the street. But if you are so fearful of crossing the street that you're totally mobilized at the curb and cannot move, we would have to say that this becomes a kind of neurotic fear. There is a broad and educational circles today, a movement to do away with tests, examinations, and grades. There are certainly some merit in the movement itself. One of the reasons that is put forth sometimes for doing away with tests, examinations and grades, is that students approach the moment of decision with such great fear and trembling that they are completely unable to do their work. And so to get away from the fears, which plague and beset our students, let's do away with the tests and the exams and the grades that are given. This is one of the least justifiable reasons obviously. While there can be a neurotic fear and there is among certain students a neurotic of exams, tests, and grades, it is good to have a healthy fear overcoming examination or a test. It is good to be worried about the kind of grade that will come in the course, not because this in and of itself is significant, but it represents rather the larger fear of ignorance or the larger fear of lost opportunity, which may assert itself into the future. And if fear motivates us to learn more, to do a better job in the classroom, to grasp the content and the subject matter to a greater extent, then one can say that this is not only a natural, but a good kind of fear to have. So it is in terms of the fear of God, there can be a natural, good, healthy fear of God, or that can be a neurotic fear. The neurotic kind of fear that keeps on living and trembling at all moments fearful of the day of doom coming at any given time or fearful of the damnation and retribution to such a degree that we're unable to engage in constructive activities on behalf of the kingdom of God. But a fear of God which is healthy is basic to the understanding of God and is the first step in religious knowledge. It is this, because first of all, it acknowledges the existence of God. And it proclaims God is a being of power and of words. The greatest danger that we faced religiously today comes not from those who deny the existence of God or who proclaim the death of God, but those who act as though the existence of God does not matter. All those who choose simply blithefully to ignore any of the implications to the existence of God in our day and in our society. The fear of the Lord begins with the acknowledgement of his existence. It does not ignore him, but it takes him into account. And thus it becomes one of the foundations of our understanding of God. One of the foundations of the understanding of our universe, it serves also as a foundation of understanding about ourselves, because the fear of God brings us to conceive of ourselves as his creatures. We acknowledge that we have not created ourselves, nor do we sustain ourselves. It is an assertion that we are created in the image of God. It does not demean a lower man because it proclaims that because of the fact of his creation by God and creation in the image of God, he is a being of infinite word. It sees man in a prospective relationship, which enables him in my opinion, to function most successfully and creatively and most worthily in our society and in our day. The fear of the Lord, again, motivates us in thought and action. You recall Jesus' reference to the judge. He said, neither feared God nor man. And who acted as though there was no God and as though man were insignificant and unworthy. we have heard a great deal about the tragedy and the historical calamity of holy wars. And certainly they are to be cried, regretted, avoided, condemned in every fashion. But we have not heard quite as much about some of the tragedy vested upon man by those who have waged unholy wars or those who have acted without a fear of the glory, without even a concept of his existence. Certainly the unholy wars have contributed to the tragedy of mankind as much as the holy wars have and perhaps even more so. The judge who neither feared God nor man or considered man or regarded man is symbolic of an individual destroying human beings and destroying our society. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Should issue forth and do a new concept of the divine retribution for those who may break the laws of God. Those who may go contrary to his will and to his purpose and of the retribution which faces those who live not in love, but in hatred with their fellow man. Who are motivated by selfishness rather than service, who see themselves as of all consuming importance and of others is of no significance. It is right that the task of religion should be the conquest of fear, but it is also true that religious faith and religious endeavors succeed only when there is a fear of the Lord which leads us to the beginning of knowledge. And there's a postscript one might say that in combating the neurotic fears of our times, the Christian faith provides us with an antidote in faith. Again, faith is a word that sometimes is used today in a derogatory sense. That is, it is sneered at, it is derided, it's put in opposition to knowledge, something that's not quite respectable. The words of H. L. Mencken who had this point of view concerning faith. He defined it as an impossible belief than an improbable occurrence. But the words of Paul are of much greater significance. That faith is the substance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. It do along with fear as a pathway to knowledge, it leads us to even greater understanding and greater truth. This was well described by the late professor Santayana of Harvard in some little verses. "O WORLD, thou chooses not the better part! It is not wisdom to be only wise, and on the inward vision close the eyes, but it is wisdom to believe the heart. Columbus found a world, and had no chart, save one that faith deciphered in the skies. To trust the soul's invincible surmise with all his science and his only art. Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine that lights the pathway but one step ahead across a void of mystery and dread. Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine by which alone the mortal man is led unto the thinking of the thought divine." Faith in ourselves and others and in God represent the positive approach to the conquests, the fears which we should not possess. But the fear of the Lord enables us to produce the basis on which a great faith can be built. A faith that leads forth into responsive and creative action. And substance do not give you fears as all bad and never accept the idea that faith is synonymous with ignorance. Recognize rather that the right fears are the beginning of knowledge and that it is faith that leads us to the discovery of knowledge and its most significant areas of life. Let us pray. Help us oh God, to hold and fear in all the things that should be feared and to reject through faith, those things which can destroy our capacity for creative action through neurotic fear. Give us we pray thee, the understanding of what constitutes the great dangers to ourselves and to others. And give us the faith to move forward in the overcoming of these dangers in fulfilling and doing thy will and thy purpose for our lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen. ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ ♪ Grant us in this burning hour ♪ ♪ Grace to ask these gifts of thee ♪ ♪ Daring hearts and spirits free ♪ ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ ♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ ♪ We are not the first to be ♪ ♪ Banished by our fears from thee ♪ ♪ Give us courage, let us hear ♪ ♪ Heaven's trumpets ringing clear ♪ ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ ♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ ♪ Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended ♪ ♪ That we to judge thee have in hate pretended ♪ ♪ By foes derided, by thine own rejected ♪ ♪ O most afflicted ♪ ♪ Who was the guilty ♪ ♪ Who brought this upon thee ♪ ♪ Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee ♪ ♪ 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee ♪ ♪ I crucified thee ♪ ♪ For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation ♪ ♪ Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation ♪ ♪ Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion ♪ ♪ For my salvation ♪ ♪ Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee ♪ ♪ I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee ♪ ♪ Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving ♪ ♪ Not my deserving ♪ ♪ Jesus, your boundless love to me ♪ ♪ No thought can reach, no tongue declare ♪ ♪ Dwell in my heart eternally ♪ ♪ And reign without a rival there ♪ ♪ Thine wholly, thine alone I live ♪ ♪ Myself to thee and thou in me ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ 

- Almighty God, we stand here quietly now, pondering the loss that can come to us and to thee by misplacing our money and misplacing our lives. Mindful of the game that can come to all. If we seek thy knowledge and I will and follow. And so now we dedicate both our money and ourselves, to Jesus Christ, and we pray for his grace as we use them, amen. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ (bell ringing) (bright uplift music) (congregation murmuring)