WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.860 --> 00:00:07.860 How warmly I have been welcomed as your guest. 2 00:00:08.460 --> 00:00:10.270 And how eagerly I greet you 3 00:00:10.270 --> 00:00:12.920 in the name of the Father, 4 00:00:12.920 --> 00:00:14.830 and of the son, 5 00:00:14.830 --> 00:00:19.530 and of the Holy Spirit. 6 00:00:19.530 --> 00:00:23.003 The textual passage 7 00:00:23.003 --> 00:00:28.003 is Psalm 73. 8 00:00:28.090 --> 00:00:33.068 I begin with verse 24. 9 00:00:33.975 --> 00:00:38.645 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel. 10 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:41.850 And afterward, 11 00:00:41.850 --> 00:00:46.738 thou will receive me to glory. 12 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:57.320 There is in this text at least four gifts 13 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:00.861 to which I call your attention. 14 00:01:00.861 --> 00:01:03.030 They are gifts from God 15 00:01:03.030 --> 00:01:07.750 which are pertinent for your journey and mine. 16 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:09.500 Not only during this year, 17 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:14.004 the first month of which is almost over. 18 00:01:14.004 --> 00:01:16.962 But during the rest of this year 19 00:01:16.962 --> 00:01:21.962 and for the rest of our lives here. 20 00:01:22.027 --> 00:01:25.063 I speak of gifts, 21 00:01:25.063 --> 00:01:28.786 mindful of what Martialis once wrote, 22 00:01:28.786 --> 00:01:33.697 Gifts are like hooks. 23 00:01:33.697 --> 00:01:36.570 He said that lamenting the craftiness of humans 24 00:01:36.570 --> 00:01:41.570 who give in order to seduce by such a favor. 25 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:45.930 And in turn win favors from those to whom 26 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:48.751 the gifts were given. 27 00:01:48.751 --> 00:01:52.285 But God's gifts are never hooks. 28 00:01:52.285 --> 00:01:56.846 They're always helps. 29 00:01:56.846 --> 00:02:01.846 And I am eager to share the enumeration of these four gifts 30 00:02:01.899 --> 00:02:06.208 with you this morning. 31 00:02:06.208 --> 00:02:08.410 First of all, 32 00:02:08.410 --> 00:02:13.233 for your journey and mine, there is the obvious gift 33 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:19.798 of guiding counsel. 34 00:02:19.798 --> 00:02:24.791 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel. 35 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:31.230 The counsel of God issues from his wisdom 36 00:02:31.230 --> 00:02:36.230 and appeals to our need because of our 37 00:02:36.290 --> 00:02:38.560 constitutional ignorance 38 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:43.560 as George Buttrick used to put it. 39 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.510 We humans do not know 40 00:02:46.510 --> 00:02:49.600 how best to proceed with the living of our days, 41 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:52.870 apart from the wise counsel which God grants 42 00:02:52.870 --> 00:02:55.870 for our guidance. 43 00:02:55.870 --> 00:02:58.630 The counsel issues from wisdom, yes. 44 00:02:58.630 --> 00:03:02.440 And immediately relates to our condition. 45 00:03:02.440 --> 00:03:07.440 And it does so, honoring our freedom. 46 00:03:07.463 --> 00:03:10.510 But we need the counsel because we are free, 47 00:03:10.510 --> 00:03:13.085 since we humans are chronic mistake makers 48 00:03:13.085 --> 00:03:16.731 when left entirely to ourselves. 49 00:03:16.731 --> 00:03:18.770 God offers and gives this kind of counsel 50 00:03:18.770 --> 00:03:23.368 because we need such direction. 51 00:03:23.368 --> 00:03:28.368 Mark you the counsel of God is not mere advice giving, 52 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:32.008 it is always conversational. 53 00:03:32.008 --> 00:03:34.225 He 54 00:03:34.225 --> 00:03:36.080 offers. 55 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:40.460 We have the freedom to accept or reject. 56 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:42.130 But even when we reject, 57 00:03:42.130 --> 00:03:45.800 we do not do so in an absolute freedom, 58 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:47.870 but in a relative one. 59 00:03:47.870 --> 00:03:51.210 Because always there is human freedom 60 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:56.053 bounded by divine sovereignty. 61 00:03:57.890 --> 00:04:00.142 Roger Hazelton used to say, 62 00:04:00.142 --> 00:04:02.520 "God has a controlling interest in the course 63 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:04.820 of our living from day to day. 64 00:04:04.820 --> 00:04:08.960 It is an interest on which we may rely 65 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:13.770 and with which we may in some real measure cooperate." 66 00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:17.800 The psalmist understood that. 67 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:19.830 And in the text which I read, 68 00:04:19.830 --> 00:04:23.210 he was affirming his openness to receive 69 00:04:23.210 --> 00:04:25.890 the guiding counsel of God 70 00:04:25.890 --> 00:04:30.890 as he would make his journey on through life. 71 00:04:31.400 --> 00:04:35.365 This theme of divine counsel is highlighted in the psalms. 72 00:04:35.365 --> 00:04:40.340 Psalm 16, verse 7, it's a near parallel to the text I read. 73 00:04:40.340 --> 00:04:45.340 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel. 74 00:04:45.830 --> 00:04:50.460 While in Psalm 32:8, God is quoted as promising, 75 00:04:50.460 --> 00:04:54.560 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go. 76 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:59.550 I will guide you with mine eye upon you. 77 00:05:00.443 --> 00:05:03.102 As for the watchful eyes of God, 78 00:05:03.102 --> 00:05:05.395 Howard Thurman 79 00:05:05.395 --> 00:05:07.816 put it like this. 80 00:05:07.816 --> 00:05:11.350 The burning stare of the eyes of God, 81 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:14.520 pierces my innermost core. 82 00:05:14.520 --> 00:05:16.060 Beyond my strength. 83 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:17.400 Beyond my weakness. 84 00:05:17.400 --> 00:05:19.090 Beyond what I am. 85 00:05:19.090 --> 00:05:23.460 Beyond what I would be until my refuge 86 00:05:23.460 --> 00:05:28.388 is in Him alone. 87 00:05:29.780 --> 00:05:33.523 Those who rightly value life, 88 00:05:33.523 --> 00:05:36.860 want God's counsel. 89 00:05:36.860 --> 00:05:40.110 And they follow it with a very responsible freedom. 90 00:05:40.110 --> 00:05:44.810 Aware, as the Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, 91 00:05:44.810 --> 00:05:46.941 grippingly put it, 92 00:05:46.941 --> 00:05:51.478 Emancipation from the bondage of the soil, 93 00:05:51.478 --> 00:05:55.293 does not mean freedom for the tree. 94 00:05:55.293 --> 00:05:59.650 It means death. 95 00:05:59.650 --> 00:06:03.570 Fullness of life comes in receiving this gift 96 00:06:03.570 --> 00:06:06.072 that God offers for our journey. 97 00:06:06.072 --> 00:06:11.003 The gift of guiding counsel. 98 00:06:11.890 --> 00:06:15.247 Thou dost guide me 99 00:06:15.247 --> 00:06:20.245 with thy counsel. 100 00:06:21.328 --> 00:06:26.130 That counsel ensures a wise use of the second gift 101 00:06:26.130 --> 00:06:28.460 which I enumerate. 102 00:06:28.460 --> 00:06:33.460 Namely a personal share in Time. 103 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:38.481 Capital T. 104 00:06:38.481 --> 00:06:39.580 For the text goes on to say, 105 00:06:39.580 --> 00:06:41.360 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel, 106 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.350 and afterward thou will receive me to glory. 107 00:06:45.350 --> 00:06:48.573 You and I are not there at that ultimate point 108 00:06:48.573 --> 00:06:52.660 to which the psalmist pointed when he spoke of glory. 109 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:56.830 That essential estate 110 00:06:56.830 --> 00:06:59.250 toward which we are heading, 111 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:01.920 which is held out for us 112 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.710 as a benefit 113 00:07:04.710 --> 00:07:08.070 to crown our years 114 00:07:08.070 --> 00:07:11.210 and to grant us that privileged position 115 00:07:11.210 --> 00:07:14.400 for which we were born. 116 00:07:14.400 --> 00:07:15.950 Glory. 117 00:07:15.950 --> 00:07:19.230 That weighted existence that means more 118 00:07:19.230 --> 00:07:20.500 than we could ever imagine. 119 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:22.410 For no eyes have ever seen it. 120 00:07:22.410 --> 00:07:25.360 Nor any ear heard fully about it. 121 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.395 But the heart yearns for it. 122 00:07:28.395 --> 00:07:31.253 And the psalmist knew he would reach it 123 00:07:31.253 --> 00:07:36.253 if he followed counsel and wisely handled his days 124 00:07:37.536 --> 00:07:42.296 as he invested his personal share in Time. 125 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.370 As a sharer in Time, you and I are affected by one of the 126 00:07:48.370 --> 00:07:52.250 most profound riddles to which the human mind 127 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:55.810 has ever been directed. 128 00:07:55.810 --> 00:07:59.230 It's very difficult to define time precisely. 129 00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:01.943 But yet all of us know what it is, 130 00:08:01.943 --> 00:08:04.560 We experience it daily. 131 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.060 And in such intimacy that 132 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:09.190 we fear it. 133 00:08:09.190 --> 00:08:12.652 For the more time we experience, 134 00:08:12.652 --> 00:08:17.652 the more we tend to be bothered about living. 135 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:22.710 All of us know time as a constant that is universal. 136 00:08:22.710 --> 00:08:25.150 It's everywhere. 137 00:08:25.150 --> 00:08:27.200 It touches everyone. 138 00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:28.800 It is relentless in its pace. 139 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:32.010 And it is unavoidable in its effects. 140 00:08:32.010 --> 00:08:35.570 We experience time as a succession of moments. 141 00:08:35.570 --> 00:08:39.260 And as we move from one moment into another, 142 00:08:39.260 --> 00:08:41.890 or as the moments move within us, 143 00:08:41.890 --> 00:08:44.290 or pile up in us, 144 00:08:44.290 --> 00:08:47.070 we're usually anxious to see every moment confirm 145 00:08:47.070 --> 00:08:48.500 the one that went before. 146 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:51.250 And then complete the one that went before. 147 00:08:51.250 --> 00:08:52.870 And then connect meaningfully 148 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:57.371 with the moment that comes afterward. 149 00:08:57.371 --> 00:09:02.371 We're anxious about time. 150 00:09:03.140 --> 00:09:06.990 We wonder about time. 151 00:09:06.990 --> 00:09:09.100 We are proud of time, 152 00:09:09.100 --> 00:09:13.038 As when we count our age. 153 00:09:13.038 --> 00:09:17.903 Or we hide time as when we don't want to betray our age. 154 00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:23.616 Time is something we take, 155 00:09:23.616 --> 00:09:27.252 something we use. 156 00:09:27.252 --> 00:09:31.623 But time is also something that takes us 157 00:09:31.623 --> 00:09:33.858 forever onward 158 00:09:33.858 --> 00:09:36.590 and finally takes us away. 159 00:09:36.590 --> 00:09:39.960 As Isaac Watts put it in the hymn we sometimes sing, 160 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.060 Time, like an ever rolling stream, 161 00:09:43.060 --> 00:09:46.180 bears all its sons away. 162 00:09:46.180 --> 00:09:51.090 They fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day. 163 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:54.373 What is time? 164 00:09:54.373 --> 00:09:59.311 Something that puzzles the mind and ages the body. 165 00:10:02.460 --> 00:10:05.570 Frenchman Blaise Pascal 166 00:10:05.570 --> 00:10:08.520 admitted the riddle that time poses. 167 00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:10.930 And he stood in awe before God as he contemplated 168 00:10:10.930 --> 00:10:13.080 his own personal share in time 169 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:16.829 and wrote in his Pensées, 170 00:10:16.829 --> 00:10:20.949 When I consider the short duration of my life, 171 00:10:20.949 --> 00:10:24.600 swallowed up in the eternity before and after. 172 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:29.183 The little space which I fill and even can see, 173 00:10:29.183 --> 00:10:31.850 engulfed in the immensity of spaces of 174 00:10:31.850 --> 00:10:35.590 which I am ignorant, and which know me not, 175 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:40.131 I am frightened. 176 00:10:40.131 --> 00:10:42.871 Who has put me here? 177 00:10:42.871 --> 00:10:45.580 By whose order and direction have this place 178 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:49.237 and this time been allotted to me? 179 00:10:49.237 --> 00:10:51.967 He knew the answer just as you and I know the answer. 180 00:10:51.967 --> 00:10:52.993 God. 181 00:10:52.993 --> 00:10:56.221 He was not raising this question out of his doubt. 182 00:10:56.221 --> 00:10:59.396 He was raising it in the spirit of awe. 183 00:10:59.396 --> 00:11:02.678 Because he wondered 184 00:11:02.678 --> 00:11:07.593 about the grand privilege of sharing in time 185 00:11:07.593 --> 00:11:11.925 in such a personal way. 186 00:11:11.925 --> 00:11:15.190 And he remembered also that eventful moment in time 187 00:11:15.190 --> 00:11:17.710 when he surrounded to the claiming 188 00:11:17.710 --> 00:11:20.525 touch of God upon his life. 189 00:11:20.525 --> 00:11:23.400 And he wrote in his diary about the fire 190 00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:25.150 that had come into his life 191 00:11:25.150 --> 00:11:28.240 as he considered and prayed to the God 192 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:33.155 of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Jesus Christ. 193 00:11:33.155 --> 00:11:36.370 There is a way to handle time rightly. 194 00:11:36.370 --> 00:11:41.370 It is by receiving and obeying the guiding counsel of God. 195 00:11:45.418 --> 00:11:48.940 Two mysteries intersect within you and me. 196 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:51.400 Being 197 00:11:51.400 --> 00:11:55.385 and Time. 198 00:11:55.385 --> 00:12:00.335 And we need divine council for the handling of both. 199 00:12:05.100 --> 00:12:08.875 I have only just a minute 200 00:12:08.875 --> 00:12:12.690 only 60 seconds in it forced upon me. 201 00:12:12.690 --> 00:12:13.890 Can't refuse it. 202 00:12:13.890 --> 00:12:14.723 Didn't seek it. 203 00:12:14.723 --> 00:12:15.580 Didn't choose it. 204 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:17.940 But it's up to me to use it, 205 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:20.996 give account if I abuse it. 206 00:12:20.996 --> 00:12:24.600 And suffer if I lose it. 207 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:29.060 Just a tiny little minute. 208 00:12:29.060 --> 00:12:34.060 But eternity is in it. 209 00:12:37.430 --> 00:12:42.010 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel 210 00:12:42.010 --> 00:12:45.645 and afterward 211 00:12:45.645 --> 00:12:50.645 will receive me to glory. 212 00:12:51.195 --> 00:12:55.992 There's a third gift 213 00:12:55.992 --> 00:12:58.977 about which this text speaks, 214 00:12:58.977 --> 00:13:03.927 but one senses this gift only as one reads the entire psalm 215 00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:10.011 from which the text emerges. 216 00:13:10.011 --> 00:13:14.451 It is the gift of perspective, 217 00:13:14.451 --> 00:13:19.451 which steadies the mind while we live. 218 00:13:19.830 --> 00:13:23.540 As you begin the psalm you discover, 219 00:13:23.540 --> 00:13:25.420 that he arrives at this point, 220 00:13:25.420 --> 00:13:27.360 which is verse 24, 221 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:31.250 after a very crucial encounter with life 222 00:13:31.250 --> 00:13:35.390 and with an experience which made him wonder about God 223 00:13:35.390 --> 00:13:39.120 and about the meaning of things. 224 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.190 It begins with an affirmation, 225 00:13:41.190 --> 00:13:43.170 something he had learned while 226 00:13:43.170 --> 00:13:45.280 hearing the 227 00:13:45.280 --> 00:13:50.280 generations of worshipers sing or chant at the temple. 228 00:13:50.392 --> 00:13:53.560 But now life has brought into his awareness 229 00:13:53.560 --> 00:13:57.630 some problems that he cannot solve, 230 00:13:57.630 --> 00:14:02.630 and he wonders did he learn rightly. 231 00:14:03.210 --> 00:14:06.690 This is what he had heard and perhaps himself had sung 232 00:14:06.690 --> 00:14:10.380 with the thousands of others as they came 233 00:14:10.380 --> 00:14:14.790 in their pilgrimage to Jerusalem to praise and honor God. 234 00:14:14.790 --> 00:14:17.890 Truly God is good to the upright 235 00:14:17.890 --> 00:14:21.160 to those who are pure in heart. 236 00:14:21.160 --> 00:14:25.765 That was the affirmation. 237 00:14:25.765 --> 00:14:27.170 He states it. 238 00:14:27.170 --> 00:14:30.480 And then tells how he had been forced by life 239 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.800 to reconsider it. 240 00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:34.510 Verse 2. 241 00:14:34.510 --> 00:14:37.716 But as for me, 242 00:14:37.716 --> 00:14:40.260 my feet had almost stumbled. 243 00:14:40.260 --> 00:14:42.330 My steps had well nigh slipped. 244 00:14:42.330 --> 00:14:44.700 Because I was envious of the arrogant 245 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:48.170 when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 246 00:14:48.170 --> 00:14:49.850 Here is a man who looks out on life 247 00:14:49.850 --> 00:14:54.850 and he sees that those who are godly 248 00:14:55.420 --> 00:14:58.200 are having a hard time of it. 249 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:01.965 While those who don't profess any godliness, 250 00:15:01.965 --> 00:15:03.570 nor do they seek it, 251 00:15:03.570 --> 00:15:08.060 seem to be moving through the world with great prosperity. 252 00:15:08.060 --> 00:15:12.720 The inequity here disturbs his thought. 253 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.540 He goes on to describe these 254 00:15:15.540 --> 00:15:18.670 who seem to be the prosperous ones in the world, 255 00:15:18.670 --> 00:15:20.440 they have no pangs, 256 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:22.610 their bodies are sound and sleek, 257 00:15:22.610 --> 00:15:24.890 they're not in trouble as other men are, 258 00:15:24.890 --> 00:15:27.530 they're not stricken as other men. 259 00:15:27.530 --> 00:15:29.130 Pride is their necklace. 260 00:15:29.130 --> 00:15:31.180 Violence covers them as a garment. 261 00:15:31.180 --> 00:15:33.070 Their eyes swell out with fatness. 262 00:15:33.070 --> 00:15:37.630 Their hearts overflow with fatness and follies. 263 00:15:37.630 --> 00:15:38.780 They scoff, 264 00:15:38.780 --> 00:15:40.440 they speak with malice. 265 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.397 Loftily, they threaten oppression. 266 00:15:43.397 --> 00:15:45.807 They set their mouths against the heavens 267 00:15:45.807 --> 00:15:49.608 and their tongues strut through the earth. 268 00:15:49.608 --> 00:15:51.740 The people turn and praise them, 269 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:54.270 finding no fault in them. 270 00:15:54.270 --> 00:15:56.300 These are the wicked. 271 00:15:56.300 --> 00:15:58.900 Always at ease. 272 00:15:58.900 --> 00:16:01.860 Always increasing in riches. 273 00:16:01.860 --> 00:16:05.060 So all in vain have I kept my heart clean 274 00:16:05.060 --> 00:16:07.270 and washed my hands in innocence. 275 00:16:07.270 --> 00:16:09.650 For all the day long I have been stricken 276 00:16:09.650 --> 00:16:13.585 and chastened every morning. 277 00:16:13.585 --> 00:16:17.761 As he thinks this, he just won't say it. 278 00:16:17.761 --> 00:16:19.998 He keeps it under wraps. 279 00:16:19.998 --> 00:16:22.933 But keeping it under wraps bothers him greatly. 280 00:16:22.933 --> 00:16:25.143 You know how it is when you keep inside, 281 00:16:25.143 --> 00:16:30.143 something that you want to speak, but because of 282 00:16:30.670 --> 00:16:35.298 wisdom, you know it shouldn't be said. 283 00:16:35.298 --> 00:16:37.467 Yet it haunts you. 284 00:16:37.467 --> 00:16:39.130 So in verse 15, he goes on. 285 00:16:39.130 --> 00:16:42.510 If I had said, I will speak thus. 286 00:16:42.510 --> 00:16:44.200 In other words, I'll blurt it out! 287 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:46.810 I'll tell the world what I'm thinking. 288 00:16:46.810 --> 00:16:51.613 I would've been untrue to the generation of thy children. 289 00:16:51.613 --> 00:16:56.210 But when I thought how to wrap my mind around the problem, 290 00:16:56.210 --> 00:17:00.711 it seemed to me such a wearisome task. 291 00:17:00.711 --> 00:17:05.450 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, 292 00:17:05.450 --> 00:17:10.445 then I understood. 293 00:17:13.050 --> 00:17:17.603 There are some problems 294 00:17:17.603 --> 00:17:22.603 we learn how to deal with them only when we find perspective 295 00:17:22.810 --> 00:17:27.340 An angle by which to view the problem, 296 00:17:27.340 --> 00:17:30.590 in order to see it holistically 297 00:17:30.590 --> 00:17:34.150 in relation to everything else that is. 298 00:17:34.150 --> 00:17:39.150 This is what I mean by perspective. 299 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.260 This importance of perspective is steadily stressed 300 00:17:42.260 --> 00:17:46.038 for those who are seeking skill to become an artist, 301 00:17:46.038 --> 00:17:49.933 or a sculptor, or an architect. 302 00:17:49.933 --> 00:17:54.933 And they learn how to use lines and angles and colors 303 00:17:55.280 --> 00:17:58.750 and a point of approach. 304 00:17:58.750 --> 00:18:02.270 Learning how to rightly plan these and achieve these 305 00:18:02.270 --> 00:18:07.270 so that realism and depth can result for the viewer. 306 00:18:07.683 --> 00:18:12.683 You recall standing back from some portrait or work of art. 307 00:18:13.010 --> 00:18:17.122 In order to catch just that angle by which to view and see 308 00:18:17.122 --> 00:18:20.972 what the artist intended to convey. 309 00:18:20.972 --> 00:18:25.220 And so the psalmist finds that point in life 310 00:18:25.220 --> 00:18:29.500 by which to view all other aspects in life 311 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:32.961 with perspective. 312 00:18:32.961 --> 00:18:35.220 And now, 313 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:40.220 he's ready to live. 314 00:18:40.428 --> 00:18:43.410 This instance of perspective 315 00:18:43.410 --> 00:18:46.750 comes to us in a poem 316 00:18:46.750 --> 00:18:49.940 by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. 317 00:18:49.940 --> 00:18:54.523 A poem which he simply entitles, Life. 318 00:18:54.523 --> 00:18:58.670 Two stanzas. 319 00:18:58.670 --> 00:19:00.845 The first 320 00:19:00.845 --> 00:19:02.695 A crust of bread 321 00:19:02.695 --> 00:19:05.320 and a corner to sleep in, 322 00:19:05.320 --> 00:19:06.870 A minute to smile. 323 00:19:06.870 --> 00:19:09.900 An hour to weep in, 324 00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:11.240 A pint of joy 325 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:13.751 to a peck of trouble, 326 00:19:13.751 --> 00:19:15.090 And never a laugh 327 00:19:15.090 --> 00:19:17.710 but the moans come double; 328 00:19:17.710 --> 00:19:21.240 And that is life! 329 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:22.630 So he began, 330 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:25.230 this gifted black bard born to slave parents 331 00:19:25.230 --> 00:19:27.870 in Dayton Ohio in 1872. 332 00:19:27.870 --> 00:19:30.790 A man who was lamenting what had been a hard 333 00:19:30.790 --> 00:19:35.480 and sometimes tragic existence. 334 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:36.800 But here's a man who had, 335 00:19:36.800 --> 00:19:41.025 at some point in his life found perspective. 336 00:19:41.025 --> 00:19:43.260 And so he continued, 337 00:19:43.260 --> 00:19:46.920 adding a spiritual note because of his faith. 338 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:51.230 A crust in a corner that love makes precious. 339 00:19:51.230 --> 00:19:52.980 And a smile to warm, 340 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:55.610 and tears to refresh us. 341 00:19:55.610 --> 00:19:57.530 And joy seems sweeter 342 00:19:57.530 --> 00:20:00.690 when cares come after, 343 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:04.992 And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter; 344 00:20:04.992 --> 00:20:09.970 And that is life! 345 00:20:11.660 --> 00:20:13.660 Please notice 346 00:20:13.660 --> 00:20:16.160 that in the instance of the psalmist, 347 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:19.645 perspective came 348 00:20:19.645 --> 00:20:24.645 when he was in the sanctuary. 349 00:20:25.100 --> 00:20:28.120 While he was giving attention to the reality of God. 350 00:20:28.120 --> 00:20:32.150 While he was pondering the meaning and the rightfulness 351 00:20:32.150 --> 00:20:36.365 of the affirmations he was hearing sung, 352 00:20:36.365 --> 00:20:40.070 the questions raised by life 353 00:20:40.070 --> 00:20:42.680 or rather 354 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:47.680 the questions he'd experienced in life 355 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:51.047 found an answer 356 00:20:51.047 --> 00:20:55.910 in the setting where answers are normally expected. 357 00:20:58.110 --> 00:21:01.380 What better place than the sanctuary of God, 358 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:03.810 where religious meanings are known and valued, 359 00:21:03.810 --> 00:21:08.660 and voiced, and rehearsed, and sung? 360 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:10.810 What better place than the sanctuary 361 00:21:10.810 --> 00:21:14.250 where burdened questioning minds are most apt to find 362 00:21:14.250 --> 00:21:16.420 heaven's help and counsel? 363 00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:20.192 What better place than here 364 00:21:20.192 --> 00:21:22.760 to see what is the meaning of 365 00:21:22.760 --> 00:21:27.235 here in the light of hereafter? 366 00:21:27.235 --> 00:21:31.040 What better place than here 367 00:21:31.040 --> 00:21:33.730 by which to see life 368 00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:38.730 in the light of eternity? 369 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:43.970 And now the ancient song becomes his song. 370 00:21:44.070 --> 00:21:48.460 Truly God is good to the upright, 371 00:21:48.460 --> 00:21:51.650 to those who are pure in heart! 372 00:21:51.650 --> 00:21:56.650 Exclamation point! 373 00:21:57.130 --> 00:22:02.113 It is out of this that worship emerges. 374 00:22:03.041 --> 00:22:08.041 For we praise because 375 00:22:08.690 --> 00:22:12.300 we don't sing our way into praise, 376 00:22:12.300 --> 00:22:17.300 we sing and praise because 377 00:22:17.320 --> 00:22:21.696 God is good to the upright. 378 00:22:21.696 --> 00:22:24.170 He sees now that the future does not happen 379 00:22:24.170 --> 00:22:27.380 for those who are selfishly alive, 380 00:22:27.380 --> 00:22:32.380 but for those who are spiritually aligned. 381 00:22:32.481 --> 00:22:35.294 In his novel, Candide, 382 00:22:35.294 --> 00:22:38.490 Voltaire raises the problem of human suffering. 383 00:22:38.490 --> 00:22:43.237 And he has Candide put this question to Martin, 384 00:22:43.237 --> 00:22:47.479 "But what was this world created for?" 385 00:22:47.479 --> 00:22:50.760 And Martin replies, 386 00:22:50.760 --> 00:22:55.709 "To drive us mad." 387 00:22:56.760 --> 00:22:59.851 Right perspective 388 00:22:59.851 --> 00:23:04.796 rids us of this kind of protesting complaint against God. 389 00:23:06.520 --> 00:23:10.610 It lets us see, however dimly, 390 00:23:10.610 --> 00:23:15.360 what we see clearly enough in order to see and know 391 00:23:15.360 --> 00:23:18.096 what we are seeing. 392 00:23:18.096 --> 00:23:21.805 That God is working his purpose out. 393 00:23:21.805 --> 00:23:24.520 As year succeeds to year, 394 00:23:24.520 --> 00:23:27.870 God is working his purpose out. 395 00:23:27.870 --> 00:23:29.840 And the time is drawing near. 396 00:23:29.840 --> 00:23:31.940 Nearer and nearer draws the time. 397 00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:34.240 The time that will surely be when the earth 398 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:36.180 shall be filled with the knowledge of God 399 00:23:36.180 --> 00:23:39.913 as the waters cover the sea. 400 00:23:39.913 --> 00:23:44.020 Do you see life 401 00:23:44.020 --> 00:23:48.633 by this perspective? 402 00:23:48.633 --> 00:23:52.530 If you do, then the details of your living 403 00:23:52.530 --> 00:23:54.538 can be handled 404 00:23:54.538 --> 00:23:57.708 with a sense of privilege 405 00:23:57.708 --> 00:24:02.624 and purpose. 406 00:24:08.660 --> 00:24:10.760 Now the forth gift, 407 00:24:10.760 --> 00:24:15.760 with which I close. 408 00:24:16.020 --> 00:24:20.983 It is the unspeakable gift of God's presence with us. 409 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:24.020 Thou 410 00:24:24.020 --> 00:24:25.400 dost guide me 411 00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:28.375 with thy counsel. 412 00:24:28.375 --> 00:24:33.173 And afterward, thou will receive me to glory. 413 00:24:33.173 --> 00:24:36.720 God is best known and understood 414 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:41.460 as a companioning Thou. 415 00:24:41.460 --> 00:24:46.460 It makes prayer so meaningful 416 00:24:47.090 --> 00:24:51.000 when we know that when we speak out of our spirit 417 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.950 to address our creator, 418 00:24:54.950 --> 00:24:59.950 we're addressing the ultimate person 419 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:05.200 who regards us out of an ultimate love 420 00:25:06.060 --> 00:25:11.038 at the level of our personhood. 421 00:25:14.010 --> 00:25:15.350 There are happenings in life 422 00:25:15.350 --> 00:25:19.300 during which only the presence of God can sustain us. 423 00:25:19.300 --> 00:25:22.860 You'll meet some of those happenings. 424 00:25:22.860 --> 00:25:27.410 You have met some of those happenings. 425 00:25:27.410 --> 00:25:32.410 The awareness of the companioning presence of God 426 00:25:32.704 --> 00:25:36.550 steadies us for whatever life brings our way 427 00:25:36.550 --> 00:25:39.811 on our journey. 428 00:25:39.811 --> 00:25:42.470 One year ago, 429 00:25:42.470 --> 00:25:45.261 on this very Sunday, 430 00:25:45.261 --> 00:25:48.942 I was taken to the hospital 431 00:25:48.942 --> 00:25:52.280 right from the chapel 432 00:25:52.280 --> 00:25:57.188 deathly ill. 433 00:26:13.320 --> 00:26:18.243 Week's later, I had an operation in that hospital. 434 00:26:19.150 --> 00:26:21.678 It was touch and go. 435 00:26:21.678 --> 00:26:24.700 I did not know, nor did the doctor's know. 436 00:26:24.700 --> 00:26:29.700 Certainly my wife did not know if I would last to go home. 437 00:26:32.550 --> 00:26:35.970 But I am here today. 438 00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:38.230 Whole. 439 00:26:38.230 --> 00:26:41.930 Healthy. 440 00:26:41.930 --> 00:26:46.286 In that hospital room, 441 00:26:46.286 --> 00:26:50.527 I experienced the underside of life 442 00:26:50.527 --> 00:26:52.550 that dark, 443 00:26:52.550 --> 00:26:56.215 unknown aspect of life 444 00:26:56.215 --> 00:27:01.113 which people normally experience when they are about to die. 445 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:07.286 I have come through that. 446 00:27:07.286 --> 00:27:11.847 And I stand before you with a grateful heart 447 00:27:11.847 --> 00:27:16.711 thanking God for a longer share in time. 448 00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:22.630 And with a deeper awareness of the meaning of his presence 449 00:27:22.630 --> 00:27:26.930 to help me handle those aspects in time 450 00:27:26.930 --> 00:27:31.918 which make me wonder whether I will have any time left. 451 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:37.887 Through what have you passed within the past year? 452 00:27:37.887 --> 00:27:42.863 What are you facing now? 453 00:27:44.330 --> 00:27:47.794 Notice the affirmation of the text, 454 00:27:47.794 --> 00:27:52.221 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel. 455 00:27:52.221 --> 00:27:54.940 Wherever you are in your befuddlement, 456 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:57.530 in your puzzled state of mind. 457 00:27:57.530 --> 00:27:58.660 In your doubt. 458 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:00.720 In your severe questioning. 459 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:05.720 In your deliberation about an illness. 460 00:28:06.270 --> 00:28:10.153 As you wrestle with some perplexity. 461 00:28:10.153 --> 00:28:12.670 As you raise your prayers. 462 00:28:12.670 --> 00:28:14.990 As you drown in your tears. 463 00:28:14.990 --> 00:28:19.808 There is the eternal Thou to whom you can address yourself. 464 00:28:21.070 --> 00:28:25.953 Know that you are valued as a thou. 465 00:28:27.323 --> 00:28:32.200 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel. 466 00:28:36.790 --> 00:28:39.060 T.S. Eliot wrote about some of those happenings 467 00:28:39.060 --> 00:28:41.380 which you and I lament. 468 00:28:41.380 --> 00:28:45.373 And he wrote about them in his poem, Little Gidding. 469 00:28:45.373 --> 00:28:47.810 Here is a man with great aptness of mind. 470 00:28:47.810 --> 00:28:52.810 Filled with anxiety about the effects of time and aging. 471 00:28:55.230 --> 00:28:59.085 And he said these effects of time are usually experienced as 472 00:28:59.085 --> 00:29:02.850 gifts reserved for age to set a crown 473 00:29:02.850 --> 00:29:06.745 upon our lifetime's effort. 474 00:29:06.745 --> 00:29:09.060 But as a believer, he knew that there was more 475 00:29:09.060 --> 00:29:12.180 to look forward to in life 476 00:29:12.180 --> 00:29:17.123 than just what time does to us. 477 00:29:20.340 --> 00:29:23.600 The psalmist understood that long ago. 478 00:29:23.600 --> 00:29:25.342 Thou dost guide me with they counsel 479 00:29:25.342 --> 00:29:28.313 and afterward 480 00:29:28.313 --> 00:29:33.313 thou wilt receive me. 481 00:29:33.770 --> 00:29:36.195 To what do you look forward 482 00:29:36.195 --> 00:29:39.853 as you face each day? 483 00:29:39.853 --> 00:29:43.896 Given the gift of God's grace, 484 00:29:43.896 --> 00:29:47.293 there is for you and for me 485 00:29:47.293 --> 00:29:50.658 additional gifts 486 00:29:50.658 --> 00:29:55.658 which rightly appreciated 487 00:29:56.070 --> 00:29:59.947 can grant us a lifetime of meaning 488 00:29:59.947 --> 00:30:02.510 so that on through life's long path, 489 00:30:02.510 --> 00:30:05.730 we can chant as we go. 490 00:30:05.730 --> 00:30:09.638 From youth to age by day and night. 491 00:30:09.638 --> 00:30:12.790 in gladness and in woe, 492 00:30:12.790 --> 00:30:15.693 we can rejoice! 493 00:30:15.693 --> 00:30:17.838 Rejoice! 494 00:30:17.838 --> 00:30:19.160 Rejoice! 495 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:20.220 Give thanks! 496 00:30:20.220 --> 00:30:25.220 And sing! 497 00:30:25.470 --> 00:30:28.528 So let it be. 498 00:30:32.555 --> 00:30:35.805 (organ joyfully plays)