Robert T. Young - "The Poor You Have with You Always" (March 29, 1981)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| (melancholy orchestral music) | 0:05 | |
| (moves into lively orchestral music) | 5:10 | |
| (moves into somber orchestral music) | 11:19 | |
| (moves into slow hymnal music) | 19:45 | |
| ♪ And thy holy presence ♪ | 19:46 | |
| ♪ Thy holy presence ♪ | 19:52 | |
| ♪ Thy holy presence ♪ | 19:56 | |
| ♪ On high ♪ | 20:06 | |
| ♪ We pray ♪ | 20:16 | |
| ♪ Thy holy presence ♪ | 20:22 | |
| (moves into lively hymnal music) | 20:38 | |
| - | Oh magnify the Lord with me | 24:51 |
| and let us exalt God's name together. | 24:53 | |
| Now let us test and examine our ways | 24:58 | |
| and return to the Lord our God. | 25:01 | |
| For the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. | 25:04 | |
| A broken heart, oh God, you will not despise. | 25:09 | |
| Let us pray. | 25:13 | |
| Thus says the Lord, "Come, you that are blessed by my God. | 25:25 | |
| Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you | 25:30 | |
| ever since the creation of the world. | 25:34 | |
| I was hungry and you fed me. | 25:37 | |
| Thirsty, and you gave me a drink. | 25:40 | |
| I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, | 25:43 | |
| naked, and you clothed me. | 25:47 | |
| I was sick and you took care of me. | 25:49 | |
| In prison, and you visited me." | 25:52 | |
| (congregation chants in unison) | 25:56 | |
| The Lord will reply, "I tell you, | 26:19 | |
| whenever you did this for one of the least important | 26:22 | |
| of these brothers and sisters of mine, | 26:26 | |
| you did it for me." | 26:29 | |
| (congregation chants) | 26:32 | |
| Give and it will be given to you. | 26:34 | |
| Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, | 26:37 | |
| running over will be put into your lap. | 26:41 | |
| For the measure you give, will be the measure you get back. | 26:45 | |
| Amen. | 26:49 | |
| (slow hymnal music) | 26:56 | |
| Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. | 27:43 | |
| You who come to me shall not hunger. | 27:47 | |
| And you who believe in me shall never thirst." | 27:50 | |
| Let us give thanks for God is good | 27:55 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 27:57 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 28:01 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. | 28:05 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 28:09 | |
| We welcome you this beautiful spring morning | 28:15 | |
| to worship with us here in the Duke University Chapel. | 28:18 | |
| Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent | 28:22 | |
| and we invite you to participate in a spiritual pilgrammage. | 28:25 | |
| Your own journey of faith as we seek again | 28:31 | |
| this season to become disciples | 28:35 | |
| of our Lord and savior, Jesus, the Christ. | 28:38 | |
| We have several concerns that we would like | 28:45 | |
| to share with you today by way of announcement. | 28:48 | |
| You will note that there is a special offering | 28:52 | |
| being received today. | 28:54 | |
| All the offering will go to Meals on Wheels. | 28:56 | |
| And this will be used in the Durham community. | 29:00 | |
| We hope that you will contribute much to this program. | 29:03 | |
| They are desperately in need of our assistance at this time. | 29:09 | |
| We ask that you read the insert | 29:15 | |
| on mental retardation Sunday in the bulletin today. | 29:17 | |
| And I would like to share with you that a representative | 29:21 | |
| from mental retardation agencies | 29:25 | |
| will be available to talk with you to answer any questions | 29:28 | |
| you might have about community assistance. | 29:32 | |
| She will meet with you after the service today | 29:36 | |
| in the memorial chapel. | 29:39 | |
| Next Sunday, we will have the Durham Crop Walk. | 29:43 | |
| Sunday, April the 5th. | 29:46 | |
| Registration will begin at 1 o'clock | 29:49 | |
| at the entrance to the Wallace Wade Stadium. | 29:52 | |
| You will note that there will be sponsor sheets | 29:56 | |
| and more information near the desk | 29:58 | |
| at the chapel north X today. | 30:01 | |
| If you would like to sign up and find out more about this, | 30:04 | |
| you may do so after the service today. | 30:08 | |
| 1/4 of the moneys collected in the Durham Crop Walk | 30:11 | |
| will go toward Durham Meals on Wheels. | 30:16 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 30:26 |
| Almighty and most merciful God, | 30:28 | |
| you have given the Bible to be the revelation | 30:30 | |
| of your great love to us | 30:33 | |
| and of your power and will to save us. | 30:35 | |
| Grant that our study of it may not be made in vain | 30:37 | |
| by the callousness or carelessness of our hearts. | 30:41 | |
| But that by it, we may be confirmed in penetance, | 30:44 | |
| lifted to hope, made strong for service, | 30:47 | |
| and, above all, filled with the true knowledge | 30:51 | |
| of you, and of your son, Jesus Christ. | 30:53 | |
| Amen. | 30:56 | |
| The epistle lesson is from Ephesians 5:8-14. | 30:58 | |
| For once, you were darkness. | 31:05 | |
| But now you are light in the Lord. | 31:07 | |
| Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light | 31:09 | |
| is found in all that is good and right and true. | 31:13 | |
| And try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. | 31:16 | |
| Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, | 31:19 | |
| but instead expose them. | 31:22 | |
| For it is a shame, even to speak of the things | 31:25 | |
| that they do in secret. | 31:27 | |
| But when anything is exposed by the light, | 31:29 | |
| it becomes visible. | 31:31 | |
| For anything that becomes visible is light. | 31:32 | |
| Therefore it is said, "Awake, oh sleeper, | 31:35 | |
| and arise from the dead and Christ shall give you light." | 31:38 | |
| Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson. | 31:42 | |
| Amen. | 31:44 | |
| (dramatic hymnal music) | 31:47 | |
| Will the congregation please stand | 35:23 | |
| for the reading of the gospel lesson. | 35:25 | |
| The gospel lesson is from Matthew 26:6-13. | 35:31 | |
| Now when Jesus was at Bethany, | 35:37 | |
| in the house of Simon the leper, | 35:39 | |
| a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask | 35:41 | |
| of very expensive ointment. | 35:44 | |
| And she poured it on his head as he sat at table. | 35:45 | |
| But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, | 35:49 | |
| "Why this waste? | 35:52 | |
| For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum | 35:54 | |
| and given to the poor." | 35:56 | |
| But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, | 35:58 | |
| "Why do you trouble the woman? | 36:01 | |
| For she has done a beautiful thing to me. | 36:03 | |
| For you always have the poor with you, | 36:05 | |
| but you will not always have me. | 36:07 | |
| In pouring this ointment on my body, | 36:10 | |
| she has done it to prepare me for burial. | 36:12 | |
| Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached | 36:15 | |
| in the whole world, what she has done | 36:18 | |
| will be told in memory of her." | 36:21 | |
| Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson. | 36:23 | |
| Amen. | 36:25 | |
| (upbeat hymnal music) | 36:26 | |
| - | Be seated. | 37:19 |
| - | Let us pray. | 37:26 |
| Now Lord, our God, we pray. | 37:29 | |
| Take our words and make them your words. | 37:32 | |
| Take our thoughts and make them your thoughts. | 37:36 | |
| Take our ways and make them your ways | 37:40 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 37:44 | |
| Amen. | 37:47 | |
| Bailey King is a white man, | 37:52 | |
| a poor man, | 37:59 | |
| 62 years-old, | 38:02 | |
| father of 13 children. | 38:05 | |
| And as he mused over his belongings recently, | 38:10 | |
| he concluded that more than half a century of hard work | 38:16 | |
| he concluded that more than half a century of hard work | 38:20 | |
| had yielded him three Shetland ponies, | 38:24 | |
| a yard full of chickens, mostly biddies, | 38:28 | |
| six Guineas, several rusty plows, | 38:33 | |
| one dog, | 38:39 | |
| and a seldom-seen cat. | 38:41 | |
| "Well," King said, | 38:45 | |
| as he was thoughtful for a long time, | 38:48 | |
| "I been workin' since I was five | 38:53 | |
| "and I ain't got no more now than I had then." | 38:57 | |
| Bailey King is one of the poor of this Earth. | 39:04 | |
| One of those poor that Jesus said | 39:10 | |
| we would always have with us. | 39:13 | |
| The time is close at hand. | 39:20 | |
| The end is near. | 39:23 | |
| The cross looms clearer and clearer ahead. | 39:26 | |
| Jesus knew that his death was just a few days away. | 39:32 | |
| Time, always precious, | 39:35 | |
| was tenderly and intimately valuable | 39:38 | |
| to him and to those who loved him | 39:41 | |
| on this particular occasion, | 39:43 | |
| as he went apart to the house of some friends in Bethany. | 39:47 | |
| It was a beautiful experience, a memorable moment. | 39:53 | |
| I'm sure that all of those who shared in it, | 39:56 | |
| never forgot it. | 39:59 | |
| And we have not been able to forget that occasion, | 40:01 | |
| that experience of Jesus | 40:04 | |
| and the gentle, loving, touching act | 40:06 | |
| that a woman bestowed on him that day. | 40:09 | |
| For Scripture tells us when Jesus was at Bethany | 40:15 | |
| in the house of Simon the leper, | 40:18 | |
| a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar | 40:20 | |
| of very expensive ointment and she poured it | 40:24 | |
| on his head as he sat at table. | 40:27 | |
| But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, | 40:30 | |
| "Why this waste? | 40:33 | |
| For this ointment might have been sold | 40:36 | |
| for a very large sum and given to the poor." | 40:38 | |
| But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, | 40:43 | |
| "Why do you trouble the woman? | 40:46 | |
| "For she has done a beautiful thing to me. | 40:49 | |
| "For you always have the poor with you, | 40:52 | |
| "but you will not always have me with you. | 40:54 | |
| "In pouring this ointment on my body, | 40:59 | |
| "she has done it to prepare me for burial. | 41:01 | |
| "Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel | 41:05 | |
| "is preached in the whole world, | 41:07 | |
| "what she has done will be told in memory of her." | 41:10 | |
| How many times have you and I heard one line | 41:16 | |
| of this passage quoted to justify the presence | 41:20 | |
| of the poor among us? | 41:24 | |
| How many times have we in the church and out of the church | 41:27 | |
| used one line as an excuse? | 41:30 | |
| An excuse to leave the poor alone. | 41:32 | |
| To ignore them. | 41:35 | |
| To be indifferent to them. | 41:36 | |
| To refuse to offer help or support programs | 41:39 | |
| and drives and legislation that would benefit the poor. | 41:41 | |
| After all, we say and we hear it said, | 41:44 | |
| "Even Jesus said to us, | 41:47 | |
| "'The poor you will have with you always.'" | 41:49 | |
| The poor you have with you always, therefore. | 41:57 | |
| Therefore what? | 42:01 | |
| Therefore what are we to do in the name | 42:05 | |
| and in the spirit of Christ? | 42:07 | |
| It's almost as if we think that Jesus was saying, | 42:09 | |
| the poor you have with you always, | 42:11 | |
| therefore you might as well not try to help them. | 42:13 | |
| Or, the poor you have with you always, | 42:17 | |
| you can just leave them alone. | 42:20 | |
| For no matter how much you do, you will never do enough. | 42:22 | |
| The poor are just part and parcel of the human predicament | 42:25 | |
| and you can't do anything to change that. | 42:29 | |
| We almost hear Jesus saying words like that. | 42:32 | |
| Or, we think we do. | 42:35 | |
| Or, we want Jesus to say words like that. | 42:37 | |
| It's almost as if we believe that helping the poor | 42:42 | |
| is going against the teaching and the word of Jesus. | 42:45 | |
| Now, I can't believe that. | 42:51 | |
| And I don't think you believe that. | 42:55 | |
| I don't think we can believe that | 42:59 | |
| and belong to the Christian community. | 43:01 | |
| For there's too much evidence | 43:04 | |
| in all the rest of Jesus' teaching | 43:06 | |
| for us to draw conclusions of indifference | 43:09 | |
| and callousness toward the poor. | 43:12 | |
| Some of the very first words that Jesus said | 43:15 | |
| after he was called into ministry were, | 43:18 | |
| "The spirit of the Lord is upon me | 43:20 | |
| to preach good news to the poor." | 43:22 | |
| Jesus said on one occasion, | 43:29 | |
| "Go and sell all that you have. | 43:32 | |
| And give to the poor." | 43:37 | |
| The very last parable that Jesus taught us said, | 43:41 | |
| "I was hungry and you gave me food. | 43:45 | |
| "I was thirsty and you gave me drink. | 43:48 | |
| "I was a stranger and you welcomed me. | 43:50 | |
| "I was naked and you clothed me. | 43:52 | |
| "I was sick and you visited me. | 43:53 | |
| "I was in prison and you came to me." | 43:55 | |
| "Lord when did we see you?" | 43:58 | |
| "As you did it unto one of the least of these, | 44:01 | |
| "you did it to me." | 44:04 | |
| Surely, it must be like Mother Teresa said recently | 44:07 | |
| at a conference on hunger at Vancouver, British Colombia. | 44:10 | |
| "We in the church today will be judged | 44:13 | |
| "by what we have been toward the poor." | 44:16 | |
| Today, Jesus is disguised as the poor. | 44:19 | |
| A young mother was telling me of kneeling | 44:27 | |
| beside her eight-year-old daughter recently | 44:29 | |
| to hear her say her evening prayers | 44:33 | |
| just before she crawled into bed. | 44:36 | |
| And as the mother told me about the wording of the prayer, | 44:40 | |
| it went something like this. | 44:43 | |
| As the little eight-year-old girl prayed, she said, | 44:45 | |
| "Oh God, thank you for my home and my family. | 44:47 | |
| "Thank you for all the good things I have. | 44:50 | |
| "Help those who do not have, to get what they need. | 44:52 | |
| "Help the poor people. | 44:56 | |
| "Help those on the bottom to come up to the middle." | 44:57 | |
| And she stopped at that moment and looked up at her mother | 45:00 | |
| and she said, "But, Mommy, | 45:03 | |
| "then there won't be anybody on the bottom." | 45:04 | |
| Glory hallelujah. | 45:11 | |
| Nobody on the bottom of life. | 45:14 | |
| Will that not be when the kingdom has surely come? | 45:17 | |
| I have been moved deeply by the story | 45:26 | |
| of Bailey King of Quentin, Mississippi. | 45:31 | |
| A story told in word and pictures | 45:37 | |
| by Phyllis Thompson and Don Rutledge | 45:39 | |
| of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board | 45:42 | |
| in their magazine "Home Missions" | 45:46 | |
| and in another magazine called "Seeds". | 45:48 | |
| I invite you to take just a few minutes | 45:52 | |
| after the service today | 45:55 | |
| and look at the photographs on display | 45:57 | |
| in the narthex of the chapel. | 45:59 | |
| The pictures and the story about Bailey King | 46:03 | |
| have left an indellible mark on my mind and spirit, | 46:07 | |
| and I think they will on yours. | 46:11 | |
| Bailey King, though poor, obviously is a man of wisdom. | 46:15 | |
| Let me share with you a few things that he said | 46:21 | |
| to these two people as they spent four weeks in his home | 46:24 | |
| and recorded in word and picture | 46:29 | |
| some of what was life for him. | 46:33 | |
| King says, "Being poor ain't so bad. | 46:37 | |
| It's just inconvenient." | 46:42 | |
| He said, "My word will never be heard in Washington. | 46:47 | |
| "My word will never be heard in the courthouse | 46:50 | |
| "'cause nobody wants to hear my word. | 46:53 | |
| "I ain't nothing but a poor man." | 46:55 | |
| He said, "On special occasions, | 47:00 | |
| "people pay $100 for a plate of food, | 47:03 | |
| "when I'm happy just to get a sweet potato." | 47:06 | |
| Then he said, "It's good to know how to manage, | 47:12 | |
| but I ain't got nothing to manage." | 47:17 | |
| What has ruined the world? | 47:23 | |
| Nobody cared. | 47:27 | |
| That's what ruined the world. | 47:31 | |
| And then he quips, "It don't pay to tell all you know. | 47:37 | |
| Even though you don't know much." | 47:43 | |
| And then he says, "The poor man spends | 47:49 | |
| most of his life halfway living." | 47:54 | |
| And then, "I'm in bad shape now. | 48:00 | |
| "But I have been on other times in sure enough bad shape. | 48:04 | |
| "We had a saying, 'The white folks run the world, | 48:11 | |
| "and the n---s and the poor folks work it.' | 48:18 | |
| "If you got money, you're somebody. | 48:24 | |
| "If you don't got money, you ain't nobody. | 48:26 | |
| "I have the same number of kids | 48:31 | |
| "as Bobby Kennedy when he was killed. | 48:33 | |
| "The only difference was he had plenty | 48:34 | |
| "and I ain't got nothing." | 48:36 | |
| Now, he said, "If the Lord asked you | 48:39 | |
| "if I'm telling you the truth, you can tell him yeah." | 48:41 | |
| Then King has some choice words for preachers. | 48:48 | |
| He says, "Preachers should preach against all sins. | 48:52 | |
| "I've heard them preach against | 48:57 | |
| "whiskey drunk by the poor man | 48:59 | |
| "but that same preacher didn't say nothing | 49:01 | |
| "about his members who didn't pay his laborers | 49:03 | |
| "what they deserved." | 49:06 | |
| "You watch, preachers," he says, | 49:09 | |
| "They always get led of the Lord | 49:11 | |
| "to bigger and bigger churches. | 49:13 | |
| "If they can, they go from around here | 49:16 | |
| "to Jackson, Mississippi. | 49:19 | |
| "Why does the Lord lead them always | 49:21 | |
| "to bigger and bigger churches?" | 49:24 | |
| Then he says, "A lot of preachers will read out of the Bible | 49:29 | |
| "and will preach hard, but not if it hurts them." | 49:33 | |
| Then this word. | 49:40 | |
| King says, "Peoples always tellin' us we got choices. | 49:43 | |
| "Poor folks ain't got no choices. | 49:50 | |
| "A choice is when two things is laying there | 49:53 | |
| "and you choose which you want. | 49:56 | |
| "If I had a choice, I wouldn't be livin' here." | 49:59 | |
| Bailey King. | 50:06 | |
| And when Matthew wrote his version | 50:10 | |
| of this incident in the life of Jesus, | 50:12 | |
| he left out a line that Mark evidently felt | 50:14 | |
| was important enough to include. | 50:19 | |
| Because Mark tells the story and includes the line this way, | 50:21 | |
| "For you always have the poor with you. | 50:26 | |
| "And whenever you will, you can do good to them." | 50:30 | |
| And whenever you will. | 50:38 | |
| There is no way that Jesus ever intended | 50:40 | |
| for the statement, "The poor you have with you always" | 50:45 | |
| to be an excuse or a justification | 50:48 | |
| for us not caring for the poor. | 50:50 | |
| And the Bailey Kings of this Earth | 50:55 | |
| wait for you and me and the church to reach out and touch. | 50:58 | |
| But now go back for me for just a moment, if you will, | 51:06 | |
| to the gospel lesson for today. | 51:09 | |
| Jesus said to the disciples, "Why do you trouble the woman? | 51:12 | |
| "For she has done a beautiful thing to me. | 51:16 | |
| "For you always have the poor with you, but..." | 51:18 | |
| And in Jesus teachings, it's always the "but" | 51:22 | |
| that hooks us, if you recall. | 51:26 | |
| "But," he says, "You will not always have me. | 51:29 | |
| "Therefore, in pouring in this ointment on my body | 51:34 | |
| "this woman has done it to prepare me for burial. | 51:37 | |
| "What she has done for me will be held | 51:40 | |
| "and told in memory about her | 51:44 | |
| "wherever the gospel is preached." | 51:46 | |
| Jesus says, "You will not always have me, therefore." | 51:49 | |
| Therefore, what? | 51:56 | |
| I believe that this woman had found in Jesus | 52:00 | |
| the answer to all of her needs in life. | 52:05 | |
| She had found in him the hope for her despair. | 52:12 | |
| She had found in him the healing for all her wounds. | 52:17 | |
| She had found in him the love to overcome all the rejection | 52:22 | |
| which she had ever experienced. | 52:26 | |
| It's almost as if she were saying some lines | 52:29 | |
| that Charles Wesley wrote later, | 52:32 | |
| "Thou, O' Christ, art all I need. | 52:34 | |
| "More than all in thee, I find." | 52:38 | |
| She had found her all in Jesus. | 52:43 | |
| So this woman has done a beautiful thing. | 52:50 | |
| A costly thing. A good thing. | 52:52 | |
| An extravagant thing. | 52:54 | |
| A loving, caring, giving thing. | 52:56 | |
| Obviously, she has given something very, very precious. | 52:59 | |
| Ointment worth some 300 denarii. | 53:02 | |
| A full year's wages for the average worker in Jesus' day. | 53:06 | |
| Enough to feed a lot of folks for a lot of days. | 53:09 | |
| No wonder the disciples were upset. | 53:12 | |
| But Jesus rebuked the disciples | 53:22 | |
| and he welcomed the woman and her act of love and kindness. | 53:26 | |
| A most intimate act. | 53:32 | |
| It was as if Jesus were inviting the woman | 53:37 | |
| to a tender experience of joy and intimacy with him. | 53:41 | |
| For Jesus was surely aware | 53:47 | |
| that his body faced death momentarily. | 53:49 | |
| And here she was, as an angel of mercy and love, | 53:53 | |
| preparing his body, anointing his body for death. | 53:58 | |
| A beautiful thing she was doing for his body. | 54:06 | |
| And yet, as was often the case with the disciples, | 54:10 | |
| they did not understand. | 54:14 | |
| Their views often were not the views of Jesus. | 54:16 | |
| Their values often were not the values of Jesus. | 54:19 | |
| Their priorities often were not the priorities of Jesus. | 54:22 | |
| It is as if the disciples were saying, | 54:26 | |
| "Jesus, we know what is right and what is best. | 54:28 | |
| "We know what is wasteful and what is helpful. | 54:31 | |
| "This woman is wasting her goods. | 54:33 | |
| "Why do you, why do we allow this waste?" | 54:36 | |
| And Jesus, knowing them and hearing them | 54:39 | |
| and understanding where they're coming from, says, | 54:42 | |
| "Who are you to judge the deeds of another? | 54:45 | |
| "That is not for you to do. | 54:50 | |
| "That is for me to decide. | 54:53 | |
| "And I say to you, my dear friends, | 54:57 | |
| "this woman | 54:59 | |
| "has done a beautiful, beautiful thing." | 55:01 | |
| Strange, isn't it? | 55:07 | |
| That the disciples would object to this loving act. | 55:10 | |
| For, as I can recall the life of Jesus-- | 55:16 | |
| and I've tried to reflect without actually going back | 55:20 | |
| and reading all four gospel stories this week word-for-word | 55:22 | |
| - | -but as I can recall the life of our Lord | 55:29 |
| as he lived on this earth, | 55:32 | |
| there were very, very few beautiful acts done to him. | 55:36 | |
| Now, we know that he went around | 55:41 | |
| doing beautiful and good and helpful and holy | 55:43 | |
| and healing things for other people. | 55:46 | |
| He did many, many beautiful things for other people. | 55:48 | |
| But there aren't many instances | 55:54 | |
| when somebody else did something beautiful for him. | 55:56 | |
| And yet, even though, there were few beautiful things | 56:04 | |
| done for him, the disciples still objected. | 56:08 | |
| Strange, isn't it? | 56:16 | |
| But we must understand the cost, the price, the value | 56:20 | |
| of this ointment to this woman. | 56:23 | |
| It cost her dearly. | 56:28 | |
| And perhaps the real point of this story, | 56:33 | |
| perhaps the real point of this story is that | 56:36 | |
| if we want any close, personal, intimate, | 56:43 | |
| lasting relationship with Christ, | 56:47 | |
| it will cost us something. | 56:50 | |
| It's sort of like Loren Eiseley tells about | 56:56 | |
| in his book "The Night Country": | 56:59 | |
| in Bimini, on the old Spanish Main, | 57:03 | |
| a Black woman told Eisely, | 57:09 | |
| "Those as hunts treasure | 57:15 | |
| "must go alone and at night. | 57:20 | |
| "And when they find a treasure, | 57:26 | |
| "they have to leave a little of their blood behind." | 57:30 | |
| Those of us as wants | 57:39 | |
| a treasure of a relationship with Christ | 57:45 | |
| will have to go in search. | 57:50 | |
| And, if and when we find it, | 57:54 | |
| we'll have to leave a little something very precious | 58:00 | |
| behind with him. | 58:05 | |
| A story is told of the old black woman, | 58:10 | |
| just freed from slavery, standing by the side of the road | 58:15 | |
| the day the funeral entourage | 58:25 | |
| of the assassinated president, | 58:27 | |
| Abraham Lincoln, rolled by. | 58:31 | |
| And as the horse-drawn carriage bearing the body | 58:40 | |
| of the slain president made its way toward her, | 58:43 | |
| the ex-slave woman reached down beside her and picked up | 58:50 | |
| her little two- or three-year-old granddaughter | 58:54 | |
| and put her up on her shoulder, | 58:57 | |
| and then took a shaky forefinger | 58:59 | |
| and pointed to that procession | 59:02 | |
| as the President's body made its way by. | 59:05 | |
| And she said, "Take a long, long look, honey. | 59:08 | |
| "This man died for you and me." | 59:14 | |
| My friends, this holy Lenten season | 59:23 | |
| as the presence of the Christ draws nigh, | 59:29 | |
| I invite you, | 59:37 | |
| take a long, long look, honey. | 59:39 | |
| This man died for you and me. | 59:44 | |
| A beautiful thing he has done. | 59:50 | |
| A beautiful thing shall we do? | 59:55 | |
| Amen. | 1:00:08 | |
| I'd like to ask you to sing a special hymn | 1:00:12 | |
| for me following this sermon. | 1:00:14 | |
| Hymn number 107, the first and the last stanzas. | 1:00:17 | |
| And let us sing the words as if Jesus really is calling us. | 1:00:26 | |
| Let us sing. | 1:00:36 | |
| (cheerful hymnal music) | 1:00:38 | |
| - | As the body of Christ, let us affirm what we believe. | 1:04:22 |
| (congregation in unison with speaker) | 1:04:27 | |
| We believe in God, who has created and is creating. | 1:04:28 | |
| Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 1:04:32 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 1:04:36 | |
| Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 1:04:39 | |
| We trust God, who calls us to be the church | 1:04:42 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness. | 1:04:47 | |
| To love and serve others. | 1:04:50 | |
| To seek justice and resist evil. | 1:04:53 | |
| To love... | 1:04:56 | |
| To seek justice and resist evil. | 1:04:59 | |
| To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen. | 1:05:02 | |
| Our judge and our hope in life, in death, | 1:05:06 | |
| in life beyond death, God is with us. | 1:05:10 | |
| We are not alone. | 1:05:15 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 1:05:17 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 1:05:19 | |
| - | And with your spirit. | 1:05:21 |
| - | Let us pray. | 1:05:23 |
| Oh spirit of God, you are the bond of everlasting love. | 1:05:36 | |
| You are our longing for love, for friendship, | 1:05:42 | |
| for relationships that last. | 1:05:47 | |
| Now for this little while, empower us | 1:05:50 | |
| with the impact of your presence. | 1:05:53 | |
| For we hunger for you, oh gift-giving spirit | 1:05:56 | |
| of love and of life. | 1:06:00 | |
| Gracious God, teach us to trust what we do not understand. | 1:06:04 | |
| So much senseless suffering. | 1:06:11 | |
| So much spoiled potential. | 1:06:15 | |
| It seems that such a lack of meaning | 1:06:19 | |
| meets us at every turn. | 1:06:21 | |
| And yet, we know, oh God, that faith means still believing | 1:06:25 | |
| in the midst of our unbelief. | 1:06:30 | |
| Faith means that in you there is understanding. | 1:06:33 | |
| And you alone are the truth for which we hunger. | 1:06:37 | |
| Oh Jesus, the Christ, you are the bread of life. | 1:06:42 | |
| Bread broken in order to mend all our broken dreams, | 1:06:48 | |
| all broken people, all broken homes and hearts. | 1:06:53 | |
| Break now to us the good news gently | 1:06:59 | |
| to suffering, struggling spirits. | 1:07:03 | |
| Break to us the fact that you are nourishment | 1:07:07 | |
| to anyone who is hungering for life. | 1:07:11 | |
| Remember us this day, oh God. | 1:07:17 | |
| For we are that new creation | 1:07:20 | |
| that you once called forth from clay. | 1:07:22 | |
| Reborn, redeemed, and revisited. | 1:07:26 | |
| Reflecting the very image of your saving word and deed. | 1:07:30 | |
| We hunger now to know you well. | 1:07:35 | |
| To experience your nearness | 1:07:39 | |
| in these intensely troubled times. | 1:07:41 | |
| May we all be your children. | 1:07:45 | |
| And may your will be done throughout the Earth. | 1:07:48 | |
| For we pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, | 1:07:52 | |
| who taught us to pray saying, | 1:07:56 | |
| "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 1:07:59 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 1:08:05 | |
| on Earth as it is in heaven. | 1:08:09 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:08:11 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 1:08:14 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 1:08:17 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 1:08:21 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, and the power, | 1:08:26 | |
| and the glory forever. | 1:08:29 | |
| Amen." | 1:08:32 | |
| (dramatic hymnal music) | 1:08:42 | |
| (moves into "Doxology") | 1:16:03 | |
| ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 1:16:56 | |
| ♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪ | 1:17:05 | |
| ♪ Praise him above ye heavenly host ♪ | 1:17:14 | |
| ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:17:24 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:17:35 | |
| - | Oh Lord, our God, send down upon us your holy spirit. | 1:17:47 |
| We beseech you to cleanse our hearts, | 1:17:51 | |
| to hallow our gifts, and to perfect the offering | 1:17:55 | |
| of ourselves to you through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 1:17:58 | |
| Amen. | 1:18:03 | |
| (upbeat hymnal music) | 1:18:05 | |
| Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit you. | 1:22:09 | |
| And the blessing of God Almighty, | 1:22:14 | |
| creator, redeemer, sustainer, be upon you | 1:22:17 | |
| and remain with you always. | 1:22:20 | |
| (airy hymnal music) | 1:22:31 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:32 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:40 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:48 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:05 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:19 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:35 | |
| (bell chimes) | 1:23:50 | |
| (slow hymnal music) | 1:24:04 | |
| (congregation chats) | 1:24:09 |
Item Info
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