James T. Cleland - "Long Day's Journey Into Light" (February 10, 1957)

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-	Sunday, February 10th, 1957.	0:03
	Preacher, the reverend professor James T. Cleland,	0:08
	dean of the chapel.	0:12
	(choral praise music)	0:14
	(organ music)	1:20
	(choral praise music)	2:02
-	Let us offer unto God our unison prayer of confession.	4:15
	Have mercy upon us oh God,	4:25
	according to thy loving kindness.	4:28
	According to the multitude of thy tender mercies,	4:30
	blot out our transgressions.	4:34
	Wipe us thoroughly from our inequities	4:37
	and cleanse us from our sins.	4:40
	For we acknowledge our transgressions	4:44
	and our sin is ever before us.	4:47
	Create in us clean hearts, oh God.	4:50
	And renew a right spirit within us.	4:54
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.	4:57
	And now as our savior Christ has taught us,	5:02
	let us humbly pray,	5:05
	Our father, who art in heaven,	5:08
	hallowed be thy name.	5:11
	They kingdom come,	5:13
	they will be done.	5:15
	On Earth as it is in heaven.	5:17
	Give us this day our daily bread	5:20
	and forgive us our trespasses	5:23
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	5:26
	And lead us not into temptation	5:29
	but deliver us from evil.	5:32
	For thine is the kingdom,	5:35
	the power,	5:37
	and the glory	5:38
	forever and ever.	5:39
	Amen.	5:41
	(organ music)	5:43
	(choral praise music)	6:14
-	Let us hear the word of God	7:59
	as 'tis contained in the scriptures of the New Testament.	8:02
	In the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.	8:07
	The eleventh chapter at the 22nd verse.	8:12
	Let me say a word about the setting of this chapter.	8:19
	Some people have challenged Paul's apostolic credentials.	8:23
	And he is justifying himself.	8:28
	Beginning of this passage, he's indignant.	8:32
	But Christian love overcomes him before the end.	8:37
	This chapter is from that section of the Corinthian	8:42
	correspondence which is known as the angry letter.	8:45
	Are they Hebrews?	8:53
	So am I.	8:57
	Are they Israelites?	9:00
	So am I.	9:03
	Are they the seat of Abraham?	9:06
	So am I.	9:10
	Are they ministers of Christ?	9:13
	I speak as a fool.	9:16
	I am more in labors more abundant,	9:18
	in stripes above measure,	9:22
	in prisons more frequent,	9:25
	in deaths oft.	9:27
	Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.	9:29
	Thrice was I beaten with rods.	9:36
	Once was I stoned.	9:38
	Thrice I suffered shipwreck.	9:41
	A night and a day I have been in the deep.	9:44
	In journeys often.	9:48
	In perils of waters, in perils of robbers,	9:51
	in perils by mine own countrymen,	9:56
	in perils by the heathen,	9:59
	in perils in the city,	10:01
	in perils in the wilderness,	10:03
	in perils in the sea.	10:04
	In perils among false brethren.	10:07
	In weariness and painfulness in watchings often,	10:12
	in hunger and thirst in fastings often,	10:17
	in cold and nakedness,	10:21
	beside those things that are without.	10:24
	That which cometh upon me daily.	10:29
	The care of all the churches.	10:32
	Who is weak, and I am not weak.	10:38
	Who is offended, and I burn not.	10:43
	If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things	10:50
	which concern mine infirmities.	10:55
	The God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,	11:02
	who is blessed forever,	11:06
	knoweth that I lie not.	11:10
	Amen.	11:15
	And my God bless unto us the reading of His holy word.	11:17
	(organ music)	11:25
	(choral praise music)	11:47
-	The Lord be with you.	13:36
-	And with thy spirit.	13:39
-	Let us pray.	13:40
	Oh thou most holy God,	13:52
	who inhabitest eternity,	13:55
	whose greatness no mortal can comprehend,	13:57
	yet who hath granted unto men a vision of thy glory	14:02
	in Jesus Christ,	14:06
	thrill us anew with thy revelation for our salvation.	14:08
	Grant us here again such a living awareness	14:16
	of thy being and thy nature	14:20
	that our hearts my bow before thee in true reverence.	14:24
	Graciously purify the motives which have brought us to	14:30
	this sanctuary we pray thee.	14:34
	Lift us from self satisfaction and all	14:37
	selfish preoccupations	14:41
	to the praise of thee	14:44
	and of thy great glory.	14:47
	We thank thee our Father for all the experiences	14:51
	of our lives.	14:55
	The good and the ill.	14:56
	Whereby we are brought to acknowledge	14:59
	that we are thine.	15:02
	We praise thee for those times when thou hast taken from us	15:05
	our idols, our wrongheaded notions of reality,	15:10
	and of our place in the scheme of things.	15:16
	For those revealing moments when our false	15:20
	and inadequate conceptions have not been able	15:23
	to contain thee or explain thee,	15:26
	and we have been led to behold in awe	15:31
	some fuller measure of thy glory and goodness.	15:34
	Thou art supremely worthy of our love and loyalty.	15:40
	In thy service we find our true freedom;	15:45
	to live in thy presence is to know true blessedness	15:49
	forevermore.	15:54
	By thy mercies, restrain those temptations in us	15:57
	to inordinate pride,	16:00
	to false securities in our success.	16:04
	Let not our minds succumb to specious reasonings	16:08
	of the impious.	16:12
	Hold us firmly to the truth, when the drab and prosaic	16:14
	moments of our days drain from us our faith,	16:18
	our courage, and our hope.	16:22
	Oh God who hath prepared for those who love	16:27
	and trust thee such good things as surpass understanding,	16:30
	continue we beseech thee to surprise us with	16:36
	thy favors and companionship,	16:40
	that we may come to love thee above all things	16:43
	and may obtain those promises which exceed	16:48
	all that we deserve or can desire through	16:52
	Jesus Christ, our Lord.	16:56
	Oh God who in thy son revealeth thy love	17:00
	for all mankind,	17:03
	yet who careth for each as though there were	17:06
	but one to love,	17:08
	we offer thee our intercessions for all persons	17:11
	whose needs are like unto those who knew	17:15
	the compassion of Christ.	17:18
	For all little children,	17:21
	especially the offended ones.	17:23
	For all persons who are sick and afflicted	17:27
	in mind or in body,	17:30
	especially the seemingly incurable.	17:33
	For all social outcasts and victims of race prejudice	17:37
	and other depraving inhumanities,	17:41
	for all conscious stricken penitents,	17:45
	who finding not the forgiveness of men	17:49
	have become embittered.	17:52
	For all lonely discouraged and bereaved folk.	17:56
	Especially those of our near acquaintance.	18:00
	For all who are wretchedly poor,	18:04
	especially those who by reason of age or ill health	18:07
	are unable to provide for themselves	18:12
	proper food, clothing, and shelter from the winter's cold.	18:15
	Deliver us oh merciful Lord, from contempt	18:21
	of any person less fortunate than ourselves,	18:24
	supposing that such people as Jesus befriended	18:29
	are no concern of our own.	18:33
	Forbid that in callousness to the needs of others	18:37
	we should reject thee and deny to anyone the blessings	18:40
	of this life or of that eternal hope which is	18:45
	ours to share.	18:50
	As we have prayed here that thou wouldst continue	18:53
	to favor us with enlarging revelations of thyself	18:57
	and of the meaning of our lives,	19:01
	so now we pray for a broadening sympathy for our	19:05
	fellow men, for an increase in ourselves of Christ like	19:09
	compassion for the needs of others.	19:14
	By thy spirit teach us that we must love thee	19:18
	in our neighbors, and our neighbors in thee.	19:21
	And so make us aware that we are bound together	19:27
	in the bundle of life,	19:31
	environed by thy love in good providence	19:34
	that we may live for thy glory who liveth	19:38
	and reigneth with the son and the holy spirit,	19:42
	one God, world without end, Amen.	19:47
	(organ music)	19:57
	(choral praise music)	23:42
	(organ music)	26:31
	(choral praise music)	27:14
	Oh God, our creator and redeemer,	27:53
	no labor or gift of our hands can repay thee	27:56
	for thy great goodness,	27:59
	yet in thy grace receive these offerings as	28:02
	representing the gift of our lives	28:05
	for the sake of the love of Christ, Amen.	28:09
	(organ music)	28:19
-	Let us pray.	28:45
	Let the words of my mouth	28:48
	and the meditations of our hearts	28:52
	be acceptable in thy sight.	28:54
	Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer, Amen.	28:58
	One of the wonderful consequences	29:13
	of having friends	29:17
	is that they introduce you to someone or something	29:22
	or some experience which has meant much to them	29:29
	and which they want you to share.	29:35
	A faculty member and his wife did just that for me	29:40
	at Christmas.	29:45
	They gave me a copy of Eugene O'Neill's	29:49
	"Long Day's Journey Into Night," first published in 1956.	29:53
	I have read it twice.	30:03
	And I long to see the play.	30:06
	Because you are my friends in God,	30:10
	I am going to share	30:15
	my reading experience with you.	30:17
	"Long Day's Journey Into Night" is located through	30:23
	all four acts in the living room	30:28
	of a summer home in	30:32
	New London, Connecticut,	30:35
	from the beginning until the close of an August day in 1912.	30:39
	It is one long day's journey into night,	30:47
	with its four acts timed	30:53
	at 8:30, 12:45,	30:56
	6:30, and midnight.	31:01
	The playwright thus preserves two of the	31:06
	Aristotelian unities;	31:10
	place and time.	31:13
	One set, one day.	31:19
	In that living room, a father and a mother and two sons,	31:24
	the Tyrones, talk	31:31
	and talk, and talk.	31:36
	About themselves.	31:42
	Each about himself.	31:45
	Each about the others.	31:47
	Their relationship to one another.	31:51
	Their loving hatred of one another.	31:55
	Their angry affection for one another.	32:00
	There is no action in the play,	32:06
	but there is talk.	32:09
	Three and a half hours of it.	32:11
	Bitterness is succeeded by regret,	32:16
	which in turn leads to renewed bitterness	32:20
	and subsequent real, but ineffective apologies.	32:25
	Lies are told that deceive no one.	32:31
	Lies that are spoken in a mixture of family love	32:36
	and self-justification.	32:40
	The play is a four handed game of confessional solitaire,	32:45
	in which there is neither expiation nor atonement.	32:53
	The characters cannot be painted in black or white.	33:00
	If you were to chose a color, it would be	33:10
	battleship gray with purple patches.	33:13
	If I were to use adjectives to describe that day's	33:19
	life with the Tyrones, I would have to use adjectives in	33:23
	three different categories.	33:28
	First, vivid, repetitive,	33:31
	unforgettable, haunting, intense.	33:36
	Again,	33:41
	bitter, twisted,	33:45
	harrowing, impotent, pessimistic.	33:49
	Third,	33:56
	compassionate, understanding,	33:58
	appealing, pitiful, pathetic.	34:03
	It is a poetic drama	34:12
	where moods clash and change	34:15
	because no character understands himself	34:20
	as a whole person.	34:24
	And it is set in an atmosphere	34:27
	of fuddled garrulousness	34:31
	and drug addiction.	34:35
	When the play ends, all is quiet.	34:39
	But no one is saved.	34:45
	The curtain is rung down on the drunken,	34:50
	drugged sleep of the damned.	34:55
	The members of the family know one another	35:00
	a little better,	35:03
	but tomorrow is going to be	35:07
	another day just like yesterday.	35:10
	And so the audience goes home forgiving,	35:16
	but frustrated.	35:22
	There is some pity for the Tyrones, but little admiration.	35:26
	There is no classical catharsis, none.	35:32
	Now it isn't enough to say, "Don't worry,	35:41
	this is typically Irish	35:46
	and the Tyrones, like O'Neill,	35:50
	are Irish."	35:52
	Yes, brethren, but we are all Irish to some extent,	35:56
	because we are mortal men and women.	36:04
	This play is the old Irish epitaph come to life.	36:10
	An Irishman doesn't know what he wants,	36:16
	and he won't be content till he gets it.	36:20
	Therefore he lives ineffectually,	36:27
	and he is some of us.	36:32
	So let us look at the four characters, one by one,	36:39
	and try to find out what is driving them to Hell,	36:43
	here and hereafter.	36:47
	Let me thumbnail sketch them for you.	36:49
	James Tyrone, the father, is 65 years old,	36:54
	an actor who gave up the chance to be a great actor	37:01
	by accepting one popular and perennial role	37:10
	which brought him money and more money.	37:17
	Remembering the poverty stricken days of his childhood,	37:21
	he has become a penny pincher,	37:25
	and is now a petty, mean,	37:30
	bullying, inebriated miser.	37:33
	And yet there are undertones of loyalty and humility,	37:40
	and remorse.	37:46
	His wife, Mary, aged 54,	37:50
	was reared in a convent school	37:53
	and expected to become a nun before she married.	37:58
	She has lost one child through her own neglect,	38:05
	so she blames herself.	38:10
	And has become a drug addict because of careless	38:13
	medical prescription in the illness following the	38:17
	birth of her third child.	38:22
	She loves her man and her boys, but looks back with	38:27
	regret on the years of cheap hotel living	38:32
	as she followed her husband's company around the country.	38:38
	Jimmy, the elder son, age 38,	38:45
	is an embittered drunkard,	38:49
	and a dissatisfied Libertine, who is shot through with	38:53
	a jealousy which caused him to effect the death	38:59
	of one brother and makes him long for the destruction	39:02
	of the other.	39:07
	He loathes the life which has him under its spell,	39:11
	and he detests himself.	39:16
	That is, he detests himself when he's drunk enough	39:20
	to be honest about himself.	39:25
	In vino veritas.	39:28
	Edmund, the younger child, age 23,	39:34
	is a drinking consumptive	39:40
	with a doubting desire to write.	39:43
	He's on the surface, like Jimmy, an alcoholic and a ruey,	39:47
	but inside there are yearnings for beauty	39:51
	and for peace.	39:54
	A servant girl, also Irish, completes the cast.	39:58
	Now there are four main characters,	40:05
	and yet as soon as one has said that,	40:08
	one knows that is not true.	40:09
	There are eight main characters.	40:12
	because each has what the Germans call	40:16
	a doppelganger,	40:19
	a second self.	40:23
	And the conversation is permeated and penetrated	40:27
	with this everlasting duality,	40:33
	blame and pity,	40:36
	rage and apathy,	40:38
	failure and yearning.	40:41
	There's a double self constantly before us,	40:44
	the what is, and the what might have been.	40:47
	And in the mother's case, what was.	40:52
	It must be an exhausting encounter	40:56
	to sit through this play.	41:01
	I don't recommend it for academic relaxation.	41:04
	Now is it possible to get behind the symptoms to causes?	41:11
	What is trying to express itself in all this	41:18
	money grabbing, and drug addiction,	41:21
	and unhappy drinking,	41:26
	and unsatisfactory lechery?	41:29
	One can point causally to the death of the second child	41:34
	in which all four were involved.	41:38
	The father caused it by insisting that his wife	41:44
	be with him on the road, though the child needed her.	41:47
	Mary caused it by choosing to be a wife,	41:54
	rather than a mother.	41:58
	Jimmy caused it in typical	42:04
	seven year old fashion.	42:08
	He caused the baby to catch the measles which he had,	42:13
	so that the child died.	42:17
	And the unborn Edmund is also involved,	42:21
	because he was brought into the world to replace	42:27
	the dead baby.	42:30
	And he made his mother so ill at his birth,	42:33
	that an unskilled doctor prescribed morphine	42:38
	and started her on the way to be a dope addict.	42:43
	There's the cause, and yet is it?	42:49
	We know families which have wept and worked	42:54
	and prayed through similar calamities and emerged	42:58
	bloody but unbowed.	43:04
	Oh, other causal factors are involved.	43:07
	James Tyrone's fear of poverty and his longing	43:11
	to be a great actor rather than a stage idol.	43:17
	Mary's yearning for a home	43:23
	and her pathetic return	43:27
	to the childhood dream of being a nun.	43:29
	Jimmy's guilt, not nearly because he deliberately	43:34
	gave the baby measles, but because of his constant efforts	43:39
	to ruin Edmund morally, he hates his brother.	43:44
	Edmund's terror at the thought of tuberculosis,	43:51
	and his desire to write, and to write well instead	43:55
	of the stammering stuff he produces.	43:59
	Even then, the real causes are not here.	44:06
	Each character seeks to escape himself.	44:15
	And none of them can find a dominating larger self	44:23
	to which each may give himself.	44:30
	They have no internal infallible center of loyalty.	44:35
	They have no invisible means of support.	44:44
	Now if a man is not self sufficient,	44:52
	and few of us are,	44:57
	then God or Satan,	45:00
	the spiritual or the demonic,	45:04
	will take over the direction of that person's life.	45:11
	God is peripheral in this play.	45:18
	Spiritual values are prominent by their absence.	45:23
	The demonic is enthusiastically present	45:29
	in the persistent	45:33
	love of money, the false satisfaction of drugs,	45:35
	the unhappy dependence on alcohol,	45:42
	and the unrewarding bed of the prostitute.	45:47
	This play is a little saga	45:55
	of the effectively damned.	46:00
	It's the day, it's one day in the life of a family	46:06
	on the brink of oblivion.	46:11
	Because in nary a one is there any basic,	46:17
	personal security.	46:22
	Then is there no cure, no balm in Gilead?	46:29
	There is none in the play.	46:35
	It ends with the mother recalling in a sad,	46:44
	wakeful dream, her days in the convent,	46:47
	with the father staring in his chair where he slouches drunk	46:53
	with Jimmy and Edmund motionless.	47:00
	Curtain.	47:06
	And yet, if you read the play carefully,	47:10
	there are hints, hints, that's all,	47:14
	hints at the possibility of healing	47:18
	given by each of the characters except Jimmy.	47:22
	Mary says to her husband, "James, we've loved each other.	47:28
	We always will.	47:36
	Let's remember only that.	47:39
	And not try to understand what we cannot understand,	47:43
	or help things that cannot be helped,	47:48
	the things life has done to us that we can neither excuse	47:52
	nor explain.	47:56
	She says to him again, "I know you love me, James,	48:00
	in spite of everything."	48:05
	He answers, "As God is my judge, always and forever, Mary."	48:08
	And she replies, "And I love you, dear,	48:18
	in spite of everything."	48:23
	She says to Edmund, "You must try to understand"	48:27
	and forgive your father, and not feel contempt."	48:33
	The father says to Edmund, "When you deny God,	48:40
	you deny hope.	48:46
	When you deny God, you deny sanity.	48:49
	And Edmund says to his father, "You have to make	48:57
	allowances in this damned family or go nuts."	49:02
	That's Christian love.	49:09
	He talks again in an amazing monologue of belonging	49:14
	to something greater than my own life,	49:19
	or the life of man,	49:23
	to life itself, to God if you wanna put it that way.	49:26
	He refers to peace, the end of the quest,	49:32
	the last harbor, the joy of belonging to a fulfillment	49:38
	beyond men's lousy, pitiful, greedy fears	49:43
	and hopes and dreams.	49:48
	Like a saint's vision of beatitude.	49:50
	Love and God.	49:57
	Forgiveness and peace.	50:01
	Belonging and beatitude.	50:07
	Haven't you heard it all before?	50:12
	Isn't it the refrain of the Bible from beginning to end?	50:15
	Isn't God the invisible means of support	50:21
	who quickens love in us so that on Earth	50:25
	we may have peace?	50:29
	Peace, lack of worry at the heart.	50:32
	The peace which creates blessedness.	50:36
	Let me recall it to you.	50:38
	23rd Psalm.	50:41
	"Surely goodness and mercy	50:43
	shall follow me all the days of my life.	50:46
	And I will dwell in the house of the lord forever."	50:51
	The prophet Hosea.	50:57
	"When Israel was a child, I loved him.	50:59
	And out of Egypt I called my son.	51:05
	It was I who taught Ephraim to walk.	51:09
	I took them up in my arms.	51:14
	I led them with cords of compassion,	51:17
	with the bands of love,	51:21
	and I became to them as one who eases the yolk	51:23
	on their jaws.	51:27
	And I bent down to them and fed them."	51:31
	"Lord Jesus,	51:37
	if you then who are evil	51:41
	know how to give good gifts to your children,	51:45
	how much more will your father in heaven	51:50
	give good gifts to those who ask him?"	51:53
	Or the first epistle of John,	51:58
	perhaps the loveliest book in the New Testament.	52:01
	"Beloved, let us love one another,	52:05
	for love is of God.	52:11
	And he who loves is born of God, and knows God.	52:14
	He who does not love	52:22
	does not know God,	52:26
	for God is love.	52:29
	In this is love, not that we love God	52:32
	but that he loved us and sent his son.	52:36
	Beloved, if God so loved us,	52:42
	we also ought to love one another.	52:48
	No man has ever seen God,	52:52
	but if we loved one another	52:56
	God abides in us.	52:59
	And his love is perfected in us.	53:03
	Let's see Paul interpret all this for us.	53:09
	"Paul,	53:13
	you certainly went through hell and high water on Earth,	53:17
	judging from your autobiography.	53:21
	How'd you do it?"	53:24
	Can you hear his answer?	53:28
	"I discovered that God loved me	53:31
	before I became aware of it.	53:35
	That did something to me.	53:40
	I yielded myself to that almost unbelievable fact,	53:44
	that the great God loves me.	53:49
	And wants me as his companion on Earth.	53:56
	Now, I just have to love others as he loved me	54:01
	and nothing can stop it.	54:06
	Hell or high water, as you put it.	54:10
	I go through these afflictions	54:13
	because he loves me,	54:17
	and in consequence,	54:21
	I love my fellows.	54:23
	Love and God.	54:26
	Love which according to John, is God.	54:31
	Not only God is love, love is God.	54:37
	Love through which we know God.	54:42
	God, who is the groundwork of our life.	54:46
	That's what the Tyrones were groping for.	54:51
	In that is their hope of salvation,	54:56
	that is their hope of health.	55:01
	Health, spiritual health.	55:05
	This is the invisible means of support	55:09
	which the demonic obviously does not supply.	55:15
	This is the remedy.	55:20
	The committing of self to the more than self	55:21
	which doesn't observe the self,	55:27
	but which reestablishes it	55:32
	by giving it the dignity of son, daughter of God.	55:38
	And then seeks to work in love through that self.	55:44
	That's how a person is given back his soul,	55:51
	redeemed, made perfect by the exercise of love.	55:55
	If you don't believe this, how do you account for Paul,	56:01
	and Augustine, and Wesley, and Kaddalah, and Schweitzer,	56:05
	and for the people you yourselves know	56:12
	who live like this?	56:15
	If you do believe, how are you going to set about	56:17
	giving the Tyrones and your father,	56:21
	and your students,	56:27
	and your roommate,	56:29
	the capacity to see it?	56:32
	Granted that this is the remedy,	56:35
	what is the mode of treatment?	56:37
	Well let's be honest.	56:38
	To begin with, the Tyrones don't need us,	56:41
	they need a psychiatrist.	56:45
	Because what is obvious to the Tyrones	56:49
	under the influence of drink or drugs	56:53
	had better become obvious and accepted	56:55
	when they are cold sober,	56:59
	and it'll take the skill of an expert	57:02
	to make them cold sober.	57:04
	Now during that treatment and after it	57:07
	they must be steadily loved.	57:10
	They must be loved not because they're lovely,	57:14
	but because they need love.	57:17
	Now the psychiatrist may do that,	57:20
	it depends on his world view.	57:21
	But then we come in as Christians and we must do it,	57:24
	and oh brethren we do it not to make the Tyrones Christian,	57:28
	you can't make anybody Christian.	57:32
	Only God can do that, that's the truth behind	57:34
	the doctrine of election.	57:36
	Only God can make a person Christian.	57:39
	We don't do it to make them Christian,	57:42
	we don't do it to make them lovely,	57:44
	we don't do it to influence them and make them our friends,	57:46
	oh God forbid.	57:51
	We do it because they need love.	57:54
	They need the love which we received from God	57:58
	when we were unlovely.	58:02
	And still receive from his disciples when we are	58:04
	still unlovely.	58:08
	They'll need to know humble understanding.	58:11
	Numerous Christians, who go out to them in perpetual	58:16
	good will despite their misunderstanding,	58:20
	their self assertion, their impotence, their backslidings,	58:24
	their hostility.	58:28
	That will probably call for more than one Christian.	58:29
	And that's where the church comes in.	58:32
	And that's where people come in who understand,	58:36
	who can answer questions, because those Tyrones	58:38
	will ask questions.	58:41
	Don't go as a naive Christian, for God's sake,	58:42
	as well as theirs.	58:46
	It means knowledge.	58:48
	It means the capacity to expound.	58:50
	It means understanding.	58:52
	And it ultimately requires that the Tyrones try this.	58:55
	Action, interpretation, incitement to action,	59:00
	that's the Christian procedure.	59:03
	And you say to me, yes you're very naive, Dr. Cleland,	59:06
	this well senior on a pulpit in the coward's box.	59:08
	This doesn't work in life.	59:12
	Strangely enough, it did work,	59:15
	with one of the Tyrones.	59:18
	Long day's journey into night is autobiographical.	59:22
	Eugene O'Neill was the youngest Tyrone, Edmund.	59:28
	He wrote the play in 1941, 15 years before it was published	59:34
	and dedicated it to his wife on their	59:39
	twelfth wedding anniversary.	59:43
	Do you know why?	59:45
	Because she loved him into life and into light.	59:47
	She exorcized the demon.	59:53
	She washed away his guilt.	59:56
	Even his suffering, she gave him dignity,	59:58
	and peace,	1:00:01
	and exhilaration.	1:00:03
	If I were producing this play,	1:00:06
	I would read the dedication after the fall	1:00:10
	of the final curtain.	1:00:13
	Or is that bad theater,	1:00:16
	even if it is homiletically sound?	1:00:18
	Well, let me try again.	1:00:20
	I would print the dedication in the program.	1:00:22
	Why?	1:00:26
	Because it explains the reason for the play	1:00:29
	and it offers the catharsis.	1:00:32
	The purifying and elevating of the emotions	1:00:36
	which the play, per se, does not give.	1:00:39
	Let me read it to you.	1:00:42
	For Carlotta, on our twelfth wedding anniversary.	1:00:45
	Dearest, I give you the original script of this play	1:00:51
	of old sorrow, written in tears and blood.	1:00:56
	A sadly inappropriate gift it would seem,	1:01:02
	for a day celebrating happiness.	1:01:05
	But you will understand I mean it as a tribute	1:01:09
	to your love and tenderness,	1:01:12
	which gave me the faith in love.	1:01:16
	That enabled me to face my dead at last	1:01:20
	and write this play.	1:01:24
	Write it with deep pity and understanding,	1:01:27
	and forgiveness for all the four haunted Tyrones.	1:01:33
	These twelve years, Beloved One, have been	1:01:39
	a journey into light,	1:01:43
	into love.	1:01:47
	You know my gratitude and my love.	1:01:50
	That is within the Christian world view	1:01:56
	because it understood the catharsis	1:02:03
	and the impelling force of love.	1:02:09
	It was a long day's journey.	1:02:16
	A long day's journey.	1:02:20
	But it ended in light.	1:02:25
	Let us pray.	1:02:31
	Oh God, who art love,	1:02:38
	and who dost work continually in love,	1:02:42
	grant us to know that thou art love,	1:02:47
	and grant us to live in love,	1:02:52
	that thy saving health may be known,	1:02:55
	and thy love lived by us through Jesus Christ,	1:02:59
	thy love incarnate.	1:03:06
	Thy son, and our lord.	1:03:08
	And may the blessing of the lord	1:03:12
	come upon you abundantly.	1:03:15
	May it keep you strong and tranquil	1:03:18
	in the truth of his promises through Jesus Christ our lord.	1:03:21
	(choral praise music)	1:03:35

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "Long Day's Journey Into Light" (February 10, 1957)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 29:13. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 1:02:28.
Using his retelling of the play, "Long Day's Journey into the Night," the preacher compels his listeners to go to great lengths to share the love of God with those who are suffering like the characters of this play. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "Not only God is love, love is God."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4fx74d7g

Date:

February 10, 1957

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

2 Corinthians

Chapter and Verse:

2 Corinthians 11:22-31

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0032
ref5285_vrn
uachapelsermaud
duke:324117
dcrau002042
ark:/87924/r4fx74d7g
f496aa54-b318-497f-bc3d-6013db99b8e8

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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James T. Cleland - "Long Day's Journey Into Light" (February 10, 1957)

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1. James T. Cleland - "Long Day's Journey Into Light" (February 10, 1957)

Duke University Archives

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James T. Cleland - "Long Day's Journey Into Light" (February 10, 1957)

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Duke University Archives

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