H. Shelton Smith - "Religiousness Versus Righteousness" (November 11, 1956); Creighton Lacy - "A Psalm of Gratitude" (December 9, 1956)

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-	This is Sunday, November the 11th,	0:10
	this preacher is Dr. H Sheldon Smith,	0:12
	Director of Graduate Studies and Religion.	0:15
	(calm religious music)	0:18
	(choir sings faintly)	0:40
	(calm religious music)	1:24
	(choir sings faintly)	1:53
-	Let us offer unto God our unison prayer of confession,	4:17
	let us pray.	4:24
	All Mighty and Eternal God,	4:27
	who searches the hearts of men,	4:31
	we acknowledge and confess that we have sinned against thee	4:34
	in thought, word and deed,	4:38
	that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul,	4:42
	with all our mind and strength,	4:47
	and that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	4:51
	Forgive us our transgressions and help us to amend our ways,	4:55
	and of thy eternal goodness,	5:02
	direct what we shall be,	5:05
	so that we may henceforth walk	5:08
	in the way of thy commandments,	5:10
	and do those things	5:13
	which are worthy in thy sight.	5:15
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.	5:17
	And now as our savior Christ has taught us,	5:22
	we humbly pray.	5:26
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,	5:29
	thy kingdom come,	5:35
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	5:37
	Give us this day our daily bread,	5:42
	and forgive us our trespassers,	5:46
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	5:49
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	5:53
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	5:59
	and the glory forever.	6:02
	Amen.	6:06
	(calm religious music)	6:10
	(choir sings faintly)	6:54
-	The scripture lesson for this morning	11:39
	is taken from the Book of the Acts in the 17th chapter,	11:41
	beginning with the 22nd verse.	11:46
	"So Paul standing in the middle of the Areopagus said,	11:50
	'Men of the Athens,	11:54
	I perceive that in every way you are very religious,	11:57
	for as I passed along	12:01
	and observed the objects of your worship,	12:03
	I found also an altar with this inscription:	12:06
	To an Unknown God.	12:11
	But therefore you worship as unknown,	12:14
	this I proclaim to you,	12:17
	the God who made the world and everything in it,	12:20
	being Lord of heaven and earth,	12:23
	does not live in shrines made by man,	12:26
	nor is he served by human hands	12:30
	as though he needed anything,	12:32
	since he himself gives to all men life	12:35
	and breath and everything.	12:38
	And he made from one every nation of men	12:42
	to live on the face of the earth,	12:45
	having determined a lot of periods	12:48
	in the boundaries of their habitation,	12:50
	that they should seek God	12:53
	in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him.	12:54
	Yet He is not far from each one of us,	13:00
	for in Him we live and move and have our being.	13:03
	As even some of your poets have said,	13:08
	'For we are indeed His offspring.'	13:11
	Being then God's offspring,	13:15
	we ought not to think that the deity is like gold	13:17
	or silver or stone,	13:20
	a representation by the art and imagination of man.	13:23
	The times of ignorance, God overlooked,	13:28
	but now He commands all men everywhere to repent,	13:32
	because He has fixed a day	13:37
	on which He will judge the world in righteousness,	13:38
	by a man whom He has appointed.	13:41
	And of this He has given assurance to all men	13:44
	by raising Him from the dead."	13:48
	(calm religious music)	13:54
	(choir sings faintly)	14:18
-	The Lord be with you.	15:57
Congregation	(indistinct)	16:00
-	Let us pray.	16:01
	For thy goodness at all times,	16:11
	and thy presence in all places,	16:15
	glory be to thee O' God.	16:19
	For the memory of things past,	16:24
	for the use of things present,	16:28
	and for the hope of things to come, glory be to thee O' God.	16:31
	For thy peace in the turmoil of life,	16:41
	for the strength in the adventure of life,	16:46
	for thy blessed hope in the extreme adventure of death,	16:52
	glory be thee O' God.	16:59
	And let us offer unto God our prayer of intercession,	17:06
	for this (indistinct) day.	17:10
	All mighty God, whose son didst enjoy at Nazareth,	17:14
	the life of an earthly home.	17:19
	We command unto thy watchful care	17:23
	the homes represented in our congregation,	17:27
	make them to be colonies of thy kingdom on earth,	17:32
	where Goodwill is the inspiration,	17:38
	and cheerful service the accepted habit of its life.	17:42
	Bless the fathers and sons who bow before thee together	17:50
	in this chapel.	17:56
	May such an act of giant worship be no unusual experience,	18:00
	but a normal expression of their father, son relationship	18:07
	in the things of the spirit.	18:13
	This we ask in the name of thy Son, our Lord.	18:16
	And on this Armistice Day,	18:25
	let us pray for the military aspects of life.	18:27
	Good Lord who has sent our lives in a time of war,	18:34
	enable us to convert to a good purpose	18:40
	whatever military demands are laid upon us.	18:44
	If we undergo training,	18:50
	may it strengthen our discipline	18:53
	and lift out ideals to teamwork and service.	18:55
	If we face combat,	19:01
	may it not wrench away our Christian sympathy	19:04
	nor harden our heart.	19:08
	If we refuse the military way,	19:13
	may our decision be made with insight and humility,	19:17
	so that whatever our response	19:24
	to the violence of men and nations,	19:27
	we may continually fight the good fight of faith, in Him,	19:31
	whose kingdom is not of this world.	19:38
	Let us pray for world peace.	19:43
	Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn,	19:47
	but the sword of righteousness.	19:56
	And no strength known, but the strength of love.	19:59
	So guide and inspire we pray thee,	20:06
	the work of all who seek thy kingdom at home and abroad,	20:09
	that all peoples may seek can find their security,	20:14
	not in force of arms,	20:20
	but in the perfect love, that passed without fear.	20:23
	And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ	20:31
	be with us all,	20:36
	ever Lord.	20:39
	Amen	20:42
	(calm religious music)	20:47
	(gentle religious music)	21:58
	(choir sings faintly)	22:15
	Accept O' Lord, these the gifts of thy people,	28:01
	which we present unto thee,	28:07
	as part of the worship of thy house	28:10
	and may our gratitude to thee	28:15
	be as great, as our need of thy mercy.	28:18
	In Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.	28:22
	(calm religious music)	28:31
-	If evangelist Paul were to conduct a Christian mission	29:13
	to America today,	29:18
	he might well launch it as he did at Athens saying,	29:22
	"I perceive that in every way,	29:28
	you are very religious."	29:33
	For indeed our current religious mess is abundantly evident.	29:37
	Our church rooms are snowballing with unprecedented speed.	29:45
	In fact, they are far outstripping the birth rate.	29:53
	100 million Americans,	30:00
	six out of every 10 people,	30:04
	are reported to belong to some religious group.	30:09
	The campaign of church building is breaking all records.	30:16
	Religious books are among our best sellers.	30:23
	Yes, St. Paul would be deeply impressed	30:30
	with our spectacular religiousness.	30:36
	He would not, fail to note,	30:42
	that when we salute the flag,	30:47
	we expressly declare that America is under God.	30:50
	His eyes could not miss those glittering words on our coins,	30:57
	in God we trust.	31:04
	Nor would that new prayer room	31:08
	in the Capital of the richest nation under the sun	31:14
	escape his sharp attention.	31:18
	Now what is one to make,	31:23
	of this plethora of piety?	31:26
	What does it really mean?	31:30
	The skeptic easily replies, that our inflated spirituality	31:35
	is mostly shallow religion paucity.	31:40
	The romantic believer on the other hand,	31:45
	insists that we are in the midst	31:48
	of great spiritual awakening,	31:52
	a deep down saving work of All Mighty God.	31:56
	But the realist is not satisfied with either view.	32:02
	Although he sees an element of truth, in both.	32:09
	Let us then as Christian realists this morning,	32:15
	try to take a square honest look	32:19
	at our American religious situation.	32:25
	We should recognize that the outset,	32:30
	that it is one thing to be religious	32:34
	and quite another to be righteous.	32:38
	Saint Paul made this perfectly clear	32:43
	in his message to the Athenians.	32:46
	Wherever he looked,	32:49
	he saw conspicuous alters directed	32:51
	to their (indistinct) divinities.	32:53
	Yet the apostle,	32:57
	seeing straight through their idol centered piety,	32:59
	called them to repentance	33:04
	in light of the righteous judgment of God,	33:07
	as made manifest in Jesus Christ.	33:10
	Their response,	33:15
	was complacently simply to wave Paul aside	33:17
	as a mere babbler.	33:24
	You see, the Athenians were very religious,	33:27
	but they refused to become righteous.	33:32
	Likewise, Jesus explicitly distinguished religiousness	33:38
	from righteousness,	33:43
	on observing the meticulous piety of the Pharisees,	33:45
	the best people of His day,	33:50
	He said, "Woe to you, Pharisees,	33:53
	for you tithe, mint and rue,	33:58
	and every herb,	34:02
	and neglect justice and love to God."	34:06
	Jesus placed a premium,	34:13
	not upon religious but righteousness saying,	34:16
	"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.	34:23
	Blessed are those who are persecuted	34:31
	for righteousness sake."	34:34
	And do you ask this morning,	34:38
	what does it mean to be righteous?	34:40
	Then here the incisive words	34:45
	of our master Lord Jesus Christ.	34:47
	"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,	34:52
	with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself."	34:56
	Righteousness is here summed up	35:04
	in a two dimensional commitment,	35:07
	unconditioned love to God	35:11
	and thy love to neighbor,	35:16
	which is not less than the love given to oneself.	35:18
	Now, if we apply that searching test of righteousness	35:27
	to present day religion,	35:32
	we will find it hard to gain say the contention	35:35
	of Harvard's late professor Whitehead.	35:40
	"Religion," he declared,	35:46
	"is tending to degenerate	35:50
	into a decent formula where with to embellish	35:53
	a comfortable life."	35:58
	As Whitehead saw,	36:02
	We Americans are richly feasting	36:05
	on the economic cream of the world.	36:09
	Thanks to lavish natural resources	36:13
	and to refined scientific technology,	36:16
	our creature comforts now exceed	36:20
	those of the dreams of yesterday.	36:22
	Only a few years ago,	36:27
	when Henry Wallace dared to predict	36:30
	that America would soon afford 60 million jobs,	36:33
	he was put down as talking astronomical nonsense.	36:38
	And yet we're already well beyond that dizzy figure	36:44
	with still greater things set to lie ahead.	36:50
	In recent weeks, as you well know,	36:54
	we have heard little save romantic chance	36:57
	of our prosperity and our progress.	37:01
	Now, does it seem at all strange to you?	37:08
	That what Henry Link called "The Return to Religion"	37:14
	comes at the very peak of our fat dripping prosperity.	37:19
	This fact does not surprise a man	37:27
	like that Midwestern mayor,	37:30
	who told (indistinct) convention of Christian layman,	37:32
	that when his Lord walked the earth,	37:37
	he preached the great free enterprise system,	37:39
	nor does it perplex the popular evangelist	37:45
	to positive thinking,	37:47
	who usually finds that when a man taps divine energy	37:50
	and the enters upon confident living,	37:54
	his business immediately picks up.	37:57
	Nevertheless, there are numerous observers who believe,	38:03
	that current religion,	38:08
	as Whitehead feared, is tending to become an echo	38:14
	of the interests	38:19
	and values of a highly comfortable business society.	38:21
	There are two psychological attitudes,	38:29
	which clearly point in this direction.	38:33
	One of them, is the widely prevailing spirit	38:38
	of moral complacence.	38:42
	Our contemporary piety is suffused	38:47
	with the blissful temper of the famous three little monkeys.	38:51
	We see no evil,	38:56
	hear no evil,	38:59
	speak no evil.	39:03
	To be sure we do not deny the existence of evil,	39:07
	we merely want to avoid the pain	39:12
	and torment involved in messing with it.	39:15
	You see, we are afraid we will get our clean hands soiled.	39:22
	You see, we Americans are now preoccupied	39:29
	with one thing basically,	39:34
	the pursuit of happiness.	39:38
	It is indeed my friends, our holy grail.	39:42
	Significantly, in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World",	39:49
	the theme song,	39:54
	used to consist of just four obligating words,	39:56
	everybody is happy nowadays,	40:02
	everybody is happy nowadays.	40:08
	This coat of happiness,	40:13
	this peace of mind grand of piety,	40:16
	goes into ecstatic raptures	40:22
	over what he calls spiritual worship.	40:25
	It feasts upon sweet communion	40:29
	with the smiling cosmic companion,	40:31
	but it turns instantly frigid	40:35
	at the mere fault of doing battle	40:39
	on the frontiers of a troubled society,	40:41
	either at home or abroad.	40:44
	It does not rise to the call of the old herdsman prophet,	40:50
	"Let justice roll down like waters	40:55
	and the righteousness like an ever flowing stream."	41:00
	Significantly, cravers of this happy, problem-free pietism,	41:07
	flee anxiety with a passion.	41:14
	They run from inner conflict with a vengeance.	41:18
	Yes, Jesus did warn against anxiety,	41:26
	but the special type of anxiety	41:33
	which he was most concerned to eradicate,	41:36
	stems from the acquisitive impulse.	41:40
	Immediately after Jesus said,	41:45
	"You cannot serve God and mammon."	41:50
	He declared, "Do not be anxious for your life,	41:55
	what you shall eat	42:01
	or what you shall drink	42:04
	nor about your body,	42:07
	what you shall put on."	42:10
	His main intention here,	42:14
	was not to expel anxiety as such,	42:17
	but to shift its center from the concern for things,	42:22
	to the concern for the way to your matter	42:28
	of the kingdom of God.	42:31
	For what shall it profit a man,	42:36
	if he should gain the whole world,	42:41
	and lose his own soul?	42:45
	Now, this is not to say	42:52
	that the pathological forms of anxiety	42:53
	are to be ignored or underestimated,	42:56
	far from it, they should be eradicated if at all possible.	43:02
	And therefore we rightly support psychiatrists	43:06
	and other mental specialists,	43:10
	who are doing so much in this all important field.	43:12
	And yet, and yet,	43:16
	as Paul Tillich has reminded us,	43:20
	"There is a type of anxiety	43:23
	which belongs to existence as such,	43:27
	and which if removed,	43:33
	would leave man something less than a true human being.	43:36
	Without this existential anxiety,	43:45
	men might be a sleek, happy seal,	43:51
	but he would not be a creative self,	43:56
	since man is not merely tethered to nature,	44:01
	but also is semi-detached from nature,	44:06
	he unavoidably reflects upon the meaning of existence	44:11
	and anxiously ponders his ultimate fate,	44:17
	this uneasy trembling,	44:24
	before the determiner of destiny,	44:28
	this fear of the Lord as the Bible puts it,	44:31
	is the very beginning of wisdom.	44:36
	The (indistinct) to the peace that passes understanding.	44:40
	Hence when one tries to smother essential anxiety,	44:46
	as distinguished from neurotic anxiety,	44:54
	one closes the door to the kingdom of God	44:58
	or the spiritual fulfillment of human life.	45:05
	Far from suppressing it,	45:10
	one should utilize it,	45:13
	as a necessary avenue to the higher life.	45:15
	The other psychological attitude	45:23
	which characterizes much present day piety	45:27
	is a strong inclination toward ethical	45:31
	and social conformity.	45:37
	The social and religious liberal is today,	45:41
	seriously discounted.	45:48
	Does anyone here think,	45:53
	that a man of the model	45:55
	and political views of Thomas Jefferson	45:57
	could have been elected president in the year 1956?	46:02
	This conformist temper	46:11
	has doubtless been nourished by our recent	46:14
	wave of rich honey.	46:18
	At its height,	46:21
	not only the declaration of independence,	46:23
	but much of the Bible sounded subversive	46:26
	to many self appointed monitors of the American conscience.	46:29
	But be the cause what he made,	46:36
	the fact is, that current religion is remarkably team	46:39
	in a tomorrow daring.	46:44
	If therefore we are actually experiencing	46:47
	a religious revival in America,	46:51
	then I declare to you that this revival is certainly	46:54
	not at all venturesome,	46:57
	at those points where our society is most in moral jeopardy.	46:59
	This applies to the college campus	47:09
	as well as to other sectors	47:13
	of the Judeo-Christian community.	47:15
	Only a short time a goal,	47:18
	at least the superior college student had a long neck,	47:21
	and he didn't mind sticking it out.	47:27
	Vigorous controversy and provocative debate	47:32
	were the very crystal of his intellectual	47:36
	and spiritual life.	47:39
	But so far as I can learn today,	47:42
	the present day campus including our own,	47:46
	is far from being a hotbed of progressivism.	47:51
	It's generally seen of outright conservatism.	47:56
	College youth might consistently today across this land	48:02
	hoist the banner, fare well to reform,	48:08
	fare well to reform.	48:14
	Interestingly, it is a young man fresh from Yale,	48:23
	who calls Americans back to God	48:28
	and the good old days.	48:31
	It is another young man, also recently out of college	48:37
	who comes south, expressly to save the White race	48:41
	from modern realization.	48:46
	Our current religiousness seems to cultivate	48:52
	in both youth and adults.	48:56
	A tendency to seek the middle of the road	48:58
	when crucial issues call for decision.	49:03
	This middle of the road temper, means in the final showdown,	49:07
	simply a preference for the middle of the human pack,	49:13
	for the center of the social herd,	49:18
	for there one would be shielded	49:23
	from the shafts of criticism,	49:26
	and saved from the insecurity of a independent mind.	49:30
	Emerson's famous doctrine of self-reliance,	49:39
	has been at abjectly exchanged,	49:46
	for that of group or herd reliance,	49:50
	and group directed man deeply craves a leader,	49:56
	one on whom he can rely for security	50:03
	and for all crucial decisions.	50:08
	Paradoxically, the American of today as Cole pointed out,	50:13
	wants freedom,	50:22
	and fears his freedom.	50:25
	This then seems to be the spiritual condition of America	50:34
	(indistinct) the century.	50:38
	Numerically speaking, religion is flourishing	50:41
	like the green bay tree.	50:45
	Yet from a qualitative standpoint,	50:48
	it is becoming dangerously subservient	50:52
	to a business civilization that is apt in things	50:56
	but lean in soul.	51:01
	Unhappily, the more religious we become on these terms,	51:05
	the less likely are we to recognize the peril	51:13
	of our moral predicament.	51:17
	As (indistinct), we have eyes,	51:20
	but we see not,	51:25
	we have ears,	51:28
	but we hear not.	51:32
	What is more,	51:36
	a socially captive religion,	51:38
	is seriously warping our value judgments,	51:41
	so that we call evil good, and good evil.	51:46
	We put darkness for light,	51:53
	and light for darkness.	51:57
	Therefore, those thundering words of Amos	52:01
	though unpleasant to our complacent ears,	52:07
	speak directly to our spiritual situation.	52:12
	Woe to those, who are at ease in Zion	52:17
	and to those who feel secure on the Mountain of Sumeria.	52:23
	Who lie upon the beds of ivory,	52:30
	and stretch themselves upon their couches.	52:33
	Who drink wine in bowls	52:40
	and anoint themselves with the finest oils,	52:44
	but who are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.	52:50
	Let us rise in prayer.	52:58
	All Mighty God,	53:06
	disturb our fault's peace,	53:09
	shatter our complacency,	53:13
	and save us from that lethargy of spirit,	53:17
	which betrays the gospel of Jesus Christ.	53:21
	Now to him, who is able to keep you from falling,	53:28
	and to present you without blemish	53:33
	before the presence of his glory with rejoicing,	53:35
	to the only God,	53:40
	our savior through Jesus Christ, our Lord,	53:42
	be glory,	53:46
	majesty and authority,	53:48
	now and forever.	53:52
	(calm music)	54:03
	(choir sings faintly)	54:13
	(bell dings)	55:45
-	Testing, testing,	56:57
	testing, testing, testing,	57:01
	testing.	57:05

-	Sunday morning, November 18, 1956.	0:06
	Preaching will be Dr. Creighton Lacey,	0:12
	Professor, Duke Divinity School.	0:15
	(piano music)	0:21
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	0:41
	♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪	0:46
	♪ Praise him above, ye heavenly host ♪	0:53
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	0:59
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08
-	Oh God, who needeth not to be enriched	1:17
	with any gifts that we may bring,	1:21
	yet loveth a cheerful giver.	1:24
	Receive these our offerings	1:28
	which we present unto thee,	1:30
	and with them ourselves, our souls, and our bodies,	1:33
	a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to thee	1:38
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	1:44
	Amen.	1:47
	(orchestral music)	1:51
-	In the second chapter of his prophecy,	2:25
	Hosea reverses the usual cycle of thanksgiving.	2:28
	Instead of tracing the goodness of God	2:32
	through the sunshine and rain to the bountiful crops	2:35
	for which man offers dutiful thanks,	2:39
	Hosea starts with the Valley of Jezreel,	2:42
	a symbolic name meaning God sows rather than man,	2:46
	and pictures a natural symphony of praise ascending upward.	2:52
	And it is in response to this gratitude	2:57
	that God pours forth mercy on those without mercy	3:00
	and receives those who have not been his people.	3:05
	It shall come to pass in that day,	3:11
	"I will answer.", sayeth the Lord.	3:13
	"I will answer the heavens and the earth,	3:15
	and they shall answer the earth	3:19
	and the earth shall answer the grain and the new wine	3:20
	and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel.	3:24
	And I will sow her unto me in the earth,	3:28
	and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.	3:31
	And I will say to them that were not my people,	3:36
	thou art my people, and they shall say,	3:39
	thou art my God."	3:44
	Here in picturesque language is the whole interdependence	3:48
	of Thanksgiving, the partnership of God and man and nature,	3:52
	the unity of creation.	4:00
	There may be some who believe more sincerely than Ogden Nash	4:03
	that Thanksgiving like ambassadors,	4:07
	cabinet officers and others smeared with political ointment	4:10
	depends for its existence on presidential appointment.	4:15
	There are certainly some here today who regard it merely	4:20
	as an excuse for escaping from the restrictions	4:24
	of this campus.	4:27
	Although even that attitude may not be entirely devoid	4:29
	of gratitude toward the pilgrims for a good idea,	4:33
	toward Washington for the first official proclamation,	4:38
	toward Lincoln for the regular national holiday,	4:42
	or even toward Franklin Roosevelt,	4:47
	who has battled with state governors and Congress	4:49
	gives us this year,	4:53
	the earliest possible date for Thanksgiving.	4:54
	For most people, however, this is a genuine holiday,	4:59
	although we observe it less and less as a genuine holy day.	5:03
	The shortening days, the falling leaves,	5:10
	the Christmas parades remind us that nature	5:13
	is ending another year.	5:16
	We are still close enough to our rural heritage to cherish	5:19
	the symbols of corn shocks, turkeys and pumpkin pies.	5:22
	This is an occasion for family fellowship,	5:27
	and better still for including those	5:31
	who have no family circle.	5:33
	All of us who speak about Thanksgiving in a majestic chapel	5:36
	or in a one room school house face the perils of the trite,	5:41
	the sentimental and the obvious.	5:46
	Yet there are undertones and overtones to Thanksgiving,	5:50
	which must not be forgotten.	5:54
	We have sang thrillingly this morning,	5:57
	"Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices."	5:59
	We have made gestures of praise to God with our lips	6:08
	and with our fingers.	6:12
	I dare not judge about our hearts,	6:14
	but out of the multitude of reasons and values	6:18
	and blessings for Thanksgiving,	6:21
	let me select just a couple under each of these	6:25
	very simple headings, voices, hands and heart.	6:27
	Second, only to the 4th of July,	6:36
	this is a vociferous holiday.	6:37
	We praise the Lord and pass the Turkey to prove	6:40
	that God has been very good to us.	6:43
	We praise our Alma mater and passed the pig skin	6:46
	to prove that this is a good old American tradition.	6:49
	We may declare a very lustily that we plow the fields	6:53
	and scatter the good seed on the land,	6:57
	although very few of us ever do that.	7:00
	In family reunions, we shall chatter so constantly,	7:04
	but no one will have time to listen.	7:08
	With all the hilarity we may be sincerely and profoundly	7:11
	thankful for the blessings we have received	7:15
	and hope to receive.	7:19
	But will you give thanks so readily at this autumn season	7:22
	are singularly tongue tied or forgetful	7:25
	the rest of the year.	7:29
	A Congressman who received a word of approval	7:32
	for a certain stand which he had taken	7:34
	replied as follows,	7:37
	"Your letter was both a surprise and a pleasure.	7:40
	I have represented your district for the past 13 years.	7:43
	In all that time, yours is the first letter I have received,	7:47
	in which a constituent actually thanked me	7:52
	for doing my duty as a legislator."	7:55
	How much richer and truer this season would be	8:00
	If we had spread our words of gratitude to God or man	8:03
	throughout the year.	8:08
	When did you last express thanks to your parents	8:12
	for life and love?	8:16
	If a teacher ever goes out of his way to show personal	8:20
	interest in you and to help you beyond the call of duty,	8:23
	does he even know you appreciated it?	8:29
	Are your rude complaints about the service in cafeterias	8:33
	or filling stations or stores ever balanced	8:37
	by a word of courtesy?	8:41
	Did you ever thank your roommate for putting up with you?	8:45
	There is a jab of truth to Shakespeare's jolly song,	8:50
	"Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind",	8:54
	thou art not so unkind as mans ingratitude.	8:57
	Freeze freeze thou bitter sky, that dost not bite so nigh	9:02
	as benefits forgot.	9:07
	Though thou the water's warp,	9:09
	thy sting is not so sharp as friend remembered not.	9:11
	One of my college roommates came from a background	9:19
	without any religious faith	9:22
	or church connections whatsoever.	9:24
	One summer vacation, he wrote me this,	9:27
	"Sometimes I wish I believe in a personal God,	9:30
	so that I could thank him for our friendship."	9:34
	Corny? Not Very.	9:40
	Peter wasn't embarrassed roundabout line of gratitude	9:43
	that I shall never forget. But far more important,	9:46
	here was a recognition by a completely non-religious person	9:50
	that the best things in life are not mechanical or merited,	9:55
	but gratitude is somehow a natural instinct	10:02
	and that the deepest thanks are owed to someone higher	10:07
	than human friends. Our opening hymn this morning.	10:11
	Now, thank we all our God	10:16
	is not to be found under Thanksgiving songs	10:18
	in the Methodist hymnal.	10:21
	It is very near the beginning under adoration and praise.	10:23
	Real gratitude is not a seasonal product to be served up	10:28
	on the fourth Thursday in November.	10:32
	It is a year round expression of year round indebtedness	10:35
	to God and man.	10:40
	The second implication of thanking God with our voices	10:45
	is this, Thanksgiving is a social act.	10:49
	All we Protestants claim the priesthood of all believers.	10:54
	We know the transforming power	10:58
	of individual communion with God.	11:00
	We acknowledge our obligation to give personal thanks	11:03
	to him.	11:06
	But this autumn celebration emphasizes the importance	11:08
	and the necessity of corporate gratitude.	11:12
	It is a family festival, a national holiday,	11:18
	a universal harvest season.	11:24
	Referring again to our theme hymn,	11:28
	an individual can give praise with heart and hands,	11:30
	but very few of us are Edgar Bergen's	11:34
	who can sing with plural voices.	11:37
	We need one another.	11:40
	The Bible repeatedly asserts the effectiveness	11:44
	of concerted prayer. As hard as hilarity once put it,	11:46
	Noah prayed with a fate of a new world in his grasp,	11:51
	but he prayed alone. And neither his own moral strength	11:55
	nor those who came after him	11:59
	were adequate for the challenge.	12:02
	Abraham's sought in vain for 10 righteous man in Sodom,	12:05
	but without them,	12:09
	his own earnest prayers for the city were unavailing.	12:10
	Daniel on the other hand,	12:16
	had three beloved companions who waxed mighty in prayer.	12:17
	Esther succeeded in restraining the king	12:23
	when all of her people joined with her in fasting	12:26
	and prayer. Truly we are members one of another.	12:30
	But this abundant harvest season,	12:38
	when peace and prosperity have been shouted across the land	12:41
	for many months.	12:44
	We cannot, we dare not give thanks alone.	12:46
	The self-righteous complacency, which takes for granted	12:52
	that we have earned this favored place,	12:55
	corrodes away all genuine Christian gratitude.	12:57
	More than 300 years ago, John Dunn wrote,	13:04
	"No man is an island entire of itself.	13:07
	Every man is a piece of the continent,	13:12
	a part of the main. If a clog be washed away by the sea,	13:15
	Europe is the last."	13:20
	Today, we know that no nation is an island	13:24
	sufficient unto itself. In these recent weeks of crisis,	13:27
	we have not even asked for whom the bell tolls	13:32
	because we knew. Those who lie dead beside the Danube,	13:36
	or on the Sinai desert or in the streets of Singapore,	13:42
	we're children of God too.	13:46
	The refugees who would huddle shivering in Hong Kong	13:50
	and Gaza in Western Germany are part of the human family.	13:54
	President Eisenhower, writing his Thanksgiving proclamation	14:00
	this year must remember his own country	14:04
	as well as Hungary in Egypt, when he says,	14:08
	"Let us be grateful that the foundations of freedom	14:11
	in our nation grow stronger with each passing year,	14:15
	giving hope to fettered peoples that they may walk	14:20
	as free men, unafraid."	14:24
	We shall not realize the full meaning	14:30
	of corporate thankfulness	14:32
	as long as barriers of bitterness divide us	14:34
	from any of our fellow men.	14:38
	This week, it should be especially clear	14:42
	that those who walk with weariness and pride	14:45
	through Montgomery, Alabama,	14:49
	have earned a deeper understanding of gratitude	14:51
	than we who sit, period.	14:55
	As we recall the hope of freedom and justice,	14:59
	which sustained the pilgrims through adversity	15:02
	and which inspired the first American Thanksgiving,	15:05
	we cannot rest content until all our stupendous	15:09
	and undeniable good is crowned with brotherhood	15:15
	from sea to shining sea.	15:20
	Praising God with all our voices then	15:26
	includes repeated and United gratitude.	15:29
	What does it mean to praise him with our hands?	15:34
	Farmers know, harvest festivals have originated	15:38
	in many lands among rural people,	15:43
	among those who live and labor close to the soil.	15:46
	We who buy our food in season and out	15:51
	at the neighborhood grocery store or the campus cafeteria	15:54
	readily forget the work of many, many hands.	15:58
	Hosea knew that the inhabitants of the valley of Jezreel	16:04
	were offering thanks through their orchards and vineyards	16:07
	and wheat fields. King David proclaimed	16:12
	the first Thanksgiving holiday described	16:16
	in the scripture lesson from Chronicles	16:18
	to celebrate months of effort, overcoming war and treachery	16:21
	and sudden death in moving the Ark	16:26
	a few miles to Jerusalem.	16:30
	The pilgrims gave thanks,	16:34
	not for the berries and the wild animals and caves,	16:35
	which they found on the bleak New England shore,	16:39
	they waited nine months until they could see the fruits	16:43
	of their own labor in building, organizing, defending,	16:46
	planting, manufacturing.	16:51
	Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.	16:57
	But this requirement that we work for a living	17:02
	does not relieve us from the debt of gratitude.	17:05
	In the wisdom of God's creation.	17:08
	The process of life is a continuous	17:10
	and an interdependent activity.	17:13
	The revised standard version of the New Testament	17:17
	loses something when it has Paul say to the Corinthians,	17:20
	"You are God's field, God's building."	17:24
	For the earlier word,	17:29
	"Ye are God's husbandry," may be archaic,	17:30
	but it has a significant triple meaning.	17:35
	Husbandry made a note, the actual workers, the husband men,	17:40
	who were laboring in God's kingdom.	17:44
	It may refer to the result of their labor,	17:47
	the produce, the harvest.	17:50
	You are what God has raised up.	17:53
	Or it may mean the act of labor, the work itself,	17:56
	the process of creation in which we are instruments	18:01
	of the Lord.	18:05
	This triple usage of an agricultural term	18:07
	indicates the essential interrelation	18:10
	between work and worker and product.	18:12
	It implies also that we are in partnership not only	18:18
	with one another, but with God the creator.	18:22
	You have heard about the preacher who watched a farmer	18:27
	tilling his guard and poured out pious platitudes	18:30
	of praise about the miracle,	18:33
	which you and God have accomplished together.	18:35
	Yeah, grunted the farmer.	18:40
	But you should have seen this weed patch	18:41
	when the Lord had it by himself.	18:43
	The anecdote was doubtless meant to belittle	18:47
	the divine share in farming.	18:50
	It does not succeed. In the first place,	18:53
	It could readily be turned around	18:56
	to ask what the farmer would have to show	18:58
	without sun and rain and soil	19:00
	and the still an explicable germ of life in a tiny seed.	19:05
	But furthermore, the story serves to illustrate	19:11
	a fundamental law of creation,	19:13
	that we are workers together with God.	19:16
	Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.	19:20
	We are reading a great deal these days about the prospects	19:29
	and perils of automation,	19:31
	fantastic machines already in existence	19:34
	can calculate problems, which would take us years,	19:37
	can issue instructions to other machines,	19:40
	can supply the right materials at the right time.	19:44
	Still more amazing predictions for the future,	19:48
	bewilder the industrialist and threaten employment.	19:51
	But these machines are man made and man designed.	19:56
	Their accomplishments and their limitations	20:04
	are still set by human minds.	20:07
	If we ever reach a day,	20:11
	when robots can reproduce themselves	20:13
	and can undertake tasks,	20:15
	which have not been assigned to them,	20:17
	that will not be a day of triumph, but of human defeat.	20:20
	Not an evidence of progress,	20:25
	but a surrender of freedom and of life itself.	20:28
	So it is also between man and God.	20:33
	The marvelous advances in science and technology	20:37
	are not human achievements alone.	20:40
	They depend on natural laws.	20:44
	They employ materials and elements,	20:47
	which can be artificially produced only inadequately,	20:49
	if at all. They somehow arise only from the human brain,	20:53
	a living machine,	20:59
	more fabulous than the most complex Uniback.	21:00
	And if a materialistic mechanistic explanation	21:05
	of the universe ever does prevail,	21:10
	if it should ever be proved that we could get along	21:13
	without God, then we shall be no longer men	21:15
	or even machines, but monsters.	21:20
	The values for which we give thanks today,	21:26
	love, beauty, truth, freedom will be not only	21:29
	irrelevant illusions, but dangerous false hoods.	21:37
	We thank God with our hands.	21:43
	Not only when we produce, but when we share.	21:45
	The first half of this holiday is 'thanks'.	21:50
	The second half is 'giving'.	21:54
	Let know true Christian forget that while we feast,	21:57
	one half of mankind goes to bed hungry.	22:01
	We may not be able to mail a drumstick from a plump Turkey	22:05
	to a Korean orphan, but we should want to do so.	22:08
	Not only must we find ways of sharing our abundance more	22:13
	widely and more justly,	22:16
	but we must constantly seek more permanent methods	22:20
	of reducing inequality and suffering.	22:23
	The presidential proclamation includes these summons.	22:28
	"Let us as the beneficiaries of this greatness,	22:32
	give a good account of our stewardship by helping those	22:36
	in need and by rendering aid through our religious	22:40
	organizations and by other means, to the ill,	22:45
	the destitute and the oppressed in foreign lands.	22:49
	Let us thank God with our hands,	22:56
	finding our deepest satisfaction in creative sharing,	22:59
	rediscovering the eternal truth that we reap what we sow."	23:03
	Let us thank God with our hands,	23:09
	knowing that we are partners with him,	23:12
	but junior partners, dependent for all that we have	23:15
	and all that we are on his infinite goodness and love.	23:19
	Let us thank God with our hands, dedicating our lives	23:26
	to service. But true gratitude is even more than this.	23:30
	It involves the heart and that involves the whole being.	23:37
	Thanksgiving cannot be limited to an autumnal Anthem	23:42
	or to some physical feet like carving the turkey	23:46
	or unfreezing the pumpkin pie.	23:50
	Thanksgiving is an attitude, not an act.	23:54
	It expresses our relationship to both creator and creation.	23:59
	It shows itself in what we are as well as what we do	24:05
	and what we say.	24:10
	It is an inclusive form of worship because it includes	24:13
	all of ourselves.	24:16
	All of our fellow men, all of our father, God.	24:18
	In this familiar hymn,	24:24
	old brother, man, folded thy heart thy brother.	24:26
	That beloved American poet,	24:31
	John Greenleaf Whittier says,	24:32
	"The holier worship, which he dains to bless,	24:35
	restores the lost and binds the spirit broken	24:40
	and feeds the widow and the fatherless."	24:45
	Thanksgiving from the heart is the most genuine kind of all.	24:50
	It is the fundamental form, which hands and voices echo.	24:55
	Some of you remember that bestselling novel	25:01
	of the depression years, "Vain Of Iron" by Ellen Glasgow.	25:03
	The heroine had one simple moving motto,	25:09
	which carried her through all manner of adversity,	25:13
	"It is only in the heart that anything ever really happens."	25:16
	Materialists may scoff and many do.	25:24
	The heart is only a physiological organ, they say,	25:27
	pumping a red liquid through a network of arteries,	25:31
	capillaries, and veins.	25:34
	Or if we are talking about such nonsense as soul or spirit,	25:36
	the heart is at best a disconcerting epic phenomenon.	25:41
	At worst, a sentimental obstacle to social progress.	25:47
	But the Christian knows that it is only in the heart	25:52
	that anything ever really happens.	25:55
	Not that we deny the material world.	26:00
	The late great Archbishop of Canterbury,	26:04
	William Temple referred to Christianity	26:05
	as the most materialistic of all religions,	26:08
	for we affirm the reality of the physical world	26:12
	and God's concern for it.	26:15
	Our hands and voices respond to the wheel,	26:20
	which is another name for heart.	26:24
	If we believe in any sort of freedom,	26:27
	it resides in the heart and not in the brain or the glans	26:29
	or the muscles. Faith, hope and love.	26:34
	These three last on because they are at home,	26:41
	in the human heart.	26:46
	The heart knows a difference in values,	26:49
	which neither eyes nor fingers can detect.	26:51
	It knows that, as Edwin Arlington Robinson put it,	26:55
	two kinds of gratitude. The sudden kind,	26:58
	we feel for what we take.	27:02
	The larger kind, we feel for what we give.	27:05
	At this season the heart finds deeper, clearer,	27:11
	stranger things to be thankful for	27:15
	than a new Thunderbird or a bee in logic.	27:17
	William Dean Howells expressed this in typically unorthodox	27:22
	verse, "Lord for the erring thought not into evil rot.	27:26
	Lord for the wicked wheel betrayed and baffled still,	27:34
	for the heart from itself kept, our thanksgiving accept."	27:38
	The heart is thankful, free, and wise	27:48
	because the Lord is there.	27:53
	Because he spurns coaching from the sidelines	27:56
	and moves into the very center of our lives,	27:59
	everything takes on new meaning.	28:02
	We see with fresh insight that gratitude demands expression,	28:05
	not once a year, but every day.	28:11
	We discover that true Thanksgiving is a communal experience.	28:16
	Whenever it becomes complacent and superior,	28:20
	it's Smothers in its own self-righteousness.	28:24
	We learn what Saint Paul meant	28:28
	when he declared emphatically, "The point is this,	28:30
	he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.	28:34
	And he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."	28:38
	We realize that we are partners with God and man	28:44
	in both creation and appreciation.	28:49
	Here is one more sentence from	28:56
	President Eisenhower's proclamation,	28:57
	"Humbly aware that we are a people greatly blessed	29:01
	both materially and spiritually.	29:05
	Let us pray this year,	29:08
	not only in the spirit of Thanksgiving,	29:09
	but also as supplements for God's guidance.	29:12
	To the end that we may follow the course of righteousness	29:16
	and be worthy of his favor."	29:20
	This does not mean a superficial piety.	29:26
	We were warned last week from this pulpit	29:30
	of the difference between religiousness and righteousness.	29:33
	We shall experience the difference in our own lives	29:39
	only as Christ dwells in our hearts,	29:42
	speaks through our voices, works with our hands.	29:46
	Saint Paul found many things to be grateful for.	29:53
	In the midst of storm and impending shipwreck,	29:57
	he took bread and gave thanks.	29:59
	Almost every letter opens with a word of gratitude	30:02
	for the faithfulness of those early Christians.	30:05
	Faithfulness not toward himself, but Christ.	30:09
	For Paul had one Supreme object of Thanksgiving	30:14
	in which all other causes were gathered up.	30:18
	Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.	30:22
	And Jesus Christ is the fulfillment	30:29
	of Hosea's ancient prophecy,	30:31
	"I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.	30:35
	And I will say to them that we're not my people,	30:39
	thou art my people.	30:42
	And they shall say, thou art, my God."	30:45
	This new relationship takes place within the human heart.	30:50
	It is all that ever really matters.	30:57
	For this is the way God responds to the heaven	31:01
	and the earth, the cornfields and the vineyards.	31:03
	When Thanksgiving becomes in truth an attitude of the heart,	31:08
	expressed with hands and voices, God almighty hears	31:12
	and answers.	31:18
	The Whittier hymn already quoted, ends like this,	31:21
	"Follow with reverend steps the great example	31:27
	of him whose holy work was doing good.	31:30
	So shall a wide earth seem our fathers temple,	31:34
	each loving life, a Psalm of gratitude."	31:40
	Let us pray.	31:47
	Our heavenly father for all that we have received	31:56
	and all that we are receiving, make us truly thankful.	31:59
	Teach us at this festive season to join heart and hands	32:04
	and voices, not only with our families, but with thy family.	32:09
	Bless us in our experience of Thanksgiving,	32:16
	that it may be more than a transom holiday.	32:20
	So guide and use us every day, Oh Lord,	32:24
	that we may sincerely offer thee each loving life,	32:27
	a Psalm of gratitude.	32:32
	Now, thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices	32:35
	who wondrous things have done, in whom the world rejoices.	32:43
	Grace to you and peace from God, our father	32:50
	and the Lord Jesus Christ.	32:55
-	Operator testing one, two, three, four,	34:01
	five, six, seven, eight,	34:05
	nine, 10.	34:07
	Power test, two, three, four, five, six.	34:09
	11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.	34:19

Item Info

Title:

H. Shelton Smith - "Religiousness Versus Righteousness" (November 11, 1956); Creighton Lacy - "A Psalm of Gratitude" (December 9, 1956)

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4xg9kc4k

Date:

November 11, 1956
December 9, 1956

Speaker:

Smith, H. Shelton

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 RR-0028
ref5277_8c7
uachapelsermaud
duke:628117
dcrau002079
ark:/87924/r4xg9kc4k
75ba41ab-ea5f-4f99-97aa-79f624ed00c0

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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English

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H. Shelton Smith - "Religiousness Versus Righteousness" (November 11, 1956); Creighton Lacy - "A Psalm of Gratitude" (December 9, 1956)

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