Howard C. Wilkinson - "No More Sea" (October 11, 1959)

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	(choir singing)	0:04
Chaplain	Let us hear the word of God	0:24
	as it is contained in the 12th chapter of Paul's first	0:26
	letter to the Corinthians,	0:30
	we read certain selected verses.	0:32
	Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit,	0:36
	and there are varieties of service, but the same glory,	0:40
	and there are varieties of working,	0:45
	but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.	0:48
	To each is given the manifestation of the spirit	0:53
	for the common good.	0:56
	One is given through the spirit, the utterance wisdom,	0:59
	to another the utterance of knowledge by the same spirit,	1:03
	to another gifts of healing by the one spirit...	1:07
Announcer	Testing, 1, 2, 3, 4.	1:14
	Testing 1, 2, 3, 4.	1:16
Chaplain	We are members of the body	1:21
	though many are one body,	1:22
	so it is with Christ, for by one spirit.	1:26
	(loud thud)	1:30
	In the book of revelation, chapter 21, verse one,	1:48
	we find these words.	1:53
	"I saw a new heaven and a new earth	1:56
	for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away	2:00
	and there was no more sea."	2:05
	We are presented with a rather puzzling question.	2:10
	When we try to visualize these words,	2:14
	which John imprisoned on the island of Patmos as he was.	2:16
	Began to write to his Christian friends on the main land,	2:22
	I saw a new heaven because the old heaven had passed away.	2:29
	I saw a new earth	2:37
	because the existing earth had passed away.	2:40
	But instead off viewing a new sea, he observed no sea, why?	2:45
	Old heaven passed away new heaven,	2:56
	old earth passed away new earth.	2:59
	Existing sea passed away no new sea, no sea.	3:03
	The answer to this puzzle seems to lie in the fact	3:11
	that as Professor Clog from England has told us,	3:15
	the Hebrew people thought of the sea as a divider,	3:20
	Hebrews were not a sea bearing fork.	3:26
	And therefore when they came to the sea,	3:29
	it stopped them, it separated them from other people.	3:33
	This was particularly true of John	3:37
	as he was on the island of Patmos	3:39
	because the sea which surrounded the island of Patmos	3:42
	made out of that island a fortress prison,	3:46
	and kept him from being reunited	3:51
	with his Christian brothers on the main land.	3:53
	Consequently, as he was doing his viewing,	3:57
	adding his vision, explaining it	4:01
	about God's fulfillment off his perfect kingdom	4:04
	he saw in that fulfilled kingdom absolutely no sea,	4:09
	because he could not imagine	4:17
	that when God had perfectly brought his kingdom to pass,	4:19
	there wouldn't be in it any artificial barriers,	4:23
	separating people from other people.	4:25
	That God's people would not be divided from each other	4:29
	by manmade barriers or by any physical thing	4:33
	or anything which pertains to this earth.	4:38
	There would be no more sea.	4:41
	This brings rather forcibly to our attention	4:45
	the thought that while we labor and pray here on earth,	4:49
	that God's kingdom will come	4:52
	and his will be done on earth	4:55
	as it is in this perfect Kingdom,	4:58
	that we should bestow ourselves	5:01
	to eliminate the artificial barriers,	5:03
	the seas, if you please, which divide the people of God.	5:06
	We should see to it that nothing stands between us	5:13
	and the others who are his children.	5:17
	Now, the reasons why this thought is claiming	5:20
	our attention here today is that last month,	5:23
	when the University Religious Council of Duke	5:27
	had its annual fall retreat,	5:31
	to consider the word of religion here on the Duke campus	5:34
	for this year,	5:38
	the faculty and students who make up that	5:41
	interdenominational body that gives supervision	5:43
	to our religious program,	5:46
	asked me to present certain claims	5:48
	and certain important matters to this chapel congregation	5:53
	on the occasion of my next sermon here.	5:57
	And this I was very glad to do.	6:00
	I believe it can best be done through an evaluation	6:04
	of the relationship of our interdenominational program	6:08
	to our denomination program, this I would like to do now.	6:12
	To fulfill the request of our council	6:18
	and to say some things to you today on their behalf,	6:22
	which are of great importance for us as Christians.	6:27
	It has been said quite often	6:32
	that the scandal of Christianity	6:34
	is it's many, many divisions.	6:35
	It has not been said too often.	6:39
	Not only are there three major divisions	6:42
	of the body of Christ.	6:45
	That is to say the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestants,	6:47
	but the Protestant division is splintered into approximately	6:51
	300 denominational sects in American.	6:55
	Now this fact by itself would not be bad	7:02
	if it were not coupled with certain attitudes,	7:04
	which have brought about an absolutely	7:08
	absurd situation in American Christian.	7:11
	Attitudes which leads to pride and haughtiness,	7:16
	attitudes which lead to exclusivism,	7:19
	which lead to extreme competitiveness.	7:23
	I do not believe that we have to assume	7:29
	that the existence of our denomination is a bad thing,	7:31
	but the only way the existence of the many denominations	7:37
	of which you and I are members can be a good thing,	7:41
	would be for us individually	7:46
	and selectively to accept each other as we are.	7:48
	You believe one thing, you believe another,	7:55
	you believe still another, I believe something else.	7:57
	But if we love and follow the same Christ	8:02
	then we must accept each other.	8:04
	Not only accept each other,	8:07
	but accept each other without reservation.	8:08
	I must accept you even though I differ	8:12
	from you a great deal in my theology	8:16
	or in my interpretation of the Bible	8:19
	or in my liturgy or in the program of my denomination.	8:21
	And unless, and until we can have this time	8:27
	of mutual acceptance then the existence of all	8:32
	these splintered groups is a horrible tragedy,	8:38
	but if we can accept each other,	8:42
	then it may be indeed a good thing	8:45
	that we've had so many denominations.	8:48
	It is entirely conceivable that the existence	8:52
	of a great variety of the denominations	8:55
	can be a wholesome thing in the body of Christ,	8:57
	because each one represents a special attribute	9:01
	or represent a fellowship of people who are of like mind.	9:05
	Now, so long as these fellowship and groups	9:11
	recognize that others who are not in that fellowship	9:14
	and who view things differently from them	9:18
	are equally valid members of the body of Christ.	9:21
	Then we can have a healthy vigorous Christian unity.	9:24
	This is not very hard to do if we will believe	9:30
	and accept the view of the body of Christ,	9:33
	which the apostle Paul gave us in the	9:36
	12th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians,	9:38
	he points out the body is not made up	9:42
	of a collection of one organ.	9:44
	The body is not all hands,	9:46
	it isn't a collection of feet,	9:48
	it isn't simply 180 pounds of heads.	9:51
	The body is made up of heads, feet, hands and heart	9:55
	and what have you.	9:59
	Frederick W. Robertson goes to extend beyond this says that,	10:02
	you cannot indeed have a unity of people or objects	10:06
	which are all alike, 'cause this is simply a selection.	10:10
	If you have a collection,	10:14
	when you have a bucket full of sand,	10:16
	because the particles of sand are very much alike.	10:17
	But he said you can have a unity	10:22
	only when there is both diversity and harmony.	10:25
	Diversity, such as we have in our various denominations	10:31
	and harmony such as is possible among them.	10:36
	But when each denomination among these 300	10:41
	pretends finality for itself,	10:45
	then we have a terrible situation.	10:48
	And we find that actually a great many denominations	10:52
	and religious groups do claim finality	10:56
	and exclusive rights for themselves.	10:58
	Bernard Jones tells about visiting the city of San Francisco	11:03
	and seeing three churches,	11:06
	all in a very small neighborhood in that city.	11:08
	He saw a sign on the front of the first church,	11:12
	which said "The Church of God".	11:15
	He went a short distance down the street	11:19
	and saw the bulletin board in front of the second church.	11:20
	It gave the name of that church which was,	11:24
	"The True Church of God."	11:26
	He went down the street another block	11:29
	and went around the corner	11:31
	and was confronted by the name of the third church,	11:32
	"The Only Fruit Church of God."	11:35
	Sad fact is, that this is not an isolated example.	11:40
	The three churches may not exist so close together as this	11:46
	and on the other hand they might.	11:49
	But when we accept each other	11:52
	as being members of the body of Christ,	11:54
	then we can see that people who also love Christ.	11:58
	but who look at baptism, who look at predestination,	12:04
	who look at Christian education differently	12:09
	to the way we look at it can be	12:12
	equally valid brothers of Christ members of his body.	12:14
	Now it was because of the importance of this	12:20
	that the founders of Duke University	12:24
	made certain basic decisions to run this university,	12:26
	when brought into existence.	12:29
	One of those basic decisions they made,	12:31
	was to draw up a group of aims for the university,	12:34
	included in those aim is this statement	12:38
	"The aims of duke university shall be	12:42
	to foster a sincere spirit of tolerance	12:47
	and to discourage sectarian strife."	12:51
	That was an important decision, that was a great aim.	12:58
	A second decision they made in the same spirit,	13:03
	was to erect a great chapel for interdenominational service	13:08
	and to locate it in the center of the campus	13:13
	as a permanent symbol of United Evangelical Christianity.	13:17
	In which people of every faith could worship God together	13:24
	and on the same level.	13:32
	Interesting thing about this chapel	13:37
	is that just outside the main entrance,	13:38
	you will notice the figures there of great religious leaders	13:42
	they belong to different denominations.	13:48
	There is Wesley, there is Luther, there is Savonarola.	13:51
	And then there is another person there	13:56
	a rather strange figure to find at the door of a chapel,	13:57
	when you first think of it,	14:01
	and it's in line to your attention	14:04
	it's the figure of Thomas Jefferson.	14:07
	What is he doing at the door of a chapel?	14:10
	When you remember that it was the dream of Jefferson	14:14
	that the University of Virginia	14:19
	would be ringed with denominational houses.	14:21
	You see why the founders of Duke	14:25
	put the figure of Jefferson at the door of this chapel.	14:27
	Now, Jefferson was not glad	14:33
	that we have so many denominations,	14:35
	but he was quite convinced	14:38
	that the denominations were going to be	14:40
	with us for a long time.	14:42
	So he wisely believed that what was needed	14:44
	was for the denominations to live close together	14:48
	so they would understand each other.	14:51
	So they would be able to appreciate each other.	14:54
	And so the members of one denomination,	14:58
	might by realizing how much their beliefs mean to them,	15:02
	be able to appreciate how much the beliefs of others	15:07
	might mean to them.	15:10
	So that we have here at Duke University, something	15:14
	which Jefferson wanted for the university of Virginia,	15:16
	but did not achieve during his lifetime.	15:19
	As a matter of fact, the founders of Duke made one very	15:23
	significant improvement on the plan of Jefferson,	15:25
	in having here a great interdenominational chapel	15:29
	in the which members of every denomination,	15:33
	might worship together in one congregation.	15:37
	So that instead of having a house here for the Methodist,	15:42
	a house there for the Presbyterians	15:44
	a nearby one for the Lutheran,	15:46
	we'd all be mixed up together in the pews	15:48
	and in the pulpit and in the choir.	15:50
	And would worship God, not as denominational people,	15:53
	but as Christians.	15:56
	We could very easily make a mistake at this point though,	16:00
	and so right now I would like to make a distinction	16:03
	between two words; one is interdenominational	16:06
	the other is non-denominational.	16:10
	The word non-denominational refers	16:14
	to the absence of all denominations.	16:17
	The word interdenominational refers	16:20
	to existing denominations working together.	16:24
	The duke chapel is not a non-denominational chapel	16:29
	seeking to abolish denominations.	16:35
	It is an interdenominational chapel seeking to bring	16:38
	the denominations to a working and loving harmony and unity.	16:43
	The significance of this could	16:52
	scarcely be overly emphasized.	16:53
	And yet it is the tragic fact that many people in America	16:57
	today have not seen the significance of this truth.	17:01
	You would think that it would not be necessary	17:09
	to preach a sermon on a topic like this,	17:11
	either in Duke chapel or anywhere else in America today,	17:14
	because haven't we had a whole generation of	17:16
	interdenominational talk.	17:19
	Hasn't there been a whole generation when we've had	17:22
	ecumenical conference on every level and in every land,	17:24
	by now we should have learned our lesson.	17:30
	But friends, I stand here to say to you this morning	17:33
	that there is no topic that deserves the attention of an	17:36
	American Christian congregation today, more than this topic.	17:40
	There is no truth which American Christians need to learn	17:46
	anymore than this truth.	17:50
	And there are several reasons why this is true.	17:53
	I would like to point them out at this time.	17:56
	First, there is a tremendous spirit of competitiveness	17:58
	among American Protestant denominations,	18:05
	denominations who would deny that they believe	18:10
	they are the only ones who are right,	18:15
	the only true church of God,	18:17
	who say yes, other denominations have their claims	18:21
	they're valid	18:26
	but who act as though only their denomination is worthy.	18:28
	Who compete for percentages of population of membership,	18:37
	who compete for places in residential areas or cities,	18:43
	et cetera .	18:48
	Now to give you an idea of how far this has gone	18:50
	in American Protestantism.	18:52
	Let me remind you that in spite of the fact	18:55
	that the Protestants have only twice as many members	18:59
	in America as do the Roman Catholic,	19:02
	The Protestant support 17 times as many local congregation	19:05
	as do the Roman Catholics.	19:11
	The Protestants keep 17 times as many church furnaces hot	19:14
	as do the Romans Catholics,	19:19
	they support 17 times as many pastors	19:22
	and raise 17 times as many budgets	19:25
	to take care of only twice as many members.	19:29
	Is it any wonder, therefore,	19:32
	that 80 cents out of every Protestant dollar	19:33
	that is contributed to the church goes for the upkeep	19:36
	and the maintenance of the local church	19:40
	with only 20 measly cents left	19:43
	to give to other people in the glory of God.	19:46
	I say to you that we have not heard this message enough	19:51
	in American Christianity, in American Protestants.	19:55
	We've done a lot of talking about it,	19:59
	but we haven't acted as though we believe it	20:01
	because the spirit of competitiveness has come in.	20:04
	There is a second reason why we need	20:09
	to think more about this,	20:10
	and particularly the students of Duke University body	20:13
	who are students here need to think of it,	20:15
	is that, the individual Protestant denominations	20:19
	having great Christianity in them	20:24
	nevertheless, fall victim to human standards	20:26
	even in the church program.	20:31
	So that very often we find any denomination,	20:34
	and every denomination standing in need of correction.	20:38
	Because lots of times their programs reflect	20:44
	not the glory of Christ but pride	20:47
	and denominational exclusiveness.	20:50
	Now, how can they best be corrected?	20:53
	Can the Methodist correct the Baptist the best?	20:56
	Can the Baptist correct the Episcopalians best?	20:59
	I think not.	21:02
	All of our denominations can best be corrected	21:05
	when they need it by an interdenominational voice	21:07
	which represents all denominations.	21:12
	Now, this is an interesting thing	21:15
	because you see the interdenominational movement	21:17
	such as the Duke University Religious Council,	21:20
	North Carolina Council of Churches,	21:22
	The World Council of Churches,	21:24
	National Student Christian Federation.	21:26
	These are all children that have been created	21:28
	by the denominations,	21:31
	so that it means the child must correct it's parents.	21:33
	But this is not anything unusual very often children have	21:38
	to correct their parents, don't they?	21:42
	An illustration of this is given in a series of events	21:45
	which began in the year 1875,	21:50
	when a college president was having a conversation	21:54
	with a Bishop,	21:57
	the Bishop made the statement	21:59
	that he believes the end of the world was near	22:00
	because said he everything has been invented,	22:03
	which the mind of man is capable of thinking of.	22:06
	Everything has been made, invented, fashioned,	22:09
	that will ever be fashioned.	22:12
	The mind of man has exhausted itself.	22:15
	Well, the college president said,	22:18
	sir, I'll have to disagree with you there	22:19
	because I believe inventions are only beginning.	22:21
	Mankind will invent many other things.	22:25
	I believe that within 50 years,	22:28
	a machine will be invented by which man	22:29
	will be able to fly.	22:31
	The Bishop was outraged said to the college president,	22:34
	sir, you are guilty of blasphemy	22:37
	because God has reserved light for his holy angels	22:39
	and the bird, man will never fly.	22:43
	Now Professor Puthole who relates to this,	22:47
	say the interesting thing about this conversation	22:49
	is the name of the Bishop.	22:52
	He was Bishop Marvin Wright,	22:55
	and at his home were two young sons named,	22:57
	Orville and Wilbur.	23:00
	And so it happens is that the children often have to correct	23:07
	the mistakes and arrogance of their parents.	23:10
	The children of the denominations,	23:14
	the interdenominational groups	23:16
	often have to correct their parents	23:18
	because of pride, haughtiness, selfishness and narrowness.	23:21
	So we need to hear more about this in all of our churches.	23:27
	The third reason why we need to is	23:31
	that when this kind of thing happens,	23:34
	it militates against the very reason	23:36
	for the existence of the church.	23:38
	If we agree with Cyprian that he who does not have	23:41
	the church for his mother cannot have God for his father,	23:44
	then it becomes extremely important	23:47
	that we get mother unified.	23:49
	There is the psychiatric repercussions of	23:53
	splintered parenthood are known	23:56
	in every clinic across America.	23:57
	But what you and I have to face as Christians is the fact	24:00
	that the spiritual repercussions of splintered parenthood	24:03
	are just as devastating.	24:08
	I think it is no accident that the main burden	24:12
	of the high priestly prayer of Christ	24:18
	was that his disciples should all be one.	24:20
	The reason he gave her this was	24:25
	that the world might believe that God had sent him.	24:27
	Now, the implication of this is that	24:31
	if his disciples are not one at least in spirit,	24:33
	the world will not believe that Jesus is the Christ,	24:36
	and therefore any denomination or religious group,	24:40
	which is trying to advance itself	24:44
	and to discredit all other Christian groups	24:46
	ought to go out to the miniature golf course	24:48
	and get one of their signs	24:50
	put it over the door of the church I played putt putt.	24:52
	Spiritually speaking that's what any	24:56
	religious group is doing.	24:58
	Which denies the prayer of Christ that his disciples	25:00
	should all be one as trying to discredit	25:03
	every other Christian who is not in his group.	25:05
	There is a fourth and last reason why	25:10
	it is extremely important that we get	25:13
	this interdenominational spirit of unity.	25:15
	And this is one of which we customarily are not aware.	25:19
	Many Christian churches, conventions, conferences	25:25
	have officially adopted this idea.	25:32
	Sure, we belong to the North Carolina Council of Churches,	25:36
	National Council, The World Council,	25:40
	why do we not have an item in our budget for these things?	25:42
	And then they relax and think they have done their duty	25:48
	by sending off some money to Geneva or to New York,	25:55
	and then being narrowly secretarian in Dura	25:59
	or in Albuquerque, or Atlanta,	26:05
	but the important test of Cooperative Christianity	26:10
	is not what we send to Geneva but what we do where we live.	26:13
	The test of your Cooperative Christianity	26:21
	is not want council your congregation belongs to back home,	26:24
	but what you do on the Duke campus	26:28
	and what you will do when you return to Starsdale	26:31
	to be an electrician.	26:36
	Where you live is where you show what you really believe.	26:40
	AJ Wolf, who retired last June from this faculty,	26:46
	was fond of telling a story about the time	26:50
	when he was an official of a mission board in	26:52
	Nashville, Tennessee.	26:55
	A young lady came into his office	26:56
	and offered her services as an African missionary.	26:58
	She wanted to go over in Africa	27:01
	and help the poor benigned Negros over there.	27:03
	Dr. Walton said, I thank you for the offer of your service.	27:07
	And I think within a few months we'll be able to send you,	27:11
	in the main time one of the teachers,	27:14
	of a Negro school in Nashville is heavily burdened,	27:17
	overly burdened.	27:21
	Will you please go help him?	27:23
	She would not.	27:25
	She was quite willing to go across the sea	27:27
	and do her Christian duty,	27:30
	but she was not willing to do it where she lived.	27:31
	If we are going really to be ecumenically minded Christians	27:35
	co-operative interdenominationally minded Christians,	27:39
	we need to get in the habit of it while we are here at Duke.	27:43
	If you don't do it while you're students here,	27:46
	you won't do it when you return to Miami beach.	27:48
	You need to worship together.	27:55
	You need to learn to sit down at the Lord's table	27:56
	with other Christians.	27:59
	You need to learn to work side by side in a committee	28:01
	of the University of Religious Council or in the wide	28:05
	and see how other Christians really live with Christ	28:09
	as you do or maybe better than you do.	28:13
	In closing I wish to reassert the fact	28:18
	that what we are pleading for here is not the abolition of	28:22
	our denominations quite the opposite of that.	28:25
	Indeed, in this interdenominational chapel,	28:30
	no body serves unless he is fully accredited	28:32
	by his denomination.	28:38
	Dr. Stewart Henry was asked to be	28:40
	the presiding minister morning,	28:42
	not primarily because he is a member of the Duke faculty,	28:44
	but basically because he is a fully ordained minister	28:48
	of the Presbyterian church.	28:51
	I serve here in this chapel not because I'm appointed	28:54
	by the president of Duke university mainly,	28:58
	rather he appointed me chaplain to the university	29:01
	after satisfying himself that I am an ordained minister	29:04
	of the Methodist church.	29:08
	Next Sunday, Dr. Henry Billpot, will preach in this pulpit,	29:10
	not because he's vice president	29:14
	of the University of Florida,	29:16
	but because he is an ordained minister of the	29:18
	Southern Baptist church.	29:20
	Next spring, Dr. Kiel Weidel will preach here as an	29:22
	ordained minister of the Episcopal church.	29:26
	Dr. Ed Stanley will preach here as an ordained minister	29:29
	of the Lutheran church.	29:33
	Roland H. Banks will preach here as an ordained minister	29:36
	of the Congregational church.	29:39
	George Buttrick from the Presbyterian and so on.	29:41
	We insist upon the integrity of the denominations,	29:45
	but to recognize the integrity of one or two	29:52
	is to see the necessity of recognizing the integrity of all	29:57
	and the essential oneness of all.	30:02
	This brings us to see how it really insignificant	30:06
	are the barriers that divide us	30:10
	and how we shouldn't dry up the seas that's separate us,	30:12
	so that we can feel with John.	30:16
	I saw a new heaven and a new earth.	30:21
	When the first heaven and the first earth were passed away	30:24
	and there was no more sea.	30:29
	Accept heavenly father, the offer of our hearts,	30:40
	in love to thee	30:45
	but equally in love of our fellow Christians.	30:49
	Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.	30:55

Item Info

Title:

Howard C. Wilkinson - "No More Sea" (October 11, 1959)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4g15zc24

Date:

October 11, 1959

Speaker:

Wilkinson, Howard C.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0080
ref5359_rkx
uachapelsermaud
duke:627974
dcrau002110
ark:/87924/r4g15zc24
713ad244-e9c2-40a3-bd73-466aa676d76f

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

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:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other 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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Howard C. Wilkinson - "No More Sea" (October 11, 1959)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives