Waldo Beach - "When He Came to Himself" (October 19, 1969)

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	(microphone distorting sound)	0:12
	(choir singing)	1:43
	(organ playing)	3:35
	(choir singing)	5:52
	(organ playing)	7:07
	(choir singing)	9:17
	(choir sits)	10:24
-	Let us continue the worship of God.	10:39
	As we offer together,	10:42
	our prayer of confession,	10:45
	and for pardon.	10:48
	Let us pray.	10:51
	Holy father.	10:55
	We humbly confess that,	10:57
	in kneeling,	10:59
	our hearts,	11:01
	often are not humble.	11:03
	And that in praying,	11:05
	we often have felt no burden greater than our own strength.	11:07
	We confess that in naming Christ,	11:14
	our spirits have often caught the comfort of self.	11:18
	We pray thee to burn our hypocrisy,	11:24
	with the fire of thy judgment.	11:29
	Lest we be destroyed by our own conceit.	11:32
	We pray thee to forgive us,	11:37
	through thy sacrificial love.	11:40
	We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.	11:44
	Amen.	11:50
	For the sea of these assuring words,	11:57
	from the Old Testament.	12:01
	Thus says the Lord God:	12:04
	"Behold.	12:07
	I myself,	12:10
	will search out my sheep,	12:12
	and will seek them out,	12:15
	as a shepherd seeks out his flock,	12:18
	when some have been scattered abroad,	12:21
	so will I seek out my sheep,	12:24
	And I will set over them one shepherd,	12:28
	my servant David,	12:33
	and he shall feed them.	12:35
	I will make with them a covenant of peace,	12:38
	and banish wildebeests from the land.	12:43
	So that they may dwell securely in the wilderness,	12:47
	and sleep peacefully in the woods.	12:52
	And I will make them,	12:56
	and the places round about my hill,	12:58
	a blessing.	13:03
	The trees of the field shall yield their fruit.	13:05
	And the earth shall yield its increase,	13:10
	and they shall be secure in their land.	13:14
	And they shall know,	13:18
	that I am the Lord.	13:20
	And these words from our Lord himself.	13:24
	'Go,	13:29
	your sins are forgiven,	13:31
	and sin,	13:35
	no further.'"	13:37
	(organ playing)	13:43
	(choir sings)	14:15
	(choir sits)	18:20
	Hear now the reading of this word,	18:29
	as it is written,	18:32
	Luke 15:11-42.	18:33
	And Jesus said:	18:40
	There was a man who had two sons,	18:42
	and the younger of them,	18:46
	said to his father,	18:47
	'Father, give me the share of property that falls to me,'	18:50
	and he divided his living between them.	18:55
	But many days later,	18:59
	the younger son gathered all he had,	19:01
	and took his journey,	19:05
	unto a far country,	19:06
	and there he squandered his property	19:09
	in loose living,	19:11
	and when he had spent everything,	19:14
	a great famine arose in that country,	19:17
	and he began to be in want,	19:19
	so he went and joined himself,	19:23
	to one of the citizens of that country,	19:25
	who sent him unto his fields,	19:28
	to feed swan,	19:30
	and he would gladly have fed them the pulps,	19:33
	that the swine ate,	19:36
	and no one gave him anything,	19:39
	but when he came to himself,	19:42
	he said:	19:44
	'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough,	19:46
	and to spare,	19:50
	but I perish here with hunger,	19:52
	I will arise and go to my father,	19:56
	and I will say to him:	19:59
	'Father,	20:01
	I have sinned against heaven,	20:02
	and before you,	20:04
	I am no longer worthy to be called your son.	20:07
	Treat me as one of your hired servants.'	20:11
	And he arose,	20:17
	and came to his father,	20:18
	but while he was yet at a distance,	20:20
	his father saw him,	20:24
	and had compassion,	20:25
	and ran,	20:28
	and embraced him,	20:29
	and kissed him,	20:30
	and the son said to him:	20:32
	'Father,	20:34
	I have sinned against heaven,	20:35
	and before you,	20:37
	I am no longer worthy to be called your son,	20:39
	but the father said to his servants:	20:44
	'Bring quickly the best robe,	20:48
	and put it on him,	20:51
	and put a ring on his hand,	20:53
	and shoes on his feet,	20:54
	and bring the fatted calf,	20:57
	and kill it,	20:59
	and let us feast,	21:00
	and make merry,	21:01
	for this my son,	21:04
	was dead,	21:05
	and he's alive again,	21:07
	he was lost,	21:10
	and he's found.'	21:12
	And they began to make merry,	21:14
	but his elder son was in the field,	21:18
	and as he came,	21:22
	and drew near to the house,	21:23
	he read music and dancing,	21:25
	and he called one of the servants,	21:29
	and asked what this meant,	21:30
	and he said to him:	21:33
	'Your brother has come,	21:35
	and your father has killed the fatted calf	21:38
	because he has received him safe and sound,'	21:40
	but he was angry and refused to go in.	21:46
	His father came out and entreated him.	21:50
	But he answered his father:	21:53
	'For all these many years,	21:56
	I have served you,	21:57
	and I never disobeyed your command,	21:59
	yet you never gave me a kid,	22:02
	that I might make merry with my friends,	22:05
	but when this son of yours came,	22:10
	who has devoured your living with harlots,	22:13
	you killed him the fatted calf.'	22:16
	And he said to him:	22:20
	'Son, you were always with me,	22:22
	and all that is mine is yours.	22:24
	It was fitting to make merry,	22:29
	and be glad.	22:31
	For this your brother,	22:33
	was dead,	22:34
	and is alive,	22:36
	he was lost,	22:38
	and is found.'	22:40
	Hear this reading of this Holy Word.	22:42
	(organ playing)	22:46
	(choir singing)	22:59
	The Lord be with you,	23:42
	(congregation responds)	23:44
	Let us pray.	23:46
	With this offer unto God,	24:02
	our prayers of thanksgiving,	24:04
	intersession,	24:08
	and supplication.	24:09
	O God who art invisible,	24:17
	and eternal.	24:20
	And yet whom we dare to call father,	24:23
	whose wisdom and power have prepared the paths of beauty,	24:28
	by which the trees in autumn show forth thy great glory,	24:34
	our hearts, O Lord,	24:41
	are lifted up to thee in praise.	24:44
	Praise of thy glory,	24:48
	seen by these mortal eyes,	24:50
	and shared in the communion,	24:54
	of our understanding with one another.	24:55
	O Lord,	25:02
	we bless thy name for every gift of life,	25:04
	from humble things,	25:09
	to holy grace,	25:11
	for earth itself.	25:14
	The bodies we wear,	25:18
	the universe in which we live,	25:21
	and for all that sustains and support us,	25:25
	we give thee thanks.	25:29
	For the spirit by which all material things,	25:33
	are enlivened and fulfilled.	25:37
	For the beauty of holiness,	25:40
	and the hope of heaven.	25:43
	For the heart and the mind of man.	25:46
	For the miracles and mysteries of each day.	25:51
	For the companionship of love,	25:57
	and all the weathers of this,	26:01
	our world.	26:03
	We give thee thanks.	26:05
	O lord.	26:07
	increase in us this spirit,	26:09
	of our Lord Christ,	26:12
	that we may share our joy,	26:15
	and extend thy praise,	26:19
	in all that we do.	26:22
	Each of us brings before thee,	26:31
	in human and holy remembrance,	26:35
	our heavenly father,	26:38
	loved ones,	26:41
	friends,	26:43
	our brother whose face and name we know and love,	26:45
	and our brother,	26:51
	whom we know not,	26:52
	some are in far lands,	26:56
	some upon the sea,	27:00
	some in barren places,	27:02
	enduring loneliness,	27:06
	hardship and peril.	27:08
	Some face pain and death,	27:12
	this day, O God.	27:15
	Some,	27:18
	are confronted by perplexities,	27:20
	or wearied by monotonous duties,	27:24
	all bearing the burdens of this world's struggle,	27:28
	and striving everywhere to do their duty,	27:34
	and to be found worthy of their fellow men.	27:38
	And of thee,	27:42
	on those who stand in the circle of our hearts concerned,	27:45
	oh God,	27:51
	we pray thy most merciful benediction,	27:53
	and the outpouring of thy life-giving spirit,	27:58
	that they may be strong in whatsoever life demands of them.	28:02
	Strong of heart to dream.	28:08
	Strong of will to dare.	28:12
	Strong of hope to endure,	28:16
	and strong of faith,	28:20
	to keep their souls.	28:22
	Eternal God.	28:28
	Our father,	28:29
	who knowest our words before they're on our tongues.	28:29
	Deliver us we ask from all spurious prayer,	28:36
	and unreal devotion.	28:40
	Turn our gaze from the hecticness of our outer world,	28:44
	to our own inner life and experience,	28:50
	and their helpless to act in these moments of worship.	28:54
	Before thee and before each other,	28:59
	with honest candor we ask.	29:03
	If we're inwardly barren.	29:07
	Let us not flourish our words,	29:11
	as if we possessed great riches.	29:14
	If we are spiritually discouraged,	29:18
	or in despair,	29:22
	let us not come before thee,	29:24
	in the semblance of faith put on,	29:26
	as if our pain,	29:30
	or perplexity were not real.	29:32
	O thou,	29:37
	from whom nothing is hidden,	29:38
	and who art able to heal what is not well within us.	29:42
	If we but open our lives,	29:48
	and humbly seek thy grace,	29:50
	come,	29:54
	and minister to each of us now,	29:55
	as we have needed thee,	29:59
	that with thy help we may posses our souls	30:02
	in fullness of peace,	30:07
	and in the help of joy.	30:10
	O Lord,	30:16
	our Creator,	30:17
	and our Redeemer.	30:18
	We have labored this week,	30:20
	each of us in our own place,	30:22
	seeking to share in the work of the world,	30:26
	as well as in thy will.	30:30
	We have known the anguish of incompetence,	30:33
	and we have tasted the bitterness of failure.	30:37
	We have dreamed dreams,	30:42
	and we have seen visions,	30:44
	our brains and our hands have longed to lift our labor,	30:46
	to such creative skill,	30:51
	that all that we did,	30:53
	would sing with joy,	30:56
	and thus lured by something,	31:00
	beyond our failure,	31:02
	and something beyond our small successes.	31:05
	We struggle onward that we might be accounted worthy	31:09
	of thy kingdom,	31:14
	and of thy will,	31:15
	where all things are done in the light,	31:17
	and with endless joy.	31:21
	Grant us O God,	31:25
	patience,	31:28
	to endure our failures,	31:30
	and humility to outgrow our achievements.	31:33
	That we may increasingly serve thee.	31:37
	Our Creator and Lord,	31:41
	Touch us during these moments of worship.	31:45
	We ask, O God,	31:49
	at our deepest,	31:51
	highest level,	31:53
	and be present with us,	31:56
	wherever we stand in all of life and death,	32:00
	that thou dost give.	32:05
	Leave us not be reft of wonder,	32:08
	and the wisdom that hath,	32:12
	sight of things eternal,	32:14
	making miracle in the common day.	32:17
	Our father,	32:22
	restore our souls,	32:24
	to their true magnitude we ask,	32:26
	and furnish our minds with the daring of faith,	32:30
	and the humility,	32:35
	of love,	32:37
	and with the possession of peace.	32:40
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord,	32:44
	who taught us to pray together,	32:48
	saying:	32:50
	"Our father,	32:52
	who art in heaven,	32:54
	hallowed be thy name,	32:56
	thy kingdom come,	32:59
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,	33:01
	give us this day our daily bread,	33:07
	and forgive us our trespasses.	33:10
	As we forgive those who trespass against us,	33:13
	and lead us not into temptation,	33:18
	but deliver us from evil	33:21
	for thine is the kingdom,	33:24
	and the power,	33:27
	and the glory,	33:29
	forever.	33:31
	Amen."	33:33
-	The scripture lesson of the morning,	34:08
	story	34:12
	of the prodigal son,	34:14
	There's one so familiar,	34:17
	and comfortable,	34:21
	as to convey no sharp,	34:24
	or compelling word.	34:27
	It can be read many different ways.	34:32
	For biblical scholars,	34:37
	the main point of it,	34:40
	is that the grace	34:41
	of God,	34:43
	is bestowed	34:44
	freely,	34:46
	on the younger son,	34:47
	as on the elder brother,	34:50
	regardless of merit,	34:53
	or deservingness.	34:56
	And so now it may be,	35:00
	of	35:01
	the preaching,	35:03
	to concentrate,	35:04
	as I want to do,	35:07
	on another,	35:09
	and incidental part of the story.	35:11
	Yet there's one fascinating	35:17
	aspect of the tale.	35:20
	By no means casual,	35:24
	or incidental,	35:26
	that may illumine,	35:30
	the predicaments of our life,	35:32
	at whatever stage we may be,	35:36
	in our prodigal pilgrimage.	35:39
	For the story is not only	35:44
	about grace,	35:47
	and sibling rivalry,	35:49
	but about the search for identity.	35:53
	It has certain startlingly familiar features.	35:59
	Here's the elder brother,	36:06
	rather plotting,	36:09
	and dull.	36:10
	Who played it safe,	36:13
	and saw his secured future,	36:16
	in his father's insurance office,	36:20
	threatened,	36:23
	by the younger brother,	36:25
	whose bright,	36:28
	quick,	36:29
	restless,	36:30
	ultimately,	36:33
	arrogant,	36:34
	impetulant,	36:35
	using the family car far more than his fair quota,	36:38
	staying out to all hours.	36:45
	And as a high school senior,	36:51
	the younger brother gets fed up,	36:53
	with the confinements of home.	36:57
	He wants to be free,	37:01
	out from under.	37:04
	To go find,	37:07
	and do his thing,	37:09
	and for sure he says:	37:13
	'I won't find it around here,	37:15
	this dead place,	37:19
	doing chores,	37:22
	fighting the rules,	37:24
	lured by the forbidden,	37:26
	where nobody understands me.	37:30
	I'll find myself in a far country,	37:34
	where there's some excitement.'	37:38
	'Father give,	37:42
	my part of the property,	37:43
	coming to me anyway,	37:46
	I'm clearing out.'	37:50
	So the father stands at the door,	37:54
	watches him go.	37:58
	Fearful,	38:01
	anxious,	38:03
	would he ever come back?	38:06
	But knowing,	38:10
	that he must go,	38:12
	since,	38:15
	life can only be understood	38:18
	backward,	38:22
	for the past to be lived forward,	38:24
	without benefit of hindsight.	38:29
	In the far country,	38:34
	in the big city,	38:37
	in the university.	38:39
	It's great,	38:40
	for a while,	38:43
	to live it up.	38:45
	But what with inflation,	38:48
	and all.	38:50
	The dough from home gets used up pretty fast.	38:53
	The younger son has to pawn his coat,	38:58
	to get food even.	39:01
	He sets down skewed road.	39:05
	He goes through a severe identity crisis.	39:08
	The process here is a,	39:17
	via negativa,	39:19
	the going through of an inheritance,	39:24
	a using up,	39:28
	a gradual stripping away.	39:30
	The prodigal son looks for himself in freedom,	39:36
	from	39:40
	parental restraint	39:42
	in getting his kicks.	39:46
	In the sense and protest,	39:48
	against all the proprieties,	39:52
	and stuffy respectabilities.	39:55
	of a bourgeois suburban culture.	39:59
	He looks for his identity,	40:05
	by the using up	40:07
	of his inheritance.	40:10
	In breaking away,	40:12
	from the establishment.	40:14
	And then,	40:19
	an incisive praise,	40:21
	when he came to himself,	40:25
	what identity did he find	40:31
	there?	40:35
	What self did you come to?	40:37
	An emptiness.	40:43
	A zero.	40:45
	A blank.	40:48
	Like what's at the core of an onion,	40:51
	when peeled away.	40:55
	No.	40:59
	Sheer,	41:02
	naked	41:03
	loneliness is impossible.	41:04
	Stripped of his clothing,	41:10
	he might have,	41:13
	gazed at his navel.	41:16
	But if you gaze in solitude,	41:20
	at your navel,	41:24
	long enough.	41:26
	You realize that it's an umbilical tie,	41:28
	with your past,	41:32
	that your existence depends on another,	41:35
	when he came to himself,	41:42
	or as one translation has it,	41:45
	when he came to his right mind.	41:47
	In the next breath,	41:53
	he said:	41:53
	"I will arise,	41:54
	and go to my father."	41:57
	He was homesick.	42:01
	Underneath the rejection,	42:03
	the alienation,	42:07
	he had learned the hard way.	42:11
	A primeval lesson,	42:15
	in identity.	42:18
	We can't know who we are,	42:21
	until we know,	42:26
	to whom we belong.	42:28
	We are belonging creatures,	42:33
	relational beings,	42:37
	homebodies.	42:40
	Looking for the real permanent housing for our souls,	42:44
	as much while on pilgrimage away,	42:50
	from our earthly homes,	42:54
	as,	42:57
	toward them.	42:59
	Abstractly,	43:03
	it could be put by saying,	43:03
	we are persons,	43:07
	whose identity is discovered,	43:09
	in some	43:13
	center of value outside ourselves,	43:14
	some high,	43:19
	given good,	43:21
	to which we respond in dedication.	43:24
	It doesn't go	43:30
	for very long,	43:32
	to center existence,	43:35
	around,	43:38
	a zero.	43:39
	Ain't no saying,	43:41
	a descent,	43:45
	a rejection,	43:48
	for a part,	43:50
	we are consenting.	43:52
	Yes-sayers.	43:55
	The said affirmation is put in theological terms,	43:59
	in Augustine's	44:04
	prayer:	44:06
	"Thou hast created us for thyself.	44:09
	And our spirits are restless,	44:14
	until they come to rest in thee."	44:18
	I will arise,	44:24
	and go to my father,	44:26
	but you can't go home again.	44:35
	No.	44:41
	Not in the same mood you learnt.	44:43
	No.	44:48
	Surely enough,	44:49
	as any freshman year will testify,	44:51
	come this Thanksgiving.	44:55
	Saying,	44:57
	back home.	44:59
	When he realizes,	45:01
	sitting at table,	45:04
	the results saying,	45:07
	"But it's all different."	45:10
	Yet part of the nostalgia of the younger brother,	45:15
	is a regret,	45:19
	and some second thoughts,	45:22
	about what he left behind.	45:24
	No longer quite as arrogant.	45:27
	he has a measure of contrition,	45:34
	openness.	45:37
	I will go to my father,	45:39
	to look again at my tradition,	45:43
	my history.	45:46
	It may have something to say,	45:49
	to the problem	45:53
	of finding myself.	45:55
	Here again,	45:59
	the experience of prodigal son,	46:01
	may parallel,	46:03
	the experience,	46:05
	of being a student in the far country,	46:09
	of the university.	46:13
	An intellectual pilgrimage.	46:15
	The rebel,	46:21
	sector,	46:23
	in us,	46:24
	each of us says;	46:27
	History is poet,	46:31
	Tradition is irrelevant.	46:34
	The past is over.	46:37
	Our problems of morality,	46:40
	private and public are brand new.	46:43
	Yet on second thought,	46:49
	the returning sector in each of us might say:	46:52
	"I will look again at tradition."	46:59
	And we may find,	47:05
	that this is not the first,	47:06
	or last,	47:09
	generation	47:11
	to live,	47:13
	on the earth.	47:14
	That 1969,	47:17
	is not the only year,	47:19
	that men have been through travail,	47:23
	in the dark night of the soul,	47:28
	despair and lostness,	47:32
	before.	47:34
	They may have wisdom to give,	47:37
	not quicky,	47:42
	instant formulas,	47:44
	but a slow stable wisdom,	47:48
	that brings a far perspective	47:51
	on near events.	47:56
	Hang up on the problem of	48:01
	sex ethics?	48:04
	Or using drugs?	48:07
	The prodigal son may find,	48:11
	if he did some reading,	48:15
	that Augustine,	48:17
	Freud,	48:20
	Camille,	48:22
	may have been in the same bind before.	48:25
	Yet none,	48:31
	what should I do about the moratorium?	48:34
	Or what should I have done?	48:38
	Where's the inner integrity,	48:42
	that monitors my choices and decisions,	48:44
	about now,	48:47
	going with mass opinion?	48:49
	Or now,	48:51
	listening,	48:53
	to the beat,	48:54
	of a different drummer.	48:56
	Part of the answer may be found	49:02
	in the book of Amos,	49:06
	Machiavelli,	49:09
	Thomas Szasz,	49:12
	Enteral,	49:15
	St. Francis,	49:17
	Gandhi,	49:20
	and Karl Marx,	49:23
	in the Sermon on the Mount.	49:26
	I will arise and go to my father,	49:29
	means	49:32
	if we aren't stretching it too far,	49:34
	to look again at the sources of my inheritance soul.	49:39
	Readily squandered,	49:45
	to find wisdom among the fathers,	49:49
	who have been there before.	49:54
	There's a second lesson,	50:05
	the prodigal son learns	50:09
	in this pilgrimage,	50:11
	away and back,	50:14
	something of the meaning of freedom.	50:17
	He leaves home with a clear notion	50:26
	of what freedom is,	50:30
	he wants out.	50:31
	Freedom means escape,	50:36
	from restriction,	50:40
	and discipline.	50:41
	To be out and away	50:43
	from all confinements,	50:45
	to the moral burrow country of the spirit.	50:49
	But he finds soon enough,	50:57
	that this is a negative side of freedom.	51:02
	He falls into,	51:08
	the tyranny of anarchy,	51:09
	with paralysis of the pig sty,	51:14
	a normalist license,	51:19
	which is the worst bondage there is.	51:22
	So,	51:28
	in his returning,	51:29
	in his willingness maybe to do the chores,	51:33
	of the hired ends,	51:37
	he may begin to be learning the other side of freedom.	51:40
	Freedom for,	51:47
	the power to become what one ought.	51:50
	And this positive freedom lies,	51:57
	by way,	51:59
	of the narrow gate.	52:01
	Of,	52:05
	self-imposed,	52:06
	discipline.	52:08
	Authentic freedom.	52:13
	Robert Frost once defined as:	52:15
	Working easy,	52:20
	in harness.	52:22
	This holds good for any field,	52:29
	in art,	52:32
	in science,	52:34
	in writing,	52:35
	in athletics,	52:37
	in romance,	52:39
	in worship.	52:43
	A liberally educated man	52:47
	is led out,	52:49
	or rather,	52:51
	(coughs)	52:52
	led back,	52:53
	from a false understanding,	52:55
	of freedom from,	52:57
	to a true notion,	53:00
	of freedom for.	53:03
	Which is the going,	53:07
	on the open road,	53:11
	that lies the far side,	53:14
	of order and restraint.	53:17
	There's still a third facet of self understanding,	53:24
	that comes out of the,	53:28
	identity crisis,	53:31
	of the prodigal son.	53:34
	It has to do with the mood,	53:37
	or style,	53:39
	of his existence,	53:41
	as this depends,	53:45
	on where it is centered.	53:48
	He leaves home in an adolescent mood of self-seeking.	53:55
	An Eager beaver,	54:03
	over life,	54:05
	in honest sort:	54:07
	"Give me my birthright,	54:09
	happiness is what I want."	54:14
	And in the same adolescent mood,	54:19
	we might today,	54:22
	register at the far country,	54:24
	of the university,	54:26
	and choose courses,	54:28
	and dates,	54:30
	and activities,	54:31
	and pastimes,	54:32
	with the single criterion:	54:34
	What makes me happy?	54:38
	It's strange,	54:43
	how pervasive,	54:45
	the premise is,	54:49
	in our pedocentric culture.	54:51
	The university is designed	54:56
	as an elaborate,	54:59
	snack bar	55:01
	to keep its guest in a state of euphoria.	55:02
	And if the establishment fails to make life pleasant,	55:09
	then the university presumably defaults in its mission.	55:14
	We ought to change it to get a happier establishment.	55:21
	Perhaps though,	55:31
	after a while,	55:32
	the prodigal son may	55:35
	begin to feel,	55:38
	the futility,	55:41
	of the happiness syndrome.	55:42
	He may be swirling around,	55:47
	by collusion and challenges,	55:50
	he meets here,	55:54
	to a different understanding,	55:56
	of the transaction that goes on.	55:58
	But the purpose,	56:02
	of a university,	56:05
	is not to keep me,	56:09
	in a condition of euphoria,	56:11
	by chemical or economic devices,	56:17
	but to equip me,	56:22
	for a life of service.	56:25
	A college education,	56:30
	is an obligation,	56:33
	before it is a birthright,	56:36
	of every citizen.	56:39
	Thus,	56:43
	in returning home,	56:44
	with a new spirit,	56:48
	the prodigal son maybe taken,	56:52
	out of the tight,	56:54
	anxious circle,	56:56
	of himself,	56:58
	by obligations	57:00
	and causes,	57:02
	much larger	57:03
	than himself,	57:06
	and his private happiness.	57:09
	And begin thereby,	57:16
	to glimpse the meaning of the biblical	57:19
	paradox:	57:21
	"That he who seeks his life will lose it.	57:24
	And he who loses his life,	57:29
	in obedience to a transcendent,	57:31
	center of value,	57:34
	will find it,	57:38
	as the bye-product,	57:39
	handed back,	57:42
	answered,	57:44
	by grace."	57:47
	Now,	57:54
	speaking plainly,	57:55
	is this old story true,	58:00
	when laid against our experience,	58:03
	in our search for identity.	58:07
	Well,	58:13
	it's not true,	58:15
	if taken in a sort of literal sense,	58:17
	that would divide people into types.	58:20
	And say that this congregation,	58:26
	should now be divided into three beings:	58:29
	Worried parents,	58:34
	safe elder brothers,	58:37
	and prodigal younger brothers.	58:40
	Well, it probably wouldn't be here anyway,	58:44
	since church going is not an activity,	58:49
	usually practiced,	58:52
	by prodigal sons in the far country.	58:55
	It makes better sense though,	59:00
	to as describing	59:06
	a psychological division,	59:09
	in each of us,	59:13
	there's something of the elder brother.	59:16
	Something of the younger brother.	59:18
	And in another way,	59:23
	we're like as not going away from home,	59:25
	and back toward home,	59:29
	at one and the same time.	59:30
	We may be surprised,	59:35
	to meet ourselves coming the other way.	59:37
	But,	59:43
	even reading it in a psychological,	59:45
	rather than,	59:48
	sociological sins.	59:51
	Question remains,	59:54
	is it true,	59:57
	to life?	59:59
	Or is it sentimental to read it as we have,	1:00:03
	and to claim that we find wisdom,	1:00:07
	freedom,	1:00:10
	happiness,	1:00:12
	in a return from the far country,	1:00:14
	or even more poignantly,	1:00:19
	that the grace,	1:00:23
	of a waiting father is there.	1:00:25
	Is it too happy?	1:00:32
	Too pleasant in ending?	1:00:35
	What about the prodigal who does not come home?	1:00:43
	Either in spirit,	1:00:49
	or body.	1:00:50
	Skeptic might say that the alienation,	1:00:56
	is more true and permanent,	1:00:58
	than reconciliation.	1:01:00
	The father waits	1:01:03
	forever,	1:01:05
	in grief.	1:01:10
	The son wanders,	1:01:12
	forever,	1:01:15
	in search.	1:01:17
	The 19th century proverb,	1:01:25
	reassuring the parents was:	1:01:29
	As the twig is bent,	1:01:32
	so rolls the tree.	1:01:35
	In the 20th century,	1:01:41
	should it read:	1:01:43
	As the twig is bent,	1:01:46
	it will snap back in your face.	1:01:49
	Thus, the parable is authentic,	1:01:58
	not sentimental,	1:02:01
	only on the risk,	1:02:04
	of the Christian faith.	1:02:07
	That there is a waiting father,	1:02:10
	that the universe,	1:02:15
	at heart,	1:02:17
	at home,	1:02:19
	is gracious,	1:02:21
	and patient.	1:02:23
	That it answers our home searching,	1:02:25
	by a positive yes.	1:02:30
	The protest,	1:02:34
	in breaking away,	1:02:35
	is prompted by,	1:02:39
	the search for our own thing.	1:02:41
	Not nothing.	1:02:46
	And that descent comes eventually,	1:02:50
	to circle around,	1:02:53
	to ascent.	1:02:55
	That the whole prodigal pilgrimage of our existence,	1:03:00
	the rejecting,	1:03:05
	the searching,	1:03:06
	the departing,	1:03:08
	and returning,	1:03:11
	is ventured,	1:03:13
	on the risk of faith;	1:03:15
	The assurance of things hoped for,	1:03:18
	the conviction of things not seen.	1:03:22
	And because he never ventured out,	1:03:28
	never took the leap of faith,	1:03:32
	the elder brother never discovered,	1:03:38
	quite what home meant,	1:03:40
	as a parable of existence,	1:03:46
	of life in risk,	1:03:51
	and life under grace.	1:03:55
	Let it stand,	1:03:59
	for truth.	1:04:01
	For at least,	1:04:04
	deserving reflection,	1:04:06
	in the secret places.	1:04:10

Item Info

Title:

Waldo Beach - "When He Came to Himself" (October 19, 1969)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cc0zv7f

Date:

October 19, 1969

Speaker:

Beach, Waldo

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0494
ref6193_6yc
uachapelsermaud
duke:628612
dcrau002485
ark:/87924/r4cc0zv7f
e5a81246-b635-4b84-861f-5f4eebc3bed4

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Waldo Beach - "When He Came to Himself" (October 19, 1969)

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Duke University Archives