Creighton Lacy - "No Strings?" (November 16, 1969)

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	(hymnal singing overshadowed by instruments)	0:03
-	Let us offer unto God our unison prayer of confession	5:16
	and for pardon, let us pray.	5:23
	Almighty God, we humbly acknowledge before thee,	5:30
	that we have sinned in thought, word and deed	5:36
	by our fault, our own fault,	5:43
	our own most grievous fault.	5:48
	Merciful Lord, we confess our sins,	5:52
	have mercy upon us and help us.	5:58
	Blot out our many sins and offenses, pardon and deliver us	6:03
	and give grace of amendment to us	6:12
	and to all thy faithful people.	6:15
	Make us worthy to offer unto thee glory and thanksgiving.	6:20
	Wash away oh, Lord God, the foul pollution	6:28
	of our souls and cleanse us with the water of life	6:33
	that in all purity and holiness	6:39
	we may be accounted worthy to enter thy presence,	6:43
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	6:49
	Amen.	6:53
	And hear these words of assurance of the forgiveness	6:56
	of sins as recorded in the New Testament.	7:01
	If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just	7:09
	and we'll forgive our sins and cleanse us	7:18
	from all unrighteousness.	7:24
	Jesus said, him who comes to me	7:27
	I will not cast out.	7:34
	This saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance	7:39
	that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.	7:46
	Therefore be of good courage.	7:56
	(hymnal singing)	8:06
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	8:59
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	9:37
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	10:00
	♪ Amen, amen ♪	10:25
	(opera hymnal singing)	10:53
-	Today's lesson is taken from the Luke 9.	11:57
	Now about eight days after these sayings,	12:02
	he took with him Peter and James and John	12:05
	and went up on the mounting to pray and as he was praying	12:10
	his appearance of his countenance was altered	12:16
	and his reignment became dazzling white	12:21
	and behold two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah	12:24
	who appeared in holy and spoke of his departure	12:31
	which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.	12:36
	Now, Peter, and those who were	12:41
	with him were heavy with sleep, but kept awake.	12:43
	And they saw his glory and the two men who stood	12:48
	with him and as the men were partying from him	12:52
	Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is well that we are here.	12:58
	Let us make three booths,	13:05
	one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah,	13:07
	not knowing what he said.	13:13
	As he said this, a cloud came and overshadowed them	13:16
	and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.	13:22
	And a voice came out of the cloud saying,	13:27
	this is my son, my chosen, listen to him.	13:32
	And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone	13:38
	and they kept silence and told no one in those days	13:43
	anything of what they had seen.	13:49
	On the next day when they had come down	13:53
	from the mountain, a great crowd met him and behold	13:56
	a man from the crowd cried,	14:02
	teacher, I beg you to look upon my son	14:05
	for he is my only child and behold a spirit seizes him	14:10
	and he suddenly cries out, it convulses him till he falls	14:17
	and shatters him and will hardly leave him.	14:25
	And I begged your disciples to cast it out,	14:30
	but they could not.	14:35
	Jesus answered, oh faithless and perverse generation.	14:38
	How long am I to be with you and bear with you?	14:44
	Bring your son here, while he was coming	14:50
	the demon tore him and convulsed him,	14:56
	but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit	15:00
	and healed the boy and gave him back to his father	15:05
	and all were astonished at the majesty of God.	15:11
	May God bless to us the reading of his own word.	15:17
	♪ Glory be to the Father ♪	15:33
	♪ And to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ♪	15:38
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	15:49
	♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪	15:55
	♪ World without end, amen, amen ♪	16:01
	The Lord be with you.	16:15
-	And with your spirit.	16:18
-	Let us pray.	16:20
	Let us offer first to prayer of Thanksgiving.	16:31
	We do praise and thank thee oh God,	16:37
	for all great and simple joys,	16:41
	for the gift of wonder and the joy of discovery.	16:47
	For the everlasting freshness of experience.	16:54
	For all that comes to us through sympathy and through sorrow	17:01
	and for the joy of work attempted and achieved.	17:10
	For musicians, poets and craftsmen	17:17
	and for all who work in form and color	17:23
	to increase the beauty of life.	17:28
	For the likeness of Jesus in ordinary people,	17:34
	their forbearance, courage and kindness	17:41
	and for all obscure and humble lives of service.	17:50
	For all these great and simple joys,	17:57
	we give thee humble and hearty thanks.	18:03
	And let us offer two prayers of intercession.	18:11
	One for the astronauts and the other	18:17
	for the world in trouble.	18:23
	All mighty God, creator and sustainer	18:29
	who knows the paths of the air.	18:36
	We commend to thee the three astronauts, courageous, skilled	18:42
	confident, keep them in the hollow of thy hand,	18:52
	be it in life or in death.	19:00
	Thou Father of us all.	19:05
	Oh God, the Father who has made of one blood,	19:11
	all the nations of the earth.	19:15
	We pray that strength and courage abundant	19:20
	be given to all who work for a world of reason	19:23
	and understanding.	19:29
	We pray that the good which lies in every man's heart	19:33
	may day by day, be magnified.	19:38
	We pray that men will come to see more clearly	19:43
	not that which divides them, but that which unites them.	19:48
	We pray that each hour may bring us closer	19:57
	to a final victory, not of nation over nation,	20:01
	but of man over his own evils and weakness.	20:11
	And all this we pray for Jesus Christ sake.	20:18
	And let us offer a prayer of supplication.	20:26
	Oh, God, who hast made the church a Royal priesthood,	20:32
	hear us as we pray for the gifts of gaiety and freedom	20:39
	and simplicity, for laughter, kindness, generosity	20:46
	gentleness, honor, courtesy and self control.	20:57
	For the consecration of the discontent of the young.	21:09
	For wisdom in the conservatism of the middle aged.	21:17
	For resiliency in the obstinacy of the aged,	21:26
	help us both to know and to acknowledge that the standard	21:35
	for man's life has been shown us in Jesus Christ, Our Lord.	21:42
	And now as our savior Christ has taught us	21:55
	we humbly pray together saying.	21:59
	Our father who art in heaven.	22:03
	Hallowed to thy name, thy kingdom come.	22:08
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	22:14
	Give us this day, our daily bread	22:20
	and forgive us our trespasses	22:25
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	22:28
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us	22:33
	from evil for thine is the kingdom	22:38
	and the power and the glory forever.	22:42
	Amen.	22:49
-	This past summer the Christian Science Monitor	23:18
	printed a bit of free verse that captured my fancy	23:22
	as I hope it will capture yours.	23:26
	For what you do with it is far more important	23:29
	than what I try to with it this morning.	23:33
	It is entitled "Inkling by Inkling", by Doris Peel.	23:37
	There are I think two kinds of people on this our earth,	23:46
	those for whom paradise presents itself	23:52
	as a point of arrival, a perfection of stillness,	23:56
	an ineffable cessation of all the sound.	24:01
	And those for whom always the ultimate delight must lie	24:06
	in what perpetually glimmers ahead,	24:10
	the mystery and the miracle of the undisclosed	24:14
	of the path curved frontally through the secret wood	24:18
	or swung out bolded precocious height.	24:23
	Neither prepduction it would seem has anything,	24:28
	whatever to do with race or nationality	24:32
	or class or sex or with age either if it comes to that,	24:37
	for I asked yesterday a little girl I know,	24:44
	what do you think heaven is like?	24:48
	And she said gazing rapidly at where we sat	24:52
	in a Psalm of a valley full of flowers,	24:56
	oh, like this only all the time.	25:00
	When I asked a little boy flying a kite	25:07
	not quite the same thing,	25:09
	but what if he could, he would always do.	25:12
	He said looking up, be like a kite	25:17
	and added as if tugging from his own two shoes,	25:22
	but without any strings	25:27
	Most of us find ourselves at one time or another	25:33
	with these conflicting impulses, these contrasting natures.	25:38
	There are times when we yearn	25:44
	for the stillness of wooded hills	25:45
	and other times when we need	25:48
	the turbulence of the sea shore.	25:50
	But even then our temperaments steer us on different quests.	25:53
	One may choose the mountains to gaze	25:58
	at Tramco vistas or to test his vigor against rugged peaks	26:01
	which must be scaled because they are there.	26:07
	One may exalt in the challenge of the surf,	26:11
	the wind and the spray and the ceaseless tides	26:14
	or one may prefer the beach for a quiet snooze	26:19
	on sun baked sand with the waves no more than a lullaby.	26:23
	So let us assume that the poet is right	26:29
	that their are two kinds of people on this our earth	26:31
	and try to identify ourselves and our priorities.	26:37
	The designations of active and passive are far too simple	26:44
	but there are people for whom paradise presents itself	26:49
	as a point of arrival, a perfection of stillness	26:54
	an end to striving, a haven of detachment.	26:59
	Some of us in this mood have stood this past fortnight	27:05
	awed by the splendor of an autumn maple	27:09
	and cried with Edna St. Vincent Malay,	27:13
	Lord, I do fear thou made the world too beautiful this year.	27:17
	My soul is old but out of me, let fall no burning leave.	27:23
	Privy let no bird call.	27:28
	There are some students and faculty	27:34
	for whom the academic life is indeed an ivory tower,	27:38
	a sanctuary and an escape	27:43
	from what we glibly term involvement.	27:46
	This is not to deny the importance of scholarship	27:50
	of abstract as well as applied research.	27:54
	On the contrary most of us spend far too little of our time	27:58
	of our education, as well as our total life	28:03
	in meditation, in evaluation, in contemplation of the deeper	28:07
	broader implications of what we read or do.	28:13
	But all of us are aware of the temptation	28:20
	to accept an ineffable cessation of all effort	28:23
	to regard college as a point of arrival instead	28:27
	of a point of departure.	28:30
	Outwardly free of any responsibility	28:33
	more taxing than term papers or girls in dormitory rooms	28:36
	in this carefree interlude while daddy or big daddy Duke	28:42
	is paying the bills, it is not difficult	28:48
	even in the midst of fashionable objections	28:51
	to act as if heaven is all like this,	28:55
	only all the time.	29:00
	Charles Morgan in a sensitive description	29:05
	of liberal education says of teachers,	29:08
	he whom we love and remember will pull the curtain away	29:12
	from the classroom window and let us see	29:16
	our own heaven with our own eyes.	29:20
	But he goes on to add, this enables mind of mankind.	29:25
	I take to be the function of true education	29:30
	for the very word means a leading out and to lead	29:33
	out the spirit of man through the wise liberating	29:39
	self discipline of learning and wonder	29:43
	has been the glory of great teachers	29:48
	and great universities since civilization began to flower.	29:50
	Surely today, as never before that leading out	29:58
	pulls us away from the blissful window toward heaven	30:02
	into the dark alley of slums,	30:07
	into peace Corps projects in Nigeria and Nepal.	30:11
	Into death marches on behalf of life.	30:16
	For others the church remains a sum of a valley	30:23
	full of flowers.	30:27
	When traditional values are in flux,	30:29
	when one stable institutions are under attack	30:32
	a faithful few, still run to the church as a hiding place,	30:35
	a shelter from the storms of life.	30:40
	When, as in the moral debates	30:45
	which surrounded air raid shelters, a few panicky years ago	30:47
	Christians still barricade the doors	30:52
	against those of the wrong color or creed,	30:55
	the heresy grows more blasphemous.	30:59
	The most moving and perhaps most ironic moment	31:04
	in two years in India came for me when	31:07
	a spectacular, colorful republic day festivities	31:11
	in the capital are closed with an old British custom	31:15
	of beating the retreat.	31:20
	Amid military pomp and circumstance	31:23
	and haunting Indian melodies,	31:26
	the Bugle Corps plays a version of "Abide With Me",	31:30
	echoing and re-echoing from the balconies	31:36
	of the imposing sandstone secretariat.	31:40
	Change and decay in all around I see,	31:44
	oh thou who changes not, abide with me.	31:51
	But so often we Christians mistake the eternal God	31:59
	who changes not for his very human institution, the church,	32:04
	and pray for it to preserve and protect us	32:09
	instead of for him to abide vital and active in our lives.	32:14
	But the world does change whether	32:23
	we regard it as decay or progress.	32:25
	The structures of empire pass into other hands.	32:30
	The valley rose cold.	32:35
	The leaf does fall, paradise as a perfection	32:38
	of stillness becomes deafening and deadening.	32:44
	Even for this quiet ascent temperament human restlessness	32:50
	rebels at anything which goes on all the time.	32:54
	One of our international students brought to me this week	33:01
	a moving poem, eloquent in thought and in feeling	33:04
	and especially in the use of a foreign language.	33:09
	In it he likened his new insights, his expanded intellectual	33:13
	and theological horizons to Niagara falls,	33:19
	which he saw for the first time last summer.	33:24
	A tremendous outpouring of energy	33:28
	from the racing stream at the top to the tempestuous	33:31
	and terrifying whirlpools at the bottom.	33:35
	Yet he was profoundly conscious of the continuity	33:39
	of water and of motion and of power.	33:44
	And that suggests quite naturally the alternative kind	33:52
	of people on this, our earth, those for whom the ultimate	33:56
	delight must lie in what perpetually glimmers ahead,	34:01
	the mystery and the miracle of the undisclosed.	34:06
	Expert participant or envious spectator	34:11
	thrills to the excitement of a crouching figure	34:14
	riding the crest of a snow bank or a gigantic breaker.	34:18
	For centuries, man has looked up into space	34:23
	and yearned to be like a kite.	34:27
	Compare for example the number of people who will be gazing	34:31
	at the moon through electronic eyes this week	34:35
	with a number who even know or care	34:40
	what went on in Washington yesterday	34:44
	or in Helsinki, Finland tomorrow.	34:48
	When the human spirit no longer soars in music and art,	34:54
	in the scientific laboratory,	34:59
	in outer space and in the inner depths of man, it will die.	35:02
	That is why CP Snow sounded a sober warning	35:10
	after the first moon landing, but limitations of time	35:14
	and space may make the moon or Mars a final barrier	35:19
	to man's distant exploration rather than an open door.	35:25
	It surely it must be our Christian hope that even	35:31
	before we come to the outer limits of our cosmic dreams	35:36
	we may turn in to find a challenge, a joy,	35:41
	a thrill in exploring and enabling the interpersonal	35:47
	and the inner personal relationships of this little globe.	35:54
	What the boy with the kite failed to realize	36:02
	like so many of us is the importance of that string.	36:06
	Art or science, casual exaltation, or earnest effort,	36:12
	flying kites depends directly	36:17
	on the tug of the wind against that string	36:20
	on the tension between unpredictable air and guiding hand.	36:24
	There are many situations where that restraining rope	36:32
	comes in handy.	36:35
	All you water skiers know what happens when	36:38
	your toe line breaks or gets entangled.	36:41
	A few weeks ago, I saw a movie shot about sky divers	36:45
	jumping from their planes, clasping hands	36:50
	and performing incredible ballets in space.	36:53
	With the carefree ease and grace	36:58
	mankind has always envied birds,	37:00
	but sooner or later generally sooner,	37:05
	the pool of gravity went out and the sky dancers	37:09
	had to jerk the cord which released	37:13
	a billowing parachute above them	37:15
	and even supported by dozens of strings,	37:19
	some of them suffered ignominiously, bumpy landings	37:23
	as a price for their dalliance on the wind.	37:27
	Some of you come to college eager to make	37:34
	like a kite carefree and blowing in the wind,	37:37
	but without any string.	37:41
	Some of you want your religious	37:44
	or even your moral lives to float unrestrained	37:46
	in a dazzling sky only to end in a tangled mess.	37:49
	Freedom without responsibility.	37:57
	Self expression without service.	38:00
	Kites without strings.	38:05
	The ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel is full of incidents	38:13
	involving this tension between freedom and responsibility.	38:17
	Mrs. Cash read only a small portion of it.	38:22
	The chapter begins with Jesus sending out	38:26
	the 12 disciples on a somewhat random journey.	38:29
	They were to be foot loose gypsies	38:34
	or should I say bearded hippies with long hair	38:37
	and sandals taking with them, no bag or bread or money	38:40
	not even a second shirt to wear	38:45
	while they waited in the laundromat	38:47
	Their route was vague, their accomodation questionable,	38:51
	but they had been given a mission,	38:57
	specific power and authority	39:00
	and they accomplished their task of preaching	39:04
	the good news of the kingdom of God	39:07
	and healing people everywhere.	39:10
	Jesus was not going to allow them to sit any longer rapidly	39:15
	in a Psalm of a valley only all the time	39:19
	nor did he encourage as he sent them forth to soar	39:23
	in his kingdom, that their journey could be	39:27
	without purpose without any strings.	39:30
	We are told that Herod the Tetrarch was perplexed,	39:36
	he thought he was in control of that region.	39:40
	He thought he'd taken care of unauthorized agitation	39:42
	by having John the Baptist beheaded.	39:46
	Yet here were more itinerants wandering around his territory	39:50
	performing a mission of physical	39:55
	and spiritual reconciliation under the authority	39:57
	of a Galilee carpenter.	40:02
	So Herod wanted to see this young prophet who was hailed	40:04
	as a reincarnate John or Elijah	40:09
	When the disciples returned, they needed rest and meditation	40:14
	and quiet conversation, but crowds followed them	40:19
	and Jesus welcomed the opportunity to preach and to heal.	40:23
	And then comes that too familiar story	40:29
	of the loaves and the fishes.	40:32
	We usually focus on the miracle itself	40:35
	and on the astonishing party of food left	40:38
	over 12 baskets of broken pieces.	40:41
	But you will remember	40:46
	that the disciples tried to duck responsibility	40:47
	for the crowd, send them away into the villages	40:51
	and country roundabout to lodge and get provisions,	40:55
	they advised Jesus.	40:59
	For we are here in a lonely place.	41:01
	In one of the sharpest commands recorded in the Gospels,	41:06
	Jesus retorted, you give them something to eat.	41:10
	Sure, we didn't invite them here on the mountain	41:18
	and we haven't got enough money to call	41:20
	out the caterer's truck.	41:23
	But those who join the company of Jesus,	41:26
	who venture out into the mystery	41:29
	and the miracle of the undisclosed,	41:32
	cannot do so without responsibility without strings.	41:35
	Then came the embarrassing inquiry about who people	41:43
	thought Jesus really was John, the Baptist,	41:46
	Elijah, one of the old prophets arisen,	41:50
	the same answers that had been given to Herod.	41:54
	But when Peter blurted out his conviction	41:57
	that this was the Christ of God,	42:01
	swung out bold at precipice height, as our poet put it	42:04
	his pride and joy were quickly sobered.	42:09
	Peter and the others may have felt that in this revelation	42:14
	they could soar with their master	42:17
	into the kingdom of heaven, politically and spiritually	42:19
	liberated from the mundane world.	42:23
	But again, Jesus rebuked them admonishing	42:27
	not only secrecy, but suffering.	42:31
	Warning them not only of his own rejection and death,	42:35
	but of the cross that they too would have to carry.	42:40
	If any man would come after me, let him deny himself,	42:45
	take up his cross daily, lose his life for my sake.	42:51
	As if fearing that the import of these episodes	43:01
	might still be overlooked,	43:04
	Luke picks up yet another incident eight days later,	43:06
	the account of the transfiguration	43:11
	in this morning's lesson.	43:13
	Drowsily while Jesus himself had been praying,	43:17
	Peter and James and John saw a dazzling vision	43:21
	and overheard Moses and Elijah	43:25
	speaking about the Messiah's destiny in Jerusalem.	43:28
	How tempting to make three booths, to build three shrines,	43:33
	to celebrate a spectacular event.	43:41
	Paradise had presented itself to them	43:45
	as a point of arrival, a sensation of all climbing.	43:48
	According to Luke's narrative,	43:54
	Moses and Elijah had been doing the talking	43:56
	yet, God's voice from the cloud was unequivocal.	44:00
	This is my son, my chosen listen to him.	44:05
	At least Stevenson in, "Called To Greatness"	44:15
	wrote, I sometimes think that what Americans need more	44:19
	than anything else is a hearing aid.	44:23
	This applies not only to hearing	44:29
	and heeding the voice of other people's whose destinies	44:31
	we so often manipulate with guns or dollars,	44:35
	but also to listening to God's son.	44:41
	Jesus frequently needed a retreat for prayer	44:47
	and meditation for the renewal of strength and direction,	44:51
	but he made it repeatedly clear that paradise was more	44:55
	than a perfection of stillness.	44:59
	That his mission must lie	45:02
	in what perpetually glimmers ahead.	45:05
	Jesus own road to Jerusalem was no path curved firmly	45:10
	through the secret wood.	45:15
	It moved directly in the Lunik account	45:17
	from the Mount of Transfiguration	45:19
	to the plain of confrontation and agony.	45:22
	The next day in the midst of a great crowd	45:27
	a man called out on behalf of his tormented child.	45:30
	And while he was coming to Jesus, the demon tore him	45:35
	and convulsed him.	45:40
	A not uncommon experience for the space	45:45
	which separates us from Christ is seldom smooth and gentle.	45:48
	The very effort to move toward him, to throw ourselves	45:54
	on his mercy and healing may be a traumatic struggle	45:57
	with all sorts of devils, including ourselves.	46:02
	At the moment when his voice bidding us come seems clearest,	46:08
	our human resistance may be strongest	46:14
	for he threatens our pet prejudices and preconceptions,	46:17
	overturns our lesser loyalties and values.	46:22
	Everyone knows the conversion through which	46:29
	St. Paul came to the feet of Jesus.	46:33
	Those of us who are Methodists quote,	46:37
	so incessantly the single clause,	46:39
	I felt my heart strangely warmed,	46:43
	but we assumed John Wesley's	46:46
	"Supreme Religious Moment"	46:48
	was a quiet sedate transfiguration.	46:50
	Yet in addition to all the struggles which preceded it,	46:55
	Wesley says in his journal only a few sentences later.	46:59
	"After I returned home,	47:06
	I was much buffeted with temptations,	47:07
	but cried out and they fled away.	47:11
	They returned again and again.	47:14
	Here in I found the difference	47:17
	between this and my former state chiefly consisted.	47:19
	I was striving striving, fighting with all my might	47:24
	under the law as well as under grace.	47:28
	But then I was sometimes if not often conquered.	47:33
	Now, I was always conqueror."	47:38
	That while he was coming to Jesus	47:45
	the demon tore him and convulsed him.	47:49
	So often our attempts to soar like a kite	47:54
	or anchor to earth by our own two shoes,	47:58
	but when the commitment is made,	48:02
	when we respond with unhesitating trust	48:05
	we discover anew that kites fly	48:09
	by tugging against both wind and strings intention.	48:12
	And we are astonished at the majesty of God.	48:18
	What about the disciples?	48:26
	Despite their affirmation of faith	48:28
	in the Christ God, despite their exhilarating vision	48:31
	they had been unable to cure the epileptic boy.	48:35
	Jesus despair and disappointment over the faithless	48:40
	and perverse generation swept the wide circle	48:44
	of disciples farther and crowd.	48:49
	Yet he did not withhold his healing grace.	48:54
	Some of you have returned from a mountaintop experience	49:01
	in Washington yesterday.	49:05
	Thrilling to the sense of participation in a so movement	49:08
	of vast proportions.	49:12
	Amid the clamor of many voices	49:15
	prophets and protestors, enthusiasts, and hecklers,	49:19
	it is often hard to tune in the one voice	49:24
	that we are admonished to hear.	49:28
	And it is even more difficult to realize	49:31
	that the making of peace, the task of reconciliation	49:34
	and healing is a convulsive long range, struggle	49:38
	demanding wisdom and sacrifice and love.	49:45
	The ninth chapter of Luke goes on with still more examples	49:56
	of the human urge to achieve freedom, success, authority,	50:00
	without responsibility.	50:06
	Jesus warned that he would be delivered	50:09
	into the hands of men and they didn't understand him.	50:12
	The disciples argued over which was the greatest	50:17
	and he rebuked them with the presence of a child.	50:21
	John rejected a man who was healing in Jesus name,	50:26
	but the master insisted on counting him in.	50:32
	On the road to Jerusalem the Samaritans refused	50:37
	to provide accommodations for Jesus party	50:40
	and the disciples wanted to destroy them with fire.	50:43
	And the Christ would have none of such vengeance.	50:48
	Finally, the Lord demanded that those who would truly	50:53
	follow him should cut loose from selfish,	50:57
	personal ties, shelter, ritual duties, family,	51:00
	but the alternative was not escape from all strengths.	51:09
	It was commitment to a single, higher, more direct loyalty	51:14
	which Christ defined as the kingdom of God.	51:20
	You will suspect that I made a drastic break	51:28
	in the middle of this sermon from the simple verse	51:32
	about a girl among the flowers and the boy	51:35
	with a kite to the discussion of a complex chapter	51:38
	in St. Luke's gospel.	51:42
	Not so, even the geographic ethical setting is the same.	51:46
	For I did not read the last four lines	51:54
	of Doris Peels poem.	51:57
	Here they are.	52:01
	This was in Galilee, where both you might say,	52:04
	were once being reconciled, proved true.	52:11
	Said the little girl in the valley,	52:20
	heaven is like this only all the time.	52:24
	Said the disciples, it is well that we are here	52:31
	let us make three booths.	52:35
	Said the boy, let me be like a kite,	52:40
	but without any string.	52:45
	Said Jesus, if any man would come after me,	52:50
	let him deny himself and take up his cross daily	52:55
	and follow me.	53:02
	This was in Galilee where both you might say,	53:06
	were once being reconciled, proved true.	53:11
	Let us pray.	53:22
	Grant us soul Lord, never to sleep	53:28
	through the vision on the mountain top.	53:31
	Never to be content with remaining there.	53:36
	Never to cease our efforts to soar like a kite.	53:41
	Never to shun the pain and struggle	53:47
	of responsible service in this, our earth and yours.	53:50
	Amen.	54:02
	(hymnal singing overshadowed by instruments)	54:05

Item Info

Title:

Creighton Lacy - "No Strings?" (November 16, 1969)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4f18xg3c

Date:

November 16, 1969

Speaker:

Lacy, Creighton

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0498
ref6201_3f8
uachapelsermaud
duke:628075
dcrau002489
ark:/87924/r4f18xg3c
05e38814-bf7f-438b-80b1-fdf99ede7c11

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

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

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Creighton Lacy - "No Strings?" (November 16, 1969)

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1. Creighton Lacy - "No Strings?" (November 16, 1969)

Duke University Archives

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Creighton Lacy - "No Strings?" (November 16, 1969)

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Duke University Archives

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