Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  Educational Use Permitted
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4qj7d04n?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4qj7d04n
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	♪ Holy ♪	0:05
	♪ God ♪	0:11
	♪ Thou art holy ♪	0:16
	♪ Thou art holy ♪	0:21
	♪ Holy ♪	0:29
	♪ God ♪	0:36
	(dramatic organ music)	0:46
	♪ All hail the power ♪	1:36
	♪ Of Jesus' name ♪	1:39
	♪ Let angels ♪	1:43
	♪ Prostrate fall ♪	1:46
	♪ Bring forth ♪	1:51
	♪ The royal diadem ♪	1:53
	♪ And crown Him ♪	1:59
	♪ Crown Him ♪	2:04
	♪ Crown Him ♪	2:08
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	2:14
	♪ Ye chosen seed ♪	2:29
	♪ Of Israel's race ♪	2:32
	♪ Ye ransomed ♪	2:37
	♪ From the fall ♪	2:40
	♪ Hail Him who saves you ♪	2:45
	♪ By His grace ♪	2:49
	♪ And crown Him ♪	2:53
	♪ Crown Him ♪	2:58
	♪ Crown Him ♪	3:02
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	3:08
	♪ Sinners, whose love ♪	3:24
	♪ Can ne'er forget ♪	3:27
	♪ The wormwood ♪	3:31
	♪ And the gall ♪	3:34
	♪ Go, spread your trophies ♪	3:39
	♪ At His feet ♪	3:44
	♪ And crown Him ♪	3:47
	♪ Crown Him ♪	3:52
	♪ Crown Him ♪	3:56
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	4:03
	♪ Let every kindred ♪	4:19
	♪ Every tribe ♪	4:24
	♪ On this terrestrial ball ♪	4:27
	♪ To Him all majesty ascribe ♪	4:34
	♪ And crown Him ♪	4:42
	♪ Crown Him ♪	4:47
	♪ Crown Him ♪	4:52
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	4:59
	(darkly discordant organ music)	5:09
	(triumphant organ music)	5:34
	♪ Oh, that with yonder ♪	5:48
	♪ Sacred throng ♪	5:53
	♪ We at His feet ♪	5:56
	♪ May fall ♪	6:00
	♪ We'll join the everlasting song ♪	6:05
	♪ And crown Him ♪	6:13
	♪ Crown Him ♪	6:19
	♪ Crown Him ♪	6:24
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	6:31
	♪ Amen ♪	6:47
-	Grace be to you and peace from God, our Father,	7:20
	and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.	7:24
	Jesus said, "I am not come to call the righteous,	7:29
	but sinners to repentance."	7:35
	The gospel of John tells us,	7:40
	"Ask and it will be given you,	7:42
	seek and you will find,	7:45
	knock and it will be open to you,	7:49
	for everyone who asks, receives,	7:52
	and he who seeks, finds,	7:56
	and to him who knocks,	7:59
	it will be opened.	8:03
	Therefore recognizing	8:06
	our state as sinners	8:10
	before the righteousness of God	8:12
	and confident that if we truly and earnestly confess	8:15
	the state of our lives before our fathers promises,	8:20
	our wives will be forgiven, restored,	8:26
	and returned to us with new meaning and with hope.	8:30
	Let us offer unto God our unison prayers	8:35
	of confession,	8:40
	and for pardon.	8:42
	Let us pray together.	8:44
	Almighty God, our righteous Father,	8:48
	we humbly confess that we have sinned	8:53
	and are guilty people.	8:56
	We have trusted too much in outer forms	8:59
	and too little in the inward realities.	9:04
	We have often been content to allow marriage	9:08
	to consist mainly of wedding rings	9:13
	and living under the same roof	9:17
	rather than a shared and cultivated love.	9:20
	We have made patriotism a mere allegiance	9:25
	to a colored cloth,	9:29
	and the repetition of slick phrases	9:32
	rather than thoughtful and courageous dedication	9:36
	to what is good for the nation.	9:40
	We have often made piety	9:44
	no more than a recitation of familiar prayers	9:47
	and genuflection before the altar,	9:52
	rather than the true devotion of the heart.	9:56
	There were terms when we allowed friendship	10:00
	to end with a smile and a handshake,	10:04
	and we'd have not been willing to extend ourselves	10:08
	to others in their moments of need.	10:13
	Forgive us these sins,	10:17
	restore us to thy fellowship	10:20
	and give us grace to add inward reality	10:23
	to the forms of outer goodness.	10:28
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord,	10:31
	amen.	10:35
	Let us hear and receive these words	10:40
	of assurance and of hope.	10:45
	God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in Him	10:49
	should not perish, but have everlasting life.	10:56
	In the words of Jesus,	11:03
	"Be of good cheer.	11:06
	Your sins are forgiven.	11:09
	Go and sin no more."	11:13
	knowing that we are received by God's love and His grace,	11:18
	let us choose to accept his acceptance.	11:24
	Knowing that we were called to live as free and whole men,	11:29
	let us arise in our worship	11:35
	and face the future with the confidence	11:39
	and the joy that belong	11:42
	to a people of faith.	11:45
	Amen.	11:49
	(gentle organ music)	11:53
	(vibrant trumpet fanfares)	12:22
	♪ O come ♪	12:36
	♪ Let us sing ♪	12:41
	♪ Unto the Lord, the Lord ♪	12:48
	(vibrant trumpet fanfare)	12:51
	♪ Let us heartily rejoice ♪	13:03
	♪ In the strength of our salvation ♪	13:06
	♪ Let us come before his presence ♪	13:10
	♪ With thanksgiving ♪	13:14
	♪ And shew ourselves ♪	13:20
	♪ Glad in Him with psalms ♪	13:24
	(brass fanfare)	13:30
	♪ For the Lord is a great God ♪	13:38
	♪ For the Lord is a great God ♪	13:45
	♪ And a great King above all gods ♪	13:55
	(dramatic brass music)	14:02
	♪ In his hand are all ♪	14:12
	♪ The corners of the earth ♪	14:17
	(gentle brass music)	14:25
	♪ And the strength ♪	14:30
	♪ Of the hills ♪	14:36
	♪ Is His also ♪	14:38
	♪ The sea is His, ♪	14:48
	♪ And He made it ♪	14:54
	♪ And His hands ♪	15:00
	♪ Prepared the dry land ♪	15:07
	(bright trumpet fanfare)	15:18
	♪ O come, ♪	15:27
	♪ Let us worship ♪	15:32
	♪ And fall down ♪	15:39
	♪ And kneel before the Lord ♪	15:46
	♪ Our maker ♪	15:54
	(solemn brass music)	16:10
	♪ For He is ♪	16:27
	♪ Our God ♪	16:35
	♪ Our God ♪	16:42
	♪ And we are the people ♪	16:50
	♪ Of His pasture ♪	16:58
	♪ And the sheep ♪	17:05
	♪ Of His hand ♪	17:09
	(heroic brass music)	17:19
	♪ O worship the Lord ♪	17:53
	♪ In the beauty ♪	18:06
	♪ Of holiness ♪	18:14
	(stately brass music)	18:23
	♪ Let the whole earth ♪	18:53
	♪ Stand in awe of Him ♪	19:06
	♪ For He cometh, for He cometh ♪	19:33
	♪ For He cometh to judge the earth ♪	19:40
	(bright brass music)	19:50
	♪ And with righteousness, with righteousness ♪	20:01
	♪ To judge the world ♪	20:06
	♪ And the peoples with his truth ♪	20:12
	(dramatically crescendoing brass music)	20:17
	♪ Glory be ♪	20:28
	♪ To the Father ♪	20:45
	♪ And to the Son ♪	20:56
	♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪	21:09
	♪ Amen ♪	21:20
	♪ Amen ♪	21:29
	Our scripture lesson this morning is taken	22:02
	from the Gospel of John chapter 16,	22:04
	verses 1 through 7,	22:08
	and verses 12 through 14.	22:10
	"I have said all of this to you	22:15
	to keep you from falling away.	22:17
	They will put you out of the synagogues.	22:21
	Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you	22:25
	will think he is offering service to God,	22:28
	and they will do this	22:33
	because they have not known the Father, nor me,	22:34
	but I have said these things to you	22:40
	that when their hour comes, you may remember	22:43
	that I told you of them.	22:47
	I did not say these things to you from the beginning	22:51
	because I was with you,	22:56
	but now I'm going to Him who sent me,	22:59
	yet none of you asked me where are you going.	23:02
	But because I have said these things to you,	23:08
	sorrow has filled your hearts.	23:11
	Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.	23:16
	It is to your advantage that I go away,	23:18
	for if I do not go away,	23:22
	the councilor will not come to you,	23:24
	but if I go, I will send him to you.	23:28
	I have yet many things to say to you,	23:33
	but you cannot bear them now.	23:36
	When the spirit of truth comes,	23:39
	he will guide you into all the truth,	23:42
	for he will not speak on his own authority.	23:46
	But whatever he hears he will speak,	23:50
	and he will declare to you things that are to come.	23:54
	He will glorify me,	23:59
	for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."	24:01
	My God add His blessing to the reading	24:07
	and the hearing of His Word, amen.	24:09
	(stately organ music)	24:15
	♪ Glory be to the Father ♪	24:27
	♪ And to the Son ♪	24:32
	♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪	24:36
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	24:43
	♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪	24:49
	♪ World without end ♪	24:56
	♪ Amen ♪	25:00
	♪ Amen ♪	25:04
	The Lord be with you.	25:12
-	And with your spirit.	25:14
-	Let us pray.	25:16
	Let us offer unto God our prayers of thanksgiving,	25:27
	intercession, and supplication.	25:31
	Almighty and ever loving God.	25:41
	God who has so wondrously created us	25:45
	and who does daily sustain us,	25:49
	we give thanks to Thee, oh Lord,	25:54
	for this opportunity of worship.	25:56
	Thy ways are shrouded in mystery	26:02
	and Thy ways are far beyond our knowing, oh Lord,	26:06
	yet Thou has come to us	26:12
	in the glory of the gospel	26:16
	and then the meaning of this advent season,	26:20
	and has offered us Thy graceful	26:26
	and faithful love,	26:30
	and has challenged us to live and to come before thee	26:33
	in adoration and praise	26:38
	and in thanksgiving.	26:42
	Therefore, oh Lord, with heaven's angels	26:46
	and shepherds all, we praise	26:50
	and bless Thy holy name.	26:54
	For all that this season may mean and does mean,	26:59
	our Father, we lift our thanks onto Thee.	27:03
	Almighty God and father of us all,	27:12
	Thou has made of one blood all the nations of mankind,	27:16
	and Thou has placed us upon this earth for our home.	27:22
	Thine is the providence for which age after age	27:29
	the families of mankind have been fed,	27:33
	and Thine is the abundance that blesses those	27:38
	who have plenty and to spare.	27:41
	Thine is the justice, which amidst the turmoil	27:45
	of history has given it a course and a direction.	27:49
	Thine, oh Lord, is the mercy	27:56
	by which man has reached out to man	27:58
	with feeling the binds up the broken heart,	28:01
	the torn body, and the disturbed mind.	28:05
	Thine, oh Lord, is love.	28:12
	The love that brings light to every day of our lives,	28:16
	and close friendships and associations	28:20
	where a true cultivation of the spirit	28:24
	enables us to speak comfortably to each other.	28:28
	And especially in our homes,	28:33
	our families, and our friendships,	28:35
	where love protects us	28:39
	as with each other we share the love	28:41
	which Thou alone dost impart.	28:44
	Thou, oh God, art our loving Father,	28:48
	who in justice and mercy directs our ways	28:53
	and provides for all our needs.	28:58
	Holy art Thou,	29:02
	and Thy praise is our great delight	29:04
	and in Thee is all our hope.	29:08
	Therefore, oh Lord, we praise Thee	29:12
	and we acknowledge Thee to be our God.	29:17
	Oh God whose son, Jesus Christ,	29:25
	has made us members one of another,	29:28
	we take our place in the human family	29:31
	by offering our intersessions and our petitions	29:34
	for our brothers and sisters in need.	29:38
	Lord, who has revealed Thyself through a son	29:44
	knew what it means to endure suffering.	29:50
	Here us now as we remember	29:55
	those of our human family who suffered.	29:57
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	30:04
	those sufferings that are	30:08
	an unappeased hunger for love.	30:10
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord	30:17
	the suffering of a small boy	30:21
	whose mother has slapped him without cause,	30:24
	and that of a man whose boss has reprimanded him	30:29
	in front of his friends.	30:34
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	30:38
	the suffering of a child left at home	30:42
	because he's a nuisance,	30:45
	better have a grandmother left in her home	30:48
	because she's too old.	30:51
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	30:57
	the suffering of an unemployed man who wants to work	31:00
	and that of a mother whose children are hungry,	31:05
	while in another part of town,	31:10
	the remains of a party are thrown into the garbage.	31:12
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	31:19
	the suffering of an old man who dies alone	31:23
	while his family in an adjoining room wait	31:27
	for his death, drinking coffee,	31:31
	and the young man who lives alone	31:36
	and cannot understand why a fiery accident of war	31:40
	destroyed his home, his sons, and his wife.	31:45
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	31:53
	all who experience suffering, injustice,	31:58
	bitterness, humiliation,	32:04
	grief, and despair.	32:07
	May Thy love penetrate their condition	32:12
	and quench their hunger	32:18
	and bring peace.	32:21
	Oh God, hear our prayers we ask	32:29
	for the human needs gathered in this Thy sanctuary,	32:32
	and minister to reach of us according to Thy will.	32:37
	Help us, our Father, to come to terms	32:43
	with our own humanness,	32:47
	with all its glories and its frustrations,	32:50
	for it seems as if we're always trying	32:56
	either to take by place	32:59
	or to forget about Thee and do just as we please.	33:03
	Our Father, we feel frustrated by our animal needs	33:09
	and want Thy help in transforming them,	33:13
	to see food as a daily assurance of Thy care,	33:19
	to accept sleep as a well-earned benediction	33:25
	and not merely an interruption to our activities,	33:30
	to know love is not self-gratification, but self-giving.	33:36
	Our Father,	33:44
	we feel frustrated by the tyranny of time,	33:46
	eight-hour days and 48-hour weeks,	33:51
	and three score years and 10.	33:54
	Help us, we ask,	33:58
	to accept the endless details that chew up our days	34:02
	without which nothing would ever get done.	34:07
	Help us to come to terms with our own laziness,	34:12
	that lets us think we're working	34:17
	when we're only moaning about lack of time.	34:20
	Above all, our Father,	34:27
	we feel frustrated by our limited minds and spirits	34:29
	and we pray Thee for reach that exceeds grasp.	34:36
	Help us to see beyond the trivia	34:42
	that threaten to clutter up our minds	34:44
	that we may see the grand design of truth and goodness.	34:48
	Help us to be open to every experience,	34:55
	to tolerate new thoughts that seem threatening	35:00
	and help us to give our spirits	35:05
	free reign in Christ,	35:09
	that we may see Thee and find Thee	35:12
	and know Thee,	35:16
	who speakest to us in all of life.	35:19
	In the name of Jesus Christ,	35:25
	Thy Son and our Lord,	35:28
	who taught us to pray together saying,	35:33
	"Our Father who art in heaven,	35:36
	hallowed be thy name,	35:40
	Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done	35:43
	on earth as it is in heaven.	35:47
	Give us this day our daily bread,	35:51
	and forgive us our trespasses	35:55
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	35:58
	and lead us not into temptation,	36:03
	but deliver us from evil,	36:06
	for Thine is the kingdom	36:09
	and the power and the glory forever,	36:12
	amen."	36:17
	Good morning,	36:43
	I greet you in the name of Jesus	36:47
	on this Homecoming Sunday, 1969.	36:49
	An annual event on campuses across America.	36:56
	is the return of college alumni	37:03
	to their fostering mother, their alma mater.	37:07
	Each fall, a weekend is chosen for Homecoming	37:15
	and preparations are made to show the former students	37:19
	what life is like for the young men and women	37:25
	who inhabit currently the hallowed halls.	37:30
	But Homecoming is always an ambivalence for the alumni	37:37
	because they discover that there's a sense	37:43
	in which they can come home again	37:46
	and there's a sense in which they cannot come home again.	37:50
	The statue of J. B. Duke is still here	37:56
	just as it was in 1937.	38:00
	But your most loved professor has since died.	38:04
	Few Quadrangle is still standing	38:11
	and looking very much as it did	38:14
	when you roomed in it as a grad student in 1944.	38:16
	But what a shock you had yesterday	38:22
	when you discovered that the university housing office	38:26
	now lets lowly undergraduates live in Few Quad.	38:30
	What is more disquieting to some, however,	38:38
	is a succession of changes	38:43
	from what they recall the religious life	38:49
	of the campus to have been	38:52
	when they were students here two,	38:54
	10, 20, or 40 years ago.	38:57
	In 1967,	39:03
	a returning alumnus	39:07
	went to the divinity school chapel at 9:30 AM	39:08
	on Homecoming Sunday	39:13
	to attend the York Bible class,	39:16
	just as he had done each Sunday	39:21
	when he was a student here from '43 to '48.	39:24
	He was amazed to discover	39:29
	that York Bible class no longer meets.	39:31
	When last April, I addressed the Duke Alumni Association	39:38
	of San Francisco,	39:43
	a fine alumnus told me how greatly he used	39:45
	to appreciate hearing the preaching of Dr. Henry Hitt Crane	39:49
	during Religious Emphasis Week at Duke.	39:53
	Then he asked who our Religious Emphasis Week	39:59
	preacher was this year.	40:04
	He was astonished to hear that we had nothing at all	40:08
	which was called Religious Emphasis Week.	40:12
	Well, other examples could be given	40:18
	and could be described.	40:21
	Alumni who love the church and who are committed	40:24
	to the continued marriage of eruditial and religial	40:28
	understandably asked the question, "Why?"	40:34
	Their question was phrased quite boldly	40:42
	by a man who is at present a Duke professor	40:46
	and with whom I enjoyed morning coffee last September.	40:51
	He told me that during his freshman year in college,	40:57
	he was active	41:00
	in religious activities on the campus.	41:03
	Then he lost interest,	41:09
	and only last year, after more than a quarter of a century,	41:12
	did he regain an interest in religion.	41:17
	But he had a question for me.	41:21
	After telling me about the manifestations	41:25
	of religion during his student days, he asked,	41:27
	"Why is everything	41:32
	so different now?"	41:36
	For a while this morning,	41:43
	I'd like to consider his question	41:44
	in terms of two assumptions.	41:48
	And I would like to think of it as being representative	41:53
	of many other similar questions.	41:57
	I will deal with first one assumption	42:01
	and then the other	42:05
	in attempting to answer his very good question.	42:07
	The first assumption is that five,	42:12
	10, 20, or 40 years ago,	42:16
	whatever time it is that you have in mind just now,	42:20
	as you think of your own student days,	42:25
	or those of you who are now students,	42:30
	as you think of the days	42:33
	that your parents have spoken to you about,	42:34
	we're assuming that religious forms	42:40
	and expressions were precisely	42:44
	as they should have been.	42:50
	That things were then being done	42:58
	the very best way they could have been done.	43:00
	Now, assuming that,	43:05
	what answer can be given to the question,	43:09
	why is everything so different now?	43:13
	Let me suggest an answer from the game of football	43:20
	by way of an analogy.	43:23
	Suppose that X number of years ago,	43:26
	we had a football team at Duke	43:30
	which was nationally ranked	43:32
	and which won the conference championship.	43:34
	Suppose further that we were interviewing a member	43:38
	of that team, and we asked him the secret	43:42
	of their great success.	43:45
	He might reply that his squad had a series of plays	43:49
	which almost always worked.	43:53
	On first down, the left halfback would slam	43:58
	through the right side of the line.	44:02
	Second down, right halfback would slam	44:05
	through the left side of the line.	44:08
	And on third down, the fullback would go straight	44:12
	up the middle and gain enough yardage	44:14
	to start a new series of downs.	44:18
	But,	44:22
	our former football player would be quick to add,	44:25
	that if that same team	44:30
	were playing today	44:35
	under present conditions, and with the same strength,	44:37
	the same skill,	44:43
	and the same youth of their earlier day,	44:44
	they would use different plays	44:49
	because although in that earlier year those plays worked,	44:53
	the opposition eventually developed	44:58
	a way to stop those plays.	45:00
	So the team must change its strategy	45:05
	from year to year and even from week to week	45:09
	if it wishes to continue moving the ball forward.	45:13
	Sometimes the quarterback has to be smart enough,	45:18
	know just when to tie his shoe in order to win a game.	45:22
	(congregation laughs)	45:26
	A distinguished Lutheran theologian,	45:31
	Dr. Joseph Sittler,	45:34
	has suggested essentially the same answer to this question,	45:38
	but from a different field, namely science.	45:43
	Now, since some of our older alumni were students,	45:50
	there has been developed a new branch	45:58
	of science called ecology.	46:00
	It's related to biology,	46:05
	and it has to do with the environment	46:08
	in which plants and animals live	46:10
	and the effect of that environment upon them.	46:14
	Ecologists have found that the appearance	46:20
	and the behavior of,	46:24
	let's say a rat, for example,	46:28
	is not the same when he is living in a Louisiana swamp,	46:31
	as it is when that identical rat	46:36
	is living in an Iowa corn bin,	46:41
	or again when it's living under the musty floor	46:45
	of a rotting barn in Oklahoma.	46:48
	When this rat is studied in a sterile laboratory,	46:53
	he appears and behaves differently	46:57
	from the way he does in all of those other environments.	47:02
	Now, Dr. Sittler	47:07
	in his book, "The Ecology of Faith,"	47:11
	"The Ecology of Faith,"	47:16
	says the same thing is true	47:20
	of the church and of the Christian religion.	47:23
	The same church, if it is true to its mission,	47:28
	is going to appear differently	47:32
	and behave differently	47:36
	when the surrounding environment and circumstances change,	47:40
	but it is important to remember	47:46
	that it is the same church and the same gospel.	47:48
	Since Religious Emphasis Week was mentioned,	47:57
	let me use it as an example.	48:01
	In the 1930s and even in the '40s,	48:06
	R. E. Week, as it was called,	48:10
	was a very useful instrument on many campuses,	48:13
	but at the present time, almost all of the considerations	48:18
	which made it wise then, make it unwise now.	48:23
	And the same factors which made it successful then	48:28
	would make it unsuccessful now.	48:32
	What the same concerns and emphases	48:37
	which formerly marched forward one week in the year	48:41
	under the umbrella of R. E. Week,	48:45
	now march forward all year long	48:49
	under many different umbrellas	48:52
	labeled Project Nicaragua,	48:55
	Project Bolivia, Edgemont, Butner,	48:58
	VA Hospital Ministry, special observances,	49:03
	UCM, InterVarsity Fellowship of Christian Athletes,	49:07
	Christian Medical Society,	49:11
	the YWYM, Community Concerns, and two dozen more.	49:13
	In the day of Saint Paul,	49:22
	which admittedly predates all of Roger Marshall's groups,	49:27
	circumstances were such that Paul could write,	49:33
	"It is a shame	49:39
	for a woman to speak in church."	49:43
	However, circumstances have changed to such an extent	49:51
	that were Paul writing now,	49:55
	he certainly would write the exact opposite,	49:59
	but for the same basic doctrinal reasons.	50:05
	James Russell Lowell wrote,	50:14
	"New occasions	50:17
	teach new duties,	50:20
	time makes ancient good uncouth.	50:24
	They must upward still and onward	50:31
	who would keep abreast of truth."	50:35
	You remember that when Isaac moved his people	50:42
	and his herds into the Valley of Gerar,	50:47
	he discovered that the Philistines	50:50
	had filled up the water wells of his father, Abraham.	50:53
	Isaac gave instructions to have them cleaned out	50:59
	and renewed,	51:03
	which was done to them.	51:10
	Although in their later condition,	51:13
	Isaac's wells probably look very unlike	51:16
	the wells of Abraham,	51:20
	but nevertheless yielded up the same refreshing	51:23
	and life-giving water	51:27
	as in Abraham's day.	51:30
	All right, let me summarize this first point	51:35
	by saying that if we assume	51:41
	that the religious practices	51:44
	and forms of an earlier day were in their day	51:47
	exactly what they should have been,	51:53
	the expressions of that same religion	51:57
	should be somewhat different today.	52:01
	If we are to maintain an effective witness	52:05
	to the gospel in the current scene.	52:09
	Okay?	52:16
	I said in the beginning that I would speak to the question	52:18
	why is everything so different now	52:22
	in terms of two assumptions.	52:26
	The second assumption is the opposite of the first.	52:32
	So now I should address the question	52:39
	on the assumption that the way things used to be	52:43
	was not in every respect	52:47
	the way they should have been,	52:52
	not even at that time.	52:54
	This second assumption affirms	52:59
	that there were many wonderful practices	53:02
	in former years,	53:07
	but it insists that there were also crippling defects,	53:10
	which it became our duty to correct,	53:15
	along with the growing wheat,	53:20
	there was also a quantity of chaff	53:22
	which could not be ignored.	53:25
	If we have an obligation to keep changing a church	53:31
	that is assumed to be perfect,	53:34
	we have a greater obligation to change a church	53:37
	which is assumed to be imperfect.	53:41
	After all, it's really expecting far too much	53:45
	to imagine that the students and staff	53:49
	who were guiding campus religion in 1959	53:51
	should have done everything exactly right.	53:57
	Among other duties, they were busy correcting the errors	54:01
	of those who were here in '49,	54:05
	who in turn sought to remedy the deficiencies	54:08
	of the group were here in '39.	54:12
	Even so,	54:17
	those of us in '69	54:20
	need to make improvements on our predecessors,	54:24
	knowing that those who follow us	54:29
	will notice our shortcomings	54:32
	and hopefully seek to amend them in their day.	54:35
	Now it is my own view that this second assumption	54:42
	has more evidence behind it than the first,	54:45
	because almost every period in the past	54:49
	shows profound weaknesses in the witness of the church,	54:52
	whether on campus or off.	54:56
	Let's look at one.	55:00
	The church on campus today	55:04
	all across the country	55:08
	is becoming sensitive to the sin	55:10
	of denominational rivalry,	55:13
	the sin of denominational competitiveness,	55:18
	which so often characterize both the local church	55:24
	and the capitalist churches in an earlier day,	55:28
	in spite of the very heavy emphasis	55:33
	which our Lord clearly placed on the Christian unity	55:36
	and the 17th chapter of John's Gospel,	55:40
	we were divided, we were bickering,	55:44
	we were competitive.	55:49
	For six years during the forties,	55:53
	I was the associate minister of First Methodist Church	55:56
	in the city of Charlotte.	56:00
	Each year during the Christmas holidays,	56:03
	we had a program for our students	56:07
	who were home from college.	56:10
	Every student would report	56:13
	on Methodist activity at his college.	56:16
	More often than not,	56:22
	the report would go something like this.	56:23
	"Well, the Methodists at our school are not doing very much,	56:26
	but thank God the Presbyterians	56:31
	are not doing any more than we are."	56:33
	I am one Christian who will say	56:42
	that this is an area	56:45
	in which we had better be different now	56:47
	from what we were in the past.	56:54
	On our campus and on many campuses,	56:59
	there is a strong surge toward doing	57:04
	what we do for Christ	57:07
	without emphasizing denominational labels and loyalties.	57:09
	There is another area	57:17
	in which Christian people made mistakes in past years,	57:19
	the campus churches today seeking to correct those faults.	57:24
	That area is sex, S-E-X.	57:31
	10 years ago and 50 years ago,	57:38
	there was a tendency for the church	57:44
	and for Christian people to teach that fornication	57:47
	and adultery should be avoided	57:50
	because of a possible embarrassing pregnancy,	57:54
	or because of the likelihood of venereal disease,	57:59
	the damaging effects of that disease.	58:03
	And following this line,	58:09
	the church and Christian parents	58:11
	thought they were playing it cool.	58:13
	They perhaps move at the basic harm	58:18
	in fornication and adultery is that it negates	58:20
	a really beautiful view of sex,	58:24
	which is a part of the biblical concept of marriage.	58:28
	This concept of marriage is one	58:33
	which according to the Bible was revealed by God	58:36
	as being an important part	58:41
	of the unfolding of his will.	58:44
	But instead of laying it plainly on the line	58:49
	with students and saying that they should reserve	58:52
	the joining of their bodies for marriage	58:55
	because such is the will of God,	58:59
	preachers and parents alike	59:03
	tried to get students to do the right thing	59:06
	for the wrong reasons.	59:08
	"You might get pregnant," they said.	59:12
	"You might get a disease."	59:14
	Baloney.	59:17
	Not only is it true, as an anonymous poet once said,	59:21
	the ultimate treason is to do the right thing	59:26
	for the wrong reason,	59:30
	but this so-called practical approach	59:33
	did not turn out to be successful.	59:36
	Any student who didn't know how to have sexual intercourse	59:40
	without pregnancy resulting was thought	59:44
	by his fellows to be intellectually unfit for college.	59:47
	Ever since the discovery of penicillin,	59:55
	the old venereal disease threat	59:58
	hasn't really scared anybody.	1:00:00
	Of course, plenty of people	1:00:05
	still are involved in illegitimate pregnancies,	1:00:07
	and a lot of immoral people get venereal disease,	1:00:12
	but my point is that the so-called practical approach	1:00:18
	of the former day didn't keep them from it.	1:00:23
	The church on campus today, however,	1:00:31
	is seeking to tell it like it is	1:00:33
	and to teach that if a person is going to be a Christian,	1:00:38
	he must obey God,	1:00:42
	whose revealed will is that sexual union	1:00:46
	is to be reserved exclusively for monogamous marriage.	1:00:51
	And so the manifestation of religion	1:00:58
	on campus today is different at this point.	1:01:01
	There are many other areas that could be discussed.	1:01:08
	There was an older fundamentalism	1:01:13
	with its wooden interpretation	1:01:16
	of the literal words of the Bible,	1:01:18
	which too long ignored the plain meaning	1:01:22
	of 2 Corinthians 3:6,	1:01:25
	where Paul warns that a literalism in religion kills	1:01:29
	whereas the spirit gives life.	1:01:34
	We believe the campus church should be different here	1:01:39
	and should heed Paul's warning.	1:01:44
	Paradoxically,	1:01:49
	along with that wooden fundamentalism,	1:01:51
	there also existed on campus	1:01:54
	a swashbuckling higher criticism,	1:01:57
	which was blind to some	1:02:02
	of the most profound insights of scripture.	1:02:04
	This, too, is being corrected today	1:02:08
	in the campus church	1:02:12
	when an advocate of this type of higher criticism	1:02:15
	came across a biblical narrative	1:02:19
	like the one in Matthew 9,	1:02:21
	which claims that a paralyzed man was able to walk	1:02:24
	after Christ forgave his sins,	1:02:28
	the critic would scornfully declare	1:02:32
	that it couldn't possibly have happened.	1:02:34
	But the campus church today listens to the reports	1:02:40
	of physicians, such as Dr. Flanders Dunbar,	1:02:44
	who daily practice in the field of psychosomatic medicine	1:02:50
	and who would inform us not only	1:02:56
	that the story in Matthew 9 is entirely believable,	1:02:58
	but that much of mankind's illnesses would be cured	1:03:05
	if we practiced the Sermon on the Mount.	1:03:11
	So once again,	1:03:16
	religion on campus had better be different	1:03:18
	from an older and arrogant higher criticism,	1:03:22
	which in some respects was deaf, dumb, and blind.	1:03:27
	Well, denominational rivalry,	1:03:34
	wrong approach to sex ethics,	1:03:39
	scriptural literalism,	1:03:43
	an insensitive higher criticism,	1:03:46
	these are some of the features of campus religion	1:03:49
	in former times which cried out for reform.	1:03:53
	This is not the end of the list by any means.	1:03:59
	Racism, chauvinism often went unchallenged	1:04:03
	and religious leaders	1:04:08
	sometimes were among the worst offenders.	1:04:10

Item Info

Title:

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4qj7d04n

Date:

November 23, 1969

Speaker:

Wilkinson, Howard C.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0499
ref6203_nmk
uachapelsermaud
duke:628334
dcrau002490
ark:/87924/r4qj7d04n
0dbae7f5-918b-4c1d-98c6-f854d5fec6f0

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.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives