Samuel S. Wiley - "Five Words with the Mind" (April 25, 1971) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(organ music)

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(choir singing faintly)

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Priest

Beloved as we crown Jesus Christ Lord of all,

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we are reminded of the occasion when Isaiah found himself

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in the presence of an almighty and all righteous God

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and who gave adoration and praise to God.

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But when he did so he was then on second thought,

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mindful of the discrepancy between the righteousness, love

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and truth of God on the one hand

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and his own shortcomings on the other hand.

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So he was moved to confess his shortcomings.

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He was moved to confess his sin.

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So let us now join together our hearts and voices

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in our prayer of confession.

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Let us pray,

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Have mercy upon us oh God.

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According to thy loving kindness,

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according to the multitude of thy tender mercies

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blot out our transgressions wash us thoroughly

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from our iniquity and cleanse us from our sin.

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Oh we acknowledge our transgressions

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and our sin is ever before us

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create in us clean hearts oh God

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and renew a right spirit within us.

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Cast us not away from thy presence.

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Take not thy Holy spirit from us

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restore unto us the joy of thy salvation

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and uphold us with thy free spirit.

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Amen.

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Isaiah as he was in the presence of God

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and gave praise to God and confessed his sins,

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heard the almighty say to him

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that his sin had been taken away,

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had been purged and he had been made free and whole again.

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And that he was accepted by the almighty God.

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And so are we.

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Amen.

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(church music)

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Reader

The lesson this morning is taken

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from the Mark 12:13-34.

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"And they sent him to some of the Pharisees

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and some of the Herodians to entrap him in his talk.

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And they came and said to him,

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"Teacher, we know that you were true

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in care for no man for you do not regard

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the position of men, but truly teach the way of God.

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Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

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Should we pay them or should we not?'

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But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them,

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'Why put me to the test,

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bring me a coin and let me look at it.'

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And they brought one and he said to them,

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'Whose likeness and inscription is this?'

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They said to him, 'Caesars,'

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Jesus said to them,

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'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,

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and to God the things that are God's.'

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And they were amazed at him.

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And Sadducees came to him who say there was no resurrection.

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And they asked him a question saying,

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'Teacher Moses wrote for us

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that if a man's brother dies

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and leaves the wife but leaves no child.

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The man was take the wife

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and raise up children for his brother.

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There were seven brothers, the first took a wife

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and when he died left no children.

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And the second took her and died, leaving no children.

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And the third likewise

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and the seventh left no children.

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Last of all, the woman also died.

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In the resurrection whose wife was she be?

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For the seven had her as wife.'

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Jesus said to them ,'Is not this why you were wrong,

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that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

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For when they rise from the dead,

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they neither marry nor given in marriage,

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they are like angels in heaven.

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And as for the dead being raised,

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have you not read in the book of Moses

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in the passage about the bush?

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How God said to him, I am the God of Abraham

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and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

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He is not God the dead,

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but the living, you were quite wrong.'

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And one of the scribes came up and heard them

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disputing with one another.

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And seeing the He answered them well asked him,

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'Which commandment is First of all?'

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Jesus answered,

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'The first is here oh Israel,

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the Lord our God the Lord is one.

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And you shall love the Lord your God

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with all your heart and with all your soul,

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with all your mind and with all your strength.

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The second is this.

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You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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There is no other commandment greater than these.'

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And the scribe said to him, 'You are right teacher.

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You have truly said that He is one.

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And there is no other but He.

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And to love him with all the heart

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and with all the understanding

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and with all the strength.

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And to love one's neighbor as oneself

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is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.'

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When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him,

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'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'

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And after that, no one dared to ask him any questions."

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(church music)

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Priest

The Lord be with you?

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Congregation

And with your spirit.

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Priest

Let us pray.

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Just before we have our prayers of thanksgiving,

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intercession and supplication.

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There are two brief announcements I would like to make

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and to explain something of why I am making them.

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Here we have met to worship God as fellow Christians

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and fellow seekers of the way of Jesus.

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The architecture of the building

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and the nature of our service or such

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that generally there is not a great deal of response,

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which is possible from the congregation.

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Though the action of the congregation

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in a service of worship is as important

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as the action of people who are so to speak upfront.

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We would like very much to involve the congregation

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in the experience of worship,

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not only in the singing of the hymns, the prayers

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and the responses, the offering, the acts of dedication,

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but in dialogue with the preacher

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and with the presiding minister in the service.

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As was announced last Sunday,

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we are commencing therefore today,

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following the Benediction,

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a new plan whereby those in the congregation,

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who wished to remain for approximately 30 minutes

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to come directly to the North Transept,

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which is located on your right

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If you're seated in The Nave.

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And the preacher and the presiding minister will be there

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to answer any questions you may have

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either about the service of worship itself

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or more particularly about the sermon.

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This will provide an opportunity for members

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in the congregation who may not on the Sundays,

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that the chaplain preaches to understand what he meant by

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what he said,

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but will provide opportunity perhaps to explore further

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the thought of the preacher.

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We will therefore beginning today,

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after The Benediction assemble

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those of you who care to remain

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in the North Transept until 1230.

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Second, we are going to begin very soon now

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a daily chapel service,

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which will last 20 minutes on each class day.

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That is to say Monday through Friday.

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Here in the university chapel,

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these 20 minute chapel services will be conducted

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by and large by students

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and by members of the university faculty,

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they will meet at the noon hour.

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And will be for those who are free from class at that time,

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please watch for an announcement

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concerning these daily chapel services.

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Now, may we offer our prayer to God.

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Our heavenly Father,

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we offer under the our prayers of Thanksgiving

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for blessings that are very numerous and very real.

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We are grateful this morning to know that

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there are hundreds of thousands of college students

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who care enough about peace and justice,

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to go to trouble, to go to expense,

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to plan and execute their plans.

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For making a witness to their government

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in a non-violent way

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about their world thy world our world.

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We thank you for their devotion.

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And as they represent us today in Washington,

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we are grateful in our hearts

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that there are that many who care that much.

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We offer into thee our thanks

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for the degree of Christian unity,

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which is abroad in the world today,

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all about us oh God,

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as a result of the moving of the Holy Spirit,

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we see Christians getting together,

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not only here in our chapel,

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where we do not even know what denomination

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a choir member or a member of the congregation is,

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but throughout the world,

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we see councils of churches and ecumenical movements

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consultations on church union.

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And we ask, oh God, not only that,

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we may be grateful for what has been accomplished this far,

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but that these movements for unity may be strengthened.

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We offer unto thee our prayers of thanksgiving,

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that as we search for truth from day to day,

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and from week to week,

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we do this without any fear or anxiety that we may discover

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some truth, which is contrary to thy will

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and contrary to thy truth.

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For Thou are the fountain of all truth,

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whether in Biology or Theology,

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we are grateful that we are free to learn any all truth.

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Unto Thee oh God we lift our prayers of thanks,

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that there is enough uncertainty about

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what is going to happen today and tomorrow,

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so that we can greet each day with fresh expectation.

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But we're also grateful for enough certainty about

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thy providential care of the future so that we can

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face the future with faith and with hope.

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As we offer unto thee our prayers

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of intercession and supplication,

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we are mindful of many needs that we have,

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oh Lord, we are very needy people.

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Those of us who are making this prayer

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and those for whom we pray,

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we are glad that we can be aware that thou

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does care even more than we do,

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even though there is still a point in our making our prayers

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for thou has commanded us to come to thee in prayer.

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So we intercede for the wives and the children

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and the parents, the brothers, and the sisters

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of those who've been killed in this present war.

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Those who are prisoners of war, those who are today anxious.

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Our God we pray for those whom we know

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those whom we do not know

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who have lost their sense of self-respect.

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They had an idea of what kind of persons they should be,

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but they have not lived up to that idea.

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They do not respect themselves because of it.

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We pray that they may follow those

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carefully laid out and announced steps which thou has given

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to all those who would regain their self-respect.

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We pray for those who are confused by unexpected situations

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and unwanted temptations, undesired trials,

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unexpected weaknesses.

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That includes about all of us oh God,

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we plan out our lives very neatly,

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but they don't seem to work out that way.

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We pray for those who are sick in body and spirit, mind,

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we pray for those who are so sick,

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that they oppose all social change.

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For those so sick that they feel

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they must destroy all order and law.

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We pray for those who have not yet found anything

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to worship in life greater than themselves,

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and who were in prison in an egocentric predicament.

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Oh God, we pray for those in our community.

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And in our world who are not thankful

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for the blessings they have though,

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they may be well blessed that they may learn the extent

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of their dependence upon thee and upon their fellow man.

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As we pray for ourselves, we ask that

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that would keep us from presuming that anybody else

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our teachers members of our family

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our roommates are supposed to do us,

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what we should do for ourselves

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and keep us from assuming that there's nothing

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that we can do or should do for others,

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help us to find a happy and proper balance

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between the things we should do for ourselves.

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The things that we should do for others,

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so that we may be obedient to the commands of scripture,

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bury your own burdens and bury you one another's burdens.

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So fulfill the law of Christ.

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Now we ask, we may make our own the prayer,

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which Jesus has taught all his disciples to pray saying

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Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,

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thy kingdom come.

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Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day, our daily bread

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and forgive us our trespasses.

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As we forgive those who trespass against us

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and lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil

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for thine is the kingdom

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and the power and the glory forever.

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Amen.

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So at the end of the week,

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I was informed that this is your college weekend

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am wandering where all the flowers are gone.

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Over 1900 years ago

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It was passion week in Jerusalem.

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Jesus had cleansed the temple,

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driving out the money changes and the merchandises.

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When the next day the authorities challenged him.

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First there were the Pharisees

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who had a hostile question to ask

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then came the Sadduccees with a defensive question.

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And then a Scribe.

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One of the legalist,

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who recognize the Jesus and said these others well,

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and that from him he might get

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an answer to a haunting question,

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"which commandment is the first of all," he asked

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Jesus answered," The first is Here oh Israel.

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The Lord our God is one.

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The Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God

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with all your heart and with all your soul

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and with all your and with all your strength.

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The second is this

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You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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There is no other commandment greater than these."

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"You're right." Teacher describe explained.

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"You've truly said that he has one

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and there is no other but he,

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and to love him with all the hearts

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and with all the understanding

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and with all the strength

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and to love ones neighbors oneself as much more

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than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

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When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him,

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"You are not far from the kingdom of God."

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The showing that there's hope even for a legalist,

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when he begins to understand Jesus.

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In this setting here with legalisms

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and rules about cohabitation and issue on campus.

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On the first day of daylight saving time.

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And the first time everybody in the congregation

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will get a verbal shot at the preacher.

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I'm wondering what I'm doing here.

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There are questions in your minds,

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which only the Teacher with the capital T

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himself can answer.

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So before you take your shots at me,

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let's lend an ear to what he has been saying.

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Over the long haul his words

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will have more significance am persuaded.

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Than even the news that may emerge from Washington today,

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we might explore all three of those answers which Jesus gave

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in turn to the hostile, to the defensive to the questing.

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But that would take more time

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than the morning holes even with daylight savings.

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So we'll inquire into that dual answer.

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He gave to the final question,

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namely that we are to love God with everything we've got

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and our neighbor as ourselves,

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and even so with noon coming up,

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we must focus on only one part of that answer

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but posing a question of our own.

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What does it mean to love God with the mind?

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The teacher some still calling master told the legalist,

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"If you really want to reduce the complicated code

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to a walkable pair call it love of God

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and love of your fellow man.

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There were over 600 regulations in his legal code

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and moral code, both positive and negative,

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which Jesus here reduced to two.

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In mark they are ranked one, two,

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another gospel writer Matthew understood Jesus

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to have made them of like authority

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being in the same category of basic truth.

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But it is not enough simply to nod one's head.

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When these words are heard and say, that's right.

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One needs to put an exclamation point

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behind the first commandment

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and affirm it with vigor right on.

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Because the master said, love God from the heart.

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The Greek is out of the heart.

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This means with the Latin and the French cordially

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or in plain English wholeheartedly,

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it doesn't involve too much to show up at chapel on Sunday

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though It might mean some struggle

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to be here the night after,

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but to worship wholeheartedly as another matter.

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And it's one thing to give lip service

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to the concept of altruism

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as the motto to hold the university community together,

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it's something entirely other by a quantitative difference,

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become qualitative to serve Christ's needs

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as revealed in the needs of a fellow students.

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What does it mean to love God with a heart?

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Doesn't mean to do so without simulation of pretense

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deeply out of the deepest well of your life.

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The student generation is said to be quite good

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at identifying hypocrisy,

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but can you apply such judgment to yourself?

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The individual party of an older generation

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could never satisfy you when the cruelty systems,

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which Edward Kauravas describes,

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create oppressions, indignities, repressions,

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and inhumanities through poverty,

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hunger imperialisms and war.

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Which demand redress in the name of justice,

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let alone the name of love.

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But do you really think that one can escape the demand for

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personal property by projecting a generalized passion

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for social action?

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A good wife used to say to her husband,

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you love me in your thoughts?

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It was Love's appeal to make love more than little speeches

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on anniversaries or set days.

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It was appeal for love from my heart.

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If that sauce has dried up love and life are burren

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justice Jesus said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds

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that of the scribes and Pharisees,

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you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

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Like many of you, he felt that violence

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was not only murder that was gone of a brother.

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Adultery he said,

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"Laid deeper than the overt act.

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I say to you that everyone

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that looks at a woman to lustfully

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has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

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True religion then is a thing of the heart.

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It must also have soul.

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According to Jesus, if you're going God's way,

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you have to go with enthusiasm.

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What is neither hot nor cold,

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but only (indistinct) is nausea's.

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Theo says in the psychology of the New Testament,

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the soul was considered to be the seed

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of the feelings, desires, affections, aversion.

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Some Christians have high amperage, but low voltage.

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Change figures their music is always in a minor key.

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It's all right to keep one's cool most times,

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but for heaven sake and for our own sakes,

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let's let it all out.

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Sometimes we have so repressed real enthusiasm

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in the church that some inquires at the door turn away

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to the sex that encouraged ecstasy and glossolalia

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while the kids who want some action,

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find it in a psychedelic discotheque

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or an acid rock festival,

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enthusiasm need not be reserved

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for a Duke Carolina basketball game.

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However, in passing,

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let it be remarked that the kids are not always turned on.

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Sometimes their elders have it when they missed it.

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A friend of mine who knew the professor's sons,

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heard their father lecture in our first class at seminary

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father and sons looked a great deal alike,

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but there was a difference.

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And my roommate turned and said,

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"(indistinct) here are the boys

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with the lights turned on."

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How much feeling do we have for God?

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And then the teacher said,

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"Love God with all your strength."

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This means to the full extent of your ability.

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There's a favorite stance

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of many who call themselves religious.

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Rather than a stance it's really a sitting position.

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Dr. John (indistinct) used to contrast

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the attitudes of the balcony and the road.

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And he said balcony and the road.

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It's very attempting to sit on the balcony

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and watch the travelers on the road below.

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And one can do this without involvement

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with their burdens and their difficulties.

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The balcony you see is a comfortable place,

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sheltered from sun or rain.

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And it's quite easy from this vantage point

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of spectator sportsman to come up with wise analyses

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as to why those stupid fellows

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are having so much difficulty in the mud.

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If they were only as smart as I,

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they wouldn't be out there in the first place,

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the trouble with the balcony

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however is that it doesn't get you anywhere.

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It is in fact, contrary to the first impression,

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not even attached to a house,

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that's ultimately the meaning of having detached attitude,

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not even attached to a halfway house.

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There's no stopping here.

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It may be good to pause in the journey from time to time,

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but to take up residence on a balcony,

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no matter how shady and inviting is a big mistake.

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Because life is a journey you got to put your foot

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in the road to find out what it's all about.

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Do you remember the earliest name for Christians

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was disciples of the way.

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And if there's a way with better get on it,

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and cultivate whatever disciplines needed to stay on it.

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Loving God with all your strength means that

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with the full force of your personality

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being put behind the enterprise that is dear to him.

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It means putting your shoulder to the wheel.

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When some vehicle of humane compassion gets marked down

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or comes to a long hard hill.

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So let's get with it.

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The times cry out for young Christians

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who know how to use their force without violence.

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Now you've been wondering

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why I skipped over the third factor.

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Jesus involved in loving God.

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I did. So because in the context of this morning,

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loving him with the mind

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may be the most important part of all.

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If we're to believe Jesus,

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we conclude that loving God is a reasonable thing.

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It makes sense out of an otherwise chaotic jumble

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of impressions in which experiences tumble about,

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and the pictures changes in the kaleidoscope.

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If there is a pattern to life

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and I can discover a scheme behind it all,

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I better give my best thinking to this possibility.

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There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

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The minds of many students are like a telephone book,

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plenty of characters, but no plot.

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(indistinct) very student in the university

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could have over his desk or in his Carroll,

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or at least ever in his mind.

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This motto with all that getting

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get understanding in an academic,

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it is easy to see the importance of loving God with the mind

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or the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

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And that's but a quaint he break or later Jakoby an English

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way of saying that respect for Yahweh The great I am

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the eternal gets us started on finding the pattern,

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respect for him by whatever name you wish to call him.

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One that he has given or one that you have chosen for him.

36:10

God's truth is basic.

36:14

To all the disciplines on this campus,

36:17

through the whole spectrum, from mathematics to theology,

36:20

who is the scientist, who said that in his laboratory,

36:28

he was thinking God's thoughts after him.

36:31

Some call God the great mathematician

36:36

or the great architect,

36:38

but it's impossible to know

36:43

the atomic series or the winding stack case of DNA

36:45

and the chromosomes without saluting with respect

36:50

the inventor as one smarter than we

36:55

From the particles of force within the atom

37:00

to the furthest Nebula, there is evidence of a mind

37:02

that evokes respect then worship

37:06

from the man who thinks his thoughts after him.

37:10

Joseph Addison's said, that Dr. Edward McCrady

37:16

is somewhat of an astronomer himself to be quite accurate.

37:22

The spacious firmament on high

37:28

with all the blue and theorial sky

37:32

and Spangled heavens a shining frame,

37:34

great original proclaim.

37:37

The unawearied sun from day to day,

37:41

does his creative power display

37:44

and publishes to every land.

37:46

The work of an almighty hand.

37:48

Soon as the evening shades prevail

37:53

the moon takes up the wondrous tale

37:55

a night led to the listening earth repeats the story

37:57

of her birth whilst all the stars that round her burn

38:00

and all the planets in that turn confirm the tidings

38:04

as they roll and spread the truth from pole to pole.

38:09

But though in solemn silence, all move around the dark,

38:15

terrestrial ball. What though?

38:18

No real voice or sound amidst that radiant OBS be found

38:20

in reasons ear they all rejoice and out of forth,

38:26

the glorious voice forever singing as they shine,

38:30

the hand that made us is divine.

38:36

There two remarkable things about Addison's ode.

38:42

The first is that it was written about the end

38:47

of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th.

38:49

The second that on analysis,

38:53

it shows a striking understanding

38:55

of what we know now about

38:58

the formation of the earth and the moon.

39:00

Something like 5 billion years ago,

39:03

as we look again at the dialogue between Jesus

39:09

and that scribe, who as it turned out

39:13

was not far from the kingdom.

39:15

We note that the man rephrase the teacher's answer

39:18

while Jesus had said, you shall love the Lord,

39:23

your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,

39:25

the seeker paraphrased you're right teacher.

39:29

You've truly said that God is one

39:33

and there's no other but he,

39:36

and to love him with all the heart

39:38

and with all the understanding

39:39

and with all the strength and

39:42

to love one's neighbors oneself is much more

39:43

than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

39:46

Bare the word in mind was changed to understanding.

39:52

And the second word comes from a root,

39:57

which means a flowing together of two rivers.

39:59

This means to me, that by the right use of the mind

40:04

that comes like confluence of ideas

40:08

and new streams are added until the flow thought

40:11

becomes an irresistible current.

40:15

That finds its way to the sea.

40:19

When is a person dead?

40:24

When this question was put to Christian Barnard,

40:27

the surgeon who made history with heart transplants,

40:32

he replied when his brain is dead.

40:36

What is more important the heart of the brain he was asked.

40:40

He answered the mind is more important.

40:43

It is the seat of the soul, not the heart.

40:47

I don't know that the doctor was talking about brainwaves,

40:52

which may last beyond the heartbeat

40:56

and that the cessation of which death is pronounced,

41:00

but he sounds remarkably like the Bible.

41:04

Remember what the apostle Paul said,

41:08

"I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God

41:11

that you present your bodies,

41:16

as living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God,

41:18

which is your reasonable service"

41:21

The New English Bible translates

41:26

this first verse of Romans 12 like this,

41:28

therefore my brothers, I employ you by God's message

41:30

to offer your very selves to him, a living sacrifice,

41:34

dedicated and fit for his acceptance.

41:39

The worship offered by heart and mind.

41:42

Dr. Margaret Mead has said

41:50

"Today there are no elders who know

41:51

what the young people know.

41:54

I think she was talking about more than facts.

41:57

She was including wisdom and understanding.

42:01

John Barrack said the 20th century is the age of knowledge.

42:06

from 1900 to 1960 man has more knowledge than he had

42:09

in all of his previous centuries on this earth.

42:14

From 1960 to the present.

42:18

That accumulated knowledge has doubled.

42:21

It will according to all reasonable projections,

42:24

double again in the next three years.

42:27

But says Barrett knowledge travels

42:32

with a relentless shadow called change.

42:35

Out of the explosion of knowledge has emerged

42:41

one of the most volatile advances in technology,

42:43

man well know the development of electronic communication

42:46

a question emerges then

42:53

are we going to be able to communicate

42:55

in such a way as to create community?

42:58

Or are we going to destroy ourselves

43:01

because we know each other too well,

43:04

perhaps the ping heard round the world

43:10

is the beginning of a new era.

43:14

When Christians and communists come to see

43:16

that they can agree on common ground

43:19

or humanism that recognizes prizes

43:23

and serves the worth of every man,

43:28

no matter what his station or his color.

43:32

Somewhere in the spectrum between mathematics,

43:40

which calls itself, the queen of the sciences and theology,

43:44

which used to call itself so

43:47

are anthropology, psychology and sociology

43:50

the special need for loving God with the mind

43:56

in these disciplines.

43:59

We need the divine mind to lead us.

44:03

As we grow up after answers to our questions

44:05

about who man really is,

44:07

what makes him tick

44:10

and how he can relate to his fellows in the global village,

44:12

we call earth.

44:16

There so many false options for individuals

44:20

and for society.

44:23

The tighter our world becomes with elbow room shrinking,

44:24

the greater, the possibility of psychotic violence,

44:28

paradoxically among nations.

44:33

And in our cities increase of affluence

44:35

appears to create greater extremes of poverty.

44:38

There must be some rational answer,

44:42

which could be discovered by enough economists

44:45

who loved God with their mind.

44:49

You students should keep feeding the data

44:52

into your computers your minds.

44:56

If enough of you have concern for your fellow man,

44:59

and are smart enough, maybe you can read out

45:03

the answers in time to avert the doom,

45:07

which awaits a world, which has not yet been able

45:10

to convert its cruelest systems

45:13

into servings of true community.

45:16

Some weeks ago, we came to Duke Chapel to hear Waldo beach.

45:20

After the sermon, I came up and asked him

45:25

for the title of a good book,

45:27

which would deal with the influence of our social mores

45:28

upon our theology and our ethics.

45:32

Well, I begun to suspect that the church

45:35

is largely a mirror image of social custom

45:38

and often no more being conformed

45:43

to this world rather than being transformed

45:46

by the renewing of our minds.

45:49

Dr. Beach replied to my question

45:52

about a good book modesty for beds,

45:55

but I got the title of his book and found it,

46:00

everyone in this place,

46:05

who's not read Christian Community in American Society

46:06

should do so because it holds answers to questions

46:09

far beyond the one I'd put.

46:14

Here is a key paragraph,

46:18

"Both the vertical and the horizontal dimensions

46:21

of the Christian life were carried

46:24

in the term responsible love.

46:25

Christian Love is responsible to God for neighbor.

46:30

The vertical dimension is the sense

46:35

of ultimate accountability to the one

46:37

who puts before one man, the needs of another,

46:41

and makes him unavoidably his keeper."

46:45

And he continues such biblical phrases

46:49

as the fear of the Lord with its sense of the holy,

46:52

the awesome, the numinous gives to responsibility,

46:55

a crucial agency, sanction of promise,

46:59

or dread the ultimate options of blessing and curse

47:03

life and death that loom

47:07

in even the most menial daily choice.

47:10

When set under the aspect of eternity,

47:15

the choices or the moral life become profoundly serious.

47:19

It is here that religion and ethics meet

47:26

in responsible love for responsibility to God

47:29

means responsibility for a neighbor.

47:34

Early one morning, last winter,

47:39

I was coming by plane from Knoxville over the Smokies.

47:41

Cause I'd had to rush to catch that early flight.

47:46

I had not looked into my God book.

47:49

So I reached for that pocket Testament

47:52

and turned in 1st Corinthians to the place

47:54

where I'd been reading at home.

47:57

Here Paul was talking about

48:00

speaking in tongues and unintelligible words,

48:01

a practice that same to the Corinthians

48:07

to be a special sign of the Spirit's presence among them.

48:09

That's easy to understand how this practice of glossolalia

48:14

or ecstatic but unintelligible utterance

48:18

should have risen the end.

48:21

What seemed important the Corinthian church is said

48:22

to been recruited from dock workers

48:26

and slaves and former prostitutes,

48:29

(indistinct) said at the beginning of this letter,

48:32

consider your call brethren.

48:35

Not many of you were wise, according to worldly standards,

48:38

not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

48:41

So when they came in off the streets of current,

48:47

to John and worship and the liberating Christ

48:50

through his death they had been given life.

48:53

Sometimes some of them would break into ecstatic speech.

48:56

It was a burst of repressed emotion

49:01

out of the subconscious a purging of the deep soul,

49:04

the welling up of a joy that ordinary speech

49:08

could not express,

49:11

but to Paul who himself experienced this gift,

49:13

this was not the most important.

49:18

He felt that the building up of the church

49:21

it's edification was to be sowed

49:23

and that the members needed

49:27

to use their gifts in concert to serve each other.

49:28

And to witness to unbelievers,

49:31

speaking in tongues is all right thought Paul,

49:35

I even do it myself sometimes it said,

49:37

but it's like members of an orchestra

49:40

tuning up their instruments.

49:42

The audience does not appreciate this cacophony

49:45

nearly so much as the music,

49:48

which follows when the director taps with his Baton

49:52

and all the instruments blend in a cascade of sound.

49:58

While Paul would agree with the one who said

50:02

better zeal with the possibility of access than discretion,

50:06

disembodied of all deep feelings.

50:11

Still he urged that Christians do things decently

50:14

and in order.

50:19

So in this passage from 1stCorinthians 14,

50:21

I came upon these words in the church.

50:25

I'd rather speak five words with my mind

50:29

than 10,000 words in a tongue.

50:34

This set me to musing on a question,

50:39

what five words are the most important to speak?

50:43

I remembered What Else in True Blood it said

50:49

"As men, center their lives upon Christ,

50:52

they might finally come to the conclusion

50:56

that the God of all the world

50:58

is actually like Jesus Christ."

51:01

This is the most exciting ideas said True Blood,

51:07

the most exciting ideas that come out of the human mind

51:10

for if God is really like Christ.

51:15

Then the things that matter most are not at the mercy

51:18

of the things that matter least.

51:22

And the greatest thing in the world is caring.

51:25

More important than speaking in strange tongues

51:30

is so to speak that it will be prophecy.

51:34

That is a word for God that can be understood with the mind,

51:37

a good word about Jesus Christ

51:42

and to live that word because

51:47

the greatest gift of all is love.

51:50

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,

51:55

but have not love,

51:57

I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.

51:58

Five words with the mind

52:06

that could change you and your world,

52:11

God is really like Christ

52:16

rather than ecstasy.

52:24

Is that your lasting word,

52:25

which if understood with your mind will go with you

52:28

through your darkest despair and give you the confidence.

52:31

And finally the bliss that no other trip

52:36

can bring much better than marijuana or LSD.

52:40

Recall those lines from (indistinct)

52:50

Whereas with Sarah,

52:55

I felt the presence that disturbs me

52:56

with the joy of elevated thoughts,

52:58

a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused

53:02

whose dwelling is the light of setting suns

53:07

and the round ocean and the living air and the blue sky.

53:11

And in the mind of man.

53:17

Let us pray

53:23

Our father, we pray that we may so understand

53:33

the meaning of thy truth,

53:38

that it may be livable in our tomorrows.

53:41

And that we may come at last

53:46

to the bless of those who know the joy of the Lord.

53:49

Infuse us with the idea of thy love

53:56

to the extent that we begin to reflect it in our life.

54:00

in Jesus' name.

54:07

Amen.

54:09

(organ music)

54:12

(choir singing faintly)

54:36

Samuel S. Wiley - "Five Words with the Mind" (April 25, 1971)

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1. Samuel S. Wiley - "Five Words with the Mind" (April 25, 1971)

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Samuel S. Wiley - "Five Words with the Mind" (April 25, 1971)

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