James T. Cleland - "The Disciple from Missouri" (May 16, 1971)

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	(choir singing harmoniously)	0:04
	♪ Amen ♪	4:32
-	Grace be to you and peace from God our Father	4:56
	and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.	5:00
	Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous,	5:04
	but sinners to repentance."	5:09
	Confident that if we truly and earnestly,	5:14
	confess the state of our lives,	5:17
	including their sin, before the love of God,	5:20
	that they will be forgiven, restored and returned to us	5:26
	with new meaning and with hope.	5:30
	Let us offer unto God, our prayer of confession.	5:33
	Let us pray.	5:37
	Almighty and forgiving God,	5:42
	we turn to thee in this act of worship,	5:45
	realizing afresh that we have no claim upon thee	5:50
	until we are real with our own selves.	5:56
	Almighty God whose son, Jesus Christ has revealed the nature	6:01
	of our failures by his perfect love.	6:06
	We gather today under the judgment of His passion	6:10
	and His death and His teachings.	6:14
	We are lost sheep, Oh Lord, lost coins, lost sons.	6:18
	We are salt without savor,	6:25
	light, hidden under a bushel,	6:28
	leavened out of touch with the lamp,	6:31
	we are forgiven debters	6:35
	who are reluctant to show forgiveness.	6:37
	We are children who will not play	6:40
	unless we can call the tune.	6:42
	We have built our houses upon the sand.	6:46
	We have answered yes, and we have acted no.	6:50
	Heavenly Father who has given us the word made flesh,	6:57
	we stand today under the judgment of Christ's cross,	7:02
	We have lived without a baptism into all sorts	7:07
	and conditions of men.	7:09
	We have run away from the hour of testing	7:12
	in the wilderness.	7:15
	We have avoided the cries of hungry men,	7:17
	and shut the responsibility of teaching and of learning.	7:20
	We have evaded the necessity of sacrifice.	7:25
	We have sought to bypass the cross,	7:29
	as we have taken up the sword.	7:33
	Well, Lord, we confess that we are accomplices	7:36
	with the demonic powers of violence in our old.	7:41
	We grow rich by daily oppression,	7:45
	we sleep in beds of racism,	7:49
	we take pride and freedom and injustice,	7:53
	even as we invent new slavery.	7:56
	We say that our goal is peace	8:00
	and we invent new instruments of war.	8:02
	We live off the fat of the land	8:06
	and we poison it for our own children.	8:09
	We say that we love our neighbors,	8:14
	and we try to breed him off the face of the earth.	8:17
	We cry out, oh God against exploitation,	8:22
	and yet we exploit each other and our own selves.	8:26
	And so we are accomplices oh God,	8:32
	to the crime of burnt bodies, burnt ghettos,	8:34
	burnt earth, burnt freedom.	8:40
	We are accomplices by our violence, by our violence,	8:44
	by our most grievous violence,	8:49
	and turning our faces away and doing nothing.	8:52
	Lord of the universe have mercy upon us.	8:58
	Christ have mercy upon us.	9:03
	Lord have mercy upon us.	9:07
	And restore unto us the joy of thy salvation.	9:12
	Amen.	9:19
	Let us hear the assuring gospel message,	9:24
	that the power that lighteth the stars,	9:31
	that puts down evil lifts up the poor from the dust	9:35
	can also transform our twisted and broken lives	9:40
	and societies.	9:45
	For the door of our freedom opens by itself	9:47
	for all that knock.	9:50
	The scriptures say, "And whoever is in Jesus the Christ	9:52
	has become a new being."	9:58
	And so may He who provides us with bread from the earth,	10:03
	with air to breathe and fire to purify rottenness,	10:07
	now also in His great waters of grace,	10:13
	drown your old self and give you a new beginning	10:19
	through the community of love, which is His church.	10:27
	Amen, so may it be.	10:33
	(orchestral music)	10:38
	♪ The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want ♪	11:29
	♪ He makes me down to lie ♪	11:36
	♪ In pastures green He leadeth me ♪	11:43
	♪ The quiet waters by ♪	11:50
	♪ He leadeth me, He leadeth me ♪	11:57
	♪ The quiet waters by ♪	12:05
	♪ My soul He doth restore again ♪	12:13
	♪ And me to walk doth make ♪	12:20
	♪ Within the paths of righteousness ♪	12:27
	♪ Even for His own name's sake ♪	12:34
	♪ Within the paths of righteousness ♪	12:42
	♪ Even for His own name's sake ♪	12:49
	♪ Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale ♪	12:58
	♪ Yet will I fear no ill ♪	13:06
	♪ For thou art with me ♪	13:13
	♪ And thy rod and staff me comfort still ♪	13:18
	♪ For thou art with me ♪	13:28
	♪ And thy rod and staff me comfort still ♪	13:39
	♪ My table thou hast furnished ♪	13:45
	♪ In presence of my foes ♪	13:52
	♪ My head thou dost with oil anoint ♪	14:01
	♪ And my cup overflows ♪	14:08
	♪ My head thou dost with oil anoint ♪	14:17
	♪ And my cup overflows ♪	14:25
	♪ Goodness and mercy all my life ♪	14:35
	♪ Shall surely follow me ♪	14:42
	♪ And in God's house forevermore ♪	14:49
	♪ My dwelling place shall be ♪	14:57
	♪ And in God's house forevermore ♪	15:04
	♪ My dwelling place shall be ♪	15:13
-	Let us hear the word of God,	15:42
	as contained in the gospel according	15:44
	to Saint John 11:5-16,	15:46
	and 20;19-28.	15:53
	"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,	16:01
	so when He heard that he was ill,	16:06
	He stayed two days longer in the place where he was.	16:09
	Then after this, He said to the disciples,	16:15
	"Let us go into Judea again."	16:19
	The disciples said to Him,	16:23
	"Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you	16:25
	and are you going there again?"	16:30
	Jesus answered, "Are there not 12 hours in the day?	16:34
	If anyone walks in the day,	16:39
	he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.	16:42
	But if anyone walks in the night,	16:48
	he stumbles because the light is not in him."	16:51
	Thus He spoke and then He said to them,	16:57
	"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,	17:01
	but I go to wake him out of sleep."	17:06
	The disciples said to Him,	17:10
	"Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."	17:12
	Now Jesus had spoken of his death,	17:18
	but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.	17:22
	Then Jesus told them, plainly,	17:27
	"Lazarus is dead.	17:30
	And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there,	17:33
	so that you may believe.	17:37
	But let us go to him."	17:40
	Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples,	17:43
	"Let us also go that we may die with him."	17:49
	On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,	17:59
	the doors being shut, where the disciples were	18:04
	for fear of the Jews,	18:07
	Jesus came and stood among them and said to them,	18:10
	"Peace, be with you."	18:15
	When He had said this,	18:18
	He showed them His hands and His side.	18:20
	Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.	18:25
	Jesus said to them again,	18:29
	"Peace be with you,	18:31
	as the Father has sent me even so I send you."	18:35
	And when He had said this,	18:41
	He breathed on them and said to them,	18:43
	"Receive the Holy Spirit.	18:47
	If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.	18:50
	If you retain the sins of any, they are retained."	18:55
	Now, Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin,	19:01
	was not with them when Jesus came.	19:06
	So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord."	19:10
	But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands,	19:15
	the print of the nails,	19:19
	and place my finger in the mark of the nails,	19:21
	and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."	19:25
	Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house,	19:31
	and Thomas was with them.	19:37
	The doors were shut,	19:39
	but Jesus came and stood among them and said,	19:41
	"Peace, be with you."	19:45
	Then He said to Thomas,	19:48
	"Put your finger here and see my hands,	19:51
	and put out your hand and place it in my side.	19:55
	Do not be faithless, but believing."	20:00
	Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God."	20:05
	(orchestral music)	20:12
	(choir singing harmoniously)	20:22
	♪ Amen ♪	20:50
-	The Lord be with you.	20:54
-	And be with you too.	20:56
-	Let us pray.	20:57
	Let us offer unto God, our unison prayer of Thanksgiving.	21:06
	Let us pray.	21:10
	All praise and Thanksgiving be unto you Oh God,	21:13
	merciful Father,	21:18
	for you have given us souls to know and love you.	21:20
	And you care for the life you have given.	21:24
	And remember what things we need.	21:28
	Glory be to you that when by our sins,	21:31
	we were lost and ruined,	21:34
	you sent your only son into the world,	21:37
	to redeem our life from destruction	21:40
	and to create us a new unto unto life, everlasting.	21:43
	Praise and thanks be unto you,	21:48
	that you have shared abroad in our hearts the Holy Spirit,	21:51
	who helps our infirmities and makes intercession for us,	21:55
	according to the will of God.	22:00
	Merciful Father, let no un-thankfulness	22:03
	or unworthiness of ours,	22:07
	deprive us of these, your unmerited blessings,	22:09
	but continue your mercy toward us,	22:13
	and guard us from stumbling,	22:16
	that finally we may be presented	22:19
	before the presence of your glory,	22:21
	spotless and with exceeding joy,	22:24
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	22:27
	Amen.	22:30
	May we continue as we offer to God our prayers	22:34
	of intercession and supplication,	22:36
	Oh God of love and of reconciliation,	22:46
	to whom all things are possible,	22:50
	we offer our prayers of concern and petition	22:53
	for our world, for our brothers and our sisters,	22:57
	and for ourselves.	23:02
	We call on your spirit, oh God,	23:05
	and we ask your presence and your power	23:08
	for the families of the world.	23:13
	We know it is your way to build great things	23:16
	out of small.	23:19
	Maintain we ask each family against all suspicions	23:22
	and anxieties,	23:27
	so that it may become an example	23:29
	and a building block in the home of us all.	23:32
	That new men kind, which you are bringing in	23:36
	through Jesus our Lord,	23:40
	may be known by all fathers and mothers	23:42
	and sons and daughters.	23:46
	Oh Christ, you knew the pain of an uncomprehending family,	23:53
	take up, we ask all broken families in your arms,	24:00
	break the chain of misunderstanding and provocation,	24:06
	teach parents and children gentleness,	24:11
	bring the alienated together	24:15
	by building them into your new community we ask.	24:18
	Lord, we call on your Spirit	24:26
	and we ask your presence and power,	24:28
	for those who are aged.	24:32
	We pray for our fathers and our mothers,	24:35
	our grandfathers and our grandmothers	24:38
	who will see only by hope and trust	24:41
	the new thing which you are doing in our earth.	24:44
	Let them live with their grandchildren.	24:48
	Let them not be pensioned away	24:51
	by their sons and daughters to die.	24:53
	Help them understand that their strange children	24:57
	are bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh.	25:01
	That the catechism they taught in their churches	25:07
	has not been forgotten by their sons.	25:11
	Oh Jesus, our brother take up in your hands,	25:17
	all those whose inner self has been broken by a violent age.	25:20
	Let them find good friends and relatives,	25:26
	quiet and greenness, and running water in our time,	25:28
	and smash the world of meaningless that has smashed them.	25:34
	Bring in everywhere for them,	25:40
	the things that make for our peace.	25:43
	Oh Lord, we call on your Spirit	25:48
	and we ask your presence and power	25:50
	for the dying and the dead.	25:53
	Oh God, who is a fountain of life,	25:58
	you allowed Jesus, your son to be taken over by death,	26:03
	lift in your hands our brothers and sisters	26:08
	now leaving this common life	26:11
	and unite their dying with the Christ,	26:14
	so that they may also be raised up by your Spirit,	26:18
	in the community of love.	26:23
	Oh Lord, we would remember the poor in our prayers.	26:28
	You call the poor blessed, for you became one of them.	26:32
	Let them realize their blessedness as a vocation,	26:38
	to struggle for justice and freedom on the planet,	26:42
	which you gave to us all.	26:46
	Lord, we ask your presence and your power for ourselves.	26:53
	We pray for those of us who are so burdened	26:59
	with the sins of mediocrity or guilt,	27:01
	that we cannot let go of supposed securities	27:05
	or fear that justice will strip us naked.	27:09
	God give us other ground to stand on.	27:13
	Show us that to renounce complicity with our lower selves,	27:18
	is the beginning of true security	27:23
	in the brotherhood of Christ.	27:26
	Lord, we pray for strength in troubles	27:30
	for ourselves and our neighbors.	27:33
	Oh, judge of history, you have let trouble surround us.	27:38
	We are tired.	27:43
	We are in pain.	27:44
	We are sometimes near despair.	27:46
	Send your spirit to each one of us,	27:49
	and underneath our fatigue,	27:52
	put an energy from outside as we pray.	27:55
	Hold us fast in the love of the brotherhood,	27:59
	remembering that everything we suffer and endure	28:03
	has already been suffered and survived by the Christ	28:07
	who is our Lord.	28:11
	We remember Jesus before thee oh God, our Father.	28:14
	We remember the simplicity of His life.	28:18
	Oh Jesus, our Lord without self punishment,	28:24
	you reduced your needs to a minimum.	28:28
	Your message was short.	28:32
	You did not travel far, nor live long.	28:34
	Give us your disciples we ask,	28:38
	a share of your simplicity and truthfulness,	28:42
	so that at our success may be of the same kind	28:47
	as your success,	28:50
	and our failure may be measured by your failure.	28:52
	In your name,	28:59
	we make bold to pray together as your disciples saying,	29:02
	our Father who art in heaven,	29:06
	hallowed be thy name.	29:09
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth	29:12
	as it is in heaven.	29:16
	Give us this day our daily bread	29:18
	and forgive us our trespasses,	29:21
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	29:24
	And lead us not into temptation,	29:28
	but deliver us from evil,	29:30
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	29:33
	and the glory forever.	29:36
	Amen.	29:40
-	The peace of God be with us all.	30:02
	One of the weaknesses of much preaching	30:09
	is that it intimidates the listener,	30:14
	instead of encouraging him or her to live the good life.	30:18
	The pulpit challenges him with the example of Isaiah	30:26
	and the pew mutters under its breath,	30:32
	what chance have I, with my environment and heredity	30:35
	to be like Isaiah.	30:41
	The preacher asks him to imitate St. Paul,	30:45
	whom his own converts had difficulty in imitating.	30:49
	And the listener lets the auditory slide from him	30:54
	in an understandable desire for self-preservation.	30:58
	He's told that if Jesus could do it, he can do it.	31:05
	And he has a sound feeling	31:09
	that the minister is either absurd or naive, maybe both.	31:12
	Today, we shall look at a person of commoner clay,	31:20
	one whom we can compass intellectually and spiritually	31:25
	because he's molded, if not closer to our heart's desire,	31:30
	at least somewhat more in our image.	31:36
	His name is Thomas.	31:42
	There's usually (indistinct) in front of the name	31:45
	and that must make him grin in a puzzled sort of way.	31:50
	He's best known as Doubting Thomas,	31:56
	un-natural, but not entirely just nickname.	32:00
	However, give a dog a bad name,	32:05
	and Thomas was not unlike a dog.	32:10
	The synoptic gospels tell us only that he was chosen	32:14
	by Jesus to belong to the intimate band round him.	32:18
	But the fourth gospel, as we heard in the lesson,	32:23
	sketches several word pictures of him.	32:27
	He is the flesh about to become words in this sermon.	32:33
	In the first Johanan cameo,	32:39
	Jesus had made up His mind to go to Jerusalem.	32:43
	His friends living near Jerusalem at Bethany,	32:48
	almost in the suburbs.	32:52
	They meant much to Jesus,	32:55
	He probably stayed with them during the last week	32:57
	of His life.	33:00
	They are two sisters and the brother,	33:02
	Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.	33:04
	Jesus has learned that Lazarus is sick, dying,	33:08
	and He determines to go to him.	33:13
	Now there's nothing unusual about that,	33:15
	it's what we would expect of Jesus.	33:19
	But, yes there is a but.	33:23
	But Bethany is just two miles from Jerusalem	33:27
	and the people who hate Jesus most,	33:34
	who detest Him as a spiritual upstart	33:39
	with political connotations,	33:43
	have their headquarters there.	33:46
	For Jesus to go to Jerusalem is to step over a cliff,	33:49
	to walk into a lions den,	33:55
	to have a rendezvous with gangsters.	33:58
	But Jesus says to His group, let's go.	34:02
	And evidently before anyone else can get a word in,	34:07
	Thomas blurts out, what?	34:11
	A more surprising statement,	34:15
	"Let us also go that we may die with Him."	34:19
	States of flat, let us go too, let us die along with Him.	34:27
	There isn't much of doubting Thomas there,	34:34
	this is the loyalty of a dog who likes His master.	34:37
	He anticipates the worst, pessimistic realist that he is.	34:43
	If Jesus has to die,	34:50
	there isn't much point to living for Thomas.	34:53
	So let us die with Him.	34:58
	He's a staunch companion,	35:02
	he's made his choice Jerusalem or nowhere.	35:04
	Now the second and third episodes in the fourth gospel	35:11
	may be taken together,	35:14
	as they are two facets of another trait	35:17
	in Thomas' character.	35:20
	Jesus is in the upper room with the inner group.	35:23
	He's trying to steady them	35:28
	for the impending shock of His death.	35:31
	Didn't take divine knowledge, or knowledge on Jesus' part	35:36
	to know what was going to happen to Him.	35:41
	Common sense told Him.	35:44
	Look what John the Baptist ran into, he lost his head.	35:47
	And he stayed away from places like Jerusalem.	35:53
	So Jesus talked to them about God,	35:57
	and about immortality and where He is going.	36:01
	He assumes that by this time,	36:05
	in the light of all His conversations with them,	36:07
	that they knew where He was going.	36:10
	Where that I go ye know, and the way ye know.	36:15
	And that was too much for Thomas.	36:19
	He looked directly at Jesus and said,	36:23
	"Lord, we do not know where you are going.	36:26
	So how can we know the way?"	36:31
	He's an unsettled state of mind,	36:36
	because he lacks definitive knowledge.	36:37
	His ignorance reveals itself and uncertainty.	36:41
	He has to be shown before he believes.	36:44
	He comes from the Missouri section of Galilee.	36:49
	Does Jesus rebuke him?	36:55
	No, He speaks those simple pregnant, memorable words,	36:57
	"I am the way, the truth, and the life."	37:05
	Jesus knows that the bewilderment in Thomas mind	37:12
	is not that of a barren and skepticism, but of honest doubt.	37:15
	The other incident which may be linked with this one	37:23
	is a post resurrection story.	37:26
	Jesus had appeared to the disciples	37:29
	when Thomas was not present,	37:32
	they had reported to Thomas that Jesus	37:34
	was not holding of death,	37:37
	but had made Himself known to them.	37:40
	Jesus, I mean, Thomas had dismissed their confidence	37:43
	in a simple matter of fact,	37:48
	down to earth terms as can be imagined,	37:51
	"Except I shall see in His hands, the mark of the nails."	37:56
	Think of that.	38:03
	Seeing is believing.	38:04
	But Thomas doesn't feel	38:08
	he's made his position really clear.	38:09
	So he starts over again,	38:11
	"Except I put my finger	38:13
	into the place where the nails were."	38:17
	You can see the eye eyebrows raised,	38:22
	but Thomas isn't finished yet.	38:25
	"And thrust my hand into His side,	38:27
	where the Roman sphere had entered."	38:33
	Then he concludes defiantly,	38:37
	"I will not believe."	38:39
	There's no response offered by any disciple,	38:44
	not even by Peter.	38:47
	Thomas is so matter of fact, listens to Thomas.	38:50
	I'd like to test this, otherwise I refuse to believe it.	38:53
	There's an honesty in Thomas, as well as a loyalty.	38:59
	That's the second word picture in two parts,	39:05
	before and after Easter.	39:08
	In the last episode, eight days later,	39:12
	the 11 were gathered again in that upper room,	39:16
	Thomas was there this time.	39:19
	Jesus appeared in their midst	39:22
	and gave them the lovely Hebrew greeting, shalom,	39:24
	peace be with you.	39:29
	Then He addressed Thomas,	39:34
	"Reach your finger here, see my hands.	39:36
	Reach your hand here and put it into my side.	39:44
	Do not be faithless, but believing."	39:50
	And do you know Thomas' reaction?	39:56
	He just said, "My Lord And my God,"	39:59
	He was satisfied.	40:07
	Seeing is believing.	40:09
	He was a practical man,	40:11
	he had received a practical demonstration	40:12
	and he made the most sweeping confession	40:15
	in entire new Testament,	40:18
	though it probably never crossed his mind	40:21
	that he was making it.	40:25
	"My Lord and my God."	40:27
	His loyalty was given support, his doubt was disintegrated,	40:32
	he affirmed his faith in the best language he knew,	40:37
	that's the third word picture.	40:41
	Now there's a post script.	40:45
	It's not in the new Testament, it comes from tradition.	40:47
	When the apostles decided to draw up a statement of faith	40:53
	for the missionary church,	40:58
	what is supposed to be the apostles creed.	41:00
	Each member of original group contributed one phrase	41:04
	or sentence.	41:08
	One article of belief.	41:10
	It was Thomas who ventured	41:14
	"The third day, He rose again from the dead."	41:17
	That is the symbol of his faith,	41:24
	the seal of his affirmation.	41:27
	Legend also has it that	41:30
	when the world was divided into a mission field	41:33
	among the apostles, India fell to Thomas,	41:37
	and then this lovely story.	41:43
	On route there he met the Magi,	41:45
	The wise men of Christmas.	41:50
	You know what he did?	41:54
	He baptized them.	41:55
	In India his name is still held in reverence.	41:58
	There he was murdered,	42:02
	dying from the Lord whom death could not keep dead.	42:05
	That then is Thomas a resolute skeptical,	42:10
	affirming disciple who had to be shown.	42:15
	Thomas is a Saint par excellence of the average loyal,	42:20
	battled committed Christian, male or female.	42:26
	There are some of us here this morning who are not Thomas,	42:31
	we're Peter or James or John or Andrew or Judas Iscariot.	42:35
	But most of us I'm sure look at Thomas and see a mirror.	42:44
	We gaze at ourselves.	42:50
	We do not say there, but for the grace of God go I,	42:53
	we confess there thanks to the grace of God go I.	42:57
	Now in the light of these four cameos,	43:04
	let's look at Thomas who's here this morning.	43:07
	Thomas, who is you and I.	43:13
	What qualities we see?	43:16
	There is first the fidelity of Thomas in every generation.	43:19
	Jesus still appeals to people,	43:25
	look around you in this house of worship.	43:28
	Many who attack the conventional church	43:32
	and its fragmented denominations	43:35
	are quick to point out that they're not criticizing Jesus.	43:38
	In fact, it is often regularly in Jesus' name,	43:43
	that the church is attacked.	43:48
	Jesus still appeals to young people.	43:51
	There's something heroic about His losing fight,	43:56
	something arresting thing about His ethical insight,	44:00
	something compelling about His generous goodwill,	44:05
	He is JC superstar.	44:10
	Even if one ignores Easter.	44:13
	Young people wish His lifestyle were wider spread.	44:16
	It seems to make sense if it were but universal,	44:21
	it would be a saner world to grow up in,	44:25
	of course it won't come about,	44:29
	the world doesn't like such people.	44:32
	It's a doggy dog sort of existence.	44:35
	And so you ruminate an understandable mixture	44:41
	of idealism, pessimism.	44:46
	But when the chips are down, then we hear Thomas say again,	44:51
	"Let us go to Jerusalem that we may die with Him."	44:58
	Winter in the past,	45:04
	when the Scottish people signed	45:06
	the Solemn League and Covenant,	45:08
	demanding the kind of religion and church government	45:11
	they believe to be according to the mind of Jesus,	45:14
	back in the troublesome church days of the 17th century.	45:18
	Some of them signed their names on the parchment	45:24
	with their own blood and added the words, "Until death."	45:29
	It could happen again, it is happening again.	45:39
	You know where.	45:44
	Thomas is still loyal,	45:46
	and Thomas still has his doubts, honest doubts,	45:51
	puzzling wearying, constant doubts.	45:54
	That's particularly true among folk like us	45:58
	who are supposed to doubt..	46:01
	It's one way in which intellectual progress is made.	46:04
	Many a discovery in science starts from a doubt.	46:08
	Many a thesis arises from a doubt.	46:13
	That's certainly true in religion.	46:19
	I remember a divinity student,	46:20
	summing up an entire year's work for the BD degree,	46:22
	boiled it down to one statement,	46:27
	"I doubt if John was written by John."	46:30
	Well, there was a Glasgow professor	46:36
	who went further than that.	46:37
	He said the gospel according to St. John	46:40
	was finally edited by a disciple of a disciple	46:42
	of the beloved disciple, whose name was not John.	46:48
	He wrote 190 pages on it.	46:53
	We like Thomas because we are like Thomas.	46:57
	We applaud him when he says,	47:03
	Lord, we know not whether thou goes	47:05
	and how can we know the way.	47:07
	We're right beside him, backing him up when he says,	47:10
	see these fingers,	47:13
	they must touch the wound print in hands and feet.	47:15
	See that fist,	47:20
	it's got to go into the spear thrust in the side.	47:21
	Otherwise I don't believe, goodbye.	47:24
	He's the man for us.	47:28
	Loyal, sure we are loyal.	47:31
	We like this man from Galilee.	47:33
	He makes sense most of the time, this Jesus,	47:35
	but some of the things He says	47:40
	and some of the things said about Him,	47:41
	well, frankly, they are a wee bit too much for us,	47:44
	they raise doubts, honest doubts.	47:48
	If He will accept us on condition that we may be loyal	47:52
	with theological reservations, we'll stay by it.	47:56
	God knows He appeals to us more than anyone else does,	48:01
	but there are places when His sayings	48:06
	and the estimates of others just don't add up.	48:09
	We are from Missouri in the things of the Spirit too.	48:14
	Yes Thomas is still puzzled in the 20th century.	48:20
	Now I'm all for the Thomas is of both sexes.	48:26
	If they'll remember something else,	48:29
	there are two more incidents to be looked at	48:33
	in the life of that first century disciple.	48:35
	Thomas today cannot stop with loyalty	48:39
	and intellectual honesty and claim	48:44
	that he's a spiritual descendant	48:47
	of the New Testament figure.	48:49
	He has to be willing to recognize	48:51
	the validity of two more experiences.	48:53
	The first is the experience of the risen Christ.	48:57
	Now I know what you're muttering.	49:03
	Okay on one condition finger in the nail print,	49:04
	hand on the side.	49:10
	Well, if you won't be too literal or too mystical,	49:12
	I'll offer you that.	49:16
	There's only one way to my knowledge	49:19
	for the average man to see the risen Christ.	49:21
	That is in the life and work of a genuine Christian.	49:27
	Mystics may have visions of saints,	49:34
	the Madonna and the Son of God,	49:38
	but they are not common experiences on the Duke Campus.	49:42
	Maybe that's the import of the words of Jesus	49:48
	to Thomas, "Blessed are they who have not seen and believe,"	49:50
	but there is one place to see the Risen Christ	49:56
	in the believer.	49:59
	Isn't that what Paul implied when he said,	50:02
	I live no, not I, Christ liveth in me.	50:03
	That's where one sees the Christ, in a believer.	50:10
	And it is the Christ in the Christian,	50:15
	who has made the observer say, "My Lord and my God."	50:19
	Folk become and remain Christian,	50:26
	primarily because of the behavior of Christian.	50:30
	Now do we, who are professed Christian	50:38
	so behave that Thomas sees Christ in us?	50:40
	Do our acts reveal Lord,	50:45
	that a legend of Saint Martin praying in his cell	50:48
	and the devil appeared in a raiding light	50:52
	and twice told the Saint that he was the Christ.	50:55
	You know, Martin's test,	51:00
	"Where are the marks of the nails?	51:03
	Where is the piercing of the spear?	51:08
	Where are the prints of the crown of thorns?	51:13
	When I see the marks of the passion,	51:16
	I shall adore my Lord."	51:20
	And the devil left him.	51:24
	Martin knew the signs of the Christ,	51:26
	hands that suffered doing good,	51:29
	feet that have bled in service,	51:32
	a wound in the heart because love cannot defend itself.	51:34
	That's how Thomas will still see Christ,	51:40
	in the ethical acts of love under suffering,	51:47
	if necessary, even unto death,	51:51
	Which come from the bush into one	51:55
	who is lower than even God,	51:58
	and which caused others to say my Lord,	52:02
	and even my God.	52:05
	That's what today's Thomas should remember.	52:09
	Now, just other short point.	52:11
	It's not found in the New Testament.	52:14
	It's not contrary to the New Testament.	52:16
	Commitment follows affirmation.	52:19
	Thomas is supposed to have gone to India.	52:23
	Some of us will do that, or certainly go first of America,	52:27
	but it's not fundamental a matter of where we go,	52:31
	but how we go.	52:34
	We need the committed Thomas here in Duke and in Durham	52:37
	with his loyalty, his honesty, his experience.	52:43
	This his missionary territory.	52:47
	And find that in Edman as well as on both campuses,	52:51
	but the act of commitment has to be made	52:56
	or one's faith will wither and die.	53:00
	It's an old story that of Thomas, unfairly dubbed doubting.	53:05
	It's a new story,	53:12
	because he's here in chapel this morning.	53:15
	Problem is the same and the answer is the same,	53:18
	the transformation of a puzzled incredulous,	53:22
	obstinate loyal matter of fact so,	53:26
	into a joyous convinced, committed believer,	53:31
	it is the metamorphosis of the pessimism of the defeat	53:36
	of the crucifixion into a confident faith	53:40
	in the victory of the resurrection.	53:44
	It's the old story, which repeated every day,	53:47
	makes Christianity an ever new discovery.	53:52
	It may be as true for us as it was for Thomas.	53:59
	Let us pray.	54:07
	Almighty God who has called men to thy service	54:10
	so that thy holy will may be known and done,	54:15
	grant unto us such loyalty and faith and commitment	54:20
	that even with all our doubts,	54:25
	we may serve thee and thy son, Jesus Christ,	54:28
	as did thy disciple and apostle, even Thomas.	54:34
	Amen.	54:41
	(orchestral music)	54:44
	(choir singing harmoniously)	55:08
	♪ Amen ♪	56:28
	(orchestral music)	56:38
	(choir singing harmoniously)	58:13
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:25
	(orchestral music)	1:02:49
	(choir singing harmoniously)	1:03:23
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:03:33
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:03:36
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:03:51
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:03:54
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:03:57
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:03:59
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:04:03
	♪ Amen ♪	1:04:10

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "The Disciple from Missouri" (May 16, 1971)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4vq2xc1d

Date:

May 16, 1971

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0572
ref6347_zl2
uachapelsermaud
duke:628583
dcrau002559
ark:/87924/r4vq2xc1d
79c4b2ac-c856-4268-a5a0-424347256e84

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

No Re-Use

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

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James T. Cleland - "The Disciple from Missouri" (May 16, 1971)

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1. James T. Cleland - "The Disciple from Missouri" (May 16, 1971)

Duke University Archives

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James T. Cleland - "The Disciple from Missouri" (May 16, 1971)

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Duke University Archives

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