James T. Cleland - "An Olympic Sprinter" (July 18, 1971)

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	(choir singing Praise to the Lord, The Almighty)	0:16
	(organ playing)	1:08
	(choir singing In Christ There is no East or West)	1:29
-	Dear friends and brothers, we are in the presence of God,	3:17
	not simply in a house dedicated to His worship,	3:22
	but as we were yesterday so are we today,	3:26
	in His presence.	3:29
	We are now intentionally and consciously	3:31
	in the presence of God.	3:34
	Let us therefore offer unto Him our prayer of confession.	3:37
	Almighty God, our Heavenly Father,	3:45
	we are contrite in heart	3:48
	as we make our confessions before You.	3:50
	You know our hearts better than we know them,	3:53
	and yet we need to express our sins in Your presence.	3:57
	We acknowledge that we have not beaten our swords	4:03
	into plowshares nor our spears into pruning hooks.	4:06
	Nation still lifts up sword against nation,	4:11
	and mankind still learns to make war.	4:14
	We who call ourselves by Your Name,	4:19
	and identify ourselves with You,	4:22
	do not act as though we love our neighbors as ourselves	4:25
	as You have bidden us to do.	4:29
	And we are more careful to protect our pride	4:32
	than we are to protect our character.	4:35
	We often expect the impossible, O God.	4:39
	We have not been poor in spirit	4:43
	and yet we assume somehow	4:45
	that we shall enter the kingdom of Heaven.	4:47
	We have not been very meek	4:50
	and yet we act as though	4:53
	we ought to inherit the earth.	4:54
	We have not been merciful	4:57
	but we are bold enough to ask for mercy,	4:59
	even now.	5:01
	We have not been pure in heart,	5:04
	still we wonder why we do not see God,	5:06
	and we blame You, O God, for being so hard to find,	5:10
	and sometimes contend that You are even dead.	5:14
	We often are unwilling to endure	5:20
	persecution for righteousness' sake,	5:22
	and yet we claim the kingdom of Heaven.	5:25
	But now, in Your presence,	5:31
	in Your house,	5:33
	we are aware of how wrong it all seems.	5:35
	We are pained by the estrangement which our sins	5:39
	have brought about.	5:44
	Yet mercifully we find grace in our hearts	5:48
	that prompts us to repent and to seek Your forgiveness.	5:52
	Grant us more grace,	5:56
	that our sins may be forgiven,	6:00
	that we may amend our ways	6:02
	and live godly lives	6:05
	for Your Name's honor and glory.	6:08
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	6:12
	Brothers and sisters, hear the word of God	6:19
	that comforts our hearts even now.	6:23
	Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy,	6:27
	chapter one verse fifteen,	6:30
	"The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance	6:32
	that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."	6:38
	And then he wrote to Romans in chapter eight,	6:44
	"There is therefore now no condemnation	6:47
	for those who are in Christ Jesus	6:50
	who do not walk according to the flesh	6:53
	but according to the Spirit."	6:56
	And because of	7:00
	these assuring words we are thankful in heart.	7:02
	And we need to express our thanksgiving to God.	7:07
	Let us unite our hearts and our voices	7:10
	in our unison prayer of thanksgiving.	7:13
	Let us pray.	7:15
	O Most High, Almighty Lord God,	7:17
	to You belong praise, glory,	7:21
	honor, blessing and thanksgiving.	7:24
	We thank You for the sun which brings us the day,	7:28
	and for the moon and the stars.	7:32
	We thank You for the wind,	7:35
	and for the air and cloud and all weather,	7:37
	by which You uphold life in all creatures.	7:41
	We are grateful for water	7:44
	which is very serviceable unto us	7:46
	and precious and clean.	7:48
	We bless You for fire	7:51
	through which You give us light in darkness,	7:54
	it is bright and pleasant.	7:57
	We thank You for the earth which sustains and keeps us,	7:59
	and which brings forth fruits and flowers.	8:03
	Praised be the Lord	8:07
	for all who pardon one another for love's sake,	8:09
	who endure weakness and tribulation.	8:12
	We thank You for those who peaceably endure.	8:16
	We thank You for those who are found walking	8:20
	by Your most holy will,	8:22
	for earth shall have no power over them.	8:24
	We praise and bless You, O Lord,	8:28
	and give thanks unto You. Through Jesus,	8:31
	amen.	8:35
	(organ plays)	8:39
	(choir sings)	9:58
-	It has been an exceptional privilege for Duke University,	11:59
	as well as for Durham and the state of North Carolina	12:03
	and indeed the United States,	12:06
	to be host to a very distinguished group	12:08
	of international athletes,	12:11
	mainly from the continent of Africa.	12:14
	And all of us surely know by now	12:18
	what a blessing this has been.	12:20
	We are honored this morning to have	12:23
	one of the African coaches in our service as lector.	12:25
	He is a Christian.	12:30
	He will read the Scripture lesson.	12:32
	His name is Mr. (unintelligible) Teti.	12:34
	He is from La Croix in Ghana,	12:38
	and he one of four track coaches from the continent.	12:41
	Mr. Teti.	12:45
-	Here beginneth the lesson from	12:58
	first Corinthians, chapter nine,	13:02
	verses twenty-four through twenty seven,	13:06
	and Hebrews chapter twelve,	13:10
	verses one and two.	13:13
	"Do You not know	13:19
	that in a race	13:21
	all the runners compete	13:23
	but only one receives the prize?	13:26
	So run,	13:30
	that You may obtain it.	13:32
	Every athlete exercises self control in all things.	13:35
	They do it to receive a perishable wreath,	13:41
	but we an imperishable one.	13:45
	Well,	13:49
	I do not run aimlessly.	13:50
	I do not box as one beating the air.	13:53
	But I pommel my body and subdue it	13:57
	lest after preaching to others	14:01
	I myself should be disqualified.	14:03
	Hebrews chapter twelve,	14:09
	verses one and two,	14:12
	"Therefore	14:14
	since we are surrounded	14:16
	by so great a cloud of witnesses	14:18
	let us also lay aside every weight and sin	14:22
	which clings so closely	14:26
	and let us run with perseverance	14:28
	the race that is set before us.	14:31
	Looking to Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.	14:35
	Who for the joy that was set before Him	14:40
	endured the cross, despising the shame,	14:43
	and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Amen.	14:47
	And may the Lord add His blessing	14:54
	to the reading of the lesson.	14:56
	(organ playing)	15:04
	(choir singing)	15:14
-	The Lord be with you.	15:48
	Let us pray.	15:52
	(congregation murmuring)	15:54
-	Almighty God, we come now to ask for blessings for others,	16:02
	and for ourselves.	16:08
	Our Father, we know that there is a great deal	16:15
	that needs to be done in the world	16:19
	for Your glory and for our good.	16:21
	And we are deeply impressed as we realize	16:26
	that everything which is for your glory is for our good.	16:30
	And that whatever is for human welfare	16:35
	is entirely and fully consistent with Your glory.	16:40
	And this is one of the reasons we adore You and love You,	16:46
	is that Your will is a loving will.	16:51
	And as we think of these many things that need to be done	16:56
	in Your Name, in Your Spirit and by Your power,	17:01
	we are prompted to rush out and do them all today.	17:06
	For they all need to be done.	17:11
	And yet there is a kind of wisdom that we need,	17:15
	and for which we pray,	17:18
	that would show us how we can accomplish some things today,	17:21
	and make plans to accomplish other things tomorrow.	17:27
	Keep us from thinking that we can fulfill	17:32
	the perfect dream of brotherhood immediately.	17:36
	But, O God, keep us from thinking	17:40
	that since we cannot fulfill it totally, instantly,	17:44
	that there is little that we can do now.	17:49
	Show us clearly those things which we can do now	17:52
	that would help to bring in the day of brotherhood	17:57
	and establish justice and righteousness.	18:00
	Help us to change what we can change,	18:03
	to be willing temporarily to accept what we cannot change,	18:07
	and give us wisdom to know the difference.	18:12
	Help us to think less of what other people can do	18:16
	to establish justice and to think more	18:20
	of what we can do ourselves	18:23
	that doesn't depend on others,	18:24
	and then give us the grace to do it.	18:27
	We offer prayers of intercession	18:31
	for those who do not know what they do.	18:33
	Those who crucify, those who loot,	18:37
	the arsonists, the bigots, the violent,	18:41
	those who concentrate on race and emphasize race,	18:46
	and segregate by race, whether white or black,	18:51
	or red or brown.	18:55
	Hasten the day when people will not think of race at all.	18:58
	But will think of the spirit, the person,	19:03
	the soul, the mind, the heart.	19:05
	O God,	19:11
	we pray for ourselves,	19:13
	that bright accomplishments may not make us vain,	19:16
	or that unexpected and crushing disappointments	19:20
	may not break our spirits.	19:24
	That unexpected new truth may not too greatly confuse us,	19:28
	but just enough.	19:33
	That broken human relationships may not discourage us,	19:36
	nor make us forget the relationship we have to Jesus Christ.	19:40
	In our times of testing may we not only be faithful	19:47
	but learn what the times of testing teach us.	19:51
	Heavenly Father, we pray you so to move Your Holy Spirit	19:58
	in our hearts and in the hearts of men everywhere,	20:01
	that they shall learn the lessons	20:06
	which we have been permitted to see and understand	20:08
	here in Durham, North Carolina during these past two days.	20:11
	Help all men to see that there is glory	20:15
	and fraternity in staging our great national competitions	20:18
	on the athletic field	20:23
	rather than staging our great national competitions	20:25
	on the sinful field of war.	20:28
	Grant that men everywhere may learn your wisdom	20:32
	and respond to the Prince of Peace,	20:35
	to the end that such blessings	20:37
	as we have shared this week may increase,	20:39
	and that the shameful competition	20:42
	of human slaughter and destruction	20:45
	may quickly end and be forever banished.	20:47
	To the glory of Your Son our Savior, Jesus Christ,	20:51
	in whose Name we offer our prayer,	20:56
	and in the words of whose prayer we now pray,	21:00
	"Our Father who art in Heaven,	21:04
	hallowed be Thy Name,	21:07
	Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done	21:09
	on earth as it is in Heaven,	21:12
	give us this day our daily bread	21:15
	and forgive us our trespasses	21:17
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	21:19
	And lead us not into temptation	21:24
	but deliver us from evil,	21:25
	for Thine is the kingdom	21:28
	and the power and the glory forever, amen."	21:30
-	The grace of God be with us all.	21:56
	Have you ever heard the comment	22:03
	that while a lie may not be justifiable	22:06
	it is sometimes inevitable?	22:12
	It was Henry Van Dyke who said that	22:17
	in his pleasing, little Christmas book,	22:21
	"The Story of the other Wise Man."	22:26
	"A lie may not be justifiable,	22:31
	it is sometimes inevitable."	22:35
	I'm going to apply the dictum to another area of life,	22:41
	to the preaching of an old sermon.	22:47
	It may not be justifiable,	22:53
	though my wife says it is.	22:57
	Her justification by analogy is	23:01
	that singers sing the same songs over	23:04
	and over again.	23:07
	Thank you, my wife.	23:10
	My defense of preaching this particular old sermon	23:14
	is that it is inevitable.	23:19
	With the Pan-Africa USA track meet	23:24
	just over in Wallace Wade stadium,	23:28
	with memories of names like	23:33
	(unknown), Mirah Sifter	23:35
	and Steve Prefontaine,	23:40
	and our lector this morning,	23:44
	and especially Dr. Leroy T. Walker,	23:49
	with women participants from Europe,	23:54
	South America, Canada, Australia.	23:57
	Is it any wonder that we sang as our opening hymn,	24:03
	"In Christ there is no east or west,	24:07
	in Him no south or north,	24:10
	but one great fellowship of love	24:12
	throughout the whole wide earth?"	24:16
	The sad fact is,	24:20
	that its affirmation	24:23
	is probably truer in athletics	24:26
	than it is in the Church,	24:31
	which is supposed to be the Body of Christ.	24:35
	Well, the theme of this old sermon is an athlete,	24:41
	a Christian athlete,	24:46
	a Scot born in china,	24:50
	an Olympic runner,	24:54
	a graduate of Edinburgh University,	24:57
	that's the only disappointing fact about him.	25:02
	An international rugby player,	25:07
	and a missionary back in China	25:11
	where he died.	25:15
	His name is Eric Liddel.	25:18
	Here is his story.	25:21
	Eric Liddell was born in Tientsen, North China,	25:26
	on January sixteen, nineteen-two,	25:30
	the son of missionary parents,	25:34
	both of whom haled from Scotland.	25:37
	He spent the first years of his life in China.	25:41
	Nineteen-seven saw him at school in Scotland,	25:45
	and from nineteen-eight until nineteen-twenty,	25:50
	he was a pupil in England	25:55
	at the School for the Sons of Missionaries.	25:58
	He came to Edinburgh university in nineteen-twenty,	26:03
	and graduated with a B.S.C. degree in pure science	26:07
	in nineteen-twenty four.	26:12
	He spent the next year at the Congregational College,	26:15
	and in nineteen-twenty five,	26:20
	returned to China	26:23
	as a missionary	26:25
	and died there,	26:28
	a prisoner of the Japanese in the Shentong compound,	26:30
	age forty three.	26:37
	Now that is a good life	26:40
	well spent,	26:43
	but as outlined there is nothing unusually unusual about it.	26:45
	Liddel is worthy of esteem,	26:53
	but others have lived lives of service	26:57
	without public acclaim.	27:00
	There is nothing in that curriculum vitae	27:03
	which tells how he captured his imagination of the Scots,	27:07
	especially the student generation, my student generation.	27:13
	Why his name was a household word	27:20
	throughout Scotland,	27:24
	yes, and even in England.	27:26
	To another aspect of his life we must turn	27:32
	for his astounding popularity.	27:36
	When he came up to Edinburgh university, nineteen-twenty,	27:40
	he brought with him quite a record as an athlete.	27:44
	At his prep school, he had been captain of cricket,	27:49
	which is almost a point of view, rather than a game.	27:55
	He was also captain of rugby,	28:01
	which is a refined form of American football.	28:03
	He also won several cups for his prowess in track,	28:08
	and at Edinburgh he continued his track career	28:14
	which left his opponents both breathless and defeated,	28:18
	and made him the most popular and best loved athlete	28:24
	Scotland has ever produced.	28:29
	From nineteen-twenty one to nineteen-twenty three,	28:33
	he played rugby for Edinburgh University	28:36
	and was chosen to represent Scotland as one three quarter	28:41
	in the international matches against France,	28:47
	Ireland, Wales and England.	28:50
	And something happened at one of these matches	28:53
	I have never seen happen at the Duke stadium.	28:55
	Scotland beat Wales	28:58
	in Cardiff,	29:01
	on Wales' home territory,	29:03
	fourteen to eleven.	29:06
	And at the end of the game,	29:10
	the Welsh team carried the four Scottish three quarters	29:12
	off the field shoulder high,	29:16
	to recognize their brilliance.	29:19
	Now I've seen some of our opponents carried off,	29:22
	but not shoulder high.	29:24
	However rugby interfered with track.	29:33
	So after two seasons,	29:36
	he dropped rugby to concentrate on running.	29:38
	Brethren, how can I help you to capture the enthusiasm	29:42
	and the admiration	29:47
	which grew and grew,	29:49
	meet after meet, as he emerged the winner?	29:51
	Will statistics help?	29:56
	My wife says no, but I'm going to risk it.	29:58
	As a freshman in nineteen-twenty one,	30:02
	he won the hundred and the two-twenty	30:05
	at Edinburgh University.	30:08
	He also won both races in the Scottish inter varsity meet.	30:11
	He won them both again at the Scottish championships,	30:17
	as a freshman.	30:21
	In fact, he won the hundred and the two-twenty	30:23
	in the Scottish championships	30:26
	from nineteen-twenty one to nineteen-twenty five	30:28
	and added the four-forty	30:33
	in nineteen-twenty four and twenty five.	30:35
	And on four of these five occasions,	30:39
	he also lead the Edinburgh University relay team to victory.	30:42
	In nineteen-twenty three,	30:49
	he was the British amateur champion	30:51
	in the hundred and the two-twenty,	30:53
	and a week later,	30:56
	at the triangular international contest	30:57
	with England and Ireland,	31:00
	he not only won the hundred and the two-twenty,	31:02
	but also the four forty.	31:05
	Something that had never been done before	31:09
	and has never been done since in Great Britain.	31:12
	A triple international victory in the short distance races.	31:16
	Now that winter he looked forward to just one thing,	31:23
	the hundred meters	31:29
	at the Olympic games	31:32
	in Paris,	31:34
	in July nineteen-twenty four.	31:36
	He was the first choice of the British committee.	31:40
	He went into serious training	31:46
	and then refused to run.	31:50
	Why?	31:55
	The heats for the one hundred	31:57
	were announced to be run	32:00
	on a Sunday.	32:03
	The British committee had done all in its power	32:07
	to have the day altered.	32:11
	Its members knew that Liddell would not run on Sunday.	32:14
	They recognized that they were dealing	32:20
	with a man of religious principle.	32:21
	Liddell made his statement in three words,	32:26
	"I'm not running."	32:31
	It took Pres. Coolidge six words to say the same thing,	32:35
	"I do not choose to run."	32:42
	But Liddell was an economic Scot.	32:47
	However it was not the end of the Olympic games for Liddell.	32:53
	He switched his training to the four hundred meters,	32:59
	and on Friday, July eleventh,	33:04
	nineteen-twenty four,	33:07
	he won that race,	33:11
	breaking the world's record.	33:13
	There's an interesting anecdote connected with that race.	33:18
	On the morning of the final four hundred meters dash,	33:23
	his masseur, a man who assisted his trainer,	33:28
	wrote a note and gave it to Liddell.	33:33
	Here is what he wrote,	33:36
	"In the old Book it says,	33:39
	'He that honors me, I will honor.'	33:42
	Wishing you the best of success, always."	33:47
	The reference is to first Samuel, two thirty.	33:53
	A week later, Liddell was back in Edinburgh to graduate,	33:59
	and I wish there were time to tell you	34:03
	of the reaction of Edinburgh to her most recent hero.	34:06
	A laurel wreath, as well as a (inaudible) graduation,	34:11
	and a drive through the streets of Edinburgh	34:17
	with the carriage drawn by a group of university blues,	34:20
	which being interpreted is litter men.	34:25
	Three complementary dinners,	34:30
	now when Scotland gives one complementary dinner	34:33
	that's something!	34:37
	Three!	34:39
	Staid old Edinburgh, lifted her petticoats	34:41
	and did a highland fling.	34:45
	Nineteen-twenty four, twenty five,	34:50
	was spent in special study for his projected work in China,	34:52
	and in an evangelistic campaign	34:57
	among students and the unemployed,	34:59
	a not unreasonable combination.	35:03
	Then for twenty years he served his Lord in China	35:07
	with occasional (inaudible) to Scotland	35:12
	to persuade others to join him in the far east.	35:15
	He died of a brain tumor	35:19
	in that interment camp	35:23
	on May eighth, nineteen-forty five,	35:26
	and Scotland went into mourning.	35:30
	Now Landon Gilkey,	35:36
	who was professor of theology in Chicago,	35:38
	and is now I think on the faculty of Vanderbilt university,	35:42
	was in that prison camp too.	35:47
	He wrote a book about it,	35:52
	"Shantung Compound."	35:54
	He has two paragraphs about Eric Liddell.	35:58
	Here is one sentence,	36:01
	"It is rare indeed	36:05
	when a person has the good fortune	36:07
	to meet a saint,	36:11
	but Liddell came as close to it	36:15
	as anyone I have ever known."	36:18
	It is rare indeed when a Baptist theologian	36:23
	refers to anyone as a saint.	36:27
	There's but one aspect of his life's story	36:36
	that we might reflect on.	36:38
	I shall say nothing about the academic aspect of his life,	36:40
	except for the observation that any of you	36:45
	who are undergraduates	36:48
	may rejoice to know that he was not a brilliant student.	36:49
	You may be embarrassed to know	36:55
	that he was a steady and conscientious worker.	36:57
	I shall say nothing about the athletic aspect of his life,	37:03
	except to comment that while he trained with serious purpose	37:07
	there was also fun in it.	37:12
	He used to race the corporation buses	37:16
	up the mound in Edinburgh,	37:19
	regularly winning to the chagrin of the transit company.	37:23
	As a golfer,	37:29
	he also practiced iron shots	37:31
	over the home of the president of Edinburgh University.	37:35
	I do not recommend this at Duke.	37:41
	(congregation laughing)	37:45
	It's the spiritual aspect of his character	37:47
	that should interest us just now,	37:50
	that should say something to us.	37:53
	The things of the Spirit were basic for Eric Liddell,	37:56
	the groundwork on which all else was built.	38:02
	H. M. Abrams, the captain of the British Olympic team,	38:09
	who took Liddell's place in the hundred meters,	38:16
	and won it,	38:20
	he said this about his teammate,	38:22
	"Eric Liddell was a man	38:25
	whose intense spiritual convictions	38:28
	contributed largely to his athletic triumphs."	38:32
	While his ability must have been great,	38:37
	but for his profound intensity of spirit,	38:40
	he surely could not have achieved so much.	38:45
	He sought first the kingdom,	38:51
	and the other things were added to him,	38:57
	even though his running style was atrocious.	39:00
	Atrocious!	39:06
	But highly effective.	39:08
	Here are just two reflections on that spiritual life	39:12
	which I would share with you.	39:15
	First, his refusal to run on a Sunday	39:18
	was the symbol of a principle,	39:23
	his primary loyalty	39:27
	to God.	39:30
	Religion is self committal	39:32
	to the more-than-self.	39:36
	It's the recognition of something,	39:39
	someone,	39:42
	other than ourselves,	39:44
	greater than ourselves,	39:47
	to whom we render our willing obedience,	39:50
	homage,	39:54
	worship.	39:56
	God is first.	39:58
	Nothing may come before Him.	40:01
	This is always the central fact	40:05
	in any high religion.	40:08
	Any high religion.	40:11
	Liddell knew that.	40:16
	He believed it.	40:18
	The keeping of the Lord's day holy,	40:20
	in a manner different from the other days of the week,	40:23
	was for him both a requirement,	40:27
	and a sign of his particular,	40:32
	conservative	40:35
	Christian loyalty.	40:37
	In an age and in a world of compromise	40:40
	it's salutary to have one central loyalty	40:43
	which is constant.	40:48
	And one symbol	40:50
	which signifies an eternal loyalty.	40:53
	I do not suggest that you choose Liddell's symbol.	40:57
	It is not mine.	41:03
	And yet, Sandy Koufax of the Dodger's	41:06
	would not pitch on Yom Kippur,	41:10
	the Jewish holy day.	41:15
	And Bobby Richardson of the Yankees always arrived late	41:19
	for batting practice on Sunday	41:23
	because he worshiped at eleven o'clock.	41:26
	What I am asking is that we have one hill in our heart	41:31
	which towers above the rolling plains	41:37
	of inevitable compromise in our lives	41:40
	maybe our attitude to people of other races,	41:44
	born of religious conviction.	41:48
	Maybe our attitude to the use of alcohol	41:52
	born of religious conviction.	41:56
	It may be a religious pacifism	42:00
	in a bewildered world	42:04
	which resorts to undeclared and un-understood war.	42:07
	It may center on honesty	42:14
	and an honor code	42:16
	on chastity	42:18
	or (inaudible)	42:21
	and one day	42:23
	on that hill in the heart	42:26
	a cross may be erected	42:30
	and one of us may be on the cross.	42:34
	The second reflection is this,	42:40
	Liddell never insisted	42:45
	that others should stop running on Sunday.	42:49
	He never tried to change the day of the heat.	42:56
	Though the British committee did for patriotic reasons.	43:01
	He did not force his views on others.	43:07
	The freedom he rightly claimed to keep the Sabbath,	43:12
	he willingly granted to others to ignore the Sabbath,	43:18
	or more accurately, the Lord's day.	43:25
	Liddell did not demand that others	43:29
	have the courage of his convictions,	43:34
	but he had the courage not to yield	43:40
	to the convictions of others	43:43
	when they were contrary to what he believed	43:46
	to be of spiritual importance.	43:49
	Therefore as Christians,	43:55
	we should not insist or even expect	43:58
	that others accept the symbol of ultimate loyalty	44:02
	which is particularly dear to us.	44:06
	Be it total abstinence,	44:09
	or no movies on Sunday,	44:12
	or church attendance morning and evening,	44:15
	or tithing,	44:20
	or the like.	44:22
	We live under tremendous pressures to conform.	44:25
	Even our contemporary nonconformity	44:31
	is organized in a conforming mode.	44:35
	Weird hairstyles,	44:39
	innumerable marches,	44:41
	noisy picketing,	44:43
	petition signing.	44:46
	Grant every person the spiritual freedom	44:49
	we desire.	44:54
	Grant him the right to be different from us.	44:57
	Provided he is reasonably quiet	45:02
	during the normal hours of sleep and study.	45:05
	It's good to have a center of reference	45:11
	which is holy	45:15
	and a symbol of that holiness which is sacred.	45:17
	It's also good to make no demands	45:24
	that others adopt our center,	45:28
	and our symbol.	45:32
	These were twin loyalties	45:36
	for Eric Liddell.	45:40
	For many of you it's normal	45:43
	that a sermon begin with a text from the Bible.	45:45
	I would close with one.	45:53
	If I had been asked to choose the words	45:56
	to place on a memorial tablet to Eric Liddell,	45:59
	I would have turned to the two verses from our lesson,	46:04
	which opened the twelfth chapter	46:09
	of the epistle to the Hebrews.	46:12
	"Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about	46:16
	with so great a cloud of witnesses	46:21
	let us lay aside every weight	46:25
	and the sin which doth so easily beset us,	46:29
	and let us run with patience	46:33
	the race that is set before us.	46:36
	Looking unto Jesus,	46:42
	the Author	46:44
	and the Finisher of our faith."	46:46
	Remember "the race that is set before us!"	46:49
	Us!	46:56
	Eric Liddell might be a good coach	46:58
	for that race.	47:03
	Let us pray.	47:07
	Almighty God,	47:12
	seeing we also are compassed about	47:15
	with so great a cloud of witnesses,	47:17
	help us to lay aside every weight	47:21
	and the sin which doth so easily beset us,	47:25
	and to run with patience	47:31
	the race that is set before us.	47:34
	Looking unto Jesus, the Author	47:38
	and the Finisher of our faith,	47:40
	who for the joy that was set before Him,	47:45
	endured the cross,	47:49
	despising the shame,	47:53
	and is set down at the right hand of Thy throne.	47:56
	Amen.	48:03
	(organ playing)	48:09
	(choir singing)	48:40
	(organ playing)	50:57
	(choir singing)	53:26
	(organ playing)	56:10
	(choir singing Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow)	56:35
-	Almighty God, we offer this money	57:33
	and ourselves in dedication to You.	57:36
	Asking that this dedication may not be so general	57:40
	that never becomes specific.	57:43
	May each one of us be really dedicated to Christ.	57:46
	We ask in His Name, amen.	57:51
	(choir singing Amen)	58:09

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "An Olympic Sprinter" (July 18, 1971)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4833s07m

Date:

July 18, 1971

Speaker:

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

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0580
ref6363_w7x
uachapelsermaud
duke:628566
dcrau002567
ark:/87924/r4833s07m
14d853c7-7caf-41da-af8a-b425dd0ef818

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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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.

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James T. Cleland - "An Olympic Sprinter" (July 18, 1971)

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Duke University Archives