Brian Beck - Sermon Untitled (August 22, 1971)
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| (triumphant organ music) | 0:04 | |
| - | Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. | 0:49 |
| Let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation. | 0:54 | |
| Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving | 0:59 | |
| and to make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. | 1:04 | |
| (triumphant organ music) | 1:12 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:50 | |
| Let us confess our sins before God. | 4:24 | |
| Let us pray. | 4:27 | |
| Our heavenly Father, who by thy love has made us, | 4:31 | |
| and through thy love has kept us, | 4:35 | |
| and in thy love which make us perfect, | 4:38 | |
| we humbly confess that we have not loved thee | 4:42 | |
| with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, | 4:45 | |
| and that we have not loved one another | 4:49 | |
| as Christ hath loved us. | 4:52 | |
| Thy light is within our souls, | 4:56 | |
| but our selfishness has hindered thee. | 5:00 | |
| We have not lived by faith. | 5:05 | |
| We have resisted thy Spirit. | 5:08 | |
| We have neglected thine inspirations. | 5:13 | |
| Forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, | 5:17 | |
| and in thy Spirit direct what we shall be, | 5:23 | |
| that thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation, | 5:28 | |
| in us and in all men, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 5:32 | |
| Hear what comfortable words our savior Christ sayeth | 5:43 | |
| unto all that truly turned to Him. | 5:46 | |
| "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, | 5:50 | |
| and I will give you rest." | 5:55 | |
| Hear also these words of scripture. | 5:59 | |
| "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, | 6:03 | |
| slow to anger and of great mercy. | 6:08 | |
| The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. | 6:13 | |
| A broken and a contrite heart, oh God, | 6:18 | |
| thou will not despise. | 6:22 | |
| If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just | 6:25 | |
| to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us | 6:31 | |
| from all unrighteousness." | 6:36 | |
| Let us pray together, the Unison Prayer of Confession. | 6:39 | |
| We called to you, Lord, out of our distress, | 6:47 | |
| and you answered us. | 6:53 | |
| You heard our voices. | 6:55 | |
| We said, we are cast out from your presence. | 6:58 | |
| How shall we again look upon your holy temple? | 7:02 | |
| The waters closed in over us. | 7:06 | |
| The deep was round about us. | 7:09 | |
| Yet, you brought up our life from the pit. | 7:12 | |
| Oh Lord, our God. | 7:16 | |
| When our souls fainted within us, we remembered the Lord | 7:18 | |
| and our prayers came to you, into your holy temple. | 7:23 | |
| With the voice of thanksgiving, we will sacrifice to you. | 7:29 | |
| Deliverance belongs to the Lord. | 7:34 | |
| Amen. | 7:38 | |
| (somber organ music) | 7:43 | |
| (woman singing) | 8:31 | |
| We are glad to welcome to the pulpit | 11:03 | |
| of this chapel this morning, the Reverend Brian Beck | 11:05 | |
| of Wesley House, Cambridge, England. | 11:10 | |
| This is a matter of peculiar personal pleasure to me, | 11:15 | |
| because I count Brian Beck a personal friend, | 11:19 | |
| although that is certainly one of his lesser distinctions. | 11:24 | |
| He was born and grew up in London, England, | 11:30 | |
| and attended Cambridge University, | 11:34 | |
| from which he holds the BA and MA degrees | 11:38 | |
| in Classics and Theology. | 11:42 | |
| He is a Methodist minister | 11:46 | |
| and has served churches in England. | 11:47 | |
| From 1962 to 1968, he was a professor on the faculty | 11:51 | |
| of St. Paul's United Theological College, | 11:58 | |
| near Nairobi in Kenya. | 12:02 | |
| He returned from there to England, to his present position | 12:06 | |
| as tutor of New Testament in Wesley House, Cambridge. | 12:10 | |
| He is presently in this country, | 12:17 | |
| attending the World Methodist Conference | 12:19 | |
| in Denver, Colorado. | 12:23 | |
| And, we're very grateful to him for taking time | 12:26 | |
| and expending the energy to fly out this weekend | 12:30 | |
| to preach at this service and to preach again tonight | 12:35 | |
| at 7:30 at Trinity Methodist Church in Durham. | 12:39 | |
| The New Testament lesson is from | 12:56 | |
| the Gospel according to St. John 13:1-16. | 12:58 | |
| (clearing throat) | 13:09 | |
| "Now, before the feast of the Passover, | 13:12 | |
| when Jesus knew that His hour had come | 13:16 | |
| to depart out of this world to the Father, | 13:18 | |
| having loved His own who were in the world, | 13:22 | |
| He loved them to the end, and during supper, | 13:26 | |
| when the devil had already put it into | 13:30 | |
| the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, | 13:32 | |
| Jesus, knowing that the Father had given | 13:38 | |
| all things into His hands and that | 13:41 | |
| He had come from God and was going to God, | 13:44 | |
| rose from supper, laid aside His garments | 13:49 | |
| and girded Himself with a towel. | 13:53 | |
| Then, He poured water into a basin and began to wash | 13:58 | |
| the disciples' feet and to wipe them | 14:02 | |
| with the towel, with which He was girded. | 14:06 | |
| He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to Him, | 14:10 | |
| 'Lord, do you wash my feet?' | 14:13 | |
| And, Jesus answered him, 'What I am doing, | 14:17 | |
| you do not know now, but afterward you will understand.' | 14:21 | |
| Peter said to Him, 'You shall never wash my feet.' | 14:28 | |
| Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, | 14:33 | |
| you have no part in me.' | 14:37 | |
| Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, | 14:41 | |
| but also my hands, and my head.' | 14:48 | |
| And, Jesus said to him, 'He who has bathed | 14:52 | |
| does not need to wash, except for his feet. | 14:57 | |
| But he is clean all over, and you are clean, | 15:02 | |
| but not all of you,' for He knew who was to betray Him, | 15:07 | |
| and that was why He said, 'You are not all clean.' | 15:15 | |
| When He had washed their feet and taken His garments | 15:20 | |
| and resumed His place, He said to them, | 15:24 | |
| 'Do you know what I have done to you? | 15:30 | |
| You call me teacher and Lord and you are right, for so I am. | 15:34 | |
| If then I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, | 15:43 | |
| you also ought to wash one another's feet, | 15:51 | |
| for I have given you an example that you also | 15:57 | |
| should do as I have done to you. | 16:02 | |
| Truly, truly I say to you, | 16:08 | |
| a servant is not greater than his master, | 16:12 | |
| nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.'" | 16:17 | |
| May God bless to our understanding | 16:26 | |
| this reading from His holy word. | 16:28 | |
| (triumphant organ music) | 16:32 | |
| (choir singing) | 16:41 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 17:17 | |
| - | And with thy spirit. | 17:18 |
| - | Let us pray. | 17:20 |
| Father in heaven, thou hast encouraged us to ask | 17:36 | |
| and to believe that it will be given us, | 17:41 | |
| to seek and to find, and to knock in the expectation | 17:45 | |
| of acceptance, and so we lay our cares | 17:50 | |
| and concerns before thee this morning. | 17:54 | |
| We pray especially for this university | 17:59 | |
| and for the community of which it is a part. | 18:01 | |
| Guide those who seek to generate insight and understanding, | 18:06 | |
| as they shortly return to their usual tasks. | 18:12 | |
| Grant all wisdom in the conduct of their work | 18:18 | |
| and in the day-to-day execution of their responsibilities, | 18:23 | |
| as students or as teachers or whatever. | 18:28 | |
| May the pursuit of learning never cease | 18:36 | |
| to be also the pursuit of truth | 18:38 | |
| and of goodness for our own generation. | 18:41 | |
| We also ask thy guidance and protection | 18:48 | |
| for this city and others like it, | 18:52 | |
| as its citizens face old problems with new opportunities. | 18:57 | |
| May all those concerned with the education of the young | 19:05 | |
| have courage tempered with prudence and generosity. | 19:08 | |
| Give those charged with special responsibility | 19:15 | |
| for our schools both strength and patience. | 19:18 | |
| Grant to all of us, who are involved | 19:25 | |
| with the problems thrust upon us by our time and place, | 19:28 | |
| persistence and forbearance. | 19:33 | |
| Teach us, as members of one human community, | 19:38 | |
| that the bearing of one another's burdens | 19:42 | |
| is the fulfillment of thy law. | 19:46 | |
| We remember now also, oh Lord, all those who are sick, | 19:52 | |
| or beset with personal problems or misfortune. | 19:59 | |
| Comfort the sick and the grief-stricken. | 20:05 | |
| Uphold the weak. | 20:10 | |
| And accompany the lonely and bring them | 20:14 | |
| into new community with thee and with others. | 20:18 | |
| These are petitions we offer in the name of Him | 20:27 | |
| who taught us when praying to say, | 20:31 | |
| our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, | 20:34 | |
| thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 20:40 | |
| on Earth as it is in heaven. | 20:44 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 20:48 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 20:51 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 20:54 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, | 20:58 | |
| but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom | 21:01 | |
| and the power and the glory forever. | 21:06 | |
| Amen. | 21:11 | |
| - | In the name of God, | 21:29 |
| Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. | 21:32 | |
| Amen. | 21:36 | |
| The Gospel according to St. Matthew 20:25. | 21:43 | |
| "Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, | 21:54 | |
| 'You know that among the gentiles, | 22:01 | |
| the rulers lord it over them, | 22:04 | |
| and their great men make their authority felt. | 22:07 | |
| This is not to happen among you. | 22:14 | |
| No. | 22:19 | |
| If anyone wants to be great among you, | 22:21 | |
| he must be your servant. | 22:27 | |
| And anyone who wants to be first among you | 22:31 | |
| must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came | 22:35 | |
| not to be served, but to serve | 22:42 | |
| and to give His life as a ransom for many.'" | 22:47 | |
| Do we have here a touch of sarcasm? | 22:59 | |
| As elsewhere in the teaching of Jesus about the rulers, | 23:05 | |
| we are given a picture in our minds | 23:15 | |
| of the puppet kings of the Roman Empire, | 23:19 | |
| those little rulers that the Romans used | 23:27 | |
| to govern parts of the near east. | 23:33 | |
| Men like Herod the Great and Herod Antipas. | 23:39 | |
| We think of them in their fine clothes, | 23:49 | |
| with their luxury foods, in their marble palaces, | 23:55 | |
| with the crowds of time servers, | 24:03 | |
| with their absolute power over life and limb | 24:09 | |
| and property of their subjects, | 24:14 | |
| their ruthless cruelty. | 24:21 | |
| And not only kings like Herod, the Roman governors too. | 24:28 | |
| Among the gentiles, the rulers lord it over them | 24:39 | |
| and their great ones make their authority felt. | 24:45 | |
| But, we should miss the point of this passage. | 24:54 | |
| If we thought that the purpose was to attack the great, | 24:59 | |
| much as they might deserve it, | 25:07 | |
| we should miss the point if we thought | 25:12 | |
| that Jesus was merely making fun of the antics | 25:14 | |
| of the gentiles, as a typical Jew might. | 25:21 | |
| This is a word for the disciples. | 25:31 | |
| This is not to happen among you. | 25:36 | |
| There are great men in our world too. | 25:46 | |
| Dictators like King Hassan of Morocco, | 25:53 | |
| who can put down a rebellion by having the leaders shot | 25:59 | |
| and spat upon by his troops, | 26:05 | |
| and the whole incident broadcast over radio. | 26:09 | |
| There are other kinds of great men also, | 26:18 | |
| other kinds of dictatorship by individuals and groups. | 26:24 | |
| The weapons they may use may be financial power, | 26:31 | |
| political pressure, | 26:39 | |
| international connections, | 26:42 | |
| or just the sheer weight of numbers. | 26:46 | |
| There are people in our world who are asked | 26:55 | |
| to make decisions which affect the lives of thousands. | 27:01 | |
| It is not surprising if some of them should see it | 27:08 | |
| as an opportunity to lord it over others | 27:14 | |
| and make their authority felt. | 27:18 | |
| But again, this is a word not for the rulers, | 27:25 | |
| but for the disciples. | 27:32 | |
| And, much as it might be justified to give a discourse | 27:36 | |
| upon social justice and freedom, | 27:42 | |
| the point today is for us. | 27:48 | |
| This is not to happen among you. | 27:54 | |
| Because, in small ways, it is true of all of us. | 28:00 | |
| We all have in us the desire to dominate, | 28:07 | |
| to take away the freedom of others | 28:12 | |
| by making them fit our pattern. | 28:16 | |
| I am in my room, preparing this sermon. | 28:23 | |
| My children are outside, playing. | 28:30 | |
| And they can be very noisy. | 28:35 | |
| And I go out and I tell them to shut up, | 28:41 | |
| so that I can do what I want to do. | 28:46 | |
| They must fit my pattern. | 28:55 | |
| The neighbor, who calls over the fence | 29:01 | |
| because the television is on too loud. | 29:06 | |
| The man at the office or the committee chairman, | 29:13 | |
| who throws his weight about. | 29:18 | |
| The lady who has organized the fellowship supper | 29:24 | |
| for the last 20 years and done it excellently, | 29:28 | |
| but let no one interfere because it is her kingdom. | 29:34 | |
| We make our authority felt. | 29:43 | |
| We like to lord it over others. | 29:47 | |
| And, this can come in so many disguises. | 29:51 | |
| Even kindness can become paternalism. | 29:57 | |
| We give generously, and every look and gesture says, | 30:03 | |
| I am better than you because I am giving. | 30:10 | |
| You have nothing to give. | 30:18 | |
| Remember to be grateful. | 30:22 | |
| And, the church can be like this too. | 30:28 | |
| I don't know how it is in your country, | 30:34 | |
| but in my own, if the local city council | 30:39 | |
| introduces a controversial piece of social legislation, | 30:46 | |
| like as not, the church will be curiously silent, | 30:54 | |
| but let that council try to restrict parking | 31:02 | |
| around the church on Sunday morning | 31:06 | |
| and there will be a protest, | 31:10 | |
| because our rights have been threatened. | 31:14 | |
| Lording it over others, making our authority felt. | 31:19 | |
| And, against all of this, | 31:27 | |
| Jesus sets the ideal of the servant. | 31:30 | |
| Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant. | 31:38 | |
| This is so revolutionary that it becomes difficult to grasp. | 31:50 | |
| It turns all our ideas upside down. | 31:57 | |
| We all talk about the man at the top, | 32:04 | |
| the man who has gone up in the world, | 32:09 | |
| the man who is over others, | 32:13 | |
| and for Jesus, greatness lies equally | 32:17 | |
| with the man at the bottom, | 32:24 | |
| with the man who is content to play second fiddle, | 32:28 | |
| with the man who orders no one around, | 32:34 | |
| who gets no limelight, | 32:38 | |
| for greatness is measured not by social position, | 32:43 | |
| still less by power, | 32:50 | |
| greatness is measured by one thing only. | 32:55 | |
| Service. | 33:01 | |
| We see this not only in the teaching of Jesus, | 33:09 | |
| we see it in the whole pattern of His life. | 33:14 | |
| In His ministry of compassion. | 33:21 | |
| In His dealing with people. | 33:26 | |
| But, not just in the encounter between Jesus | 33:31 | |
| and individuals in His own time, but in the impact | 33:37 | |
| of His life in its totality upon history as a whole. | 33:44 | |
| As we read it in St. Matthew, | 33:54 | |
| the son of man came not to be served, but to serve | 33:57 | |
| and to give His life as a ransom for many. | 34:03 | |
| And, what is a ransom, | 34:10 | |
| but an infinitely costly means of setting people free? | 34:15 | |
| And, the whole of the life of Jesus, | 34:27 | |
| His death and His resurrection are such an act | 34:30 | |
| of self-giving service that humanity might be delivered. | 34:36 | |
| And, we are here today because of this. | 34:44 | |
| Without Jesus, the word God would have | 34:50 | |
| a quite different meaning in our language. | 34:54 | |
| Because of Jesus, we can address God this morning as Father. | 35:00 | |
| Because of Jesus, we can stand up tall | 35:10 | |
| as people who have been cut down to size | 35:17 | |
| by the judgment of God and now know that they are forgiven. | 35:22 | |
| We are all here today because of the greatest act of service | 35:32 | |
| that the world has ever known, | 35:40 | |
| by the one whom men called the servant. | 35:43 | |
| And, this is the pattern for us. | 35:50 | |
| Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant. | 35:56 | |
| But, this does not say enough. | 36:07 | |
| Let us, for the few moments that remain, | 36:12 | |
| explore what this idea of service means. | 36:17 | |
| Notice that this service, which we have received | 36:29 | |
| and which we are called to give, | 36:34 | |
| is service without expectation of return. | 36:37 | |
| How easily the idea of service | 36:48 | |
| becomes confused in our minds. | 36:51 | |
| We pick up our magazines and we read, | 36:58 | |
| so-and-so's car hire, at your service in every city. | 37:06 | |
| (scoffs) If you can afford it. | 37:14 | |
| We go out to a restaurant to have a meal, | 37:20 | |
| and at the bottom of the bill, 10% service charge. | 37:26 | |
| And, do you see service has become a commodity | 37:37 | |
| which can be bought and sold like peanuts? | 37:42 | |
| And, sometimes we fall for this ourselves. | 37:53 | |
| I think of a man who held office | 37:58 | |
| in the church for many years, | 38:02 | |
| and one day he resigned in anger | 38:07 | |
| because he had been out-voted on a proposal | 38:12 | |
| that he had put before the church council. | 38:16 | |
| For 15 years, I have served this church, | 38:23 | |
| and this is all the thanks I get. | 38:30 | |
| Is it for this that we give our service? | 38:39 | |
| That we may be paid back? | 38:45 | |
| That we may have influence? | 38:49 | |
| That we may receive our vote of thanks? | 38:54 | |
| When we begin a church program of social service, | 39:03 | |
| do we give up because people do not seem grateful | 39:13 | |
| or because they do not come to church? | 39:21 | |
| The service of Jesus was without expectation of return. | 39:28 | |
| To put it crudely, when Jesus went to the cross, | 39:38 | |
| there was no calculation about whether people would respond, | 39:46 | |
| no arithmetic to decide whether the cost was worth it. | 39:55 | |
| It needed to be done. | 40:04 | |
| He was called to do it. | 40:08 | |
| And, He left the rest in the hands of his Father. | 40:12 | |
| Service without expectation of return. | 40:24 | |
| And then, this kind of service is service to the limit. | 40:31 | |
| To the limit. | 40:41 | |
| I think of a story which I heard | 40:46 | |
| when first I went to Africa. | 40:50 | |
| A great and honored missionary, | 40:55 | |
| who died a few years ago, | 41:00 | |
| one of the great pioneers of the church, | 41:06 | |
| to whom the church in Africa owes much, | 41:12 | |
| but about whom it was said he never allowed an African | 41:18 | |
| to come closer than the porch. | 41:28 | |
| If you were a European, you were invited in and you had tea. | 41:37 | |
| If you were an African, he came out | 41:47 | |
| and spoke to you on the porch. | 41:51 | |
| Now, there is no point in condemning him. | 41:58 | |
| He was a child of his age, as we are children of our age. | 42:03 | |
| The point which I wish to make is simply that for this man, | 42:12 | |
| great as he was, there was a place | 42:19 | |
| at which his service came to a stop. | 42:24 | |
| He said, I will give this much, | 42:31 | |
| but no more. | 42:37 | |
| I will not give the sanctuary of my home to these people. | 42:40 | |
| And, we all do the same. | 42:52 | |
| We all say, I will give this and this and this, | 42:57 | |
| but not that. | 43:05 | |
| I will give my money, but not my active service. | 43:09 | |
| I will help another, but not to the point where it hurts. | 43:17 | |
| Now, don't misunderstand me. | 43:29 | |
| There are often good reasons why we do this, | 43:34 | |
| but the challenge of the Gospel | 43:41 | |
| is that there is always more that we can give. | 43:45 | |
| When we look at the service of Christ, | 43:55 | |
| we see service which went to the limit. | 44:00 | |
| We see a man who gave and gave and gave | 44:07 | |
| until on the cross there was nothing left to give. | 44:15 | |
| Service to the limit. | 44:29 | |
| And then, finally, this kind of Christian service | 44:36 | |
| is primarily the service of God. | 44:43 | |
| Do you remember the story in the Gospel | 44:56 | |
| of two brothers who had a dispute about their inheritance? | 45:03 | |
| One of the brothers appealed to Jesus to settle the quarrel. | 45:15 | |
| Here, you might think, was an opportunity for service. | 45:25 | |
| Jesus could arbitrate in this quarrel, and so bring peace, | 45:32 | |
| not only to the family, but also to the whole community, | 45:40 | |
| which must have been affected by it. | 45:46 | |
| And, Jesus refused. | 45:51 | |
| "Who made me a divider?" | 45:58 | |
| And, the implication is that Jesus is the servant of all, | 46:08 | |
| but he is not at the beck and call of all. | 46:18 | |
| He is the servant of men | 46:25 | |
| only because He is first the servant of God, | 46:28 | |
| and this determines the program which He seeks to fulfill. | 46:34 | |
| In this particular case, no doubt, | 46:44 | |
| to take these two brothers behind their quarrel, | 46:49 | |
| to the greed which had caused it. | 46:55 | |
| We need to emphasize this. | 47:05 | |
| Much is being said and written in these days | 47:10 | |
| about the church as the servant church. | 47:16 | |
| Rightly so. | 47:23 | |
| And, everything that I have said this morning endorses it. | 47:26 | |
| But, we need to remember that while the Christian | 47:34 | |
| is called to be the servant of all men, | 47:39 | |
| no man is his master. | 47:45 | |
| We serve others, but we are not | 47:51 | |
| to take our orders from others. | 47:54 | |
| In fact, | 48:00 | |
| service, as we are to understand it, | 48:03 | |
| can sometimes mean doing the opposite of what people want. | 48:08 | |
| It may mean speaking the truth when the truth is unwelcome. | 48:16 | |
| It may mean probing into uncomfortable questions | 48:26 | |
| that people would prefer to avoid. | 48:34 | |
| You cannot, for example, be the servant | 48:41 | |
| of an underprivileged minority group, | 48:46 | |
| if at the same time you try to be the humble | 48:51 | |
| and obedient servant of every other kind of group. | 48:58 | |
| And, we can only have this freedom if we are the servants | 49:08 | |
| of God, and in his name the servants of our fellow men. | 49:15 | |
| To be a servant does not mean lying down | 49:27 | |
| like a doormat to be trodden on by others. | 49:33 | |
| When Jesus says, do not try to dominate others, | 49:41 | |
| he does not replace it by, let others dominate you, | 49:50 | |
| but by serve others. | 49:57 | |
| Service is not passive submission. | 50:04 | |
| Service is an active response to people's need. | 50:11 | |
| The only submission for the Christian is to God. | 50:21 | |
| And so, a Christian in his service | 50:32 | |
| always remains a free man. | 50:37 | |
| He makes it his business to serve others, | 50:44 | |
| but he does not sell them his soul. | 50:51 | |
| And, one of the greatest tasks of the church | 50:59 | |
| at the present time, as always, | 51:04 | |
| is to preserve her independence | 51:10 | |
| from state and other groups and individuals | 51:16 | |
| so that she may always be free | 51:27 | |
| to serve men in the service of God. | 51:31 | |
| And, if you think that this is | 51:40 | |
| an easy thing in today's world, | 51:42 | |
| remember as you read of revolution in Bolivia, | 51:49 | |
| the problem of the church, | 51:59 | |
| under attack from the right because it is too revolutionary | 52:03 | |
| and under attack from the left | 52:12 | |
| because it is not revolutionary enough. | 52:16 | |
| Or, think of the church in Rhodesia, | 52:23 | |
| trying to find the way | 52:30 | |
| to hold together, pressure for justice in society | 52:36 | |
| and striving for reconciliation. | 52:45 | |
| Here is the Christian's distinctive role. | 53:00 | |
| We heard in our lesson, | 53:08 | |
| how on the night when He was betrayed, | 53:14 | |
| according to St. John, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. | 53:19 | |
| The point of this story is not that it needed to be done. | 53:31 | |
| It was the custom to provide a servant at the door | 53:40 | |
| when the guests came in, and he would wash the feet. | 53:48 | |
| In Jewish custom too, a student would wash the feet | 53:57 | |
| of his teacher, and how I like to say this | 54:05 | |
| in any university setting, a student would wash the feet | 54:11 | |
| of his teacher because of the debt | 54:17 | |
| he owed for having taught him the law of God. | 54:22 | |
| But, with Jesus, the roles are reversed. | 54:31 | |
| Jesus does the work of the servant. | 54:38 | |
| And, as Jesus and as John saw, | 54:45 | |
| this little action sums up the Spirit | 54:49 | |
| and meaning of the whole of Jesus' life, | 54:55 | |
| and of his disciples too. | 55:01 | |
| "If I, the Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, | 55:05 | |
| you also ought to wash one another's feet." | 55:12 | |
| In the end, the test of the Christian's life | 55:19 | |
| is the test of his Lord's. | 55:26 | |
| He has the Spirit of his Lord only in so far | 55:30 | |
| as he has the spirit of service. | 55:37 | |
| Let us pray. | 55:47 | |
| Father, | 55:52 | |
| accept this offering of mind and feeling and will. | 55:55 | |
| Give us the power of the Holy Spirit to renew us, | 56:07 | |
| and use us in the service of Christ, | 56:16 | |
| in whose name we pray. | 56:21 | |
| Amen. | 56:26 | |
| (triumphant organ music) | 56:28 | |
| (choir singing) | 57:05 | |
| (light organ music) | 58:40 | |
| (woman singing) | 59:57 |