W. Arthur Kale - "The Art of the Possible" (April 30, 1972)
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| (organ music) | 0:07 | |
| (singing drowned out by organ music) | 0:09 | |
| - | Greetings in the Lord beloved | 2:09 |
| as we continue to worship almighty God | 2:13 | |
| may we join our hearts and voices | 2:16 | |
| in our unison and prayer of confession. | 2:18 | |
| Let us pray. | 2:21 | |
| Heavenly father, we confess that we have sinned against you | 2:23 | |
| and against our neighbor. | 2:28 | |
| We have walked in darkness when we could | 2:30 | |
| and should have walked in the light. | 2:33 | |
| We have named the name of Christ | 2:36 | |
| but have not lived like Christ. | 2:38 | |
| Have mercy upon us, we pray, | 2:41 | |
| because we are sorry about our sins | 2:43 | |
| and we really intend doing better by your grace. | 2:46 | |
| For the sake of Jesus Christ forgive our sins, | 2:51 | |
| cleanse us by your Holy Spirit, quicken our consciences | 2:55 | |
| and enable us to forgive others their sins against us | 3:00 | |
| that we may from now serve you in newness of life, | 3:04 | |
| to the glory of your holy name, amen. | 3:08 | |
| Our words of assurance this morning come from | 3:15 | |
| one of great hymns of the church written by Charles Wesley. | 3:19 | |
| How can a sinner know his sins on earth forgiven? | 3:25 | |
| How can my gracious savior show my name inscribed in heaven? | 3:30 | |
| What we have felt and seen with confidence we tell | 3:36 | |
| and publish to the sons of men, the signs infallible. | 3:40 | |
| We who in Christ believed that he for us hath died, | 3:45 | |
| we all his unknown peace receive and feel his blood applied. | 3:51 | |
| We by his spirit prove and know the things of God, | 3:58 | |
| the things which freely of his love he hath on us bestowed. | 4:03 | |
| Amen. | 4:10 | |
| (organ music) | 4:12 | |
| (indistinct singing) | 4:54 | |
| (organ music) | 6:40 | |
| (indistinct singing) | 7:00 | |
| Each Sunday that Christians gather for worship | 7:46 | |
| we read from the scriptures | 7:51 | |
| because they are the primary source | 7:53 | |
| of our understanding of our historic faith. | 7:56 | |
| The lesson today is from Mark's gospel, | 8:00 | |
| chapter four, beginning with verse 21. | 8:04 | |
| "Jesus said to them, 'Is a lamp brought in | 8:09 | |
| "'to be put under a bushel or under a bed | 8:13 | |
| "'and not on a stand, for there is nothing hid | 8:17 | |
| "'except to be made manifest, | 8:21 | |
| "'nor is anything secret, except to come to light. | 8:24 | |
| "'If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.' | 8:29 | |
| "He said to them, 'Take heed what you hear, | 8:35 | |
| "'The measure you give will be the measure you get | 8:41 | |
| "'and still more will be given to you, | 8:45 | |
| "'for to him who has will more be given, | 8:48 | |
| "'and from him who has not, | 8:53 | |
| "'even what he has will be taken away.'" | 8:57 | |
| (organ music) | 9:03 | |
| (singing drowned out by organ music) | 9:12 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 9:53 | |
| - | And with your spirit. | 9:54 |
| - | Let us pray. | 9:56 |
| Almighty God, our creator, | 10:04 | |
| the giver of everything beautiful and good, | 10:06 | |
| on this lovely day we have assembled here | 10:10 | |
| to concentrate upon you, to adore you, | 10:15 | |
| to worship you, to thank you | 10:19 | |
| and to ask for new blessings. | 10:22 | |
| We express our gratitude for the fact | 10:26 | |
| that nothing in this world is too good to be true. | 10:28 | |
| We express our thanks that hard work pays off. | 10:34 | |
| We are grateful that art and music | 10:40 | |
| can serve Jesus Christ as helpfully as it can serve evil. | 10:43 | |
| We are grateful that those who will join in and help | 10:50 | |
| in a worthy cause will do so and can be effective, | 10:55 | |
| even when their ideas are not always followed. | 11:02 | |
| We are grateful for the possibility | 11:08 | |
| of personal communication between us and you, | 11:10 | |
| that we can merely close our eyes and think a prayer | 11:15 | |
| and know that you have received the message. | 11:19 | |
| We give thanks for the beautiful world of the senses | 11:24 | |
| and for the real world of extra sensory communication | 11:29 | |
| by which we claim our kinship to you, | 11:34 | |
| remembering the words of your son, that God is spirit. | 11:37 | |
| We are grateful that the latest trip | 11:43 | |
| of our astronauts was not tragic, | 11:46 | |
| but that it was successful. | 11:50 | |
| That no one has been left in outer space. | 11:54 | |
| Grant us wisdom to know how | 12:01 | |
| the fruits of this kind of exploration | 12:03 | |
| can benefit all mankind. | 12:06 | |
| Deliver us from expending all this money and ingenuity | 12:09 | |
| merely to gain prestige for our country. | 12:14 | |
| And we pray also heavenly father for a dedication | 12:19 | |
| to our urgent tasks here on Earth | 12:22 | |
| where many people live and many people suffer. | 12:26 | |
| Which will match the dedication we have given | 12:30 | |
| to exploring the moon where nobody lives. | 12:33 | |
| Oh God, may it not finally be true | 12:38 | |
| that we gave more devotion to solving | 12:40 | |
| the technological problems of moon exploration | 12:43 | |
| than we gave to solving the human problems | 12:48 | |
| of our earthly cities and countrysides. | 12:52 | |
| Oh God, our Heavenly Father, | 12:59 | |
| as we are quiet in your sanctuary, | 13:01 | |
| we lift up to you our petition for genuine wisdom. | 13:05 | |
| We would love you with our hearts, oh God, | 13:10 | |
| but granted we may also love you with our minds, | 13:14 | |
| as Jesus taught us. | 13:18 | |
| Help us not to be so preoccupied | 13:21 | |
| with the archaic forms of yesterday's religion | 13:23 | |
| that we fail to see the new directions | 13:26 | |
| in which your spirit is leading us today | 13:29 | |
| and challenging our minds to grasp. | 13:32 | |
| Grant that we may never be confined | 13:37 | |
| to the old wine skins of a bygone day, | 13:39 | |
| simply because we do not wish to lose the values of the past | 13:43 | |
| but keep us alert to the translation of those values | 13:48 | |
| into our day and the needs of this generation. | 13:53 | |
| Save us from spending too much time in looking backward. | 13:58 | |
| Grant unto us the courage to look and move forward. | 14:02 | |
| Deliver us, righteous God, from those encrusted attitudes | 14:09 | |
| which would prevent us from entering into fellowship | 14:13 | |
| with all of your children. | 14:15 | |
| Grant us the humility and the brotherhood | 14:18 | |
| that would enable us to enter the kingdom | 14:21 | |
| which knows no caste. | 14:23 | |
| We pray you to bring comfort to those who are injured | 14:27 | |
| in whatever way, whether by the loss of a loved one, | 14:31 | |
| by the loss of their stability, | 14:36 | |
| the loss of financial necessities, | 14:40 | |
| health, whatever. | 14:45 | |
| May strength and healing come to them, | 14:48 | |
| may they be reassured of your love and your presence | 14:51 | |
| and may there be human friends | 14:56 | |
| who give them love and assistance. | 14:59 | |
| At this time of the year, | 15:03 | |
| a time of great stress for students personally, | 15:06 | |
| we pray that clarity of mind and good judgment may be given. | 15:13 | |
| We remember in prayer those who are planning marriage, | 15:20 | |
| may their love of you bring sanctity | 15:23 | |
| to their love for each other. | 15:26 | |
| Grant unto them patience | 15:29 | |
| as they consider the need for making adjustments | 15:31 | |
| and may they unashamedly choose high ideals | 15:35 | |
| and have the courage to live by them. | 15:38 | |
| We offer these prayers in the name of your son | 15:44 | |
| from whom every good thing comes, | 15:47 | |
| who gives meaning to life, | 15:49 | |
| making our own the words he has taught us | 15:52 | |
| to use in prayer saying, "Our father who art in heaven, | 15:55 | |
| "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, | 16:00 | |
| "thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. | 16:04 | |
| "Give us this day our daily bread | 16:08 | |
| "and forgive us our trespasses | 16:12 | |
| "as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 16:14 | |
| "And lead us not into temptation, | 16:18 | |
| "but deliver us from evil | 16:21 | |
| "for thine is the kingdom and the power | 16:23 | |
| "and the glory forever, amen." | 16:26 | |
| - | Let us continue in prayer. | 16:56 |
| Behold us now, oh Lord, as waiting before thee, | 17:02 | |
| we consider things that are just | 17:10 | |
| and right | 17:15 | |
| and true | 17:18 | |
| and holy. | 17:21 | |
| Amen. | 17:26 | |
| Christianity and politics | 17:31 | |
| have two cherished and well established convictions | 17:36 | |
| they hold in common. | 17:43 | |
| Both insist upon the necessity of being practical | 17:48 | |
| and both acknowledge the importance of being impractical. | 17:55 | |
| Friends of mine who are politicians, | 18:04 | |
| that is, they are persons who have been elected | 18:09 | |
| to public office, have confessed to me | 18:12 | |
| that they have learned much about political strategy | 18:15 | |
| by participating in church elections. | 18:20 | |
| I have, sometimes, responded by saying | 18:25 | |
| that some of my Christian insights have been clarified | 18:28 | |
| through my association with people in government. | 18:35 | |
| Today, with a gesture of appreciation to the politician, | 18:40 | |
| I have selected as topic of the sermon | 18:49 | |
| the well known and often quoted affirmation about politics. | 18:53 | |
| Namely, that politics is the art of the possible. | 19:01 | |
| The timing of this particular message | 19:10 | |
| is probably apparent to all, | 19:13 | |
| but just in case you have momentarily forgotten, | 19:16 | |
| let me remind you that in this country | 19:22 | |
| the year 1972 is another election year | 19:24 | |
| and in this state of North Carolina, | 19:30 | |
| next Saturday, May 6th is another day called, | 19:32 | |
| the North Carolina Primary, | 19:40 | |
| conducted by both major parties for the purpose | 19:43 | |
| of screening candidates for office. | 19:47 | |
| Candidates for offices at local, state, and national levels. | 19:52 | |
| This is an appropriate season | 20:01 | |
| to declare publicly again | 20:06 | |
| the fundamental principle in this country | 20:11 | |
| of the separation of church and state, | 20:14 | |
| but to add, | 20:19 | |
| that fundamental though it is, | 20:22 | |
| cherished by all and preserved though it is, | 20:26 | |
| this principle does not deny | 20:33 | |
| the political realm a religious dimension, | 20:39 | |
| nor does it deny the religious institution | 20:44 | |
| its political orientation and concern. | 20:48 | |
| My purpose today, on this Sunday immediately preceding | 20:55 | |
| the primary election in our state, | 21:02 | |
| is to suggest a legitimate and positive relationship | 21:06 | |
| between church and state. | 21:14 | |
| A relationship of mutual trust, respect and concern. | 21:17 | |
| More directly, and as I shall hope quite obviously, | 21:26 | |
| as I continue, I am proposing today | 21:32 | |
| that church and state are interrelated. | 21:36 | |
| Interrelated by the very necessity of the times | 21:42 | |
| in the task of dealing responsibly | 21:47 | |
| with the personal and societal ills of these days. | 21:51 | |
| Now, if the distinguished dean of Duke Chapel, | 22:00 | |
| Dr. James T, Cleland, were speaking on this issue | 22:08 | |
| or this particular topic, | 22:13 | |
| he might symbolize his thought by referring | 22:17 | |
| to a great convocation of citizens | 22:21 | |
| that is held every election period in the city of Edinburgh. | 22:25 | |
| Usually on the Sunday immediately preceding | 22:33 | |
| the national election in Scotland, | 22:38 | |
| this convocation is held. | 22:43 | |
| Now to be sure Dean Cleland's sermon would not be like mine, | 22:48 | |
| and of course his voice would contrast | 22:54 | |
| with my American accent, | 22:58 | |
| but he and I have compared recollections | 23:02 | |
| of the Edinburgh convocation. | 23:05 | |
| Let me describe it briefly. | 23:11 | |
| A long and colorful procession of dignitaries | 23:15 | |
| will assemble just outside St. Giles | 23:21 | |
| in the very heart of Edinburgh | 23:26 | |
| and they move in stately cadence, | 23:30 | |
| in full regalia and bearing the emblems of many offices, | 23:35 | |
| they March into the High Kirk of Scotland, St. Giles. | 23:43 | |
| In the procession, as the Lord promised, | 23:52 | |
| or the mayor as we would call it, | 23:56 | |
| with him are members of the city council, | 23:59 | |
| judges, police officers, | 24:02 | |
| business and professional leaders | 24:05 | |
| and of course a number of ecclesiastic dignitaries. | 24:07 | |
| The service inside the church is essentially worship, | 24:13 | |
| involving both candidates and voters, | 24:18 | |
| both office holders and constituents. | 24:21 | |
| The occasion is intended to remind the citizens | 24:26 | |
| of the great city and surrounding region, | 24:30 | |
| of their civic responsibilities on the day of election, | 24:34 | |
| but also this great convocation of citizens | 24:41 | |
| is intended to symbolize a relationship | 24:47 | |
| between church and state. | 24:51 | |
| The event reminds citizens | 24:55 | |
| that there is a religious dimension to politics | 24:58 | |
| and a political concern in the religious realm. | 25:03 | |
| When Dean Cleland and I were comparing our recollections | 25:11 | |
| and exchanging thoughts, I was impressed by his comment. | 25:15 | |
| When he said that through this occasion, | 25:21 | |
| and similar ones in other cities of the nation, | 25:25 | |
| the positive side of church state relations | 25:29 | |
| is affirmed and reaffirmed. | 25:33 | |
| Dr. Cleland also reported that in his native city of Glasgow | 25:38 | |
| additional services are held | 25:44 | |
| on the Sunday following the election | 25:46 | |
| and that the newly elected city council | 25:51 | |
| is brought into the church for the purpose of kirking | 25:56 | |
| or churching the council. | 26:03 | |
| But what about this business of shared responsibility | 26:09 | |
| in dealing with personal and societal ills? | 26:13 | |
| What about my topic for today? | 26:18 | |
| The art of the possible. | 26:22 | |
| I need more than a Scottish symbol. | 26:26 | |
| You expect more than a reference to pomp and ceremony. | 26:31 | |
| I refer you immediately to the New Testament, | 26:40 | |
| to a statement made by Jesus | 26:45 | |
| and reported in the gospels at least four times, | 26:46 | |
| once each in Mark and Luke, and twice in Matthew. | 26:51 | |
| Already in the lesson read earlier today you have heard it. | 26:57 | |
| As reported in Mark's gospel, | 27:01 | |
| "To him who has will more be given, | 27:04 | |
| "and from him who has not | 27:10 | |
| "even what he has will be taken away." | 27:14 | |
| Now, let me be very honest and believe that you too | 27:19 | |
| are thinking honestly and freely with me at the moment. | 27:25 | |
| At first glance, and even after you have read it many times, | 27:30 | |
| this pronouncement on the lips of Jesus | 27:36 | |
| seems quite out of place. | 27:40 | |
| He was the man of compassion. | 27:45 | |
| He was the friend of the poor. | 27:51 | |
| He was the champion of justice. | 27:57 | |
| How could he make the kind of differentiation | 28:01 | |
| as is apparent in this particular statement? | 28:06 | |
| One of my own New Testament professors in seminary days | 28:11 | |
| has called this particular verse, | 28:15 | |
| a cynical proverb with a spiritual meaning. | 28:19 | |
| The late Paul Tillich has called it a riddle. | 28:28 | |
| The riddle of inequality, | 28:32 | |
| insoluble yet symbolizing a condition | 28:36 | |
| with which man has to live and can live. | 28:42 | |
| As I offer my own interpretation today, | 28:49 | |
| I do not dismiss hastily the ingredient of perplexity, | 28:55 | |
| indeed it is this character of Jesus' statement | 29:03 | |
| that fascinates me and provokes me to further reflection. | 29:06 | |
| At the same time, I am not convinced | 29:13 | |
| that this puzzling statement about persons who have | 29:17 | |
| and persons who have not has anything to do, | 29:21 | |
| or does not have anything to do, | 29:29 | |
| with the art of the possible. | 29:32 | |
| One misinterpretation must be carefully avoided. | 29:36 | |
| While the statement is like a riddle, | 29:41 | |
| as Professor Tillich has helpfully said, | 29:44 | |
| it is definitely not an endorsement of unfair | 29:47 | |
| political and economic stratification. | 29:52 | |
| Jesus put no stamp of approval on social injustice. | 29:56 | |
| To use this statement as a support | 30:03 | |
| for a policy of keeping humanity permanently separated | 30:06 | |
| into one group called the developed | 30:12 | |
| and another group called the undeveloped | 30:14 | |
| is to ignore the context of the gospel writing | 30:17 | |
| and to distort the meaning of the gospel message. | 30:22 | |
| Jesus was more sophisticated in his thinking | 30:27 | |
| than is sometimes admitted. | 30:30 | |
| When he reminded his hearers | 30:34 | |
| "that to him who has shall more be given" | 30:36 | |
| and immediately repeated the negative version | 30:41 | |
| of the same stern law of life, | 30:45 | |
| he was revealing his maturity as a thinker | 30:48 | |
| and his skill as a teacher. | 30:53 | |
| Remember he was in dialogue with his closest associates | 30:56 | |
| and he was challenging them to think beyond the obvious. | 31:02 | |
| Now, what was he challenging them to do? | 31:08 | |
| Was he not reminding his hearers that man's nature, | 31:13 | |
| his true humanness, | 31:21 | |
| his real self, | 31:24 | |
| cannot be concealed. | 31:27 | |
| No individual, no institution remains | 31:32 | |
| static permanently. | 31:37 | |
| You are ever becoming you. | 31:41 | |
| To you as you are | 31:46 | |
| will be given more of you | 31:50 | |
| as you are. | 31:54 | |
| Likewise, Jesus was saying that man's limitations | 31:58 | |
| cannot be concealed, they are real, | 32:01 | |
| observable and indeed threatening. | 32:05 | |
| Never underestimate | 32:09 | |
| the threat of atrophy. | 32:13 | |
| No man is safe from the experience of degeneration | 32:16 | |
| through neglect and disuse of his powers. | 32:23 | |
| Was Jesus not here insisting upon being practical? | 32:31 | |
| Was he not asking his hearers | 32:40 | |
| to consider what is workable | 32:44 | |
| in the kind of world | 32:49 | |
| that separates humanity into such classifications as | 32:52 | |
| the developed and the undeveloped, | 32:58 | |
| the rich and the poor, | 33:01 | |
| the learned and ignorant, | 33:03 | |
| the aggressive and the docile, | 33:05 | |
| the free and the enslaved? | 33:07 | |
| I think Jesus, like the politician, | 33:11 | |
| was stressing the importance | 33:15 | |
| of practicing the art of the possible. | 33:19 | |
| Now, with our attention still fastened | 33:27 | |
| on this strange pronouncement of Jesus, | 33:31 | |
| let me ask you, each of you, two questions. | 33:39 | |
| What have we really found | 33:51 | |
| to be workable | 33:57 | |
| in bridging the gap between the haves and the have nots? | 34:01 | |
| I can remember more elections than most of you before me. | 34:08 | |
| And again and again I have listened to campaign promises | 34:13 | |
| and repeatedly I have been disillusioned | 34:19 | |
| and every campaign refers to the previous one before it, | 34:23 | |
| and perhaps to a succession of earlier ones, | 34:27 | |
| all of them condemning the successful politicians in office | 34:30 | |
| for failing to fulfill their campaign promises. | 34:36 | |
| What have we found to be workable | 34:43 | |
| if politics is the art of the possible? | 34:49 | |
| Periodic elections permit different social groups | 34:55 | |
| and political parties to register | 34:59 | |
| their preferred changes of power and in power | 35:02 | |
| as they discuss issues and candidates | 35:09 | |
| but have elections resulted in genuine solution? | 35:12 | |
| Very early in the decade of the sixties, | 35:21 | |
| the United Nations designated that entire decade | 35:25 | |
| as, and I quote, the first development decade. | 35:31 | |
| It was intended to provide significant aid | 35:42 | |
| for undeveloped peoples in all parts of the world. | 35:47 | |
| In a report of that decade, | 35:53 | |
| as printed this very month in a publication | 35:56 | |
| of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions | 36:00 | |
| in California appears the following summarizing sentence, | 36:03 | |
| remember this was a report of United Nations endeavors | 36:10 | |
| over a decade called the sixties. | 36:14 | |
| "Now that the assessments are in, | 36:17 | |
| "all agree," says the report, | 36:22 | |
| "that the gap between the rich and the poor countries | 36:27 | |
| "is wider than ever." | 36:33 | |
| Our disillusion met with practical politics | 36:41 | |
| and practical religion might be expressed quite simply | 36:45 | |
| as follows, rarely do we keep our campaign pledges, | 36:51 | |
| rarely do we find it possible | 36:59 | |
| to keep our campaign commitments, | 37:03 | |
| rarely do we implement the idealistic resolutions | 37:08 | |
| and announced policies as stated in party platforms, | 37:14 | |
| and just as pathetically, in ecclesiastic resolutions. | 37:21 | |
| Some of you read the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, | 37:30 | |
| he said it very well a few years ago, | 37:35 | |
| unhappy country, | 37:38 | |
| what wings you have, | 37:41 | |
| weep. | 37:45 | |
| It is frequent in human affairs. | 37:47 | |
| Weep for the terrible magnificence of the means, | 37:51 | |
| the ridiculous incompetence of the reasons, | 38:00 | |
| the bloody and shabby Pathos of the result. | 38:07 | |
| What have we found that is really practical? | 38:16 | |
| Many of you read Saturday Review | 38:21 | |
| and love the column by Goodman Ace called, "Top of My Head." | 38:23 | |
| In the current issue, dated April 29, 1972, | 38:28 | |
| a reference is made by Goodman Ace to the small boy | 38:35 | |
| who came home from school every day with a skinned knee. | 38:39 | |
| "Why do you fall down every day?," his mother asked. | 38:47 | |
| "Because," he replied, "I run faster than I can." | 38:53 | |
| Just now at many levels, I dare say, | 39:02 | |
| apparently we are running faster than we can | 39:08 | |
| and something more tragic than skinned knees is apparent. | 39:15 | |
| As a result of our frantic effort | 39:22 | |
| to deal with the haves and the have nots | 39:28 | |
| we have continuing poverty, continuing warfare, | 39:32 | |
| continuing pollution of air and water, | 39:39 | |
| continuing inflation, continuing crime, | 39:44 | |
| continuing fear, continuing separation of humanity. | 39:50 | |
| What about our artistry | 40:01 | |
| in political, humanitarian, and religious endeavor? | 40:07 | |
| But I have a second question, | 40:19 | |
| and just time to ask it | 40:22 | |
| and to leave it | 40:27 | |
| for a few of you, at least, to think about. | 40:30 | |
| My second question is, | 40:34 | |
| have we come, at last, | 40:39 | |
| to the time when we should consider | 40:44 | |
| that politics and truth is the art of the impossible? | 40:46 | |
| What we have considered as politically possible | 40:56 | |
| seems always to be circumscribed | 41:00 | |
| by apparent power relationships. | 41:04 | |
| What is proposed from time to time | 41:08 | |
| is always judged by the fruits | 41:11 | |
| and the fruits are regularly disappointing | 41:14 | |
| or always judged by whether the power structure | 41:17 | |
| of some agency or some caucus | 41:21 | |
| or some tradition or some institution is threatened. | 41:24 | |
| Is it time to consider some new groupings | 41:31 | |
| of mankind across the world? | 41:36 | |
| Is it impossible to shift the emphasis | 41:40 | |
| from racial classifications to a people orientation | 41:44 | |
| that would cut across racial lines? | 41:52 | |
| Is it impossible to shift from national pride | 41:57 | |
| and self interest to a greater concern for people? | 42:02 | |
| To shift from sex differentiation to people? | 42:08 | |
| From denominational ambitions that divide | 42:15 | |
| to a common concern for people? | 42:20 | |
| From economic success, these are the welfare handouts, | 42:25 | |
| to human fulfillment? | 42:33 | |
| All this relates to the question whether | 42:38 | |
| a more radical and visionary position | 42:46 | |
| can be assumed by both Christianity and politics. | 42:49 | |
| Our colleagues in medicine have set an example | 42:56 | |
| in the fight against cancer, | 43:00 | |
| they are attempting patiently, diligently, ceasely | 43:03 | |
| to accomplish something that has for a long while | 43:12 | |
| been classified as impossible. | 43:15 | |
| Our space explorers have given another example, | 43:19 | |
| the trips to the moon were regarded | 43:23 | |
| only a few brief years ago as being impossible. | 43:26 | |
| The Czech Resistance movement of just a few years back | 43:32 | |
| was another example of the art of the impossible. | 43:36 | |
| Now, will you look again at Jesus? | 43:44 | |
| The same Jesus who talked with his disciples | 43:49 | |
| about having and not having? | 43:52 | |
| Also said, quoting from the book of Deuteronomy | 43:58 | |
| and the tradition into which he was born | 44:06 | |
| and in which he lived and worked, | 44:10 | |
| he said, "Man shall not live by bread alone." | 44:12 | |
| He knew the reality of hunger and was committed | 44:22 | |
| to a ministry to poor people, | 44:26 | |
| but he was not content with a few handouts | 44:27 | |
| and a few temporary expediences, | 44:31 | |
| a few political gestures in the direction of poor people, | 44:34 | |
| he was primarily committed to a liberation of the whole man, | 44:40 | |
| to the fulfillment of every man's potential, | 44:48 | |
| to the impossible business of eliminating conditions | 44:52 | |
| that produce separation, oppression, and strife. | 44:58 | |
| To accomplish his purpose, | 45:07 | |
| Jesus did not risk losing an election | 45:13 | |
| or skinning his knees. | 45:18 | |
| He risked and lost his life. | 45:23 | |
| Perhaps he was not a good politician. | 45:32 | |
| His constituency rejected him. | 45:39 | |
| Or perhaps he was the greatest of politicians. | 45:43 | |
| The centuries have judged him to be truly | 45:54 | |
| the man for the people. | 46:04 | |
| Let us pray. | 46:12 | |
| Behold us, oh Lord, as we continue in worship. | 46:21 | |
| We plan to sing a hymn | 46:27 | |
| in which we shall sing the lines, | 46:34 | |
| these things shall be a loftier race | 46:38 | |
| than e'er the world hath known. | 46:46 | |
| Assist us, oh God, as we reflect upon the implications | 46:53 | |
| of what we shall sing. | 46:59 | |
| We pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. | 47:03 | |
| (organ music) | 47:13 | |
| (singing drowned out by organ music) | 47:47 | |
| (organ music continues) | 49:44 | |
| (organ music) | 50:41 | |
| (indistinct singing) | 52:20 | |
| (organ music) | 55:50 | |
| (singing drowned out by organ music) | 56:29 | |
| - | All mighty God, we now here dedicate | 57:39 |
| this money and ourselves with the prayer | 57:42 | |
| that we and it may actually cause some things | 57:46 | |
| to happen that otherwise would not have been possible, | 57:51 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 57:55 | |
| Now may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, be with us all. | 58:04 | |
| (indistinct singing) | 58:11 | |
| (bell ringing) | 59:20 | |
| (organ music) | 59:42 |
