Stanford R. Hall - Sermon Untitled (May 27, 1973)
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| - | And still we begin one more Sunday, | 0:03 |
| testing 1, 2, 3, 4. | 0:07 | |
| ( orchestral music) | 0:17 | |
| - | We confess our sins together. | 3:33 |
| Would you be seated? | 3:36 | |
| Let's pray. | 3:46 | |
| Oh, Father in heaven, | 3:50 | |
| who does fashion our limbs to serve thee | 3:52 | |
| and our souls to follow hard after thee. | 3:55 | |
| With sorrow and contrition of heart, | 3:59 | |
| we acknowledged before the, | 4:02 | |
| the false and failures of the day that has now passed. | 4:04 | |
| Too long oh father, we have tried thy patience, | 4:09 | |
| too often we have betrayed the sacred trust | 4:12 | |
| thou has given us to keep. | 4:15 | |
| You at thou art's still willing | 4:18 | |
| that we should come to thee and lowliness of heart | 4:20 | |
| as now we do. | 4:23 | |
| Beseeching thee to drown our transgressions in | 4:25 | |
| the sea of thine own infinite love. | 4:27 | |
| Amen. | 4:31 | |
| The words of assurance are these; | 4:34 | |
| Jesus said I am the light of the world | 4:39 | |
| he who follows me will not walk in darkness | 4:41 | |
| but will have the light of life. | 4:45 | |
| Now, you join me reciting together the prayer of our Lord. | 4:48 | |
| Our Father who art in heaven | 4:54 | |
| hallowed be thy name, | 4:58 | |
| thy kingdom come | 5:00 | |
| thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven | 5:02 | |
| give us this day our daily bread | 5:06 | |
| and forgive us, our trespasses | 5:10 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us | 5:12 | |
| and lead us, not into temptation, | 5:16 | |
| but deliver us from evil, | 5:19 | |
| for thine is the kingdom | 5:21 | |
| and the power and the glory forever. | 5:23 | |
| Amen. | 5:27 | |
| Psalm 148. | 5:35 | |
| Praise the Lord. | 5:42 | |
| Praise the Lord from the heavens. | 5:43 | |
| Praise him in the Heights. | 5:45 | |
| Praise him all his angels. | 5:47 | |
| Praise him all his host. | 5:49 | |
| Praise him sun and moon. | 5:52 | |
| Praise him all you shining stars. | 5:55 | |
| Praise him you highest heavens. | 5:57 | |
| And do you waters above the heavens. | 6:00 | |
| Let them praise the name of the Lord. | 6:03 | |
| For he commanded and they were created | 6:05 | |
| and he established them forever and ever. | 6:07 | |
| He fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed. | 6:10 | |
| Praise the Lord from the earth, | 6:14 | |
| you sea monsters and all deeps, | 6:17 | |
| fire and hail, snow and frost, | 6:19 | |
| stormy wind fulfilling his command. | 6:21 | |
| Mountains and all hills, | 6:25 | |
| fruit trees and all Cedars. | 6:26 | |
| Beasts and all cattle, | 6:28 | |
| creeping things and flying birds. | 6:30 | |
| Kings of the earth and old peoples, | 6:33 | |
| princes and all rulers of the earth. | 6:36 | |
| Young men and maidens together, | 6:38 | |
| old men and children. | 6:40 | |
| Let them praise the name of the Lord | 6:42 | |
| for his name alone is exalted. | 6:45 | |
| His glory is above the earth and heaven. | 6:47 | |
| He has raised up a horn for his people. | 6:50 | |
| Praise for all saints, | 6:52 | |
| for the people of Israel who are near to him. | 6:54 | |
| Praise the Lord. | 6:57 | |
| (orchestral music) | 6:59 | |
| Scripture lesson for this morning is in two parts. | 11:30 | |
| First from Isaiah, the 55th chapter verses six through 11, | 11:32 | |
| "Seek the Lord while he may be found | 11:38 | |
| "call upon him while he is near. | 11:43 | |
| "Let the wicked forsake his way | 11:46 | |
| "and the unrighteous man his thoughts, | 11:48 | |
| "let him return to the Lord | 11:51 | |
| "that he may have mercy on him | 11:53 | |
| "and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. | 11:55 | |
| "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, | 11:59 | |
| "neither are your ways my ways says the Lord. | 12:01 | |
| "For as the heavens are higher than the earth | 12:05 | |
| "so are my ways higher than your ways | 12:08 | |
| "and my thoughts than your thoughts. | 12:11 | |
| "For as the rain and snow come down from heaven | 12:14 | |
| "and do not return there but water the earth, | 12:15 | |
| "making it bring forth and sprout | 12:21 | |
| "giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. | 12:23 | |
| "So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, | 12:26 | |
| "it shall not return to me empty | 12:31 | |
| "but it shall accomplish that which I purpose | 12:34 | |
| "and prosper in the thing which I sent it." | 12:37 | |
| From the gospel according to Luke | 12:45 | |
| 11th chapter verses one through 13 | 12:46 | |
| "He was praying in a certain place. | 12:59 | |
| "And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, | 13:01 | |
| "Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples." | 13:05 | |
| "And he said to them when you pray say, | 13:11 | |
| "father hallowed, be thy name, | 13:14 | |
| "thy kingdom come. | 13:17 | |
| "Give us each day our daily bread | 13:21 | |
| "and forgive us our sins | 13:24 | |
| "for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us | 13:25 | |
| "and lead us not into temptation." | 13:30 | |
| "And he said to them, "which of you who has a friend | 13:33 | |
| "We'll go to him at midnight and say to him | 13:36 | |
| "'friend lend me three loaves | 13:39 | |
| "'for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, | 13:41 | |
| "'and I have nothing to set before him.' | 13:43 | |
| "And he will answer from within, 'do not bother me. | 13:47 | |
| "'The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. | 13:50 | |
| "'I cannot get to get up and give you anything.' | 13:56 | |
| "I tell you though, | 14:00 | |
| "he will not get up and give him anything | 14:00 | |
| "because he is his friend yet because of his importunity | 14:02 | |
| "he will rise and give him whatever he needs. | 14:06 | |
| "And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you, | 14:09 | |
| "seek and you will find knock, | 14:13 | |
| "and it will be open to you. | 14:14 | |
| "For everyone who asks, receives, | 14:17 | |
| "and he who seeks finds, | 14:19 | |
| "and to him who knocks it will be open. | 14:21 | |
| "What father among you, | 14:24 | |
| "if his son asks for a fish, | 14:25 | |
| "will instead of a fish give him a serpent | 14:27 | |
| "Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? | 14:30 | |
| "If you then who are evil, | 14:35 | |
| "know how to give good gifts to your children, | 14:36 | |
| "how much more will the heavenly father | 14:39 | |
| "give the holy spirit to those who ask him." | 14:41 | |
| Let us get together on feet. | 14:51 | |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 15:04 | |
| who has come in the true man Jesus | 15:09 | |
| to reconcile and make new | 15:12 | |
| who works in us and others by his spirit. | 15:15 | |
| We trust him. | 15:19 | |
| He calls us to be in his church to celebrate his presence, | 15:21 | |
| to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil. | 15:26 | |
| To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 15:32 | |
| our judge and our hope, | 15:35 | |
| in life, in death | 15:38 | |
| and life beyond death. | 15:40 | |
| God is with us. We are not alone. | 15:42 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 15:46 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 15:50 | |
| Let us pray. | 15:54 | |
| Eternal God our father, | 16:11 | |
| maker of heaven and earth. | 16:14 | |
| We pause in this moment from the frantic pursuits | 16:19 | |
| of our workaday lives | 16:22 | |
| to be reminded that we cannot save ourselves | 16:25 | |
| either by work or by righteousness. | 16:28 | |
| Our father for your mercy | 16:34 | |
| and your infinite patience with us | 16:35 | |
| your disobedient creation, | 16:37 | |
| we offer our prayers. | 16:41 | |
| We celebrate your wisdom | 16:45 | |
| and making a world that has predictability | 16:46 | |
| and regularity built in. | 16:49 | |
| Provide us with a sense of order. | 16:52 | |
| We also celebrate the mystery and surprises woven | 16:56 | |
| into the fabric of our creation, | 17:00 | |
| which keeps us from being bored by never changing routine. | 17:03 | |
| And our father for the risk of your love | 17:11 | |
| and the vulnerability of incarnation. | 17:14 | |
| We rejoice and honor your name, | 17:17 | |
| Confessing our sin. | 17:25 | |
| We are embarrassed because we have asked for forgiveness | 17:26 | |
| for the same thing so many times. | 17:29 | |
| Yet we know we can come again | 17:34 | |
| in repentance and be made whole. | 17:35 | |
| Oh God, | 17:41 | |
| forgive us for continual disobedience | 17:42 | |
| for liking ourselves too much or too little, | 17:46 | |
| for wasting our unique gifts and talents | 17:49 | |
| or losing confidence in the power of your love. | 17:56 | |
| We are wearing ourselves out | 18:01 | |
| in pursuit of making it in this world. | 18:03 | |
| Our Father, we offer thanksgiving for the glory of spring, | 18:11 | |
| the joy of planting seeds and watching their transformation | 18:15 | |
| into flowers and fruit and soft green lawns. | 18:18 | |
| We thank you for friends in our times of need, | 18:23 | |
| for those who refuse to let us just get by | 18:26 | |
| and inspire the best in us. | 18:29 | |
| For those who continue to love us | 18:33 | |
| when we are miserable mean and hateful. | 18:34 | |
| We thank you for sleep, | 18:40 | |
| which restores body and mind | 18:41 | |
| and for your mercy which renews our hope | 18:45 | |
| and refreshes the soul. | 18:48 | |
| Keep us this day in health of body and soundness of mind | 18:53 | |
| and purity of heart and cheerfulness of spirit. | 18:58 | |
| In our labor, strengthen us. | 19:03 | |
| In our pleasure, purify us. | 19:04 | |
| In our times of confusion direct us, | 19:07 | |
| in danger defend us, | 19:11 | |
| in our troubles, comfort us. | 19:13 | |
| Oh God, search the hearts of those who are here this morning | 19:20 | |
| and listening to the service | 19:24 | |
| and minister to our individual needs. | 19:28 | |
| We are lonely and lost. | 19:32 | |
| Some of us are tired of living. | 19:36 | |
| Some haven't yet begun to live. | 19:39 | |
| Some have too much work to do | 19:44 | |
| and others have no work. | 19:47 | |
| There are those for whom the future contains | 19:51 | |
| in this particular moment, | 19:53 | |
| no possibility of light or hope. | 19:56 | |
| We pray for children whose parents don't love them | 20:00 | |
| and for parents who have been deserted by their children. | 20:02 | |
| We pray for those who are in pain | 20:08 | |
| and those who face the uncertainty of an unchecked disease. | 20:10 | |
| For those who face death. | 20:16 | |
| For those who face life without someone | 20:19 | |
| who had given life significance. | 20:21 | |
| Father, we seek your healing power | 20:27 | |
| for the yields of this community | 20:29 | |
| and for our country and world. | 20:31 | |
| Guide us into more abundant living | 20:35 | |
| and use us as instruments of peace in the world. | 20:39 | |
| Spirit and power of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 20:46 | |
| Amen. | 20:52 | |
| Our father and from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, amen. | 21:17 | |
| This day, according to traditional Ecclesiastical calendars | 21:24 | |
| is the Sunday of Rogationtide, | 21:29 | |
| which has been historically a mini penitential season | 21:32 | |
| preceding the celebration of the Ascension, | 21:37 | |
| which falls on the Thursday following us. | 21:41 | |
| The Rogation days, literally meaning | 21:45 | |
| days of asking, | 21:48 | |
| constitute of preparation for that feast. | 21:51 | |
| In years past in rural areas, | 21:56 | |
| Rogation time was the time when the fields were blessed | 21:59 | |
| at planting and when petitions were offered for gentle rain, | 22:03 | |
| a favorable growing season in summer | 22:09 | |
| and for a bountiful autumn harvest. | 22:12 | |
| In years past my own denomination, | 22:16 | |
| along with others added something to Rogationtide. | 22:18 | |
| That addition was called Rural Life Sunday. | 22:24 | |
| The life and work of the farmer | 22:28 | |
| received its proper attention | 22:30 | |
| when viewed as a partnership with the creator | 22:33 | |
| in giving food to the world. | 22:36 | |
| Life lived near the soil did have its own values | 22:39 | |
| and honest toil did have its own rewards. | 22:43 | |
| It is not quite so easy today | 22:49 | |
| to celebrate Rural Life Sunday, | 22:51 | |
| for the business of agriculture is no longer a way of life, | 22:54 | |
| it is industry. | 22:58 | |
| The rural values | 23:01 | |
| have all but disappeared from our lifestyle. | 23:02 | |
| I suspect that the significance of Rural Life Sunday | 23:07 | |
| and rogationtide declined, | 23:10 | |
| as the population in the rural setting declined. | 23:14 | |
| These days, the future and preservation of the cities | 23:18 | |
| has occupied much of our attention. | 23:21 | |
| It is with some sadness (indistinct) | 23:25 | |
| that I recently noticed, | 23:28 | |
| that the latest Ecclesiastical calendar | 23:30 | |
| is from my own denomination. | 23:33 | |
| Carried a new subtitle for Rogationtide, | 23:36 | |
| Environmental Sunday. | 23:40 | |
| I suppose that in the scheme of things, | 23:43 | |
| this is the way that it should be | 23:45 | |
| since that is a more recent concern. | 23:48 | |
| There was nothing wrong and celebrating | 23:51 | |
| an environmental Sunday. | 23:54 | |
| After all we do celebrate | 23:57 | |
| and know things of lesser importance in the church. | 23:59 | |
| But I do often wonder whether or not | 24:03 | |
| the liturgical bus who embark on these quests for relevance, | 24:05 | |
| take the time to do any theological homework. | 24:10 | |
| For if one does note Environmental Sunday, | 24:14 | |
| he must also take into account | 24:19 | |
| some kind of theological encounter with the world. | 24:21 | |
| And our theology of creation is woefully inadequate. | 24:26 | |
| In spite of our attempted flirtation with a new theology, | 24:31 | |
| our efforts are still a long way from being complete. | 24:36 | |
| We have, for example, | 24:43 | |
| talked about loving the world as God loved it, | 24:44 | |
| but we are still afraid to do that fully. | 24:48 | |
| Consider what happened in theological circles | 24:54 | |
| and especially in church denominational offices | 24:58 | |
| when the environmental crisis | 25:01 | |
| was made a part of our corporate consciousness. | 25:04 | |
| What a rush there was | 25:08 | |
| to appropriate this new area of concern. | 25:10 | |
| Frustrated departments of stewardship, | 25:14 | |
| which actually developed gimmicks to raise money, | 25:17 | |
| had a new and relevant gimmick to you. | 25:21 | |
| The earth was suffering from pollution and garbage | 25:25 | |
| because man had been a lousy | 25:29 | |
| and incompetent steward of nature and creation. | 25:31 | |
| While they, that may have been part of a cause | 25:36 | |
| the pollution of water and air | 25:39 | |
| and the depletion of resources | 25:41 | |
| did not come solely from a lack of a sense of stewardship. | 25:44 | |
| The theological definition of the environmental crisis is | 25:49 | |
| best defined in terms of blasphemy. | 25:54 | |
| Taking a gift of race | 25:58 | |
| and abusing and misusing it, | 26:00 | |
| nor will the problem disappear | 26:05 | |
| if liturgical efforts include more prayers | 26:08 | |
| and more responses and more services of our ecology. | 26:11 | |
| Man must face up to his own responsibility | 26:16 | |
| for blaspheming in God's face. | 26:20 | |
| The latest issue of the Atlantic has a remarkable | 26:24 | |
| biographical essay, | 26:28 | |
| which best defines and outlines a starting place in | 26:30 | |
| considering this phenomenon. | 26:34 | |
| In this essay entitled Catholicism First, | 26:37 | |
| Poet Ned O'Gormand laments | 26:42 | |
| the current preoccupation in church life | 26:45 | |
| with simply renovating the trappings. | 26:48 | |
| And he says in a rather lengthy way, | 26:52 | |
| "I learned to love the world | 26:56 | |
| "amidst the whimsical conjunction of the old world | 26:57 | |
| "at its end and the new world of the church | 27:01 | |
| "and its war with modern life and it's beginning. | 27:05 | |
| "I am glad I was not born at that time. | 27:09 | |
| "When I would have learned, | 27:10 | |
| "had to learn of the church under the sun, | 27:14 | |
| "the shadow of a second Vatican council | 27:18 | |
| "and a totally liberated universe. | 27:21 | |
| "It would have been a little for me like learning | 27:24 | |
| "to love music through Wagner. | 27:27 | |
| "There was still then dial enough, | 27:31 | |
| "left over from the past to enable me to worship the Lord, | 27:34 | |
| "fear him, adore the world, | 27:35 | |
| "honor my parents, | 27:43 | |
| "delight in the day, Keep chase | 27:45 | |
| "and yet wonder continually | 27:49 | |
| "about what a glorious, bountiful, tragic, | 27:51 | |
| "sensitive thing life was. | 27:52 | |
| "The world | 27:58 | |
| "and the church had much yet succumb to banal language, | 27:58 | |
| "marketplace liturgies, | 27:59 | |
| "dread of transcendence at a general agreement | 28:06 | |
| "among all the enlightened that mystery, | 28:09 | |
| "glory, holiness, elegance, eternity | 28:13 | |
| "and judgment are evil words | 28:17 | |
| "transmitted with evil intent by neurotic saints | 28:21 | |
| "and even more neurotic churches. | 28:25 | |
| "We must suffer now with mock celebrations | 28:29 | |
| "and the disappearance of theology and sermons. | 28:32 | |
| "I am delighted with much that has gone, | 28:37 | |
| "but I am not delighted with the wasteland | 28:40 | |
| "that has taken its place. | 28:42 | |
| "My childhood church was no wasteland. | 28:46 | |
| "It did not lead me into vulgarity, | 28:49 | |
| "but sermons were mere lessons in hell and sin | 28:53 | |
| "went through all the clumsiness and bad history | 28:58 | |
| "and style there ran right with mystery, | 29:01 | |
| "the riddle of the Lord and the incarnation. | 29:06 | |
| "I think my love of the church perhaps began in those days | 29:11 | |
| "when the church in her monolithic, unliberated, shriveling, | 29:15 | |
| "period could still announced the mystery of creation | 29:19 | |
| "and not fall victim to the marketplace. | 29:25 | |
| "Now, in this new church, | 29:29 | |
| "everything becomes very quickly, very dull. | 29:30 | |
| "There are no processions, no incense, no seed, | 29:35 | |
| "no candles, no vestments, | 29:39 | |
| "no long drawn out liturgies | 29:42 | |
| "where one was forced to think | 29:45 | |
| "whether one liked it or not about the divine. | 29:47 | |
| "Everything now is short, clean, brightly, modern, | 29:52 | |
| "and for all the relevance morbidly uninteresting." | 29:57 | |
| A strong statement, | 30:04 | |
| but the setting in which we might try to understand | 30:06 | |
| the world today. | 30:10 | |
| O'Gorman comments that he was impressed | 30:12 | |
| very early in his life | 30:16 | |
| by the redemptive aspects of Christ's death | 30:17 | |
| and the meanings of them for the life of the world. | 30:22 | |
| But he said, | 30:29 | |
| "the church never really believed | 30:30 | |
| "that the world was quite as good as it was. | 30:32 | |
| "It had never quite gotten used | 30:36 | |
| "to the sheer corporate reality of it. | 30:39 | |
| "That it seems to me strikes | 30:42 | |
| "at the heart of the dilemma that is before us today. | 30:45 | |
| "For in fact, | 30:49 | |
| "we have been anxious to develop a relevant position | 30:50 | |
| "that will assist us in relating to the world. | 30:53 | |
| "When we are reticent about doing a theology of the world. | 30:58 | |
| "we have a dilemma quite like that | 31:03 | |
| "positive, positive, viral cartoon | 31:05 | |
| "in a recent issue of the new Yorker. | 31:08 | |
| "A typical American business executive is stretched out | 31:11 | |
| on a psychiatrist's couch | 31:14 | |
| and there he laments my Protestant work | 31:17 | |
| ethic made me a bundle | 31:20 | |
| and my Puritan guilt complex won't let me enjoy it. | 31:23 | |
| We have been reticent to enjoy the world of our day. | 31:28 | |
| "We have rather taken | 31:33 | |
| "with almost fanatical Zeal | 31:34 | |
| "the biblical exercitation to subdue it. | 31:37 | |
| "We need to be reminded constantly that creation is good | 31:41 | |
| "and it is fragile. | 31:45 | |
| "As a Lutheran document stated several years ago. | 31:48 | |
| "'This is God's world. | 31:51 | |
| "The object of God's love, | 31:53 | |
| "the arena of man's achievement | 31:56 | |
| "and the seed of man's struggle.' | 31:58 | |
| "In the biblical accounts of creation, moreover, | 32:02 | |
| "the verbs used to describe | 32:06 | |
| "the creative activity are strong. | 32:09 | |
| "God makes, fashions, | 32:13 | |
| "creates, speaks | 32:16 | |
| "with the imagery of mystery incoming, | 32:20 | |
| "one might conclude that, | 32:23 | |
| "when God decided to invent everything, | 32:24 | |
| "he took one breath bigger than a circus tent | 32:28 | |
| "and everything began. | 32:32 | |
| "Into the world, God placed man to have dominion over it | 32:35 | |
| "and to subdue it. | 32:39 | |
| "Creation is a gift of grace to man. | 32:42 | |
| "He is to share it in a loving | 32:45 | |
| "and countering transaction with the creator. | 32:47 | |
| "He is to respond to it in love | 32:52 | |
| "and whenever he fails to do this, | 32:55 | |
| "he is guilty of blasphemy. | 32:57 | |
| "Man is charged with the care of this berkeley | 33:01 | |
| "and cosmic garden. | 33:04 | |
| "The Earth, the created universe is the theater of grace | 33:07 | |
| "where God and man meets. | 33:11 | |
| "The creation is not some inner mass | 33:15 | |
| "nor some sculpture form, | 33:19 | |
| "nor some master architect's construction, | 33:22 | |
| "nor a mechanic's contraction. | 33:25 | |
| "It is vibrant and alive. | 33:28 | |
| "A machine derives its meaning | 33:31 | |
| "and virtue from exterior sources. | 33:33 | |
| "The world of creation contains life within it. | 33:37 | |
| "It does not move merely at the whim of the creator, | 33:42 | |
| "the creation and the creature | 33:46 | |
| "can even rebel against the creator. | 33:49 | |
| "It is not as philosopher David Hume suggested, | 33:52 | |
| "a first root essay or prototype of a better model. | 33:55 | |
| "It is good. | 34:01 | |
| "The Old Testament law in the book of Leviticus | 34:03 | |
| "provided some guidelines for the care of the earth. | 34:06 | |
| "The land was to lie fallow for one year in each seven. | 34:10 | |
| "There was to be care and sharing with everyone | 34:16 | |
| "and especially with those who had no land | 34:23 | |
| "and there was to be conservation, | 34:26 | |
| "and the whole nation would prosper. | 34:28 | |
| "Where there is the investment of self, | 34:32 | |
| "of God's own self and being in the creation. | 34:36 | |
| "Anthony town was moved to write | 34:41 | |
| "a few years ago with Tongue In Cheek | 34:44 | |
| "excerpts rom the Diaries of the Late God | 34:47 | |
| "and in an apocryphal manner, he quotes, | 34:51 | |
| "God is saying, | 34:54 | |
| "'I am bored with it all | 34:56 | |
| "'here I sit, | 34:58 | |
| "'I am omniscient, | 35:01 | |
| "'I am omnipotent, | 35:02 | |
| "'I am omnipresent, | 35:04 | |
| "'I am divine, | 35:05 | |
| "'I am Supreme, | 35:07 | |
| "'I am a map of the bull. | 35:08 | |
| "'I am in short God, | 35:11 | |
| "'but I am condemned to look out | 35:13 | |
| "'interminably in all directions into an impenetrable void. | 35:15 | |
| "'If only I had something to do, | 35:21 | |
| "'something creative, | 35:23 | |
| "'I am only bored. | 35:26 | |
| "'I am so full of myself, I think I could create a world. | 35:29 | |
| "'I have created the heavens and the earth | 35:33 | |
| "'alpha to omega. | 35:37 | |
| "'Why don't we do this again? | 35:38 | |
| "'The toughest part of it was setting it all up | 35:40 | |
| "'so that later on geologists and paleontologists | 35:43 | |
| "'and whatnot would be able to satisfy themselves | 35:47 | |
| "'that it all happened naturally | 35:51 | |
| "'and in no way, violated the evolutionary process. | 35:52 | |
| "'I carefully included skeletons of prehistoric monsters, | 35:58 | |
| "'remnants of a missing lake, | 36:01 | |
| "'bits of meteorites from other planets, | 36:04 | |
| "'rock formations | 36:07 | |
| "'that might have been caused by glacial erosion and so on. | 36:08 | |
| "'I wanted there to be sufficient evidence to rule out | 36:13 | |
| "'absolutely any suggestion | 36:17 | |
| "'that my creation was some sort of supernatural phenomenon. | 36:19 | |
| "'There was nothing, whatever supernatural about it. | 36:23 | |
| "'It was blood, sweat, and tears | 36:27 | |
| "'if you want to know the truth. | 36:29 | |
| "'There is nothing the least bit spooky | 36:32 | |
| "'believe me about playing hard work. | 36:34 | |
| "'What a satisfaction to have had a dream | 36:37 | |
| "'to have nurtured and intended it | 36:40 | |
| "'and finally to have seen it become a reality. | 36:43 | |
| "'I have seen that it is good. | 36:47 | |
| "'So it is that the creation was begun and continued. | 36:50 | |
| "'Here are the contradictions from the biblical tradition, | 36:54 | |
| "'rise up to frustrate us. | 36:58 | |
| "'Gloria pottery affirms a world without him | 37:00 | |
| "'while the second epistle of Peter | 37:06 | |
| "'informs us that the day of the Lord | 37:08 | |
| "'will come like a thief. | 37:10 | |
| "'And then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise | 37:13 | |
| "'and the elements will be dissolved | 37:16 | |
| "'with fire and the earth will be burned up. | 37:18 | |
| "'And the writer of the revelation envisions | 37:22 | |
| "'a new heaven and a new Earth, | 37:25 | |
| "'for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away | 37:27 | |
| "'and the sea was no more. | 37:32 | |
| "'And I saw the holy city, | 37:35 | |
| "'new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven | 37:36 | |
| "'from God | 37:39 | |
| "'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. | 37:41 | |
| "'And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, | 37:45 | |
| "'behold, the dwelling of God is with men. | 37:48 | |
| "'He will dwell with them and they shall be his people | 37:51 | |
| "'and God himself will be with them.' | 37:56 | |
| "'And he who sat upon the throne said, | 37:59 | |
| "'behold, I make all things new.' | 38:02 | |
| "'Clearly, | 38:07 | |
| "'these writers expected | 38:08 | |
| "'the complete destruction of creation | 38:09 | |
| "'and did not look forward just a renovation of it. | 38:13 | |
| There would be a complete replacement by God, | 38:17 | |
| "'a new creation. | 38:22 | |
| "'These days, we no longer speak in those terms. | 38:26 | |
| "'There is indeed the capacity in the world | 38:30 | |
| "'to reduce it to ashes, | 38:33 | |
| "'but it is man who possesses that power | 38:35 | |
| "'and threatens to use it. | 38:38 | |
| "'Not God. | 38:40 | |
| "'In fact, | 38:42 | |
| I suppose it might be | 38:43 | |
| "'that the new health player preachers of damnation | 38:47 | |
| "'and the destruction of the world, | 38:50 | |
| "'are those who have made the environmental problem | 38:52 | |
| "'number one on their list of priorities. | 38:56 | |
| "'They recognize the law of retribution | 39:00 | |
| "'and can effectively use fear to bring about strain. | 39:04 | |
| "'And I am not inferring that that is bad. | 39:09 | |
| "'It may well be that is what is needed | 39:13 | |
| "'to shake us off our liberty | 39:15 | |
| "'or if this earth is to be replaced, | 39:19 | |
| "'then the pollution of our environment | 39:22 | |
| "'may just be a passing phase of little significance. | 39:25 | |
| "'Yet, I cannot believe that | 39:30 | |
| "we should wait for that to happen. | 39:32 | |
| "'Just how one should deal | 39:36 | |
| "'with the passages of cosmic doom | 39:37 | |
| "'in these days I am not certain. | 39:40 | |
| "'But I remain convinced of one thing. | 39:43 | |
| "'The environmental problem is the sin of blasphemy | 39:46 | |
| "'as the gospel for this day said, | 39:51 | |
| "'God gives good gifts. | 39:55 | |
| "'Creation is that gift. | 39:58 | |
| "'It may be that the new earth may emerge | 40:01 | |
| "'only as man gives himself to its renewal | 40:05 | |
| "'instead of continuing to stand recalcitrance | 40:09 | |
| "'and grumpy in the presence of a gracious God. | 40:12 | |
| "'Some years ago in a volume entitled "Significantly" | 40:17 | |
| "'the Christian doctrine of creation | 40:22 | |
| "'and redemption. | 40:25 | |
| "'Theologian Ameil Bruno noted that man | 40:27 | |
| "'realizes his divine destiny | 40:30 | |
| "'only when he rises above nature | 40:33 | |
| "'and looks at it from a distance. | 40:36 | |
| "'If he worships nature, | 40:38 | |
| "'he does not maintain a proper perspective. | 40:40 | |
| "'His civilizations and cultures must be humane | 40:45 | |
| "'and creative, otherwise, | 40:48 | |
| "'he will destroy himself and nature. | 40:51 | |
| "'And Bruno concludes upon this foundation alone | 40:56 | |
| "'will a man use his mastery of natural rights? | 41:01 | |
| "'Only thus will need be preserved from a selfish, | 41:06 | |
| "'arrogant exploitation of nature, | 41:10 | |
| "'which is a perversion of his power. | 41:14 | |
| "'Man is not called to an absolute arbitrary | 41:18 | |
| "'mastery over nature, | 41:20 | |
| "'but to a mastery of nature, | 41:23 | |
| "'which remains under the order of the creator | 41:25 | |
| "'and therefore honors and loves the created universe | 41:29 | |
| "'as God's creation. | 41:33 | |
| "'I am convinced | 41:36 | |
| "'that man has been summoned to fill the earth | 41:39 | |
| "'and to clean it up. | 41:41 | |
| "'He may now live east of it, | 41:43 | |
| "'but he lives in an ecological setting | 41:46 | |
| "'which implies an interdependence | 41:49 | |
| "'so that what he does affects everything and | 41:54 | |
| "'every one in the world. | 41:56 | |
| "'For the theologically attentive, | 41:59 | |
| "'it is God the creator who has issued the sermons. | 42:01 | |
| "'God after all is not found in theology, | 42:07 | |
| "'nor in dogmas, | 42:10 | |
| "'nor in the Bible, | 42:12 | |
| "'nor in creeds, | 42:13 | |
| "'but in the processes of the earth. | 42:14 | |
| "'And when the Bible and creeds of theology are applied | 42:18 | |
| "'to the building of the earth. | 42:22 | |
| "'Only then do they become the revelation | 42:24 | |
| "'or self-disclosure of God. | 42:29 | |
| "'or as the Bible speaks Of salvation. | 42:32 | |
| "'So if they find salvation as any event of recreation, | 42:37 | |
| "'saving the creation is like the imagery | 42:44 | |
| "'of Gerard Manley Hopkins who's verse bring | 42:47 | |
| "'best get us the picture of what happens | 42:52 | |
| "'in the process of creation and redemption. | 42:54 | |
| "'Nothing is so beautiful as spring | 42:58 | |
| "'when weeds and wheels shoot long and lovely and lush | 43:02 | |
| "'Russia's eggs look little oh, heavens | 43:07 | |
| "'and thrust through the echoing timbers | 43:12 | |
| "'does so rinse and ring the year. | 43:14 | |
| "'It strikes like lightnings to hear him say, | 43:17 | |
| ""glassy pear tree leaves and blues. | 43:21 | |
| "'They brush the descending blue, | 43:25 | |
| "'the racing lambs to have fair they're playing. | 43:28 | |
| "'What is all this juice | 43:31 | |
| "'and all this joy? | 43:33 | |
| "'strain of the earth, | 43:36 | |
| "'sweet being in the beginning, in Eden garden.' | 43:37 | |
| "'And Hopkins reminds us and yet another verse. | 43:43 | |
| "'And for all this nature is never spent | 43:46 | |
| "'their lives the dearest freshness, | 43:50 | |
| "'deep down things because the Holy Ghost | 43:52 | |
| "'over the bent world broods with warm breasts | 43:56 | |
| "'and with our right-wing. | 44:02 | |
| "'Alfred North Whitehead and processing reality, | 44:05 | |
| "'described God as the poet of the world | 44:08 | |
| "'with tender patience, | 44:13 | |
| "'leading it by his vision of truth, | 44:15 | |
| "'beauty and goodness. | 44:18 | |
| "'What does the future hold? | 44:21 | |
| "'One cannot be certain, | 44:24 | |
| "'but one can guess that man could make this place | 44:26 | |
| "'uninhabitable by his carelessness | 44:29 | |
| "'or the promises of creations renewal | 44:33 | |
| "'are to be found within nature itself | 44:36 | |
| "'and within the faith that occasions, | 44:40 | |
| "'even this modest attempt | 44:44 | |
| "'to deal with the theology of everything. | 44:45 | |
| "'The earth is the Lord's | 44:49 | |
| "'and the fullness thereof just as the Psalmist said it was. | 44:50 | |
| "'It can be a man's home or it can be his undoing. | 44:56 | |
| "'It was Joseph Sittler | 45:02 | |
| "'who declared in new Delhi over a decade ago | 45:03 | |
| "'when millions of the world's people | 45:07 | |
| "'inside the church and outside of it | 45:10 | |
| "'know that damnation now threatens man | 45:14 | |
| "'and societies in history. | 45:16 | |
| "'It is not likely that witness to a light | 45:19 | |
| "'that does not unfold on a loom in the world as nature | 45:22 | |
| "'will be even comprehensible. | 45:28 | |
| "'For the root pathos of our time, | 45:30 | |
| "'it's the struggle by the people of the world | 45:33 | |
| "'in many and various ways | 45:37 | |
| "'to find some principle order or power, | 45:39 | |
| "'which shall be strong enough | 45:42 | |
| "'to contain the raging Thrones, dominions, principalities, | 45:45 | |
| "'which restrict and ravage human life. | 45:49 | |
| "'If to the longing of all men everywhere | 45:54 | |
| "'we are to propose him of whom | 45:57 | |
| "'and through whom and in whom are all things. | 46:00 | |
| "'Then that proposal must be made in redemptive terms | 46:04 | |
| "'that are forged in the furnace of man's crucial engagement | 46:08 | |
| "'with nature as both potential to blessedness | 46:12 | |
| "'and potential to fail. | 46:17 | |
| "'That redemptive task must begin now. | 46:21 | |
| "'Our God has never said that his comments | 46:25 | |
| "'and commands of old are now inoperative. | 46:27 | |
| "'This is the time to see | 46:32 | |
| "'that vision of his new heaven and Earth | 46:34 | |
| "'this is the time to say it again. | 46:37 | |
| "'With mystery comings, you can always quote in church. | 46:40 | |
| "'I thank you God for most this amazing day | 46:44 | |
| "'for the leak thing greenly spirits of trees | 46:49 | |
| "'and a true blue dream of sky | 46:52 | |
| "'and for everything which is natural, | 46:55 | |
| "'which is infinite, which is yes.'" | 46:58 | |
| Let us pray. | 47:02 | |
| Dark days and troubled nights take their toll oh Lord, | 47:05 | |
| tragedy abroad and indifference at home | 47:09 | |
| was sent the spirits of man. | 47:12 | |
| We pray for light against the darkness | 47:15 | |
| and for the sword of your spirit | 47:18 | |
| against the bonds of indifference. | 47:20 | |
| That we may come alive | 47:23 | |
| and be useful to you in the days to come. | 47:25 | |
| Amen. | 47:29 | |
| (orchestral music) | 47:32 | |
| Our Father, we offer in dedication these gifts | 56:02 | |
| as a reasonable and significant part of our worship | 56:05 | |
| it's our prayer that they will be received | 56:09 | |
| in the spirit in which they are given as free gifts. | 56:11 | |
| Our father may they symbolize the giving | 56:15 | |
| of our lives into thy total service. | 56:17 | |
| In Christ's name we pray. | 56:20 | |
| (orchestral music) | 56:30 | |
| (feet shuffling) | 1:00:44 | |
| (orchestral music) | 1:00:52 | |
| (bell chiming ) | 1:02:01 |