B. Maurice Ritchie - "Arise, Shine, for Your Light Has Come" (January 6, 1974)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(gentle organ music) | 0:05 | |
(proud organ music) | 1:19 | |
- | If my people who are called by my name | 3:52 |
shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face | 3:55 | |
and return from their wicked ways, | 3:59 | |
then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin | 4:01 | |
and heal their land. | 4:05 | |
And we join together now | 4:07 | |
in the morning prayer of confession. | 4:08 | |
Let us pray. | 4:13 | |
We confess, light of life, | 4:15 | |
that our world has too long lain in darkness. | 4:18 | |
The true light of the world has come. | 4:22 | |
We see him but little. | 4:26 | |
The darkness, Lord, is ours. | 4:28 | |
As you heal the blind of old, | 4:32 | |
So heal our blindness now, | 4:34 | |
that we may see your true light | 4:37 | |
and return to some portion of that light | 4:39 | |
no darkness can finally dim. | 4:42 | |
The words of assurance are these. | 4:47 | |
I am the light of the world, said Jesus, | 4:50 | |
no follower of mine shall wander in the dark. | 4:53 | |
He shall have the light of life. | 4:57 | |
And we offer up together the prayer of our Lord. | 5:00 | |
Let us pray. | 5:03 | |
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 5:05 | |
Thy kingdom come, | 5:11 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 5:12 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 5:17 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 5:20 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 5:22 | |
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, | 5:26 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory | 5:31 | |
forever and ever. | 5:35 | |
Amen. | 5:38 | |
(melancholy organ music) | 5:52 | |
(dramatic operatic singing) | 6:34 | |
- | Scripture lessons for this morning | 11:40 |
are taken From Paul's letter to the Ephesians, | 11:42 | |
chapter three, 1 through 12, | 11:46 | |
and from the gospel according to St. Matthew, | 11:47 | |
the second chapter, verses one and two. | 11:50 | |
With this in mind, I make my prayer. | 11:57 | |
I, Paul, who in the cause of you Gentiles | 12:00 | |
am now the prisoner of Christ, Jesus. | 12:03 | |
For surely you have heard how God has assigned | 12:06 | |
the gift of his grace to me for your benefit. | 12:08 | |
It was by a revelation that his secret was made known to me. | 12:12 | |
I have already written a brief account of this. | 12:16 | |
And by reading it, you may perceive | 12:18 | |
that I understand the secret of Christ. | 12:20 | |
In former generations, | 12:23 | |
this was not disclosed to the human race, | 12:24 | |
but now it has been revealed by inspiration | 12:28 | |
to his dedicated apostles and prophets. | 12:30 | |
And through the gospel, | 12:33 | |
the Gentiles are joint heirs with the Jews, | 12:34 | |
part of the same body, shares together in the promise | 12:37 | |
made in Christ, Jesus. | 12:41 | |
Such is the gospel | 12:43 | |
of which I was made a minister by God's gift, | 12:45 | |
bestowed and merited on me and the working of his power. | 12:48 | |
To me, who am less than the least of all God's people, | 12:53 | |
he has granted of his grace | 12:57 | |
the privilege of proclaiming to the Gentiles | 12:58 | |
the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ, | 13:01 | |
and of bringing to light how this hidden purpose | 13:05 | |
was to be put into effect. | 13:07 | |
It was hidden for long ages in God, | 13:10 | |
the creator of the universe, | 13:12 | |
in order that now, through the church, | 13:14 | |
the wisdom of God in all its varied forms | 13:16 | |
might be made known to the rulers and authorities | 13:19 | |
in the realms of heaven. | 13:22 | |
This is an accord with his age-long purpose, | 13:24 | |
which he achieved in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. | 13:27 | |
In him, we have access to God with freedom | 13:31 | |
and the confidence born of trust in him. | 13:34 | |
Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judea, | 13:45 | |
during the reign of Herod. | 13:48 | |
After his birth, astrologers from the east | 13:50 | |
arrived in Jerusalem asking, | 13:52 | |
where is the child who is born to be king of the Jews? | 13:55 | |
The responsive scripture for this morning | 14:01 | |
is number 6:36 in your handhold. | 14:03 | |
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, | 14:25 | |
herald of good tidings. | 14:28 | |
(audience murmuring) | 14:31 | |
Lift it up. Fear not. | 14:35 | |
(audience murmuring) | 14:37 | |
Behold, the Lord God comes with might | 14:42 | |
and his arm rules for him. | 14:45 | |
(audience murmuring) | 14:48 | |
He will feed his flock like a shepherd. | 14:53 | |
(audience murmuring) | 14:57 | |
He will carry them in his bosom. | 14:59 | |
(audience murmuring) | 15:02 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 15:06 | |
Let us affirm our faith. | 15:49 | |
We are not alone. | 15:53 | |
We live in God's world. | 15:55 | |
We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 15:57 | |
who has come in the true man, Jesus, | 16:03 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 16:06 | |
who works in us and others by his spirit. | 16:09 | |
We trust him. | 16:13 | |
He calls us to be in his church, to celebrate his presence, | 16:15 | |
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, | 16:21 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 16:27 | |
our judge and our hope, in life, in death, | 16:30 | |
in life beyond death, God is with us. | 16:36 | |
We are not alone. Thanks be to God. | 16:40 | |
The Lord be with you. | 16:46 | |
(audience murmuring) | 16:47 | |
Let us pray. | 16:49 | |
Eternal God, our Father. | 17:09 | |
From who's creative power we possess the breath of life. | 17:12 | |
From who's eternal purpose we receive | 17:17 | |
and can rightfully claim our place in your unfolding, | 17:20 | |
redemptive history. | 17:25 | |
And from whom we have been given | 17:28 | |
the gift of beginning again | 17:30 | |
with each new birth of the Christ into our presence. | 17:31 | |
We approach the mystery of your being with childlike wonder, | 17:36 | |
seeking comfort and assurance, courage and forgiveness. | 17:41 | |
We come, we admit as much out of habit | 17:49 | |
as we do out of reverence and pressing need, | 17:51 | |
and we ask your forgiveness for living most of the time | 17:56 | |
as if we were orphans | 17:59 | |
instead of heirs of the creator of the universe. | 18:02 | |
We hardly know how walk in the world | 18:07 | |
although we often speak boldly | 18:09 | |
of the coming of your kingdom when we worship. | 18:11 | |
We are unable to cry. | 18:17 | |
Sometimes we can't stop crying. | 18:22 | |
We don't know how to love ourselves | 18:27 | |
or one another very well, | 18:28 | |
or how to accept love. | 18:31 | |
Forgive us for blaming the past for our faults | 18:36 | |
and for avoiding responsibilities of the present moment | 18:40 | |
in waiting for tomorrow. | 18:43 | |
Forgive us for the dishonesty of making ourselves believe | 18:48 | |
when doubt is the shape of who we are. | 18:52 | |
And for holding on to disbelief | 18:56 | |
because we cannot see you or fully comprehend your mystery. | 18:58 | |
Help us to know that you do not need our consistency. | 19:07 | |
Oh God, we are so often insensitive | 19:16 | |
to the pain and aching loneliness | 19:18 | |
crying out for relief all around us. | 19:20 | |
Overbearing in our demands on others. | 19:25 | |
Provincial in our vision and awareness, | 19:29 | |
and too preoccupied with the trivial to be surprised | 19:33 | |
by the joy of the continual unfolding of your creation. | 19:36 | |
Forgive us. | 19:40 | |
For the stillness and freshness, | 19:45 | |
for the new possibilities of each new morning, | 19:49 | |
we offer thanks. | 19:52 | |
For the infinite variety of good smells and bad, | 19:55 | |
for the joy of good food, | 19:59 | |
for a hot shower after a hard day's work, | 20:03 | |
for the look of care and love in the eyes of a friend, | 20:09 | |
for the inspiration we receive | 20:15 | |
from the enthusiasm and idealism of youth, | 20:17 | |
for the satisfaction of a job well done, | 20:22 | |
for each new insight that reveals a bit more | 20:27 | |
of the shape of truth about ourselves and the world, | 20:29 | |
for worldwide media communications and modern transportation | 20:36 | |
that bind all peoples of the world a little more closely, | 20:40 | |
for the 10,000 different textures of the world | 20:47 | |
that make the experience of touching | 20:50 | |
one of unique pleasure for our lives, | 20:52 | |
we are grateful and we rejoice. | 20:56 | |
We give thanks for freedom to be ourselves | 21:00 | |
even when we sometimes can't accept that freedom. | 21:03 | |
We rejoice in the truth that each of us | 21:08 | |
is unique and different. | 21:11 | |
And yet in so many ways alike | 21:14 | |
in our needs, hopes, and dreams. | 21:16 | |
Help us to put away our fear of knowing and being known. | 21:22 | |
Our Father, search our hearts | 21:29 | |
and minister to us and through us. | 21:31 | |
We represent a great variety of needs and desires. | 21:35 | |
We would raise up for your healing those here | 21:41 | |
and those listening over radio who are lonely, | 21:44 | |
those who suffer the ache of separation | 21:49 | |
from those who care and are cared for, | 21:52 | |
those who are fugitives and being pursued. | 21:56 | |
We lift up parents and children, | 22:01 | |
the very young, full of questions, | 22:05 | |
and the very old, full of questions. | 22:08 | |
Those who are burning themselves out | 22:13 | |
and those who have nothing to do. | 22:15 | |
We pray for those this day who face great decisions, | 22:19 | |
for those who are suffering | 22:24 | |
the consequences of wrong decisions, | 22:25 | |
and for those who live in the agony | 22:30 | |
of an unrelenting sense of guilt. | 22:32 | |
We pray for those confined to beds | 22:36 | |
because of illness of body or mind. | 22:39 | |
We pray for our nation in its present agony. | 22:46 | |
And we pray for the vast multitudes throughout the world | 22:53 | |
who are suffering because of the greed | 22:56 | |
and irresponsibility of nations of abundance in our time. | 23:00 | |
Our Father, minister through us and through your spirit | 23:08 | |
to encourage, to heal, to accompany, to release, to touch, | 23:14 | |
to feed, to care, to lift, to accept, | 23:24 | |
to fill with power and resurrect with joy. | 23:32 | |
Hear us, Father, and help us to receive | 23:38 | |
your gift of forgiveness in life | 23:40 | |
in Jesus, the Christ, our Lord. | 23:44 | |
Amen. | 23:49 | |
- | The reading of the word continues | 24:07 |
with this selection from the 60th chapter | 24:12 | |
of Isaiah, the prophet. | 24:14 | |
Arise, shine, for your light has come, | 24:18 | |
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. | 24:22 | |
For behold: darkness shall cover the earth, | 24:27 | |
and thick darkness, the peoples, | 24:31 | |
but the Lord will arise upon you | 24:35 | |
and his glory will be seen upon you. | 24:38 | |
A nation shall come to your light, | 24:43 | |
and Kings to the brightness of your rising. | 24:47 | |
Lift up your eyes roundabout and see, | 24:52 | |
they all gather together, they come to you. | 24:57 | |
Your son shall come from afar, | 25:01 | |
and your daughter shall be carried in the arms. | 25:05 | |
Then you shall see and be radiant. | 25:10 | |
Your heart shall thrill and rejoice. | 25:14 | |
Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, | 25:18 | |
the wealth of the nation shall come to you. | 25:22 | |
A multitude of camels shall cover you, | 25:27 | |
the young camels of Median and Effa. | 25:29 | |
All those from Sheba shall come. | 25:33 | |
They shall bring gold and frankincense | 25:37 | |
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. | 25:41 | |
All the flocks of Kadar shall be gathered to you. | 25:45 | |
The rams of Nabayoth shall minister to you. | 25:50 | |
They shall come up with acceptance on my altar, | 25:55 | |
and I will glorify my glorious house. | 26:00 | |
And here ends the old Testament lesson. | 26:07 | |
Let us bow in prayer. | 26:13 | |
Open thou, oh Lord, my lips, | 26:17 | |
that my mouth shall show forth thy praise. | 26:22 | |
Amen. | 26:28 | |
I can imagine that many of us may be reading | 26:32 | |
this particular portion of scripture | 26:36 | |
rather differently this year. | 26:39 | |
We would shine a little more | 26:43 | |
if we just had the energy to shine with. | 26:45 | |
The darkness covering the earth, | 26:50 | |
and thick darkness, the peoples. | 26:52 | |
These are themes which ring truer | 26:56 | |
perhaps than ever this year. | 26:58 | |
Perhaps we can now more fully appreciate | 27:04 | |
the light and dark themes | 27:07 | |
which beat through the story of Christmas and epiphany. | 27:11 | |
But what are we to make of this beautiful text | 27:19 | |
for epiphany Sunday. | 27:22 | |
As I read it over, it struck me that superficially | 27:28 | |
there appears to be a tragic irony | 27:32 | |
between these bright and hopeful words | 27:35 | |
and our present situation. | 27:39 | |
Arise, shine, your light has come. | 27:43 | |
When there is a cloud of darkness threatening the nation | 27:49 | |
because of a crisis of energy. | 27:52 | |
Arise, shine, | 27:56 | |
and still the nation is in the dark | 27:59 | |
about the full sweep and shape of Watergate. | 28:02 | |
Arise, shine, with a threat of recession, | 28:08 | |
inflation still uncontrolled, | 28:14 | |
and the level of public confidence in elected officials | 28:16 | |
plunging to ever new lows. | 28:20 | |
Who can talk about nations coming to the light of God | 28:24 | |
in a year when the church experiences | 28:30 | |
a steady downward trend in her own ranks. | 28:33 | |
Who can say arise, shine, | 28:39 | |
when the people in this country increasingly live in fear | 28:41 | |
of violation of property and person | 28:46 | |
because of seemingly uncontrollable crime. | 28:49 | |
And when drugs are used with increasing frequency | 28:54 | |
and increasingly tragic results by old and young. | 28:58 | |
The editorial page of Friday, | 29:06 | |
Charlotte Observer spoke eloquently of the uncertainty | 29:08 | |
if not the pessimism that lies over America | 29:12 | |
in the wee hours of the new year. | 29:15 | |
Here are a few of the titles. | 29:21 | |
Can we learn to live with less? | 29:25 | |
New Year looks grim for blacks. | 29:30 | |
US is facing political crisis two. | 29:34 | |
Israel's Hawks: their gains hamper peace. | 29:40 | |
And as if that were not enough, | 29:47 | |
it looks now as though what promised to be | 29:50 | |
the greatest celestial firecracker of the millennium | 29:53 | |
is going to spew after all. | 29:56 | |
Even good old comet Kohutek has not been able thus far | 30:00 | |
to rise and shine with a dramatic flare and intensity | 30:05 | |
prognosticated by world astronomers. | 30:08 | |
So we might ask, | 30:14 | |
does Isaiah not speak vain words | 30:15 | |
for contemporary American Christians? | 30:17 | |
What is there after all to shine about? | 30:21 | |
And on the basis of what do we arise? | 30:24 | |
We are gravely tempted to beat our breast | 30:30 | |
at a time like the present, | 30:32 | |
and to presume that there must be a qualitative distinction | 30:34 | |
between Isaiah's day and ours. | 30:38 | |
Ah, there and then, | 30:42 | |
there and then must have been an age of faith | 30:44 | |
abundantly rewarded by a God who cares for his own. | 30:48 | |
But was it? | 30:53 | |
Let's look at our Isaiah passage a bit more closely. | 30:56 | |
The most beautiful of the Isaiah passages | 31:02 | |
were written at critical times in Israel's history, | 31:05 | |
rung out of some of the most uncertain | 31:10 | |
and unsettling moments the nation encountered. | 31:12 | |
The beautiful comfort poem of Isaiah 40, | 31:17 | |
which most of us know from handles Messiah, | 31:21 | |
was written Isaiah and a handful of other Jewish leaders | 31:24 | |
languished in Babylonian exile. | 31:30 | |
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. | 31:34 | |
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her | 31:38 | |
that her warfare is ended, that iniquity is pardoned. | 31:42 | |
That stirring passage was written | 31:48 | |
from deep in the bowels of Babylon, | 31:51 | |
while the superpowers, Persia and Babylon, | 31:54 | |
toyed with Judah's faith. | 31:58 | |
It was an incredible vision of faith | 32:02 | |
that sang the lyrics of freedom for Judah | 32:04 | |
in those uncertain times recorded in the 40th chapter. | 32:08 | |
And now in the 60th chapter, we find a similar setting. | 32:14 | |
The Hebrews have returned to Zion, | 32:19 | |
the spiritual heartbeat of their faith, | 32:22 | |
but all is not yet fulfilled as Judah had hoped in faith. | 32:26 | |
So now, with the longed-for salvation | 32:33 | |
of the people still outstanding, | 32:36 | |
Isaiah restates the vision and the promise. | 32:39 | |
Arise, shine, the glory of the Lord has arisen upon you. | 32:44 | |
The Lord will rise upon you | 32:49 | |
and his glory will be seen upon you. | 32:52 | |
It seems that in Isaiah's mind there is a firm assurance | 32:57 | |
of the promise of God's glory in Judah, | 33:02 | |
even though it is not yet accomplished. | 33:06 | |
Still, the superpowers move over the horizons | 33:10 | |
like great tides, pulling Judah now one way, now another. | 33:13 | |
Still things at home are unsettled and uncertain, | 33:19 | |
but still too, God's promises are sure | 33:25 | |
and his decisions firm. | 33:29 | |
The glory of the Lord will be revealed. | 33:32 | |
The 60th chapter closes with this word from Isaiah. | 33:38 | |
I am the Lord, Sajawe. In its time, I will hasten it. | 33:43 | |
It came as something of a revelation to me | 33:54 | |
as I read and reread this morning's text | 33:57 | |
that Isaiah was not reciting the lyrics | 34:01 | |
of a primitive, naive Judean optimism with his poetry. | 34:04 | |
The light of Judah in this text | 34:12 | |
is not the light of a primitive middle Eastern nationalism, | 34:15 | |
but the light of God himself. | 34:20 | |
Yes, Judah would shine, | 34:24 | |
but only with a light reflected from the glory of God. | 34:27 | |
God had made his choice and decided in favor of this people, | 34:33 | |
in many ways repugnant to him. | 34:39 | |
But Judah would share his glory by virtue of God's decision | 34:43 | |
and God's act. | 34:49 | |
It only remained for Judah to lay hold of the decision. | 34:51 | |
What is celebrated in Isaiah | 34:58 | |
is the light of the glory of God, | 35:00 | |
which is truly present already in God's promise, | 35:02 | |
though not yet revealed and present in its true magnitude. | 35:06 | |
This passage interpreted as addressed to us | 35:17 | |
contemporary American Christians | 35:20 | |
might say something like this. | 35:22 | |
The light of the glory of God toward which Judah pointed | 35:25 | |
has been revealed to us Gentiles in Jesus of Nazareth. | 35:29 | |
Our light has come in Christ | 35:35 | |
and comes again with every celebration of his gospel life | 35:39 | |
in whatever form it occurs. | 35:43 | |
But we must claim the light by allowing it | 35:47 | |
to illumine our lives | 35:49 | |
in such a way that Christ is the very foundation. | 35:52 | |
The glory of God, the light of God, | 35:59 | |
God's decision to reveal his glory. | 36:03 | |
That's what our text is all about. | 36:07 | |
All through the Old Testament, | 36:11 | |
light is symbol for salvation in the presence of God. | 36:13 | |
So what Isaiah was saying of old and what he says now to us | 36:18 | |
as we look back at his words in the perspective of Christ, | 36:23 | |
is this. | 36:27 | |
Build your life, Americans, on the glory of God. | 36:30 | |
Darkness may cover the earth. | 36:37 | |
Thick darkness, the peoples. | 36:41 | |
But the Lord has arisen upon us | 36:44 | |
in all the old Testament fathers | 36:48 | |
and now in the fullness of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 36:50 | |
In God's glory, we can arise. | 36:56 | |
And in God's glory, we can shine. | 37:01 | |
There's a lot of easy talk now | 37:09 | |
about the potentially redeeming aspects | 37:12 | |
of the many crises or at least dilemmas | 37:16 | |
which now face America. | 37:19 | |
Maybe you noticed yesterday | 37:23 | |
in the Durham Morning Harold, Jack Adams' article, | 37:25 | |
the lead line of which was | 37:30 | |
"Some of Durham's church leaders say the energy crisis | 37:33 | |
may be a blessing in disguise." | 37:37 | |
There is speculation that families may even spend more time | 37:42 | |
together and return to church. | 37:45 | |
Eric Sevareid spoke on a recent news show | 37:51 | |
of the awakening of certain values long dormant in America. | 37:53 | |
Values like self-sacrifice and saving, | 37:59 | |
as opposed to self-indulgence and consumption. | 38:03 | |
We can all certainly hope that the crisis with us now | 38:09 | |
will stimulate a searching of the national conscience | 38:12 | |
at depth beyond recent memory. | 38:16 | |
Over the past few months, as discouraging report | 38:23 | |
has followed discouraging report on Watergate, | 38:27 | |
the energy crisis, and assorted other national shocks, | 38:31 | |
many of us have found ourselves | 38:37 | |
becoming increasingly depressed | 38:39 | |
over the course of events in America. | 38:42 | |
One can look on the bright side only so long. | 38:46 | |
And many of us have been certain | 38:51 | |
the nation must have reached a turning point | 38:53 | |
and the next report would have to be brighter. | 38:56 | |
But sure enough, | 39:00 | |
yet another disappointment lay around the corner. | 39:02 | |
And slowly, perhaps you, like me, have begun to ask, | 39:07 | |
on what have we built our lives? | 39:14 | |
The glory of God or the future of America? | 39:18 | |
The question is rather sharply put, | 39:25 | |
but isn't that where we are? | 39:27 | |
We love the land and we love the people. | 39:31 | |
None of us would invite more suffering. | 39:35 | |
All of us, as Christians, | 39:40 | |
pray for the welfare of our country, as for all people. | 39:41 | |
But it is one thing to love the land and the people in God. | 39:47 | |
It is another to love this land and this people as our god. | 39:52 | |
Could it be that we now find ourselves in the midst | 40:00 | |
of a divine shaking of the foundations? | 40:04 | |
Could it be that he who measured the waters of the earth | 40:09 | |
in the hollow of his hand | 40:12 | |
and stretched out the heavens like a curtain | 40:13 | |
is giving us American Christians the opportunity | 40:16 | |
to test the true measure of our commitment? | 40:20 | |
Or is he perhaps testing it for us | 40:26 | |
out of the depths of his compassion and love for us? | 40:30 | |
Many of us may read the text for the morning | 40:38 | |
as I was tempted to read it at first. | 40:40 | |
Arise, shine, for America's light has come, | 40:44 | |
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon America. | 40:47 | |
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, | 40:52 | |
and thick darkness, the peoples. | 40:54 | |
But the Lord will arise upon America | 40:57 | |
and America's glory will be seen, | 40:59 | |
and nations shall come to America's light, | 41:02 | |
and kings to the brightness of our rising. | 41:06 | |
Perhaps I dare not project | 41:12 | |
my own idolatry onto other persons in this way, | 41:14 | |
but I doubt seriously | 41:17 | |
that I court too grave a risk in so doing. | 41:19 | |
When we understand glory of God | 41:27 | |
and its manifestation to the Gentiles, | 41:31 | |
when we understand this and what we celebrate at epiphany, | 41:36 | |
there is no tragic irony in the words of Isaiah. | 41:42 | |
On the contrary, there is a strong similarity | 41:46 | |
between the uncertainty and promise of his day, | 41:50 | |
and the uncertainty and promise of our day. | 41:55 | |
Our texts for this epiphany morning invites us to arise, | 42:00 | |
shine, and celebrate not our glory, | 42:04 | |
nor the glory of America, | 42:06 | |
but the glory of God, | 42:08 | |
which has come upon us in Jesus Christ. | 42:10 | |
Unless we build on the glory of God in Christ, | 42:17 | |
we build in vain, regardless of the good fortune or bad | 42:21 | |
which may come to America. | 42:27 | |
Maybe the best antidote to depression in the new year | 42:31 | |
is to build now on Jesus Christ and the glory of God, | 42:35 | |
not man. | 42:40 | |
There is no sure and reliable hope outside | 42:43 | |
hope in God and his glory revealed to us in Christ. | 42:46 | |
The only firm foundation for our lives is God | 42:53 | |
and what he is doing in the world, | 42:56 | |
not the lives of men and nations. | 42:58 | |
I know that for many of you, | 43:05 | |
this rings of too much God talk, even from a pulpit. | 43:06 | |
After all, how relevant is it to build on the glory of God | 43:11 | |
or to shine with the light of the glory of God? | 43:16 | |
Relevance, of course, | 43:21 | |
is not a central concern of the Christian gospel. | 43:22 | |
But the activity of God in the world | 43:27 | |
and obedience to him are. | 43:29 | |
And as we look over the course of Christian history, | 43:33 | |
we can get a glimpse of what it has meant and may mean | 43:35 | |
to build on the glory of God | 43:38 | |
and not on the course of men and nations. | 43:40 | |
One such example we may find in John of Patmos, | 43:48 | |
author of the final book of the Bible, | 43:53 | |
the book of Revelation. | 43:55 | |
John wrote a magnificent hymn of praise | 43:58 | |
which rebounds to this day to God's glory and to his faith. | 44:00 | |
John was exiled by a powerful Roman government | 44:06 | |
of the late first century AD. | 44:09 | |
On Patmos, put that regime in its proper perspective | 44:13 | |
and refused to allow it to dim his vision | 44:17 | |
of a new age dawning. | 44:21 | |
Despite the pressures of government | 44:25 | |
and citizens on the church, | 44:27 | |
John wrote, behold, the dwelling of God is with men. | 44:31 | |
He will dwell with them and they shall be his people, | 44:36 | |
and God himself will be with them. | 44:40 | |
Martin Luther's insatiable hunger | 44:45 | |
to know the righteousness of God | 44:47 | |
led to a reformation of the church. | 44:49 | |
If Luther and his reform-minded Roman Catholic forbearers | 44:53 | |
and brothers of the faith had put their faith | 44:58 | |
in the condition of late medieval society | 45:01 | |
rather than the righteousness of God, | 45:04 | |
there would've been no reformation of the church | 45:08 | |
either at Wittenberg or at Trent. | 45:10 | |
It was not Dietrich Bon Hoffer's confidence | 45:17 | |
in the final defeat of Nazi Germany | 45:20 | |
which sustained the young German | 45:22 | |
in a Nazi prison during World War II. | 45:24 | |
It was Bon Hoffer's obedience to his God, | 45:28 | |
which directed him toward cooperation | 45:31 | |
with movements working against Hitler, | 45:34 | |
some of them plotting the Fuhrer's life. | 45:37 | |
Bon Hoffer's letters and papers from prison | 45:42 | |
show a young man long incarcerated, pacing his cell | 45:46 | |
as the breezes of spring flow through. | 45:51 | |
And as he walks back and forth, | 45:56 | |
he recites the promises of God | 45:58 | |
as they are contained in the Psalms of the old Testament. | 46:03 | |
His eye on the promises of God | 46:07 | |
and his glory and his life centered there, | 46:12 | |
Bon Hoffer was sustained between false hope of release | 46:15 | |
and despair over his fate. | 46:23 | |
If it is difficult this first Sunday of the new year | 46:29 | |
to be as certain of the glory of God as we might | 46:33 | |
because of recent events, maybe we should be glad. | 46:37 | |
It is also more difficult to celebrate much else | 46:43 | |
than the glory of God. | 46:46 | |
Our time is not that different from Isaiah's time. | 46:49 | |
It seems that it has been the very hard times, | 46:55 | |
like the time of John and Luther and Bon Hoffer, | 46:58 | |
that have given birth to the greatest celebrations | 47:01 | |
of God's presence, God's salvation, and God's glory. | 47:04 | |
Let us be sure, as we enter the new year, | 47:10 | |
that it is the glory of God which we celebrate | 47:12 | |
at the center of our lives, | 47:14 | |
and not our own idolatrous dreams and wishes. | 47:17 | |
The glory of God manifested in his presence with us | 47:22 | |
in all the fathers of the faith | 47:26 | |
and in the present shaking of the foundations | 47:30 | |
is worthy of our celebration with our lives. | 47:33 | |
For that, because of that, | 47:38 | |
there is occasion enough for us to rise and shine. | 47:42 | |
Thanks be to God, amen. | 47:48 | |
Let us pray. | 47:55 | |
Judge us, oh Lord, when we are deficient, | 48:02 | |
that our idolatrous ways may not be self destructive. | 48:04 | |
Confirm us in our faithfulness that we may be strengthened | 48:10 | |
and that our lives may show forth thy praise. | 48:15 | |
We praise thee that thou has revealed thyself | 48:20 | |
to us Gentiles and called us too | 48:23 | |
into the household of faith. | 48:28 | |
May our faithfulness, as fragile as it often is, | 48:32 | |
call forth still others. | 48:37 | |
In the name of him who is the light of life, | 48:42 | |
Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 48:46 | |
(hopeful organ music) | 48:56 | |
(bright organ music) | 52:02 | |
(melancholy organ music) | 53:43 | |
(dramatic operatic singing) | 54:32 | |
(melancholy organ music) | 56:17 | |
(dramatic operatic singing) | 56:42 | |
(classical organ music) | 1:00:09 | |
- | Our Father, into your hand we commit our lives. | 1:01:53 |
We dedicate these gifts which represent our support | 1:01:58 | |
of the ministry of Christ's church | 1:02:00 | |
and symbolize the gift | 1:02:03 | |
of our living out your purpose in servanthood. | 1:02:05 | |
We make this offering as of an offering of life, | 1:02:11 | |
as a free gift, no strings attached, amen. | 1:02:17 | |
(cheery organ music) | 1:02:24 | |
Now may the Lord bless us and keep us. | 1:05:36 | |
The Lord make his face to shine upon us | 1:05:40 | |
and be gracious unto us. | 1:05:41 | |
The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. | 1:05:45 | |
(bells chiming) | 1:05:54 | |
(exciting organ music) | 1:06:11 |
Item Info
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