George K. Schweitzer - "The Cosmic Drama" (January 20, 1974) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(contemporary gospel music)

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As we gather to celebrate,

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we remember God's presence in the world,

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and thus in the church.

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It is because God is present in the world,

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that we do claim His grace and mercy for the church.

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And for all persons.

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As we have sung God's praise,

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let us now offer our prayers.

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Prayers of confession for surely.

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Our Lord has said,

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"if you are a burden is heavy,

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come unto me and I will give you rest."

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Let us confess our need for God's forgiveness.

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Be seated please.

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Let us pray.

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We confess, oh God,

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that we have fractured and broken your church.

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We have left undone, those things,

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which we ought to have done.

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And we have done those things,

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which we ought not to have done.

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Forgive, we pray our indifference and our complacency.

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Forgive our faults pride in our form of worship

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and church government,

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which causes us to look with condescension

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on all that is different.

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Forgive our lack of love and charity for all persons,

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help us to amend what we are.

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And by your spirit direct what we shall be,

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that you may come into the full glory of your creation,

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in us and in all persons through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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Now let us offer our individual prayers to God.

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May almighty God grant to each of you, pardon and peace.

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May you truly be cleansed from your sin,

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through the grace,

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and in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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Amen.

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And now let us pray as our Lord has taught us.

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Our Father, who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name,

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thy kingdom come,

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thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread.

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And forgive us our trespasses,

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as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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And lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil.

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For thine is the kingdom,

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and the power, and the glory,

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forever. Amen.

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(contemporary gospel music)

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, ♪

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♪ Hallelujah Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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(contemporary gospel music)

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(contemporary gospel music rises)

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Today's reading is from

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the gospel according to John 1:1-5,

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14 and 18.

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"In the beginning was the word.

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And the word was with God. And the word was God.

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He was in the beginning with God.

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All things were made through Him,

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and without Him was not anything made that was made.

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In Him was life.

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And the life was in the light of men.

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The light shines in the darkness,

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and the darkness has not overcome it.

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And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,

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full of grace and truth.

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We have beheld His glory,

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glory as of the only Son from the Father.

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No one has ever seen God.

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The only son who is in the bosom of the father,

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He has made Him know."

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That's the of the reading of the Lord.

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Praise be to Jesus Christ.

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(contemporary gospel music)

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The affirmation of faith.

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You will find as number 738 in the back of the hymnal.

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The historic confession of the Christian Church,

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the apostles creed.

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Let us affirm our faith.

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All

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

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maker of heaven and earth.

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And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord.

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Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

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born of the Virgin Mary,

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suffered under Pontius Pilate,

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was crucified, dead and buried.

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The third day, He rose from the dead.

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He ascended into heaven,

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and seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

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From whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

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I believe in the Holy Spirit.

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The holy Catholic Church,

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the communion of saints,

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the forgiveness of sins,

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the resurrection of the body,

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and the life everlasting.

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Amen.

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The Lord be with you.

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Congregation

And with your spirit.

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Let us pray.

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Would do you join with me in this responsive prayer

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of Thanksgiving.

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Let us give thanks for the gifts and grace

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of each community of Christendom,

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for the Roman Catholic church.

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It's glorious traditions, it's disciplines in holiness.

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It's worship, rich with the religious passion

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of the centuries.

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It's noble company of martyrs, doctors and saints.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Eastern Orthodox church.

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It's secret treasure of mystic experience.

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It's marvelous liturgy.

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It's regard for the collective life,

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and its common will as a source of authority.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the great Protestant communions.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the congregationalist protection

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of the rightful independence of the soul and of the group.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the stress in the Baptist churches

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upon personal regeneration,

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and upon the conscious relation

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of the material soul to its Lord,

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the power of the Methodists,

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to awaken the conscience of Christians to our social evils,

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and for their emphasis upon the witness

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of personal experience,

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and upon the power of the disciplined life.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Presbyterian reverence

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for the sovereignty of God,

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and their confidence in His faithfulness to His covenant.

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For their sense of the moral law,

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expressing itself in constitutional government.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the witness to the perpetual real presence

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of the inner light in every human soul,

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born by the religious society of friends.

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And for their faithful continuance

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of a free prophetic ministry.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord, and bless your holy name.

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For the Lutheran Church.

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It's devotion to the grace of God,

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and the word of God, in shrine,

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in the ministry of the word and sacraments.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Anglican Church.

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It's reverent and temperate ways,

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through its Catholic heritage and its Protestant conscience.

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It's yearning concern over the divisions of Christendom,

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and it's longing to be used as a house of reconciliation.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name.

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For all other churches and religious communities,

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for their untiring work, and constant devotion.

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All

We thank you, oh Lord and bless your holy name,

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Lord our God.

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God of power and God of might.

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The author and the giver of all good things,

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and whose presence is peace,

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joy, love, and strength.

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We praise you for the gift of this another day,

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and another Lord's day when we gather in this place

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and around the world to worship

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in the name of Christ our Lord.

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Continue, oh God,

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to strengthen and bless your church,

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and all who care for others.

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Oh God, hear us

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as we share our concerns for those in need.

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We remember those in prison,

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the lonely,

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the sick,

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the widow,

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and the widower,

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the orphan.

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Those who hunger,

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and those who thirst.

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May we also remember, oh God that it is our individual

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and our corporate ministry,

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to do unto them

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as we would unto Christ.

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We pray, oh God in this time of Christian unity,

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when we are concerned about the divisions

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and the brokenness of the church,

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we pray for your church universal.

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Fill your people with the truth,

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and with your truth, oh God set us free.

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Where your church is corrupt, purify it.

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Where it is an error, correct it.

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where it is superstitious, enlightenment.

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Where anything is amiss, reform it.

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Where it is in want, fill it.

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Where it is divided, oh God heal its brokenness.

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Where it is right, confirm and strengthen it.

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Make us mindful, oh Father,

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that there is truly one faith,

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one baptism, one Lord.

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One God and Father of us all.

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Hear these words, our prayers.

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Receive our feelings, our prayers.

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Accept our thoughts, our prayers.

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Which we offer, not in our name,

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but in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord who loves us,

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and cares for us,

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and calls us to care for one another.

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Amen.

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In our observance of a week of prayer for Christian unity,

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let me remind you of services, which will be held this week.

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Tonight at 6:30 here in the chapel,

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we began a series of especial

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Sunday evening worship services.

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And I encourage you to come and share

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in these services with us.

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Tuesday evening, Tuesday afternoon, late at 5:15.

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Father Thomas Cowley we'll have a meditation,

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as the various religious communities

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on campus share and the week of prayer

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for Christian unity.

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And then on Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM,

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we will continue what we began last Wednesday,

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a weekly, mid week, early morning communion service.

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And you were invited to worship God in that service with us.

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It is my privilege this morning to introduce,

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perhaps to most, if not all of you,

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Dr. George Schweitzer,

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who is professor of chemistry

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at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

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Those of you in the congregation

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can read his credentials in the bulletin.

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In addition to being an outstanding scholar and academician,

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he is a warm and genuine human being.

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One who shares not only his intellect,

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but his warmth of spirit,

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in the name of Christ.

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And so for us all,

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I say welcome George to Duke University,

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to Duke Chapel,

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and to this service of worship.

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Dr. George Schweitzer.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditations

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of this congregation be acceptable in thy sight.

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Oh Lord, our strength and Redeemer,

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who has surprised us,

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with thy glory in Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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You and I, every woman and man of us,

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may think of ourselves.

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If we wish as cosmic detective

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as celestial James Bond's if you wish.

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For none of us, no man, no woman, no child,

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escapes in this pilgrimage of life,

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and attempt to discover what things are all about.

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This is the constant continued quest for meaning

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that we all have.

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Because we are all conscious

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that we are part of the larger context.

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We're all conscious that there is more than just ourselves

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and our small community.

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We are all conscious that we are portions of a much greater,

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a gargantuan, in fact universe.

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And we are continually looking to ask the question,

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of what is the meaning of it, and what is our place in it,

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and where do we belong?

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Today, the quest for meaning is a mixed one.

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It is a confused one, because there are so many options.

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And because our world is in such sharp,

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and continued and rapid transition.

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But in order to live our lives usefully,

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in order to complete our personalities,

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in order to integrate our sensibilities,

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it is necessary for us all, to grasp far,

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to reach far, to attain and to operate our lives

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upon the basis of a meaning.

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Something we believe is beyond us.

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Something that makes up the context in which we live.

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For if we are to have a meaning,

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we must enter the struggle for meaning.

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Because it is only when we have a meaning

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that we have some way to set our goals,

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some way to guide our actions,

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some way to resolve our frustration,

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some way to make us whole purposeful,

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useful perceptive and sensitive persons.

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Though we are in difficulty, however,

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with regard to the rapid transitions in our world,

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there are many valuable insights

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that come to you and come to me today,

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particularly from the realms of the sciences,

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which may assist us

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in our ever progressive quest for meaning.

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And I want to review a few of these.

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And I want to kick out to you this morning,

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some possibilities,

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some possibilities for meaning.

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I want you to enter into our discussion here

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with alive imagination.

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I want you to enter into it with some flair for fantasy.

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I want you to enter into it that is in a living,

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and perceptive and poetic way.

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How about meaning in this decade?

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What may we say about it,

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and what assists may we obtain for it?

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Well, the astronomers may very well help us.

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Because they tell us that when we turn giant instruments,

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like the 200 inch refractor on Mount Palomar.

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When we turn that giant instrument out into the universe,

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we just discover very quickly that we are surrounded

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with a multitude of galaxies.

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In fact, we can now see 10 billion galaxies.

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Each of which is a gargantuan collection

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of at least 100 billion stars.

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And since the early 1930s,

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we have been able by studying the light from these galaxies

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to discern that they are all receding from us.

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Every single galaxy, all of the 10 billion,

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and maybe more that we have just mentioned,

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are moving out from us.

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Regardless of the direction in which we look,

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we find every galaxy is moving away from us.

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We can also, from a study of the light,

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our astronomy friends tell us.

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We can also discover how rapidly they are moving.

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And knowing how many they are,

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and how far away they are,

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and how rapidly they are moving.

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With moderately simple algebra, we can discover,

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the point at which they all

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would appear to have been together at one time.

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If they're all going out, then it's possible

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we can extrapolate back and we can discover

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when they were all together.

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And when we solve our equations,

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we discover that about 10 billion years ago,

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according to what we think we see today in astronomy,

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and according to the major interpretation

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that is given of it.

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All the matter, all the stuff of the world

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was gathered together in one gargantuan clump.

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This gargantuan clump is hard to define,

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according to what we now know.

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But for our purposes this morning,

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let us simply suppose that it was pure energy.

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Pure energy gathered together maybe 10 million years ago,

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which as a consequence of its character exploded,

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and was hurled out.

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And as this energy was hurled out

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from this point of origin,

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beyond which we cannot go at the moment scientifically,

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it began to cool down.

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It began to become thermodynamically degraded.

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And when energy cools down,

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our astrophysicist friends tell us,

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it turns into matter.

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The energy turns into neutrons,

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and the neutrons decay to produce protons and electrons,

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and they clump together to produce atoms.

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And then the atoms clump together

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in this great exploding panorama to produce molecules.

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And the molecules clumped together.

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And then were gathered together in vast turbulences

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that were set up in this gargantuan explosion

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to produce dust clouds.

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And these dust clouds, then again,

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according to the people that look into these phenomena,

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these dust clouds also began to aggregate,

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began to clump together to produce the stars,

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some of them with planets.

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And as the planets, including the earth.

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The chunk of this whole Vista that we know the most about,

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as the planets, including the earth began to cool down.

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Eventually the earth reached a temperature where the rain,

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the moisture, which surrounded it produced rain.

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The rain fell, was boiled off.

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The rain fell again, was boiled off again.

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The rain fell, was boiled off.

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In the process, the great mountain ranges rose.

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The rock was eroded. Soil was farmed.

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And finally the temperature reached a stage,

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where the water could begin to stay up

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on the surface of the planet.

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And seas, and lakes and rivers came into being,

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in them, dissolved, were the great chemical

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and elementary chemical substances at that time.

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Ammonia and carbon dioxide, and other elementary materials.

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And in this...

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In these early cooking pots,

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of the elementary chemical substances,

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these materials began to clump together again.

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They began to aggregate, they began to agglomerate.

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And through the vast eons of time

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out of these elementary chemical substances,

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came more complex materials.

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The proteins, the phosphatases, the phosphatides,

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and other many things that the biochemists

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could talk to us about.

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Until finally, something of the order,

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may be of 3 billion years ago,

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give or take a half a billion years.

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These very, very complex chemical substances burst across,

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the thin border line between what you and I call

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the living and the non-living.

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To give the first, very simple, very elementary,

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very fragile forms of life,

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perhaps 3 billion years ago.

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And then gradually, strangely,

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fascinatingly, intriguingly.

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These first faint and delicate blushes of life developed

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by agglomerating, by clumping up, by cooperation,

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if we may anthropomorphize it.

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They began to develop into

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more complicated forms of existence.

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And there appeared, over the centuries,

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over the millennia, over the millions of years.

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Plants and animals in all their amazing multi-formed strange

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and wonderful variety.

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And as these animal creatures, as they became more complex,

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there appeared among them more and more sensitivity

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to the environment.

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The amoeba pushes out against its environment.

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It absorbs materials from its environment.

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And as we go up through the scale, of development,

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of complexity, as we follow it through time.

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This sensitivity, and this interaction with the environment

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becomes more and more complicated,

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and more and more complex.

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In fact, you and I might want to suggest

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that here where the earliest

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and the beginning developments,

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of mind and of consciousness.

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And as we track the great evolutionary scale,

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which I'm discussing with you from the invertebrates

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up through the fish.

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To the reptiles, to the mammals, and to the anthropoids.

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Then finally we reach a time,

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when it is possible for me to take you by the hand,

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and the lead you through the plains of Eastern Africa.

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to move through the brush down there.

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In the region of Olduvai Gorge,

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which now exists as you know, in Tanzania.

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And if we were there, perhaps three,

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perhaps 4 million years ago.

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You and I could push through the brush,

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we could burst forth into a general opening.

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We could hear anomalies,

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we could turn, we could look.

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And we would find ourselves finally,

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face to face with man.

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We would have confronted our selves.

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We would have found their man.

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Humankind burst forth finally, and fully,

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and amazingly up on the stage

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of this strange process.

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Man, probably the most complex manifestation

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of the process, at least on this planet.

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Man made of the dust of the earth.

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Man made out of the cosmic energy.

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Man made out of the stuff of the universe.

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Man, whom we might style is conscious clay,

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or as my 13 year old says to me,

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"dad, we're really thinking mud aren't we?"

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And I say, "yeah, yes, this is good."

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And this is what the ancient Hebrew writer felt.

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Oh no, he didn't come at it scientifically.

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He couldn't, but he felt it.

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For he calls man, "adamah,"

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red Earth,

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into which God has (exhales)

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breathed the breath of life.

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Thinking mud, conscious clay.

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Able to look back over his shoulder,

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and dimly perceive what the world is all about.

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Able to ask the question of meaning.

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And it is man's mind,

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man's consciousness,

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that allows him to grapple with his world.

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For a physicist, you know,

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is nothing but a whole gang of atoms

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that have gotten together to study atoms.

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And man's consciousness, is that which leads him

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to investigate, to probe, to search, to explore.

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It gives him the impetus to do science,

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and to conquer the environment.

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But man is more than that.

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Something else has happened in the cosmic drama

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that you and I have been reviewing.

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For man is not just a computer,

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mounted up on some kind of mobilization apparatus.

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He is more than that.

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She is more than that.

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Humankind has gone through another great

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and glorious stage.

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For if I attempt to address you, or treat you as a computer.

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If I attempt to address you, or treat you as a machine.

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You say, "no, don't do that to me.

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Don't fold, don't staple, don't mutilate, don't spindle.

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For I am more than a machine."

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And I say to you, "what more?"

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You say, "well, I'm a person."

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I say, "quite right."

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And someplace, when, where,

37:21

precisely how I do not know.

37:25

But some place, another stage

37:28

in the processes has occurred.

37:30

The stage of personalization,

37:31

where we have attained the ability to choose,

37:34

to be free, to entertain freedom,

37:37

to determine our own destinies.

37:39

To grow for peace, to aspire for justice,

37:41

to stick stable society.

37:44

We've entered into these complex abstract relationships,

37:47

which make us persons, when did it happen?

37:51

When we first perceived the import of death.

37:54

When we developed language maybe 400,000 years ago,

37:57

with the invention of the wheel or the invention of fire,

38:02

I'm not sure.

38:05

And neither are the anthropologist,

38:07

sure just exactly what it was that personalized us,

38:09

may be many things, most likely a complex of many things,

38:12

but we have indeed become persons.

38:16

Now let's review very quickly.

38:21

I have said to you that it appears to me

38:23

that you and I have merged out of at least,

38:25

a vast and glorious 10 billion year,

38:27

immense and fabulous journey.

38:30

Out of energy and atoms we have come,

38:32

out of apparently dead unconscious matter,

38:34

there has emerged humanity.

38:36

Living, conscious, and personalized.

38:39

With the potential for freedom,

38:42

and with the potential for purpose,

38:44

and with the need for meaning.

38:46

The human, the startling product of the whole process,

38:50

who can turn around, the first portion of the process,

38:55

that can turn around and look at the process itself,

38:58

and look back into that dim and murky and distant past,

39:02

and see himself rising out of the dust.

39:06

We are products of what we might construe

39:09

over simply to be sure.

39:13

What we might construe as a vast ladder,

39:16

with the wrong first of energy.

39:19

Then the breakthrough to matter.

39:23

Then the breakthrough to life.

39:25

Then the breakthrough to mind.

39:27

And then the breakthrough to consciousness.

39:29

And this is where we are today.

39:33

We are at this mind consciousness,

39:35

personhood break through.

39:40

For we are in strange position today.

39:43

In position as you and I well know,

39:46

because it ripples through our gut constantly.

39:48

In position to bring to this earth

39:51

the greatest good it is ever seen.

39:54

With our technology to feed the hungry,

39:56

to give drink to the thirsty,

39:59

to clothe the naked, to house the homeless,

40:00

to lift the fallen, to heal the ill,

40:03

to cure the insane, to teach the ignorant,

40:06

to deliver all of those captive,

40:09

to economic, political and psychological bondage.

40:12

But strangely paradoxically,

40:16

we are also in position today to bring to this earth,

40:20

probably the greatest evil it has ever seen.

40:23

For we are beset with a horrendous potentialities

40:26

of air, earth and water pollution,

40:29

with the possibility of nuclear,

40:31

chemical and biological warfare.

40:33

With vast currents of planetary racial hatred.

40:36

With powerful forces of economic oppression.

40:40

With the possibility of controlling human beings,

40:43

through computers, drugs, electronic devices,

40:46

and genetic changes.

40:50

We are on the rim on the utter edge of planetary starvation,

40:52

under the sponsorship of

40:58

an unregulated population explosion.

40:59

And we seem so much of the time,

41:02

to be beset with leaders who are greedy, power mad,

41:05

self-seeking, and short-sighted.

41:09

Crisis, cruces.

41:13

In short, no one can help ask,

41:20

where are we headed?

41:24

And I guess the question I want to entertain with you.

41:29

At this point in the schedule,

41:34

in the interpretive context I have proffered to you,

41:36

is this, is there another rung on the ladder.

41:40

For we have moved from energy,

41:46

broken through to matter,

41:48

matter breaking through the life,

41:50

life breaking through the mind,

41:52

mind breaking through to personality.

41:54

Is there another rung?

41:57

Is there another breakthrough?

41:58

Is there something more we are meant for?

42:00

Is there something more we are meant to be?

42:03

Is there something more, it is possible to be?

42:06

And my answer is, yes,

42:10

this is a confessional answer.

42:14

It is a religious answer.

42:16

It is a metaphysical answer.

42:18

It is an answer that comes out of the riches

42:21

of what I understand to be the Hebrew Christian tradition.

42:23

Because the Hebrew Christian tradition asserts,

42:27

that another breakthrough has already occurred.

42:30

And as occurred in the strange wondering,

42:35

bearded, unorthodox, itinerant,

42:38

massively misunderstood rabbi of Nazareth.

42:42

Strange man,

42:46

who has in himself been the breakthrough.

42:49

Who has sensed the pulse of the future,

42:52

who has broke through to the next rung

42:55

of compassionate concern.

42:57

And has attempted to splash before us

43:02

upon the screen of the cosmic panorama,

43:05

the potential for all women,

43:09

and for all man.

43:12

And yet, if you think about it.

43:15

Every single one of the stages.

43:18

Every single one of the movements had certain properties.

43:22

When energy broke through to matter,

43:26

our matter broke through the life,

43:28

we've got to use terms like turbulence,

43:31

and struggle, and try after, try after try

43:34

with slight success.

43:38

We have got to use terms that manifest failures,

43:40

and relapses, and disappointments.

43:44

And gradual and slight success among many, many tries.

43:48

How many times did matter try for life? Once? Oh, no.

43:53

Millions of times,

43:59

that combination and that combination,

44:01

and that, and that, and that.

44:03

If you wish in an attempt to build a complexity

44:06

that can be called life.

44:09

How many combinations

44:12

of molecular configurations were tried?

44:14

Billions perhaps,

44:17

until finally the right one locked in,

44:18

and there life.

44:22

And out of that one incident,

44:25

all of the next stage came,

44:28

how many times was mankind tried for?

44:31

Once? No, no.

44:34

The surface of the planet is littered with the false starts.

44:37

The bony graves of those that didn't make it,

44:42

surround this, in practically every region of the planet,

44:45

that try, and that try, and that try,

44:49

and that, again, and again, and again,

44:51

until finally the breakthrough.

44:55

The one and from the breakthrough, the spread.

44:57

And then the cooking,

45:02

the cooking, if you wish.

45:04

The breakthrough on each staid,

45:06

the proliferation, the cooking.

45:08

And out of the cooking, and the pulsing.

45:11

Finally, the one breakthrough again to the next stage.

45:13

You're intelligent enough to develop

45:18

the paradigm if you wish.

45:20

You're intelligent enough to develop the image.

45:22

What I'm trying to say to you is I don't think

45:25

the image is a wrong one.

45:27

I think it has something to say to us,

45:30

because I think the image of breaking through

45:32

to the next stage of possible development

45:35

here up on this planet,

45:38

perched up on the outer edge of this tiny galaxy.

45:40

I think the possibility of that next breakthrough

45:44

is going to have similar dimensions.

45:46

For to truly love,

45:49

to truly care,

45:51

to truly be concerned,

45:53

to change your society,

45:55

to work constructively,

45:58

to stand against the temptations of materialism,

45:59

and nationalism,

46:03

and defeatism.

46:06

To stand against all of the currents,

46:08

that would be brought against us is rough.

46:10

And it must only be describable in terms of struggle,

46:14

and then antagonism.

46:18

And many, many tries with little apparent success.

46:20

But the breakthrough has occurred, in the one.

46:26

And we are called to join the breakthrough.

46:29

We are called to look to our brother.

46:35

The first fruits, the breakthrough creature.

46:37

The breakthrough individual Jesus himself.

46:41

We are called to join

46:44

in that faltering program of love.

46:46

But I must warn you again.

46:50

It'll be difficult.

46:52

No one that understands the existential import

46:54

of the New Testament.

46:57

No one that understands the character of cross,

46:58

and crucifixion,

47:02

can fail to understand.

47:07

For there is no resurrection,

47:12

without a compassionate intent,

47:16

which often leads to crucifixion.

47:19

It is sacrifice by which this world moves forward.

47:23

It is the sacrifice of energy that brings about matter,

47:27

and the sacrifice of matter that brings about life,

47:32

and the sacrifice of the living state

47:35

that brings about development.

47:37

And finally mind, and the sacrifice of the mind,

47:39

giving it over to the person,

47:42

and the sacrifice of the person

47:45

that brings the compassion of God into this universe.

47:47

To give one's self

47:52

in face of the cross.

47:56

We can blow it on the planet, you know.

48:00

We can all die.

48:03

I don't think this is the only place

48:05

that God's running one of these deals.

48:07

For you see every bit of evidence that I can accumulate,

48:11

leads me to believe that ,

48:14

there is a vast glorious personalistic spirit,

48:17

working with this.

48:22

I don't know what kind of theology you have.

48:25

Many people have

48:29

what I like to call prepositional theologies,

48:30

not propositional, prepositional.

48:34

'Cause you see here's the scheme.

48:37

Now, I don't know how you think

48:39

about God being related to it.

48:40

Some people want to say God's behind it.

48:43

There's one kind of preposition of theology.

48:45

Others say, God is under it.

48:47

Others say, God is over it.

48:50

Well, I like God rippling through it.

48:52

That's the one I like to talk about.

48:55

But that there is a relation,

48:58

and that there is something going on,

49:00

and that you and I are invited to join in,

49:02

is evident to me.

49:07

The potential is tremendous,

49:11

but as I've said, we could blow it.

49:13

If it fails on this planet, it'll go on someplace else.

49:17

In the myriads of galaxies that surround this,

49:20

something similar is going on surely.

49:24

No one said it more clearly,

49:29

than Nikos Kazantzakis.

49:34

Right before he wrote "Zorba the Greek."

49:37

He has given us a series of essays,

49:39

entitled "Report to Greco."

49:42

And one of them tells the story in the most graphic way.

49:44

Give me your imagination again.

49:47

As Nikos Kazantzakis would have called for it.

49:50

He says in one of those essays,

49:53

"the world has reached the stage of the worms.

49:57

It has come up from energy, to matter to life.

50:01

And life has risen to the status of the worms.

50:03

And there were the worms.

50:06

They were in the mud.

50:08

They were curled up in the fetal position.

50:09

They were happy. They were well fed.

50:10

They were warm.

50:14

And down through the stream comes what

50:14

Nikos Kazantzakis calls the cry.

50:19

This is his word for God.

50:24

And God says to the worms.

50:25

God says the cry cries out to the worms,

50:28

rise,

50:33

unfold,

50:36

unfurled.

50:37

There are glories ahead that you don't even dream of.

50:40

There are creatures that you can't even understand.

50:43

There is a vast road to be trod on a head.

50:46

And you may inaugurated,

50:50

and you may participate in it.

50:52

And the wrong worms look up to the cry and say,

50:54

"nuts,

50:57

baloney."

51:00

That's a lot of religious gobbledygook.

51:02

That's a lot of Garbo

51:04

but the cry persists saying,

51:09

"rise, you don't know what is possible.

51:12

There is glory unfathomable up above."

51:17

And the cry keeps punching down

51:22

upon the worms, until finally.

51:28

Out of all the fetal lead positioned worms.

51:31

Out of all of those in typical middle-class worms society.

51:34

Finally one worm, get hooked.

51:39

Congregation

Laughs.

51:46

-

And I warn you against the cry.

51:49

Because if you do get hooked,

51:54

there's no turning back.

51:56

I warn you against religion,

51:59

because it calls for crucifixion.

52:02

But that one worm heard the cry,

52:08

and said, "all right."

52:12

If you'll just shut up,

52:15

if you'll just get off my back,

52:17

I'll unfurl and i will rise.

52:20

So once more, the Christ said, "then rise."

52:24

And the worm unfurled and rose.

52:28

And in that act, the beat went on.

52:33

The whole future came from that.

52:39

Nikos Kazantzakis,

52:48

say anything different to us.

52:50

There is the world of glory up ahead,

52:56

there is a possibility.

52:59

Built of sacrifice. Yes.

53:01

Built a pain. Yes.

53:04

Built of difficulty. Yes.

53:06

Built of dedication. Yes.

53:08

The nominating, emanating, resulting, in glory.

53:10

For though it is possible for us to blow it on this planet.

53:17

It is also possible for us to make it.

53:22

I don't think any of us,

53:29

will ever be free of the cry,

53:34

that ripples down through the cosmic reaches,

53:37

the cry, saying to each and every one of us,

53:41

"rise"

53:49

For we know of a resurrection faith.

53:53

In which the whole world, energy, matter, life,

53:59

mind, consciousness, personality,

54:03

will be gathered up in the end term,

54:06

in the compassion of God.

54:11

Rise.

54:17

In the name of the Father,

54:20

and of the Son and the Holy Ghost,

54:21

world without end. Amen.

54:23

(contemporary gospel music)

54:39

-

The Duke University ministers,

55:22

are very pleased to have received

55:24

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55:26

from our radio listeners. (indistinct)

55:27

Who wish to receive the chapel bulletin.

55:30

We are aware that many persons listen to the Sunday

55:33

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55:41

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so you can follow the prayers,

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If you would like to receive the Sunday bullets

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56:02

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56:05

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56:09

Once enough names or secure to get a bulk mailing permit,

56:14

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56:18

The address again is Duke Chapel, Durham University,

56:21

Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

56:25

(contemporary gospel music)

56:31

(contemporary gospel music rises)

58:57

George K. Schweitzer - "The Cosmic Drama" (January 20, 1974)

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