O. Richard Bowyer - "Blessed Are the Disciplined" (August 4, 1974)

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	(organ music)	0:04
	(audience murmuring)	0:07
	(organ music)	0:29
-	Let us pray.	6:20
	Oh Lord, our God.	6:25
	Many reasons have brought us to this moment,	6:28
	but we all are drawn by one Lord and one faith.	6:33
	We pray thee make this hour service	6:39
	of thee worthy of thy praise,	6:42
	but make us too more receptive to thee	6:47
	that we may see the more clearly and love thee more dearly.	6:53
	Amen.	7:00
	(choir vocalizing)	7:06
	(organ music)	7:50
	(choir vocalizing)	8:24
	And inseparable Part of the experience	11:01
	of the fullness of God	11:05
	is the experiences of the deficiencies,	11:08
	the imperfections and brokenness	11:12
	of human life, however noble.	11:14
	Knowing, however in perfectly God's righteousness,	11:19
	let us confess to him our sin.	11:24
	God of grace,	11:29
	who in a dark time sent your Son	11:32
	to be the day spring from heaven,	11:35
	we confess our slumber.	11:37
	We are not awake to the loneliness of our neighbor	11:40
	or to the dingy ghetto or to a distant lands	11:45
	red with blood and hollow with graves	11:49
	or to the greed of our trade.	11:53
	We charge other persons with folly,	11:56
	hoping in this way to cover our failure.	12:00
	Wake us, we pray, even though the light is pain to our eyes,	12:04
	help us to cast off the works of darkness,	12:11
	clothe us with the light of Christ	12:16
	that we may be children of light,	12:19
	not cursing the dark,	12:23
	but heralding his new presence in joy	12:25
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	12:29
	Amen.	12:32
	Hear these words of assurance	13:03
	as we find them at various places of the Bible.	13:05
	There is therefore now no condemnation	13:12
	for those who are in Christ Jesus,	13:14
	who walk not according to the flesh,	13:17
	but according to the spirit.	13:21
	The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?	13:25
	The Lord is the stronghold of my life	13:30
	of whom shall I be afraid?	13:34
	And my God will supply every need of yours	13:40
	according to his riches,	13:43
	in glory in Christ Jesus.	13:46
	Amen.	13:50
	(organ music)	13:54
	(choir vocalizing)	14:35
	The witness from the old covenant comes from songs.	16:59
	Arise, Oh Lord.	17:07
	Oh God, lift up thy hand.	17:09
	Forget not the afflicted.	17:12
	Why does a wicked renounced God and say in his heart,	17:15
	"Thou wilt not call to account,	17:19
	thou to see yay, thou does no trouble and vexation.	17:22
	That thou may its take it onto thy hands,	17:28
	the hapless commits himself to thee.	17:32
	Thou has been the helper of the fatherless.	17:35
	Break thou the arm of the wicked and evil doer,	17:39
	seek out his wickedness till thou find none.	17:43
	The Lord is king forever and ever.	17:47
	The nations shall perish from his land.	17:50
	Oh Lord, thou would hear thee desire of the meek,	17:54
	thou will strengthen their heart.	17:59
	Thou wilt inclined thy ear to do justice	18:02
	to the fatherless and the oppressed.	18:05
	So that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more."	18:08
	And from the new covenant,	18:18
	let us stand as we hear the Sermon on the Mount.	18:21
	Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain	18:33
	and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him	18:36
	and He opened His mouth and taught them saying,	18:40
	"Blessed are the poor in spirit	18:44
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	18:47
	Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.	18:51
	Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.	18:57
	Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,	19:03
	for they shall be satisfied.	19:08
	Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.	19:12
	Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.	19:18
	Blessed are the peacemakers,	19:23
	for they shall be called sons of God.	19:26
	Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,	19:31
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	19:36
	Blessed are you when men revile you	19:40
	and persecute you and utter all kinds	19:43
	of evil against you, falsely on my account,	19:46
	rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,	19:50
	for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."	19:57
	And here ends the reading of the word.	20:05
	(organ music)	20:10
	(choir vocalizing)	20:19
	Lets affirm our faith and thus our oneness	20:52
	with all Christians past and present and future,	20:54
	here and everywhere.	20:58
	We are not alone.	21:01
	We live in God's world.	21:03
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	21:06
	who has come and the true man Jesus	21:12
	to reconcile and make new.	21:15
	Who works in us and others by His spirit.	21:19
	We trust Him.	21:22
	He calls us to be his church, to celebrate His presence,	21:24
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	21:31
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.	21:37
	Our judge and our hope, in life in death,	21:41
	in life beyond death, God is with us.	21:46
	We are not alone.	21:51
	Thanks be to God.	21:53
	The Lord be with you.	21:56
-	And with your Spirit.	21:59
-	Let us pray.	22:00
	(clears throat)	22:03
	Oh thou, who art alpha and omega, beginning and end,	22:15
	create all and Redeemer.	22:22
	We thank thee that we are not alone	22:26
	and glass and music and song, in words and word.	22:31
	Thou does address us in a multitude of ways.	22:39
	We thank thee for the saints past.	22:44
	We pray for the saints present.	22:48
	We look to the saints to come.	22:52
	In a difficult time we do not always see thee clearly.	22:58
	We are comforted by the host of thy witnesses.	23:03
	We comment to thee oh God, our anguish for the world,	23:11
	for the hunger of Africa,	23:18
	for the wrath of Arab and Jew	23:22
	of Greek and Turk, of Vietnam brother and Vietnam brother.	23:27
	Heal the wounds, ease the passions	23:37
	and candle a spirit of Goodwill everywhere	23:43
	that peace may come.	23:46
	We pray also Lord for the nation in this difficult time,	23:52
	that here good will may temper passion.	23:58
	That wisdom may inform our congressional proceedings	24:04
	in these days.	24:09
	Help president and people to put aside ranker and vengeance,	24:13
	and to proceed in good caution and fair mindedness.	24:20
	Lord of life, we pray not spare the president.	24:28
	We pray not spare the nation.	24:33
	We pray thy will be done in America.	24:37
	We pray for thy church here and everywhere.	24:47
	Let thy true and lively word	24:52
	be always preached in every communion,	24:54
	keep clergy and people close to thee	24:59
	that the kingdom of God in your righteousness.	25:01
	Be always uppermost in all our doing	25:05
	and in all our resting.	25:08
	Judge us when we stray from thee,	25:13
	confirm and strengthen us as we draw near to thee.	25:16
	May our abiding joy lie always	25:22
	in our continuing communion with thee.	25:26
	In the name of Him, who is the way, the truth, the life,	25:31
	we make our prayer and also with Him,	25:37
	the same Lord we now pray as He taught us,	25:40
	our Father who art in heaven,	25:44
	hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.	25:47
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	25:52
	Give us this day, our daily bread	25:57
	and forgive us our trespasses	26:01
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	26:03
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	26:07
	For thine is kingdom and the power and the glory forever.	26:13
	Amen.	26:20
-	It's good to be here and to worship God together.	26:43
	This morning, we would like to focus our attention	26:50
	upon these words of scripture	26:52
	and upon the thoughts of blessings upon the discipline.	26:55
	There are some things which need to be clarified for us,	27:01
	if we are to live with meaning in these days.	27:05
	It is not enough merely to have meaning for one's own life,	27:10
	but one should live,	27:15
	so as to give meaning to the lives of others,	27:16
	and to live such a life is difficult.	27:21
	It is difficult because it requires of us	27:26
	to be self-conscious about how we live.	27:29
	It is to live a life that is open before the world,	27:34
	subject to all the harsh misunderstandings	27:38
	of which people are capable.	27:40
	It is to live a life that is open to criticism	27:44
	and even hostility.	27:46
	And this is difficult to do.	27:50
	Most of us would prefer to keep our real selves unknown	27:53
	from the world.	27:57
	We make mistakes, we sin, we fail,	27:59
	but we would adjust as soon other folks did not know this.	28:05
	It is difficult to live openly	28:10
	in the face of our fellow men and women.	28:12
	But such a life is difficult also,	28:17
	because it demands of us to be sensitive and to care.	28:19
	In days like these that is painful to be sensitive.	28:24
	When you have a tooth, which needs to be filled,	28:30
	if you talk too much out in the cool air, it hurts.	28:32
	And if you should come in out of the cool air	28:38
	and drink a cup of hot tea or coffee	28:40
	or hot chocolate, it hurts.	28:42
	To live a life that is sensitive to the human needs	28:47
	of these days is to be like a sensitive tooth.	28:49
	It hurts no matter what you do.	28:53
	But the meaningful life is difficult also,	28:59
	because it requires us to care.	29:01
	It is one thing to be open about one's life,	29:04
	it is something else to be sensitive to human need,	29:09
	but one can both hurt and be subject to criticism	29:13
	and misunderstanding and still not care.	29:17
	One may take pride and openness.	29:21
	One may feel sorry for oneself	29:25
	or may feel why one not to feel	29:27
	when nerve endings have been touched.	29:29
	One may do all of this and still not care.	29:34
	To care is to begin to pinpoint the areas	29:40
	in which one must move in order to be of help.	29:43
	To care is to become involved.	29:47
	To care is to hurt,	29:50
	not just for one self, but for the other.	29:51
	To care is to begin to chart the direction for action.	29:55
	And so while it hurts to be sensitive,	30:00
	it costs to care.	30:03
	To live a life of meaning in these days	30:07
	for others and for self,	30:10
	is difficult because it demands that we take risks.	30:13
	Risk becomes the style of life for the person who would	30:18
	stand with those who are downcast and abused and oppressed.	30:21
	Now it may not be an American,	30:26
	but it is certainly uncommon to risk one's own position	30:29
	and status and security for someone else.	30:34
	But perhaps for more than any of these reasons,	30:41
	the life of meaning is difficult	30:44
	because it requires discipline.	30:45
	There are many sorts of disciplines,	30:49
	so it's important to be disciplined in the right way	30:51
	and about the right things.	30:53
	Discipline can be restrictive and destructive.	30:57
	When the Nazis put the Jews into ghettos and Poland,	31:03
	they imposed discipline, but that was not good.	31:07
	When slave traders from England and the Netherlands	31:14
	dragged Africans from their families and villages	31:17
	and locked them in chains and beat them,	31:19
	that was discipline, but it was evil.	31:21
	When black children were made to know	31:27
	that there were places they could not go to play,	31:29
	to study, to eat or even go to the toilet,	31:31
	that was disciplined.	31:35
	But it was as evil as that which had been imposed	31:38
	only a generation earlier by the slave holders	31:41
	and slave traders.	31:43
	When the Cherokee Indians, even here in North Carolina,	31:48
	were taken from their homes and placed in boarding schools.	31:51
	And then if they were caught speaking to one another	31:54
	in their own Indian language,	31:57
	they were beaten in front of other students,	31:58
	that was discipline, but it was evil and destructive.	32:01
	When white children were conditioned and trained	32:09
	to think of some things as white and for them,	32:11
	and to keep persons of other races in their place,	32:15
	that was disciplined, but it too was evil and destructive.	32:19
	For destroyed the humanity of that white boy or a girl	32:24
	or a man or woman.	32:27
	And it prevented the full maturity of the humanity	32:29
	of that child or adult of the other race.	32:31
	When men and women young or old	32:37
	are arrested for really minor offenses	32:41
	and thrown into cages with no caring human contact,	32:46
	nor effort to rehabilitate, that is discipline.	32:49
	But sociologists and psychologists and criminologists	32:53
	know that it doesn't work.	32:56
	Capital punishment is discipline, but it does not work	32:59
	according to most of the studies about it.	33:03
	Obviously, it can't work as rehabilitation,	33:07
	and obviously, it does not work as a detriment to others.	33:11
	Parents yell at their children and often beat them	33:16
	or deprive them of things all in the name of discipline,	33:19
	and children reenact it with their brothers or sisters,	33:23
	their neighbors, or their pets.	33:27
	And sometimes they to call it discipline.	33:30
	So you see,	33:34
	there is nothing automatically good about discipline,	33:35
	but there are some forms of discipline which are good	33:39
	and which are needed in these times.	33:42
	Since so many of the decisions	33:45
	which affect your life and mine	33:47
	are made today by computers,	33:49
	there is a lot of talk about building models.	33:51
	That's because models can be easily tested by computers.	33:54
	There are models for action, models for behavior,	33:59
	models for cities, models for growth, models for efficiency.	34:02
	It's a time of model building.	34:08
	And we need a model for what I'm speaking about	34:11
	in terms of discipline,	34:13
	and the scripture which was read this morning, provides it.	34:16
	How often do we read the be attitudes of our Lord	34:20
	and stumble over that passage, which says	34:22
	"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."	34:24
	What a power weapon that has been in the heart and the head	34:30
	and the mouth of white people dealing with blacks.	34:32
	It has been equally effective in the case of every group	34:36
	seeking to assert its superiority over others.	34:39
	We men have found it helpful in regard to women,	34:43
	it is been a factor in the history	34:48
	of labor management relations.	34:50
	It is true in the middle class	34:54
	and middle American attitudes toward the poor.	34:55
	West Virginia, my own state,	34:59
	the heart of Appalachia has suffered	35:01
	from the use of this beatitude by major corporations,	35:03
	which own so much and control so much.	35:07
	Even Duke Power is accused of this,	35:11
	even now in Eastern Kentucky.	35:13
	Bless are the meek,	35:16
	is made to sound like you must be patient.	35:18
	You must love, you must accept your lot,	35:22
	but that is wrong.	35:28
	Jesus never taught of blessings	35:30
	for the squeamish and fearful,	35:32
	those who were willing to be abused	35:33
	and suppressed just so others could get ahead.	35:35
	You can't find such in the teachings of Jesus.	35:40
	But we have a way of tampering	35:45
	with the meanings of scripture,	35:46
	we would rather use the scripture, than listen to it.	35:48
	We would rather ignore it, than study it,	35:51
	and we would rather merely read it, than follow it.	35:55
	But if we would go back to the language	36:01
	in which the new testament was written, the Greek,	36:03
	and study the word, which has been translated as meek,	36:06
	we might suddenly find this passage coming alive.	36:10
	When I looked in the dictionary	36:15
	the back of my Greek New Testament,	36:16
	this is what a particular translator	36:18
	says of the word used in Matthew 5:5.	36:20
	Here the American version and the revised version	36:24
	render at meek.	36:27
	But the words never did at any time or in any passage	36:29
	of any author signify meek.	36:33
	When referring to animals, the word means tame,	36:39
	but we must go back to the ancient writings of Greece,	36:43
	centuries before the New Testament	36:46
	to find its original meaning.	36:47
	It was a word used of horses trained for pulling chariots.	36:50
	These were disciplined horses.	36:55
	They were skilled and proficient and steady.	36:58
	These are different qualities than meekness.	37:02
	Well, they never lost the quality of being a horse.	37:06
	And the only people who experienced Jesus blessing	37:11
	are those who never lose the quality of being persons.	37:14
	Indeed, to be in Christ to experience personally,	37:19
	a relationship to God through Christ	37:23
	is to find oneself as a person.	37:26
	This is the sort of discipline,	37:30
	which is good and worthy of the Lord's approval.	37:32
	And it is ours only as we receive it by His grace.	37:35
	It is that discipline of study and training and perseverance	37:39
	that makes one able to do	37:42
	better and better while he or she has the ability to do.	37:44
	For the horse, it was his natural ability to run and to pull	37:48
	any wild horse had those abilities,	37:53
	but it was the disciplined horse who pulled with a purpose	37:56
	and ran fast toward a definite goal.	37:58
	Blessed are the discipline,	38:01
	those who work and pull with a purpose	38:04
	and move ahead toward definite goals.	38:08
	When given his true interpretation,	38:12
	the passage takes on new meaning.	38:14
	It becomes a meaningful and irrelevant passage for us	38:16
	in these times.	38:19
	It is the word of Jesus to those who organize	38:21
	and strategize for change.	38:24
	It is the blessing of God upon those who get the job done.	38:26
	That is those who are able both to care and to implement	38:31
	their caring and helpful ways.	38:36
	Go back then and read the beatitudes,	38:39
	and they cannot mean the same.	38:42
	As long as the word meek is there,	38:45
	the whole thrust of Jesus blessing is taken away.	38:47
	Read the last two of those beatitudes,	38:51
	blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,	38:55
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	38:58
	Blessed are you when men revalue and persecute you	39:01
	and utter all kinds of evil against you,	39:04
	falsely on my account.	39:06
	Now is any really meek person	39:11
	going to get into that sort of trouble.	39:14
	In our corporations and institutions,	39:19
	we have a character we call, the yes, man.	39:20
	The yes, man does exactly what the boss says to do.	39:23
	Even if he might've had a better idea,	39:27
	he has no spine, no soul, no being for himself.	39:31
	He just says yes, or yes, sir,	39:37
	and becomes the lackey for the boss.	39:41
	Many of our schools instill this in our children.	39:44
	The old cartoon character, Caspar Milquetoast	39:48
	was based on the yes man.	39:51
	Such a person has no one's respect	39:54
	and is often the object of derision and scorn.	39:57
	But is this person going to get reviled and persecuted	40:00
	in the sense in which the prophets did,	40:04
	is he or she going to be blessed.	40:08
	But let the word,	40:12
	which reads meek be rendered discipline,	40:13
	and you have trouble on your hands.	40:17
	The man or woman who is disciplined to pull hard	40:20
	and to run straight, to get the job done	40:23
	and reach the necessary and appointed goal,	40:25
	that person is going to run into trouble.	40:28
	When he or she exercises discipline	40:32
	in choosing the issues for action,	40:34
	one has already chosen trouble.	40:37
	For undoubtedly, the issues such a person will choose	40:41
	will upset the folks who want things to stay as they are.	40:44
	And when he disciplines himself to stay with that issue	40:47
	until it is resolved, until the goal is reached,	40:51
	there will be trouble,	40:55
	because those same folks will want to get off that subject	40:57
	to let it rest, to ignore it at least for the time being.	41:01
	And we need only reflect on the experience	41:06
	of those who raise moral questions	41:08
	about the US role in Southeast Asia	41:10
	or more recently, those who questioned Watergate issues,	41:14
	and the examples are overwhelming.	41:18
	Jesus knew that when He blessed the discipline,	41:22
	He had better bless those who would get into trouble	41:24
	with the authorities and the establishment.	41:26
	And He gave them two blessings, you read it,	41:29
	now, I think it makes sense.	41:33
	Blessed are the discipline.	41:36
	You can be sure they will inherit the earth	41:39
	because they will be there when the will is read,	41:42
	the undisciplined will be out fooling around	41:45
	or running errands for the folks	41:47
	who want to steal the inheritance.	41:48
	But the disciplined are going to show up	41:51
	and be there again, and again and again,	41:53
	until that matter is settled	41:56
	and there is another issue to resolve.	41:57
	We read from the songs, that God will attend to the meek	42:02
	and He will do so by seeing that justice is done	42:07
	in the face of the oppressor.	42:12
	Blessed are the discipline,	42:15
	for they shall inherit the earth and trouble on the way.	42:16
	But listen further, blessed are those who are persecuted	42:23
	for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	42:26
	Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you	42:31
	and utter all kinds of evil against you,	42:33
	falsely on my account, rejoice and be glad,	42:35
	for your reward is great in heaven,	42:41
	or so man persecuted the prophets who were before you.	42:44
	It is important to be open and sensitive.	42:51
	It is important to care and to risk for others,	42:56
	but in these days it is more important	43:01
	and much more blessing to be disciplined.	43:06
	In the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.	43:12
	Amen.	43:16
	Let us pray.	43:18
	Eternal and gracious God,	43:23
	we come to you in these moments	43:24
	asking that we might be disciplined	43:28
	by the indwelling thy spirit.	43:29
	That we might be given clear visions as to the issues	43:32
	and the tasks, it might faithfully serve thee in such ways	43:35
	that justice shall roll down like waters	43:40
	and even like a muddy stream.	43:46
	In the name of Jesus Christ, who grants us this blessing.	43:49
	Amen.	43:53
-	Our hymn is number 479.	44:00
	(organ music)	44:06
	(choir vocalizing)	44:52
	(organ music)	48:20
	(choir vocalizing)	49:19
	(organ music)	53:59
	(choir vocalizing)	54:42
	We are not so pretentious our Lord	55:48
	as to imagine these our gifts	55:50
	can do all that needs doing	55:52
	for thy ministry in the world.	55:54
	In faith and thanksgiving we present them,	55:59
	knowing the richness of life they acknowledge	56:03
	and the hope for life they represent.	56:07
	Thanks be to the oh Lord, for these and all thy gifts.	56:10
	Amen.	56:16
	(organ music)	56:19
	(choir vocalizing)	57:11
	The peace of God which passes all understanding,	1:01:12
	keep your hearts and minds	1:01:16
	and the knowledge and love of God,	1:01:18
	and of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,	1:01:21
	and the blessing of God Almighty,	1:01:24
	the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,	1:01:27
	be among you and remain with you always.	1:01:32
	(choir vocalizing)	1:01:42
	(bell ringing)	1:02:47
	(organ music)	1:03:00

Item Info

Title:

O. Richard Bowyer - "Blessed Are the Disciplined" (August 4, 1974)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r45m6681n

Date:

August 4, 1974

Speaker:

Bowyer, O. Richard

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0719
ref6637_0nt
uachapelsermaud
duke:628238
dcrau002691
ark:/87924/r45m6681n
baf82337-9419-496d-b1f4-63194e53df9a

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

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