J. Michael Laidlaw - "Who Will Water the Roots" (May 27, 1984)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(somber organ music) | 0:03 | |
(audience murmuring) | 9:26 | |
(jubilant organ music) | 9:38 | |
(church choir singing) | 10:21 | |
- | Come ye people, | 13:18 |
be aware of the presence of God. | 13:20 | |
Come with joy, for there is much to celebrate. | 13:24 | |
Come with your confessions, | 13:28 | |
for there is forgiveness and renewal here. | 13:30 | |
Come with your sorrow, for there is comfort here. | 13:35 | |
O come with your treasure, | 13:40 | |
for here your gifts are received, blessed and multiplied. | 13:41 | |
Come with your cares, for here there is caring. | 13:47 | |
Come with your caring, for there are those to be cared for. | 13:52 | |
O come, ye servants, for there is one to serve. | 13:57 | |
Come, ye worshipers, | 14:02 | |
for there is one to worship. | 14:04 | |
(audience murmuring) | 14:11 | |
Let us join in the prayer of confession. | 14:20 | |
Almighty God, whom we are called to love with our heart, | 14:25 | |
soul, mind and bold strength. | 14:31 | |
We know well that often we are heartless | 14:35 | |
towards Your purposes for good, | 14:38 | |
that we heed not Your call | 14:41 | |
to be makers of peace, | 14:43 | |
that too often our strength | 14:46 | |
is expended laboring after that which cannot satisfy. | 14:47 | |
By our luxury, the hungry are sent empty away. | 14:54 | |
We have grown patient with injustice, tolerant of war. | 14:59 | |
As of old, we killed the prophets and anoint the fools. | 15:04 | |
We regret, oh Lord our callousness. | 15:09 | |
Help us to deplore in ourselves the evil that destroys. | 15:13 | |
Provoke in us those inward charges | 15:18 | |
that cause us to do justice, to make peace, | 15:21 | |
to live according to Your holly purpose | 15:25 | |
in the name of Jesus. | 15:28 | |
Jew of Nazareth, prince of peace, the Christ. | 15:30 | |
Amen. | 15:36 | |
And Lord now here the personal confessions of Your people. | 15:38 | |
O Lord, you have promised in Your own words, | 16:07 | |
if my people which are called by my name | 16:11 | |
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my faith, | 16:14 | |
and turn from their wicked ways, | 16:19 | |
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin. | 16:21 | |
Grant then, oh Lord, that those who have confessed, | 16:26 | |
with a willingness and commitment to turn back toward you, | 16:30 | |
be forgiven their sinful ways. | 16:34 | |
In the name of Jesus, we pray. | 16:37 | |
Let us give thanks for God is good, | 16:44 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 16:47 | |
Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 16:51 | |
Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. | 16:55 | |
Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 17:00 | |
We welcome you here this morning, | 17:08 | |
to do chapel on this sixth Sunday in Easter. | 17:11 | |
We especially welcome those of you | 17:16 | |
who are visiting this morning. | 17:19 | |
And we invite you to worship with us again, | 17:21 | |
when you are in this vicinity. | 17:24 | |
We are blessed this morning | 17:27 | |
to have the preaching of the word of God's word | 17:29 | |
by the Reverend Jon Laidlaw, | 17:33 | |
as Acting Assistant Minister to the university. | 17:36 | |
His sermon is entitled: Who Will Water the Roots. | 17:40 | |
- | Let us pray. | 17:57 |
Almighty God, in whom I hid all the treasures | 18:00 | |
of wisdom and knowledge, | 18:03 | |
open our eyes that we may behold | 18:05 | |
wondrous things out of Your word, | 18:08 | |
and give us grace that we may clearly understand | 18:11 | |
and heartily chose the way of Your love, | 18:14 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 18:17 | |
Amen. | 18:20 | |
The Old Testament lesson is found in the 14th chapter | 18:21 | |
of Joshua, beginning with the first verse. | 18:25 | |
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, | 18:28 | |
the Lord said to Joshua, | 18:32 | |
Take 12 men from the people, one from each tribe, | 18:34 | |
and order them to lift up 12 stones from this place | 18:38 | |
out of the middle of the Jordan, | 18:42 | |
where the feet of the priest stood firm. | 18:44 | |
They are to carry them across and set them down | 18:47 | |
in the camp where you spend the night. | 18:50 | |
Joshua summoned the 12 men, whom he had chosen | 18:54 | |
out of the Israelites, one man from each tribe, | 18:57 | |
and said to them, | 19:00 | |
Cross over in front of the ark of the Lord your God, | 19:02 | |
as far as the middle of the Jordan, | 19:05 | |
and let each one of you take a stone | 19:08 | |
and hoist it on his shoulder, | 19:10 | |
one for each of the tribes of Israel. | 19:12 | |
These stones are to stand as a memorial among you, | 19:15 | |
and in days to come, when your children ask you, | 19:19 | |
What these stones mean? | 19:22 | |
You shall tell them that the waters of Jordan were cut off | 19:24 | |
before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, | 19:28 | |
when it crossed the Jordan. | 19:31 | |
Thus these stones will always be a reminder | 19:33 | |
to the Israelites. | 19:36 | |
The Israelites did, as Joshua had commanded, | 19:38 | |
they lifted up 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, | 19:41 | |
as the Lord had instructed Joshua, | 19:44 | |
one for each of the tribes of Israel, | 19:47 | |
carried them across to the camp and set them down there. | 19:49 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 19:54 | |
The Epistle lesson is from the first chapter of Colossians, | 19:58 | |
beginning with the ninth verse. | 20:02 | |
For this reason, ever since the day we heard of it, | 20:05 | |
we have not ceased to pray for you. | 20:10 | |
We asked God that you may receive from Him | 20:13 | |
all wisdom and spiritual understanding | 20:16 | |
for full insight into His will, | 20:19 | |
so that your manner of life maybe worthy of the Lord | 20:22 | |
and entirely pleasing to him. | 20:26 | |
We pray that you may bear fruit | 20:28 | |
and act of goodness of every kind | 20:30 | |
and grow in the knowledge of God. | 20:33 | |
May He strengthen you in His glorious might | 20:36 | |
with ample power to meet whatever comes, | 20:39 | |
with fortitude, patience and joy, | 20:42 | |
and to give thanks to the Father who has made you fit | 20:45 | |
to share the heritage of God's people | 20:48 | |
in the realm of light. | 20:51 | |
He rescued us from the domain of darkness | 20:53 | |
and brought us away into the kingdom of His dear Son, | 20:56 | |
and whom our release has secured and our sins forgiven. | 21:00 | |
He is the image of the invisible God. | 21:05 | |
His is the primacy of all created things. | 21:10 | |
In Him everything in heaven and on earth was created, | 21:14 | |
not only things visible, but also the invisible orders | 21:18 | |
of thrones, sovereignties, authorities, and powers. | 21:22 | |
The whole universe has been created through Him and for Him, | 21:26 | |
and He exists before everything. | 21:32 | |
And all things are held together in Him, | 21:34 | |
He is, moreover, the body of the church. | 21:37 | |
He is the origin, the first to return from the dead | 21:42 | |
to be in all things alone supreme, | 21:46 | |
for in Him the complete being of God, | 21:50 | |
by God's own choice, came to dwell. | 21:53 | |
Through Him, God chose to reconcile | 21:57 | |
the whole universe to himself, | 21:59 | |
making peace through the shedding of his blood | 22:02 | |
upon the cross, to reconcile all things, | 22:04 | |
whether on earth, or in heaven, through Him alone. | 22:08 | |
Here ends the reading from the Epistle. | 22:13 | |
(plaintive organ music) | 22:21 | |
(audience murmuring) | 25:32 | |
Will the congregation please rise | 25:34 | |
for the reading of the Gospel. | 25:36 | |
(audience murmuring) | 25:38 | |
The lesson for the morning | 25:42 | |
is from the 14th chapter of the Gospel | 25:43 | |
according to St. John beginning with the 15th verse. | 25:46 | |
If you love Me, you will obey My commands, | 25:51 | |
and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another, | 25:55 | |
to be your advocate, who will be with you forever, | 25:58 | |
the spirit of truth. | 26:03 | |
The world cannot receive him, | 26:05 | |
because the world neither sees nor knows him, | 26:07 | |
but you know him, because he dwells with you and is in you. | 26:10 | |
I will not leave you bereft. | 26:16 | |
I am coming back to you. | 26:18 | |
In a little while, the world will no longer see Me, | 26:21 | |
but you will see Me, because I live, | 26:25 | |
you too will live also. | 26:30 | |
Then you will know that I am in the Father, | 26:32 | |
and you in Me, and I in you. | 26:35 | |
The man who has received My commands and obeys them, | 26:39 | |
he is who loves Me. | 26:43 | |
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father. | 26:46 | |
And I will love him and disclose Myself to him. | 26:50 | |
Amen. | 26:55 | |
Here endeth the reading from the Gospel. | 26:56 | |
(soaring organ music and church choir) | 27:00 | |
(audience murmuring) | 28:00 | |
- | On this stormy Sunday morning to your hearty souls, | 28:07 |
in Christ name special greetings. | 28:13 | |
Let us pray together. | 28:17 | |
O God whose mercies are in | 28:22 | |
under, over, beside all things and peoples. | 28:25 | |
Let Your word move among the word spoken | 28:30 | |
in Your name this day. | 28:32 | |
That they bear, though brokenly, the mark of Your truth, | 28:35 | |
its fire, its vast intention, | 28:40 | |
and persuade in the minds and hearts of all who hear | 28:45 | |
a new desire to let Your truth break forth clamorously. | 28:50 | |
And with compassion in our homes, in our neighborhoods, | 28:54 | |
in this Your world, | 29:01 | |
in Christ's name. | 29:04 | |
Amen. | 29:07 | |
In Chaim Potok's gracious novel In the Beginning, | 29:12 | |
a struggling youthful David Lurie | 29:17 | |
is haunted by the question, | 29:20 | |
Who will water the roots? | 29:22 | |
The heart of the matter and the meaning of the question | 29:26 | |
is this, | 29:29 | |
As a religious people, who will keep our traditions alive? | 29:31 | |
Who will nourish the present and the future, | 29:36 | |
by remembering the past? | 29:40 | |
In other words, who will tell the stories | 29:43 | |
of our origins? | 29:48 | |
Life thrusts that question at us in myriads of ways | 29:52 | |
at a multitude of times. | 29:56 | |
Where did I come from? | 29:58 | |
Where did I come from, is not just the dreaded question, | 30:01 | |
that the five-year old asks the mother, | 30:05 | |
as father makes hasty retreat. | 30:09 | |
It is also the question that generations ask of themselves. | 30:12 | |
And civilizations beg explained | 30:17 | |
in the name of science or knowledge, | 30:19 | |
or history, or whatever, | 30:22 | |
and not civilizations only, but also individuals, | 30:26 | |
and not in the name of history alone, but something deeper, | 30:30 | |
more pervasive, more primal than that, | 30:34 | |
of which history is but a symptom and knowledge, | 30:38 | |
but meager cure. | 30:42 | |
For I have discovered, I have discovered | 30:45 | |
that this earning to know where we have come from | 30:48 | |
is as fundamental a characteristic of us, human beings, | 30:52 | |
as the urge to procreate, and no less necessary, I suspect | 30:57 | |
for the survival of our species. | 31:02 | |
And what's true of civilizations and those of us | 31:06 | |
who populate each and every civilization, | 31:10 | |
is also true of our faith. | 31:13 | |
As a religious people, will our heritage live on? | 31:16 | |
What is our heritage? | 31:21 | |
And perhaps, most basic, why should it live on? | 31:24 | |
And so we're asking you and I | 31:29 | |
not only who will water the roots, | 31:31 | |
but also in what soil are they planted. | 31:35 | |
As disciples of the Christ, | 31:39 | |
we inquire quite without blushing, | 31:42 | |
Who will tell the stories of our faith? | 31:44 | |
Where did we come from? | 31:49 | |
Where are we going? | 31:52 | |
Now, my stories, I don't mean fables and fairytales, | 31:58 | |
though each of these do bare certain faint truths, | 32:02 | |
and we're foolish, if we don't extract from them | 32:07 | |
the ore that is there. | 32:09 | |
But I do mean those things that probe and poke | 32:12 | |
and touch the very tender tissue of life itself. | 32:16 | |
And not just touch it, but also tell us something | 32:22 | |
of its source and do something more | 32:25 | |
than hint at its destiny. | 32:28 | |
I am talking, dear friends, about the stories | 32:31 | |
that tell us, why in God's name we are here, | 32:34 | |
why we gather in this place of all places. | 32:40 | |
And singing and pray as we do, | 32:44 | |
and sometimes let the soul dance, | 32:47 | |
if not the feet. | 32:51 | |
Indeed, that simply tell us who | 32:53 | |
and why we are. | 32:58 | |
Period. | 33:00 | |
Otherwise. | 33:02 | |
Otherwise, the songs become stale, | 33:04 | |
and the prayers become as dust on our tongues, | 33:08 | |
and the dancing ceases. | 33:12 | |
Otherwise, life itself becomes the tale | 33:14 | |
spun by an idiot, signifying precisely nothing. | 33:18 | |
Or to use the imagery of one of our stories, | 33:23 | |
we become as dry bones. | 33:27 | |
Well, | 33:34 | |
is that it? | 33:35 | |
Is that all? | 33:37 | |
Put some flesh on these bones, you should demand. | 33:39 | |
Because, of course, that isn't all. | 33:43 | |
In James Joyce's Ulysses, | 33:51 | |
there is an episode that causes Stephen Dedalus to utter, | 33:55 | |
We walk through ourselves meeting robbers, ghosts, | 34:00 | |
giants, old men, young men, widows, | 34:05 | |
brothers in love, | 34:09 | |
but always, always meeting ourselves. | 34:13 | |
And that, I suspect, is the rub. | 34:18 | |
Always meeting ourselves. | 34:21 | |
And we will get more than we bargained for | 34:26 | |
in the encounter more than likely, | 34:28 | |
but it's a place to begin. | 34:31 | |
There is a certain terror here as well, | 34:35 | |
because, my God, we'd rather not meet ourselves, thank you. | 34:37 | |
But in these stories, we do. | 34:41 | |
Because while there are certain qualities of our own | 34:46 | |
that may strike us, as worthy at least and lovable at best. | 34:49 | |
There are others, I'm afraid, | 34:55 | |
that cause the maiden to blush, | 34:57 | |
and the whore to feel quite righteous, | 35:00 | |
and the thief in the night to seem little less than a saint. | 35:03 | |
Let's see, | 35:10 | |
ah, yes, | 35:12 | |
there is Jacob, | 35:14 | |
who would do battle onto dawn for a blessing and a name. | 35:16 | |
And while it may be said that he got something of both, | 35:21 | |
his resistance to God at the Jabbok river | 35:24 | |
did carry, quite literally, with it a crippling defeat. | 35:27 | |
And I am reminded of all the struggles, | 35:32 | |
our struggles with God, | 35:35 | |
to rest from him some favor, | 35:37 | |
so often paltry, insignificant, | 35:40 | |
cheap. | 35:45 | |
And, my goodness, there is Cain, disdainful of life itself. | 35:47 | |
And not only disdainful, but willing to snuff it out, | 35:53 | |
if the cause is right, | 35:58 | |
convinced, no doubt, | 36:01 | |
that the end did justify the means. | 36:03 | |
And by his brother's blood, | 36:08 | |
as it lifts its altogether plaintiff cry, | 36:11 | |
I am reminded of our efforts this wide world over, | 36:15 | |
to justify violence | 36:20 | |
in the name of the host of principled causes, | 36:23 | |
and the cry of all the human blood spilled upon the earth. | 36:28 | |
But, surely, surely that explains itself. | 36:33 | |
God help us, if it doesn't. | 36:38 | |
And Jonah, a good man, a religious man, a man of prayer | 36:42 | |
under the right circumstances, | 36:48 | |
a man of God, | 36:51 | |
but a pitiful man still, | 36:54 | |
determined to cling as he did | 36:57 | |
to every last one of his racial biases, | 36:58 | |
his social arrogance, | 37:02 | |
his nationalism, | 37:06 | |
but stunned to find out that God really does care | 37:09 | |
about the whole wonderful world. | 37:12 | |
And not only cares about the world, | 37:16 | |
but that God is busy redeeming the world from itself. | 37:18 | |
And in Jonah I am caused to remember our prayers | 37:24 | |
and promises, so quickly made, | 37:26 | |
so quickly forgotten, when bad times become not so bad. | 37:31 | |
And David, that one whose blazing patience | 37:37 | |
found something less than holly expression often. | 37:42 | |
And I am compelled by David to recall all of our lusts | 37:46 | |
and jealousies, and fits of rage, | 37:52 | |
and Moses, the murderer, | 37:57 | |
and Noah, and Judas, | 38:01 | |
and then, too, Peter and Paul. | 38:05 | |
And how can we forget Eve and Adam, | 38:09 | |
the begetters of it all, so to speak, | 38:12 | |
the every woman, the every man. | 38:15 | |
Read their stories. | 38:18 | |
Read their stories. | 38:21 | |
Not an innocent in the bunch, | 38:22 | |
not a one of them a likely prospect for an ethics award. | 38:25 | |
Look at them, I mean really scrutinize them, | 38:29 | |
clutching their fig leaves, playing out their hatreds, | 38:35 | |
their betrayals, spilling their angers and bigotry | 38:39 | |
all over God's good earth. | 38:44 | |
Their graceless plays for power, | 38:47 | |
striking out for glory, | 38:51 | |
settling more often for notoriety, | 38:54 | |
their not so holy hubris. | 38:58 | |
And I look at them, and I want to weep a little, | 39:04 | |
because they all look so pathetic. | 39:10 | |
And I want to laugh a little, | 39:14 | |
because they all look so clumsy, | 39:18 | |
so silly, really. | 39:22 | |
And I would laugh, | 39:26 | |
since I can have this laugh at their expense, | 39:28 | |
if they weren't so dangerous. | 39:32 | |
But the real danger is that I just might miss who it is, | 39:36 | |
that I really see there. | 39:40 | |
That's me there, | 39:44 | |
and not me only, but you too, | 39:47 | |
and not just us, | 39:51 | |
we of this proud intimate gathering of the clan, | 39:52 | |
but all of us, | 39:55 | |
this wide world over, | 39:58 | |
wherever we of the human race stake our claim, | 40:02 | |
be if for flag, of family, or simply for ourselves. | 40:05 | |
That's us | 40:10 | |
strutting and bellowing, | 40:12 | |
quarreling and conniving, shedding blood, | 40:14 | |
if not literally, like Moses, then surely like Judas, | 40:18 | |
and very like Moses in our awkward efforts | 40:22 | |
to hide the bodies in the sand. | 40:25 | |
Wrestling with God by whatever river we can wrestle him by. | 40:30 | |
Willing to deceive for even a meagerest profit, | 40:35 | |
full of Lord Lords until, | 40:39 | |
until the squeeze comes at last, | 40:45 | |
and the Lord does say to us, | 40:47 | |
Pick up your cross, my friend | 40:51 | |
and follow me. | 40:55 | |
And we counterreply, | 40:57 | |
Not just now, please. | 41:00 | |
What I am saying in classic terminology is just this, | 41:08 | |
We have sinned you and I, | 41:13 | |
and the cock crows thrice, | 41:17 | |
and we know that we have been found out, | 41:20 | |
in our dark conspiracies | 41:24 | |
and sad rebellion. | 41:27 | |
That's just the trouble with this Bible of ours. | 41:31 | |
It leaves us all standing here, | 41:35 | |
grabbing frantically for some fig leave of respectability, | 41:39 | |
but leaving us really standing here quite naked, | 41:45 | |
exposed, | 41:49 | |
vulnerable. | 41:52 | |
And so, is that it? | 41:57 | |
Is that all that I have come to say? | 42:00 | |
No. | 42:05 | |
No, thank God. | 42:07 | |
Because if that's all that I have to say, | 42:09 | |
if this were it and no more, | 42:12 | |
then I might well urge, indeed, I would even conspire | 42:15 | |
in a quick death for these stories of ours. | 42:19 | |
After all, there is no hope, there is no hope | 42:23 | |
in knowing that we've sinned. | 42:26 | |
We'll likely sin again, indeed, we'll sin again. | 42:29 | |
There's only fatal despair in that knowledge. | 42:32 | |
But it is precisely because there is more than that, | 42:38 | |
infinitely more, if you will, that these stories | 42:42 | |
must be told, shared, wed, | 42:45 | |
wed somehow to our own experience. | 42:48 | |
Oh, yes, the story of creation is a story of a world | 42:53 | |
intruded upon by creaturely vanity, human frailty. | 42:58 | |
But that's only a chapter or two, you see. | 43:05 | |
It's not the whole book. | 43:08 | |
It's not even the theme of the book. | 43:11 | |
It's simply the reason for the book. | 43:14 | |
No, if you after the theme, | 43:23 | |
listen. | 43:28 | |
So God created humankind in his own image, | 43:30 | |
male and female, created he them. | 43:35 | |
And God saw what he had made, | 43:39 | |
and it was very good. | 43:43 | |
Listen, old dry bones hear the word of the Lord. | 43:47 | |
This is the word of the Lord God to these bones. | 43:53 | |
I will put breath into you, and you shall live. | 43:57 | |
Dare to listen again, | 44:04 | |
Father, | 44:08 | |
Father, they are tragically ignorant even now | 44:10 | |
of what they are doing. | 44:14 | |
Nevertheless, | 44:17 | |
forgive them. | 44:20 | |
When playwright Tennessee Williams | 44:27 | |
converted to Christianity, | 44:29 | |
after a nearly fatal bout with influenza, | 44:31 | |
he described the reason for his conversion this way. | 44:36 | |
I want, said Williams, I want my innocence back. | 44:43 | |
Well, it's too late for that, God knows, | 44:49 | |
too late for Williams, too late for all of us. | 44:53 | |
Innocence has come and gone, | 44:56 | |
and maybe we're the better for it. | 45:00 | |
But that's not even the point. | 45:03 | |
No, the point is only this and all of this, | 45:05 | |
that into the midst of all of this, | 45:10 | |
right here, amongst our treacheries and our frailty, | 45:13 | |
and our brokenness and our wounds, | 45:16 | |
exactly here | 45:18 | |
is found God. | 45:21 | |
Right here into our darkness, morning has broken, | 45:24 | |
as the hymn declares. | 45:29 | |
And that's the theme of all of these stories. | 45:31 | |
Indeed, there is but one thing more potent than our sin. | 45:35 | |
There is one thing more potent than human sin | 45:40 | |
And that is God's determined grace. | 45:45 | |
The power of God to redeem what God creates. | 45:48 | |
The theme of it all is grace and mercy. | 45:55 | |
And the plot of the thing | 46:01 | |
builds mercifully around God's impatient love affair | 46:04 | |
with the whole wild wonderful rebellious earth. | 46:09 | |
Through Christ, | 46:17 | |
God chose to reconcile | 46:19 | |
the whole universe to himself | 46:22 | |
making peace through the shedding of His blood | 46:26 | |
upon the cross. | 46:29 | |
To reconcile all things, | 46:32 | |
weather on earth or in heaven, | 46:36 | |
through Him alone. | 46:40 | |
Who are we? | 46:45 | |
Whose are we? | 46:47 | |
Where did we come from? | 46:50 | |
Where are we going? | 46:53 | |
I experience something like an answer to these questions, | 46:56 | |
when my wife Susan and I | 46:59 | |
breathe the air and touch the soil of Scotland. | 47:02 | |
Especially, as we savored the hospitality | 47:06 | |
of the gentle people of Galashiels, | 47:09 | |
that place from whence had come | 47:14 | |
my great-great-grandfather Laidlaw over a 130 years ago. | 47:15 | |
And such is the experience each time | 47:21 | |
I stand at the edge of Atlantic ocean, | 47:23 | |
on which my great-great-great-grandfather | 47:27 | |
Cater Edwards made his living | 47:29 | |
as captain of the merchant ships, | 47:31 | |
that often brought him from his home in Wales | 47:33 | |
to the Eastern coast. | 47:36 | |
But these are not the final answers. | 47:39 | |
Wouldn't be even if I could go back 500 years a 1000, | 47:43 | |
wouldn't be even if I could go back, somehow, | 47:48 | |
into the dim primordial mist before all time. | 47:51 |
- | At best these are only clues | 0:04 |
for they lack any ultimacy, you see, | 0:08 | |
as to my ultimate source, my ultimate destiny. | 0:10 | |
No, for these I like you | 0:14 | |
must turn to the stories of our faith. | 0:17 | |
Jyshuas is the poignant reminder | 0:21 | |
that as a people of faith | 0:24 | |
we dare not, we dare not ignore the literature | 0:27 | |
of our faith, | 0:30 | |
those letters and legends and histories, | 0:33 | |
those poems and prayers and parables | 0:36 | |
that trouble us with their truth | 0:40 | |
and set us free, set us free to experience the hope | 0:42 | |
of God's grace | 0:47 | |
and the passion of God's love. | 0:50 | |
The stories must be studied, learned, told | 0:56 | |
in all of their chilling honesty, | 1:02 | |
with all of their fierce transforming power | 1:06 | |
they must, they must be told. | 1:11 | |
Who then will water our roots, | 1:19 | |
nourish the present by remembering the past? | 1:23 | |
Who will tell the stories of our origins? | 1:27 | |
Who will give a name to our journey's destination? | 1:32 | |
Who indeed? | 1:38 | |
These stones are to stand as a memorial among you | 1:41 | |
and in the days to come | 1:46 | |
when your children ask what these stones mean, | 1:47 | |
you shall tell them. | 1:52 | |
In Christ's name, amen. | 2:02 | |
(lively organ music) | 2:15 | |
(congregation sings) | 3:04 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 5:35 |
- | We believe in God | 5:40 |
who has created and is creating, | 5:43 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus | 5:47 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 5:51 | |
who works in us and others | 5:54 | |
by this Spirit. | 5:57 | |
We trust God who calls us to be the church | 5:59 | |
to celebrate life in its fullness, | 6:04 | |
to love and serve others, | 6:08 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 6:11 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 6:15 | |
our judge and our hope, | 6:20 | |
in life, in death, in life beyond death. | 6:23 | |
God is with us. | 6:29 | |
We are not alone. | 6:31 | |
Thanks be to God. | 6:33 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 6:39 |
(congregation mumbles) | 6:41 | |
Let us pray. | 6:43 | |
Oh gracious and loving God, | 6:56 | |
thou who created us and knows us better | 7:00 | |
than we ourselves, | 7:03 | |
thou who sustains us when we ourselves | 7:06 | |
are too weak, too weary, | 7:09 | |
too drained of hope to carry on, | 7:12 | |
thou who loved us while we were yet sinners | 7:17 | |
and loves us even now in our sinning. | 7:20 | |
Thou who is able to push away the clouds | 7:24 | |
of doubt and despair | 7:27 | |
and bring forth the light of the sunshine, | 7:30 | |
thou who is able to subside our fears | 7:34 | |
and give us courage and strength, | 7:38 | |
thou who was here before us | 7:42 | |
is with us now and will be here after us. | 7:44 | |
We rejoice that we are thy people | 7:49 | |
and thou art our God. | 7:54 | |
We thank you this morning, Lord, | 7:59 | |
we thank thee for having been true to us, | 8:01 | |
for having never left us, | 8:05 | |
for having remained steadfast | 8:08 | |
in your love for us. | 8:10 | |
And we thank thee for having entrusted us with so much. | 8:14 | |
A rich land, | 8:19 | |
healthy bodies, good minds, | 8:22 | |
families and friends to love us | 8:26 | |
and yea, Lord, a good heritage. | 8:28 | |
We thank thee, Lord, | 8:34 | |
on this Memorial weekend | 8:35 | |
for those who have left us, | 8:36 | |
those who fought with the hope and desire | 8:41 | |
that all people would be free, | 8:44 | |
those who struggled to build and keep alive the church | 8:48 | |
that we might be not just a nation | 8:52 | |
under God but a world under God | 8:55 | |
and those who passed onto each of us | 9:00 | |
a family tradition of values, | 9:04 | |
of goals, of high ideals. | 9:08 | |
Yes, we thank thee, Lord for all of these. | 9:12 | |
We ask that thou would hear our prayers this morning. | 9:17 | |
We pray for those who feel they stand | 9:21 | |
in the midst of unanswered prayer, | 9:25 | |
remind us, Lord of the many times you have answered prayer, | 9:29 | |
silence our voices of fear, of doubt, | 9:33 | |
of need so that we might hear your voice. | 9:38 | |
Oh Lord, teach us patience | 9:43 | |
to wait for your answer. | 9:45 | |
There are those of us who are struggling with relationships, | 9:49 | |
things have begun to fall apart | 9:53 | |
in our families, in our friendships, | 9:56 | |
in our relationships wherever we find them. | 9:59 | |
Lord, help us to love with the same love | 10:02 | |
you gave to us, you go on giving to us, | 10:06 | |
unmerited, undeserved but given willingly and freely. | 10:11 | |
Help us give that kind love, God | 10:17 | |
that we might bind up the wounds | 10:20 | |
that separate us one from the other. | 10:23 | |
And Lord, then we would pray | 10:28 | |
for all of those who are ill, | 10:29 | |
those who are dying, | 10:32 | |
those who are left | 10:35 | |
in a state of illness | 10:38 | |
that will be long and painful and enduring. | 10:40 | |
We pray for those who are grieved over the loss | 10:46 | |
of a loved one, | 10:49 | |
those who have troubled minds, | 10:52 | |
those who have lost sight of their need for you | 10:55 | |
and their need to participate in a community of faith, | 10:58 | |
those who are imprisoned by the bars | 11:03 | |
of our society but also confined by invisible bars | 11:06 | |
that enslave them. | 11:12 | |
Oh Lord, for all of these we pray | 11:15 | |
and now Lord, here are the personal petitions | 11:20 | |
of your people. | 11:23 | |
In all our words of praise and petition, Lord, | 11:40 | |
we acknowledge that they are empty. | 11:43 | |
If we are not willing ourselves | 11:47 | |
to be your instruments of healing and love, | 11:49 | |
if we are not willing to be witnesses | 11:53 | |
of you in our deeds and actions, | 11:57 | |
oh Lord, help us remove the stumbling blocks | 12:00 | |
that keep us from being the standard bearers of the faith. | 12:03 | |
Help us to overcome our indifference | 12:09 | |
to the plight of others, | 12:11 | |
their illnesses, their grief, their trials, their agonies. | 12:13 | |
Help us to overcome our greed | 12:20 | |
and self-concern | 12:23 | |
which keeps us from sharing with others | 12:26 | |
all that we have and all that we are. | 12:28 | |
Help us to overcome our prejudiced and hatred | 12:34 | |
which keeps us divided and separated from others | 12:37 | |
which gives us, Lord, a false sense | 12:42 | |
of our own worth | 12:44 | |
at the same time devalues the worth of others. | 12:47 | |
And oh Lord, help us to reach out to each other, | 12:53 | |
to be willing to walk hand in hand | 12:57 | |
so that we can get close to each other, | 13:00 | |
physically, emotionally and spiritually, | 13:03 | |
to reach out and not only touch another's hand | 13:08 | |
but their hearts and minds as well, | 13:12 | |
to reach out that our own minds and hearts | 13:17 | |
might be touched. | 13:21 | |
We pray these things that thy name, | 13:24 | |
not ours, might be glorified. | 13:27 | |
Hear us now as we unite our voices | 13:30 | |
in the prayer you taught us to pray. | 13:33 | |
- | Our Father, who art in heaven, | 13:37 |
hallowed be thy name, | 13:41 | |
thy kingdom come, | 13:44 | |
thy will be done | 13:46 | |
on Earth as it in heaven. | 13:49 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 13:52 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 13:56 | |
as we forgive those who trespassed against us. | 13:59 | |
Lead us not into temptation | 14:03 | |
but deliver us from evil | 14:06 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 14:09 | |
and the glory forever and forever, amen. | 14:13 | |
(tranquil organ music) | 14:26 | |
(inspirational organ music) | 17:32 | |
(lively organ music) | 21:07 | |
(congregation sings) | 21:29 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 21:43 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 21:46 | |
(congregation sings) | 21:51 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 22:04 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 22:07 | |
(congregation sings) | 22:12 | |
- | Accept these our gifts, oh Lord | 22:36 |
in thanksgiving for all | 22:39 | |
that we have been so generously given. | 22:41 | |
We acknowledge that we but give back | 22:45 | |
what is yours for all that we are and have | 22:48 | |
is a gift for you. | 22:52 | |
May this offering be used according to your will. | 22:55 | |
In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. | 22:59 | |
(lively organ music) | 23:04 | |
(congregation sings) | 23:55 | |
- | Now may the God of all grace, | 26:24 |
the God of all glory go with you, | 26:27 | |
going in front of you, | 26:29 | |
going alongside you, going in back of you, | 26:30 | |
reminding you who you are | 26:34 | |
and what your roots are | 26:37 | |
and helping you to build upon that fine, great tradition. | 26:39 | |
In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. | 26:45 | |
(lively organ music) | 26:53 |
Item Info
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