O. Kelly Ingram - "Christian Righteousness - - 1967" (July 9, 1967)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(choir singing hymn) | 0:09 | |
- | Let us offer unto God our prayers of confession | 1:35 |
and for pardon. | 1:39 | |
Let us pray. | 1:42 | |
Almighty and holy God, searcher of the hearts of men | 1:45 | |
who knowest us better than we know ourselves | 1:52 | |
and seeth the sins which our sinfulness hides from us. | 1:58 | |
Hear our prayer of confession. | 2:03 | |
We confess the sorrows, which brought no softening of heart, | 2:08 | |
the chassenings, which yielded no peaceable fruit | 2:15 | |
of righteousness, | 2:19 | |
the rebukes of conscience, | 2:22 | |
which led to no amendment of life. | 2:25 | |
We confess the counsels of thy word we have known | 2:30 | |
and not loved. | 2:36 | |
The gospel of thy son we have believed and not obeyed, | 2:39 | |
the leading of the spirit of truth | 2:46 | |
we have acknowledged and not followed. | 2:49 | |
Have mercy upon us, oh God, we humbly entreat thee, | 2:54 | |
most gracious God who pardonest and absolvest | 3:02 | |
all them who truly respect and believe thy holy gospel. | 3:07 | |
Show thy mercy upon us. | 3:13 | |
And for the sake of thy beloved son, | 3:17 | |
forgive us our offenses. | 3:20 | |
Increase in us the grace of true repentance | 3:24 | |
that we may not only confess our sins, | 3:28 | |
but forsake them with our whole heart | 3:32 | |
and bring forth the fruits of holiness and righteousness | 3:36 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 3:40 | |
And hear what comfortable words the scripture say | 3:47 | |
to all that truly turn to God. | 3:51 | |
God so loved the world that He gave His only son | 3:56 | |
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, | 4:05 | |
but have eternal life. | 4:08 | |
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, | 4:12 | |
and will forgive our sins and cleanse us | 4:19 | |
from all unrighteousness. | 4:23 | |
Therefore, be of good courage. | 4:27 | |
And now as our savior, Christ has taught us, | 4:33 | |
we humbly pray together saying our father who art in heaven, | 4:35 | |
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. | 4:43 | |
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 4:47 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread | 4:52 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 4:55 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 4:57 | |
And lead us, not into temptation, | 5:01 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 5:04 | |
For thine is the kingdom and the power, | 5:07 | |
and the glory, forever. | 5:10 | |
Amen. | 5:14 | |
(slow instrumental music) | 5:18 | |
(choir singing slow hymn) | 6:50 | |
There is one announcement: | 9:44 | |
following the service at 10:30, | 9:47 | |
you are invited to go to the Union Ballroom, | 9:51 | |
which is air conditioned, | 9:57 | |
and there you will meet the minister of the morning | 9:59 | |
and discuss with him his sermon | 10:04 | |
or any topics arising there from. | 10:07 | |
I think there are enough people in the congregation | 10:11 | |
who know where the Union Ballroom is. | 10:13 | |
So do not hesitate to ask. | 10:17 | |
We welcome all of you and it's so air conditioned | 10:20 | |
that hot coffee will be served. | 10:25 | |
The Lord be with you. | 10:32 | |
Let us pray. | 10:37 | |
Let us offer unto God, our litany of praise | 10:40 | |
and of thanksgiving | 10:43 | |
for the joy, which is born of sympathy and sorrow, | 10:47 | |
for the joy of the lost soul finding love again, | 10:52 | |
and for the joy of the angels of God | 10:57 | |
over one sinner that repented. | 10:59 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 11:04 | |
For all pure comedy and laughter and for the gift of humor | 11:07 | |
and gaiety of heart. | 11:13 | |
For all who have consecrated mercy with the love of Christ. | 11:18 | |
(congregation speaking in the background) | 11:24 | |
For all singers and musicians, | 11:27 | |
for all who work in form and color | 11:30 | |
to increase the joy of life. | 11:33 | |
For poets and craftsmen, | 11:39 | |
for all who rejoice in that work and make things well. | 11:42 | |
- | Glory be to you, oh Lord. | 11:48 |
- | For all who have loved the common people | 11:50 |
and borne their sorrows in their hearts. | 11:53 | |
(congregation speaking in the background) | 11:57 | |
For profits and reformers who cry shame | 12:00 | |
on all social wrong | 12:04 | |
and point the way to fair life for all the people. | 12:06 | |
Glory be to thee, Oh Lord most high. | 12:12 | |
Amen. | 12:16 | |
Now let's offer out prayer of intercession | 12:18 | |
for the church. | 12:20 | |
Most gracious father, we humbly beseech thee | 12:22 | |
for thy holy Catholic church. | 12:26 | |
Fill it with all truth. | 12:30 | |
In all truth with all peace. | 12:32 | |
Where it is corrupt, purge it. | 12:36 | |
Where it is in error, direct it. | 12:40 | |
Where anything is amiss, reform it. | 12:44 | |
Where it is all right, strengthen and confirm it. | 12:49 | |
Where it is in want, furnish it. | 12:54 | |
Where it is divided and rent a sander, do thou make up | 12:58 | |
the breaches in it for the sake of thy son, | 13:03 | |
whose church it is. | 13:08 | |
Let us offered our prayer of intercession | 13:13 | |
for this university. | 13:16 | |
Almighty God in whom we live and move and have our being, | 13:19 | |
make this university as a field, | 13:24 | |
which thou has blessed. | 13:27 | |
That whatsoever things are true, lovely, | 13:30 | |
and of good report may here forever flourish and abound. | 13:34 | |
Preserve in it an unblemished name, | 13:40 | |
enlarge it with a wider usefulness | 13:44 | |
and exalt it in the love and reverence of all its members | 13:48 | |
as an instrument of thy glory, for the sake of Jesus Christ, | 13:52 | |
our Lord. | 13:58 | |
And let us offer a prayer of supplication | 14:01 | |
for the military aspects of our life. | 14:04 | |
Almighty and eternal God who has set our lives | 14:10 | |
in a time of war. | 14:16 | |
Enable us to convert to a good purpose, | 14:19 | |
whatever military demands are laid upon us. | 14:23 | |
If we undergo training, | 14:29 | |
may it strengthen our discipline | 14:32 | |
and lift out ideals of service. | 14:34 | |
If we face combat, may it not wrench away | 14:40 | |
our Christian sympathy nor harden our heart. | 14:45 | |
If we refuse the military way, | 14:51 | |
may our decision be made with insight and humility | 14:55 | |
so that whatever our response to the violence of men | 15:02 | |
and nations, we may continually fight | 15:06 | |
the good fight of faith in Him whose kingdom | 15:10 | |
is not of this world, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 15:15 | |
And let us offer a prayer of dedication. | 15:23 | |
Grant, oh merciful father, that with malice toward none, | 15:28 | |
with charity to all, with fairness in the right | 15:33 | |
as thou has given us to see the right, | 15:38 | |
we may strive to finish the work we are in, | 15:43 | |
to bind up the nation's wounds, | 15:48 | |
to care for him who shall have borne the battle | 15:52 | |
and for his widow and orphan. | 15:56 | |
To do all which may achieve and cherish a just | 16:00 | |
and lasting peace among ourselves | 16:04 | |
and with all nations through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 16:09 | |
And the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ | 16:15 | |
be with us all evermore. | 16:19 | |
Amen. | 16:24 | |
- | Our Old Testament lesson is the fifth chapter of Amos | 16:43 |
reading the 21st through the 24th verses. | 16:51 | |
"I hate, I despise your feasts | 16:57 | |
"and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. | 17:01 | |
"Even though you offer me your burnt offerings | 17:05 | |
"and cereal offerings, I will not accept them. | 17:08 | |
"And the peace offerings of your fatted beast | 17:14 | |
"I will not look upon. | 17:18 | |
"Take away from me the noise of your songs, | 17:21 | |
"to the melody of your harps, I will not listen. | 17:25 | |
"But let justice roll down like rivers | 17:30 | |
"and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." | 17:34 | |
The new Testament lesson is the sixth chapter of Romans. | 17:42 | |
Reading the last two verses | 17:50 | |
from the translation by Philips. | 17:56 | |
"Do not then allow sin to establish any power | 18:04 | |
"over your mortal bodies and making you give way | 18:07 | |
"to your lusts | 18:10 | |
"nor hand over your organs to be, as it were, | 18:13 | |
"weapons of evil for the devil's purposes. | 18:17 | |
"But like men rescued from certain death, | 18:23 | |
"put yourselves in God's hands as weapons of good | 18:27 | |
"for His own purposes." | 18:33 | |
As Christian experience an esoteric function, | 18:43 | |
a specialized activity of life carried on | 18:51 | |
apart from the rest of experience | 18:54 | |
or does it have ethical implications for the whole of life? | 18:59 | |
This is Paul's question. | 19:05 | |
And his answer is that it involves the whole person. | 19:09 | |
Like men rescued from certain debt, put yourselves, | 19:16 | |
everything you are in God's hands as weapons of good | 19:22 | |
for God's own purposes. | 19:28 | |
Justification, which produces a right relationship | 19:33 | |
between the believer and God is to be followed | 19:36 | |
by sanctification in which one becomes totally committed | 19:41 | |
to righteousness. | 19:47 | |
The Old Testament finds the norm of righteousness | 19:51 | |
in the nature of God Himself who seeks justice and equity, | 19:55 | |
who champions the cause of the helpless, the poor, | 20:01 | |
the widow, the orphan and the resident alien. | 20:05 | |
When they were under the smell of their most sensitive | 20:10 | |
ethical insights, | 20:13 | |
the prophets of Israel were not calling for a ritual purity | 20:16 | |
or rigid adherence to establish codes of conduct. | 20:21 | |
Rather they were pointing to social, economic, | 20:27 | |
and political conditions freshly emerging | 20:31 | |
in the life of the nation. | 20:35 | |
They were demanding a righteousness | 20:38 | |
keenly attuned to their historical context. | 20:42 | |
Jeremiah mixed religion with politics, | 20:48 | |
and even had a word to say about foreign affairs. | 20:54 | |
And Amos preached the social gospel | 21:00 | |
so relevant to existing conditions. | 21:02 | |
The economic and ecclesiastical establishment of his day | 21:06 | |
told him to go back to the southern kingdom | 21:12 | |
from whence he came and peddle his gospel there. | 21:17 | |
This is the kind of dynamic, relevant, righteousness | 21:22 | |
to which God's people are called in every age. | 21:29 | |
Now let's get our perspective straight. | 21:34 | |
Not many of us are called to be prophets. | 21:38 | |
I suppose that if I were invited to play a role | 21:44 | |
in the drama of David and Nathan, the prophet, | 21:46 | |
I would be sadly miscast in the role of Nathan. | 21:51 | |
But I am David to whom Nathan should point and say, | 21:56 | |
"Thou art the man." | 22:01 | |
Now don't let your imaginations run wild | 22:05 | |
and think that I've had enough hair with Bathsheba, | 22:07 | |
I haven't. | 22:09 | |
But like David, I must pray against thee, | 22:12 | |
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. | 22:15 | |
And because most of us are not prophets | 22:23 | |
but objects of prophecy, | 22:25 | |
all our righteousness must begin in confession. | 22:29 | |
And this is the reason we have prayers of confession | 22:34 | |
at the opening of all of our worship services, | 22:38 | |
including this morning. | 22:42 | |
But remember this, confession is an order | 22:45 | |
precisely because we are called to righteousness. | 22:51 | |
We are not like God, but we are called to be like God, | 22:59 | |
in our concern for justice and equity | 23:07 | |
and in the vindication of the helpless ones. | 23:11 | |
This is the minimum content, as a matter of fact, | 23:15 | |
of the love with which Christians | 23:19 | |
are to love their neighbors. | 23:22 | |
Christian righteousness in 1967, | 23:26 | |
will be both like and unlike the righteousness | 23:30 | |
of Amos and Jeremiah. | 23:33 | |
It will be like their righteousness | 23:36 | |
and its concerned for justice. | 23:38 | |
With the context in which justice is sought | 23:41 | |
will be that of 1967 | 23:44 | |
and not that of the eighth century BC | 23:47 | |
or even the first century AD. | 23:50 | |
This is what James Russell Law was saying. | 23:53 | |
New occasions teach new duties. | 23:57 | |
Time makes ancient good on the couth. | 24:00 | |
They most upward still and onward | 24:03 | |
who would keep abreast of truth. | 24:06 | |
Now, if true Christian righteousness is appropriately geared | 24:10 | |
to the context in which it is expressed, | 24:16 | |
Christians more than any others | 24:24 | |
should be sensitive to the kind of age in which they live. | 24:28 | |
Ours is the age of science technology. | 24:35 | |
It may very well be the post-Christian era, | 24:39 | |
but it seems to me that the most prominent feature | 24:44 | |
of our age is that it is the age of one world community. | 24:47 | |
Up until a few years ago, | 24:56 | |
there were real and physical limits to our ability | 24:57 | |
to give practical expression | 25:01 | |
to the ideal of the brotherhood of man. | 25:04 | |
The number of people for whom one could assume | 25:08 | |
effective responsibility was limited | 25:10 | |
to those whom one could meat and communicate with. | 25:14 | |
They lived within the radius of a few miles | 25:19 | |
and they were not many. | 25:22 | |
But modern transportation and communications | 25:25 | |
have brought the entire world to our doorstep. | 25:28 | |
Radio and Telstar have made possible our presence | 25:33 | |
in the nomads tent and the bushman's lean too. | 25:36 | |
And the most inaccessible places on earth. | 25:40 | |
Dr. Margaret Mead, the anthropologist has said | 25:44 | |
there are no longer people in the world | 25:47 | |
who have not been found and brought in touch | 25:50 | |
with the rest of civilization. | 25:52 | |
The tribes of new Guinea that 100 years ago, | 25:55 | |
or thousands of years behind the rest of civilization | 25:59 | |
have made changes in just the last few years | 26:03 | |
that it took us hundreds of years to make. | 26:08 | |
They have literally written into the 20th century | 26:12 | |
on radio waves that make them a part | 26:18 | |
of the rest of civilization. | 26:21 | |
The jet plane and the supersonic aircraft | 26:25 | |
make that spot on the opposite side of the globe | 26:29 | |
accessible within a matter of hours. | 26:33 | |
They make it as easy to get from here to Bombay India | 26:36 | |
as it was to get from one to another 100 years ago. | 26:41 | |
Wendell Willkie wrote his book, "One World" 25 years ago, | 26:48 | |
but we still haven't appreciated the significance | 26:54 | |
of that fact for Christian ethics. | 26:59 | |
For you see, if this is indeed one world community, | 27:03 | |
it means that we must apply to the entire world | 27:08 | |
the ethical principles we formally applied | 27:13 | |
to our small geographic neighborhoods. | 27:15 | |
When he was asked, who is my neighbor? | 27:20 | |
Jesus replied in effect, | 27:24 | |
"Your neighbor is any man who needs you | 27:26 | |
"and whom you can reach and help." | 27:30 | |
Well, with our transportation and communications, | 27:34 | |
we can reach them all now. | 27:38 | |
And with our technology and our immense wealth, | 27:42 | |
it is in our power to help them all now. | 27:45 | |
Therefore Christian righteousness in 1967 | 27:50 | |
demands that we assume responsibility for the health, | 27:54 | |
the education, the welfare of every human being | 27:59 | |
on this earth. | 28:04 | |
Just think what this means in economic terms alone. | 28:07 | |
Of course it means, first of all, | 28:13 | |
that we have to come before the rest of the world | 28:16 | |
in confession. | 28:17 | |
When 80% of the world's wealth is at the disposal | 28:20 | |
of 20% of the world's population, | 28:23 | |
when we have to fight the battle of the bowels | 28:28 | |
because we have too much to eat. | 28:30 | |
And today, literally, thousands will die in India | 28:35 | |
because they do not have enough to eat. | 28:38 | |
Is it any wonder that the underdeveloped have not, | 28:43 | |
hungry nations of the world. | 28:48 | |
Read the parable of Lazarus and Dives that was once | 28:52 | |
a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen | 28:56 | |
and lived a life of daily luxury. | 29:00 | |
And there was a poor man who was put down at his door | 29:04 | |
every day he used to long to be fed with the scraps | 29:07 | |
from the rich man's table. | 29:10 | |
And you know how the parable goes. | 29:12 | |
Is it any wonder these hungry nations of the world | 29:15 | |
read that parable and they cast themselves | 29:19 | |
in the role of Lazarus, the hungry man | 29:23 | |
and the cast America in the role of the overstuffed Dives. | 29:27 | |
At the World Council of Churches Conference | 29:34 | |
on Church and Society in Geneva, Switzerland last summer, | 29:36 | |
a delegate from India outlined ways by which | 29:41 | |
the disparity between wealth and poverty in our world | 29:46 | |
might be reduced somewhat. | 29:50 | |
And appropriately enough, he began by saying | 29:54 | |
these underdeveloped nations must assume responsibility | 29:59 | |
for their own development. | 30:02 | |
But he said, after they have done all they can, | 30:05 | |
it will not be enough because they do not have the capital, | 30:08 | |
natural and personal resources necessary to achieve | 30:14 | |
the desired standard of living. | 30:19 | |
Only with the help of the well endowed nations of the world | 30:22 | |
can the job be done. | 30:27 | |
No one objected to that, we have known that all the time. | 30:29 | |
But then he moved into the realm of specifics | 30:34 | |
where the shoe really begins to pinch. | 30:38 | |
And he said, "I propose international taxation | 30:41 | |
"as a method by which a larger portion of the world's wealth | 30:47 | |
"might be made available to the underdeveloped | 30:50 | |
"nations of the world. | 30:52 | |
"And further, I propose the removal | 30:55 | |
"of all barriers to immigration | 30:57 | |
"in order that populations might flow freely | 31:00 | |
"across national boundaries. | 31:03 | |
"And that congested nations might send | 31:06 | |
"some of their population to less congested nations." | 31:08 | |
When he finished, as soon as he could get the floor | 31:13 | |
of the conference, Dr. Roy Blau, an American economist | 31:17 | |
said, "I meet every week with a group | 31:23 | |
"of American businessmen. | 31:28 | |
"And I would like to tell you what those businessmen | 31:31 | |
"would reply to what you have proposed. | 31:34 | |
"First of all, they would say, | 31:38 | |
"why should we invest any more money | 31:39 | |
"in the underdeveloped nations of the world | 31:43 | |
"when we have already poured literally billions | 31:47 | |
"into those nations with no more than we have | 31:49 | |
"to show for it. | 31:51 | |
"And next they would say, why should we remove | 31:55 | |
"our barriers to immigration | 31:57 | |
"and allow people from the crowded nations | 32:01 | |
"to come to our country, when the congested countries | 32:04 | |
"aren't doing all they could | 32:08 | |
"to stem the population explosion | 32:10 | |
"through the use of birth control." | 32:13 | |
To which the Indian replied, | 32:17 | |
"Because, sir, if you do not do these things, | 32:21 | |
"my children will make your children do them." | 32:30 | |
For the colored people of the world | 32:35 | |
outnumber the white people two to one. | 32:37 | |
It wasn't a Christian thing to say | 32:42 | |
and it shouldn't have been said in that kind of conference, | 32:43 | |
but you know, I'm afraid it's true. | 32:47 | |
The revolution is going to come. | 32:50 | |
Surely a justice seeking God | 32:52 | |
desires the reduction of the disparity | 32:55 | |
between wealth and poverty in His world. | 33:00 | |
This is a revolution that's going to come | 33:04 | |
either as a result of the free and enlightened choice | 33:06 | |
of the wealthy nations of the world | 33:10 | |
or as a result of a violent revolution. | 33:12 | |
The revolution is already taking place internally | 33:15 | |
within the wealthy nations of the world, | 33:18 | |
where the great peaks of poverty are being pushed down | 33:20 | |
to fill out the valleys. | 33:23 | |
The great peaks of wealth are being pushed down | 33:24 | |
to fill up the valleys of poverty, through taxation. | 33:26 | |
And this same equalitarian spirit is seeping out | 33:33 | |
into international relationships. | 33:37 | |
And the underdeveloped countries of the world | 33:40 | |
are clamoring for their fair share | 33:42 | |
of the good things of this world. | 33:45 | |
Christian righteousness in 1967 | 33:48 | |
demands that we assist this revolution to take place | 33:52 | |
through non-violent and relatively Christian methods | 33:58 | |
so that it won't come about | 34:05 | |
as a result of a violent revolution. | 34:07 | |
The fact that this is one world community | 34:13 | |
also has political implications. | 34:17 | |
And since the Israeli-Arab situation | 34:24 | |
is the most sensitive problem at the moment, | 34:27 | |
I'd like to focus your attention on that situation. | 34:32 | |
And here again, the American people must become | 34:38 | |
before the rest of the world in confession. | 34:40 | |
Of course we didn't author the Zionist proposal | 34:46 | |
to establish a Jewish nation in Palestine, | 34:49 | |
nor were we the first nation to formulate a policy | 34:55 | |
favorable to Zionism. | 34:58 | |
It was Lord Balfour who wrote Lord Rothchild, | 35:01 | |
a leading representative of British jewelry in 1917, | 35:03 | |
promising British support for the establishment in Palestine | 35:08 | |
of a national home for the Jewish people | 35:15 | |
with cynical disregard for the rights | 35:19 | |
of the Arab people living in Palestine. | 35:22 | |
And at a time when there were 10 times | 35:26 | |
as many Arabs as Jews in Palestine. | 35:28 | |
And it was the British people, the British government | 35:33 | |
that implemented the Balfour declaration | 35:38 | |
immediately following World War I. | 35:41 | |
And in 1922, they issued a white paper | 35:44 | |
stating that it was their purpose | 35:47 | |
to create a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine | 35:49 | |
and stating that immigration would be permitted | 35:54 | |
as long as there was room in the country for them. | 35:58 | |
Over the repeated protest of the Arabs | 36:02 | |
who time and again reminded the world | 36:06 | |
of the essential Arab character of the country, | 36:09 | |
Great Britain continued to follow the policy of 1922 | 36:15 | |
until 1929 when Sir John Hope Simpson | 36:21 | |
reported that there was no longer any land left. | 36:29 | |
And at that time, the British administration in Palestine | 36:33 | |
ruled that further immigration by Jews | 36:36 | |
into Palestine would have to seize, | 36:42 | |
but under the pressure of a Zionist in London, | 36:46 | |
that decision was reversed. | 36:48 | |
And Great Britain followed the 1922 policy until 1939 | 36:52 | |
when apparently the foreign office got religion | 36:57 | |
and decided to act with moral courage. | 37:02 | |
They issued another white paper | 37:06 | |
based on the assumption that the Jewish national home pledge | 37:11 | |
had already been substantially fulfilled | 37:17 | |
and that indefinite immigration of Jews into Palestine | 37:21 | |
and the transfer of Arab lands to Jews | 37:26 | |
was contrary to the spirit of article 22 | 37:29 | |
of the league of nations. | 37:33 | |
And the white paper went on to say | 37:36 | |
within the next five years, 75,000 Jews | 37:40 | |
would be admitted to Palestine | 37:44 | |
and thereafter, further immigration | 37:48 | |
will be subject to Arab acquiescence | 37:50 | |
and no land transfers will be permitted | 37:55 | |
except in certain areas in Palestine. | 37:57 | |
It was at that juncture when Great Britain | 38:01 | |
refused to be any longer, the tool of Zionism | 38:07 | |
that the movement focused its attention on America. | 38:13 | |
And in May of 1942 at a Zionist conference | 38:18 | |
in the Biltmore Hotel in New York City, | 38:23 | |
David Ben-Gurion on behalf of the Jewish agency | 38:27 | |
gained support for the program | 38:30 | |
demanding unrestricted immigration, a Jewish army, | 38:32 | |
and the creation of Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth. | 38:38 | |
And from that point on, the president and the Congress | 38:45 | |
of the United States serve as champions for Zionism | 38:51 | |
and its unfettered expression. | 38:58 | |
In 1945, insisting on the admission of 100,000 Jews, | 39:03 | |
in 1947, providing the pressure in the United Nations | 39:08 | |
that resulted in the adoption of a resolution | 39:12 | |
calling for the partitioning of Palestine | 39:15 | |
at a time when only one third of the population was Jewish | 39:19 | |
and only 8% of the land was held by a Zionists. | 39:23 | |
Is it any wonder the Arab states | 39:28 | |
ask that the international court of justice | 39:32 | |
determine whether or not the United Nations | 39:35 | |
had the legal authority could take the action it did | 39:37 | |
against the will of the majority of the people | 39:43 | |
in the country involved. | 39:46 | |
Historically, the United States and Great Britain | 39:50 | |
have been responsible for the creation of the conditions | 39:57 | |
in the middle east that have produced the tensions | 40:00 | |
and the warfare there. | 40:03 | |
Without their initiative, | 40:07 | |
Israel would not have been created, | 40:08 | |
one million Palestinian Arabs would not now be homeless, | 40:12 | |
living as refugees God only knows where now, | 40:19 | |
having been driven by or having fled | 40:24 | |
before the incoming tide of Jewish immigrations | 40:26 | |
subsequent to 1947. | 40:30 | |
Those refugees would not have been for 20 years. | 40:36 | |
A reminder to the Arab world that the United States | 40:41 | |
and Great Britain were committed to the essentially | 40:45 | |
Nazi idea of a super race | 40:50 | |
entitled to profit at the expense of an inferior race. | 40:55 | |
Responsible human beings cannot ignore history. | 41:04 | |
And until we are prepared to assume | 41:10 | |
our moral responsibility, | 41:14 | |
we cannot begin to do the thing | 41:18 | |
that represents righteousness in 1967. | 41:20 | |
After all, the Jews can't be blamed | 41:26 | |
for jumping at the opportunity to put an end | 41:28 | |
to the pitiable plight of world jury. | 41:32 | |
The world knows they have earned the right | 41:36 | |
to Searcy's from persecution and pull Grimes, | 41:38 | |
the purpose of which is genocide. | 41:42 | |
Nor can the Arabs be blamed for their indignation | 41:46 | |
and bitterness over the Jewish question | 41:50 | |
being solved at their expense. | 41:54 | |
On the one hand, we cannot turn the calendar back to 1922 | 41:59 | |
or 1946 and eliminate the state of Israel, | 42:03 | |
thus undoing the injustice to the Arabs. | 42:10 | |
And on the other hand, we cannot ignore the just claim | 42:14 | |
of the Arabs that they have been done a grave injustice. | 42:17 | |
Let it be said in fairness to our present administration | 42:23 | |
that its policy of supporting a resolution | 42:26 | |
calling for negotiations prior to the withdrawal | 42:29 | |
of the Israeli troops is probably | 42:32 | |
the most reasonable compromise at this time, | 42:35 | |
for our two objectives in the middle east | 42:41 | |
will have to be peace and justice. | 42:43 | |
And one cannot see how there can be peace in the middle east | 42:47 | |
until the Arab states recognize the existence | 42:50 | |
of the state of Israel, the de facto existence. | 42:53 | |
Well, one would not argue that they have de juro, | 42:59 | |
rightful existence. | 43:01 | |
But Israel does exist as a nation | 43:05 | |
and it kind of ceased to exist as a nation | 43:09 | |
without our abrogating assurances on the basis | 43:11 | |
of which two and a half million people | 43:15 | |
have staked their lives. | 43:17 | |
At the present time, Israel occupies Arab territory, | 43:22 | |
which gives them a position of power from which to negotiate | 43:24 | |
for national recognition. | 43:29 | |
But once they have received national recognition | 43:33 | |
and the privilege of the use of the waters of the Suez Canal | 43:37 | |
and the straits of Tehran, | 43:41 | |
they should be required to withdraw from every square inch | 43:43 | |
of Arab territory taken by conquest, | 43:47 | |
including the old city of Jerusalem. | 43:51 | |
For just as Arab recognition of the nationhood of Israel | 43:56 | |
is a necessary prerequisite to peace, | 44:01 | |
so Israel's recognition of the territorial integrity | 44:04 | |
of the Arab states is a necessary precondition of peace. | 44:09 | |
One doubts that the Arab states | 44:17 | |
are ready to let bygones be bygones. | 44:19 | |
It's hardly likely that they would willingly | 44:23 | |
justify the existence of the state of Israel, | 44:28 | |
but they can, and under the right conditions, | 44:32 | |
they probably will acknowledge the existence of Israel. | 44:35 | |
What are those conditions? | 44:42 | |
One suspects that they involve our, | 44:46 | |
the United States' willingness | 44:49 | |
to assume moral responsibility | 44:53 | |
and to its willingness to make appropriate restitution. | 44:57 | |
To be sure Israel should be required to pay prompt | 45:05 | |
and fair compensation for all lands | 45:08 | |
formally occupied by Arabs. | 45:11 | |
But beyond this, our government should assume | 45:14 | |
responsibility for making right the wrongs | 45:19 | |
that have been done to the Palestinian Arabs. | 45:23 | |
Now this isn't the place to spell out in detail | 45:28 | |
how this ought to be done, | 45:30 | |
but I would suggest to you that any solution | 45:33 | |
should involve the following elements. | 45:37 | |
First of all, there should be a program | 45:41 | |
designed to rehabilitate the Palestinian Arab refugees. | 45:44 | |
Second, we probably should appropriate | 45:50 | |
as much as a billion dollars a year | 45:54 | |
for the impounding of the waters of the Jordan | 45:56 | |
and the Yamuk rivers in order to irrigate lands | 45:58 | |
east of the Jordan. | 46:03 | |
And third, we should resettle the refugees | 46:07 | |
on the newly developed arable land. | 46:10 | |
And fourth, we should provide equipment for their farms. | 46:14 | |
And fifth, we should train the refugees | 46:18 | |
in the techniques of modern agriculture. | 46:21 | |
But most important of all, we should be prepared | 46:25 | |
to face the possible fact that we cannot make available | 46:30 | |
sufficient arable lands in the Arab states. | 46:35 | |
And the United States of America should be prepared | 46:41 | |
to accept and facilitate Arab immigration into this country | 46:45 | |
until the economic absorptive capacity of the Arab states | 46:54 | |
can accommodate those who remain. | 46:59 | |
This is probably a vastly oversimplified prescription | 47:04 | |
for righteousness in this situation. | 47:08 | |
And it is altogether possible that culpable as we are, | 47:11 | |
we are in no position to say what the terms of settlement | 47:17 | |
should be. | 47:21 | |
But surely righteousness demands that as a minimum, | 47:24 | |
we confess our responsibility and begin to make restitution. | 47:28 | |
This is the kind of complex international problem | 47:38 | |
with which Christian conscience must wrestle in 1967. | 47:47 | |
The context of Christian decision making | 47:53 | |
has been vastly expanded | 47:55 | |
by changes that have caught us largely unprepared, | 47:58 | |
but this is God's world, every bit of it. | 48:03 | |
And He is concerned about the welfare | 48:09 | |
of every single human being in this world. | 48:12 | |
He has brought us to this time in history | 48:17 | |
when our decisions can profoundly affect the lives of people | 48:20 | |
on the other side of the globe. | 48:25 | |
Therefore like men rescued from certain death, | 48:28 | |
put yourselves in the hands of God as weapons of good | 48:32 | |
for God's own purposes and let justice roll down like waters | 48:37 | |
and righteousness, like an ever flowing stream. | 48:45 | |
Let us pray. | 48:51 | |
Create in us, oh God, | 48:55 | |
a readiness to judge ourselves with a judgment | 48:59 | |
with which thou does judge all men, | 49:03 | |
that we may become worthy instruments | 49:07 | |
of thy peace and justice. | 49:09 | |
Keep us disturbed over inequity wherever it occurs | 49:13 | |
among men, that we may be faithful to the call | 49:16 | |
to righteousness in our generation. | 49:21 | |
We pray in the name of Him who in His own life | 49:25 | |
fulfilled all righteousness. | 49:29 | |
Amen. | 49:33 | |
(choir singing solemn hymn) | 49:36 | |
♪ Oh Lord ♪ | 53:17 | |
♪ Oh Lord ♪ | 53:21 | |
(choir singing hymns) | 53:25 | |
(piano music) | 58:30 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 59:01 | |
♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪ | 59:08 | |
♪ Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ♪ | 59:16 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 59:25 | |
- | Here we offer and present unto thee, oh Lord, | 59:44 |
our silver and gold, the symbol of ourselves | 59:48 | |
to be a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto thee | 59:54 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 1:00:00 | |
Amen. | 1:00:04 | |
The grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, | 1:00:07 | |
the love of God and the communion of His Holy Spirit | 1:00:11 | |
be with you always. | 1:00:15 | |
(singing solemn hymns) | 1:00:23 | |
(bell tolls) | 1:00:58 | |
(distorted sound) | 1:01:13 | |
(lively piano music) | 1:01:17 |
Item Info
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