Stuart C. Henry - "Religion for a Yeoman" (January 28, 1968)
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- | Oh God, most merciful and holy, forgive us, we ask | 0:05 |
our corporate and our individual sins. | 0:10 | |
Forgive us for the sin of blindness, | 0:14 | |
which sees so superficially that it sees no sin. | 0:16 | |
More deeply still, forgive the sins, which make us blind. | 0:20 | |
The furious haste, the weary indifference, | 0:26 | |
the hard sophistication, the evasive restlessness, | 0:31 | |
covered guilt and the love of comfort | 0:36 | |
that is so much a part of our lives. | 0:40 | |
Forgive us and save us from that sin of all sins | 0:42 | |
of denying thee and thy love. | 0:46 | |
Forgive us for that denial, which refuses to face thee, | 0:49 | |
even more for confessing thy name, | 0:53 | |
but avoiding thy presence. | 0:56 | |
Most of all, we ask forgiveness for coming into thy presence | 1:00 | |
too well protected by self-satisfaction | 1:04 | |
to be humble by thy glory | 1:07 | |
or meekened by thy grace. | 1:10 | |
Forgive us these and all our sins, oh God, | 1:13 | |
and open our eyes that we may repent, | 1:17 | |
we may accept by reconciliation, | 1:21 | |
and be saved through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 1:24 | |
Amen. | 1:29 | |
Hear these words of assurance from our Lord. | 1:33 | |
Jesus said be of good cheer. | 1:37 | |
Your sins are forgiven. | 1:40 | |
Go and sin no more. | 1:44 | |
If a man is in Christ, he becomes a new person all together. | 1:48 | |
The past is finished and gone. | 1:53 | |
Everything has become fresh and new and open. | 1:57 | |
Because you have confessed your sins before God | 2:04 | |
and from your heart, | 2:06 | |
I tell you in his name, | 2:08 | |
you are accepted just as you are. | 2:10 | |
Accept the fact that you are forgiven, | 2:13 | |
that whatever you are have done, | 2:16 | |
you are free from that bondage. | 2:18 | |
You are free to live fully in the present. | 2:21 | |
You are valued just as you are. | 2:25 | |
Life is good as it is given by God. | 2:28 | |
Your future is open. | 2:32 | |
Arise. | 2:34 | |
Pick up your bed. | 2:36 | |
Take your life and walk. | 2:39 | |
(liturgical music begins) | 2:59 | |
Far Lord, as contained in the gospel | 8:49 | |
according to Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31 through 46. | 8:52 | |
"When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, | 8:59 | |
and all the holy angels with him, | 9:02 | |
then shall he sit upon his glorious throne | 9:05 | |
and all nations shall be gathered into his presence | 9:08 | |
and he will divide man one from another, | 9:12 | |
as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats | 9:15 | |
and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, | 9:18 | |
but the goats on the left. | 9:21 | |
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, | 9:24 | |
come, ye blessed of my father, | 9:27 | |
take possession of the kingdom prepared for you | 9:30 | |
from the foundation of the world, | 9:33 | |
for I was hungry and you gave me food, | 9:35 | |
I was thirsty and you gave me drink. | 9:38 | |
I was homeless and you brought me in. | 9:41 | |
When I had no clothes, you gave me clothes. | 9:44 | |
I was sick and you came to my help. | 9:47 | |
I was in prison and you visited me. | 9:51 | |
Then shall the righteous answer him saying, | 9:53 | |
Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you | 9:56 | |
or thirsty and gave you drink? | 10:00 | |
When did we see you a stranger and took you in | 10:02 | |
or naked and gave you clothes? | 10:05 | |
Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come unto you? | 10:08 | |
And the king will reply, | 10:12 | |
barely I say unto you, | 10:14 | |
in as much as you have rendered such services | 10:17 | |
to one of the humblest of these, my brethren, | 10:20 | |
ye have done it unto me. | 10:23 | |
Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, | 10:25 | |
the curse is upon you, | 10:28 | |
go from my site into the eternal fire, | 10:29 | |
which is prepared for the adversary and his messengers, | 10:32 | |
for I was hungry and you gave me no meat. | 10:36 | |
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. | 10:39 | |
I was a stranger and you did not take me in. | 10:42 | |
Naked and you gave me no clothes, | 10:46 | |
sick and in prison and you did not visit me. | 10:48 | |
Then they in their turn will answer, | 10:52 | |
Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, | 10:55 | |
or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison | 10:58 | |
and did nothing for you? | 11:02 | |
Then shall he answer them saying, | 11:04 | |
when you refused it | 11:06 | |
to one of the least of my brethren here, | 11:08 | |
you refused it to me. | 11:11 | |
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, | 11:14 | |
but the righteous to everlasting life. | 11:18 | |
May God bless to our hearts the reading of his work. | 11:21 | |
(liturgical music) | 11:27 | |
Be with you, let us pray. | 12:09 | |
Almighty God, our heavenly father, | 12:21 | |
we bless and magnify thy holy name | 12:24 | |
for the gift of thy most dearly beloved son, | 12:28 | |
Jesus Christ, our redeemer, | 12:31 | |
and for all his apostles, prophets, evangelists, | 12:34 | |
teachers and pastors, | 12:38 | |
whom he has sent abroad into the world, | 12:40 | |
for thy holy church universal, | 12:44 | |
the ministry of the laity | 12:46 | |
and the ministry of the ordain, | 12:48 | |
we do give the hearty thanks for the privilege | 12:50 | |
which each one of us has | 12:54 | |
of bearing witness to the saving grace of our Lord, | 12:55 | |
we express our gratitude. | 12:59 | |
We thank the for life, for a measure of health, for friends, | 13:02 | |
for food, for clothing, and for all the purposes of Christ, | 13:07 | |
which give meaning to all these earthly goods. | 13:11 | |
We make our prayer of thanks in Jesus' name. | 13:15 | |
Amen. | 13:19 | |
Let us continue to take our place in the family of man, | 13:21 | |
as we offer our prayers for those in need and for ourselves. | 13:25 | |
Let us pray. | 13:30 | |
Our heavenly father, | 13:35 | |
we pray thy mercy for all who may falter | 13:37 | |
beneath life's cross, | 13:40 | |
finding it heavier than their strength. | 13:43 | |
For all who lose the path, | 13:47 | |
finding the way too dark for human sight. | 13:49 | |
For all who are struggling against odds, | 13:54 | |
even though their hope dwindles to despair. | 13:57 | |
For all who pray alone and driven in some (indistinct), | 14:01 | |
finding no answer but the eternal light of silent stars, | 14:07 | |
we lift our prayers, oh God, | 14:13 | |
for all who lift their cross without bitterness, | 14:14 | |
finding it's pain too deep for complaint. | 14:19 | |
For all who die, finding in death what life had denied them. | 14:23 | |
We pray for all these and others who have no prayer to offer | 14:29 | |
out of their hopeless extremity. | 14:34 | |
And we beseech the to grant them thy mercy, | 14:37 | |
and to grant us the insight | 14:42 | |
to know how we might minister to their needs. | 14:44 | |
Oh Lord, whose vast sight takes in | 14:52 | |
the varied anguish of all men, | 14:54 | |
we beseech the to look upon thy servants | 14:58 | |
gathered here in thy house. | 15:01 | |
Old and young gathered in our need to praise thee | 15:04 | |
and to set our hope on thee. | 15:08 | |
Thou art still our refuge | 15:12 | |
and all our confidence is in thy righteous judgment. | 15:13 | |
If we are young, guide us in spite of our perplexities | 15:18 | |
to make clear decisions. | 15:22 | |
If we are old, guard with the strength of peace, | 15:26 | |
then our labors humble as they may have been, | 15:30 | |
may not have been in vain. | 15:34 | |
If we are working at unpopular task, | 15:37 | |
amid indifference or hostility, | 15:40 | |
grant us we ask the courage which only integrity can give. | 15:46 | |
Oh God of ancient prophets and holy martyrs, | 15:52 | |
pour out thy spirit upon us in this new day, | 15:56 | |
but once again, in the hour of our need, | 16:02 | |
we may dream dreams and see visions. | 16:04 | |
Drop the plum line of thy justice | 16:08 | |
beside every wall that we have built, oh Lord. | 16:10 | |
Weigh in the balances of thy truth, | 16:14 | |
all the accomplishments of our skill and science. | 16:16 | |
Test with thy consuming fire | 16:20 | |
the permanent worth of all of our industry | 16:23 | |
and all of our art. | 16:26 | |
If the earth be shaken and the foundations tremble, | 16:29 | |
grant us courage to look beyond the ruins | 16:34 | |
to that which has not fallen. | 16:37 | |
If judgment falls and the hollow vanity | 16:40 | |
of much that pass for the substance of life | 16:43 | |
is revealed as nothing, | 16:46 | |
steady us until we lift up our eyes unto thee | 16:49 | |
and know that our hope is in thee both now and forever. | 16:53 | |
Our father, this day began for some of us joyfully, | 16:59 | |
for others, grimly. | 17:04 | |
Some will spend the hours without anxiety | 17:08 | |
and others will be caught in the web of living pain. | 17:12 | |
Some will exalt in new vistas of hope and joy | 17:17 | |
and others will carry a burden of heart | 17:21 | |
too heavy to see very far beyond the moment. | 17:24 | |
Some of us have felt and known by forgiveness | 17:29 | |
and some of us still are seeking it. | 17:32 | |
Some know thee, and some do not know | 17:36 | |
whether they know thee or not. | 17:39 | |
We are not all alike, Lord, | 17:42 | |
but all of us need thee. | 17:45 | |
Minister we ask to our particular needs, | 17:48 | |
and grant us thy blessing in mercy and in wisdom | 17:54 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, | 17:59 | |
who taught us to pray together saying, | 18:01 | |
our father who art in heaven, | 18:04 | |
hallowed be thy name, | 18:08 | |
by kingdom come, thy will be done | 18:10 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 18:13 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 18:16 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 18:19 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 18:21 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 18:24 | |
but deliver us from evil | 18:27 | |
for thine is the kingdom | 18:30 | |
and the power and the glory forever, amen. | 18:31 | |
- | In the name of the father and of the son | 19:01 |
and of the holy spirit, amen. | 19:05 | |
Every night it's the same thing. | 19:15 | |
Will we starve to death or freeze to death or boil to death, | 19:18 | |
or will we be slain by burglars? | 19:23 | |
The words are the words of a silly character | 19:27 | |
in a serious play, | 19:31 | |
but the fears are the fears of our own hearts. | 19:34 | |
Was there ever such a world as ours? | 19:39 | |
Surely we feel ourselves often to be in a garish nightmare. | 19:44 | |
Soon, surely we will awaken | 19:50 | |
to a world of sensibility and balance. | 19:52 | |
The world cannot be as our senses advise us that it is. | 19:57 | |
Surely we will awaken, but we do not awake. | 20:03 | |
And every night it is the same thing. | 20:07 | |
Was there ever such a world as ours? | 20:12 | |
Could it just be that this world, | 20:14 | |
our world might possibly come to an end | 20:18 | |
without even the dignity of special lighting effects | 20:23 | |
or incidental music? | 20:28 | |
Was there ever a world like ours | 20:30 | |
of such despair and confusion | 20:33 | |
that promises always death, | 20:36 | |
but that brings only madness | 20:40 | |
and the obligation to endure | 20:43 | |
with no opportunity to escape? | 20:46 | |
Or if we should survive this day, this season, | 20:50 | |
is there any assurance that things will change? | 20:54 | |
We have begun yet another year | 20:58 | |
torn internally by strife at home | 21:01 | |
and threatened abroad by grave perils? | 21:04 | |
Another year of strife and fear. | 21:08 | |
Was there ever such a world as ours? | 21:12 | |
It is an embarrassing admission for an alleged Christian, | 21:17 | |
but a necessary confession for an honest man, | 21:21 | |
that when these reflections | 21:25 | |
first began to take formal shape, | 21:27 | |
the Pueblo had not been captured. | 21:30 | |
And yet never there was any serious thought | 21:34 | |
that anything might happen to alter the relevance, | 21:38 | |
relevance of beginning at the point | 21:43 | |
of uncertainty and despair and nothing happened. | 21:45 | |
Was there ever a world so mad and desperate as ours? | 21:50 | |
But of course, says the philosopher. | 21:56 | |
This is the only kind of world there is. | 21:59 | |
This is what it means to have a world. | 22:03 | |
Every man thinks that his burden is the worst to bear, | 22:06 | |
precisely because he bears it himself. | 22:11 | |
And it is not simply the philosopher who advises us | 22:15 | |
that the world has always been as it is now. | 22:19 | |
Listen to the words of a world | 22:23 | |
where a prophet of another time, | 22:25 | |
one generation comes, another generation goes, | 22:28 | |
but the earth abides forever. | 22:34 | |
All rivers run to the sea, but the sea is not full. | 22:37 | |
What is to be is what has been, | 22:42 | |
and what has been is that which will be, | 22:45 | |
and there is nothing new under the sun. | 22:48 | |
Is there something of which one says, see, this is new? | 22:51 | |
It has been before in the ages before us. | 22:57 | |
No, says the philosopher and the weary prophet, | 23:02 | |
the world has always been as it is, | 23:07 | |
for this is the essence of existence. | 23:10 | |
The hazardous life | 23:13 | |
on the razor's edge of possible destruction | 23:14 | |
and moment by moment, | 23:18 | |
every good and cogent thing | 23:21 | |
must be guarded and cherished and protected. | 23:24 | |
Has there ever been such a world as ours? | 23:29 | |
But this is the only kind of world there ever is. | 23:33 | |
This is the meaning involved in having a world. | 23:36 | |
Now, I have no zeal to answer the question which I raise. | 23:41 | |
Rather I would offer a comment | 23:48 | |
arising from consideration of two typical solutions | 23:50 | |
that men have made to the problem of living with life | 23:55 | |
in a world that is threatened. | 24:00 | |
A comment that is mindful of the fact | 24:04 | |
that every generation in it's way has it's special agonies. | 24:06 | |
After all, it is the toad beneath the harrow | 24:12 | |
that knows exactly where each tooth point goes. | 24:16 | |
But even so, | 24:21 | |
because there is a certain continuity in the human race, | 24:23 | |
there will be a certain similarity | 24:26 | |
between any world that any human has made | 24:30 | |
and any other world. | 24:33 | |
Was there ever such a world as ours? | 24:35 | |
Probably, probably not, | 24:38 | |
but there were always men like us. | 24:41 | |
Nature is prodigal, | 24:45 | |
prodigal, and careless in the matter of individuals. | 24:47 | |
There are thick ones and thin ones | 24:52 | |
and good ones and bad ones and happy ones and sad ones. | 24:55 | |
Nature is very careless about the individual, | 25:00 | |
but exceedingly careful of the type. | 25:03 | |
So that it happens that men being always human, | 25:07 | |
will somehow make a human mess of their world. | 25:11 | |
This is only another way of saying | 25:15 | |
that the world is as old and as shapeless as sin | 25:19 | |
and sinful men will always make sinful mistakes | 25:24 | |
and a sinful world. | 25:28 | |
And yet there will be a similarity | 25:30 | |
between other worlds and our own. | 25:33 | |
Is there perhaps then some wisdom for us | 25:36 | |
in looking at solutions of other times? | 25:40 | |
Yes, because we look more objectively | 25:44 | |
at the words of other men than we do at our own. | 25:47 | |
And so, we may find comfort to ourselves, | 25:51 | |
not because misery loves company, | 25:55 | |
but because understanding may arise from experience, | 25:58 | |
may we say not necessarily, | 26:02 | |
for a wiser than I has suggested | 26:06 | |
that the past will reveal to the present | 26:09 | |
only what the present is capable of seeing. | 26:11 | |
For a face that is blank to one age | 26:16 | |
may be pregnant with meaning to another age. | 26:19 | |
And so we look and see what we can find, | 26:23 | |
and it is in this context that I suggest to you | 26:26 | |
that we who live in a threatened and disintegrating world | 26:30 | |
may find some understanding and some wisdom | 26:35 | |
by looking at two typical solutions | 26:39 | |
of men who lived in the middle ages. | 26:42 | |
And there is wisdom really in looking at the middle ages, | 26:47 | |
rather than for instance, looking at Greece. | 26:51 | |
The Greek imagination never ask anything of the world | 26:56 | |
beyond ineligibility. | 27:01 | |
The Greek mind looked at the world | 27:04 | |
and wanted it to make sense. | 27:06 | |
The Greek mind accepted tragedy and comedy whenever it came. | 27:09 | |
Much as the Greek mind accepted an eclipse or the tides, | 27:15 | |
asking only that these things made sense | 27:21 | |
and intelligibility. | 27:24 | |
And so it was that the thoughtful Greek | 27:26 | |
often grew very wise in matters of anger and love, | 27:28 | |
but the medieval man demanded much more. | 27:35 | |
The medieval man demanded that somehow the actions of man | 27:39 | |
should square with eternal veritas. | 27:45 | |
The medieval man demanded that this life here and now | 27:49 | |
should be an allegory of the life to come, | 27:55 | |
and then it should be patterned upon it's model. | 27:59 | |
That is why the medieval man | 28:03 | |
often became troubled and distressed. | 28:05 | |
This is finally why we have | 28:09 | |
a real affinity with the middle ages. | 28:11 | |
It is not simply that the medieval man gave us such homely, | 28:14 | |
but revolutionary articles as the clock and spectacles | 28:20 | |
and buttons and forks. | 28:26 | |
Rather, we are attached to the medieval man | 28:29 | |
and dependent upon him | 28:32 | |
because he created universities and cathedrals | 28:35 | |
as an indication of the fact | 28:39 | |
that he was serious in asking, | 28:41 | |
not is the world unlike any other world, | 28:44 | |
this world that I know, | 28:49 | |
no, but because he was serious in asking, | 28:50 | |
how can I live in a world that is disintegrating? | 28:54 | |
So, we covet for ourselves | 28:59 | |
the eternal referent that he sought, | 29:01 | |
which he did not always find. | 29:04 | |
So then, was there ever a world like ours? | 29:07 | |
Probably, probably not. | 29:11 | |
But in another age, | 29:14 | |
there were two typical solutions | 29:15 | |
to living in a threatened world | 29:17 | |
in the examination of which | 29:20 | |
we may get some wisdom for ourselves. | 29:22 | |
Now, one of these solutions was the way of the knight. | 29:26 | |
And surely of all historical figures in another age, | 29:32 | |
nothing is quite so similar to our own inner feelings | 29:36 | |
as the attitude of the knight. | 29:41 | |
That is the feelings of our culture and of our generation, | 29:44 | |
for the knight was a man of action. | 29:49 | |
He wanted to do something about it | 29:52 | |
and we understand this reaction. | 29:55 | |
And so it was the knight looking at his time, | 29:59 | |
rode off on noble errands | 30:02 | |
to alter the face of his generation. | 30:04 | |
He endeavored to act. | 30:08 | |
What he tried to do was to wear bravery to truth and honor. | 30:10 | |
One could not abolish war, he said, | 30:16 | |
but at least war could be honorable | 30:19 | |
and victors could be gracious to those whom they defeated. | 30:23 | |
Because you see, the knight was always | 30:28 | |
trying to make religion the motive for romance. | 30:31 | |
He was trying to clothe romance | 30:36 | |
in the religious aura of mysticism. | 30:39 | |
What he wanted was to taste the good things | 30:43 | |
and the beauty of this life | 30:46 | |
without dulling his palette for the joys of the next | 30:49 | |
or ruling out the possibility | 30:53 | |
that he might have his share of them. | 30:55 | |
And so, whether he went to sucker | 30:58 | |
a single maiden in distress, | 31:01 | |
or whether he went about the business | 31:04 | |
of relieving a beleaguered city, | 31:06 | |
the knight was the man who was endeavoring by his action | 31:09 | |
to give the dignity of religion to all that he did. | 31:13 | |
The trouble was that the knight | 31:19 | |
did not always live up to his chivalric ideal. | 31:21 | |
Not always. | 31:26 | |
He who could be so grand and gracious | 31:27 | |
in battle or tournament this day, | 31:32 | |
tomorrow just might be the faithless murderer. | 31:35 | |
He might wear his honor as proudly as a plume, | 31:39 | |
and yet he might, like Lancelot, or Tristan | 31:44 | |
or even realer knights, | 31:50 | |
destroy a fine home by adultery | 31:53 | |
because you see, it often happened at the medieval knight. | 31:57 | |
Went to mass in the morning, | 32:01 | |
robbed a church in the afternoon | 32:04 | |
and drank himself into obscenity in the evening. | 32:07 | |
This is not to denigrate knighthood, | 32:10 | |
and this is not to complain about the knight. | 32:14 | |
It is simply to remember that men are men | 32:16 | |
and whenever a knight went about doing errands of mercy, | 32:21 | |
he was a man and he moved always on feet of clay | 32:24 | |
and sometimes sadly on the cloven hoof. | 32:29 | |
You see, it is important to do something. | 32:33 | |
It is right to want to act and react | 32:36 | |
to the misery that we see about us. | 32:40 | |
But whenever we do so, we do so as human beings | 32:42 | |
and our frailty will show through. | 32:47 | |
You see, it is just possible | 32:49 | |
for the knight to do the right thing, | 32:51 | |
for the wrong reason, | 32:54 | |
to go on the errand of mercy to a distant place | 32:56 | |
because it is pleasant to travel in a foreign land, | 33:00 | |
to attempt the unusual and the difficult, | 33:04 | |
because this brings with it glamor | 33:07 | |
and also celebrity in it's wake. | 33:10 | |
This is the way we are made. | 33:13 | |
This is the way in which we act. | 33:16 | |
It is pleasanter to be a knight | 33:17 | |
and to be about romance abroad | 33:20 | |
than it is to be a surf | 33:23 | |
and to be bound to the soil. | 33:25 | |
Now, this is not simply to complain | 33:28 | |
that the knight was human. | 33:30 | |
It's simply to say that the knight was sinful as well. | 33:32 | |
And we say this because we recognize in the knight | 33:36 | |
what we know in our own heart of hearts, | 33:40 | |
because do you see, | 33:43 | |
we can be so busy about the errand of distant mercy | 33:45 | |
that we ignore and forget the responsibility | 33:49 | |
that cries for assistance close at hand. | 33:53 | |
Let me be perfectly clear in what I'm saying | 33:57 | |
and let me please be understood. | 34:01 | |
The rationale for instance, | 34:04 | |
for the peace corps is defensible and it is appealing. | 34:06 | |
And surely there be many in this organization | 34:12 | |
who have done great service to God and to neighbor | 34:16 | |
and for cause of peace. | 34:20 | |
But it is still sad to go so quickly to the aid | 34:23 | |
and to the stress of people in another place | 34:27 | |
that one has not taken the time | 34:31 | |
to learn the names of the domestics | 34:34 | |
who clean these halls and who serve our meals. | 34:38 | |
But in this case, | 34:43 | |
it is not necessary to choose between the two. | 34:44 | |
It is possible to do both. | 34:48 | |
The knight, however, forgot this. | 34:51 | |
And often he spurned the manual worker | 34:53 | |
upon whose labor the citadel | 34:57 | |
of his gallantry was finally erected. | 35:00 | |
What can I do about this disintegrating and fearful world? | 35:04 | |
You can do something, says the knight. | 35:09 | |
Go upon an errand of mercy. | 35:12 | |
But this is not always possible for us. | 35:15 | |
And more to the point, | 35:18 | |
we are committed to programs | 35:21 | |
where there is little room for knighthood | 35:24 | |
and less for any action, save academic, | 35:27 | |
and so we cannot be knights, | 35:31 | |
even if knighthood were right for us, | 35:34 | |
for the next semester comes on too shortly. | 35:37 | |
Now then, the second solution, | 35:41 | |
which was typical of the middle ages was that of the monk. | 35:44 | |
And monasticism arose at a time | 35:49 | |
when a whole empire had collapsed, | 35:53 | |
dragging with it to destruction an order of existence | 35:57 | |
and leaving a whole race in terror. | 36:01 | |
There was naught left, save dread and fear | 36:04 | |
and men were so frightened | 36:09 | |
that they could no longer dream of redeeming the world, | 36:11 | |
indeed dream of any kind were inappropriate | 36:15 | |
for it was a season of nightmare. | 36:20 | |
And so, the most sensitive of them | 36:22 | |
could not bear it any longer | 36:25 | |
and they went to the cloister to study, to think, | 36:27 | |
to pray and to reflect. | 36:33 | |
And it is thanks to these cowed communities | 36:36 | |
that some learning was preserved | 36:40 | |
and a measure of sanity did exist, | 36:42 | |
for monasticism at it's best, | 36:47 | |
blessed all those and redeemed those | 36:49 | |
who came within the peaceful influence of it's benediction. | 36:52 | |
And it was the monks who were largely responsible | 36:56 | |
for converting the barbarians. | 36:59 | |
Yes, and for redeeming Christianity itself, | 37:02 | |
for in God's good time, | 37:07 | |
there came a Francis and a Dominic and many another | 37:09 | |
whose saintly way is marked for us | 37:16 | |
by that part at which the shining steps | 37:19 | |
of one who knew and understood | 37:23 | |
crossed the dark trail | 37:26 | |
in the jungle of man's violence and greed. | 37:28 | |
Who finally can worship complacently in this place? | 37:32 | |
When he remembers Brother Juniper | 37:37 | |
who stripped the high altar of all it's valuable apartments | 37:40 | |
that he might give them to (indistinct) | 37:44 | |
to buy food for herself. | 37:47 | |
Or who can resist the charm of Saint Anthony of Padua, | 37:50 | |
who stood on the riverbank, preaching to the fishes | 37:54 | |
and reminded them that they of all God's creatures | 37:58 | |
should be most grateful to him, | 38:02 | |
because at the time of the deluge, | 38:05 | |
when the whole world was the object of God's rath, | 38:06 | |
they only were privileged to visit in King's palaces | 38:10 | |
and to see houses and trees. | 38:14 | |
No, there is charm about monasticism and there is power. | 38:17 | |
And yet, we do remember that the monk's cell | 38:23 | |
is in it's way to the middle ages, | 38:26 | |
what the laboratory is to our own time. | 38:29 | |
This is the institutional expression of our own age, | 38:33 | |
for do you see we who are the intellectuals, | 38:39 | |
say the world is going to rack and ruin. | 38:42 | |
And so, we will retreat to the library, | 38:48 | |
to the research laboratory, to the cloister. | 38:52 | |
We will retreat and we will study and think and research | 38:56 | |
and teach and preach | 39:03 | |
that happily, these values that are still real in life | 39:07 | |
may be preserved for whatever generation may follow. | 39:11 | |
Surely the essence of life is truth and spirit, | 39:15 | |
never matter of which will always turn to dust and ashes, | 39:20 | |
if happily the robbers do not bury it away first. | 39:24 | |
Now, we are the intellectuals, | 39:27 | |
and so we will retreat from this ugly world, | 39:29 | |
does not always work. | 39:34 | |
Monasticism didn't always work because you see, | 39:36 | |
the monks found that finally, | 39:40 | |
though they might retreat from the world, | 39:42 | |
the world would not leave it alone. | 39:45 | |
Saint Simeon Stylites built himself up on a high pillar | 39:48 | |
and throngs of folk came out to stare in wonder and all, | 39:52 | |
came to gaze and remained to build a community | 39:56 | |
about the vice of his pedestal, | 39:59 | |
for the monk found the world | 40:01 | |
always clamoring at the door of his cell, | 40:03 | |
disturbing his dreams and intruding itself into his reading. | 40:06 | |
One of the most charming stories of the middle ages | 40:11 | |
often repeated reminds us of this. | 40:14 | |
It is recorded through the mercy of Caesarius of Heisterbach | 40:18 | |
who tells of how an old abbot | 40:22 | |
rode out with a young monk on occasion | 40:24 | |
and the youth for the first time saw women. | 40:27 | |
What are they, he asked. | 40:32 | |
These be demons, said the abbot. | 40:35 | |
Ah, said the youth. | 40:38 | |
I thought they were the fairest things I had ever seen, | 40:40 | |
for the world does not leave us alone, | 40:45 | |
even though we retreat from the world, | 40:48 | |
for the figure of the static | 40:50 | |
is always but the figure of St. George | 40:52 | |
standing with his foot upon the defeated dragon, | 40:56 | |
defeated, but not slain. | 41:00 | |
Whose raving can never be wholly ignored. | 41:03 | |
And this attitude, again, like that of the knight, | 41:06 | |
though splendidly heroic, | 41:10 | |
is never quite convincing of freedom. | 41:12 | |
What shall I do in this world that disintegrates? | 41:17 | |
Be off upon an errand. | 41:21 | |
Action, says the knight. | 41:23 | |
But it doesn't always work, | 41:25 | |
harvey to a cloister, | 41:28 | |
retreat and reflect, says the monk. | 41:30 | |
But neither this leads always to the certain path | 41:33 | |
across the (indistinct) morass of our own times. | 41:37 | |
And so we come to the end of the sermon | 41:40 | |
and the point of it all, | 41:44 | |
to, if you will, the religion of a yeoman | 41:46 | |
and to a conclusion | 41:49 | |
without having said what we have said, | 41:51 | |
would not have the meaning which we covered for it. | 41:54 | |
There were in the medieval society, | 41:58 | |
not simply the knights and the monks, | 42:01 | |
but there were also the yeomen. | 42:05 | |
Now, in the dictionary that I read, | 42:07 | |
the yeomen were attendants, | 42:10 | |
less noble than esquires, | 42:13 | |
who did menial task. | 42:16 | |
They were retainers, but they were free men. | 42:19 | |
Now, the yeoman is that one | 42:23 | |
who is always sentenced to this endless journey | 42:26 | |
between tedium and monotony and back again. | 42:30 | |
He is the one who cannot be the knight | 42:34 | |
because he has not the ability nor the desire. | 42:36 | |
He is the one who will never be the monk | 42:40 | |
because he does not want to | 42:44 | |
and perhaps even psychologically, he does not need to be. | 42:46 | |
And yet, we ask the question, | 42:51 | |
is there a religion for the yeomen? | 42:53 | |
And the answer is, yes. | 42:57 | |
What I say to you, I say swiftly, | 42:59 | |
but I say with great solumnity | 43:02 | |
and I have not the right to boast it from my own experience, | 43:05 | |
but I have the right to testify, | 43:10 | |
for I have seen it in the lives of others. | 43:12 | |
Let me give it to you in a parable of sorts. | 43:16 | |
In the great window of this chancel, | 43:20 | |
in the lowest rank of figures in the central position, | 43:23 | |
there is a character whom you can never see. | 43:28 | |
His name is Joel. | 43:31 | |
But it's impossible to see him | 43:34 | |
because he is hidden by the highest pinnacle of the reredos. | 43:36 | |
To his right, on the extreme end of this same row, | 43:41 | |
there is Daniel | 43:46 | |
and to his left in the same undistinguished place, | 43:47 | |
there is Obadiah. | 43:51 | |
Daniel and Obadiah, | 43:54 | |
sometime the folk who sit in the transept see, | 43:56 | |
but Joel, nobody ever sees. | 44:00 | |
He must think that nobody cares. | 44:03 | |
And yet he is faithful to his place and never deserts it. | 44:06 | |
And how much he contributes to our sense of wellbeing, | 44:11 | |
we would know full well, if by some freakish accident, | 44:14 | |
he was suddenly removed from his place | 44:18 | |
and in his stead, there were a gaping aperture. | 44:20 | |
It was not very long ago, | 44:25 | |
and with the memory of us all | 44:26 | |
that flying hailstones | 44:29 | |
chipped far smaller places from the window | 44:31 | |
and these tiny holes at once | 44:34 | |
became the object of constant comment. | 44:36 | |
What has happened, asked the visitors? | 44:39 | |
What is the trouble? | 44:41 | |
What is the matter? | 44:42 | |
Can you remember and can you think | 44:44 | |
what would happen if suddenly | 44:46 | |
Joel were no longer in his place? | 44:48 | |
And yet he goes on quietly | 44:51 | |
redeeming his little corner of the world | 44:53 | |
and our life is more stable for it. | 44:56 | |
The one time on which Jesus spoke at any length | 44:59 | |
about the success with which certain people | 45:04 | |
had translated the Christian idea into the fabric of life, | 45:07 | |
he spoke in terms not of martyrs pilloried at the stake, | 45:12 | |
not of great prophets or of noble knights | 45:17 | |
or of mystic monks, | 45:21 | |
but he spoke of unnamed and nameless and forgotten man | 45:23 | |
who in yeoman faithfulness and duty | 45:30 | |
went about the business | 45:33 | |
of doing the little services of love, | 45:36 | |
who gave water to the thirsty, | 45:40 | |
who visited the lonely and befriended them | 45:43 | |
and who made community where they were | 45:47 | |
instead of trying to retreat from the world that they had | 45:50 | |
or seek another world which they hoped to discover. | 45:55 | |
Was there ever any world such as ours? | 46:00 | |
Probably, probably not, | 46:04 | |
but always men like us, always men like us. | 46:07 | |
What have they done | 46:13 | |
when their world has disintegrated as ours has? | 46:14 | |
Some have been nights and some have been monks, | 46:18 | |
but most have been yeomen. | 46:23 | |
Is there religion for the yeomen? | 46:26 | |
Yes. | 46:29 | |
And hear me and believe me. | 46:30 | |
The yeomen are for religion. | 46:33 | |
Let us pray. | 46:38 | |
Almighty God, | 46:44 | |
grant unto us faithfully to perform | 46:49 | |
the duties committed to our hands, | 46:53 | |
not forgetting all loyalties, | 46:59 | |
not shaking responsibilities, | 47:03 | |
not proud of our accomplishments, | 47:08 | |
nor forgetful of thy grace. | 47:11 | |
Support and sustain and save us for thy namesake. | 47:15 | |
Amen. | 47:21 | |
(liturgical music) | 47:38 |
Item Info
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