Robert W. Spike - Sermon Untitled (November 3, 1963)

Download
- Rights
- No Re-Use
  In Copyright
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4m042z7x?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4m042z7x
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

Speaker 1	And to cherish these gifts to thee,	0:04
	we present ourselves,	0:07
	asking that thou might use both	0:10
	to the glory of thy kingdom,	0:12
	in the name of Jesus Christ.	0:15
	Amen.	0:17
	(organ playing)	0:19
Minister	It is a very pleasurable experience for me	0:45
	to share in this service of worship	0:48
	on this distinguished campus.	0:54
	I have spent the weekend on the campus	0:57
	with a group of college students	1:00
	from North and South Carolina and Virginia	1:03
	in a conference on the ministry.	1:07
	And after having spent that time with these young men,	1:13
	I have a great sense of confidence and indeed exhilaration,	1:18
	for the caliber and quality of these men	1:24
	reflects what will be the future ministry	1:29
	of the Churches of Christ,	1:33
	then the future is indeed hopeful for our churches.	1:36
	The first theological controversy that confronted	1:47
	the infant Christian Church was over race.	1:54
	The account of the lesson of the morning,	2:03
	in the book of the Acts,	2:08
	tells what happened when that little band	2:12
	of Christian believers were first confronted	2:16
	by the amazing power of Christ	2:21
	to break the bonds even of the Judaic past	2:25
	and to draw men to himself of other backgrounds and races.	2:30
	And at the first blush of this possibility,	2:37
	that the good news of the power of Christ	2:43
	came to men other than of their own race,	2:48
	the majority of people in that little church	2:54
	would have none of it.	2:59
	Peter himself, the rock of peasant Judaism,	3:01
	could not really comprehend a religious community	3:07
	that was not knit together by ties of blood and complexion.	3:12
	And for him, it took a vision, indeed, a nightmare,	3:19
	a horrifying dream, in which the most sacred taboos	3:25
	of racial fears were violated	3:32
	to shake him out of his village-bound religion	3:36
	and to introduce him, once again, to the one who smashes	3:41
	every petty logic of blood and custom.	3:48
	For coming down in that great sheet out of heaven,	3:54
	in his dream, recorded in the book of Acts,	3:58
	were all those animals and creatures	4:02
	forbidden to Jewish use as food or contact,	4:07
	the very symbols of uncleanness,	4:15
	which their community, over a thousand years,	4:20
	had resisted by careful dietetic and Deuteronomic laws.	4:25
	And here, in one great dream, the Lord says to Peter,	4:32
	"These things are not forbidden, they are clean.	4:39
	Take and eat, for Christ has broken through."	4:45
	Now, it seems very strange that again and again	4:54
	in Christian history, theological issues,	4:59
	the most fierce theological battles fought	5:04
	have been around the inclusiveness	5:09
	of the Christian community.	5:14
	The reformation, which was the great theological watershed	5:17
	that parted Christendom 400 years ago,	5:22
	and out of which heritage we come,	5:29
	it too, was a battle over inclusiveness.	5:32
	It was a theological issue,	5:42
	and yet this did not mean that it did not have	5:43
	political and moral implications.	5:46
	There are those in this time who, viewing the crisis	5:51
	in which American culture finds itself over race,	5:54
	want to say that it is purely a political issue	6:01
	and that all the storm and angst that is being raised	6:06
	is being raised out of	6:10
	cynical and selfish political motives.	6:13
	Beyond that, however, there are those who are declaring	6:18
	that it is primarily a moral issue.	6:21
	It is both of these,	6:26
	but for followers of the Lord Jesus Christ,	6:28
	it is a theological issue concerning the creation	6:33
	of all-mighty God and the inclusiveness	6:39
	of all the children of men, the brethren of Christ.	6:43
	We do not like to think of theology	6:51
	as being anything to do with actual tensions,	6:55
	with conflict between people,	7:03
	with political and civil rights.	7:06
	Reminds me of an account between	7:10
	those two humorists, Mike and Elaine,	7:14
	Elaine May and Mike Nichols,	7:19
	who were, on one occasion,	7:21
	discussing some other issue than this,	7:23
	and Mike was thumbing through a magazine,	7:27
	not listening very carefully to his partner,	7:31
	and she kept insisting, "You must listen.	7:33
	This is a moral issue I'm discussing.	7:35
	This it's a moral issue."	7:39
	And he said, "Yes, yes, a moral issue."	7:41
	And finally roused out of it,	7:43
	and he said, "Yes, I suppose it is a moral issue.	7:46
	They are always more interesting than real ones."	7:50
	And I think that same kind of feeling	7:57
	applies to those of us who want to separate out	8:00
	theology from political and moral issues.	8:06
	They cannot be separated, because Christian theology	8:12
	is about life and not about abstraction.	8:16
	Christians theology is based upon the intrusion	8:23
	of almighty God in the form of a man	8:27
	into the midst of the human struggle.	8:31
	And this God-man comes shattering every little fence and	8:35
	every little niche into which we always want to push him,	8:40
	because he is Lord of all of life	8:45
	and not of theological textbooks or of vaulted cathedrals,	8:50
	but every street and every school and every shop	8:57
	in which men work and dwell.	9:05
	Last June, the National Council of the Churches of Christ	9:10
	in this land, made up of nearly all the major communions	9:14
	of Protestantism and Orthodoxy,	9:21
	came face to face with the grave crisis and chasm	9:24
	that threatens the very fiber of American life.	9:31
	And in an act of repentance,	9:36
	the leaders of these communions,	9:39
	the bishops and the stated clerks	9:41
	and the presidents and the elders, in an act of repentance,	9:44
	said that all the pronouncements of moral intent	9:50
	and brotherhood, which we have been passing	9:55
	in our ecclesiastical legislatures	9:59
	these many years are not enough.	10:02
	And therefore they established a special commission to act	10:07
	in an emergency way, to enter on behalf of the churches,	10:11
	directly into the heart of the struggle itself,	10:17
	to be the presence of the church in the midst of controversy	10:23
	and wherever possible, to bring reconciliation and justice.	10:29
	It has been my great blessing through these months	10:37
	to serve as the director of that commission.	10:42
	And I have made a resolve to myself	10:47
	that as long as I'm in this position,	10:51
	I will not speak before a congregation of Christians	10:54
	without reporting directly out of that experience.	11:00
	It is very difficult for me as a frustrated preacher	11:06
	of longstanding, not to come with a carefully	11:10
	polished homiletical gem to shine before your eyes.	11:15
	I have found, however, that this is not the task	11:22
	of someone to whom a responsibility such as mine	11:28
	is committed, and therefore, I wish to report to you,	11:32
	really in the few minutes that remain to me,	11:37
	the most honest and candid observations that I can make	11:42
	after a period of deep involvement	11:48
	in the midst of the struggle.	11:52
	This does not mean that I have not spent my ministry	11:55
	in some part of this struggle,	11:58
	but it does mean that for the first time,	12:01
	the churches of this land, taking risks and	12:06
	under great attack, I am very well aware of that,	12:12
	and perhaps making mistakes, are seeking to bring	12:16
	direct reconciliation where communication has broken down	12:22
	and where the peace is threatened.	12:28
	Certain observations bear upon me every day,	12:33
	and the first is this:	12:40
	That despite the enormous efforts,	12:43
	and I think amazing progress made	12:47
	on the part of white Christians	12:53
	in every part of the land,	12:55
	in their own practices and in the life of their communities,	12:57
	that despite this enormous progress in the last few years,	13:02
	and even in the last few months,	13:09
	that despite it, white Christians do not, by and large,	13:12
	comprehend the depth of Negro feeling on this issue.	13:19
	I have found that I, myself, who am as close to it	13:28
	as I think it's possible to be,	13:35
	must, at least every three weeks,	13:39
	be directly involved in the midst of a group	13:43
	of people who are struggling for justice,	13:49
	in a community where all the doors are closed to them,	13:53
	and where they are under threat of imprisonment or worse.	13:58
	I have to personally be there in the midst of those people	14:03
	at least every three weeks, or I forget	14:07
	what it is like and what it is that we are dealing with.	14:13
	For what we are dealing with	14:21
	is the determination on the part of a rising number	14:25
	of Negro citizens to risk their very lives	14:31
	for the sake of freedom.	14:37
	And no amount of token granting of paternalistic favors	14:42
	will turn aside the depth of the hunger for full freedom.	14:53
	This summer, in the midst of the torrents	15:04
	of tension and crisis in Savannah,	15:09
	I had the experience of moving from the white community,	15:14
	where people were equally and desperately	15:18
	trying to bring some kind of reconciliation,	15:22
	into the midst of the freedom rallies themselves.	15:27
	And I shall never forget one night,	15:32
	being in such a rally on the outskirts,	15:35
	outside the city limits of Savannah	15:39
	because they were forbidden within the city limits,	15:41
	in an abandoned nightclub,	15:44
	because this was the only place open,	15:46
	standing in the midst of women whose clothes and person	15:49
	were burned and stained by tear gas,	15:54
	young men, bandaged with casts on their arms,	15:59
	all of them, with friends in jail,	16:05
	and all of them facing the surety	16:07
	that when they left that place and went back up the hill,	16:11
	they too would be arrested.	16:14
	And to stand in the midst of that group	16:18
	and to sing hymns of Christian hope,	16:20
	made me feel as if I were standing in the catacombs.	16:25
	And in order to get out of that place,	16:33
	because the tension was so high that no one knew	16:35
	who was shooting at whom, it was necessary	16:38
	to scour all the back alleys looking for snipers.	16:41
	And I was escorted out of the place	16:47
	by young white and Negro students,	16:50
	going behind the buildings to protect my safety.	16:54
	Now, the depth of that experience is not something	17:01
	that will easily be washed away.	17:07
	May I say that, going along with this,	17:13
	and still in the spirit of reporting to you,	17:17
	it is perfectly apparent that as the relationships	17:23
	between the races is readjusted	17:29
	and full civil rights are being granted,	17:32
	but the hardcore white citizens council line	17:36
	is hardening evermore in parts of the country.	17:41
	It is my responsibility to spend a great deal	17:48
	of time in Mississippi these days.	17:50
	And I have to say that all rhetorical illusions	17:54
	that once were possible to Mississippi,	18:00
	as a Nazi-like police state,	18:03
	as far as I'm concerned are no longer rhetorical.	18:08
	Because in that state, at this moment,	18:14
	the white supremacist group controls	18:19
	not only the government, and not only the mob,	18:24
	but it is fast controlling also the churches.	18:29
	During this past month, as all of you know,	18:37
	groups of Christian people, white and Negro,	18:43
	have been arrested on the steps of churches,	18:48
	not even as they sat down or anything like this,	18:53
	as they were leaving churches.	18:57
	And then one large Methodist church in that city	19:00
	two weeks ago, the police came into the church,	19:04
	arrested the people there, including a Sunday school teacher	19:07
	who was a member of that church, despite the protests	19:11
	of the pastor of the church himself, and arrested them	19:16
	for interfering with divine worship and trespass.	19:22
	And I say to you, that when the forces of government	19:28
	march into a church over the protest of that church,	19:34
	and haul people off to jail, there is no other description	19:41
	than a Nazi police state that can describe it.	19:49
	This past week, the police marched into the chapel	19:56
	of a Negro college and served the summons	20:01
	on the white chaplain as he was preaching from the pulpit.	20:05
	We are facing, in the most glaring outline	20:13
	and in its most obvious form, what racism as an ideology,	20:19
	as a substitute for the Christian gospel,	20:28
	ultimately means in the state of Mississippi.	20:32
	But let none of us, North or South, believe for a minute	20:38
	that Mississippi is some strange kind of land	20:44
	and that we are immune from that sort of behavior.	20:50
	Because if it is acceptable within the body	20:58
	of the American society for such activity	21:05
	to go unchallenged, it is a canker	21:10
	that will ultimately destroy this blessed land.	21:15
	Now let me report to you one more of the strong feelings,	21:24
	which flood my being these days.	21:32
	And it is this:	21:37
	That this racial issue is only one strand	21:40
	of a deep social change that is going on in this country.	21:45
	And it, when you start to talk about it,	21:53
	and find where it leads, it leads into the dramatic	21:56
	urban revolution that is sweeping the society,	22:01
	the effects of automation on the society,	22:05
	the implications of a rising education	22:09
	for the whole society.	22:13
	And it does mean that the affluence and the richness,	22:18
	which characterizes America in its	22:25
	great middle and upper classes,	22:27
	now is being threatened by all those who have not shared	22:32
	in this full heritage.	22:39
	You know, if you pick up a news-- a magazine	22:44
	and begin to leaf through the four-color advertisements	22:48
	enticing us to buy things in this land,	22:53
	and if you came from somewhere outside our country,	22:58
	you would get the picture that all of America	23:02
	was made up of families of four smiling, white,	23:05
	Anglo-Saxon, perfectly turned out human beings	23:13
	who spend their lives clustered around a barbecue	23:18
	on the back patio behind the swimming pool,	23:22
	and whose major interests are in comparing	23:27
	the relative value of toothpastes and deodorants.	23:32
	This view of what America is like is, of course, false,	23:38
	and those of us who have any eyes at all know it,	23:44
	and yet it's falseness, it's falseness,	23:49
	is now being challenged from underneath	23:55
	the shaping of the picture.	24:02
	And it is my conviction that the next half-century	24:06
	will see in this land, a rising up, a penetrating	24:09
	of all the facade, of the superficial values,	24:18
	the breaking of the old cliches,	24:25
	which we have mounted as banners,	24:29
	and that the revolution that is sweeping	24:35
	every other corner of this world,	24:37
	whereby disenfranchised people seek for equality,	24:40
	and indeed for a realistic appraisal	24:46
	of what the real value is and goals of the society are.	24:53
	This land will not escape this revolution.	24:57
	And the racial crisis is but one strand	25:03
	of a very complicated web of economics and politics	25:09
	and social relationships, which we will see change.	25:16
	Now, the only question that is before us	25:24
	is whether this kind of drastic change will come	25:28
	within the context of wisdom and courage and flexibility,	25:36
	and in the confidence that it too	25:45
	can be a part of our great democratic heritage.	25:48
	The Christian people of this land, under the knowledge	25:56
	of who their Lord is, the Lord of all of life,	26:02
	who loves all men and before whom	26:09
	all petty fears crumble away,	26:13
	the Christian people of this land,	26:15
	have in the palm of their hand,	26:19
	the decision as to how these changes will come about.	26:22
	Let us remember, vetting all of us, Negro and white,	26:32
	church people and non-church people,	26:39
	all of us naturally try to shield ourselves from	26:42
	the full measure of acknowledgement of what kind	26:48
	of freedom it is that Christ brings to the world.	26:52
	We always, all of us, because we are human beings	26:58
	and sinful, want to hold onto the ways	27:01
	we have been doing things and the traditions	27:04
	that so comfort us and sustain us.	27:10
	But this desire, good in part to retain the old	27:18
	and to stay faithful to the traditions of our fathers,	27:24
	this human desire can become the vehicle	27:29
	of the most grievous of human sin,	27:34
	blindness to where the shattering power of Christ	27:38
	is trying to lead us into a new life,	27:43
	into a fuller life, into a new society.	27:48
	I believe that we are standing on the edge of changes	27:56
	as great as those in the time of the reformation.	28:00
	As that time moved from a medieval society into the one	28:07
	that we have known for 400 years,	28:11
	so we stand now before the prospect of a society,	28:15
	whose lines we cannot see in all detail,	28:23
	but who, under the leadership of God,	28:27
	may very well become a universal catholic, with a little C,	28:29
	a catholic, ecumenical society, a worldwide brotherhood.	28:36
	It is in the hands of God, this age,	28:46
	and only Christ can break through the protections	28:53
	with which we surround ourselves	28:57
	to keep our own little household gods intact.	29:00
	Only Christ breaks through death.	29:06
	Only Christ empowers men with courage	29:09
	that goes beyond prudence.	29:12
	Only Christ breaks that shell and holds us in his hands	29:15
	like new, wet, shivering creatures.	29:20
	So in the midst of the struggle, in the midst of the days	29:26
	that may very well be more strenuous	29:29
	before they are less so,	29:32
	let us pause to pray for all of us in this time,	29:35
	and particularly for those who cower	29:42
	under their racial fears,	29:45
	afraid to trust the holy God, before whom all devices	29:48
	and designs melt and drain away.	29:54
	Let us pray	30:00
	Holy and all mighty God who has been good to us	30:10
	beyond dimmest imaginings,	30:15
	who has given us a goodly land	30:18
	and who has led our forefathers through all the ages,	30:22
	we praise thee for the blessing of Christ,	30:27
	the light of the world.	30:31
	Teach us not to be afraid of the light.	30:33
	Send us scurrying out of our own little corners,	30:36
	where we would hide from its full glare.	30:39
	And in that light, help us to look honestly	30:43
	at the work thou has committed to our keeping.	30:45
	God, forgive us if we begin to think that we	30:50
	are the sources of the light and begin to posture and preen.	30:52
	Keep us from all self-righteousness.	30:57
	We do especially pray for all those who fear	31:02
	their fellows of a different color or station.	31:04
	What a waste of power, what a foolishness of mind.	31:07
	Release them from bondage, oh God, that they may be free,	31:12
	especially do we pray for the leaders of men	31:16
	who thrive on hatred and collect on fear.	31:19
	Let down a great sail cloth, and let all the dread	31:22
	verboten scamper and play about.	31:27
	Let all the nasty dreams be seen	31:29
	for the frauds they really are.	31:32
	Turn these imaginary ogres into clowns.	31:35
	Let thy kingdom come.	31:41
	And now unto Him, who is able to keep us	31:45
	from falling and to present us faultless before the throne	31:47
	of His grace with exceeding joy.	31:51
	To the only wise God, our savior, the glory and majesty,	31:54
	dominion, and power, both now and evermore	32:00
	(choir singing)	32:09

Item Info

Title:

Robert W. Spike - Sermon Untitled (November 3, 1963)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4m042z7x

Date:

November 3, 1963

Speaker:

Spike, Robert W.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0245
ref5695_d8o
uachapelsermaud
duke:628408
dcrau002250
ark:/87924/r4m042z7x
83ae9926-4412-43ae-9a8d-a351f50ae974

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Robert W. Spike - Sermon Untitled (November 3, 1963)

Transcript

Item Info

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options