James C. Little - "Academy and Passion" (May 26, 1974) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

-

Okay.

0:11

(choral music)

0:17

(instrumental music)

1:02

-

Almighty God who are worthy to be praised

4:08

and to be held in a reverence

4:11

by all those who stand before thee.

4:12

Pour out upon us,

4:16

we pray thee thy redeeming and sanctifying spirit

4:17

that we being cleansed from sin

4:20

may worship thee with true joy.

4:23

Grant that all our praises be gone and ended in thee,

4:27

may make thy name glorious through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

4:31

Amen.

4:35

♪ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ♪

4:40

♪ The King of creation ♪

4:44

♪ O my soul, praise Him ♪

4:50

♪ For He is thy health and salvation ♪

4:52

♪ All ye who hear ♪

4:59

♪ Now to His temple draw near ♪

5:03

♪ Praise Him in glad adoration ♪

5:08

(instrumental music)

5:19

(choral music)

5:56

-

It's right that we enter the house of the Lord

8:50

in the spirit of humility and confession,

8:53

will you join me now in our prayer of confession.

8:57

Oh Lord, look mercifully upon us

9:04

who are encompassed about with many temptations,

9:07

humbly we confess our thoughtless lives,

9:10

our worldly vanities,

9:14

our words and deeds unworthy of your children.

9:16

We have not lived so as to glorify you on the earth

9:20

and to finish the work you gave us to do.

9:24

Comfort us in the arms of your mercy,

9:27

pardon and absolve us of all our offenses,

9:31

cleanse us from our secret falls

9:34

and from the bonds of those sins,

9:37

in which by our frailty we are taken,

9:40

be pleased, oh Lord, to deliver us

9:43

through Jesus Christ, your son, our savior.

9:46

Amen.

9:50

The words of assurance are these.

9:56

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

10:00

who in his mercy gave us new birth

10:04

into a living hope

10:06

by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

10:07

The inheritance to which we are born

10:12

is one that nothing can destroy or spoil, or wither,

10:14

it is kept for you in heaven.

10:18

And you, because you put your faith in God

10:20

are under the protection of his power until salvation comes,

10:23

the salvation which is even now in readiness

10:27

and will be revealed at the end of the time.

10:30

Can we pray together the prayer of our Lord.

10:37

Let us pray.

10:39

Our Father who art in heaven,

10:41

hallowed be thy name,

10:44

thy kingdom come,

10:46

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

10:48

Give us this day, our daily bread

10:53

and forgive us our trespasses

10:55

as we forgive those who trespass against us

10:57

and lead us not into temptation,

11:01

but deliver us from evil

11:04

for thine is the kingdom

11:06

and the power

11:08

and the glory

11:09

forever and ever.

11:11

Amen.

11:13

(instrumental music)

11:15

♪ Oh, sing unto the Lord ♪

11:40

♪ Sing unto the Lord ♪

11:44

♪ Sing unto the Lord a new song ♪

11:46

♪ Sing, sing unto the Lord a new song ♪

11:50

(choral music)

11:57

♪ Sing to the Lord ♪

12:27

♪ Sing to the Lord ♪

12:40

♪ Hallelujah ♪

12:47

♪ Hallelujah ♪

12:52

♪ Hallelujah ♪

12:56

♪ Hallelujah ♪

13:00

♪ Hallelujah ♪

13:04

♪ Hallelujah ♪

13:08

♪ Hallelujah ♪

13:12

-

Scripture lesson this morning

13:36

is taken from the First Letter of Peter,

13:37

I'm reading from the New English Translation.

13:41

To sum up, "Be one in thought and feeling all of you,

13:48

be full of brotherly affection, kindly and humble-minded.

13:53

Do not repay wrong with wrong or abuse with abuse,

13:58

on the contrary retaliate with blessing

14:02

for a blessing is the inheritance

14:05

to which yourselves have been called.

14:07

Whoever loves life and would see good days

14:10

must restrain his tongue from evil

14:12

and his lips from deceit.

14:15

Must turn from wrong and do good,

14:17

seek peace and pursue it.

14:20

For the Lord's eyes are turned towards the righteous.

14:23

His ears are open to their prayers,

14:26

but the Lord's face is set against wrongdoers.

14:30

Who is going to do you wrong

14:34

if you are devoted to what is good,

14:36

and yet, if you should suffer for your virtues,

14:39

you may count yourselves happy.

14:42

Have no fear of them, do not be perturbed,

14:44

but hold the Lord Christ in reverence in your hearts.

14:47

Be always ready with your defense

14:51

whenever you are called to account

14:53

for the hope that is in you,

14:55

but make that defense with modesty and respect.

14:57

Keep your conscience clear

15:02

so that when you are abused,

15:04

those who malign your Christian conduct may be put to shame.

15:05

It is better to suffer for well-doing

15:10

if such should be the will of God, than for doing wrong.

15:12

For Christ also died for our sins once and for all.

15:16

He the just suffered for the unjust to bring us to God.

15:22

In the body he was put to death,

15:27

in the spirit he was brought to life

15:30

and in the spirit,

15:33

he went and made his proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.

15:34

They had refused obedience long ago

15:37

while God waited patiently in the days of Noah

15:40

in the building of the Ark

15:42

and in the Ark, a few persons and Noah

15:44

were brought to safety through the water.

15:46

This water prefigured the water of baptism

15:50

through which you are now brought to safety.

15:52

Baptism is not the washing away of bodily pollution,

15:55

but the appeal made to God by a good conscience.

15:59

And it brings salvation

16:03

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

16:04

who entered heaven after receiving

16:07

the submission of angelic authorities and powers,

16:09

and is now at the right hand of God."

16:12

May God's Spirit interpret to our hearts this day,

16:16

this portion of holy scripture.

16:19

(instrumental music)

16:22

Let us affirm our faith.

17:02

We believe in God who has created and is creating,

17:07

who has come in the true man, Jesus

17:12

to reconcile and make new

17:14

who works in us and others by his Spirit.

17:17

We trust him.

17:21

He calls us to be in his church

17:23

to celebrate his presence,

17:26

to love and serve others,

17:28

to seek justice and resist evil,

17:30

to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,

17:34

our judge and our hope,

17:37

in life and death,

17:40

in life beyond death,

17:42

God is with us.

17:44

We are not alone.

17:46

Thanks be to God.

17:48

The Lord be with you.

17:50

Let us pray.

17:54

Eternal God, our Father,

18:09

by whose hand we receive the gift of life,

18:13

by whose love we are excused for distorting that gift,

18:19

and by whose patient care,

18:25

we are directed into the ways of abundant living,

18:27

we offer our praise and our gratitude.

18:31

Refreshed by sleep and the coolness of the night,

18:37

we praise in thanksgiving

18:42

for expectation of hope springing fresh from the morning.

18:44

Oh, God, we approach our time of worship

18:52

in a spirit of humility and confession

18:54

for our sin is exposed in the light of your presence.

18:57

Our tiny faith makes us children of fear and anxiety

19:04

having placed our hope in the things of this world.

19:08

Our impatience with friends

19:15

has diminished your love in the world.

19:17

Our overwhelming concern for self

19:21

has robbed our children and our parents

19:23

of the care and nurture that is rightfully theirs.

19:26

And our abundant material lives doll our senses

19:31

to the cries of desperation from those dying,

19:34

wanting to die or begging for life all around us.

19:38

Our Father, hear our prayers.

19:43

We lift up each individual life here this morning,

19:49

and each one listening.

19:52

The particular hurts, frustrations, fears and hopes

19:57

are different for each of us,

20:00

but in a larger sense,

20:05

we are one in our need of recognition,

20:07

our need to be loved and to love.

20:11

We long for renewed assurance that our lives are worthwhile.

20:16

We want to be happy and we wish happiness for those we love.

20:22

Comfort those who in this hour

20:31

are living with panic.

20:34

Those for whom physical or mental anguish

20:38

is a constant companion.

20:40

Minister through us and through your Spirit

20:46

to those confronted by the inevitability

20:49

of major decisions in this hour.

20:51

We ask release for those struggling

20:59

for freedom of heart and mind.

21:01

Young people torn apart by the two or more lives

21:05

they are forced to live,

21:10

adults who fear that real life has passed them by

21:13

and think maybe it's too late.

21:18

Our Father, our needs are many,

21:22

but we have been promised the hope of abundant living

21:25

and an inheritance rightfully ours

21:28

and we have believed.

21:32

Come be with us.

21:34

Oh God, we pray for nations, factions,

21:41

brothers and sisters tearing at each other's lives.

21:43

Heal the cancer of hatred and let understanding flow down.

21:58

Show us the way to peace.

22:04

We pray for the millions,

22:11

particularly on the African continent,

22:12

grasping at a barren land for morsels of survival.

22:15

We pray for our nation

22:24

and for our leaders in this time of moral crisis,

22:27

raise up men and women

22:32

for whom truth and integrity are words of life.

22:34

And our Father be with him who this morning

22:44

brings to us thy word through his preaching.

22:47

Hear us oh God, in all our prayers and needs,

22:54

renew a right spirit within us

22:59

and set us free.

23:02

In the name of the Lord of life, Jesus Christ,

23:05

amen.

23:10

-

As some of you present in this congregation

23:36

and listening on radio know,

23:39

this is an especially difficult sermon for me to preach,

23:41

but what you do not perhaps know

23:46

is it is difficult at two levels.

23:48

The first and best known level of difficulty

23:52

is that my wife and I have decided

23:55

to return to our native Scotland after nine years at Duke.

23:58

There is then the emotional difficulty

24:04

of saying hail

24:07

and farewell.

24:09

There is also at this first and best known level,

24:12

the practical difficulty of writing a sermon

24:15

in the midst of almost total upheaval.

24:19

Our life is probably as close as one can get

24:22

to the feeling that the world ends in a week.

24:26

Our immediate world ends next Friday

24:30

when we have to vacate university offices and apartment.

24:33

The consequence is that occasional experience in life

24:38

of mass clearance of business matters and personal property.

24:43

If you were looking for a steam iron in good condition,

24:49

sorry you missed it,

24:54

the yard sale was yesterday.

24:56

But there is another level of difficulty

25:01

in preaching the sermon.

25:03

And this difficulty is best approached

25:06

by quoting the words of Harry Williams,

25:09

the British theologian and preacher

25:12

in his series of sermons, "The True Wilderness",

25:15

"I resolved that I would not preach

25:20

about any aspect of Christian belief

25:22

unless it had become part of my own life blood

25:26

for I realized that the Christian truth I try to proclaim,

25:30

would speak to those who listened

25:35

only to the degree

25:37

in which it was an expression of my own identity."

25:39

I am resolved sort to preach today.

25:45

It is always difficult to speak about your own life blood,

25:49

just hard to find the right words.

25:54

It is potentially embarrassing to those who overhear,

25:57

it is potentially arrogant if it is implied,

26:02

as I do imply that it is somehow the word of God,

26:05

it has implications for my own life in the future

26:11

and for your life as you decide how to respond.

26:14

Up until about a year and a half ago,

26:21

I was pursuing a fairly average academic type of life.

26:23

It is true that the opportunity

26:28

to come to study here at Duke

26:29

was also an escape from becoming a parish minister

26:31

in the Church of Scotland,

26:35

an escape which had something to do

26:37

with intellectual doubts

26:40

about the nature of the New Testament

26:41

and the doctrines and life of the 20th century church.

26:43

An escape however, which as I now see it

26:48

also had much to do with the danger I felt

26:51

if I took the gospel of Jesus seriously,

26:55

for the one who said to me

26:58

in the pages of the New Testament,

27:00

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

27:03

for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

27:06

and you will find rest for your souls

27:09

for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

27:12

Was also the one who said,

27:15

"If any man would come after me,

27:17

let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,

27:20

for whoever would save his life will lose it

27:25

and whoever loses his life for my sake

27:28

and the gospel's will save it."

27:31

At least one way of dealing with that danger

27:34

is to indulge in purely academic study.

27:37

And we have in our graduate programs of religion,

27:41

a means by which the string summons of Jesus

27:45

can be effectively underneath the times.

27:49

Now it is true that my own academic product,

27:54

a dissertation on the way,

27:58

the writer of Mark's Gospel edited his sources

27:59

is no bad thing

28:03

just as it is true that most academic productivity

28:05

in this or any other university is no bad thing.

28:09

It becomes a bad thing however,

28:14

when the issue of its relevance is not raised.

28:17

And by relevance, I mean, precisely,

28:21

as Webster defines the word, relation to the matter at hand,

28:24

it is perhaps accident incidentally,

28:32

that Webster has added as a good example

28:35

of the proper use of the word, this quotation,

28:38

"A scholars activities should have relevance

28:42

to the immediate future of our civilization."

28:45

I underline the word immediate.

28:50

About a year and a half ago,

28:54

having completed that dissertation

28:56

and faced with what I sensed to be a strange irrelevance

28:58

about further refining the nature of Christianity

29:03

in the first century,

29:06

I began to explore the relevance of what I had learned

29:08

and what I seemed now easily to believe

29:11

about Jesus and his gospel.

29:14

That is the relation to my matter at hand

29:17

and our matter at hand,

29:21

the matter of where my body, mind, and skills

29:23

should be given, should be

29:28

given that our 20th century is alive and well

29:30

with the same atrocities

29:34

which pour from the hearts of men and women,

29:36

even after Jesus has reputedly died

29:39

to eradicate them for us.

29:42

Jesus put it most precisely,

29:45

"What comes out of a man is what defiles a man,

29:48

for from within out of a heart of man come evil thoughts,

29:51

fornication, theft, murder,

29:56

adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit,

29:59

licentiousness, envy, slander,

30:02

pride, foolishness,

30:05

all these evil things come from within

30:07

and they defile a man."

30:11

I took up again with new seriousness, the other injunction,

30:14

which is reputed to Jesus,

30:18

"Ask and you will receive,

30:20

seek and you will find,

30:22

knock and it will be opened to you."

30:24

And it is perhaps not surprising

30:27

that was received and what was found,

30:31

and what was opened up

30:34

was rather different from what I had expected

30:36

and rather more precise than my academic treading

30:39

had led me to think was possible.

30:43

In the first place,

30:47

I found it increasingly important

30:48

that I be frank about my academic opinions

30:50

and that I be precise about what is implied by them

30:54

for me and for the community,

30:58

which dares to call Jesus, Lord.

31:01

The opinions first,

31:05

although these are opinions,

31:07

they have associated with them

31:09

the high degree of probability,

31:11

which is all one can ever hope for

31:13

in matters of this type in this world.

31:16

First, there is no doubt in my own mind

31:20

that the four gospels as we now have them

31:22

represent a creative exploration by the evangelists

31:25

of the story about Jesus.

31:29

They are not afraid I think,

31:32

to change the story of Jesus which they receive

31:35

in order to meet their own theological point.

31:38

To cite two clear instances,

31:42

the so-called fourth evangelist, John,

31:45

is not afraid to say

31:48

that Jesus died before the time

31:50

that Jesus could eat the Passover,

31:53

rather than agree with the other three evangelists

31:56

that Jesus died after he had eaten the Passover.

31:59

And John's reason seems quite clearly

32:04

to meet the theological point,

32:07

which he puts onto the lips of John the Baptist

32:09

in his gospel's first chapter,

32:12

"Behold the lamb of God

32:14

who takes away the sins of the world."

32:16

It is for him possible to place Jesus' death

32:19

at the point when the lambs are being slain,

32:23

rather than place it after the time

32:26

when Jesus has eaten the Passover.

32:29

In a similar way,

32:33

Luke is prepared to report

32:34

that as well as sending out his 12 disciples upon a mission,

32:36

Jesus also sent out 70 missionaries.

32:41

He was ready to read back into the story about Jesus,

32:44

the experience of the mission to the Gentile nations

32:49

of which there were reputedly 70.

32:52

There is evidence much more than just these two examples

32:57

of considerable creativity

33:01

in the way they evangelists use their traditions.

33:03

And there is every reason to assume

33:07

that similar creativity went into the development

33:09

of the stories about Jesus before they were incorporated

33:12

in a literary form of the gospels.

33:16

The second opinion has to do

33:22

with the possibility of reconstructing the essential life

33:24

and message of Jesus of Nazareth.

33:28

His time was marked by various divisions in society.

33:31

And one of the most pernicious was the religious division.

33:35

It has been estimated by one New Testament scholar

33:39

that about 80% of the population of Palestine

33:42

was effectively excluded from what was regarded

33:46

as proper relationship with the God of Israel.

33:50

The Temple Cultus had developed a series of walls

33:55

of separation so that the holy of holiest

33:59

could be approached only by the high priest of Israel

34:02

and then only once per year.

34:06

Priests, laymen, women, and Gentiles

34:09

in that order, were kept progressively farther away

34:13

from that holy center of Israel's Cultus.

34:18

(indistinct) party

34:22

had developed a massive rules and regulations,

34:23

which even if some of them are unclear to us,

34:26

nevertheless seemed to have kept most of the population

34:29

in the class of sinners, along with the tax collectors.

34:33

The Essenes had retreated to the desert

34:38

to await God's election of their purified

34:42

and restrictive society.

34:45

Historically, it is at least certain

34:48

that Jesus embodied in his own actions

34:51

the idea that God was not separated

34:54

from the world of the marketplaces,

34:57

the fishing villages, the tax collectors table.

34:59

It is one of the most assured statements

35:04

in the New Testament that Jesus was characterized

35:06

as I quote, "Glutton and drunkard,

35:09

a friend of tax collectors and sinners."

35:12

Historically, it is at least certain

35:17

that Jesus was crucified

35:19

because he challenged by word and action,

35:21

the religious traditions of his day,

35:24

which separated God from man and man from man.

35:27

His cleansing of the temple is at the very least

35:31

a symbolic penetration by this glutton and drunkard

35:35

into the most holy place.

35:39

His eating with sinners and tax collectors

35:42

is at the very least an act of demonstration

35:46

of the brotherhood of all men under the fatherhood of God.

35:49

The third opinion has to do with my essential agreement

35:56

with something that Rudolf Bultmann said many years ago.

36:00

And I purposely chose the reading from 1 Peter,

36:04

because it contains many of the elements

36:07

about which Bultmann speaks.

36:10

In his essay, now contained in kerygma and myth,

36:14

Bultmann uses this language,

36:18

"This then the New Testament language

36:21

is the mythical view of the world,

36:24

which the New Testament presupposes

36:26

when it presents the event of redemption,

36:28

which is the subject of its preaching.

36:31

It proclaims in the language of mythology

36:34

that the last time has now come.

36:36

In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son,

36:39

a preexistent divine being who appears on earth as a man.

36:43

He dies the death of a sinner on the cross

36:48

and makes atonement for the sins of men.

36:51

His resurrection marks the beginning

36:54

of the cosmic catastrophe, death.

36:56

The consequence of Adam's sin is abolished

36:59

and the demonic forces are deprived of their power.

37:01

The risen Christ is exalted

37:05

to the right hand of God in heaven

37:07

and made Lord and King.

37:09

He will come again on the clouds of heaven

37:11

to complete the work of redemption

37:13

and the resurrection on the judgment of men will follow.

37:15

Sin, suffering and death will then be finally abolished.

37:19

All this is to happen very soon.

37:23

Indeed, Saint Paul thinks that he himself

37:26

will live to see it."

37:29

These are all quotations drawn from Paul,

37:30

but as I pointed out this morning in the reading,

37:33

Peter or whoever wrote that work has the same viewpoint,

37:37

the same mythological view of the universe.

37:41

That is his view of the universe,

37:44

which is different from ours.

37:46

I also agree with Bultmann

37:49

that it is both senseless and impossible

37:50

for modern man to accept first century language

37:53

as the only way of describing Jesus.

37:57

It is after all only first century language.

38:00

Like Bultmann and others,

38:05

I have serious reservations

38:07

about the bodily resurrection of Jesus,

38:09

or at least talking about the resurrection of Jesus

38:12

as necessarily including a resuscitation of his dead body.

38:15

I would agree with Bultmann, that quote,

38:22

"Faith in the resurrection,"

38:25

is really the same thing

38:28

as faith in the saving efficacy of the cross."

38:29

Unquote.

38:35

I would pop company with Bultmann,

38:37

however, in leaving that as a purely academic statement.

38:39

For me, that has the implication

38:44

that the resurrected body of Christ

38:48

is the community of those who have faith

38:50

in the saving efficacy of the way of the cross of Jesus.

38:53

These then are the academic opinions

39:00

to which I have come after years of study

39:03

and upon which I must stand

39:06

if I have to be intellectually responsible.

39:08

But what are the implications of these

39:12

for me as an individual and for us as a community?

39:14

First, they are personal.

39:18

My wife and I have been moved by a number of demonstrations

39:21

in the present century of the saving efficacy

39:25

of the way of the cross.

39:29

Particularly, we have found power

39:31

in the demonstration by the berrigans and their associates.

39:34

But as a society, we are more disturbed

39:39

by the burning of pieces of paper called draft-cards

39:42

and by the burning of human bodies called Vietnamese,

39:46

as Daniel Berrigan has put it,

39:51

"I have been to Hanoi and I have seen what our bombs do,

39:53

what our anti personnel weaponry was doing to civilians,

39:58

to children and to their parents.

40:02

And we all know what that is

40:05

because we have seen the photograph in Newsweek

40:06

and Time of that child's body covered in Nepal.

40:09

That is the real offense

40:14

about which we should be confessing

40:16

and which we should be seeking to change

40:19

in our 20th century world."

40:22

They are personal also these implications

40:25

in the sense that my wife and I have been moved

40:29

by the plight of certain areas

40:32

of our native city of Glasgow,

40:35

where young men and women,

40:37

as young as 12 and 13 years of age

40:40

are pursuing ways of violence

40:44

in the form of vandalism of property

40:46

and threats to human life.

40:49

Where in recent reports in newspapers,

40:51

teachers and policemen and social workers

40:54

cannot be found to work in these areas.

40:56

We have decided to seek to live, always to seek to live

41:00

and work in such an area in the belief that quote,

41:05

"The resurrection is really the same thing as faith

41:09

and the saving efficacy of the cross."

41:13

We believe that the nuclear family

41:16

can no longer afford to protect itself

41:20

against the violent trends of our society

41:22

by retreating to suburbia to save its life.

41:25

Our safe lives are being and will be invaded,

41:29

no amount of material goods, no amount of academic debate,

41:33

no amount of academic refinement, no amount of barbed wire,

41:37

no amount of defense spending

41:41

will keep the violence of our own hearts

41:44

and of our fellow human beings at bay.

41:46

Currently, the servant community can seek and save the lost

41:50

in the way of Jesus,

41:55

beginning, always beginning with ourselves.

41:57

The third implication is clearly farthest community

42:02

for it raises the issue of whether this community

42:07

is the body of Christ in the sense of the serving

42:11

and self-denying community.

42:15

There are clearly problems in this very setting,

42:18

the crucified Jesus who sits to be resurrected in us

42:22

has been neatly hidden behind the Gothic architecture,

42:26

the fine liturgy, the dispersed lives of us as worshipers,

42:30

but by the very act of entering this house,

42:35

by the very act of drawing near to the gospel of Jesus,

42:38

we are potentially the body of Christ in and far the world.

42:43

The hope of that potential

42:48

must be sought with high intention

42:52

otherwise the word of God for this community

42:55

will not be heard

42:58

and the cross will not have its saving power in our midst.

43:01

I want to end with the words of a black sister

43:08

who found it hard to relate

43:13

in this mainly all white community of teachers and students

43:15

in a class which I conducted this past semester.

43:20

Finally, after she had written a paper for me,

43:24

which was clearly irrelevant to her,

43:27

I got from her something

43:32

which dotted down to the nitty gritty

43:34

and discovered that her distance in class from us

43:37

and from the subject

43:40

was rooted in 300 years of her people's history.

43:42

And I read these words on her behalf.

43:47

As the crime of black sister,

43:50

to her white brothers and sisters

43:53

in a place where she would find it hard to speak

43:56

in the hope, the Christian hope

44:00

that her words and their implications may be reversed

44:03

by the thought and the action of this community

44:08

as a potential body of Christ

44:11

in and for its immediate world and the immediate future.

44:14

The reading will take about five minutes

44:20

and it's worth hearing it

44:24

because she speaks from the heart.

44:25

And that is what we must first hear from each of us.

44:27

"The first thing to be considered

44:32

is a history of which covers over three centuries,

44:33

and which still progresses along the same pattern.

44:37

That history is one of white supremacy

44:41

and black subordination.

44:43

It is a history which cannot be forgotten by me,

44:46

a black woman, because it is still present.

44:49

Although many changes have taken place

44:52

to ameliorate conditions,

44:54

many more changes are still too slow in coming.

44:57

This is evidenced by poor education given to blacks,

45:01

the high rates of unemployment

45:04

and inadequate welfare assistance

45:06

and many more humiliations.

45:09

There're humiliations so great

45:12

that it still means that to be born black in America

45:13

is to be born less than human.

45:17

To be born black and impoverished

45:20

is done near worse than never having been born at all.

45:22

I say this because the way up from rock bottom

45:27

is like trying to climb up a broken ladder.

45:29

Mine is the experience of a poor black woman,

45:33

which should explain my tone of bitterness.

45:36

The black woman is the lowest of the low,

45:39

abused by all and respected by none.

45:41

With that bit of background information,

45:45

I should know like to explain my position

45:48

as a student at Duke University,

45:50

not only you Dr. Little but other professors as well

45:52

have complained of my distant attitude

45:55

and lack of concern with our classes.

45:58

My position at Duke is that of a black

46:01

in a white institution,

46:03

just as my position in America

46:05

is that of a black in a white system.

46:06

I did not ask to be here and would prefer to be elsewhere,

46:09

namely, the place of my ancestral origins.

46:13

But I do not even know where that is.

46:17

And I blame you white America for that.

46:20

However, the fact is that I am here now,

46:24

and that is what must be dealt with.

46:27

My way of dealing with the situation

46:30

is to do only what it takes to get over on whitey,

46:32

but to push with heart and soul

46:35

for solidarity with my black brothers and sisters,

46:37

it is almost like a game

46:41

that you have to play according to whitey's rules

46:43

up to a certain point,

46:46

beyond that point,

46:48

if the game has been learned well,

46:49

whitey cannot touch you.

46:51

As a student at Duke,

46:53

I am still playing by whitey's rules,

46:55

but not completely,

46:57

to do so completely would be prostitution

46:58

and I think too highly of myself to do that.

47:01

I long for a unity with my people

47:05

who would share my pride and self-esteem,

47:07

we already share a common experience and a common course.

47:10

And that course as I see it

47:15

is to establish my own identity

47:16

rather than have one imposed on me

47:18

and to be able to assert that identity

47:21

in the face of all stereotyping, labeling and classifying.

47:23

My distant attitude

47:28

is a means of combating forced identities.

47:30

My attraction to my black brothers and sisters

47:34

is a means of establishing an identity.

47:36

It is only with my own people

47:40

that I feel I exist and that I belong somewhere.

47:41

I depend on them and they on me for existence.

47:45

The white world must be shut out

47:49

as a hindrance to that goal.

47:51

You might then ask what is their progress?

47:54

The answer is nowhere,

47:57

at least not right now for the overall situation,

47:59

if you want to help I say,

48:03

do what you think best,

48:04

but do not interfere with me in what I am doing.

48:06

It is not that your help is not appreciated,

48:09

but experience has taught me to be wary of palefaces.

48:12

And I can honestly say

48:16

that I have never met a white face I could trust.

48:17

I know that sounds harsh, but it is true.

48:21

I hope therefore that you understand

48:24

how it is impossible for me to work alongside someone

48:26

who might cannot, not will not trust

48:29

on a matter that concerns my destiny.

48:33

It is of paramount importance that you understand that.

48:36

Lack of trust is the bridge which separates you and me.

48:39

It is a long bridge covering hundreds of years,

48:43

which you must cross because I have no desire to meet you.

48:47

You must first prove to me beyond the shadow of doubt

48:51

that I can trust you

48:55

before I can have anything concrete to do with you.

48:57

That in essence explains my distance.

49:00

Given that viewpoint,

49:04

things may seem hopeless and perhaps they are,

49:06

but I still believe in Martin Luther King's dream,

49:09

it was not realized in his lifetime

49:13

nor it will be realized in mine,

49:15

but one day I must believe that it will be.

49:18

Perhaps it takes time to heal the wounds,

49:21

or more men like Dr. King with visions to guide the world.

49:24

Well I am still bleeding from my wounds

49:29

and I have no clear visions of my own.

49:31

So for me, the situation remains stagnant.

49:34

I await my vision, however, and it will come.

49:38

I know within myself that it will.

49:41

I just hope that it is bright enough and clear enough

49:43

to set my world and yours in order.

49:47

Until the occurrence of my vision,

49:50

I will permit myself to nothing,

49:52

my vision coming from whatever exists over and beyond myself

49:54

would demand my total life's commitment

49:59

to the death if necessary.

50:01

But that death could only be the last fulfillment

50:04

to an already fulfilled life.

50:08

That vision of which I speak

50:11

must also be my religion for there's none other

50:13

for which I can embrace.

50:16

There are certain aspects to almost all religions,

50:18

which I can accept, but no one group I can accept totally.

50:20

Christianity for example, is inadequate

50:25

because it has suffered too much abuse,

50:28

it to lies on the bridge which you must cross.

50:31

Whereas I can accept the idea of a Jesus Christ figure,

50:35

I cannot accept your idea of him,

50:39

which is all I have ever known and had to go on.

50:42

Your God is white and so is his Christ

50:45

and white is not to be trusted

50:49

nor can I accept the idea of Allah in the nation of Islam,

50:51

because he is a reverse Jehovah.

50:56

My ultimate cannot be partial to color of country,

50:59

but seeks to incorporate all

51:03

into one solid being of humanity.

51:06

It is because I believe that I can believe

51:09

in ultimate racial justice.

51:12

There is nothing else I find to see.

51:15

And I am sure that not very much has been changed

51:18

by what I have already said,

51:21

but the fact that it is head and heard

51:24

must amount to something.

51:28

I offer no apologies nor ask for any,

51:30

for the giving and of accepting of them

51:34

still changes nothing."

51:38

I too make no apology for reading these words,

51:41

because they are authentic words

51:44

from one of our black sisters who finds it hard to speak.

51:46

It took a whole semester for us

51:51

to get together enough

51:54

for her to feel that she could even say that to me.

51:55

And I don't know whether she trusts me yet,

51:59

for good reason, perhaps she does not because I am whitey.

52:01

But what I have said here today

52:06

is an attempt to pierce in my own mind

52:09

and in my own heart, the meaning of the title,

52:13

which I was asked to give for the sermon,

52:17

"Academe and Passion."

52:19

Academia means that circle of scholars

52:21

who seek out wisdom and knowledge

52:24

in the isolation of a place like this.

52:27

Passion has the two meanings.

52:31

The one of the willingness to absorb into the intellect,

52:33

the place of the heart

52:37

and the potential for suffering

52:39

in the name of the Christ who suffered for us.

52:41

Hail

52:45

and farewell.

52:47

Amen.

52:49

Let us pray.

52:53

Almighty God, who speaks through the broken words of men

53:00

who has broken through

53:05

the broken words of men of the first century,

53:07

and still speaks to us in those broken words

53:11

as in the broken words of our own time,

53:14

help us to see you once more as the God of history

53:18

who speaks a word to the present situation

53:23

and asks us individually and then as community

53:27

to become your body in the world,

53:32

the body which seeks to love,

53:36

seeks to hope,

53:38

seeks to have joy,

53:40

seeks to be prepared

53:42

to spread the body of Christ in the world.

53:44

Forgive us that we have failed you,

53:48

that we have sensed that your task is far too great.

53:50

And help us to learn that as we take up your cross,

53:55

so we find, your yoke is easy and your burden is light.

54:00

And this we ask in the name of Christ, our Lord.

54:06

Amen.

54:11

(instrumental music)

54:33

(choral music)

55:00

-

Our Father in our unworthiness

1:04:07

we have been given the gift of grace.

1:04:09

Our insignificance has been transformed

1:04:12

into eternal relationship.

1:04:14

Humble in the midst of this divine mystery,

1:04:18

we approach the alter with our lives

1:04:20

and with these symbols of our material abundance.

1:04:22

Receive us and our gifts into your abiding care.

1:04:26

Amen.

1:04:30

(instrumental music)

1:04:36

(choral music)

1:05:29

And now may the Lord bless us and keep us.

1:09:13

The Lord make his face to shine upon us

1:09:15

and be gracious unto us.

1:09:17

The Lord lift up his countenance upon us

1:09:20

and give us peace.

1:09:23

(choral music)

1:09:28

(instrumental music)

1:10:46

James C. Little - "Academy and Passion" (May 26, 1974)

Transcript

Item Info

1. James C. Little - "Academe and Passion" (May 26, 1974)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

James C. Little - "Academy and Passion" (May 26, 1974)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options