Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

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	♪ Holy ♪	0:05
	♪ God ♪	0:11
	♪ Thou art holy ♪	0:16
	♪ Thou art holy ♪	0:21
	♪ Holy ♪	0:29
	♪ God ♪	0:36
	(dramatic organ music)	0:46
	♪ All hail the power ♪	1:36
	♪ Of Jesus' name ♪	1:39
	♪ Let angels ♪	1:43
	♪ Prostrate fall ♪	1:46
	♪ Bring forth ♪	1:51
	♪ The royal diadem ♪	1:53
	♪ And crown Him ♪	1:59
	♪ Crown Him ♪	2:04
	♪ Crown Him ♪	2:08
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	2:14
	♪ Ye chosen seed ♪	2:29
	♪ Of Israel's race ♪	2:32
	♪ Ye ransomed ♪	2:37
	♪ From the fall ♪	2:40
	♪ Hail Him who saves you ♪	2:45
	♪ By His grace ♪	2:49
	♪ And crown Him ♪	2:53
	♪ Crown Him ♪	2:58
	♪ Crown Him ♪	3:02
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	3:08
	♪ Sinners, whose love ♪	3:24
	♪ Can ne'er forget ♪	3:27
	♪ The wormwood ♪	3:31
	♪ And the gall ♪	3:34
	♪ Go, spread your trophies ♪	3:39
	♪ At His feet ♪	3:44
	♪ And crown Him ♪	3:47
	♪ Crown Him ♪	3:52
	♪ Crown Him ♪	3:56
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	4:03
	♪ Let every kindred ♪	4:19
	♪ Every tribe ♪	4:24
	♪ On this terrestrial ball ♪	4:27
	♪ To Him all majesty ascribe ♪	4:34
	♪ And crown Him ♪	4:42
	♪ Crown Him ♪	4:47
	♪ Crown Him ♪	4:52
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	4:59
	(darkly discordant organ music)	5:09
	(triumphant organ music)	5:34
	♪ Oh, that with yonder ♪	5:48
	♪ Sacred throng ♪	5:53
	♪ We at His feet ♪	5:56
	♪ May fall ♪	6:00
	♪ We'll join the everlasting song ♪	6:05
	♪ And crown Him ♪	6:13
	♪ Crown Him ♪	6:19
	♪ Crown Him ♪	6:24
	♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪	6:31
	♪ Amen ♪	6:47
-	Grace be to you and peace from God, our Father,	7:20
	and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.	7:24
	Jesus said, "I am not come to call the righteous,	7:29
	but sinners to repentance."	7:35
	The gospel of John tells us,	7:40
	"Ask and it will be given you,	7:42
	seek and you will find,	7:45
	knock and it will be open to you,	7:49
	for everyone who asks, receives,	7:52
	and he who seeks, finds,	7:56
	and to him who knocks,	7:59
	it will be opened.	8:03
	Therefore recognizing	8:06
	our state as sinners	8:10
	before the righteousness of God	8:12
	and confident that if we truly and earnestly confess	8:15
	the state of our lives before our fathers promises,	8:20
	our wives will be forgiven, restored,	8:26
	and returned to us with new meaning and with hope.	8:30
	Let us offer unto God our unison prayers	8:35
	of confession,	8:40
	and for pardon.	8:42
	Let us pray together.	8:44
	Almighty God, our righteous Father,	8:48
	we humbly confess that we have sinned	8:53
	and are guilty people.	8:56
	We have trusted too much in outer forms	8:59
	and too little in the inward realities.	9:04
	We have often been content to allow marriage	9:08
	to consist mainly of wedding rings	9:13
	and living under the same roof	9:17
	rather than a shared and cultivated love.	9:20
	We have made patriotism a mere allegiance	9:25
	to a colored cloth,	9:29
	and the repetition of slick phrases	9:32
	rather than thoughtful and courageous dedication	9:36
	to what is good for the nation.	9:40
	We have often made piety	9:44
	no more than a recitation of familiar prayers	9:47
	and genuflection before the altar,	9:52
	rather than the true devotion of the heart.	9:56
	There were terms when we allowed friendship	10:00
	to end with a smile and a handshake,	10:04
	and we'd have not been willing to extend ourselves	10:08
	to others in their moments of need.	10:13
	Forgive us these sins,	10:17
	restore us to thy fellowship	10:20
	and give us grace to add inward reality	10:23
	to the forms of outer goodness.	10:28
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord,	10:31
	amen.	10:35
	Let us hear and receive these words	10:40
	of assurance and of hope.	10:45
	God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in Him	10:49
	should not perish, but have everlasting life.	10:56
	In the words of Jesus,	11:03
	"Be of good cheer.	11:06
	Your sins are forgiven.	11:09
	Go and sin no more."	11:13
	knowing that we are received by God's love and His grace,	11:18
	let us choose to accept his acceptance.	11:24
	Knowing that we were called to live as free and whole men,	11:29
	let us arise in our worship	11:35
	and face the future with the confidence	11:39
	and the joy that belong	11:42
	to a people of faith.	11:45
	Amen.	11:49
	(gentle organ music)	11:53
	(vibrant trumpet fanfares)	12:22
	♪ O come ♪	12:36
	♪ Let us sing ♪	12:41
	♪ Unto the Lord, the Lord ♪	12:48
	(vibrant trumpet fanfare)	12:51
	♪ Let us heartily rejoice ♪	13:03
	♪ In the strength of our salvation ♪	13:06
	♪ Let us come before his presence ♪	13:10
	♪ With thanksgiving ♪	13:14
	♪ And shew ourselves ♪	13:20
	♪ Glad in Him with psalms ♪	13:24
	(brass fanfare)	13:30
	♪ For the Lord is a great God ♪	13:38
	♪ For the Lord is a great God ♪	13:45
	♪ And a great King above all gods ♪	13:55
	(dramatic brass music)	14:02
	♪ In his hand are all ♪	14:12
	♪ The corners of the earth ♪	14:17
	(gentle brass music)	14:25
	♪ And the strength ♪	14:30
	♪ Of the hills ♪	14:36
	♪ Is His also ♪	14:38
	♪ The sea is His, ♪	14:48
	♪ And He made it ♪	14:54
	♪ And His hands ♪	15:00
	♪ Prepared the dry land ♪	15:07
	(bright trumpet fanfare)	15:18
	♪ O come, ♪	15:27
	♪ Let us worship ♪	15:32
	♪ And fall down ♪	15:39
	♪ And kneel before the Lord ♪	15:46
	♪ Our maker ♪	15:54
	(solemn brass music)	16:10
	♪ For He is ♪	16:27
	♪ Our God ♪	16:35
	♪ Our God ♪	16:42
	♪ And we are the people ♪	16:50
	♪ Of His pasture ♪	16:58
	♪ And the sheep ♪	17:05
	♪ Of His hand ♪	17:09
	(heroic brass music)	17:19
	♪ O worship the Lord ♪	17:53
	♪ In the beauty ♪	18:06
	♪ Of holiness ♪	18:14
	(stately brass music)	18:23
	♪ Let the whole earth ♪	18:53
	♪ Stand in awe of Him ♪	19:06
	♪ For He cometh, for He cometh ♪	19:33
	♪ For He cometh to judge the earth ♪	19:40
	(bright brass music)	19:50
	♪ And with righteousness, with righteousness ♪	20:01
	♪ To judge the world ♪	20:06
	♪ And the peoples with his truth ♪	20:12
	(dramatically crescendoing brass music)	20:17
	♪ Glory be ♪	20:28
	♪ To the Father ♪	20:45
	♪ And to the Son ♪	20:56
	♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪	21:09
	♪ Amen ♪	21:20
	♪ Amen ♪	21:29
	Our scripture lesson this morning is taken	22:02
	from the Gospel of John chapter 16,	22:04
	verses 1 through 7,	22:08
	and verses 12 through 14.	22:10
	"I have said all of this to you	22:15
	to keep you from falling away.	22:17
	They will put you out of the synagogues.	22:21
	Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you	22:25
	will think he is offering service to God,	22:28
	and they will do this	22:33
	because they have not known the Father, nor me,	22:34
	but I have said these things to you	22:40
	that when their hour comes, you may remember	22:43
	that I told you of them.	22:47
	I did not say these things to you from the beginning	22:51
	because I was with you,	22:56
	but now I'm going to Him who sent me,	22:59
	yet none of you asked me where are you going.	23:02
	But because I have said these things to you,	23:08
	sorrow has filled your hearts.	23:11
	Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.	23:16
	It is to your advantage that I go away,	23:18
	for if I do not go away,	23:22
	the councilor will not come to you,	23:24
	but if I go, I will send him to you.	23:28
	I have yet many things to say to you,	23:33
	but you cannot bear them now.	23:36
	When the spirit of truth comes,	23:39
	he will guide you into all the truth,	23:42
	for he will not speak on his own authority.	23:46
	But whatever he hears he will speak,	23:50
	and he will declare to you things that are to come.	23:54
	He will glorify me,	23:59
	for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."	24:01
	My God add His blessing to the reading	24:07
	and the hearing of His Word, amen.	24:09
	(stately organ music)	24:15
	♪ Glory be to the Father ♪	24:27
	♪ And to the Son ♪	24:32
	♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪	24:36
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	24:43
	♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪	24:49
	♪ World without end ♪	24:56
	♪ Amen ♪	25:00
	♪ Amen ♪	25:04
	The Lord be with you.	25:12
-	And with your spirit.	25:14
-	Let us pray.	25:16
	Let us offer unto God our prayers of thanksgiving,	25:27
	intercession, and supplication.	25:31
	Almighty and ever loving God.	25:41
	God who has so wondrously created us	25:45
	and who does daily sustain us,	25:49
	we give thanks to Thee, oh Lord,	25:54
	for this opportunity of worship.	25:56
	Thy ways are shrouded in mystery	26:02
	and Thy ways are far beyond our knowing, oh Lord,	26:06
	yet Thou has come to us	26:12
	in the glory of the gospel	26:16
	and then the meaning of this advent season,	26:20
	and has offered us Thy graceful	26:26
	and faithful love,	26:30
	and has challenged us to live and to come before thee	26:33
	in adoration and praise	26:38
	and in thanksgiving.	26:42
	Therefore, oh Lord, with heaven's angels	26:46
	and shepherds all, we praise	26:50
	and bless Thy holy name.	26:54
	For all that this season may mean and does mean,	26:59
	our Father, we lift our thanks onto Thee.	27:03
	Almighty God and father of us all,	27:12
	Thou has made of one blood all the nations of mankind,	27:16
	and Thou has placed us upon this earth for our home.	27:22
	Thine is the providence for which age after age	27:29
	the families of mankind have been fed,	27:33
	and Thine is the abundance that blesses those	27:38
	who have plenty and to spare.	27:41
	Thine is the justice, which amidst the turmoil	27:45
	of history has given it a course and a direction.	27:49
	Thine, oh Lord, is the mercy	27:56
	by which man has reached out to man	27:58
	with feeling the binds up the broken heart,	28:01
	the torn body, and the disturbed mind.	28:05
	Thine, oh Lord, is love.	28:12
	The love that brings light to every day of our lives,	28:16
	and close friendships and associations	28:20
	where a true cultivation of the spirit	28:24
	enables us to speak comfortably to each other.	28:28
	And especially in our homes,	28:33
	our families, and our friendships,	28:35
	where love protects us	28:39
	as with each other we share the love	28:41
	which Thou alone dost impart.	28:44
	Thou, oh God, art our loving Father,	28:48
	who in justice and mercy directs our ways	28:53
	and provides for all our needs.	28:58
	Holy art Thou,	29:02
	and Thy praise is our great delight	29:04
	and in Thee is all our hope.	29:08
	Therefore, oh Lord, we praise Thee	29:12
	and we acknowledge Thee to be our God.	29:17
	Oh God whose son, Jesus Christ,	29:25
	has made us members one of another,	29:28
	we take our place in the human family	29:31
	by offering our intersessions and our petitions	29:34
	for our brothers and sisters in need.	29:38
	Lord, who has revealed Thyself through a son	29:44
	knew what it means to endure suffering.	29:50
	Here us now as we remember	29:55
	those of our human family who suffered.	29:57
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	30:04
	those sufferings that are	30:08
	an unappeased hunger for love.	30:10
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord	30:17
	the suffering of a small boy	30:21
	whose mother has slapped him without cause,	30:24
	and that of a man whose boss has reprimanded him	30:29
	in front of his friends.	30:34
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	30:38
	the suffering of a child left at home	30:42
	because he's a nuisance,	30:45
	better have a grandmother left in her home	30:48
	because she's too old.	30:51
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	30:57
	the suffering of an unemployed man who wants to work	31:00
	and that of a mother whose children are hungry,	31:05
	while in another part of town,	31:10
	the remains of a party are thrown into the garbage.	31:12
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	31:19
	the suffering of an old man who dies alone	31:23
	while his family in an adjoining room wait	31:27
	for his death, drinking coffee,	31:31
	and the young man who lives alone	31:36
	and cannot understand why a fiery accident of war	31:40
	destroyed his home, his sons, and his wife.	31:45
	We lift before Thy mercy, oh Lord,	31:53
	all who experience suffering, injustice,	31:58
	bitterness, humiliation,	32:04
	grief, and despair.	32:07
	May Thy love penetrate their condition	32:12
	and quench their hunger	32:18
	and bring peace.	32:21
	Oh God, hear our prayers we ask	32:29
	for the human needs gathered in this Thy sanctuary,	32:32
	and minister to reach of us according to Thy will.	32:37
	Help us, our Father, to come to terms	32:43
	with our own humanness,	32:47
	with all its glories and its frustrations,	32:50
	for it seems as if we're always trying	32:56
	either to take by place	32:59
	or to forget about Thee and do just as we please.	33:03
	Our Father, we feel frustrated by our animal needs	33:09
	and want Thy help in transforming them,	33:13
	to see food as a daily assurance of Thy care,	33:19
	to accept sleep as a well-earned benediction	33:25
	and not merely an interruption to our activities,	33:30
	to know love is not self-gratification, but self-giving.	33:36
	Our Father,	33:44
	we feel frustrated by the tyranny of time,	33:46
	eight-hour days and 48-hour weeks,	33:51
	and three score years and 10.	33:54
	Help us, we ask,	33:58
	to accept the endless details that chew up our days	34:02
	without which nothing would ever get done.	34:07
	Help us to come to terms with our own laziness,	34:12
	that lets us think we're working	34:17
	when we're only moaning about lack of time.	34:20
	Above all, our Father,	34:27
	we feel frustrated by our limited minds and spirits	34:29
	and we pray Thee for reach that exceeds grasp.	34:36
	Help us to see beyond the trivia	34:42
	that threaten to clutter up our minds	34:44
	that we may see the grand design of truth and goodness.	34:48
	Help us to be open to every experience,	34:55
	to tolerate new thoughts that seem threatening	35:00
	and help us to give our spirits	35:05
	free reign in Christ,	35:09
	that we may see Thee and find Thee	35:12
	and know Thee,	35:16
	who speakest to us in all of life.	35:19
	In the name of Jesus Christ,	35:25
	Thy Son and our Lord,	35:28
	who taught us to pray together saying,	35:33
	"Our Father who art in heaven,	35:36
	hallowed be thy name,	35:40
	Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done	35:43
	on earth as it is in heaven.	35:47
	Give us this day our daily bread,	35:51
	and forgive us our trespasses	35:55
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	35:58
	and lead us not into temptation,	36:03
	but deliver us from evil,	36:06
	for Thine is the kingdom	36:09
	and the power and the glory forever,	36:12
	amen."	36:17
	Good morning,	36:43
	I greet you in the name of Jesus	36:47
	on this Homecoming Sunday, 1969.	36:49
	An annual event on campuses across America.	36:56
	is the return of college alumni	37:03
	to their fostering mother, their alma mater.	37:07
	Each fall, a weekend is chosen for Homecoming	37:15
	and preparations are made to show the former students	37:19
	what life is like for the young men and women	37:25
	who inhabit currently the hallowed halls.	37:30
	But Homecoming is always an ambivalence for the alumni	37:37
	because they discover that there's a sense	37:43
	in which they can come home again	37:46
	and there's a sense in which they cannot come home again.	37:50
	The statue of J. B. Duke is still here	37:56
	just as it was in 1937.	38:00
	But your most loved professor has since died.	38:04
	Few Quadrangle is still standing	38:11
	and looking very much as it did	38:14
	when you roomed in it as a grad student in 1944.	38:16
	But what a shock you had yesterday	38:22
	when you discovered that the university housing office	38:26
	now lets lowly undergraduates live in Few Quad.	38:30
	What is more disquieting to some, however,	38:38
	is a succession of changes	38:43
	from what they recall the religious life	38:49
	of the campus to have been	38:52
	when they were students here two,	38:54
	10, 20, or 40 years ago.	38:57
	In 1967,	39:03
	a returning alumnus	39:07
	went to the divinity school chapel at 9:30 AM	39:08
	on Homecoming Sunday	39:13
	to attend the York Bible class,	39:16
	just as he had done each Sunday	39:21
	when he was a student here from '43 to '48.	39:24
	He was amazed to discover	39:29
	that York Bible class no longer meets.	39:31
	When last April, I addressed the Duke Alumni Association	39:38
	of San Francisco,	39:43
	a fine alumnus told me how greatly he used	39:45
	to appreciate hearing the preaching of Dr. Henry Hitt Crane	39:49
	during Religious Emphasis Week at Duke.	39:53
	Then he asked who our Religious Emphasis Week	39:59
	preacher was this year.	40:04
	He was astonished to hear that we had nothing at all	40:08
	which was called Religious Emphasis Week.	40:12
	Well, other examples could be given	40:18
	and could be described.	40:21
	Alumni who love the church and who are committed	40:24
	to the continued marriage of eruditial and religial	40:28
	understandably asked the question, "Why?"	40:34
	Their question was phrased quite boldly	40:42
	by a man who is at present a Duke professor	40:46
	and with whom I enjoyed morning coffee last September.	40:51
	He told me that during his freshman year in college,	40:57
	he was active	41:00
	in religious activities on the campus.	41:03
	Then he lost interest,	41:09
	and only last year, after more than a quarter of a century,	41:12
	did he regain an interest in religion.	41:17
	But he had a question for me.	41:21
	After telling me about the manifestations	41:25
	of religion during his student days, he asked,	41:27
	"Why is everything	41:32
	so different now?"	41:36
	For a while this morning,	41:43
	I'd like to consider his question	41:44
	in terms of two assumptions.	41:48
	And I would like to think of it as being representative	41:53
	of many other similar questions.	41:57
	I will deal with first one assumption	42:01
	and then the other	42:05
	in attempting to answer his very good question.	42:07
	The first assumption is that five,	42:12
	10, 20, or 40 years ago,	42:16
	whatever time it is that you have in mind just now,	42:20
	as you think of your own student days,	42:25
	or those of you who are now students,	42:30
	as you think of the days	42:33
	that your parents have spoken to you about,	42:34
	we're assuming that religious forms	42:40
	and expressions were precisely	42:44
	as they should have been.	42:50
	That things were then being done	42:58
	the very best way they could have been done.	43:00
	Now, assuming that,	43:05
	what answer can be given to the question,	43:09
	why is everything so different now?	43:13
	Let me suggest an answer from the game of football	43:20
	by way of an analogy.	43:23
	Suppose that X number of years ago,	43:26
	we had a football team at Duke	43:30
	which was nationally ranked	43:32
	and which won the conference championship.	43:34
	Suppose further that we were interviewing a member	43:38
	of that team, and we asked him the secret	43:42
	of their great success.	43:45
	He might reply that his squad had a series of plays	43:49
	which almost always worked.	43:53
	On first down, the left halfback would slam	43:58
	through the right side of the line.	44:02
	Second down, right halfback would slam	44:05
	through the left side of the line.	44:08
	And on third down, the fullback would go straight	44:12
	up the middle and gain enough yardage	44:14
	to start a new series of downs.	44:18
	But,	44:22
	our former football player would be quick to add,	44:25
	that if that same team	44:30
	were playing today	44:35
	under present conditions, and with the same strength,	44:37
	the same skill,	44:43
	and the same youth of their earlier day,	44:44
	they would use different plays	44:49
	because although in that earlier year those plays worked,	44:53
	the opposition eventually developed	44:58
	a way to stop those plays.	45:00
	So the team must change its strategy	45:05
	from year to year and even from week to week	45:09
	if it wishes to continue moving the ball forward.	45:13
	Sometimes the quarterback has to be smart enough,	45:18
	know just when to tie his shoe in order to win a game.	45:22
	(congregation laughs)	45:26
	A distinguished Lutheran theologian,	45:31
	Dr. Joseph Sittler,	45:34
	has suggested essentially the same answer to this question,	45:38
	but from a different field, namely science.	45:43
	Now, since some of our older alumni were students,	45:50
	there has been developed a new branch	45:58
	of science called ecology.	46:00
	It's related to biology,	46:05
	and it has to do with the environment	46:08
	in which plants and animals live	46:10
	and the effect of that environment upon them.	46:14
	Ecologists have found that the appearance	46:20
	and the behavior of,	46:24
	let's say a rat, for example,	46:28
	is not the same when he is living in a Louisiana swamp,	46:31
	as it is when that identical rat	46:36
	is living in an Iowa corn bin,	46:41
	or again when it's living under the musty floor	46:45
	of a rotting barn in Oklahoma.	46:48
	When this rat is studied in a sterile laboratory,	46:53
	he appears and behaves differently	46:57
	from the way he does in all of those other environments.	47:02
	Now, Dr. Sittler	47:07
	in his book, "The Ecology of Faith,"	47:11
	"The Ecology of Faith,"	47:16
	says the same thing is true	47:20
	of the church and of the Christian religion.	47:23
	The same church, if it is true to its mission,	47:28
	is going to appear differently	47:32
	and behave differently	47:36
	when the surrounding environment and circumstances change,	47:40
	but it is important to remember	47:46
	that it is the same church and the same gospel.	47:48
	Since Religious Emphasis Week was mentioned,	47:57
	let me use it as an example.	48:01
	In the 1930s and even in the '40s,	48:06
	R. E. Week, as it was called,	48:10
	was a very useful instrument on many campuses,	48:13
	but at the present time, almost all of the considerations	48:18
	which made it wise then, make it unwise now.	48:23
	And the same factors which made it successful then	48:28
	would make it unsuccessful now.	48:32
	What the same concerns and emphases	48:37
	which formerly marched forward one week in the year	48:41
	under the umbrella of R. E. Week,	48:45
	now march forward all year long	48:49
	under many different umbrellas	48:52
	labeled Project Nicaragua,	48:55
	Project Bolivia, Edgemont, Butner,	48:58
	VA Hospital Ministry, special observances,	49:03
	UCM, InterVarsity Fellowship of Christian Athletes,	49:07
	Christian Medical Society,	49:11
	the YWYM, Community Concerns, and two dozen more.	49:13
	In the day of Saint Paul,	49:22
	which admittedly predates all of Roger Marshall's groups,	49:27
	circumstances were such that Paul could write,	49:33
	"It is a shame	49:39
	for a woman to speak in church."	49:43
	However, circumstances have changed to such an extent	49:51
	that were Paul writing now,	49:55
	he certainly would write the exact opposite,	49:59
	but for the same basic doctrinal reasons.	50:05
	James Russell Lowell wrote,	50:14
	"New occasions	50:17
	teach new duties,	50:20
	time makes ancient good uncouth.	50:24
	They must upward still and onward	50:31
	who would keep abreast of truth."	50:35
	You remember that when Isaac moved his people	50:42
	and his herds into the Valley of Gerar,	50:47
	he discovered that the Philistines	50:50
	had filled up the water wells of his father, Abraham.	50:53
	Isaac gave instructions to have them cleaned out	50:59
	and renewed,	51:03
	which was done to them.	51:10
	Although in their later condition,	51:13
	Isaac's wells probably look very unlike	51:16
	the wells of Abraham,	51:20
	but nevertheless yielded up the same refreshing	51:23
	and life-giving water	51:27
	as in Abraham's day.	51:30
	All right, let me summarize this first point	51:35
	by saying that if we assume	51:41
	that the religious practices	51:44
	and forms of an earlier day were in their day	51:47
	exactly what they should have been,	51:53
	the expressions of that same religion	51:57
	should be somewhat different today.	52:01
	If we are to maintain an effective witness	52:05
	to the gospel in the current scene.	52:09
	Okay?	52:16
	I said in the beginning that I would speak to the question	52:18
	why is everything so different now	52:22
	in terms of two assumptions.	52:26
	The second assumption is the opposite of the first.	52:32
	So now I should address the question	52:39
	on the assumption that the way things used to be	52:43
	was not in every respect	52:47
	the way they should have been,	52:52
	not even at that time.	52:54
	This second assumption affirms	52:59
	that there were many wonderful practices	53:02
	in former years,	53:07
	but it insists that there were also crippling defects,	53:10
	which it became our duty to correct,	53:15
	along with the growing wheat,	53:20
	there was also a quantity of chaff	53:22
	which could not be ignored.	53:25
	If we have an obligation to keep changing a church	53:31
	that is assumed to be perfect,	53:34
	we have a greater obligation to change a church	53:37
	which is assumed to be imperfect.	53:41
	After all, it's really expecting far too much	53:45
	to imagine that the students and staff	53:49
	who were guiding campus religion in 1959	53:51
	should have done everything exactly right.	53:57
	Among other duties, they were busy correcting the errors	54:01
	of those who were here in '49,	54:05
	who in turn sought to remedy the deficiencies	54:08
	of the group were here in '39.	54:12
	Even so,	54:17
	those of us in '69	54:20
	need to make improvements on our predecessors,	54:24
	knowing that those who follow us	54:29
	will notice our shortcomings	54:32
	and hopefully seek to amend them in their day.	54:35
	Now it is my own view that this second assumption	54:42
	has more evidence behind it than the first,	54:45
	because almost every period in the past	54:49
	shows profound weaknesses in the witness of the church,	54:52
	whether on campus or off.	54:56
	Let's look at one.	55:00
	The church on campus today	55:04
	all across the country	55:08
	is becoming sensitive to the sin	55:10
	of denominational rivalry,	55:13
	the sin of denominational competitiveness,	55:18
	which so often characterize both the local church	55:24
	and the capitalist churches in an earlier day,	55:28
	in spite of the very heavy emphasis	55:33
	which our Lord clearly placed on the Christian unity	55:36
	and the 17th chapter of John's Gospel,	55:40
	we were divided, we were bickering,	55:44
	we were competitive.	55:49
	For six years during the forties,	55:53
	I was the associate minister of First Methodist Church	55:56
	in the city of Charlotte.	56:00
	Each year during the Christmas holidays,	56:03
	we had a program for our students	56:07
	who were home from college.	56:10
	Every student would report	56:13
	on Methodist activity at his college.	56:16
	More often than not,	56:22
	the report would go something like this.	56:23
	"Well, the Methodists at our school are not doing very much,	56:26
	but thank God the Presbyterians	56:31
	are not doing any more than we are."	56:33
	I am one Christian who will say	56:42
	that this is an area	56:45
	in which we had better be different now	56:47
	from what we were in the past.	56:54
	On our campus and on many campuses,	56:59
	there is a strong surge toward doing	57:04
	what we do for Christ	57:07
	without emphasizing denominational labels and loyalties.	57:09
	There is another area	57:17
	in which Christian people made mistakes in past years,	57:19
	the campus churches today seeking to correct those faults.	57:24
	That area is sex, S-E-X.	57:31
	10 years ago and 50 years ago,	57:38
	there was a tendency for the church	57:44
	and for Christian people to teach that fornication	57:47
	and adultery should be avoided	57:50
	because of a possible embarrassing pregnancy,	57:54
	or because of the likelihood of venereal disease,	57:59
	the damaging effects of that disease.	58:03
	And following this line,	58:09
	the church and Christian parents	58:11
	thought they were playing it cool.	58:13
	They perhaps move at the basic harm	58:18
	in fornication and adultery is that it negates	58:20
	a really beautiful view of sex,	58:24
	which is a part of the biblical concept of marriage.	58:28
	This concept of marriage is one	58:33
	which according to the Bible was revealed by God	58:36
	as being an important part	58:41
	of the unfolding of his will.	58:44
	But instead of laying it plainly on the line	58:49
	with students and saying that they should reserve	58:52
	the joining of their bodies for marriage	58:55
	because such is the will of God,	58:59
	preachers and parents alike	59:03
	tried to get students to do the right thing	59:06
	for the wrong reasons.	59:08
	"You might get pregnant," they said.	59:12
	"You might get a disease."	59:14
	Baloney.	59:17
	Not only is it true, as an anonymous poet once said,	59:21
	the ultimate treason is to do the right thing	59:26
	for the wrong reason,	59:30
	but this so-called practical approach	59:33
	did not turn out to be successful.	59:36
	Any student who didn't know how to have sexual intercourse	59:40
	without pregnancy resulting was thought	59:44
	by his fellows to be intellectually unfit for college.	59:47
	Ever since the discovery of penicillin,	59:55
	the old venereal disease threat	59:58
	hasn't really scared anybody.	1:00:00
	Of course, plenty of people	1:00:05
	still are involved in illegitimate pregnancies,	1:00:07
	and a lot of immoral people get venereal disease,	1:00:12
	but my point is that the so-called practical approach	1:00:18
	of the former day didn't keep them from it.	1:00:23
	The church on campus today, however,	1:00:31
	is seeking to tell it like it is	1:00:33
	and to teach that if a person is going to be a Christian,	1:00:38
	he must obey God,	1:00:42
	whose revealed will is that sexual union	1:00:46
	is to be reserved exclusively for monogamous marriage.	1:00:51
	And so the manifestation of religion	1:00:58
	on campus today is different at this point.	1:01:01
	There are many other areas that could be discussed.	1:01:08
	There was an older fundamentalism	1:01:13
	with its wooden interpretation	1:01:16
	of the literal words of the Bible,	1:01:18
	which too long ignored the plain meaning	1:01:22
	of 2 Corinthians 3:6,	1:01:25
	where Paul warns that a literalism in religion kills	1:01:29
	whereas the spirit gives life.	1:01:34
	We believe the campus church should be different here	1:01:39
	and should heed Paul's warning.	1:01:44
	Paradoxically,	1:01:49
	along with that wooden fundamentalism,	1:01:51
	there also existed on campus	1:01:54
	a swashbuckling higher criticism,	1:01:57
	which was blind to some	1:02:02
	of the most profound insights of scripture.	1:02:04
	This, too, is being corrected today	1:02:08
	in the campus church	1:02:12
	when an advocate of this type of higher criticism	1:02:15
	came across a biblical narrative	1:02:19
	like the one in Matthew 9,	1:02:21
	which claims that a paralyzed man was able to walk	1:02:24
	after Christ forgave his sins,	1:02:28
	the critic would scornfully declare	1:02:32
	that it couldn't possibly have happened.	1:02:34
	But the campus church today listens to the reports	1:02:40
	of physicians, such as Dr. Flanders Dunbar,	1:02:44
	who daily practice in the field of psychosomatic medicine	1:02:50
	and who would inform us not only	1:02:56
	that the story in Matthew 9 is entirely believable,	1:02:58
	but that much of mankind's illnesses would be cured	1:03:05
	if we practiced the Sermon on the Mount.	1:03:11
	So once again,	1:03:16
	religion on campus had better be different	1:03:18
	from an older and arrogant higher criticism,	1:03:22
	which in some respects was deaf, dumb, and blind.	1:03:27
	Well, denominational rivalry,	1:03:34
	wrong approach to sex ethics,	1:03:39
	scriptural literalism,	1:03:43
	an insensitive higher criticism,	1:03:46
	these are some of the features of campus religion	1:03:49
	in former times which cried out for reform.	1:03:53
	This is not the end of the list by any means.	1:03:59
	Racism, chauvinism often went unchallenged	1:04:03
	and religious leaders	1:04:08
	sometimes were among the worst offenders.	1:04:10

Item Info

Title:

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4qj7d04n

Date:

November 23, 1969

Speaker:

Wilkinson, Howard C.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0499
ref6203_nmk
uachapelsermaud
duke:628334
dcrau002490
ark:/87924/r4qj7d04n
0dbae7f5-918b-4c1d-98c6-f854d5fec6f0

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

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1. Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything So Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

Duke University Archives

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Howard C. Wilkinson - "Why Is Everything so Different Now?" (November 23, 1969)

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