Robert T. Young - "Perplexed, but Not in Despair" (September 15, 1974)
Loading the media player...
Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(indistinct music) | 0:03 | |
- | If we say we have not sinned, | 3:18 |
we deceive ourselves | 3:22 | |
and the truth is not in us. | 3:26 | |
If we confess our sins, | 3:30 | |
God can be trusted to forgive us our sins. | 3:34 | |
Therefore, let us offer unto God, | 3:41 | |
our unison prayer of confession. | 3:43 | |
Let us pray. | 3:48 | |
Blessed Lord, | 3:51 | |
we are usually found even when we are loving and kind | 3:53 | |
pursuing the things, which will make us happier people | 3:59 | |
worthier in the sight of others. | 4:04 | |
You are the love that teaches us to look beyond itself. | 4:07 | |
You are the love, which offered itself on the cross, | 4:13 | |
the best things we do are pale and weak | 4:18 | |
alongside your sacrifice. | 4:22 | |
Forgive us that we have too often overlook | 4:26 | |
the ways of you would love, | 4:29 | |
do not cease to call us | 4:31 | |
and to give us insights into the ways of your love. | 4:34 | |
So we may pass it on to brothers and sisters | 4:38 | |
who have forgotten that they live entirely by your love. | 4:42 | |
You are the love, which sometimes hides itself | 4:48 | |
as the sun behind the clouds. | 4:52 | |
Give us the assurance in such hours | 4:55 | |
that your love continues to shine brightly. | 4:58 | |
Keep us beyond despair | 5:02 | |
and let us build with true confidence in your mercy. | 5:05 | |
We ask it for your name's sake. | 5:10 | |
And now let us have a period of personal confession. | 5:16 | |
Think first of the sins of commission in anger, | 5:23 | |
dislike, malice, meanness. | 5:29 | |
And think of the sin of omission | 5:44 | |
the good we have forgotten to do, | 5:48 | |
this is the sin which worry Jesus, more than any other. | 5:52 | |
Amen. | 6:11 | |
Hear the good news. | 6:14 | |
This statement is completely reliable | 6:17 | |
and should be universally accepted. | 6:21 | |
Christ Jesus entered the world to rescue sinners. | 6:25 | |
So let it be for us. | 6:34 | |
(upbeat music) | 6:42 | |
(indistinct music) | 7:48 | |
- | For I know your manifold transgressions | 12:03 |
and your mighty sins. | 12:06 | |
They afflict just, | 12:08 | |
they take a bribe and they turn aside the poor | 12:09 | |
and the gate from their right. | 12:11 | |
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time | 12:14 | |
for it is an evil time, | 12:17 | |
seek good and not evil that you may live. | 12:19 | |
And so the Lord, the God of hosts shall be with you | 12:23 | |
as you have spoken. | 12:26 | |
Hate the evil and love the good | 12:28 | |
and established judgment in the gate. | 12:30 | |
It may be that the Lord, God of hosts | 12:33 | |
will be gracious son to the remnant of Joseph. | 12:35 | |
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts the Lord say, thus, | 12:38 | |
I hate, I despise your feast days | 12:42 | |
and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. | 12:44 | |
Though you offer me burnt offerings | 12:47 | |
and your meat offerings. | 12:48 | |
I will not accept them. | 12:49 | |
Neither will I regard the peace offerings | 12:51 | |
of your fat beasts. | 12:52 | |
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs | 12:55 | |
for I will not hear the melody of the viols. | 12:58 | |
But let judgment run down as waters | 13:02 | |
and righteousness as a mighty stream. | 13:04 | |
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, | 13:11 | |
as we have received mercy, we faint not, | 13:13 | |
but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, | 13:16 | |
not walking in craftiness | 13:19 | |
nor handling the word of God deceitfully | 13:21 | |
but by manifestation of the truth, | 13:24 | |
commending ourselves to every man's conscience | 13:25 | |
in the sight of God. | 13:28 | |
But if our gospel be hid, | 13:31 | |
it is hid to them that are lost | 13:32 | |
in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them, | 13:34 | |
which believe not | 13:37 | |
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, | 13:39 | |
who is the image of God should shine unto them. | 13:42 | |
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, | 13:46 | |
the Lord and ourselves, | 13:49 | |
your servants for Jesus' sake, | 13:50 | |
for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness | 13:53 | |
has shined in our hearts to give the light | 13:56 | |
of the knowledge of the glory of God | 13:59 | |
in the face of Jesus Christ. | 14:00 | |
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels | 14:03 | |
that the excellency of the power may be of God | 14:05 | |
and not of us. | 14:08 | |
We are troubled on every side yet not distressed. | 14:09 | |
We are perplexed, but not in despair, | 14:13 | |
persecuted, but not forsaken, | 14:16 | |
cast down, but not destroyed. | 14:19 | |
Always bearing about in the body, | 14:21 | |
the dying of the Lord, Jesus, | 14:24 | |
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest | 14:26 | |
in our body | 14:29 | |
for we which live are always delivered | 14:31 | |
unto death for Jesus' sake, | 14:33 | |
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest | 14:35 | |
in our mortal flesh. | 14:38 | |
So then death work within us, but life in you, | 14:41 | |
we having the same spirit of faith | 14:44 | |
according as it is written, | 14:46 | |
I believed and therefore have I spoken, | 14:48 | |
we also believe and therefore we speak, | 14:50 | |
knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus | 14:54 | |
shall raise up us also by Jesus | 14:56 | |
and shall present us with you | 14:58 | |
for all things are for your sake, | 15:00 | |
that the abundant grace might through | 15:03 | |
the thanksgiving of many | 15:05 | |
redound to the glory of God. | 15:06 | |
Here ends the reading of the lessons. | 15:08 | |
(upbeat music) | 15:12 | |
(indistinct music) | 15:21 | |
- | Brethren if you can read the print, | 15:53 |
join with me if I can read the print | 15:55 | |
in the affirmation of faith. | 15:58 | |
We are not alone. | 16:03 | |
We live in God's world. | 16:05 | |
We believe in God who has created | 16:08 | |
and is creating, | 16:12 | |
who has to come in the true man, Jesus | 16:14 | |
to reconcile and make new | 16:17 | |
who works in us and others by his spirit. | 16:20 | |
We trust him. | 16:25 | |
He calls us to be in his church to celebrate his presence, | 16:26 | |
to love and serve others, | 16:32 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 16:35 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen | 16:38 | |
our judge and our hope in life, in death, | 16:42 | |
in life beyond death, God is with us. | 16:48 | |
We are not alone. | 16:52 | |
Thanks be to God. | 16:55 | |
The Lord be with you. | 16:58 | |
- | And with your spirit. | 16:59 |
- | Let us pray. | 17:02 |
We thank the Lord that we have thy wisdom, | 17:11 | |
lying at the mercy of every seeking mind | 17:14 | |
with our most wonderful in the realm of truth. | 17:19 | |
We thank the Lord that we have thy world, | 17:24 | |
river and lake, hill and valley, | 17:28 | |
forest and field for our dwelling. | 17:31 | |
Oh, thou most glorious in the realm of beauty. | 17:36 | |
We thank the Lord that we have thyself | 17:41 | |
for our guide and friend, | 17:46 | |
oh, thou most faithful in the realm of love. | 17:49 | |
Thanks be to thee for thy non unspeakable gifts | 17:55 | |
this day and forever more. | 18:00 | |
Lord our God we come into the, | 18:05 | |
our whole world, all nations and races, | 18:07 | |
the young and old, the rich and poor. | 18:13 | |
We remember all those who have gone before us, | 18:20 | |
all those from whom we have inherited this world, | 18:25 | |
all those who have made us what we are, | 18:30 | |
who have given us our name, our language, | 18:34 | |
our country to live in. | 18:39 | |
We pray for our children and our children's children, | 18:43 | |
for all who will be born after us, | 18:49 | |
that we do not give them stones instead of bread, | 18:53 | |
that we do not leave them war, but freedom and peace. | 18:59 | |
So deepen and quicken within us oh God, | 19:08 | |
the sense of thy presence and refresh us with thy power, | 19:12 | |
quiet our understanding and give ease to our hearts | 19:18 | |
by bringing us close to things | 19:23 | |
infinite and eternal. | 19:26 | |
Grant us dignity in our own eyes | 19:30 | |
by taking us into thy service. | 19:35 | |
Humble us by laying bare before us, | 19:39 | |
our littleness and our sin, | 19:43 | |
and then exalt us by revealing thyself to us | 19:46 | |
as our counselor, our father, our friend | 19:50 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord | 19:57 | |
who taught his disciples | 20:00 | |
when they prayed to say, | 20:02 | |
our father, who art in heaven, | 20:05 | |
hallowed be thy name, | 20:09 | |
thy kingdom come, | 20:12 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 20:14 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread | 20:19 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 20:23 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 20:25 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 20:29 | |
but deliver us from evil | 20:32 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 20:35 | |
and the glory forever. | 20:38 | |
Amen. | 20:42 | |
There has been left out of the bulletin, | 20:45 | |
the fact that a hymn should be sung now, | 20:47 | |
which is psychologically wise | 20:51 | |
because it stretches you before the sermon. | 20:53 | |
The hymn is 212. | 20:57 | |
We shall sing the first stanza twice, | 20:59 | |
which means we sing the chorus three times | 21:03 | |
and then the sermon will be preached | 21:07 | |
by the Reverend Robert Young, | 21:09 | |
the minister to the university. | 21:11 | |
(upbeat music) | 21:16 | |
(indistinct music) | 21:42 | |
- | Paul writes, we have this treasure in earthen vessels | 24:46 |
to show that the transcendent power belongs to God | 24:56 | |
and not to us. | 25:02 | |
We are afflicted in every way, | 25:06 | |
but not crushed perplexed, but not driven to despair, | 25:10 | |
persecuted but not forsaken, | 25:18 | |
struck down but not destroyed. | 25:22 | |
Paul wrote these words to the church at Corinth | 25:30 | |
to reassure them, | 25:33 | |
in time of trouble | 25:36 | |
of the ever present presence of all mighty God | 25:39 | |
to sustain them and to keep them going. | 25:45 | |
We are perplexed, but not in despair. | 25:51 | |
And when we know the source of Paul's hope, | 25:56 | |
we can also know his assurance, namely Jesus the Christ. | 26:02 | |
Paul could say these words about life | 26:11 | |
and the assurance that overcomes | 26:15 | |
because of an experience that he had had, | 26:17 | |
an experience that had been | 26:22 | |
and was vividly real to him | 26:24 | |
on the road to Damascus | 26:28 | |
when God's spirit spoke to him, | 26:30 | |
Paul replied, "who are you Lord?" | 26:35 | |
And the voice came back, | 26:40 | |
"I am Jesus of Nazareth, | 26:41 | |
whom you are persecuting." | 26:43 | |
Paul then said, "what shall I do, Lord,? | 26:47 | |
What do you want me to do, Lord?" | 26:53 | |
And my dear friends, | 26:58 | |
that question rings in my ears this morning. | 27:00 | |
And my Lord says to me some other words from the gospel, | 27:02 | |
according to St. Luke | 27:06 | |
was a man who had two sons | 27:09 | |
and the younger son gathered all he had | 27:13 | |
and took his journey into a far country. | 27:16 | |
But when he came to himself, he said, | 27:20 | |
"I will arise and go to my father." | 27:23 | |
And he arose and came to his father. | 27:28 | |
While he was yet at a distance his father saw him coming, | 27:32 | |
had compassion upon him and ran and kissed him | 27:37 | |
and embraced him. | 27:41 | |
The father said, "bring quickly | 27:44 | |
the best robe and put a ring on his finger | 27:47 | |
and shoes on his feet, | 27:52 | |
bring the fatted calf and let us eat, | 27:54 | |
drink and be Merry, | 27:57 | |
for this my son was dead and is alive. | 28:00 | |
He was lost and is found. | 28:04 | |
He was dead and is alive." | 28:08 | |
He was lost and he's found. | 28:13 | |
I may not be able to forgive and to accept as this father | 28:19 | |
in Jesus' story did, | 28:23 | |
but I am under obligation | 28:28 | |
to do no less than try just that. | 28:32 | |
What would you have me do Lord? | 28:40 | |
And when I repeat those words, | 28:46 | |
I began to imagine some lines of a letter, | 28:48 | |
lines, words as if they were written in the letter | 28:52 | |
from my son to me. | 28:58 | |
I am the father of two sons. | 29:05 | |
They are now 11 and eight years old. | 29:09 | |
Thus neither of them had to face or make decisions | 29:14 | |
about serving in the armed forces during the Vietnam war. | 29:18 | |
But during the past 12 months, | 29:24 | |
and particularly during the past three weeks, | 29:26 | |
I have thought often of the 70,000 or so young men who fled | 29:30 | |
and of their fathers and their mothers. | 29:35 | |
And so today I want to share you a letter, | 29:39 | |
a letter I think my son would write | 29:43 | |
if he were one of those now in hiding in Canada | 29:45 | |
or in one of the Scandinavian countries. | 29:49 | |
Listen, please. | 29:53 | |
My dear dad, | 29:56 | |
it's been some time since I wrote you, | 29:59 | |
but I do think of you and mom and the family quite often, | 30:03 | |
here's hoping all of you are in good health. | 30:07 | |
I feel okay most of the time and stay pretty busy at work | 30:11 | |
and here in our apartment | 30:16 | |
where I read a lot and try to do some writing occasionally. | 30:19 | |
I've even written a couple of poems. | 30:25 | |
I'll send them to you soon. | 30:28 | |
Dad, I'd like to come home, | 30:31 | |
but I want to come home with honor. | 30:36 | |
Real honor. | 30:40 | |
I don't expect nor do I want to come home a hero, | 30:43 | |
but I do want to be back in the United States. | 30:49 | |
And I'd like to come back a man | 30:53 | |
holding my head high and walking tall. | 30:54 | |
Do you think that might ever be possible dad, | 31:00 | |
someday soon? | 31:03 | |
Oh, I hope so. | 31:07 | |
I even pray for this | 31:10 | |
But when I think about coming home, | 31:14 | |
my stomach feels empty and my palms begin to perspire | 31:16 | |
because it's been a long time, a real long time. | 31:21 | |
I've been gone four and a half years now. | 31:24 | |
And that's about, that's about one fifth of my lifetime. | 31:26 | |
You remember that I celebrated my 22nd birthday last April. | 31:30 | |
Yes. It's been a long time since I was there. | 31:34 | |
And the thought of coming home causes me to wonder | 31:38 | |
if I ever can. | 31:42 | |
But I was reading Paul the other day | 31:45 | |
and came across a passage | 31:47 | |
I heard you preach on once in second Corinthians, | 31:48 | |
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, | 31:52 | |
perplexed but not driven to despair, | 31:54 | |
persecuted but not forsaken, | 31:57 | |
struck down but not destroyed. | 31:59 | |
That's how I feel sometimes. | 32:02 | |
I know Paul wasn't writing to us up here, | 32:05 | |
but he sure knew how we feel. | 32:08 | |
Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, | 32:11 | |
but not crushed, not in despair, not forsaken, | 32:16 | |
not destroyed. | 32:20 | |
That's exactly how I feel today, Dad perplexed, | 32:23 | |
but not in despair. | 32:27 | |
I'm not in despair as a matter of fact, | 32:30 | |
I feel rather positive now, dad. | 32:31 | |
I'm positive and hopeful because president Ford said the | 32:34 | |
other day he was going to let the | 32:37 | |
weight of his office come down on the side of leniency. | 32:39 | |
I hope this is for real and not just words. | 32:43 | |
As I hope let me share some of my feelings with you. | 32:48 | |
I'm sure some of my friends and neighbors | 32:53 | |
and fellow Americans, | 32:55 | |
want all of us up here to be treated as criminals. | 32:56 | |
We're not criminals. | 33:01 | |
We're still US citizens | 33:03 | |
and dad you know what kind of a guy I am. | 33:06 | |
I really haven't changed that much. | 33:09 | |
I never even got a ticket for speeding. | 33:11 | |
I was always at school and at class on time, | 33:14 | |
I never even did any petty shoplifting as a little boy. | 33:17 | |
I really am a pretty straight law-abiding honest guy. | 33:21 | |
And so are the other young man I've met here. | 33:26 | |
We broke the law, but for conscience, not for crime, | 33:30 | |
you and I both know that all of the men here | 33:38 | |
are not here for the same reasons, | 33:41 | |
but basic to our being here for all of us | 33:44 | |
is the feeling that the Vietnam war was wrong, | 33:47 | |
was immoral. | 33:51 | |
We felt that way all along. | 33:53 | |
And by the way, I noticed that near the end of the war, | 33:56 | |
73% of the American people also felt it was wrong. | 34:00 | |
Some folks think we were disloyal to our country. | 34:06 | |
Think we ran when our nation really needed us. | 34:10 | |
Think we were cowards or traitors. | 34:12 | |
There may be some here like that. | 34:15 | |
I've not met any yet. | 34:19 | |
How could we have been disloyal | 34:22 | |
when war had never legally | 34:27 | |
or constitutionally been declared? | 34:29 | |
How could we be cowards or traitors | 34:32 | |
when our homeland wasn't really threatened, | 34:34 | |
when this war had to do with a little country, | 34:38 | |
10,000 miles away from the United States. | 34:40 | |
I am convinced dad that if our own country's future | 34:44 | |
had really been threatened, we would never have left | 34:49 | |
at least, you know, I would not have. | 34:53 | |
Actually, if the conscientious objector status | 34:57 | |
had not been very rigid and very difficult to obtain | 35:00 | |
until 1970, then thousands of us would have qualified | 35:02 | |
for that. | 35:06 | |
Also, if we had been given the option | 35:08 | |
to do some alternate service back in the 60's, | 35:10 | |
many of us would have chosen that | 35:13 | |
and have served in that capacity. | 35:15 | |
I guess, lots of folk there at home | 35:19 | |
think we're asking for something new and unique | 35:22 | |
when we asked for unconditional amnesty. | 35:25 | |
Some may think this has never been done before | 35:29 | |
in our country. | 35:32 | |
I guess you realize that acts of amnesty | 35:34 | |
and pardon for military resistors | 35:36 | |
have been pronounced at least 37 times | 35:38 | |
in our country's history, | 35:42 | |
president Washington in 1795 issued | 35:44 | |
the first presidential act of general pardon | 35:47 | |
to several hundred insurrectionists | 35:50 | |
who promised to thereafter obey the law, | 35:52 | |
presidents, Adams, Jefferson, | 35:57 | |
Madison, Jackson, Lincoln, | 35:59 | |
Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, | 36:00 | |
Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman, | 36:02 | |
or also among those who have issued proclamations of amnesty | 36:06 | |
and pardon from 1862 until 1868, | 36:10 | |
14 different acts of pardon and amnesty | 36:14 | |
were announced by president Lincoln, | 36:17 | |
president Johnson and the US Congress, | 36:19 | |
pardon and amnesty for thousands of their own union men, | 36:22 | |
as well as for all rebels of the Confederate states. | 36:26 | |
Amnesty and pardon are not new in American history. | 36:34 | |
As a matter of fact, Henry Steele Commager says that | 36:38 | |
"amnesty is as American as apple pie." | 36:41 | |
Oh, dad, to have just a piece | 36:46 | |
or maybe even a crumb of that pie. | 36:51 | |
I'm sure there are many people who feel | 36:58 | |
we ought to be punished | 36:59 | |
50,000 American men our age die. | 37:01 | |
And some of us would have died with them | 37:05 | |
or in their place if we had not fled. | 37:07 | |
And that thought is one of the hardest for me to live with, | 37:10 | |
but none of them would have had to die | 37:16 | |
if our leaders had done what was right from the beginning. | 37:18 | |
So it really is not our fault | 37:23 | |
that thousands died and thousands were wounded. | 37:25 | |
We were not the ones making the decision, | 37:28 | |
we have paid and we continued to pay a terrible price. | 37:32 | |
Lonely, frustrated, no roots, no family, | 37:36 | |
man without a country, you can imagine that feeling. | 37:41 | |
I guess the place you can go, | 37:44 | |
you really don't belong | 37:47 | |
and the place where you can go, where you belong | 37:49 | |
you really can't go. | 37:52 | |
Do you know what it is to live in fear of being imprisoned | 37:55 | |
or forced forever into exile | 37:58 | |
or continue to suffer for what you conscientiously | 38:01 | |
believe to be right? | 38:04 | |
We have suffered and suffered greatly simply | 38:06 | |
because we acted on our moral convictions. | 38:09 | |
Is any good to be served for you back home | 38:13 | |
or for any of us by keeping us away any longer? | 38:16 | |
Perplexed, but not in despair. | 38:21 | |
I guess that's how I feel, dad, | 38:25 | |
but I'm not in despair because I have read | 38:28 | |
some of the statements made | 38:30 | |
by religious organizations and leaders, | 38:32 | |
Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic. | 38:35 | |
These statements give me hope. | 38:38 | |
Many of these individuals and groups have supported | 38:41 | |
unconditional amnesty for a long time. | 38:44 | |
And here are some words that give me hope. | 38:48 | |
The late rabbi, Abraham J. Heschel once wrote, | 38:52 | |
"let out of the white house come forgiveness. | 38:57 | |
It will influence the conduct of this nation deeply | 39:01 | |
and decisively. | 39:04 | |
Let the president pardon the dissent as a first step. | 39:07 | |
How much grief and distress would be dissolved by one word | 39:13 | |
from the president, forgive. | 39:17 | |
What the world needs at this hour | 39:21 | |
is an end to dis union | 39:23 | |
in its place we need reconciliation." | 39:26 | |
And the late Richard Cardinal Cushing | 39:32 | |
in his last Easter sermon said, | 39:36 | |
"would it be too much to ask that we empty our jails | 39:40 | |
of all the protesters, the guilty and the innocent | 39:44 | |
without judging them, | 39:47 | |
call back over the border and around the world, | 39:50 | |
the young man called deserters, | 39:52 | |
drop the cases that are still awaiting judgment | 39:55 | |
on our | 39:58 | |
(indistinct) | 39:59 | |
Could we not do all this in the name of life | 40:00 | |
and with life, hope?" | 40:04 | |
And the American Baptist convention | 40:08 | |
issued the statement saying, | 40:12 | |
"we call upon the president to grant amnesty | 40:14 | |
for all persons who are in jail or outside the country | 40:17 | |
due to their acts of conscience against the war in Vietnam." | 40:21 | |
The United Church of Christ said, | 40:26 | |
"we urge the president to grant the earliest | 40:29 | |
possible general amnesty and pardon for those | 40:31 | |
whose actions witnessed to their beliefs. | 40:34 | |
And those who have been incarcerated are deprived | 40:40 | |
of the rights of citizenship are driven into exile." | 40:43 | |
The United Methodist church said, | 40:48 | |
"we believe that genuine reconciliation demands a broad | 40:51 | |
and general amnesty without qualifications or conditions | 40:56 | |
to all who are in legal jeopardy | 41:01 | |
because of the war in Southeast Asia." | 41:04 | |
And so I have hope dad. | 41:08 | |
When you wrote about this a year ago, | 41:12 | |
and when I realize that a whole year has passed, it hurts. | 41:16 | |
But then you said you were going to work | 41:22 | |
and to witness to see that amnesty was granted to me | 41:25 | |
and to the 70,000 other young men like me. | 41:29 | |
I hope you are and you will. | 41:33 | |
And dad try to get president | 41:37 | |
(indistinct) | 41:40 | |
to see that the answer really lies in unconditional amnesty, | 41:41 | |
amnesty meaning to forget. | 41:46 | |
I know full well that all of us are not up here | 41:49 | |
because we acted out of the purest of motives. | 41:52 | |
But do we ever? | 41:57 | |
I also know dad that there are many | 41:59 | |
many of the brightest and the best of the young men | 42:01 | |
who up here who won't come home | 42:05 | |
unless it is unconditional. | 42:08 | |
And I wonder should we give to Canada | 42:12 | |
or to any other country the best | 42:16 | |
and the brightest or some of the best | 42:20 | |
and the brightest of our human resources? | 42:22 | |
We want to forget. | 42:26 | |
And we want to help all America to forget. | 42:28 | |
Vietnam was a nightmare for our country. | 42:32 | |
Wouldn't it be great if some phrases | 42:36 | |
from the Lord's prayer helped replace that nightmare | 42:38 | |
with a new world, | 42:42 | |
thy kingdom come | 42:43 | |
thy will be done on earth | 42:46 | |
as it is in heaven. | 42:50 | |
Thy will, God's will of peace | 42:52 | |
and forgiveness and mercy and love. | 42:56 | |
Well, I guess that's about all for now, dad, | 43:01 | |
but don't forget us. | 43:05 | |
Don't forget us. | 43:10 | |
Not because of us, not because of me and the others, | 43:13 | |
but because it wouldn't be right to forget us. | 43:18 | |
Because the constitution supports what we want, | 43:25 | |
our history attests to it | 43:31 | |
and the Judeo-Christian faith teaches it. | 43:35 | |
The faith that says words like these from Micah, | 43:39 | |
"but what does the Lord require of thee, | 43:43 | |
but to do justly, | 43:47 | |
to love mercy | 43:49 | |
and to walk humbly before your God." | 43:51 | |
Words like these from Amos where he says, | 43:54 | |
'but let justice roll down like waters | 43:57 | |
and righteousness as an ever flowing stream.' | 44:01 | |
Words like these from Jesus where he said, | 44:06 | |
"let him who is without sin cast the first stone." | 44:08 | |
Or words such as these from Jesus | 44:18 | |
when he said, "how many times will you forgive? | 44:21 | |
Seven times? No, I say 70 times seven." | 44:25 | |
Or words like these from Jesus, where he says, | 44:34 | |
"while he was yet at a distance, | 44:40 | |
his father saw him coming and had compassion | 44:44 | |
and ran and embraced him." | 44:50 | |
Dad, the distance is still too far for you to see me, | 44:56 | |
but I hope it won't be much longer. | 45:06 | |
Give my love to mom and the rest of the family. | 45:11 | |
Take care of yourself. | 45:15 | |
Peace and love to you. | 45:18 | |
Love always your son. | 45:22 | |
Abraham Lincoln was asked once, | 45:29 | |
"Mr. President, what will you do | 45:35 | |
with those rebellious southerners | 45:38 | |
when the war is over and they want to come back home?" | 45:40 | |
And president Lincoln looked his questioner | 45:49 | |
right straight in the eye and he said, "what will I do? | 45:51 | |
I'll treat them just as if they've never been away." | 45:57 | |
Let us pray. | 46:09 | |
Oh, God, | 46:10 | |
help us always to be conscious of your will | 46:13 | |
and your way to support those who witnessed for right | 46:17 | |
and to remain restless until wrongs are righted, | 46:24 | |
forgiveness is offered and healing comes to all of us | 46:28 | |
who live in this land | 46:33 | |
and help us to know, oh God, | 46:36 | |
that it is simply by your grace, | 46:38 | |
that all of us here and everywhere, | 46:42 | |
live and move and have our be | 46:47 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord, | 46:52 | |
Amen. | 46:56 | |
The hymn I would like for us to sing at this time, | 47:00 | |
is a hymn that tells about the amazing grace of God. | 47:07 | |
Hymn number 92. | 47:14 | |
(upbeat music) | 47:20 | |
(indistinct music) | 47:51 | |
- | Here we offer and present unto thee oh Lord, | 56:51 |
our silver and our gold, | 56:54 | |
the symbol of ourselves | 56:56 | |
to be a reasonable, | 57:00 | |
holy and lively sacrifice unto thee | 57:02 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 57:07 | |
Amen. | 57:12 | |
And the closing hymn is number 470. | 57:14 | |
(upbeat music) | 57:23 | |
(indistinct music) | 58:06 | |
- | Go and share with others the good news. | 1:01:38 |
(indistinct) | 1:01:43 | |
- | And Jesus Christ leads us to grace. | 1:01:45 |
(indistinct) | 1:01:49 | |
- | Amen. | 1:01:52 |
- | Amen. | 1:01:53 |
- | And may the blessing of God come upon you abundantly, | 1:01:55 |
may it keep you strong and tranquil in the truth | 1:01:59 | |
of his promises through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 1:02:05 | |
(indistinct music) | 1:02:13 | |
(bells chiming) | 1:03:31 | |
(upbeat music) | 1:03:45 |
Item Info
The preservation of the Duke University Libraries Digital Collections and the Duke Digital Repository programs are supported in part by the Lowell and Eileen Aptman Digital Preservation Fund