McMurry S. Richey - "Audacious Witness" Worldwide Communion Service (October 3, 1965)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(singing hymn) | 0:08 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 2:32 | |
- | Blessed are they who do hunger | 2:49 |
and thirst after righteousness | 2:52 | |
for they shall be filled. | 2:56 | |
We will take the cup of salvation | 2:59 | |
and call upon the name of the Lord. | 3:03 | |
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. | 3:08 | |
Blessed is the man | 3:13 | |
that trusteth in him. | 3:16 | |
And now, let his offered unto God | 3:21 | |
the unison Collect of Purity. | 3:23 | |
Let us pray. | 3:27 | |
- | Almighty God | 3:30 |
unto whom all hearts are open, | 3:32 | |
all desires known, | 3:34 | |
and from whom no secrets are hid, | 3:37 | |
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts | 3:40 | |
by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit | 3:42 | |
that we may perfectly love Thee | 3:46 | |
and worthily magnify Thy holy name | 3:48 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 3:52 | |
Amen. | 3:55 | |
- | Hear what our Lord, Jesus Christ said. | 3:57 |
"The first commandment is, | 4:02 | |
hear, oh Israel. | 4:05 | |
The Lord our God, the Lord is one | 4:06 | |
and thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, | 4:12 | |
with all thy heart and with all thy soul | 4:16 | |
and with all thy mind and with all thy strength. | 4:20 | |
The second is this, | 4:27 | |
thou shalt love thy neighbor | 4:29 | |
as thyself. | 4:32 | |
There is none other commandment greater than these." | 4:35 | |
- | Lord have mercy upon us | 4:41 |
and incline our hearts to keep Thy laws. | 4:44 | |
- | "A new commandment I give unto you, | 4:48 |
that ye love one another | 4:53 | |
even as I have loved you, | 4:57 | |
that you also love one another." | 4:59 | |
- | Lord, have mercy upon us | 5:04 |
and write these, Thy laws on our hearts | 5:06 | |
we beseech thee. | 5:09 | |
- | And let us offer unto God | 5:11 |
our unison prayer of general confession. | 5:13 | |
- | Almighty God, | 5:17 |
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 5:19 | |
maker of all things, judge of all men. | 5:22 | |
We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness | 5:26 | |
which we from time to time, | 5:30 | |
most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed | 5:32 | |
against Thy divine majesty | 5:37 | |
provoking most justly Thy wrath and indignation against us. | 5:40 | |
We do earnestly repent | 5:45 | |
and are heartily sorry for these, our misdoings, | 5:47 | |
the remembrance of them is grievous unto us. | 5:50 | |
Have mercy upon us most merciful Father. | 5:54 | |
For Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, | 5:58 | |
forgive us all this past | 6:01 | |
and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee | 6:04 | |
in newness of life to the honor and glory of Thy name | 6:08 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 6:13 | |
Amen. | 6:16 | |
Almighty God, our heavenly Father | 6:17 | |
who of Thy great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins | 6:21 | |
to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith, | 6:25 | |
turn unto thee. | 6:29 | |
Have mercy upon us. | 6:31 | |
Pardon and deliver us from all our sins. | 6:35 | |
Confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, | 6:39 | |
and bring us to everlasting life | 6:44 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 6:47 | |
Oh God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, | 6:53 | |
we humbly beseech Thee for all sorts and conditions of men | 6:57 | |
that thou wouldest be pleased | 7:02 | |
to make Thy ways known unto them, | 7:03 | |
Thy saving health unto all nations. | 7:06 | |
More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal; | 7:11 | |
that it may be so guided and governed | 7:15 | |
by thy good Spirit | 7:18 | |
that all who profess and call themselves Christians | 7:20 | |
may be led into the way of truth | 7:24 | |
and hold the faith in unity of spirit, | 7:26 | |
in the bond of peace | 7:30 | |
and in righteousness of life. | 7:33 | |
Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness | 7:37 | |
all those who are in any way afflicted | 7:40 | |
or distressed in mind, | 7:44 | |
body or estate, that it may please thee | 7:47 | |
to comfort and relieve them | 7:51 | |
according to their several necessities, | 7:54 | |
giving them patience under their suffering | 7:57 | |
and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. | 8:02 | |
And this we ask for Jesus Christ's sake. | 8:07 | |
Amen. | 8:12 | |
- | Hear the word of scripture in the letter to the Ephesians | 8:38 |
from chapters three and four. | 8:43 | |
"For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, | 8:49 | |
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, | 8:54 | |
that according to the riches of his glory, | 9:00 | |
He may grant you to be strengthened with might by His Spirit | 9:03 | |
in the inner man | 9:07 | |
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, | 9:09 | |
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, | 9:15 | |
may have power to comprehend with all the saints | 9:20 | |
what is the breadth and length and height and depth | 9:23 | |
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, | 9:28 | |
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. | 9:33 | |
Now to Him who by the power at work within us | 9:38 | |
is able to do far more abundantly | 9:42 | |
than all that we ask or think, | 9:45 | |
to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus | 9:49 | |
to all generations, forever and ever. | 9:53 | |
Amen. | 9:58 | |
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, | 10:00 | |
beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling | 10:04 | |
to which you have been called, | 10:07 | |
with all lowliness and meekness, | 10:10 | |
with patience, | 10:13 | |
forbearing one another in love | 10:15 | |
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit | 10:18 | |
in the bond of peace. | 10:21 | |
There is one body and one Spirit, | 10:25 | |
just as you were called to the one hope | 10:29 | |
that belongs to your call. | 10:31 | |
One Lord, | 10:34 | |
one faith, | 10:35 | |
one baptism, | 10:37 | |
one God and Father of us all | 10:39 | |
who is above all and through all and in all. | 10:41 | |
But grace was given to each of us | 10:47 | |
according to the measure of Christ's gift. | 10:50 | |
And his gifts were that some should be apostles, | 10:53 | |
some prophets, | 10:57 | |
some evangelists, | 10:58 | |
some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints | 11:00 | |
for the work of ministry | 11:05 | |
for building up the body of Christ | 11:07 | |
until we all attain to the unity of the faith | 11:10 | |
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, | 11:14 | |
to mature manhood, | 11:17 | |
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ | 11:19 | |
so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro | 11:24 | |
and carried about with every wind of doctrine | 11:28 | |
by the cunning of men, by their craftiness | 11:32 | |
in deceitful whiles. | 11:35 | |
Rather, speaking the truth in love, | 11:37 | |
we are to grow up in every way unto Him who is the head, | 11:41 | |
into Christ from whom the whole body | 11:47 | |
joined and knit together by every joint | 11:51 | |
with which it is supplied. | 11:54 | |
When each part is working properly, | 11:56 | |
makes bodily growth and up builds itself in love." | 11:59 | |
May God speak to us through these words of scripture. | 12:05 | |
Amen. | 12:10 | |
♪ Glory be to the Father ♪ | 12:14 | |
♪ And to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ♪ | 12:18 | |
♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ | 12:26 | |
♪ Is now, and ever shall be ♪ | 12:31 | |
♪ World without end ♪ | 12:36 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 12:40 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 12:44 | |
- | If those spy satellites we hear of | 13:10 |
we're really all seeing, | 13:14 | |
they might well warn of a global wave | 13:18 | |
of subversive activity this day. | 13:22 | |
For as a day comes westward around the earth, | 13:27 | |
Christians everywhere | 13:33 | |
gather to celebrate their common allegiance | 13:35 | |
to one whose sovereignty | 13:40 | |
they claim to supersede all governments | 13:43 | |
and whose power they expect | 13:48 | |
to overcome all these self exalting, | 13:50 | |
dividing, | 13:54 | |
striving proclivities of nations and races | 13:56 | |
and classes of men. | 14:01 | |
They are celebrating the manifestation in Jesus Christ | 14:04 | |
and the re-presentation | 14:10 | |
in Holy Communion, | 14:13 | |
worldwide communion this day, | 14:15 | |
celebrating the ultimacy of reconciling, | 14:20 | |
remaking love | 14:26 | |
of sacrificial servant hood | 14:29 | |
of men's belonging together in oneness. | 14:34 | |
Not only worldwide Communion Sunday, | 14:40 | |
but an ocean hopping Pope coming for | 14:44 | |
an unprecedented admonition to the United nations, | 14:48 | |
a second Vatican council reforming a great church | 14:53 | |
for a more realistic encounter with the modern world, | 14:58 | |
a national council of churches, viciously assailed, | 15:04 | |
because it means business about economic injustice | 15:10 | |
and poverty and racist evil. | 15:14 | |
Indeed any fellowship of faithful Christians | 15:19 | |
gathering for word and sacrament | 15:26 | |
and dispersing for service to the world of men, | 15:28 | |
all of these are an audaciously subversive claim | 15:34 | |
on the world for acknowledgement of its true Lord | 15:41 | |
and his ways, | 15:47 | |
a call for permanent, personal and corporate revolution | 15:49 | |
in union with Jesus Christ | 15:55 | |
and the continuing body of Christ | 15:58 | |
gathered today in worldwide Holy Communion. | 16:02 | |
Such a dramatized claim by many millions of Christians | 16:09 | |
throughout the world | 16:15 | |
may seem more than audacious, | 16:18 | |
may seem presumptuous | 16:24 | |
or even pathetically ridiculous | 16:28 | |
in the face of the many, many more millions | 16:33 | |
set against the church and what it stands for, | 16:37 | |
and the many within it of dubious faith and loyalty. | 16:42 | |
And the all too patent inadequacies | 16:48 | |
of horse and buggy religion | 16:51 | |
for a day of exploding populations | 16:55 | |
of ideological and guerrilla warfare, | 16:57 | |
of nuclear science and space technology, | 17:01 | |
of automated, cybernated secular life, | 17:04 | |
reconciling love, | 17:11 | |
sacrificial servanthood, | 17:14 | |
the unity of mankind, | 17:17 | |
the Lordship of Christ indeed, | 17:20 | |
are we serious in a world like this, | 17:23 | |
or just piously extravagant or wistfully archaic? | 17:28 | |
Yet if this seems an audacious claim for us in our day, | 17:40 | |
how much more audacious and indeed extravagant | 17:47 | |
appear the claims of early Christians? | 17:52 | |
Think back 19 centuries and imagine | 17:57 | |
an itinerant little preacher from the town of Tarsus | 18:00 | |
tent making his way around from city to city | 18:06 | |
trading on his Jewish heritage and Roman citizenship | 18:10 | |
for synagogues to be thrown out of and jails to write from. | 18:16 | |
Think of this late apostles writing words like this. | 18:23 | |
"So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, | 18:33 | |
any incentive of love, any participation in the spirit, | 18:38 | |
any affection and sympathy, | 18:41 | |
complete my joy by being the same mind, | 18:44 | |
having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. | 18:47 | |
Do nothing from selfishness and conceit. | 18:51 | |
But in humility, count others better than yourselves. | 18:55 | |
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, | 18:59 | |
but also to the interest of others. | 19:02 | |
Have this mind among yourselves | 19:05 | |
which you have in Christ Jesus, | 19:08 | |
who though he was in the form of God, | 19:11 | |
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, | 19:14 | |
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, | 19:19 | |
being born in the likeness of men. | 19:22 | |
And being found in human form, | 19:25 | |
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, | 19:27 | |
even death on a cross." | 19:31 | |
And here comes this extravagant claim. | 19:34 | |
"Therefore God has highly exalted Him | 19:38 | |
and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, | 19:42 | |
that at the name of Jesus, | 19:46 | |
every knee should bow in heaven and on earth | 19:48 | |
and under the earth | 19:53 | |
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord | 19:54 | |
to the glory of God, the Father." | 19:59 | |
Or again, hearing from the same writer. | 20:03 | |
"May you be strengthened with all power, | 20:07 | |
according to His glorious might, | 20:10 | |
for all endurance and patience with joy, | 20:12 | |
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us | 20:16 | |
to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. | 20:18 | |
He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness | 20:22 | |
and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, | 20:25 | |
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. | 20:28 | |
He is the image of the invisible God, | 20:32 | |
the firstborn of all creation, | 20:35 | |
for in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, | 20:38 | |
visible and invisible, | 20:43 | |
whether thrones or principalities or authorities, | 20:45 | |
all things were created through Him and for Him. | 20:49 | |
He is before all things, | 20:54 | |
and in him all things hold together. | 20:56 | |
He is the head of the body, the church, | 20:59 | |
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead | 21:02 | |
that in everything He might be pre-eminent. | 21:05 | |
For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, | 21:08 | |
and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, | 21:13 | |
whether on earth or in heaven, | 21:17 | |
making peace by the blood of His cross. | 21:19 | |
And you, who were once estranged and hostile in mind | 21:22 | |
doing evil deeds, | 21:26 | |
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, | 21:28 | |
in order to present you holy and blameless | 21:32 | |
and irreproachable before him, | 21:35 | |
providing that you continue in the faith, | 21:38 | |
stable and steadfast, | 21:41 | |
not shifting from the hope of the gospel, which you heard, | 21:43 | |
which has been preached to every creature under heaven, | 21:47 | |
and of which I, Paul, became a minister." | 21:51 | |
And if this were not enough, | 21:56 | |
we read a few decades later | 22:00 | |
in the letter from an unknown writer | 22:03 | |
to someone named, Diognetus, | 22:06 | |
such words is this about the early church, | 22:09 | |
again, an audacious extravagant claim. | 22:13 | |
"Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind | 22:18 | |
by country or by speech or by customs." He writes. | 22:21 | |
"For they do not dwell in cities of their own | 22:26 | |
or use a different language or practice a peculiar life. | 22:28 | |
This knowledge of theirs has not been discovered | 22:32 | |
by the thought and effort of inquisitive men. | 22:34 | |
They are not champions of a human doctrine as some men are, | 22:36 | |
but while they dwell in Greek or barbarian cities, | 22:40 | |
according as each man's lot was cast | 22:43 | |
and follow the customs of the land and clothing and food | 22:46 | |
and other matters of daily life. | 22:49 | |
Yet the condition of citizenship, | 22:51 | |
which they exhibit is wonderful | 22:53 | |
and admittedly beyond all expectation. | 22:55 | |
They live in countries of their own, | 22:58 | |
but simply as sojourners. | 23:00 | |
They share the life of citizens, | 23:02 | |
they endure the lot of foreigners. | 23:05 | |
Every foreign land is to them, a fatherland | 23:07 | |
and every fatherland, a foreign land. | 23:10 | |
They are poor, and yet make many rich. | 23:17 | |
They lack everything, and yet in everything they abound. | 23:20 | |
They love all men and are persecuted by all. | 23:24 | |
They are unknown, and yet they're condemned. | 23:28 | |
They are dishonored | 23:31 | |
and their dishonor becomes their glory. | 23:32 | |
They are reviled and yet are vindicated. | 23:35 | |
In a world, what the soul is in the body, | 23:38 | |
Christians are in the world. | 23:41 | |
The soul itself is enclosed within the body | 23:44 | |
and itself holds the body together, | 23:47 | |
so too Christians are held fast in the world as in a prison | 23:50 | |
and yet it is they who hold the world together." | 23:54 | |
On this Worldwide Communion Sunday, | 24:01 | |
can we echo these ancient words | 24:06 | |
and say with another writer of another day | 24:11 | |
that Christians hold the world together, | 24:16 | |
make that audacious claim? | 24:20 | |
We are saying and celebrating a yes this morning. | 24:24 | |
We do echo these ancient claims and entertain them seriously | 24:31 | |
and celebrate them in sacrament, | 24:38 | |
neither because of nor in spite of their audacity, | 24:41 | |
but because they have a compelling element of witness | 24:46 | |
of profoundly grounded conviction. | 24:51 | |
They're both claims for action | 24:54 | |
and claims of experienced truth. | 24:57 | |
Perhaps we should leave to classroom inquiry, | 25:00 | |
the questions of their liberal or symbolic representation | 25:04 | |
of logical validity of truth value, and their assertions, | 25:09 | |
and just know we may be more conscious | 25:16 | |
of what their convictions meant to them | 25:18 | |
and what they offer us | 25:22 | |
and what we celebrate together in Holy Communion. | 25:25 | |
And the witness we hear from these ancient times | 25:31 | |
does engage us for its spokesman's sense of being | 25:36 | |
laid hold of and convinced | 25:42 | |
by what is real | 25:45 | |
and transforming | 25:48 | |
and ultimate. | 25:50 | |
They are bearing witness for one thing | 25:54 | |
to their new experience of membership in the body of Christ. | 25:57 | |
From the living death of insatiable, | 26:05 | |
selfish desires | 26:11 | |
and unmanageable, inner conflict, | 26:14 | |
and knowing guilt, they have been made newly alive. | 26:17 | |
And you, he made alive when you were dead | 26:23 | |
through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. | 26:26 | |
They can be strengthened with might by his Spirit, | 26:32 | |
in the inner man, | 26:36 | |
rooted and grounded in love. | 26:38 | |
They can belong as members to a body, | 26:42 | |
a corporate unity | 26:47 | |
to what is central, | 26:49 | |
ultimate and uniting, | 26:51 | |
one body and one spirit, | 26:54 | |
one hope, | 26:57 | |
one Lord, | 26:59 | |
one faith, one baptism, | 27:00 | |
one God and Father of us all | 27:02 | |
who is above all, and through all, and in all. | 27:05 | |
They can be caught up into his very ministry | 27:11 | |
like various members of the body, | 27:15 | |
each having its own special function | 27:18 | |
and no less important | 27:23 | |
because it is not one of the other members. | 27:24 | |
They can experience the power of God at work within us, | 27:28 | |
which is able to do far more abundantly | 27:32 | |
than all we ask or think. | 27:35 | |
They can find themselves delivered | 27:39 | |
from the bondages of narcissism and chaos | 27:42 | |
though those words would be strange to them. | 27:48 | |
In short, they're witnessing | 27:51 | |
to their conscious involved commitment | 27:53 | |
in the fellowship imbued with his Spirit, | 27:57 | |
captured all their self-centeredness and meaninglessness | 28:01 | |
by his ministry, | 28:06 | |
disciplined in their personal dividedness | 28:08 | |
by his call and task, | 28:12 | |
given meaning and purpose for this life. | 28:15 | |
What does this witness say to you and to me | 28:20 | |
about the possibilities | 28:25 | |
of our being incorporated into this body, | 28:27 | |
our cessation of knowing guilt, | 28:32 | |
the transformation of our anxieties and our separateness, | 28:37 | |
the discipline and guidance and direction of our life, | 28:45 | |
the finding of the meaning of servant hood for others | 28:51 | |
in our own experience? | 28:57 | |
What does this say to us of the possibilities | 29:00 | |
nae the present experiences we have? | 29:04 | |
For each of us, there would be a different answer | 29:09 | |
and I cannot presume to speak for you. | 29:13 | |
But as one member of this community, | 29:17 | |
I can testify to the repeated excitement | 29:20 | |
of seeing students coming to themselves | 29:26 | |
by moving out of themselves | 29:32 | |
into the world of others | 29:37 | |
under God. | 29:40 | |
How it is with you, | 29:43 | |
you yourself could testify. | 29:45 | |
These ancient witnesses are saying to us too | 29:50 | |
what it means to be a new community in Christ. | 29:54 | |
They could speak of the spirit of that community | 30:00 | |
as one did in the lesson we read this morning, | 30:04 | |
could speak of the loneliness and patience, | 30:10 | |
meekness, | 30:15 | |
the mutual forbearance in love, | 30:16 | |
the eagerness to maintain the unity of the spirit | 30:19 | |
in the bond of peace, | 30:23 | |
they could speak of the place each one has | 30:25 | |
in the varied community where each has his place | 30:29 | |
and the place of each is important to all the rest, | 30:34 | |
and in so doing, they could remind us that among them, | 30:40 | |
some were apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists | 30:43 | |
and some pastors and teachers | 30:48 | |
for the equipment of the whole body for its ministry, | 30:50 | |
for its up building in Jesus Christ, | 30:56 | |
until it came to a maturity, | 30:59 | |
a depth, | 31:03 | |
a quality of love and discipline as a community | 31:05 | |
engaged in mutual ministry and ministry beyond itself. | 31:10 | |
They might, if they were sophisticated as you and I maybe, | 31:17 | |
in the history of Western thought, | 31:21 | |
might tell us how this message speaks | 31:24 | |
to some of the perennial problems we trouble over, | 31:26 | |
about whether human nature as experienced in us, | 31:31 | |
but especially seen in others | 31:35 | |
is really only rampantly egoistic | 31:37 | |
or whether it has some natural social ties | 31:43 | |
and can be trusted | 31:47 | |
for the development of community and service. | 31:49 | |
They could speak to problems that we have raised | 31:54 | |
from the time of | 31:57 | |
Democritus and Epicurus and Plato and Aristotle | 31:57 | |
on to Hobbes and Freud and contemporary existentialism. | 32:04 | |
They could wonder with Jeremy Bentham | 32:10 | |
about the possibility of soul conditioning, | 32:13 | |
this naturally pleasure seeking individual | 32:16 | |
so that he might be discouraged about doing things | 32:20 | |
that are antisocial and strengthened | 32:25 | |
in what is contributory toward the good of all. | 32:27 | |
If they knew the history of our problem, | 32:33 | |
perhaps they could remind us | 32:37 | |
how this is the one apparent kind of community | 32:40 | |
in which we understand | 32:46 | |
how rampant egoistic individuals ought to be dealt with | 32:50 | |
in forgiveness | 32:56 | |
and transformation | 33:00 | |
and expression of their full possibilities, | 33:03 | |
rather than their exclusion or rejection | 33:06 | |
within the community. | 33:10 | |
And they could tell us too about how this community | 33:12 | |
concerned about the welfare | 33:18 | |
of every individual member within it | 33:20 | |
is also existing for the common good, | 33:24 | |
and so binding together this troublesome individual | 33:29 | |
with what looks to some like a repressive society | 33:33 | |
and making instead a flowering individual | 33:38 | |
in a rich and ministering society. | 33:42 | |
What this witness may say to you and to me in our own day, | 33:46 | |
we may ponder. | 33:51 | |
But again, they would witness to us from this ancient past | 33:54 | |
about what it means to be one mankind | 34:00 | |
in God | 34:05 | |
and under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. | 34:08 | |
And when they did say things like this, | 34:13 | |
when they told us about how we were one, | 34:16 | |
we might trouble over the history of the church | 34:19 | |
of which we are apart. | 34:22 | |
Perhaps we could discover with one competent historian | 34:24 | |
that quite early in the church, | 34:29 | |
the community which celebrated its unity in the sacraments | 34:32 | |
found itself becoming so heterogeneous | 34:38 | |
and so stratified in class and type and race | 34:41 | |
that the sacraments which had celebrated the unity | 34:46 | |
were turned into efforts to create a unity | 34:49 | |
that was not there. | 34:52 | |
And so the development of liturgy and of architecture | 34:54 | |
and of other means to suggest and produce a mystical unity | 34:59 | |
which the social and ethical realities | 35:05 | |
of the situation lacked, | 35:08 | |
these betrayed the loss of the genuineness | 35:10 | |
of the God given community from the beginning. | 35:14 | |
And as we look back in the early church | 35:17 | |
to see this kind of developing problem, | 35:19 | |
we could be all the more painful they conscious | 35:23 | |
of the stratification | 35:26 | |
that splits the exclusions and misunderstandings, | 35:27 | |
the divisions in the church within our day | 35:31 | |
and we would wonder what it means | 35:35 | |
to hear a witness from the ancient past | 35:38 | |
about the oneness of all mankind in Jesus Christ. | 35:41 | |
And yet if with them we had heard that witness | 35:47 | |
as to the reality of being caught up | 35:52 | |
into the body of Christ, | 35:54 | |
if we had begun to discover the ultimacy | 35:57 | |
of sacrificial servant hood as a meaning of our life, | 36:00 | |
as well as his, | 36:04 | |
if we had begun as a community to discover | 36:06 | |
how we belong together in carrying on his task, | 36:10 | |
would we not soon begin also | 36:14 | |
to move out beyond our community | 36:17 | |
into the world where the ministry is to be spent? | 36:20 | |
Would we not discover that | 36:24 | |
the unity of mankind is not so much in what people look like | 36:26 | |
or what they think, | 36:31 | |
but in the love of God | 36:33 | |
for everyone that calls us into ministry to them | 36:35 | |
in their poverty, in their division, | 36:39 | |
in their conflict, in their strife? | 36:42 | |
Would we not discover in that ancient witness | 36:46 | |
what we celebrate in this worldwide Holy Communion day, | 36:50 | |
that we are one, | 36:56 | |
not in our selfish limited human ways, | 36:58 | |
but in God's intention for us? | 37:04 | |
And there lies the real meaning of our existence | 37:06 | |
now and evermore. | 37:11 | |
So, we too can pray with the writer of old. | 37:15 | |
"For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father | 37:23 | |
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named | 37:28 | |
that according to the riches of his glory, | 37:33 | |
he may grant you to be strengthened with might | 37:35 | |
by his Spirit in the inner man, | 37:38 | |
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, | 37:42 | |
that you being rooted and grounded in love | 37:46 | |
may have power to comprehend with all the saints | 37:49 | |
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, | 37:53 | |
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge | 37:58 | |
that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. | 38:01 | |
Now, to him who, by the power at work within us, | 38:05 | |
is able to do far more abundantly | 38:09 | |
than all that we ask or think, | 38:11 | |
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus | 38:14 | |
to all generations, | 38:19 | |
forever and ever. | 38:21 | |
Amen." | 38:24 | |
(gentle piano music) | 38:29 | |
(singing hymn) | 41:14 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 47:29 | |
- | Oh God, who art worthy of a greater love | 47:36 |
than we can either give or understand, | 47:40 | |
accept these are gifts, | 47:45 | |
the silver and the gold, | 47:48 | |
the bread and the wine, | 47:51 | |
the symbol of our work and of our love | 47:54 | |
of our very selves placed upon the table. | 47:57 | |
Make of them channels of thy saving grace, | 48:02 | |
a revelation of thy very self | 48:06 | |
and ratify in heaven | 48:10 | |
what now by appointment, we do upon earth | 48:13 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 48:17 | |
Amen. | 48:21 | |
Lift up your hearts. | 48:24 | |
- | We lift them up unto the Lord | 48:26 |
- | Let us give thanks unto our Lord, God. | 48:28 |
- | It is right and just. | 48:31 |
- | Let us pray. | 48:35 |
It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty | 48:44 | |
that we should at all times and in all places | 48:48 | |
give thanks unto thee. | 48:51 | |
Oh Lord, Holy Father, almighty everlasting God. | 48:53 | |
(singing hymn) | 49:03 | |
♪ Glory be to he ♪ | 49:37 | |
♪ Oh lord on high ♪ | 49:40 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 49:44 | |
- | All mighty God, our heavenly Father, | 49:51 |
who of thy tender mercy | 49:53 | |
didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ | 49:55 | |
to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption, | 49:57 | |
who made there by his ablation of himself once offered | 50:01 | |
a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice | 50:05 | |
for the sins of the whole world | 50:08 | |
and did institute, | 50:11 | |
and in his holy gospel command us to continue, | 50:12 | |
a perpetual memory of his precious death, | 50:15 | |
until his coming again. | 50:19 | |
And who in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread, | 50:21 | |
and when had given thanks, | 50:26 | |
he broke it and gave to his disciples saying, | 50:28 | |
"Take, eat, | 50:32 | |
this is my body which is given for you. | 50:36 | |
Do this in remembrance of me." | 50:40 | |
Likewise, after supper, he took the cup | 50:47 | |
and when he had given thanks, | 50:50 | |
he gave it to them saying, | 50:52 | |
"Drink of it all of you | 50:54 | |
for this is my blood of the new covenant, | 50:57 | |
which is poured out for many | 50:59 | |
for the forgiveness of sins. | 51:02 | |
Do this, as often as you drink it | 51:05 | |
in remembrance of me." | 51:08 | |
Hear us, oh merciful Father, | 51:11 | |
we most humbly beseech thee | 51:13 | |
and grant that we receiving these thy creatures | 51:15 | |
of bread and wine, | 51:18 | |
according to thy Son our Savior | 51:20 | |
Jesus Christ's holy institution, | 51:22 | |
in remembrance of his death and passion, | 51:25 | |
may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood | 51:28 | |
that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. | 51:33 | |
Amen. | 51:37 | |
- | We do not presume to come to this thy table, | 51:42 |
O merciful Lord | 51:45 | |
trusting in our own righteousness | 51:47 | |
but in manifold and great mercies. | 51:50 | |
We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs | 51:53 | |
under thy table, | 51:56 | |
But thou art the same Lord whose mercy is unfailing. | 51:58 | |
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord | 52:02 | |
so to partake of these memorials of Thy son, Jesus Christ, | 52:05 | |
that we may be filled with the fullness of his life, | 52:09 | |
may grow into his likeness | 52:13 | |
and may evermore dwell in him | 52:15 | |
and he in us. | 52:18 | |
Amen. | 52:20 | |
♪ Our Father, who art in heaven ♪ | 53:49 | |
♪ Hallowed be thy name ♪ | 53:52 | |
♪ Thy kingdom come, thy will be done ♪ | 53:57 | |
♪ On earth as it is in heaven ♪ | 54:01 | |
♪ Give us this day our daily bread ♪ | 54:07 | |
♪ And forgive us our trespasses ♪ | 54:12 | |
♪ As we forgive those who trespass against us ♪ | 54:15 | |
♪ Lead us not into temptation ♪ | 54:21 | |
♪ But deliver us from evil ♪ | 54:24 | |
♪ For thy is the kingdom ♪ | 54:28 | |
♪ And the power ♪ | 54:30 | |
♪ And the glory ♪ | 54:32 | |
♪ Forever ♪ | 54:33 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 54:36 | |
- | Ye who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins | 56:35 |
and are in love and charity with your neighbor, | 56:40 | |
and intend to lead a new life | 56:46 | |
following the commandments of God | 56:49 | |
and walking from henceforth in his holy ways, | 56:52 | |
draw near with faith | 56:57 | |
and take this sacrament to your comfort. | 57:00 | |
Jesus said, "This is my body which is given for you." | 57:14 | |
Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you | 57:21 | |
and feed on him in your heart with faith with thanksgiving. | 57:26 | |
Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood | 57:39 | |
which is shed for you." | 57:45 | |
Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you | 57:48 | |
and be thankful | 57:53 |
Item Info
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