Wesley Aitkin - "An Old and Tested Remedy" (December 25, 1966) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

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May we now offer unto God, our unison,

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prayer of adoration.

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Let us pray.

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Our souls do magnify the Lord and our spirits do rejoice

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in God our savior for thou who art mighty

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has done to us great things.

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And holy is thy name and thy mercy is on them

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that fear thee from generation to generation.

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Thou hast shown strength with thine arm,

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thou has scattered the proud in the imagination

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of their hearts.

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Thou has put down the mighty from their seats

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and exalted them of low degree.

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Thou has to filled the hungry with good things,

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wherefore, we praise and adore that thy holy name

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this day and forever through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

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Almighty God who on this day,

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it's bringing to the world of men, the prince of peace,

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we confess that we have not made peace

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as he came to bring it.

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That we have not followed him in bringing goodwill

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to all men.

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We confess that we have so wearied ourselves

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with the secondary concerns of Christmas,

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that we are too tired to give maximum attention

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to the primary values of Christmas.

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We acknowledged that we have spent most of our time

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fretting over the things which can be seen or touched

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or eaten or worn and have neglected the inner light,

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the quiet voice of the child of Bethlehem.

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Oh God, we who profess to worship the Christ,

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must in all honesty admit that we often act like the keeper

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of the crowded inn or even like jealous Herod.

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We are reluctant to make room for the needy stranger.

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We are sometimes ruthless in our dealings

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with those who would threaten our power and prestige.

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We are predisposed to turn aside

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from those who were born in unlikely places.

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Cast out our sin and enter in,

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be born in us today, amen.

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The love it let us hear the comforting word

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of the holy scriptures and the Old Testament.

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Though your sins be as scarlet,

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they shall be made as white as snow.

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And the comforting word of the New Testament,

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thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people

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from their sins.

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Now, may we join together in making our own the prayer,

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which our Lord has taught us to pray saying,

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our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,

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thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

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as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day, our daily bread

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and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

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those who trespass against us.

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And lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom

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and the power and the glory forever.

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Amen.

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(tranquil music)

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♪ Infant holy, infant lowly ♪

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♪ For his bed a cattle stall ♪

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♪ Oxen lowing, little knowing ♪

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♪ Christ the babe is Lord of all ♪

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♪ Swift are winging, angels singing, ♪

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♪ Nowells ringing, tidings bringing ♪

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♪ Christ the babe is Lord of all ♪

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♪ Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping ♪

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♪ Vigil till the morning new ♪

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♪ Saw the glory, heard the story ♪

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♪ Tidings of a gospel true ♪

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♪ Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow ♪

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♪ Praises voicing greet the morrow ♪

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♪ Christ the babe was born for you ♪

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Now after a weeks of preparation, Christmas has come.

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This is Christmas day.

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May we relax our bodies and focus our minds

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therefore upon the Luke's account of the Christmas story,

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the first 20 verses of the second chapter of Luke.

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"In those days at decree, went out from Caesar Augustus

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that all the world should be enrolled.

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This was the first enrollment when Quirinius was governor

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of Syria and all went to be enrolled each to his own city.

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And Joseph also went up from Galilee,

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from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David,

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which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house

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and lineage of David to be enrolled with Mary,

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his betrothed, who was with child.

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And while they were there,

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the time came for her to be delivered.

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And she gave birth to her first born son

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and wrapped him in swaddling clothes

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and laid him in a manger because there was no place

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for them in the end.

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And in that region, there were shepherds out in the field,

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keeping watch over their flock by night

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and an angel of the Lord appeared to them

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and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.

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They were filled with fear, but the angel said to them,

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be not afraid for behold, I bring you good news

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of a great joy, which shall come to all the people.

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For to you is born this day in the city of David,

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a savior who is Christ the Lord,

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and this will be a sign for you.

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You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes

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and lying in a manger.

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And suddenly there was with the angel,

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a multitude of the heavenly host,

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praising God and saying glory to God in the highest

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and on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased.

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When the angel went away from them into heaven,

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the shepherds said to one another,

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let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing

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that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

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And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph

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and the babe lying in a manger.

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And when they saw it, they made known the saying,

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which had been told them concerning this child

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and all who heard it wondered

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at what the shepherds told them.

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But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.

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The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God

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for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them

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and may we do likewise."

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Let us now sing our next to hymn.

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(tranquil music)

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(choir vocalizing)

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The Lord be with you

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And with our spirit.

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Let us pray.

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Oh God, our father who has brought us again

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to the glad season when we commemorate the birth of thy son,

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Jesus Christ, our Lord, grant that his spirit

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may be born anew in our hearts this day

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and that we made joyfully welcome him to reign over us.

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Open our ears, we may hear again,

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the angelic chorus described in the scripture lesson.

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Open our lips so that we too may sing with uplifted hearts,

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glory to God in the highest

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and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

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Oh Lord God, whose chosen dwelling is the heart

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of the lowly, we give thee things

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that thou didst reveal thyself in the holy child

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of the manger, thereby sanctifying all childhood in him.

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We beseech thee to make us humble in faith and love

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that we may know the joy of the gospel

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that is sometimes hidden from the wise and prudent

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and revealed unto babes.

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O all mighty God, who by the birth of thy holy child, Jesus

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has given us a great light to dawn upon our darkness,

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grant, we pray thee that in his light,

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we may truly see light.

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Be still upon us we pray the that most excellent

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Christmas gift of charity to all men

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that saw the likeness of thy son may be formed in us

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and that we may have the ever brightening hope

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of everlasting life.

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We pray thee oh God to pour out upon the whole church

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the spirit of love that we may never despise

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any child of thine however, weak,

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but honoring all men for thy son's sake

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may share with them the life and the blessings,

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which thou has given and intended for all.

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On this Christmas day, as we are mindful of our brethren

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around the world, we pray, especially for those

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who are under persecution or suffering or war.

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Let not the rod of the wicked rest upon the righteous.

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Grant onto thine on people, strong faith and forbearance

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that as much as in them last,

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they may live peaceably with all men,

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those nearby and those far away.

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Father in heaven, we beseech thee to hallow our homes,

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the fathers, the mothers, and the children.

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Be thy self, the inhabitant and the guardian

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of our dwellings, thy holy presence,

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our good cheer now and ever.

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Oh, Christ who did take little children

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into thine arms to bless them,

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let thy blessing be upon our children and give us grace

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to train them by precept and example in thy ways

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that as they grow in years,

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they may grow in grace and may here after shine

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as gems in thine crown.

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We pray thee for the poor, for the sick, for the sad,

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the homeless, the lonely, the forsaken.

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Make us thy messengers to relieve their distresses

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insofar as possible and to sooth their sufferings

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and do the outcome for their sorrows, heal their diseases

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and in every trial, be there help and stay.

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We remember before thee, our nursing student, Karen Crane,

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who lost her life in an auto accident.

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We thank thee for her good character

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and for her steadfast intention to serve the sick.

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We intercede for her parents and loved ones.

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Consecrate the memory of her lively personality

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and her Christian motives to the strengthening of her family

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and her friends.

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Oh ever lasting God with whom do live the spirits

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of the just made perfect.

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We give thee thanks at every remembrance of those dear

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to our hearts who on earth trusted in thee

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and rejoiced in the hope of life immortal.

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Let our expectation be from thee oh Lord

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and when in humble faith, we resign in to thy hands

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the life thou gave us, take us up into thy mercy.

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Let us rest in peace and finally grant us the fulfillment

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of our faith and hope through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

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who with thee, and the holy spirit liveth and reigneth,

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one God blessed forevermore.

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Amen.

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(tranquil music)

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♪ Come onto him ♪

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♪ All ye that labor ♪

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♪ Come onto him ♪

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♪ Ye that are heavy laden ♪

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♪ And he will give you rest ♪

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♪ Come onto him ♪

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♪ All ye that labor ♪

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♪ Come onto him ♪

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♪ Ye that are heavy laden ♪

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♪ And he will give you rest ♪

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♪ Take his yoke upon you ♪

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♪ And learn of him ♪

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♪ For he is meek ♪

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♪ And lowly of heart ♪

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♪ And ye shall find rest ♪

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♪ And ye shall find rest ♪

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♪ Unto your souls ♪

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♪ Take his yoke upon you ♪

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♪ And learn of him ♪

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♪ For he is meek ♪

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♪ And lowly of heart ♪

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♪ And ye shall find rest ♪

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♪ And ye shall find rest ♪

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♪ Unto your souls ♪

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(upbeat music)

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(choir vocalizing)

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Oh, Lord Christ, even as poor shepherds left their fields

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in the long ago to come and behold and worship thee,

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a child in a manger so now we have left our various places

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and disciplines and vocations to come here and worship thee.

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Accept us and the gifts we bring and use them and us

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in bearing the good news of peace on earth

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and goodwill to men around the world

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for thy I sake and in thy name, amen.

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Good morning. A glorious Christmas to you.

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I greet you with warmth and affection on this great day

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especially on this beautiful day with the whiteness

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of the snow outside.

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One of my staff earlier in the week said

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that the farmer's almanac forecast snow for this area

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for our Christmas Eve.

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At the time, I didn't believe him.

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I wondered when preparing to write this sermon

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just who my listeners might be.

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Who would come to the chapel and who would turn their radios

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to a sermon on this Sunday morning

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when it was also Christmas day.

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I knew I could count on my family.

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I did not give them a choice.

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I know that most families are gathered

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around their Christmas trees this morning,

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enjoying the opportunities to be together,

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exchange gifts and share their love and affection

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with each other.

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It is a family time.

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It is a time for closeness and joy and happiness.

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It's a little difficult for me to feel very formal today

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on this Christmas morning.

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So first of all, permit me to be a little informal

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and personal and share with you a humorous Christmas story.

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As you probably know,

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in Mexico it is considered appropriate

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to name a child Jesus.

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In fact many are given this first name.

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Well, nine years ago on this date,

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there was great joy in one room of Duke Hospital

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after my wife had given birth to our second son.

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There was also considerable excitement so much so,

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that when I called a close friend to announce the birth,

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I failed to tell him that we had named our son Timothy Paul.

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It so happened that this friend was familiar

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with the custom in Mexico and when asked by other friends,

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what we named our son, he spontaneously replied,

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Henry Jesus.

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When the inquirer seemed surprised my friend continued

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without hesitation and without cracking a grin,

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"What else would a minister name his newborn son

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when he is born on Christmas day?"

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Tim's correct name became known rather quickly,

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but not before many people enjoyed the affection

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of humor of my friend.

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But who might be listening on this Christmas Sunday?

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I knew that I could count on some of my loyal friends,

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many of them in hospital beds.

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I knew that I could count on some loyal members

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and worshipers here in the chapel, but beyond this,

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I was uncertain.

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Except for one large group and perhaps this is the group

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that I know the best, the sick and the shut in.

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Not all sick people are sad on this morning,

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but there are sad people on Christmas morning.

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Perhaps it is the sad or the sick or the sad and shut in

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that make up my largest group of listeners this morning.

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I decided there would be very few children listening,

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very few electric train operators and race car operators,

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regardless of age.

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Certainly most, if not all of the red nose Rudolph's

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would be still asleep.

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If any is awake, he probably is sitting with head in hands,

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trying to clear out the fog and recount his journey

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of the night before, when he was flying

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as high as Santa's sleigh.

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What I want to say to you this morning

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may lean toward the sick and the troubled,

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but sickness and trouble are experiences

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that we will all know someday

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even if we are unfamiliar with them now.

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I want to talk to you about an old and tested remedy.

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I could not call it a prescription because prescription

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for me seems to be too modern a term

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and too technical or scientific a term.

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I am talking about an old, old remedy.

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In order to do this we must distinguish,

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make a distinction between two remedies,

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two different types of remedy.

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One is a medicine or an application,

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which puts an end to disease and restores health

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while the other is a medicine or application that relieves,

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but does not necessarily end the troublesome condition.

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The remedy I am referring to is the latter,

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the application that relieves,

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but does not necessarily end the troublesome condition.

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This remedy is the Christian message symbolized on this day,

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by our remembrance of the birth of Jesus.

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The troublesome condition is human struggle and conflict,

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which takes many forms.

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It may be struggle or conflict as a result of major crises,

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such as wars and fatal diseases.

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Or it may be struggle and conflict as a result of crises,

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which usually are just as major

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to the person's experiencing them.

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The crises such as the quarrels between husbands and wives

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or the bewilderment of young teenagers who realize

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that they must control their explosive impulsive emotions

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and find this extremely difficult to do.

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People do not like to struggle

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and yet it appears that we must always struggle.

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Struggle as such as a given quality in life

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whether we describe its cause as finitude, human frailty,

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sin, sickness, or what else.

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Man has the capacity to avoid some struggle,

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but not all of it.

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At the same time, man carries within him

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a yearning for an existence free from struggle.

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And even though he cannot achieve it,

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he can't imagine such a state in his mind.

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Some say he is born with this yearning,

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but more say that he creates it as an escape from struggle.

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This imagined condition could be called

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a Cinderella fantasy,

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they lived happily ever after fantasy

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or perhaps a Santa Claus or a Christmas fantasy.

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Such imagined circumstances can never actually occur.

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They can only be yearned for and dreamed about.

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The ability to fantasy in this way can provide a satisfying,

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healthy release from struggle on occasions,

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but it also can provide a frustrating,

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unhealthy escape from reality on others.

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The remedy I referred to speaks to this very fact.

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The Christian remedy or the true Christmas remedy

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does not claim to put an end to the condition of struggle

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in man's life.

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It does promise to relieve the condition and give it meaning

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even as was presented to us in the message of song

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just a moment ago, come unto me, and I will give you rest,

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not remove your burden or take it away.

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Happiness and satisfaction are achieved in the midst of,

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or as a result of struggle not instead of.

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History records that this message was not received

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with open arms.

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Man had always looked for a champion who would rescue him

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from the struggles of life.

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Long before Jesus was born, people looked for a remedy

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for the struggles and conflicts of life,

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a remedy that would end the condition, not relieve it.

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Once Jesus was born, many people insisted that he be

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that Messiah who would end all human struggle

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and usher in a perfect existence.

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Such insistence has continued down through the ages

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in one form or another.

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The end of this so-called sinful world has been predicted

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so many times that most people only chuckle

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when a new date is announced.

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There are religious groups who still speak of this life

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as something only to be endured until the life hereafter.

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All of this is in spite of the fact that Jesus clearly lived

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and taught as someone who did not see himself

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to be the person who would usher in

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a struggle free existence.

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He did see himself as bringing new meaning, richness

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and joy to life in the very midst of struggle.

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Jesus was born in a time of great struggle

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and in the setting of hardship.

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We have purified and glorified the manger

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until it is almost as sterile and as beautiful

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as the maternity suite of a modern hospital.

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We forget the fact that a manger is a small part of a stable

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and that stables make their own unique contributions

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to life, which at best are not sterile

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and are seldom beautiful.

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The animals may be very beautiful,

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but stables and mangers have certain natural limitations.

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We also are prone to gloss over the serious political strife

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of that day and overlook the fact that when Herod heard

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what the people were saying about Jesus' birth,

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he ordered all male infants,

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two years old and under to be killed.

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He just wanted to be certain

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that he got Jesus in the process.

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As you know, Mary and Joseph escaped with Jesus to Egypt,

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where they remained during the slaughter,

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but what a horrendous time that must have been.

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We know conflict and struggle this very day.

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The peace on earth that we sing and talk about

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has never been a state of existence free from conflict

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and struggle.

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And we let our fantasies run away with us

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if we believe that such an existence can be transformed

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from the imagined to the real.

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Great political strife has become a daily menu for us

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yet, World War I was a war to end all wars

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and World War II was a war to end all wars

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and usher in a peaceful existence.

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What has happened on these occasions?

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What happened in the great anticipation

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before the end World War II and the great joy,

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the ringing of bells and the rejoicing

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all over the world when the war ended?

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Peace had been achieved?

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Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Vietnam

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is yet the healthiest and most mature sign.

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We no longer are speaking in terms of all out conflict

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that will defeat the oppressor and usher in an existence

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of peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

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We now are admitting that we have chaos on earth

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and ill will among men,

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and that we will have to live with it for awhile

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and we'll have to work and struggle

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if we want it to improve.

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There will be limited fighting, struggle and conflict,

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but this is not giving into evil.

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It is admitting our own limitations

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and setting aside such gross fantasy

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as the belief that complete victory for one

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and unconditional surrender for another

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can be mixed together to produce a peaceful

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and contented existence for both.

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There need not be as much chaos as we have,

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and there need not be such intense ill will,

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but expecting all nations to make up, shake hands

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and live happily ever after is as absurd

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as our other fantasy that all out World War would end strife

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and usher in peace.

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The story of Cinderella is probably the greatest example

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of a fantasy fulfillment of our yearning

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for a struggle free existence.

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She lived happily ever after

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and was rescued by her savior prince.

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The "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is in one sense,

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a modified Cinderella story,

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even though Dickens made some very dramatic points

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with the story.

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The principle characters in the book

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all lived happily ever after,

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or at least this is strongly implied.

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Rarely if ever would such a radical characterological change

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take place in a man the age of Scrooge,

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yet he supposedly changed completely and permanently.

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I read from the next to the last paragraph in the book,

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"Scrooge was better than his word.

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He did it all and infinitely more.

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And to Tiny Tim who did not die, he was a second father.

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He became as good a friend, as good a master

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and as good a man as the good old city knew

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or any other good old city town or a borough

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in the good old world."

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That was quite a change for a man.

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But in that last paragraph, we see the fantasy.

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Certainly the Protestant Christian Church has yearned

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for years for this kind of radical permanent change

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in people as was seen in Scrooge

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but through a conversional experience.

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But it has found little comfort for its yearning

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and little success for its efforts.

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Most lasting change in people takes place very gradually

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and with great struggle.

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Christmas seems to be the time of the year

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when our imagination and our fantasies are at their peaks.

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Becomes very difficult for us to sort out what is real

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and what is unreal.

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We indulge our fantasies and I don't think this is all bad

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by any means.

45:36

However, I do think we must do a better job

45:38

of sorting out our experiences

45:41

and labeling them for what they are.

45:43

If we do this, then we can enjoy our journeys

45:47

into make believe land and our escapades into fantasy.

45:51

They may provide brief respites

45:56

in the midst of the hardships of life.

45:57

Yet these journeys must be labeled and recorded in our minds

46:01

as make believe in fantasy,

46:04

or they may mix confusingly with the real.

46:06

Those who drink alcoholic beverage know how fine

46:11

and almost indistinguishable the line is that separates

46:14

the fantasy world of intoxication

46:18

and the real world of sobriety.

46:20

The alcoholic knows the sheer pain and the weight

46:24

of the mountainous problem resulting

46:27

when the line disappears.

46:30

The pathos peaks through the humor of the joke

46:34

about the old man who went to the ABC store

46:38

to get a bottle for Christmas.

46:41

As he was coming out of the store,

46:44

someone in the crowd bumped his arm

46:46

and his bottle crashed to the sidewalk.

46:48

As he looked down sadly at the trickling whiskey,

46:51

he could be heard to say,

46:54

"Hm, hm, hm, Christmas done come and went."

46:55

If this sorting is not done for Christmas itself,

47:02

then Christmas can become the birthday celebration

47:06

of a religious Santa Claus who is eternally jolly

47:09

and benevolent and whose greatest concern is traveling

47:13

at night when it's foggy.

47:16

This is a far cry from observing the birthday

47:18

of Jesus of Nazareth and remembering his life and teachings.

47:21

Let us look at another example of human struggle

47:33

and see how our remedy might apply to it.

47:36

Jesus taught that in the process of gaining the world,

47:41

a man could lose his own soul.

47:47

That teaching embraces a fact of life,

47:51

which I would state in this manner.

47:53

A person can expend so much physical and emotional energy

47:56

and time being someone his deepest spirit

48:01

or soul does not want to be that he actually

48:05

can lose contact with and the ability to respond

48:10

to his deepest spirit.

48:14

In the process, he may have gained the world,

48:17

but I fear there are far more who end up possessing

48:19

neither world nor soul.

48:22

The struggles and conflicts associated with this process

48:27

are far greater and more complex

48:30

than the struggles and conflicts that accompany

48:32

the nurturing of the true spirit.

48:35

Let us turn back to Scrooge for our example.

48:38

Here was a man who truly gained much of the world

48:42

in terms of material possessions,

48:45

but he lost his soul in the process.

48:48

The Bah humbug Scrooge, in the first chapter

48:52

is a man out of touch with his deepest spirit or soul.

48:56

He lost it in the process of life,

49:01

especially in the process of growing up

49:03

and I doubt that anyone would disagree with this.

49:06

He is an extreme example in one sense,

49:10

but perhaps only because he displays his angry separation,

49:13

isolation and hurt so vividly.

49:17

In chapter two, the first of the three spirits,

49:21

Dickens gives glimpses of Scrooge's life

49:25

from his early childhood to the time of the story.

49:28

It is a masterful description of six different moments

49:31

in the life of Scrooge,

49:36

which begin with him as a lonely, neglected boy

49:38

in a school room and end with him

49:42

as a lonely, disgruntled, old man,

49:45

who had wealth in material things,

49:48

but poverty in spirit.

49:50

During this description, one can actually feel

49:54

Ebeneezer Scrooge, losing contact with,

49:57

and the ability to respond to his deepest spirit.

50:02

In the fifth scene, Belle describes what is happening to him

50:08

when she breaks their engagement.

50:12

She says, "You fear the world too much.

50:14

All your other hopes have merged into the hope

50:19

of being beyond the chance of the world sorted reproach.

50:21

I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one

50:27

until the master passion, gain engrosses you."

50:32

It could be said that the die was cast so forcefully

50:39

for Scrooge when he was a small child,

50:42

that there was no possible way for him to avoid

50:45

what happened to him or to alter the tragic results.

50:47

What Dickens did so masterfully, was to take Scrooge back

50:53

to the moments in his life when he lost the grip

50:57

on his soul, when the desire of his deepest spirit

51:00

were thwarted and strangled.

51:05

Scrooge did not realize it when it was happening,

51:09

but now he could see and understand.

51:11

The great thrill of the story is that we not only

51:15

can accompany him and see ourselves with Scrooge

51:18

all along the way in the story,

51:22

but we can feel personally the depth of Scrooge's excitement

51:24

in the last chapter, when he, with his new found insight

51:29

and understanding was given another chance.

51:33

His deepest spirit, his soul was freed

51:37

from its inner prison and he dared to respond wholly

51:40

to its unrealized hopes and dreams.

51:45

This was rebirth for Scrooge.

51:51

He was born again.

51:55

His spirit was born again to live as God intended it to be,

51:56

to live.

52:01

I marvel at Dickens insight and understanding

52:04

of human problems.

52:07

In a sense, this is also instant psychotherapy

52:10

or perhaps even psychoanalysis.

52:15

It is the traumatic conversion of the church,

52:19

but then we must come back down to earth.

52:23

The story is fantasy.

52:26

However, the truths contained in the story are not fantasy

52:29

and have much rich meaning for us.

52:32

What happened to Scrooge and the other people in the story,

52:35

can and does happen to people in real life.

52:38

It is just that these great problems seldom if ever

52:43

can be resolved so quickly and completely except in fantasy.

52:48

Perhaps Charles Dickens intended

52:55

that this be fully understood for I read from his preface,

52:57

"I have endeavored in this ghostly little book

53:01

to raise the ghost of an idea,

53:04

which shall not put my readers out of humor with themselves,

53:07

with each other, with the season or with me.

53:11

May it haunt your houses pleasantly,

53:16

and no one wish to lay it."

53:19

When we apply the Christmas remedy to such truths

53:25

as disclosed in this book, we see that we must do more

53:30

with the die-casting period of early childhood.

53:35

The church knows, preaches about and teaches

53:40

about the significance of the family

53:44

and the importance of love among the members of the family.

53:47

And yet in the midst of the family, there is struggle

53:52

and there will always be struggle.

53:55

And struggle is quite natural and can be quite healthy.

53:57

Nurturing the deepest spirit or soul of a person

54:02

does not promise a conflict free experience.

54:05

Once more on this Christmas, Sunday morning,

54:14

the remedy is given to us through the life and teachings

54:20

of one whose birthday we celebrate this day.

54:26

Happy birthday, Merry Christmas.

54:32

Amen.

54:37

Shall we stand.

54:40

Eternal father, on this glorious day,

54:47

help us to know ourselves, our deepest motives,

54:55

our deepest desires,

55:01

and then dare to be the person

55:06

they would thrust us into being

55:12

and that person which would be pleasing to thee.

55:17

And now the Lord bless you and keep you,

55:25

the Lord, make his face to shine upon you

55:27

and be gracious unto you.

55:29

The Lord, lift up his countenance upon you

55:32

and give you peace.

55:34

Amen.

55:37

(tranquil music )

55:42

(bell ringing)

56:08

(soft music)

56:23

Wesley Aitkin - "An Old and Tested Remedy" (December 25, 1966)

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