James T. Cleland - "On Handling a Saint" (July 17, 1966)
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Transcript
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- | The words of my mouth, | 0:04 |
and the meditations of our hearts | 0:06 | |
be acceptable in thy sight. | 0:08 | |
Oh Lord, our strength, and our redeemer, amen. | 0:11 | |
This is the second sermon | 0:24 | |
in a series of two, | 0:27 | |
on George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan. | 0:30 | |
In the play Proper, | 0:35 | |
Shaw deals with Joan the heretic, | 0:37 | |
the nonconformist. | 0:42 | |
That was the subject of the former sermon. | 0:44 | |
The controversial epilogue | 0:50 | |
has to do with Joan the Saint. | 0:54 | |
Designated Venerable | 0:59 | |
in 1904. | 1:01 | |
One whose heroic virtue has been officially decreed. | 1:04 | |
Declared blessed, in 1908. | 1:10 | |
One worthy of public veneration. | 1:14 | |
Finally, canonized in 1920. | 1:19 | |
One included in the register of the saints. | 1:23 | |
Joan fulfills the left handed | 1:29 | |
dictionary's definition of a Saint. | 1:32 | |
One who is canonaded in life | 1:36 | |
and canonized after death. | 1:40 | |
The epilogue has been the subject | 1:45 | |
of much negative literary criticism, | 1:46 | |
all of which Shaw declined to accept. | 1:50 | |
His estimate of Joan required the epilogue. | 1:55 | |
His last scene in the play anticipated the epilogue. | 2:01 | |
Ladvenu, the priest who held the cross | 2:08 | |
before the burning girl, | 2:11 | |
says to the Earl of Warwick, | 2:14 | |
the English commander in chief, | 2:16 | |
"This is not the end for her, | 2:19 | |
this is the beginning." | 2:25 | |
And listen to the dialogue between Warwick | 2:28 | |
and the executioner with which the play Proper closes. | 2:32 | |
The executioner comes into the room and Warwick says, | 2:38 | |
"Well, fellow, who are you?" | 2:41 | |
And the executioner replies, | 2:46 | |
"I am not addressed as fellow, my Lord. | 2:48 | |
I am the Master Executioner of Rouen. | 2:53 | |
It is a highly skilled mystery. | 2:57 | |
I come to tell your Lordship | 3:01 | |
that your orders have been obeyed." | 3:04 | |
"I crave your pardon, Master Executioner. | 3:08 | |
And I will see that you lose nothing | 3:12 | |
by having no relics to sell. | 3:15 | |
I have your word have I that nothing remains? | 3:18 | |
Not a bone? | 3:22 | |
Not a nail? | 3:24 | |
Not a hair? | 3:26 | |
Her heart would not burn my Lord, | 3:30 | |
but everything that was left is at the bottom of the river. | 3:35 | |
You have heard the last of her." | 3:41 | |
And Warwick, with a wry smile, | 3:48 | |
thinking of what Ladvenu had said says, | 3:51 | |
"The last of her? | 3:55 | |
Hmm, | 3:58 | |
I wonder." | 4:00 | |
So you see the epilogue was inevitable. | 4:04 | |
I'm glad it was written. | 4:08 | |
At the lowest appreciative estimate, | 4:11 | |
it gave me the primer for this sermon | 4:15 | |
and much of the content, thanks be to Shaw. | 4:18 | |
The setting of the epilogue is given in the stage direction. | 4:25 | |
To reacquaint ourselves with the environment, | 4:28 | |
let me read part of the Shavian instructions. | 4:31 | |
"A restless fitfully windy night in June 1456. | 4:35 | |
Full of summer lightning, after many days of heat, | 4:41 | |
King Charles, the 7th of France, | 4:46 | |
formerly Jones Dauphin, now Charles the victorious, | 4:50 | |
aged 51, is in bed in one of the Royal Chateau. | 4:55 | |
Charles is not asleep, he's reading in bed. | 5:02 | |
Charles turns a leaf. | 5:06 | |
A distant clock strikes the half hour softly. | 5:09 | |
Ladvenu enters. | 5:14 | |
25 years older. | 5:16 | |
Strange in stock and bearing, | 5:19 | |
and still carrying the cross from Rouen. | 5:21 | |
Charles evidently does not expect him, | 5:26 | |
but he Springs out of bed. | 5:29 | |
Ladvenu, the ghosts of Ladvenu, | 5:33 | |
brings glad tidings of great joy." | 5:38 | |
An inquiry has been held into the trial of Joan, | 5:42 | |
and it has been decreed that Joan was guiltless, | 5:47 | |
and her judges full of corruption, | 5:51 | |
cousinage, fraud, and malice. | 5:55 | |
Charles' first comment is, | 5:59 | |
"Good. | 6:00 | |
Nobody can challenge my coronation now, | 6:02 | |
can they?" | 6:05 | |
And then one by one, | 6:07 | |
the spirits of the dramatist personae gathered around. | 6:09 | |
Joan, Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. | 6:13 | |
Dunois, the French general. | 6:18 | |
The English soldier who handed the crossed sticks | 6:21 | |
to Joan, before Ladvenu brought | 6:26 | |
the ecclesiastical cross from the church. | 6:28 | |
Joan de Stogumber, | 6:32 | |
the bigoted asinine chaplain | 6:34 | |
to the Earl of Warwick. | 6:36 | |
The executioner; Warwick, the Inquisitor. | 6:39 | |
And then with an anachronistic genius, | 6:44 | |
Shaw introduces a clerical looking man | 6:48 | |
in the garb of 1920, | 6:52 | |
to make an exciting, | 6:57 | |
ecclesiastical announcement. | 6:59 | |
Joan has been canonized | 7:03 | |
on every 30th of May, | 7:07 | |
being the anniversary of the death | 7:10 | |
of the said most blessed daughter of God. | 7:13 | |
There shall in every Catholic church, | 7:16 | |
to the end of time, | 7:18 | |
be celebrated a special office in commemoration of her. | 7:20 | |
And it shall be lawful to dedicate | 7:25 | |
a special chapel to her, | 7:27 | |
and to place her image | 7:31 | |
on its alter in every such church. | 7:32 | |
And it shall be lawful and laudable | 7:36 | |
for the faithful to kneel | 7:38 | |
and address their prayers through her, | 7:42 | |
to the mercy seat. | 7:45 | |
How do they all react? | 7:48 | |
They kneel in adoration before her, | 7:51 | |
giving her the praises of all sorts | 7:55 | |
and conditions of men. | 7:57 | |
The girls in the fields, the dying soldiers. | 8:00 | |
The princes of the church, the cunning counselors. | 8:05 | |
The foolish old men, | 8:10 | |
the blind judges, | 8:13 | |
the wicked out of hell, the tormentors and executioners, | 8:15 | |
the un-pretenders. | 8:22 | |
Thus is Joan reverenced. | 8:24 | |
She is a saint, one worthy of public veneration. | 8:29 | |
This is vindication. | 8:34 | |
Here the epilogue might well end and the sermon too. | 8:40 | |
But if you presume that, | 8:47 | |
you know, neither Shaw nor Clelin. | 8:48 | |
How does Joan react | 8:56 | |
and how do her admirers react to her reaction? | 9:00 | |
Listen to Shaw's lines. | 9:04 | |
"Woe unto me when all men praise me. | 9:08 | |
I bid you remember that I am a Saint | 9:12 | |
and that saints can work miracles. | 9:18 | |
And now tell me, shall I rise from the dead | 9:21 | |
and come back to you a living woman? | 9:28 | |
Shall I rise from the dead | 9:35 | |
and come back to you a living woman? | 9:37 | |
The stage direction is a sudden darkness | 9:42 | |
blocks out the walls of the room. | 9:44 | |
As they all spring to their feet in consternation | 9:46 | |
only the figures on the bed remain visible. | 9:50 | |
And Joan says, "What? | 9:54 | |
Must I burn again? | 9:57 | |
Are none of you ready to receive me?" | 9:59 | |
Bishop of Beauvais says, "The heretic is always better dead. | 10:04 | |
un-mortalized cannot distinguish | 10:10 | |
the saint from the heretic. | 10:13 | |
Spare them." | 10:16 | |
And he goes out. | 10:18 | |
And Dunois, the commander in chief | 10:20 | |
of the French army who loved her says, | 10:22 | |
"Forgive us, Joan. | 10:25 | |
We are not yet good enough for you. | 10:27 | |
I shall go back to my bed." | 10:32 | |
And the Earl of Warrick says, | 10:35 | |
"We sincerely regret our little mistake | 10:36 | |
but political necessities | 10:40 | |
though occasionally erroneous are still imperative. | 10:42 | |
So if you will be good enough, | 10:47 | |
excuse me." | 10:50 | |
And the Archbishop of Rheims says, | 10:53 | |
"Your return would not make me the man | 10:56 | |
you once thought me. | 10:59 | |
The utmost I can say is though, I dare not bless you, | 11:02 | |
I hope I may one day enter into your blessedness." | 11:06 | |
Meanwhile, however, | 11:12 | |
when the inquisitor says, "I who am of the dead | 11:17 | |
testify that day, that you were innocent | 11:21 | |
but I do not see how the inquisition | 11:24 | |
could possibly be dispensed with | 11:27 | |
under existing circumstances. | 11:30 | |
Therefore. | 11:34 | |
And the asinine English chaplain says, | 11:37 | |
"Oh, do not come back. | 11:38 | |
You mustn't come back. | 11:41 | |
I'm must die in peace. | 11:44 | |
Give us peace in our time, oh Lord." | 11:46 | |
And the gentleman in the 1920 century guard | 11:51 | |
who brought the announcement says, | 11:54 | |
"The possibility of your resurrection was not contemplated | 11:57 | |
in the recent proceedings for your canonization. | 12:01 | |
I must return to Rome for further instructions." | 12:05 | |
And the executioner says, "As a master in my profession | 12:12 | |
I have to consider its interests. | 12:15 | |
And after all, my first duty is to my wife and children. | 12:18 | |
I must have time to think over this." | 12:23 | |
Charles who once was Dauphin, and is now king, | 12:27 | |
a very wise man says, | 12:32 | |
"Poor old, Joan, they've all run away from you | 12:35 | |
except this flagger, pointing to the English soldier | 12:39 | |
who has to go back to hell at 12 o'clock. | 12:42 | |
And what can I do but follow Jack Dunois example | 12:46 | |
and go back to bed?" | 12:49 | |
And Joan says, sadly, "Goodnight, Charlie." | 12:53 | |
Charles mumbles, "Goodnight." | 12:57 | |
And Joan turns to the soldier and said, | 13:00 | |
"And you my one faithful, | 13:03 | |
what comfort have you for St. Joan? | 13:05 | |
And the soldier says, "Well, | 13:10 | |
what do they all amount to, these kings | 13:12 | |
and captains and bishops and lawyers and such like? | 13:13 | |
They just leave you in the ditch | 13:18 | |
to bleed to death. | 13:19 | |
And the next thing is, you meet the down there | 13:22 | |
in hell for all the heirs they give themselves. | 13:23 | |
But I say she was good a right to your notions | 13:27 | |
as they have to theirs and perhaps better." | 13:29 | |
And then he settles down to give it a lecture. | 13:33 | |
"You see, it's like this, if." | 13:34 | |
And the first bail of midnight rang, | 13:39 | |
he said, "Excuse me | 13:42 | |
a pressing appointment." | 13:45 | |
He goes out on tipped, | 13:48 | |
the common soldier, a medieval Tommy Atkins | 13:52 | |
alone remained loyal, | 13:57 | |
an ordinary man undeceived by church or state | 14:00 | |
sustained by a sense of humor. | 14:06 | |
A most uncommon, common man. | 14:08 | |
He didn't mind hell, | 14:11 | |
it was no torment. | 14:13 | |
After 15 year service in the French wars, | 14:15 | |
hell was a treat after that. | 14:19 | |
He found the company interesting, | 14:22 | |
emperors and popes and Kings and all sorts. | 14:23 | |
He left Joan only because he had to, | 14:27 | |
his one day out of hell per year was up. | 14:32 | |
He must need to return. | 14:37 | |
And Joan remained on the stage alone | 14:40 | |
to speak the last lines of the epilogue, | 14:44 | |
two questions addressed to God | 14:49 | |
and to us, | 14:54 | |
"Oh God, that made us this beautiful earth, | 14:56 | |
when would it be ready to receive thy sins? | 15:01 | |
How long, Oh Lord, how long?" | 15:05 | |
And the curtain falls. | 15:12 | |
Is there an eternal proposition | 15:17 | |
at the heart of Shaw's epilogue? | 15:19 | |
A timeless message. | 15:21 | |
Of course there is. | 15:23 | |
Shaw is not merely a dramatist, he's a special pleader. | 15:26 | |
He's a dramatic pamphletere | 15:30 | |
who has a chip in his shoulder and an axe to grind, | 15:32 | |
and a trumpet to blow all at the same time. | 15:37 | |
What is Shaw's thesis in the epilogue? | 15:42 | |
The reason for his writing the epilogue, | 15:44 | |
isn't it something like this? | 15:48 | |
That the idea, | 15:50 | |
the concept of sainthood is accepted, | 15:52 | |
admired and held in high esteem by religious folk, | 15:56 | |
ecclesiastical and lay. | 16:01 | |
But there is no guarantee | 16:05 | |
that any particular scene | 16:08 | |
would be accepted, | 16:11 | |
admired | 16:13 | |
and followed. | 16:15 | |
If he, | 16:17 | |
she, | 16:19 | |
return to earth. | 16:21 | |
Samuel Butler of the 17th century English author, | 16:24 | |
who is best remembered for the relicking satire, Hudibras, | 16:27 | |
has summarized this viewpoint in one sentence. | 16:33 | |
"There are many respectable people | 16:37 | |
who would be equally horrified | 16:40 | |
to have the Christian religion doubted | 16:44 | |
or to see it practiced. | 16:49 | |
There are many respectable people | 16:53 | |
who would be equally horrified | 16:56 | |
to hear the Christian religion doubted | 16:59 | |
or to see it practiced." | 17:02 | |
That is we love the revelation of God | 17:05 | |
as it appears in men and women, especially in the saints | 17:08 | |
but we would rather not have too much | 17:15 | |
to do with them personally, | 17:18 | |
the proper place for a Saint is in heaven, not on earth. | 17:21 | |
Let him let her stay put, | 17:28 | |
for unearthly saint maybe a pain in the spiritual neck. | 17:33 | |
An ecclesiastical gadfly, | 17:41 | |
a moral nuisance, | 17:44 | |
a first class disturber of the peace. | 17:46 | |
If you don't believe that, I refer you to the experience | 17:50 | |
of Francis of Assisi, at the hands of his father | 17:54 | |
of many of the ecclesiastics, of most of his contemporaries | 17:58 | |
and of too many of his Franciscan descendant. | 18:04 | |
And those who rule the church, | 18:10 | |
are seldom ready to accept | 18:13 | |
the unusual genius, who would change | 18:16 | |
the ecclesiastic society, because such a person is a threat | 18:20 | |
to what has been accepted, | 18:25 | |
and what makes and keeps most folk comfortable. | 18:28 | |
The Saint marches to a different drummer. | 18:34 | |
He hears a different drummer, | 18:42 | |
he marches to that music. | 18:44 | |
He doesn't keep pace with his companions. | 18:45 | |
He's out of step and soon he is out of line. | 18:49 | |
And for us ordinary folk, the same possesses | 18:52 | |
a double power, attraction and repulsion. | 18:56 | |
Repulsion is the more normal attitude when he is alive. | 19:03 | |
Attraction is dominant when he is dead | 19:06 | |
so long as he's stays dead. | 19:09 | |
For there's something unsettling | 19:13 | |
to the status quo, about spiritual initiate. | 19:16 | |
It tends to be unsympathetic with tradition. | 19:21 | |
It's frequently impatient with authority. | 19:24 | |
It is no respector of titles. | 19:28 | |
It's a prime nuisance | 19:32 | |
because it's often a source of embarrassment | 19:35 | |
to the beholder. | 19:38 | |
Therefore, the Saint while on earth | 19:40 | |
is suppressed by practical men, | 19:42 | |
especially by organized, institutionalized, | 19:45 | |
ecclesiastical, practical men. | 19:49 | |
Now I could hear one reaction to this. | 19:53 | |
"Hold your horses, Dr. Clelin, | 19:56 | |
aren't you dealing with a Roman Catholic problem? | 19:58 | |
We're Protestants. | 20:01 | |
The saints are not a Protestant phenomenon. | 20:02 | |
No, we sang for all the saints, | 20:06 | |
but that was merely because you chose it | 20:09 | |
and has a great tune." | 20:10 | |
Now there are various ways of answering this criticism | 20:12 | |
but I'll just accept it. | 20:15 | |
No saints for us this morning, all right. | 20:16 | |
Then let's go back to the epilogue | 20:20 | |
and listen to an interchange | 20:21 | |
between the Bishop of Beauvais and the English chaplain. | 20:23 | |
English chaplain says, "I did a very cruel thing once | 20:29 | |
'cause I didn't know what cruelty was like. | 20:33 | |
I had not seen it, you know. | 20:36 | |
That's the great thing, you must see it, | 20:41 | |
then you're redeemed and saved." | 20:45 | |
The Bishop says, "Were not the sufferings | 20:47 | |
of our Lord Jesus Christ enough for you?" | 20:50 | |
"Oh no, | 20:55 | |
not at all. | 20:57 | |
I'd seen them in pictures and read of them in books | 20:58 | |
and had been greatly moved by them, as I thought, | 21:01 | |
but it was no use. | 21:05 | |
It was not our Lord that redeemed me, | 21:07 | |
but a young woman, | 21:11 | |
whom I saw actually burn to death. | 21:13 | |
It was dreadful. | 21:16 | |
Oh, most dreadful, but it saved me. | 21:18 | |
I've been a different man ever since | 21:22 | |
though a little astray in my wits sometimes." | 21:23 | |
And the Bishop says, "Must then a Christ perish in torment | 21:28 | |
in every age, to save those that have no imagination?" | 21:34 | |
Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age | 21:41 | |
to save those that have no imagination?" | 21:45 | |
Let's skip the saints, but let's ask this question. | 21:50 | |
How would we like Jesus to come back? | 21:56 | |
With regard to Jesus who is called the Christ | 22:03 | |
aren't we torn between attraction and repulsion? | 22:06 | |
On the one hand we adore him. | 22:11 | |
If we have a high Christology | 22:14 | |
and believe him to be the second person | 22:16 | |
of the blessed Trinity, | 22:18 | |
we worship him very God of very God. | 22:19 | |
If we have a low Christology, | 22:24 | |
we recognize him as the greatest of the prophets, | 22:27 | |
one worthy about understanding and discipleship. | 22:30 | |
And if you're in between the two positions | 22:34 | |
willing to sing the Apostles Creed, but not say it, | 22:38 | |
we still lift our hat to him, as the Godman, | 22:42 | |
though, don't ask us to define the term. | 22:48 | |
On the other hand, | 22:52 | |
we would rather that he would stay in heaven, | 22:53 | |
sitting on the right hand of God, accepting the retirement | 22:57 | |
which he certainly earned, and keeping quiet and still | 23:03 | |
so far as life on earth is concerned. | 23:08 | |
Attraction and repulsion, | 23:12 | |
reverence and a version are twin attitudes | 23:14 | |
toward Jesus for many of us. | 23:17 | |
Would we like him to come back to earth now? | 23:20 | |
Would we like him to come to Durham? | 23:24 | |
Where would he worship? | 23:29 | |
In the Duke Chapel? | 23:31 | |
Interdenominational? | 23:34 | |
Interracial? | 23:36 | |
Sophisticated? | 23:38 | |
Or in a segregated sanctuary? | 23:41 | |
Sounds like a contradiction in terms. | 23:45 | |
Or in a sectarian bethel? | 23:49 | |
Would he join a civic club, | 23:52 | |
or the country club, | 23:55 | |
or the Toback club? | 23:57 | |
Could he? | 24:01 | |
Remember, he was a Jew, | 24:03 | |
that rules out quite a few places. | 24:06 | |
Would they let him into the synagogue? | 24:09 | |
Which one? | 24:12 | |
Orthodox? | 24:14 | |
Conservative? | 24:16 | |
Reformed? | 24:17 | |
Would he be interested in operation breakthrough? | 24:20 | |
He did have a criminal record in Palestine. | 24:24 | |
Would he pick it | 24:29 | |
and march | 24:31 | |
and write letters to the editor of our papers? | 24:33 | |
Would we put him to death? | 24:38 | |
He expected that in Palestine. | 24:41 | |
He told the Pharisees | 24:44 | |
that they were the sons of those who killed the prophet, | 24:45 | |
and they would probably follow suit. | 24:49 | |
That was part of our scripture lesson. | 24:52 | |
Would we ask him to leave Durham | 24:56 | |
to go to Raleigh or Hor River? | 24:59 | |
That's what the Gaderenes did, | 25:03 | |
when he stampeded and drowned | 25:06 | |
a herd of swine near their town. | 25:08 | |
That was another part of our scripture lesson. | 25:11 | |
Or would we just ignore him? | 25:15 | |
Now don't dodge the issue by saying he won't come back. | 25:18 | |
He does come back, | 25:23 | |
regularly. | 25:26 | |
That's what Paul was getting at, | 25:27 | |
when he said, "I live, | 25:29 | |
yet not I, | 25:32 | |
Christ liveth in me." | 25:34 | |
He comes in every age, in every generation. | 25:37 | |
Every day. | 25:40 | |
We have seen him. | 25:42 | |
We have seen him in earth. | 25:46 | |
And turned by attraction and repulsion, | 25:51 | |
each one of us must answer Pilate's question to the Jews. | 25:55 | |
What shall I do with Jesus | 26:00 | |
who is called the Christ? | 26:04 | |
But we are cunny, cautious Christians, most of us, | 26:10 | |
and these Christ liveth in me folk are such queer people. | 26:14 | |
Pink if not red, | 26:21 | |
socialists, if not communist. | 26:24 | |
Iconoclasts, if not revolutionaries. | 26:28 | |
Public nuisances, if not criminals. | 26:32 | |
Fool. | 26:35 | |
That's the word, | 26:36 | |
Fools, | 26:38 | |
like Joan and Francis. | 26:40 | |
Yes, and like Jesus too. | 26:44 | |
Well, maybe. | 26:48 | |
And yet it might be well for us to remember | 26:50 | |
a surprising statement of the great Duke of Wellington, | 26:54 | |
"All the wise men were on one side | 27:00 | |
and all the damned fools were on the other." | 27:06 | |
And by gutser, | 27:12 | |
the damned fools were right. | 27:14 | |
Amen. | 27:20 | |
Let us pray. | 27:22 | |
Oh God, that made us this beautiful earth, | 27:26 | |
when will it be ready to receive thy savior? | 27:32 | |
How long? | 27:38 | |
Oh Lord, | 27:39 | |
how long? | 27:41 | |
And the blessing of God all mighty, be upon you, | 27:45 | |
and remain with you forever. | 27:50 |
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