Service of Worship; Sermon, 1971-01-31

the it's b i'm glad that after those announcements each week about income tax that we have an anthem and a hymn so that we might try to recover whatever spiritual connection we lost at the very thought of the tax bite i'm inclined to think that the father had it right when he said his returns back and said my son and i have examined your perspectives and neither of us wishes to invest in your operation at this time it's b in the central hallway of the main building at johns hopkins

hospital in baltimore stands a larger than life marble statue of jesus christ with hands outstretched at the base of this imposing statue is the text come under me on gay that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest will come this is the basic invitation of the christian faith to extend this invitation and the masters name is the mission of the christian church the day before the song goes down this invitation will have been extended in towering cathedrals one set hut chapels mission outposts prisons hospitals and skid row meeting halls mr line which is in ways that we can't name men and women wives and girls

will be asked to come but there is a second question to a question that is asked of those who have already been there those who have already come it's the question where he also go away jesus had had a busy and productive day he had performed in their apple with a few loaves and fishes the crowd still breathless with excitement ad sales in little little villages of returning him and questlove more now however he was preaching not performing wonders this time he was pressing a claim and not rendering a service strange words fell from his lips gave it a vis my flesh and drink of my blood and the well as in lee and i am

him many of those overnight said this is our hard say whoa can hear it the record goes on to say that from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him at this point to jesus with the misfits of this appointment wellman in his eyes tearing skilled at twelve and says will you also go away and simon peter was never greater not even accessory of the playa where he gave us is great confession for in this instance he stands as the worst overdose older with christ and says lourdes along so we go along way past the words are returned alive o however hard it may be to follow christ it is always harder

not to the alternatives to faith are ever more difficult than faith itself for those early followers the chasing on it was the deaf that he would die and their participation in it i should like to ask you this morning what you're shaving point might be a what is it about the christian life that might cause jesus to turn to us and say we're he also go away for some of us the problem is that of maintaining a stone's throw that they've got it's maddening in a way that ease as always this only existence and the carrot top it is not all that easy for us or at least not all the time there are seasons when

god affirms himself to us and accents loud and clear when our health is good when our income is adequate and rising when our fortune is on the upswing when society a stable when life seems secure when a sense of progress seemed stalled all things together but lett personnel are public foundations quake and adults come flooding in when life appears to lack a center that can haul when events seem more rampant than our daily one values that we were taught to cherish are a lot when the forces of the night seem stronger than the forces of the day it is precisely at such a point that we wonder whether we can

continue our show it has been well said the man we are not argue about her faith in god and they are safe in other faith in god where you go away does the upset un believe seem like a more manageable option to you shirley at the outset here we must bear in mind that it is not likely that are poor minds can ever grasping infinite without struggle robert browning did not often defend himself as a poet went on one occasion he did in this way he said i can have little doubt that my writing has been in the main too hard for many i should have been pleased to communicate with but i never designed it we

tried to puzzle people as some of my critics have suppose on the other hand i never pretended to offer such literature or as should be a substitute for a cigar or a game of dominoes to an ideal man when we start with the alternative to faith which could be their atheism or agnosticism we all like to ourselves through at least the other side you think for example if you're a rose in the morning void of all sense of god that you could stand this year long lane acts of life an agnostic once confessed i have seen list bring some shy and other than that they haven't upon a soloist birth

and i have felt with other lonely nights but the great companion was dead thank you know that's no good man with the absence of purpose which is implied in such a view to deliver on all of my doings i'd asked him for nothing other than some massive cosmic barbecue in which everything that we have loved and cherished will be burned or were crisply nothingness flowers at longman is book was summing up was honest enough to acknowledge a sense of futility here he's set in psychological laboratory for rats are trying to find their way through a maze and presently by trial and error they learn the powers that lead to the food basic and the

manners with which i now occupy myself said mom i am like one of these rats scurrying along the pathways of a complicated maze but i do not know that it has a center or i still find what i seek for all i know all the alleys are blind however you did not believe would your account even in plot for the nobility of life that you stumble on now and then the gentlemen's a good mess the sacrifice oh wow get up or atheist on thanksgiving day all these blessings and no one to find large

oh shall we go it's hard to believe oren is the problem is not so much theological as ethical they find it hard to obey christ is a disturbing presence as well as allowing savior is the light of the world and one can never live casual they are comfortably with lights we may come to jesus in the words of the old in just as i am by it will not let us they just as we are it is trying to enlarge us and develop us and led to arrests after is on like most solid a christian is always

designated as one who lives on this threat never being allowed to be content it's with where or what it is tom now is it never a right to do that a christian is frequently more distress at the absence of some minor hurt you badly outright worldly is that the presence of some flagrant sin years ago i used to work with young men here in this city who seem to pile up about fifty last weekend's out of fifty two a year i had no reason to doubt his story of success with women success with drake and success at the poker table with an app to weekend

after we get it essential him as he told me on monday about his achievements never dead eye sends a phrase of remorse of any kind and yet as he spoke to me of these exploits and triumphs i frequently had my conscience riddle by in a strange friendship was someone i admired as it never arrived to do that we are drawn to such sensitivity because we follow christ don't you ever get tired caring about the race problem and feeling that you have to care does that ever bother you that we acted consistently regard marriage in a sacramento light that we can never simply look upon it as a form of friendship recognized by the police does it ever get to you know

that we cannot really enjoy our money and freedom but we always have a sense that we are holding what we have as a trust forgotten does it ever bother you know that you cannot look upon your colleagues at work as so many competitors and see your job as something that can get you to the top but you are always being hobbled by that awful sense of vocation but what do i must somehow be related to what you do in all of the related to almighty god there are very few christians that i have ever known who have not felt at one time or other that jesus christ had been a handicapped or them but russians in one of their recent attempts to stamp out religion put on a track in which was found a

statement god is wider we've all felt drawn to that at some point along the way what is a preferable alternative is easier to live in a kind of ethical neutrality following statement of a man in a recent novels set there is no right and wrong anymore there's only want us for the moment you're really think it would be preferable to say to the level of instinct become more identifiable in combat with the animals of the field you think you could possibly live in a an unethical world in which everything was

relative to something else but no one knew what the ultimate point of reference was i think often of the story of the man is that stop him from the jewelry store early in the morning make an adjustment is watching go on one day the jewelers curiosity got too much for him he stopped the man is and how come you always stop here in the manson one of my jobs is to blow the whistle at the factory and i always said my what were your clock whereupon the jailer said isn't that interesting i always sent my clock the piece translate that on one end of the field of ethics and ask yourself where either they factory man on consumer would they in due time though only a year ago of course it's hard to live with light

but it's a kindly light as john newman sensed and gave it to last and that magnificent him is that there is something good in us to reproduce us after his likeness the writer to laborers was wise when he said for the moment all disciplines seems painful rather than pleasant yet later reveals a peaceful throat of righteousness through those who have been trained by it of course he's the constant as thurber of course is always opening up new options and opening up fresh doors pulling us into a future that pulsate with challenge an adventure how much better to live with that and some viral content you wakes desires you never may forget the shows used arrows you never saw before he makes use year with him

for evermore the burden of the world as divine regret how wise you were to open not and yet how or if you should turn him from the door it's hard to all day it's harder not for others the problem is the church they find a part of the law faith in god vs obedience to christ yes but the church that something else again if only christ had not said i will build my church only god had allowed us in his wisdom to freelance our experience of him

i can understand this jason can't do that you're jealous or manet liabilities it has an uncanny way of coming down on the wrong side of major questions or worse and not even coming down at all and short sighted the pulpit and if you are like false yard of their professed ideals and when it comes to a fight there is absolutely no fly anywhere like if i had a good start the states are alright in the abstract or when they are localized than concrete they are often hard to take to live in

line with the site's above oh that will be glory want to live below with the site you know that's another story so this is the starting point where you know the terms are it's at this point that the lord says i will you go away and my question to you is where would you go if you leave the church there is nothing quite like it for all its weaknesses there's a daily opposites that envelops labor and management republicans and democrats blacks than whites rich and poor what an ignorant and beginners

mr hewett calls them together in a voluntary association no one has to stay and my experience has been that the much maligned congregations of the christian world are capable of or carrying out a love and a solicitation for each other that is absolutely a match to that degree anywhere else in our society there is a russian saying about a husband and wife were grown old together but they are so close that when one cries the other tastes salt i have seen in every church i've ever been a part of the caring love of god so manifested that one some members

crying other members tasted salty many of you i know i've seen the play member of the wedding by carson mccullers if you have you'll recall that the story turns on that from other young girl in her teens frankly feels as her brother who has been her loan support finally decides to marry for frankie this means the end of the world she was jealous of her brother's wife to be and goes through great tribulation trying to resolve the controversy at one point in this beautiful and touching play frankly sits down and says josh just now i realize something the trouble with me is that for a long time i have been just an eye person all other people can say we won bernice says ways she means her life and

church and colored people soldiers can say we're mainly army all people belong to a we except may she continues deciding what she will do he says i know that the bride and my brother although we may so i'm going with them and joining with the weather this coming sunday when my brother in a variety of this town i'm going with the two of them to winter hill and after that to whatever place that they will ever go i love the two of them so much and we belong to be together i love the tone and so much because today on the week of may we also go away

or to home show we go bow has the words of eternal life and we believe as peter went on to say and continue to believe that thou art the christ the son of the living god it's hard to believe it's harder not to it's hard to all day it's harder not to it's hard to belong it's harder not to belong let us pray lord in an age that prefers short term commitments to long range loyalties help was still hold fast to the

when the pieces do not seem to fit when the doing of i will seems more than we can manage when our brethren get us down give us the stand after persevered and the good sense to know that troubled faith it's easier to travel on billy through the same jesus christ our lord who loved us and gave himself for us to propose be ms

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