Dedication Of The Rockefeller Memorial At The Riverside Church 1963-12-16

as big a piece by i think it would be a little more convenient and perhaps more comfortable as the ladies would come up and make use of these goods shares we have here and as a gentleman were close and nine the man remain standing there's no reason for the ladies to stan collender ceremony week to keep the peace but ms

rockefeller mr john rockefeller mr lawrence rockefeller nelson rockefeller mr david rockefeller but mccracken and friends as chairman of the church committee on capital gifts bequests and memorials i want to say that this service marks an unforgettable and heartwarming experience for the riverside church they forwarded to me and others who worshipped here wilbur provides juicy record in a long felt and sincere expression of gratitude and honoring the memory of mr john d rockefeller jr his life among us and a generous gifts to the church had met far more than words can express in truth they reach into the future to serve all mankind in the spirit of crisis opportunities to express our sincere indebtedness to mr rockefeller were relatively few yet our memories our daily lives and

our visions of the future have been hiking and biking by the experience of knowing him personally he not only worshipped here you work actively in the church for many years as a teacher and trusty and his guests made possible both the construction and maintenance how this beautiful photographs when we try to say thank you in ways that would be meaningful his own sincerity his humility and his quiet they express answer your seem to say to all of us the real measure of your thankfulness we'll be best expressed in the quality of your daily life and this personal challenge it's a part of our heritage today in selecting a location for the inscription everyone i believe sends a unique appropriateness of placing it beside the memorial that he himself has grown in honor of his mother lawrence perlman rocca

we are pleased and honored it was rockefeller and other members of the family have found impossible to share with this industry has another would you like to an alien to get to know you think you liked this weekend thank you larry levitt the

rockefeller brothers can only with us here today and that's john d rockefeller the third has canceled with us in planning for this expression of regard for his father now like to hear from mr tanaka a number of years ago my father was approached in regard to a biography is immediate reaction was we wondered who would be interested in doing it he wondered if it was written would be interested in reading and as a result of my brothers and my aging he consented to meet with a biographer and to talk with him about the major activities in his life as he pursued this work he warmed to it you became enthusiastic and the result

was that raymond fire sticks very affected by i think if we had gone to my father and spoken with him about about a memorial at riverside church is immediate reaction would have been to brush this all other side saying it was unnecessary i have no question however as he thought about it as he'd lived with the idea but it would have had the same warm response from him particularly when he realized that it was from the congregation the offices and the menaces of the church those friends close associates who may work with over a period of many years as you know my father had many interests and activities is gratifying to be able to say to you that riverside church was at the top of the list in terms of personal devotion

of personal commitment and there's no question as to the satisfaction which he derived from the relationship yes i think we do the two reasons one he was a deeply religious man and he believed that religion should be was fundamental in the lives of people generally and we saw in riverside church a avenue an organization it means of approaching and reaching and serving an important group in new york city he also was keenly interested in the end a denominational movement you work without you know a good part of his life and he felt again the satisfaction in riverside church serving the city on an interdenominational basis then when the insurance and eight and next door this increased his enthusiasm and

it was tremendously pleasing and gratifying to it as you know is the headquarters of the national council of churches as well as the headquarters of a number of other nominations not the feisty pike too mccracken was telling me the other day that the tunnel it connected the two was to him a symbol that was very meaningful is concern about the end a denominational with a deepening one as the years went by the fellow with the center and with the church they could start had been made but he did not feel that there was any possibility of flagging in the tearing through on this important objective as i was thinking about what i would say today i was looking out father's relationship with the church i found that he was on the board of riverside and its predecessor organizations for sixty one

years he went on in nineteen ninety nine the fifth avenue baptist church and served continuously until his death three years ago his interest in the church with not only through the board but in all its bases and activities which remember he led the bible class in the early days you especially active in the construction and there was no face that did not attract his interest and his support i like to say that we all of us in our family are pleased indeed in this memorial inscription to commemorate the service of our father to either side and his devotion to the church we are happy that it is simple and modest we're appreciative of the warmth of the wording and specially gratifying to us is

that it is from his friends and associates at the church i cannot close without mentioning my father's admiration respect and affection for dr mccracken their close working relationship that close personal relationship meant much to my father or more maybe than dr mccracken i never realize i can remember we live now for not mccracken to renew his message and they've also ask him to get their medication at the close of his remarks on that <unk> must've known but what we're

doing today would be done when the memorial to his mother was inscribed hear it cannot have escaped and that the members of the congregation would wish in costs to pay him that tribute the thought me even have crossed his mind that someday his name wound up yet alongside that of his mother's identity nothing could be more fitting this church was his dream job so far as one man can make it so it embodied his conception of what a christian church should be a place of beauty a century of the spent it stars wide open to men women and children

regardless of their church affiliation and the color of their skin impatient of sick at an as i'm seeing the divisions of protestantism as a weakness looking forward to a day when the nomination about ios would be transcended shot but in dr foskett god had raised up a man to hasten the fulfillment of that vision he more than any other brought outside into being built and supported it with a substance and then and talk about his faith in its future and this conviction of the necessity for its mission may to it in the last years of his life the gift of a brand new

facilitate the sense when he loved his church his heart was in it he gave to add hours upon hours all this time his devoted attention to detail much that had to do with the navy with the organizing shows at work in the tower with the construction of the south wind leslie oh creature of oversight into the community and civic and beyond them into the nation and the world this stands out and always will stand out in the recollection of those of us who were associated with him among the many memories cherished proudly and gratefully i mentioned just one that was a sunday

morning when contrary to his usual custom he arrived just as the service was commencing the navy was full and worshipers were being directed some kind of protest to the elevators and the balconies an asset on seeing him was at a loss to know what to do or even to say by his own acknowledgement he was flustered but <unk> that when the situation was explained book the man completely at his ease by saying i go up to the thai foreign i like it there a little incident a significant incident and eloquent i would say in what it reveals of the great and good man whose name is no cop into the stone of this church to

which she gave the strength of his heart and his mind and doing what we are doing today we are reminded of the epitaph or so christopher wren and supposed to cebu which ran it designed and then elected if you seek my monument let us pray who has bestowed gifts in trust on man and didn't do that with says the nfl owes we give the grateful thanks for by seven who's laborers have enriched the lives of many we bless the fall the fidelity and consecration with which from us so manhood

into old age he undertook the task which he believe though that's given him to do standing up the gift that was in him witnessing a good confession as a christian embodying the noblest traditions of our nation labeling for human betterment and for the spread of justice and peace throughout the world never doubting his resources as his own to do with as he please whatever seeking how they could best be used to promote the welfare of mankind we praise the following him that commanded our respect and one nonfiction the integrity of this got into the castle the city of his mind the breadth of his sympathies his loyalty to home and country

his dedication and to this church raise up a succession of man and woman to serve in their day and a generation as he served his so long as this century stands me the words god here on stolen be to us and to those who come after us and to worshipers from near and far who look on them and abiding inspiration and challenge for this we asked through jesus christ our own comments been meeting in germany fb