In recent years analysts of our arlture have dubbed our era as the Age

of anxiety. Sightly defined acdiohy is a fear that doep not connrehend the

object of which it is afraid; it is an unconfortable uneasiness, a restleas~

sr mg

ness that eamnnet pin point the object that is ropelLing? 4t is a longing for

meaning/ALlowed bo exist and te #row unchecked anxiety | is responsible for a
neurotic eondit Lane paychiatrict's offices ars filled: with psople who have

asked the olg question,/ ‘what ie the mesning se having asked have

discovered to their disbresa that they have no answer. They feel Like a plece
of wood drifting on the surf, bobbing up and dows with “the swells, with no
course, no direcbion--just aimless dri {bing and pabbing until it disolves and

sinks to the botuon.

7 shy nes this era bean called the Age of Anmwliety? - How are «o_different from

é

wen in the fast--nhy sho. aid our anxiety ¢ be more sovera than anyone elise 1s? /
_- igsentaaliy our anxieties, our conditi of, are ho different from that of men from
all ages, however, there are aspects about our life naw in the tuentieth century
that have exaggerated ani eulorged our anxistia . To attempt to define and
deseribe the roots of analety in 20th Century amerioa would be to tackle a
maanoth task, one shich demanus more ai iity and time than I auve ob oresent,
hut there are a few itens that bear ment Lomas, items that we frequently over-
ook because of tueir ob view prasaite.s
ae live in an ane that vas seen bine horored., stapuants wiped oub 5 wa are

part of a civilisation tnab 2as sen its entire concdption of Life and the wor id
———— — Or :

(\jel-tens otidh: ) chaned in a very fe. years, hot Long ago men looked into the
sky and sav tiny slars iinklings so close that one gould almost reach up and

touch thon, The moon scene. to omile down in pleasatt benevolence on our

2e

earth thet was obviously the bigh point, if not the gant er of the entire

wiverse, It was a comfortable feeling, no oni apent much tine thinking abeub
apace, time and mabier. The sky waa simoly Pilied with dalichtful objects and

dt made men hap sy. / Today we cannot sick up a nevapager without being aware

that someone has snot a racket into that space, that the nearest star is so

nany million Light years away, that we inhabit a und yerse that ls not a stable

confortable shenomenon but one that is coneLantly ex Loding outward, traveling

al an unimaginable sneed inte black nothingness, There are no begirnings, no

enis--just strings of figures that are too large for: to courrehend. The

uore ne thir of it the more wmeonfortable we feel, a fear has beon ignited in

each one of us,fa fear that has no object, fs Tear borin sub of the unknown. [
This is a condition that siuply did not both” hen one hundred or tio humred years
age and in leookins for tie reasons why chia is the ade of anxiety ve must give

it a praxinert olace,

AGS & nation we have been the vielina of great, digklinsionuent. vemporacy

and sericea wgirthe result of mantis fondest drivem@, a truly esalitarian socleby
with complete freedom for ald, It was the epltame of mama's struggle ugainst
enslavement, Jesrouy all the nations would Look to andrica arul begin inuediatoly
to cruate a democratic world. -weryone of us here hele sagen that fond hops
shabtered again and again, In 19]4 and again in 1A mi Ahions of poopie have
demonstrated their uuter abhorence of anything Deroctatic. And now we have
witnessed a nolitical system.arise that 1s the dir ect antithesis to demgcracy.
A noliticeal system that chains that it is the vay and the only vay, 4 sya tem

thet prediets thst it wlll envelope the world and whd ch has done much to fulfill

3s

thst prediction in tha past sintesn years, Ab this moment studenta parade
caipying bannera that ery out ‘Yankees Nos" ink staing adorn uur eabessies,
we are slowly reeomnisines that the words America and eno eracy awaken hatred

and violaice in the hearts of a creat serbion of mankind, How_can tits be? LO

eweask, If this is so what nosalble meaning dees late poral If the world

oe rejects this our fondest none and dream can there ve any answers to Lifots
qites Li ong? |

At home in indi vidual dgy to day Life thins have chanced / the values and
shanderds af one hurired yoirs 4f0 are lost for ever, Hot Lome ago a man found

neanin and shtisfaction in ais work; his exups grew before tis eyes and fed

ey

his family, cis owmability ereated his home and its furnishings-~there wae

true meanin: in this way of lire, Today trat source of meauing has been

rediced to burnin: a wilt on an acsembiy line, or eittine bchind a desk working

: ?
en one stage of @ process tht is hidden behind milea of puner und penails, /
What usaidng is Ghere for the san vhe ends an hour_und a hal’ driving to ?
work, eight hours working on paper ferns, aiother hour end a half dirving howe?
There is so_oroduct to comdete, no finishine touched te ald to the work of

*S : .
oxets own hands, just endless monotony, what meanind can there be we ask?

c

Ii this ts it untilwe retire, If our ssnart seventy gid years oo garth have

nothing more to offer than this—-life ls onmmty, life is meaninelesc indeed.

+

So rar I have been taliini about the way in witidh we huve been forced to

ask the big questions and the smci fie reasons why this ngs been called the

age of ancioty, Suk we are nob alone--men have bean asking about the nearing
: : &

hey

of life for tine aternal, Pathans our anitleties are greater but sesentially

we are faced .Ath the sane issue that men have tried : to resolve for aes3 /
rp

the sume issue thot bethered the x writer of the ninetgeth Peale

Toa frequently we think of the Paalter as merely pretty poctry, suitable
for funerals and for inspiration when we are depresséd, it hore in the 30th

Peale we hoar a man and a commit, taking the Bull by the horns and asking

the question of life's meaning. The 90th Paalm is 4 communal Lament, an act
of verghin that was performed at atice of erines-~pérhaps a military defeat
or a famine or droucht--or it may hove been serforsed yearly at a specified

tine. It excuses a Portliar thowsht, it's subject is mania insisnifieanee in

contrast to God's preatacss./ With cisrity and beauty the Psalsicot lanaemts the

apparent meaningless af huma: Lie.

iife is like dust, that ia bore one moment and the next be blown away. It

settles te .rorarily but is iifted ip and swirls out aft sivhbe wife is like 4

binde of arago-~thab is fresh ard new, glistening in tthe wetness of sorning-

but hich fades as the heav of the day blisters on ug and is withered by eveulng.

Life is Like a drega, the Picoting 4, thoudy world in ithe ve particinaute wile
“=<

slvexsing--but which we can nover quite recrcate in the norning.,/ at beat Life

will last seventy or ohahty yoars~-thie the eowinist seea in relation to Gud's
——ooee ret

aot anes. and eternity. - ‘tn God's sight a thowoand | ve ars are like yesterday

when 1t is pasig/n anoint of time ogeupled by yustarday-—today sees Vary

insignifieant, / Or again a thousand years are Like a sake in the night--three
brief hour. of sleep, In tole way the Pealoist addrguses the insignificance of
runanity, Lhe fleeting transiteriness of all life, His is truly a lament, a

sobering refiechion on the meaning of lire,

La
4

but man's short term existence is nob the only reason for Lamenting--thare

is uore athll. For man mamges tg £11] bis brief years with sing strife, hatred
and troubles. {fp if it ian't bad enough to live Life so very briefly--we mist

mike mbhers worse by fillings thet peried with cur opin evil. / MHow Long, ©

r

Lord?" cries the Peat Wahat does all this moan? is, there any meaning

to this suffering, these insignificant seventy years that at best only show
boli ant troublets

Tris is not time .orn nlety, bub a cogent statement of our anxieties. In

a

our Gase these game queslions of the ueaning ef life heave been magnified by

the desbruction of staisiari valugs and a new soolal order--ahd tuerefore we

find v’gyaln 90 spoeskin,: directly to our problens. Although the poaliiet lanents

his orediearent he has an anovex provided by his faith in Vad. «nd so the

Lasent is also wrayer, a prayer tnst is bern oub of the sontidence of faith.

In effect the Psalmist aives uhe answer before he states the queation./ Mort,

thou has. bee: sur dwelling place in all generations. Leflore the sountains

wore broucht forth, or ever thou hart formed the worl, fron evorlastin: to

averlestine thou art God," ) Thou hag bow our diel Ling: places the amatural

——s

rosidenee of the human goul is in Gol, the creator, This is the answar that

aoe

underlies the Psalnist's lanenting question about the brevity of life, Life is
short asd filled with sweat and toll, sin and struggle; ab times 1t takes one

wonder what it all means. 4nd yet the Paslalet ksowde--the Lord has been God

even before the mountains were ercabes and He has been wants dwelling place
and refuge in all gqmerations./ The Lard Ged provides _the shelter in the stor,

it is he vho gives meaning to our brief frail existence. ‘This realization was

salvation for the paatiist, knowing this he sould bear anything thab might

Pa

6.

occur in his life tims. Hs knew that ultimately fis idvweliing place was in

God; thic meaning provided hin reltet fran anxiety f ‘Sven though he wight
Taueat the anaver was known.

Pophaos vou think that the quosthen of Lifets madanding ig ony a nhileso-

f
miical or theoletical question, that it concerns you sob in the least.’ The reason
Loevent tine deserlbing anxiety and the conditions thet have usade us ask that

wuesidon «as to show how immortant is is te each sane nf as./ we live in a world

that forces us te ask “shut Is the meaning of Li fe?t Hand at the same time

we live in a world that is shiny WILh anuwers, we eaniot escape ite—it
fra te
srops up at us at every turny ve cam turn from it ond Wie avoid it or, ike

the Psalig at we Onn wreutle wilh iL in the faith thet there igs an euswer to

be found in Almichty Uod,

as I have said, everymun thet thinks at all aska tals question scona or

ister in his am way, It may net be worded dir set ly Honat is the meaning of

life--ay Life?" but nevertheless the issue at sonebiag oreaentie itself in

our mands./ Anil likewise everyman will find an ans sworkea valid ane or perhass

a cheap substitate. The Junier exeeutive who cannot find ieéarting in the

position as a cogin a siunt mrporation mechanisn aly find refuse from his

f

wight in hie cocktails,/ The business world is s filled With mon who caniob

f
sLindg a Menninvless exiatence, porferming a neaningLebs job in a meaniog.ess

process thit funetions in a muauingless world and whe find (or rather avoid}

bhe answer to the wiilss.te question in a bottle, / Soxpal promixeulty for many

helps oase the ageny of a Life devoid of nearing and talus. / fhe drug addict,

ar ee
en

ee

Fa

the alsoholic, the prestitde--haye all discovered cont ondent ticans of

eet

eseapins the ancarsnb enptineus of taeir Live

But these are exemiions ve cay, ve cartulniy are involved in none of the
é
BUOVEs! rut DT renind you that the question arises to abd of ys-—and in our on

Way we provide an answer or a siietibute, Hany of a Pinu westhog in iife in

a uhirl of achivities, | Pe work this wis ia Picted by ohrey president of
re .

+ da--sesretary of that. we work compolsively in our -eluke—or in our church,

_—

despemtiadly abbeintin: to Pind sox seth ulti te, sooth teas wa can lay our
tt >

hanis on, something «se aan call auc meanhige /

—o .
we can try te Pind the answer to the questi ef lige in our eccupations,

pubbing gur ail inte the jot, losin: ourselves in eur uork,

Se

de can atteims to find meaning in dedicating ourselves to doing good~-
ied :

suraly bee coning there

Put the Paalaist draws ws back. All these bhi ys arg fine--Lut they do

not nrevide true meaning. The; serve as 2 ten porary; bubsbifeie--a fdlirer, but

eveltualiy we ere braid

“ib to tha realisation toat thay too, Like Lite, are

ner-ly tencoral, Limited by tine audi spoce; brabslent: wil tapurary Like the

é : .
drean amt the blade of srass, Thise aubsetitutes do nbt save us froua the aimlety
that has beeome the halhluarh of our seneration. if apything, because they are

substitutes, they only inerosse our anxiety when we realise that se have been

epsratin;: under an illusion, when -e realine that our refuge ls omiy a replice-

A Men a ae a

ment for that which is real,

—_

"Lord, thou host been ur dwelling place in al 1 Berarabions Thigis an

answer that doas nob ais near to oven be taken a. eros dy my ou cultures, That

the Lord God Almichty, who Aas created is ant swiainoius de sluo the source
Eno Aas 2) Gee

peanbis dows not osom to be an wh orinaid Vee ih The Pealmiath lors berore

he asked andve do vel to heed bis words, In an anxbeby ridden borld we ara

invited tu find meardinig in a ded «no ds all pocerfal, bie nos brought us forth

in lovin? creation, whose stemity ctauds alone, Ther¢ Le nothing alee that

a

13 infinite gual cberaaljy/foverthinge-ouc lives, our dagfires and drcanse-

3
ail fade and wither Lb ies the biade of grass. God along is ubbinebe, he alons
Le the souree of lifets meaning.

28 Christians, by being here tis -:raing, we afftir:. iat thu we Know

aril setter we testity tieat wa hove found meaning in pur dou uu ly we

mart cat thia trust inte oreratieos, placine proper giz £4 SL cance in that which

eee,

ig tesnoral--ond that whieh is termed / e@ know that dive han mogidug, that
. i A a a
there ars EMBO NE 60 our questi one perthat in God se may find our iefuse,
Sn tnt : ps are
Lindel

wosteLorde=Pho. tna been onr d.clling place in al) senépatdocs,

Hi@ns