a

|

7 a "l ayanle tee Be a te Ae des ns, F i Fal 7. oh
me: Ae: We bv tne gates of Vienna ;\ ror the r¢pentance of Margaret; ti

for the settlement of a strike; for 4a son for 4 barren woman; | ror Capt
eects Me 3 0. i

5o and So 4 wounde: and orisoner of wars\ while the lions roared in the

nearby supe theetiaey jo the beach at Dunkirk; \while the hiss of’ seythes
in the thick June greass came faintly through the windows of the church;
tremulously, by an o1d monk on the fiftieth anniversary of his vows;
furtively, by an exiled bishop who had hewn timber all aay in a prison
camp near Murmansk; gorgeously, for the canonisation of S. Joan of
Are;~-one could fill many pages with the reasons why men have done

this, and not tell a hundredth part of them. 4nd best of all, week

by week and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays,
faithfully, unfailingly, across all the parishes of Christendom,

the pastors have done this just to make the plebs sancta Dei--the holy

common people of God.
To those wno know a little of Christian history, probably the most

ree

moving of all the reflections it brings is not |the thought of the

ere23t events and the well-remembered saints, but of those innumerable

millins of entirely obseure fsithful men and wamen, every one with his
or her own individual heres and fears and joys |and sorrows and loves-~--

and sins and temptations and prayers--once every whit as vivid and alive
as mine are now. They have left no slightest trace in this world,

not even a name, but have passed to God utterly forgotten by men.

Yet each of them once believed and prayed as I believe and pray, and
found ~eeem. it hard and grew slack and sinned and repented and fell

again. Sach of them worshinoped at the eucharigt and found their

o
&

pan

4

thoughts wandering and tried again, and felt heavy and unresponsive

and yet knew--just as really and pathetically as I do these things...
The sheer stupendous gquanitty of the love of Gdd which this ever
repeated action has drawn from the obscure Christian multitudes through

the centuries is in itself an overwhelming though. (All that going with

LD: LS rat LR iT TLE 7h Li

“| oe ee | cs
lifts £2 Wes id LA / i
Tam 4 4 4. ; = | *
Th ; are i oom a Phy 4 og rer 2 hy
Le ~e bY ae LO eS Wile tiie 2 Ve thiile,
eT
Fi sy ale im 2 ws
rial
or 20 eentu rigs oe@n the sign send sea
oe
4 = Fi é og ag Pe ‘3
12 poten lL unity of S31 me \ 1S Wwe
ae Se
+ 1. .
‘era aaste i a Fe] akc ei 4 oe f - oat va |e ie oe . i Fa} = cities ee
weer 218 prayer at that first communion; Iet us recall vividly
a ie SS, "a
i

that hie deepest concern was that in finding him we might find each

—__

other and @vF lost unity.\ For this cause--he| died

I conelude by reading from the "Shape of the Lt tangy" Je eSsanit

work of English scholarship--a section, poetically describing the
. 2s

unifying force of the Sacrament:

' ; ; |
"Jesus said: 'This do in rgmembrance of me.| Was ever another command

See
SO obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every conti-

nent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been
ey —_

done, in every conceivable human circumstance, |for every conceivable
———— SL

human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after

————————— een Rr
it, | from the pinnacles of earthly greatness to) the refuge of fugitives
—— a

in the caves and dens of the earth | Men have found no better thing than

this to do for kings at their crowning and for|jcriminals going to

the scaffold; for armies in triumoh or for a bride and bridegroom in
‘

a little country church, for the proclamation of a dogma or for 43 g000

crop of wheat; for the wisdom of the Parliament of a mighty nation, or

for a sick old woman afraid to die:|for a schoglboy sitting an
7oe—_-__e re,

examination, cor for Columbus setting out to discover anenies ;| ror the
ie

fomine of whole provinces,or for the soul of a ldead lover; |in thankful-

—— ae a —,_

ness because my father did not die of penumonia;|for a village headman

|
|

au
ar

ch tempted to return to fetish because the yame had faited;| because

‘the unity, or disunity, of man is rapidly emerging as the most

serious problem confronting the 20th century. \ when We survey the intern-

——

ational scene we see hothing but a shambles; ig nation against big

nation; | separate power blocks at loggerheads With each other | recal-

citrant new nations playing both sides against the middl e | In the past
owl
year we navewatched theet} oF Jle expression jof unity, the U.N. come
Aid

stani-stil

to a grinding, paralyzed matt a ind there ‘same to be no relief in
sight, \ the eUth century with all is technological blessings--its
|

genius for communication and rapid transportatiion, instead of making man-
kind aware of a unity and oneness has seemed only to make us more
alienated and separated than before.

The same thing has happened within our own nation.\ 100 yrs. after

the civil _ war we find ourselves on the far side of a great gap that

divides North from soutn.| The rapid urbanization of our culture has
eae oo

thrown millions of people together in big cities and the resultant

problems have bean, to date, nearly impossible to solve.

Unity is a concept--about which we know very little--because unity

simply doesn't seem to exist anywhere os Even within the Church, the

forees of disunity have long been at work « bnte day of the Ecumenical
movement when churches are at least king eerd ously about unity, it
is helpful to remember that those talking are $till a minority.\ Thus

—

far the numerical majority of Protestants--Ss. Baptist, the millions
SS ee mes i

of independent rural churches, even the Lutherans have abstained from

any talk of unity.

ind of course within each local church welhave seen and experienced

the forces of disunity | It seems sometimes thgt the church, that
neal

institution that ought to be displaying to the|world a living example

of the new unity of Jesus Christ, is the place |where people are the

most vindicative. and the most alienated from dne another.

——_

]

|

pe fare '

» in great urban sprawls, |
Xe

essed fellowship into

il

in our midst--we

ready present where

bh gather to celebrate

beecl2use we live together ene people ever dix
wners is our lost anity?/ Where is that bl
whieh Jesus Christ calls us? | It is here; it i
needn't bother looking elsewhere, for it is al
Jesus Christ is present, and where Christian m
~ —_—_ Sar «
it by Communing together.

jesse: Chrcsk” Yor “ae

ramatically expr

The unity of ¢bestisctsses Was never so di
; ; | dtseiple
ag at the table in the upper room--when trey ‘s!

4 common cup.\ sever is it so near to us as whf

Supper by remembering and by participating in

2
hare c

1 a common loaf

and
bhh we caé@ebrate that

Lt together,

Jesus concluded his prayer and went from

the upper room to his

arrest and his death. |As we approach our remel

nbrance of those events--

oo
We We prepare ourselves to incorporate them in

let us remember his prayer--let us remember hi
pM 6 Maal ete

LO Our own experience,

hy

b

petition that \"they

even as thou, Father, art in mé¢

oe
ee

may all be on
they also may be in us, so that the world may |

sent me,"

b
rr?

and I in thee, that

believe that thou hast

and that its sole purpose is to provide us with _inspiration, or knowledge,

——— ~~

or information or Fellowship, or whatever we happen to need “| But as

he concluded his _iast meal with the twelve upon whose shoulders the work

would rest, our Lord prayet to God--that they should be consecrated

to the task he began.| He prayed that they would go into the world

SeEVe
and thef€ some , and preach and heal, and if need be, aie. | As we think

of these words--as we prepare ourselves to commune with him and with

each other, we ought to be considering our own witness.( Have we,

as a church, gone out--have we as individuals brogght the newness we

have fou\{d in Jesus Christ to bear on our world thpough acts of service

and humble chairty? \Hasour faith--sent us out with a burning| zeal

to display, in our lives, the goodness of the good news?
The fourth theme of our Lord's prayer has to be wich.un | (on do wat
pray¢ for these only but also for those who are to believe in me
through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou Father,
act in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the

world may believe that thou hast sent ne.) Up|to this point Jesus has

seen praying for the diseipies.| We can relate | ourselves to the

concerts expressed in his prayer; unity, a right relationship with the
world, and an effective witness in the world, \ But suddenly we find

f t* fy abe uy aa
élyes hoe _in as our Lord thought nisienaetl ek ie who would come

—

i
after; | Not only these, but also for those who are to believe through

their word."| Snd what is Je sus! eoncern for the millions of men ana

whowould, in facet, believe through their word?! What was his concern

for us who taodsy, 20 centuries later, believe because ey spoke their

wora?| Once again we return to the theme of unity- frtnat they may

all be one--so that the world may believe that /thou hast sent me.

Of all the possibilities--this is what Jesus prayed for his church--

ee

not that it be strong or numerous or wealthy or successful; but they

may all be one.

Jesus prayed that his disciples should be one--and they proved,
as men ever since have proved, that they badly needed that prayer.
The second theme of our Lord's prayer has to do with the disciple's

relationship with the worna |r do not orgy that thou shouldst take

them out of the world, but that thou shouldat|) keen them from the evil

a4 14, et sap top a Dia wie vic Lem Fo ta a a . hey Abe } ” 1. seh fe he
eke bob waste tly ALi, ¢ \ re rit OF 2¢ Bnew CFOSt men of LAitn down Ceo oaeeas trie

ae te, * re wea Le b — oe oo = 2 ee . ci he ey iy eo a Z
CONvAPsesS WOuUsg Near Ais Worcs, Nis ethnical imperatives and seek to
oil shall , -———
4 4 4 4 a a = ud - a a i P.
fulfill them by withdrawing from the world.| Resin his prayer touched
—- —— Ss 1s = —
oo 4 ees ss be Tayicsy abe eee re ae fe pate he fe hag a a = i 7 : _—s i ~ ae ee Ss a sy E =
ttt LESS Liab pal Sa .nea yo HOCNeE PES tne CPT a Ft Hos CoO age ep the rea Lit;
a —— $$ _______
Poe] Pe a ee | he Yn eS, a ig pa dee ay at a ey Se ore a an ek * 2 eee 4 4 serge ese Pete a ow
Vl Cvil--tne Necesh.icy Of Combating and overegming Llt--and remain in
|
$ Lb
che Yo son typ aed gs ce Coe | ew Ej *~ ‘ " | 4-2, = " seas hs Po ee PY Flees jes " = a ‘Z I
whe centurics, \ ang 2 LS @ very sive issue today | The monks answered
_ |
a, ‘Ss

by withdrawing completely from ail worldlinest. | In their guiet

monasteries, isolated from the natural interchange of communal living,

wed
they Bes what they thought to be the truly righteous lite. | Bat in a

very real sense they were doing precisely what Jesus praye# that

*

his disciples would not do. \ John Milton had little time for what

he called “cloistered virtue" but consistantly men have faith been

satisfied only with virtue that is cloistered behind brick monastry

walls--or a rigid wali of the mind. \ the Puritans answered the age

kold question by living in self imposed monasticism.\ To be sure, they

lived in the world and participated in sociey+-but hated every minute

of it. | Theid ethic demanded that they shun all pleasure --that
i¢ gemanaed anol al

frigality . stern discipline and solemnity were equivalent to

isolated from the reality of life.

or example given to the aisciples.| But in the 17th chapt. of John we
a 3
find a prayer that Jesus prayed--and so its centent is of particular

significance for us.

same

The prayer can be broken down into four separate sections. \there
are four distinct themes that are expressed in the prayer--and I

wish to discuss each one of them briefly.

The first theme has to do with the unity of the disciples.

t tiny Hather, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that

they may be one, even as we are one."| To "“keap them in thy name"

sounds at first like one of those religious cliches that we use but

Ca
rarely understand. | What does it mean? | Jesus! mode of address if

a

a

Holy Father--and if this is the name in which the disciples are to be

kept it indicates a rather specific vetationsitip | tm other words--
——— — | —

(“ret them be thy children--be their father--and help them to sustain

i re Sa a] 1 a 7 7
that blessed relationship. [ the Fatherhood of God has consistantly been

=

one of the clearer images with which men have understood and de:

ti
fal

é

La a

ti
ch

the Greator. \ #2 the Jew, with his strongly gatriarchal or--fatner-

exoerience . \ the significsnee of calling God ‘father," however lies in

@

the relationship it implies between aen. | If God is one man's father,

née is also another man's father--and this, of course, makes the two
Sciam rnd

men brothers . | This is what Jesus meant when he prayed that the
disciples be “kept in thy name that they may be one." \rt was a very

real unity he désired for them--a oneness that would be grounded in

the fatherhood of their God.
When we look back through the pages of history, to the first century,

we discover that_the effect the early Christians had on the world was

\\

Of course many marrioges are not successful and many more that
pci Ma

appear

Oo be tranguil are not. \ and one thing|that is missing is the

vO accept and forgive.\ Likewise thre is|not a group of individuals

et
m4
ct
ae

ae)

io?)

S$ not mage its internal strife, its hidden animosities, its

bickering and petty picking--under the surface and many times over and

ee

above the surface for all to see.

But, there is no place for this nere..| Let me say this as firmly

33 poserpres/a ll our talk about God's forgivaness--all our weekly

prayers of confession are meaningless noises until we learn to forgive

each other, \In fact, according to Matt. parable --until we see that

apnea

rayer of confession--as our confession to one another and the assurance

of pardon as our forgiveness of each other--the whole ritual is itself,

an offense to God,
SR Me

in the Sacrament of Holy Communion both of these tehemes converge

as they do no Where else in the life of the Church. \ 4s we break bread

te!

'
ang drink the cup togethr we are accepting Gods provison for our
& a is: >
forgiveness .\ As we commune we are accepting hiis dove that enfolds us
eT |

ee ont
eu ee ae ra] a i eae: gin Es aia eae haten a ee, ee . - , : en to ee
Lt BULLE Of Our orrensiveness; we are reverentiy accepting tne death
eaditie Pace vee:
of Jesus Christ--the sign and seal of our for giveness
But in the Preshby. tradition we serve these elements to each other.

The Elders serve me--I serve the Elders--and they serve you.\ As _we
tree a Ee

do this we areexpresing our communion not only with God, but through

Jesus Christ, with each other. \se we hand the) elements to our e
ct

Ww
heighbor we are aaxink I confess

and to other men./ I ask God for stil “isi i vil x you too §
/ Same ~
We receive the elements we are vg:("1 acces jour confession! '!

i accept you as you are. Because God forgives me--so I forgive you.’

coe

The Churchk of Jesus Christ is the community of the forgiven}:

a a tice

the community that exists wherever men admit their sin and accept

ete
—

G

as a being of absolute goodness and truth. \ concurrent with this has

been the accute awareness that natural man is not a being of goodness
she f eee LS 2 Ot 2000n

and truth--and that man's failure is an offense to cod .\ Man's religions

therefore, have been structured attempts to gain that goodness and

truth and thus remove the offensiveness.

——,

But of all the many varying expressions of man's religious anxiety
festa ast

one differs from all the rest. \ In principle the religion of the
eS

Israelites acknowledged that thre was nothing man could do to remove his
i !

offensiveness; and that anw forgiveness would have to be intitiated

oT
by God, \ thus the 130th Paaimy{ "Is thou oO Lord shouldst mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand? )But there is forgiveness with thee .")Notice
I said, in principle, because Jadaism dia lapse into the old pattern
a —
of attempting, through various reliious laws 4nd rituals to gain

tee

God's forgiveness..\ But at bottom there lingered the conviction that

——_,

Fit ("co marked iniquities no one could stand | Shne that man's only

{ .
hope was the affirmation that( "there is forgiveness with thee." )

eer

It's quite difficult to think of oneself jas an offense to God.

And it's even more difficult to accept the Christian doctrine that

ed

there is nothing much we can do about it. Bere thts +s-s+411 +he-sprin

board of our” fatth and-we-stiti-eailounaffis afflietien—sin. ;
“This i \octause — 9x: de weeps vs fron msenede tvs Bor Qu shKQ eo

o r root sin is pride or self centerednes -| We make ourselves into

God's: we refuse to let anything replace the omnipresent a Be at the

sa 1

center of our worides iro here could deny vhs he is motivated by self’

Who here could mee that he takes special pride in even his practice

of religions \ who here has not felt the subtly of self esteem for

being so generous” ‘for being so faithful to the, Churbh; for doing an

act of diewnany | And so, sin being pride, we readily see that there

eee

——— ee. = die -

[t's terribly difficult to be specific when trying to describe an extremely subjective or

personal experience, And so the N.T. doesn} t _telj us we should feel - or how salvation

——$——— in

is experienced in any but the most generak terms.

But if does proclaim toudly and clearly

that the new creation Is here: | that salvation has become @ possibility within a man's li fee

— ——__

time: jand if epens the door to,all who would maggx enter, |
Now having said that | want to tell you how the chunch has traditionaally described
the new creation: or how it might answer the question: ("Hdw does It feel to be saved?" )

| would start your thinking by _merely pointing in three directions ‘\ First salvation means
can be
that there f meaning to our Lives. |For, many people this Is xamz an all-important matter.

(“wnat significance Is there to my small existence? |Of what ‘consequense am | In a life, the

very largenss of which threatens to swallow my identity?") The N.T. answers that God

loves you and me and every man, enough to die for us4 and ‘this | would suggest, is the

deepest meaning we could ask for our lives.

ty

aecenely salvation means a feeling of being at home in the vord.\Estrangenent and

alienation are the by-words of our generation. \In a time of rapid social and cultural

change there seems to be little to hang on te: little to give us security and confidence.

And into our sense of frustration God thrusts himself in Jesus Christ Inviting us to lean

on him, to put our f faith In him who remains eternally stabile in the face of all IIfe's

intrangencies.

Finally, salvation means the peace and assurance that God's love is ‘Sternal.:= that

ee eee

It begins with in the confines of life and extends beyond.| Deep In our subconscolius fs a

a dread of death: as we grow older this dread becomes ever mmore conscious sut, Jesus

Christ is God's sign that his Love is eternal: that the love that created us continues

even beyond fhe iattations of tempore! existence.

Sateatton Wes Nol Mes te without suffering or fensten-or anxiety

mentioned earlier that every man inherently has a thirst for soemthing more, something

deeper and more meaningful than life offers. \ tis need and this search have never changed.
But over the years the church has. axistiankky

Christianity Is not very important to a majority of people In the world today, nor
a majority of the citizens of this nation: and If aftendance and giving statiesics

mean anything, It Is not a matter of life or death to the majority of church members.

And ny? think one good area in which to pursue and answer is this matter of salvation.

ee

Christianity today simply does not appear to be cancerned with it: the Good News that

the Kingdom of God Is present is not preached , — and It is| not oes Man's search
continues, however: we still need and search for that something more we have called

selvation.\ But more often than not organized religion has gfailed to meet that need.

What difference does Christ meke? Host people would have to answer very little:

for most people think of Salvation In terms of heaven , a place In the Sky wh where good
people go after death, and that's | all | tat Christ might make a difference here and now
is simply not a viable thought for the vast majority of people today. | The deep irony here

is that the church is to blame. | For ft is the church that has put all its eggs in th

basket of a heavenly reward after death. wi has been organized Christianity that has torn
Salvation away from life and deposited it In the here-aéter.\ It has been the church that

has used this pie in the sky approach as a merchantable item, when cobined with a vivid

——— oe

fear of hell's torment and man's selfish desire to IIve forever, | In short, it has been

the church that has destroyed _ the Biblical doctrine of salvation.

And SO who goes to _churcha| Present company exehited of course, those who are worrled

——

about death, these who have been teught to fear the torture of hell. \Or to take the opposite

appreach: where does a man take his thirst for meaning in life?) Where does aman go with
— : — —

his 3 Search for that somethign more that he knows Is there but has been — to find?
Where does a man take his deepest need?| Not to organized religion, for his view of the church

Is a crusty 1 Institution that hones In on 1 death, while Igoring man's s depest need which

happens to be very much In _the eoeeienes we need any further evidence than the average

drunken debauchery of the ancient mystery religioss whereby an entire_community was

accepted system of salves a the Christian _monsstic, ss sacking out his salvation away

—=

from the nolse, temptation and business of everyday life in the solitude of the
monastery. | In fact, it Is fair to observe that the general .consensus of mankind has
been that ift there Is such a thing as salvation, if must be found apart form ordinary
Living.| And so musch of man's religiousness has been an attempt to create the condi tions

through which life could be escaped and denied.

Related to this whole general movement is another: this one looking for salvation

after 140,| me ancient Israelite's had a healthy sense of God's eternity: they knew

—

that a God who had created them,a God who cared enought about them to make them a

nation ang reveal to them his law, was certainly not going to abandon them when they died.

Men off faith have always concurred, And yet, once estanblished this doctrine of salvation

after life lent itself to extreme abuse, As the historical situation worsened for the

Jews, salvation or deliverance was seen more and more as soenthing that was going to

happen after earthly I1Fe. |so entrancing—end comforting was this kama thought that it

quickly overshadowed all other religous Ideas.\Life may be misreable now, but everything

will be all right In the here-after. \And of course, if salvation is a stste of existence

ane ———

that begins at the point of death, and only then, It Is not difficult to pooceed to the

logical sequence: |that salvation Is a reward bestowed on those who have been particulairy

ws

good and deserving during their life time.

These are the directions man's search for salvation has taken, both within_and without

——.

Christianity.| In actuality, the Bible teaches somehting quite aitterent.| As usual the
Old and New Testaments are amazingly consistant here, when we look beyond the peculiar

vatiations of specific peronslalties and tiene) Par the Israelite, salvation wa samenz
em =

historical,\that is.it commenced now,in.the present. \s the Old testament, salvation

} aie casi |

meng\t deliverance from oppression, death, slavery or hardship: it was soemthing that God

a meal =| ) pueerpemcegea.:

did for his people that they could see and exper lence.| God saved the people when he brought
oa = _ oe SAPS ——— <

them out of Egypt and delivered them, literally, out of the hand of oppression. God save

——___