(cop's @Reat tyes"\eSo | . Bethany Presbytertan Church

L-+Corinthtans |:b5=22 Lafayette, Indiana
February 18, 1973

John M. Buchanan
4x th. JO* week in Feo the entire

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a VY dhe reflomn gf @e, PO. 3. Sandra's fete~
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da. natin ats me:

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hat WS CCL ¥ &

et the time (PS yeu aa sontelig. ch fee s men ger eee plases oe Osa-ke et Ate an Phe Mi prsey
3 ag Time Magazine called \"A celebration of Men Redeemed." Y and that is
eR en a -

nemeeannaiinenl _ et cone,

exactly what It was. As we watched it on television we wanted to shout and clap and sing
— ‘ ,
the "Star Spangled Banner" , or perhaps weep the tears of profound joy.\ For redemption

secre

is a beautiful thing indeed \ They had known the power and reality of death\, They had

experienced what it means to have life say "notte live without hope - without a future -

Saale [ied

and with the possibilities severely restrained.\ But now, suddenly, dramatically, life had
said "Yes", \ They were free and alive.
Captus
Several phenomena are common to men in patsshy | ate is incredibly boring and time is
no longer precious - or even very important.\ A clinical psychologist for the V.A. put

it in these words: [no one who has not been totally at the mercy of other human beings

can understand it.\ It brings a feeling of total helplessness and then a fantastic apathy.”

"Filled with guilt, concerned only with hysical survival, the prisoner often
Pp s 1 mmieianacied

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becomes obsessed with trivial rituals and trivial goals. \ 14 is routine to spend hours

folding a blanket, because it Is one of the few things a Sey can do from which he can get
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a feeling of effectiveness if he does it well.) A psychiatrist explains that, [rwany

prisoners learn to cope with their situation by setting up low-key reactions in themselves -

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a kind of little death to save themselves from a bigger deotn."| (Time, 2/19/73, P. 18)

Their plight was best summarized In the gray, grim photographs we occasionally saw:
—as —

one | shall never forget, two men in those colorless pajamas feeding pigeons, and the
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expression on their faces displayed a kind of blank concentration, and a total absence of

Joy © iw Febives
7 t ; W "
And then suddenly one day -+est-week they were free: \life suddenly said "Yes" to
—S ——SSE—E— SSS

them - they could say "Yes" to life, Wes! to the future, \"Yes" to the people they had

Their testimeng wes that the;
learned to live without.\ 3 expeet they feet more alive than they ever have before; almost

as if they have been resurrected from a kind of slow, gray death on earth. \ -+erpeet Al

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their senses ape alert and tamst their wives and children and parents lookmore beautiful
a ES. ea Leena ciaetell

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to them than they ever did in the past: ememct Fhe noises of an American city sounded] ike

a symphony to them \\ Hes the land look good -~+that food tasted better than they ever

iy, ~2=
remembered [+ testing.| i was delighted to read that the Air Force had a supply of biand
o_o (meena t ere i
foods on hand so they wouldn't have to plunge right into standard American fare \. But
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hobody wanted tit was al! steak and eggs and ice cream| | was also delighted to read that

these men who had spent years of drab, dult introspection ~ and who were expected to need

some time to adjust to freedom, tried..te commandeer a bus on their second night to get to

the officers! club.

Suddenly life said "Yes" to them:| sudden y they wene free to say "Yes" to 11 fe:\sudden-

iy dead men started to live against ngs a "celebration of redemption" and a thing of

beauty to behold \ And | am certain those brave and happy_ men would not mind if f suggested

Lay ae en ae

re,

that their experience is a striking analogy to what happens to men when they sense what God
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has done in Jesus christ. | For just as tite said "yes" to the prisoners of War last weskfed.
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and just as they are beautifully and dramatically free to say "Yes" fo life, so Jesus

Christ is God's way of saying "Yes! to us, and our treedom to say "Yes" to our fives.
Stemi a, peti | re,

That is how St.Pau} had it\ tn hls second Letter to the early Christian Church at
Corinth Pau! is defending himself from the charge that he had been fickle and dishonest
ae a ee rma

because of a change in his travel plans. \ And in the process of his defense, he gets into
res, ss,

some heavy and stgnifticant theology | The J.B. Phillips translation articulates i+ most
av ay, —

trical,

Clearly:|("Jesus Christ, the Son of God...he is the divine ‘vest. Every promise of God

finds its affirmative in him, and through him can be said the final Amen, to the glory of

Le eal i

God. \ we owe our position in Christ to this God of positive promise." |

The God of the Old Testament, the God of Israel » was a’ God of promise | In that
Se al al

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portion of Isaiah which we read this morning the prophet says:|"Behol 6, 1 am doing a new

bee nal

thing, now ft springs forth, do you not perceive it?\u am He who blots out your trans~

gressions... and | will* not remember your sins."\ In the Psalter we read: freven though |

walk through the valley of the shadow of death | will fear no evil \ For thou_art with ne" |
hed ftsiom chet Go Pratt trys pri Sem PSP ST ery Se SSpPes ences
wer 2 BS 1 And Hosea:) "How can | give you up, O Ephriam! | How can

| hand you over, © israel ,\ My heart recotls within me, my compassion grows_warm and

render. \I will. n , 1 will notagain destroy Ephriam''
Tender \ will, not execute my fierce anger, |] wili not again de rey Epar

Well, all. of that, Paul ascerted, was confirmed by God in Jesus christ. \ christ is
bee) . :

3

God's "yes" to all the promise of his people down Through the centuries. \ ane because of

God's "yes", man can say 'lyes" te his own life.\ Paul saw human existance in terms of two

ater, rer, i .,

rather clear categories Vine category of sin and death \ and the category of Christ and life.

All men are caught by death, the ultimate "no" to human tifeX Al! men are ensnared in
mead Se aan emee nad ' scene

their own sin which also negates Lite-\ But in Chirst, Paul taught, men are literally
Faerie ciel ie a _ Fae]

transferred from one realm to the otrer.\ to Christ men are free from death, and alive -
a ean, mind coiti,

really alive. Before life said "no", and men {ived an existence that says tnot | But
—eremamaeti Semaine aan] a
after Christ - or after a man hears the Good News - fife comes as a great nyes".\ Basic
ee as, ~—e

to it all is that the_Life of a Christian, the life of salvation is new and full and open
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and exciting: a "yes" in the face of all the world's "nots",
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And yet, isn't i+ strange and vexing the way the Gospel ~ God's Great Yes - keeps

coming across somehow as a tng" \ Goats "no" to man's sin, which is legitimate enough,
rer ne ee et ee br

only we've never been able to let It go at that. \ Instead it becomes God's "no" to man,
Lnansan ae rcinsaminal

a ee asennad

which becomes man's "no" to himse! # \ which becomes a "no" to the world and other people.
— ec, aaa Pal cpa —_— eee

And is it any wonder that though we confess our sins over and over again with monotonous '
Da al Dm al ial en |

cee Feito aed ined

regularity we never really feel forgiven, accepted and leved by 6oa?| "Repent and be saved,"

the Bible teaches, and what that means - when you begin with a divine "no" tnstead of a

x eecicl

"yes" is that we must turn away - away from sel flavey #rom the world which is full of sin
ne ace ETSI cicero,

and temptation | ang ultimately, tragically ~- away from people who happen not to agree
ve eid Sint, pees

with us | And repentance and salvation come_off sounding like a Kind of spiritual prison

& Ww i
H I : it it
Instead @ beautiful duet @n the word yes" sung by God and ourselves,

Fate

in an article on repentance Wes Seeliger, and Episcopal ian chserves:| "Repentance means
"turning' A turning from something to something else] We are all moralistic. So we think

of repentance as giving up this or that little vice and putting more umph {nto our efforts

aman

To be good,
— "But the ‘turning! demanded by our faith is more protound\ 1's an Inside-out change.

Repentance means turning away from a dead, cramped defensive stance toward life. \ tt means

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giving up our cherished excuses for not being fully alive. av means knocking down the walls

that keep other people at arm's length \ 1+ means going into ali situations with eyes,

heart and head wide open.
—

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"Repentance means turning to a new world.\ New, not because it wasn't there before,
P LL el! ES , aren aiii

but new because you are seaing it for the first time.\ Repentance means pushing yourse! f
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beyond the borders of a safe, comfortable lite.\i+ means becoming fully alive in Christ...
ge ens — =
( ALL teeNhaeyealt ines; |

The Church,hewever, has for too long been promoting a neurotic and sick theology: 60d

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saying "no" to man; ‘(man feeling guilty and saying "no" to himsett \ "no" to the vortdl And
meneame aires

it is a simple truism that people whe don't like themselves and distrust the world are going
be 5

to be particularly unpappy people \ They may spend an inordinate amount of energy trying to
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1 an i i t
pretend that they're happy because the Bible says that's the way it ought to be.| But uscratch

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the surface and you't! find a neurotic guilt that feeds on itself:fa guilt that can not

be alleyiated: jand a |!fe that has to be shackled, restrained, confined, because behind
— ‘veces. neem comm MT

it all Is a frowning, wrethful God who says"no" to his people.
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In Jesus Christ God has said "yes".\ We know, from our own parenting, that a chiid's
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basic attitude toward life begins to take shape with the first human contact. \ ane it's

——,,
going to be either positive or negative, \loving or hating\ trusting or nistrusting,\enbrecting
el i ‘emma en] en er

or pushing, open or closed, | Yes or No\ depending on the way parents and other significant

aduits deal with the child.) A child who is not comforted and caressed, who is handled
enema a

brusguely, who is left alone to cry tnstead of being fed and changed and rocked tearns
enone —a senna

very quickly that someone out there is saytng "net, that the world js a suspicious and

children are so full of
treacherous place.\ Battered fself hatred and negative feelings that they become suspicious,

untrusting, unloving aduitts In serious emotional trouble We know that a child lfearrnsto

mee Te,

say Yes to himself and to life and to the whole worid out there - because his parents

say Yes to him. \ And at the very heart of the Gospel, and the very essence of the Christian
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idea of salvation, is a father God who has said an eloquent and loving "yes! to us.
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so, | would suggest, to be a Christian, te stand in the Good News, is to say Yes to

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oneself first ~ then yes to other peopfe - and finally yes to the world.

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Saying yes to self is first and most Important. \} can say yes to myself - who | am -

physicalty - intellectually ~ emotionally - because my parents sald Yes to ne.\ On a
‘i [ee ce —— Cy
deeper level | can say "yes" to self because God has said "yes" to me in Jesus Christ.

And yet we Ifve in a culturat ctimate that frequently says "no" to us as persons, and
—— natn ier nies Sr

pda oy wate ey Gib

‘ov veer wore QUAKE
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thoreis no better example than the changing public view of human sexual Ity.\ sone would have
De eine) dataraeiaE DRC AC Tailcat al
GAIN Yes te sar -
us believe that we have finally arrived: |that victorian prudishness has been put to rest
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and That we are now free to enjoy the lusty sexuality God has given us\ And the result Is

a veritable tidal wave of pornography in books, motion pictures and noqazipes| the sex sexu” | ity

TN,

—_—e

now being celebrated under the guise of freedom Is not saying "ves" to the human body.\\ For
a

—

in fact It Is a pale shadow of true eros. | wit few exceptions cinema sex, playboy sex is

Impersonal, phony, oppressive, -gollilli@tk. and ultimately pretty boring.\ [t+ can be watched and

read without personal Involvement, without passion and celebration and soy.\ We have, Rollo
ne — nrerrintiionier Cn aanieiiial

May ascerts (Lew amdmitel) in our time killed Eros - the Greek God of love, the life force
ba ale bie eae anes ee

and replaced [+ with something sleazy catled “eroticism which Is simply an obsession with

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physiological nechanics.| And which Is a denial + a no - to the deepest human need to love
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and to be joved.
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God's "yes" means we may say “yes” to ourselves :\we may accept ourselves as fovable
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creatures of dignity and vorth| we may enjoy being whe we are without shame and without
ee aatll eee _—_——s

folse modesty. \ And because we have sald "yes" to self we can begin to say "yes" to others.
—wee i, a |

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To see the people with whom we have contact as individuals to whom God has also sai "Wee 4
De eel

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creatures of werth whose need to be loved and cared for and tistened to Is every bit as
mew ae

real as our own. | Not opponents to be bested, not competitors in the game of {fife but
beeen eneenieiimnmial —

beautiful, unique creations of God - +

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Canal
+,
.

And finally "yes" to the wor la \ "Yes" to the world Ged loved snough to sand his Son

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into.\ Yes to all the beauty out there hidden tn the commonplace 4 yes to all the dirt and

trouble and strife) "Yes" because God has said id "es", A young people's prayer of thanks~
ae ben a ell
giving says itall: ~ som 4 the Gre weet haw be Pnmdbacte -
pier ae "Neu
"O give thanks to the Lord for he Is good. Merb Mitral i 7

We thank thee for hamburgers with onions, } gt

for french fries and cokes.
For thick, juicy steaks, for ice cold milk,
For salted cashew nuts, for hot, buttered rojls,

For delicious apples, and milk cheddar cheese.

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O give thanks to the Lord for he ts good.

We thank thee for blue jeans, tennis shoes

ritchie,

and big sloppy sweat shirts.
For warm, wooly kne@-socks and soft, roomy loafers.

For summer dott i i
er ane tts sun, Its burning sand and sea

For the crunching of autum leaves underfoot,

For rainy days ~ for Christmas trees.

ai

O give thanks to the Lord, for he 15 good. ( Dipmcmmbitqmohninhen iyi car eee? )

Because God has said "Yes" we may ay "yes" to the world.) f+ is not, contrary to
eel aml | |

popular belief, a terrible, treacherous place Our repentance is not, contrary to popular
Se ae |

om-

but neurotic theology,a matter of turning away from +. \ Wordly" is not, contraty +o the
_Ee

a, os

going definition, a bad word but a good one.\ Because God has said "yes" to the world we
ial

can embrace and love it and live in with a passionate and undying commitment.
— ee a al

The tate Dag Hammarskjofd recorded his own spiritual pilgrimage in a book entitled
TT

"warkings. | On April 7, (953 he wrote
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Call

| "To be free, to be able to stand up and leave_everything behind - without looking
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back} to say Yes - " (RP. GI)

And then later that same day:

("To say yes to life is at one and the same time to say Yes to oneself.

—

And then on Whitsunday, I94|

") don?+ know who - or what put the question. | | don't even know when it was put.
ir ee |

i don't even remember answering. \ But at some moment | did answer Yes ‘to someone or some-
— Tn. D mnaneamenanaemmminll cdi ee

thing -\and from That hour | was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore,

—

—

my life, in self-surrender, had @ goal.." (P.205)

Ta be a Christian is to respond to God's yes by saying "yes" to ourselves, to others

and to the worid. \" is to do so in the face of the ultimate Tno' - the reality of death -
eee —s —" a

our own death.) Just as the Prisoners of War are today more alive than they ever were
eer Deni, —en

before precisely because they had lived Through the reality of death,\so you and | may be
Ce ial —

morealive because Jesus Christ has experienced death for us - the same death as our own.
eriaeeinl aa, haere ahderhliPDtednciemerrinirinioialliniemay,

Jeo know that he, Jesus Christ, is God's love, God's yes, Is to be free to {ive and love and
a el le smmiirinie —_ee oo

laugh - to shout a "yes" of our own. ne

As he was recuperating from a severe heart attack the noted ps¥chlatrist Abraham

Learned
Maslow wrote a letter te a friend, part of which expresses the beauty and newness of fiving

in God's yes - and answering itatfticmatively.

\ "The confrontation with death - and the reprieve from it - makes everything fook so

—

precious, sc sacred, so beautiful that | feel more strongly than ever the impulse to love it,
ee — Fn ed

to embrace it, and to let myself be overwhelmed by ith My river has never looked so
Te al aa rE ieiaie, Pe aiid

beautttut \ death, and its ever-presant possibility makes love, passtonate love, more

: iE wo _ . te . : .
possible \ 3 wonder if we could love passionately, if ecsfacy would be possible at all if

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we knew we'd never die. "| ( Lehuduscdddemlabelerbagmeley i a |
ir,

~My river never looked so beautiful -.\ Nor has the world, Or, Maslow, nor
do, — —— .

other people, nor ourselves.\ For God has said "Yes", AMEN
ie an ial

‘ether, help us to cut through afl the contrary messages, however well*meant, and to hear
the "Yes" which you have spoken. We are grateful, father, that you have affirmed us:

help us now to live and love and }augh - in Jesus Christ - your "Yes" - our Lord. AMEN

oe