VESPER MEDITATION
March 14, 1979

We Americans, for obvious reasons, have a much shorter

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sense of history than British and European counterparts.

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The historic, long range significance of a place, event,
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building are not nearly as important - to us — as its

immediate relevance, its impact on our lives in the present.
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I was reminded of that, and the way it bears our practice of
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worship, just last week. \mne ministers had been invited to
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lunch with Eric Routely, Minister of the English Congrega-~
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tional Church, Scholar, Musicologist, Professor at WEstmins~

ter Choir College who was visiting in Columbus over the

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weekend,

In the middle of our conversation Routely was commenting
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on worship styles and he evoked some pleasant memories for

me by talking about Evensong: \the late afternoon worship

rubric of the Church of England. \ avout the only people who

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attend, Routely reminded us, were American tourists who,

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almost invariably are disappointed. \ rt is all so remote,

distant and cold. \the congregation are spectators — and

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for AMericans that is a bit difficult.\ The tourists want

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relevance, meaning, communication, something to think about,
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mot mystical Gregorian chants from behind the chancel screen.

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Routely pointed out that some parish churches now distribute

a little pamphlet, printed mainly for American tourists,

which informs them, gently to be sure, that they have been
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invited to listen in on a conversation:\ a conversation that
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began a long time before they were born and would continue
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long after they die:\ a conversation between God and his
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church.

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I was delighted with that little vignette. | 1 has very

little to do with my own Reformed theology of worship.\ But As

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I've been thinking about it ever since, and have concluded =e

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that one of the reasons I love these simple little vesper see

services so much is that, for some reason, they remind me
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of the fact that humble& little groups of men and women

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have been doing something like this every single day for

nearly two thousand years: \that we are responsible for a
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part of the conversation now -, but that it began long ago,

and will continue long after we have finished with our por-
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tion of it.

With that on my mind I was intrigued when IF turned my

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attention to the text for the day. \ rt seemed more than

ordinarily important to me to understand that we really are

listening in on a conversation - that it has been going on
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for centuries,

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One of the major assumptions of the New Testament writers

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was that their readers, in all probability, would shortly be

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dead, or at the very least, hard pressed because of their

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faith. \ the New Testament, at least in part, is an underground
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survival manual written for people who_at any moment might

be arrested and executed Obviously, not much of that comes

through when we read the words today.
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Jesus, according to St. John, was still at the table of

the Last Supper. | Time was growing short. \ He was about to

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be betrayed and arrestea.\ the last thing he will do before

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that is pray - for his aaseiples. \ But, according to the
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author of the Fourth Gospel the last words Jesus said to

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his gathered disciples before the crijcifixion were these -

os the world you have tribulation; but be of good

heer. I have overcome the world."

He hadn't overcome anything - not in any realistic

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sense of the word. \ At that nt the conspiracy to get
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rid of him had coalesced: \one of his dearest friends was part

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of it. \The soldiers were on their way: |the officials had

been notified, \the jury rigged,\ judges paid off,\all the
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gears oiled and he didn't have a chance. | And these brave

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and true friends were about to abandon ham.\ 14 he overcame

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anything it was not immediately apparent what that might

have been.

Until he died, that is to say. And then it pecans Ju L bers ek
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apparent to friends and enemies alike that if e.Lepapinsiabiagie idee war, aw
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eer Chis man climbed up onto a cross and , +
embraced death in a way that alternatingly frightened and ae \
, in strang
inspired them.\ They had watched in strange mixture ev

of morbid curiosity and Same as he said|''Father, forgive

tnen' Hate thy hands I commend my spirit." )

Perhaps they remembered at that awful but magnificent
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moment {ore 68 good cheer: \ have overcome the world."

They had watched him absorb —- literally - in his body -
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the worst life can do to a man.\ And they knew that he was

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the victor.

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(vrne most gallant words in Literature |
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called. | Their sheer SFe-reduced Carlile to tears. | ana

they have been

the Christian witness across the centuries, at its noblest

and best, is the story of men and women, in ali sorts of

difficult situations, somehow overcoming because they knew

that the issue had already been resolved:\ that their Lord

————

had overcome the world.

Arthur John Gossip quotes an anonymous Scottish boy -

‘about to he martyred: | "God never guaranteed to keep us out

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of trouble% but he did promise to bring us through the worst

of them.\ And he will do it," }(I.B. Vol. 8, P. 741-2)

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The New Testament is AVitten after the Kesurrection,

fixion.

Jesus our brother overcame the worta. \ me invitation is
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to share the spoiis of his victory.

You and I are not likely to be arrested for our faith.

But there is no. one here who does not know what it means to
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be overcome by the world - for some of us that that may mean a
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problem which resists our best efforts to resolve it: 4a
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relationship that will not heal:\a deep anxiety tha that eu Us
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every waking moment. | You know what it is in your life.

Jesus Christ offers to share his victory with us.\ He
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has overcome.
—————

Thus St. Paul —

"I am certain that neither death nor life,
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nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,

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nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to

separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Thanks be to God!

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we have heard the words: we know the ideas:
we have been told that in Jesus Christ you love us and give us
pwoer to overcome the world. But sometimes, our father, it is
hard to believe: and sometimes when we want to believe we feel
selfish for asking so much, so personally, so immediately. So,
in the silence of these moments together, confirm our faith -
call out of us honest prayers: through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

-§-

In silence - let us identify the problem - concern - anxiety -

which is overcoming us. In silence let us ask God for help to

overcome. Let us each pray silently.

Father, in Jesus Christ you have overcome the world. Hear
our modest prayers: give us confidence that we share the victory:

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray for someone close to us who is struggling to

overcome - Silently.

Father, hear our prayers for people who are dear to us:

through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Let us an i for ace | in 9 rorig: silentiy.
gi fm ~fnte She ak femp, ad ie ft,
Father bless those who make peace. Give courage to those
who seek peace. Comfort those who suffer and help us to be

agents of that noble vision of peace on earth. Through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us return thanks now - for a gift we were given today:
for a moment of unexpected serenity, a undeserved smile, a
word of encouragement, an act of kindness, a joyful laugh -

let us pray silently.

God our father, your goodness is revealed in many ways.

Hear our gratitude through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Su Prayer