GLORY ALL AROUND

DECEMBER 4, 1994

PRESBYTERIAN HOME, ELLIOT CHAPEL

JouHN M. BUCHANAN, PASTOR
FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHICAGO
SCRIPTURE
MATTHEW 28:16-20
Exopus 3:1-12

"_..REMOVE THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET,
FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING
IS HOLY GROUND." -Exopus 3:5
(NRSV)

TwO WEEKS AGO OUR CHILDREN'S CHOIR
WAS SINGING. IT WAS A SPLENDID OCCA-

STON.

KAREN MAURER, OUR DIRECTOR OF
EDUCATION, TOLD ME ABOUT SOMETHING ONE
OF THE YOUNGSTERS, STUART WHITMORE.
STUART IS FIVE. HE HAS BEEN HERE BE-
FORE; HE'S ONE OF OUR REGULARS, BUT
SOMETHING SEEMED DIFFERENT TO HIM THIS
TIME. PERHAPS IT WAS THE EARLY EVENING
HOUR. IN ANY EVENT, STUART WAS MESMER-
TZED. HE LOOKED UP AND AROUND AND TOOK
IT ALL IN AND LEANED OVER TO HIS MOTHER
AND WHISPERED... "SO HIGH! So, Soo0a

HIGH!"

HIS MOTHER NODDED, AND STUART KEPT
LOOKING UP AND AROUND AND ALL ABOUT AND
LEANED OVER WITH SOMETHING FURTHER TO
SAY. SHE LEANED DOWN AND STUART WHIS-

PERED... "GOD IS HERE.”

GOD IS HERE. IT'S A TOPIC THOSE OF

US WHO ARE ASSOCIATED WITH FOURTH PRESBY-
TERTAN CHURCH AND ALSO ELLIoT CHAPEL AT
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOME HAVE BEEN THINKING

A LOT ABOUT RECENTLY,

WE ARE FOND OF SAYING THAT THE
CHURCH IS NOT A BUILDING. THE CHURCH IS
PEOPLE. BUT THE FACT IS WE DON'T HAVE
MUCH EXPERIENCE BEING THE CHURCH WITHOUT
A BUILDING. WE'VE BEEN HEAVILY INTO
REAL ESTATE FOR CENTURIES, AFTER ALL.

So MUCH SO, THAT THE WORD "CHURCH"
ITSELF, WHICH ORIGINALLY MEANT “A COMMU-~
NITY OF PEOPLE" NOW, IN CONTEMPORARY
ENGLISH, HAS COME TO MEAN THE BUILDING
THE PEOPLE USE IN ORDER TO BE THE
CHURCH. BUT WE STILL LIKE TO TELL
OURSELVES THAT THE CHURCH ISN’T THE
BUZLDING, AND THAT WE COULD EASILY BE

THE CHURCH WITHOUT THE BUILDING BECAUSE

THE CHURCH, AFTER ALL, IS THE PEOPLE.

BuT rr'’S NOT QUITE THAT SIMPLE.
SOMETHING HAPPENS TO THE BUILDING THE
PEOPLE BUILD IN ORDER TO BE THE CHURCH.
IN THE FIRST PLACE THEY DESIGN IT TO
REMIND THEM OF IMPORTANT IDEAS; SOME~-
TIMES THEY DESIGN IT TO BE HiGH AND
MYSTERIOUS AND AWE-INSPIRING; SOMETIMES
THEY BUILD IT TO BE CLEAN AND SIMPLE AND
ORDERLY. AND SOMETIMES THEY DESIGN IT
EXTRAVAGANTLY, LUSH AND COLORFUL, WITH
FAT LITTLE CHERUBS SINGING ALL OVER THE
CEILING. THEY INVEST THE BUILDING WITH
IDEAS THAT REMIND THEM OF WHO THEY
BELIEVE Gop IS AND WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT

THE RELATIONSHIP IS ALL ABOUT.

AND THEN, OVER THE YEARS, THE
THINGS THE PEOPLE DO IN THE SUILDING
BEING THE CHURCH, FURTHER ENDEARS THE

SPACE TO THEM. IT BECOMES, TO THEM,

SACRED SPACE, AND THEY RESPECT IT AND
BEHAVE REVERENTLY AND ARE DEFERENTIAL
WHEN THEY ENTER IT. I’LE BET YOU'D HAVE
NO TROUBLE REMEMBERING IN DETAIL THE
CHURCH OF YOUR CHILDHOOD, SACRED SPACE

FOR YOU.

WHAT MAKES A PLACE SACRED? Is IT
ONLY THE WAY IT LooKS? Is IT SACRED

BECAUSE IT IS GOTHIC AND HAS PEWS IN IT?

ONE OF THE OLDEST RELIGIOUS IDEAS

OF ALL IS THAT NATURE IS SACRED.

THE ANCIENT HEBREWS PUT A SPECIAL
TWIST ON THE OLD IDEA. A PLACE BECOMES
HOLY, NOT BECAUSE IT POSSESSES INHERENT-
LY THE CHARACTER OF HOLINESS, BUT BE-
CAUSE OF SOME DIVINE ACTIVITY, SOME
REVELATION OF GOD, OR TRUTH, OR GOOD-

NESS, OR BEAUTY, AND SOME FAITHFUL HUMAN

RESPONSE. SPACE BECOMES IMPORTANT BE-

CAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENS IN IT OR ON IT.

JUNE 6, 1994 ~ WAS THE FIFTIETH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE ALLIED INVASION OF
FRANCE. IT WAS RAINING WHEN I FINALLY
MADE IT TO THE AMERICAN MILITARY CEME-
TERY IN NORMANDY, ON A BLUFF OVERLOOKING
WHAT WE HAVE COME TO KNOW AS OMAHA

BEACH.

I WAS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOGL IN JUNE
oF 1944. My moST PRECIOUS TREASURE WAS
A JACKET ON WHICH MY MOTHER HAD SEWN THE
MILITARY INSIGNIA SENT TO ME BY TWO
UNCLES - BOTH OF WHOM WERE SUBSEQUENTLY
KILLED - AND TWO COUSINS. I RECALL THE
DAY, D-DAY, AND MY PARENTS’ EXCITEMENT
AND THEIR TEARS. EACH HAD A BROTHER AND
A NEPHEW INVOLVED. AND SO, AS IN THE

CASE WITH MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, IT WAS

SOMETHING OF A RELIGIOUS PILGRIMAGE FOR

ME.

OVER THE YEARS I HAVE READ AS MUCH
AS IS POSSIBLE TO READ ABOUT IT. I KNEW
THE CONTOURS OF EACH BEACH, THE CLIFFS
AT Pornt-pu-Hoc. But NOTHING I HAD
READ, NO PICTURE I HAD SEEN, PREPARED ME
FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CEMETERY;
YOU'VE SEEN IT TOO, IN PICTURES PERHAPS:
ROW UPON ROW UPON ROW OF SMALL, SIMPLE
CROSSES AND STARS OF DAVID, GLEAMING

WHITE AGAINST THE GRASS OF NORMANDY.

I WAS STANDING ON HOLY GROUND; A
PLACE MADE SACRED BECAUSE OF SELFLESS
COURAGE, A HOLY PLACE BECAUSE YOUNG MEN,
FACED WITH MORTAL DANGER, DECIDED IN AN
INSTANT TO GIVE ALL THEY HAD TO GIVE.
PLACES BECOME HOLY BECAUSE OF WHAT

HAPPENS IN THEM OR ON THEM.

THE STORY OF MOSES IS THE PROTO-
TYPE. MOSES, SON OF A HEBREW SLAVE, IS
BROUGHT UP IN THE COURT OF PHARAOH,
RISES THROUGH THE RANKS OF THE ROYAL
HOUSEHOLD, DISGUISING HIS JEWISHNESS,
AND ONE DAY ATTACKS AND KILLS AN EGYP-
TIAN GUARD WHOM HE CATCHES IN THE ACT OF
BEATING A HEBREW SLAVE. MOSES RUNS FOR
HIS LIFE, ENDS UP IN THE WILDERNESS OF
MIDIAN, MEETS A YOUNG WOMAN, MARRIES, IS
WELCOMED INTO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW'S BUSI-
NESS, AND SETTLES DOWN. IN FACT, HE'S
TENDING JETHRO'S SHEEP, WHEN HE SEES A
BURNING BUSH, IS FILLED WITH AWE AND
FEAR, TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AND HEARS A
VOICE INSTRUCTING HIM TO REMOVE HIS
SHOES BECAUSE HE’S STANDING ON HOLY

GROUND.

THIS SPACE, ELLroT CHAPEL, 185 HOLY

8

GROUND BECAUSE OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE
IN THE PAST AND THE LOVE AND FAITH AND
COMMITMENT AND SACRIFICE AND GENEROSITY

OF THOSE WHO HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE.

THIS SPACE, REPRESENTS THE HIGHEST
AND MOST NOBLE INTENT OF THE FOUNDERS OF
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOME AND ALL THOSE DOWN
THROUGH THE YEARS ______s« HAVE ~ INVESTED
THEIR LOVE AND LEADERSHIP AND RESOURCES
IN THIS INSTITUTION.

AND THIS IS HOLY GROUND BECAUSE OF
WHAT WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN HERE IN THE
YEARS AHEAD, AS MEN AND WOMEN GATHER
HERE TO WORSHIP AND SING GOD'S PRAISES,
AND TO HEAR Gop'’S WORD, TO SHARE THE
BREAD AND CUP OF COMMUNION, TO CELEBRATE
THE LIVES OF DEAR FRIENDS, AND TO COME
HERE TO SIT QUIETLY AND OFFER PRAYERS OF
GRATITUDE AND INTERCESSION AND PETITION.

AND THIS ELLIOT CHAPEL, AS IS THE

CASE WITH ALL RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS, WILL
REMIND US AND FUTURE GENERATIONS THAT
BECAUSE OF THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST
INTO THE WORLD ALL SPACE BECOMES SACRED,
AND GOD'S LOVE AND MERCY ARE NOW REALI~
TIES OPERATIVE IN HISTORY, IN HUMAN
RELATIONSHIPS EVEN. THIS SPACE REMINDS

US THAT Gop'S GLORY IS ALL AROUND US.

THAT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHRASES

AND IDEAS. GLory ALL Arounp. It COMES,

OF COURSE, FROM THE CHRISTMAS STORY AS
LUKE TELLS IT.

SHEPHERDS ARE IN THE FIELD, LIKE
MoSES IN MIDIAN, TENDING THEIR SHEEP,
AND SUDDENLY SOMETHING HAPPENS THAT THEY
CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE. SOME THINK IT IS A
BRILLIANT LIGHT SHINING. OTHERS HEAR A
VOICE SPEAKING: "DON’T BE AFRAID.

THERE IS GOOD NEWS FOR ALL PEOPLE!"

STILL OTHERS HEAR BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS

10

SINGING - "GLORY TO GoD IN THE HIGHEST
AND ON EARTH PEACE!" "THERE WAS GLORY

ALL AROUND .,.”

IT’S AN INTERESTING WORD "GLORY™
IS. THERE ARE ACTUALLY 25 DIFFERENT
HEBREW WORDS WHICH GET TRANSLATED BY THE
SINGLE ENGLISH WORD “GLoRY." Gop's
GLORY IS, AS BEST AS I KIND OF UNDER-
STAND, IT -- "THE IMPACT OF Gop’s
PRESENCE ... THE “LIGHT STUFF," NOVELIST

Tom WOLFE CALLED IT.

HOWEVER, YGU DEFINE IT, I KNOW

YOU'VE EXPERIENCED IT.

I THINK I EXPERIENCE GLORY ALL
ARGUND WHEN I VISIT THE IMPRESSIONISTS
AT THE ART INSTITUTE AND TAKE MY TIME
AFTER I'VE SLOWLY WALKED AROUND THE ROOM

FULL OF RENOTRS AND MONETS AND VANGOGHS

ii

AND PICCASOS AND THEN JUST SIT ON THE
LITTLE BEVEL IN THE MIDDLE AND KIND OF

JUST FLOAT THERE IN THE GLORY ...

I THINK -- I KNOW -~ I EXPERIENCE
IT WHEN L HEAR PROFOUNDLY BEAUTIFUL
MUSIC - AT ORCHESTRA HALL, OR DURING

WORSHIP - OR SOMETIMES ON THE CAR RADIO.

I’VE CONCLUDED THAT GEORGE FREDER-
IcK HANDEL KNEW WHAT GLORY SOUNDED LIKE.
HE wRoTeE “MessrIak” IN 24 pays, AUGUST 22
TO SEPTEMBER 14, 1741. HIS SERVANT CAME
INTO THE ROOM JUST AS THE COMPOSER
FINISHED THE HALLELUJAH CHORUS, FOUND
HIM SEATED AT THE WRITING TABLE WITH
TEARS STREAMING DOWN HIS CHEEKS AND
HANDEL IS REPORTED TO HAVE SAID, "I DID
SEE ALL HEAVEN BEFORE ME, AND THE GREAT
GOD HIMSELF.” HANDEL, NEW WHAT GLORY

ALL AROUND SOUNDED LIKE.

12

I EXPERIENCED GOD'S GLORY RECENTLY
WHEN A FRIEND OF MINE CAME INTO A HOSPI-
TAL ROOM AT A CRITICAL MOMENT IN THE
LIFE OF MY OWN FAMILY AND WE HELD HANDS
AND HE PRAYED -- AND THERE WAS GLORY ALL

AROUND.

THERE ARE A LOT OF REASONS TO LOVE
THE CHRISTMAS STORY. AND AMONG THEM IS
THAT WHEN JESUS WAS BORN IT WAS IN A
BARN - A COW STALL: AND THAT THE FIRST
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION WAS ON A HILLSIDE,
WHERE ROUGH, WORKING PEOPLE WERE AT
THEIR TASKS ... ANGELS CAME AND SANG

AND GLORY SHONE ALL AROUND.

IN THAT ELOQUENT AND MYSTERIOUS
GESTURE GOD WAS SAYING THAT OUR SACRED

SPACES - ELLzroT CHAPEL, FOURTH PRESBYTE-

L3

RIAN CHURCH, THE CATHEDRALS, AND SANCTU-
ARIES WE BUILD ARE HOLD BECAUSE OF WHAT
WE DO IN THEM, BUT THEY ARE ALSO VISI-~
BLE, TANGIBLE REMINDERS THAT Gop IS
PRESENT IN THE LIFE OF THE WORLD, ON
MICHIGAN AVENUE AND ON THIS LOVELY

CAMPUS ... THERE IS GLORY ALL AROUND.

Anp GOD WAS SAYING THAT IT IS IN
NORMAL EVERYDAY ACTIVITY - AS WE LEVE
TOGETHER AND WORK TOGETHER AND EAT AND
DRINK AND TALK TOGETHER -- THAT IT IS
THERE, IN NORMAL HUMAN ACTIVITY THAT Gop
COMES TO BLESS US AND BE WITH US AND
HOLD US UP AND GIVE US STRENGTH. THERE

IS GLORY ALE AROUND.

AND GoD WAS SAYING , IN THIS MOST
FLOQUENT GESTURE, THAT THERE ARE ULTI-

MATE ISSUES ABOUT US THAT ARE NOW RE-

14

SOLVED: THAT AMONG ALL THE THINGS TO
WORRY ABOUT IN THIS LIFE, ALL THE ANXIE-
TIES AND UNCERTAINTIES, THERE IS ONE WE
MAY NOT PUT TO REST AND THAT IS THE

MATTER OF OUR OWN ULTIMATE DESTINY.

WE ARE LOVED ULTIMATELY AND ETER~
NALLY THIS BIRTH SAYS. THERE IS GLORY
ALL AROUND -- ALL AROUND THE DAYS AND

YEARS OF OUR OWN LIVES.

FOR THE FRONTISPIECE TO THE LAST
VOLUME OF POETRY PUBLISHED DURING HIS
LIFE-TIME, ROBERT FROST WROTE SOMETHING

WHICH IS HAUNTING:

“Bur Gop’sS OWN DESCENT
INTO FLESH WAS MEAN

AS A DEMONSTRATION
THAT THE SUPREME MERIT

LAY IN RISKING SPIRIT

15

IN SUBSTANTIATION.

SPIRIT ENTERS FLESH

AND FOR ALL ITS WORTH
CHARGES INTO EARTH

IN BIRTH AFTER BIRTH

"

EVER FRESH AND FRESH ...

[IN THE CLEARING!

THIS LOVELY CHAPEL WILL CONTINUE TO
HE A REMINDER OF ALL THAT .... God's
PRESENCE IN THE WORLD - Gop'S LOVE FOR
EACH OF US; GOD’S SPIRIT ENTERING LIFE
~~ IN BIRTH AFTER BIRTH, EVER FRESH AND
FRESH." IT WILL BE FOR YOU WHO RESIDE
HERE; FOR ALL OF US WHO WORK HERE AND
VISIT HERE -- AND FOR ALL THE MEN AND
WOMEN WHO WELL COME AFTER US THAT THIS

1s Holy GROUND AND THAT THERE 1S GLORY

ALL AROUND. AMEN.

16

GLORY ALL AROUND

December 4, 1994

Ninetieth Anniversary
Presbyterian Home, Evanston, Illinois

Rededication of Elliot Chapel

John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

Scripture

Matthew 28:16~20
Exodus 3:1-12

"Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which
you are standing is holy ground." ~Exodus 3:5 (NRSV)

What a grand occasion this is! I am honored to have been
invited to be with you to help observe the 90th anniversary of
the good and faithful ministry of the Presbyterian Home and to
help rededicate this lovely chapel.

It is always good to be at the Presbyterian Home. We’/re
glad you are here. We regard you as partners in ministry and, as
always, it is good to see so many familiar and friendly faces.

We reopened the sanctuary of Fourth Presbyterian Church this
morning as well. For six months we have been worshiping under
scaffolding, on folding chairs, with temporary lights and sound
equipment and lots of dust and dirt. Today, it all came together
and we worshiped for the very first time in our restored space.

A few weeks before the scaffolding went up our children’s
choir was singing for worship. It was a splendid occasion.

Karen Maurer, our Director of Education, told me about
something one of the youngsters, Stuart Whitmore said. He’s one
of our regulars, but something seemed different to him this time.
Stuart was mesmerized. He looked up and around at the high
ceiling, the chandeliers, the carved angels overhead, took it ail
in and leaned over to his mother and whispered... "So high! So,
socoo high!"

His mother nodded, and Stuart kept looking up and around and
all about and leaned over with something further to say. She
leaned down and Stuart whispered -- "God is here."

It's a topic we’ve been thinking about as our sacred space
is restored, cleaned, and treated a little irreverently.

We are fond of saying that the church is not a building.
The church is people. But the fact is we don’t have much experi-
ence being the church without a building. We’ve been heavily
into real estate for centuries, after all. So much so, that the
word "church" itself, which originally meant "a community of
people" now, in contemporary English, has come to mean the build-
ing the people use in order to be the church, But we still like
to tell ourselves that the church isn’t the building, and that we
could easily be the church without the building because the
church, after all, is the people.

But it’s not guite that simple. Something happens to the
pbuilding the people build in order to be the church. In the
first place they design it to remind them of important ideas;
sometimes they design it to be high and mysterious and awe-in-
spiring; sometimes they build it to be clean and simple and
orderly. And sometimes they design it extravagantly, lush and
colorful, with fat little cherubs singing all over the ceiling.
They invest the building with ideas that remind them of who they
believe God is and who they are and what the relationship is all
about.

And then, over the years, the things the people do in the
building being the church, further endears the space to them. It
becomes, to them, sacred space, and they respect it and behave
reverently and are deferential when they enter it. 2711 bet
you’d have no trouble remembering in detail the church of your
childhood, sacred space for you.

What makes a place sacred? Is it only the way it looks? Is
it sacred because it is Gothic and has pews in it?

One of the oldest religious ideas of all is that nature is
sacred,

The ancient Hebrews put a special twist on the old idea. A
place becomes holy, not because it possesses inherently the
character of holiness, but because of some divine activity, some
revelation of God, or truth, or goodness, or beauty, and some
faithful human response. Space becomes important because of what
happens in it or on it.

June 6, 1994 was the fiftieth anniversary of the Allied
invasion of France. It was raining when I finally made it to the
American Military Cemetery in Normandy, on a bluff overlooking
what we have come to know as Omaha Beach.

~ was in elementary school in June of 1944. My most pre~-
cious treasure was a jacket on which my mother had sewn the
military insignia sent to me by two uncles ~~ both of whom were
subsequently killed. I recall the day, b-Day, and my parents’
excitement and their tears. Each had a brother and a nephew
involved. And so, aS in the case with millions of people, it was
something of a religious pilgrimage for me.

Over the years I have read as much as is possible to read
about it. EF knew the contours of each beach, the cliffs at
Pojnt-du-Hoc. But nothing I had read, no picture I had seen,
prepared me for the experience of the cemetery; you’ve seen it
too, in pictures perhaps: row upon row upon row of small, simple
crosses and Stars of David, gleaming white against the grass of
Normandy -

I was standing on Holy Ground; a place made sacred because
of selfless courage, a holy place because young men, faced with
mortal danger, decided in an instant to give all they had to
give. Places become holy because of what happens in them or on
them.

This space, Elliot Chapel, is Holy Ground because of what
has happened here in the past and the love and faith and commit-

ment and sacrifice and generosity of those who have made it
possible.

This space, represents the highest and most noble intent of
the founders of the Presbyterian Home and all those down through
the years who have invested their love and leadership and re-
sources in this institution.

And this is Holy Ground because of what will continue to
happen here in the years ahead, aS men and women gather here to
worship and sing God’s praises, and to hear God‘s word, to share
the bread and cup of communion, to celebrate the lives of dear
friends, and to come here to sit quietly and offer prayers of
gratitude and intercession and petition.

And this Elliot Chapel, as is the case with all religious
buildings, will remind us and future generations that because of
the coming of Jesus Christ into the world all space becomes
sacred, and God‘s love and mercy are now realities operative in
history, in our own relationships even. This space reminds us
that God’s glory is all around us.

That‘’s one of my favorite phrases and ideas. Glory All
Around. It comes, of course, from the Christmas story as Luke
tells it.

Shepherds are in the field, tending their sheep, and sudden~
ly something happens that they can’t even describe. Some think
it is a brilliant light shining. Others hear a voice speaking:
"pont be afraid. There is good news for all people!" Still
others hear beautiful, glorious singing -- "Glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace!" There was glory all around ...

It's an interesting word "glory" is. There are actually 25
different Hebrew words which get translated by the single English
word "glory." God’s glory is, as best as I kind of understand,
it -~ "the impact of God‘s presence," the "right stuff," novelist
Tom Wolfe called it.

The story of Moses is the prototype. Moses, son of a Hebrew
slave, is brought up in the court of Pharaoh, rises through the
ranks of the royal household, disguising his Jewishness, and one
day attacks and kills an Egyptian guard whom he catches in the
act of beating a Hebrew slave. Moses runs for his life, ends up
in the wilderness of Midian, meets a young woman, marries, is
welcomed into his father-in-law’s business, and settles down. In
fact, he’s tending Jethro’s sheep, when he sees a burning bush,
igs filled with awe and fear, takes a closer look and hears a
voice instructing him to remove his shoes because he’s standing
on Holy Ground.

However, you define glory, I know you’ve experienced it.

I think I experience glory all around when I visit the
impressionists at the Art Institute and take my time after I’ve
slowly walked around the room full of Renoirs and Monets and
VanGoghs and Piccasos and then just sit on the little bench in
the middle and just float there in the glory ..-

I think -- I know -- I experience it when I hear profoundly
beautiful music at Orchestra Hall, or during worship - or some~
times on the car radio.

I’ve concluded that George Frederick Handel knew what glory
sounded like. He wrote "Messiah" in 24 days, August 22 to Sep~
tember 14, 1741. His servant came into the room just as the
composer finished the Hallelujah Chorus, found him seated at the
writing table with tears streaming down his cheeks and Handel is
reported to have said, "I did see all heaven before me, and the
great God himself." Handel, knew what glory all around sounded
like.

I experienced God’s glory recently when a friend of mine
came into a hospital room at a critical moment in the life of my
own family and we held hands and he prayed -~ and there was glory
ali around.

There are a lot of reasons to ilove the Christmas story. And
among them is that when Jesus was born it was in a barn - a cow
stall: and that the first Christmas celebration was on a hill-
side, where rough, working people were at their tasks ... Angels
came and sang and glory shone all around.

In that eloquent and mysterious gesture God was saying that
our sacred spaces ~~ Elliot Chapel, Fourth Presbyterian Church:
the cathedrals, and sanctuaries we build are holy because of what
we do in them, but they are also visible, tangible reminders that
God is present in the life of the world, on Michigan Avenue and
on this lovely campus ... There is glory all around.

And God was saying that it is in normal everyday activity --
as we live together, and work together, and eat and drink and
talk together; that it is here, in normal human activity that God
comes to bless us, and be with us, and hold us up and give us

strength. There is glory all around.

and God was saying, in this most eloquent gesture, that
there are ultimate issues about us that are now resolved: that
among all the things to worry about in this life, all the anxie-
ties and uncertainties, there is one we may now put te rest and
that is the matter of our own ultimate destiny.

We are loved ultimately and eternally, this birth says.
There is glory all around -- all around the days and years of our
own lives.

From the frontispiece to the last volume of poetry published
during his life-time, Robert Frost wrote something which is
haunting:

"But God's own descent
into flesh was meant
As a demonstration
That the supreme merit
Lay in risking spirit
In substantiation.
Spirit enters flesh
And for all its worth
Charges into earth

In birth after birth
Ever fresh and fresh ..."
[in the Clearing]

This wonderful institution, serving here for 90 years is
holy -- because of what happens here, the love and compassion,
the good and healthy certainty, the nurturing and caring -- all
of it expressive of God’s love in the birth of Jesus Christ.

This lovely chapel will continue to be a reminder of all

that .... God’s presence in the world, God’s love for each of
us; God’s spirit entering life -- “in birth after birth, ever
fresh and fresh." It will be a reminder for you who reside here;

for all who work here, for those of us who invest our time and
energy as volunteers and those of us who visit here, and for ail
the men and women who will come after us, that this is Holy
Ground and that there is Glory Ali Around.

Amen.