1i2-l-91.' Song-·orM0ses. ·Last month in the state art collectfon in Raleigh there was as pecial showing of paintings by Moshe Kupferman. Born in 1926 in Poland and a survivor of the holocaust, in 1948 Kupferman settled in Israel in the lcubbutz or farmllof the- ghetto .fighters.11 There he pain­ ted his nightmare~ and hi~ hopeaj all;_ of his pictures are dull browns and grays, and nearly all of them have bars'ootween viewer and background. In a showing entitled Between Oblivion and Remembran­ c~ Moshe Kupfennan shouted his rage at a world in which the free human spirit was captured behind walls and barbed wire and steel bars. It is a powerful. i:f profoundly depressing statemt of the reality some in the human family have experienced in this most violent of centuries. To ·paraphrase the Erglish writer Thomas Hardy; after 200Q yrs or civilization we've go~ as·far as 'poisoned gas and ganocdde , What gtvef unforgettable rmea ning .to the Moshe Kupferman showing were the quotations printed o~ the wall. For me, Kupferman wrote, art begins when there is something left that cannot ?a explained. Again, he said,. the insignificant is forgotten; it neither disturbs nor indicates. What is worthy of expression is given a form.'J And then he exolained his own artistic method:.r;et,.: first I put in emotion and expression. Then I cover it up. Th~n I put in silence.11 It is the pain­ ting of silence/{Which haunts the viewer long after she ~aves the museum, for in that effect is the meaning of art. Some yrs ago Richard Palmer wrote a book on hermeneutics, which is a $4 Ork word for the scieme of_ interpretation and explanation. In it he wrote about music. ttA work does not speak by being cut to pieces 1.n~order for. the ~nal,y.t.ical listener to see how & wh;r it is made as it is; _one must enable a work to speak by knowing how to listen." And then Prof Palmer expres­ sed his point in ralig terminology. •tTo put the ,matter in the familiar words of Martin Buber's I­ Thou reJ4tshp it is helpful to see the work not as an IT that is at my disposal but as a '!HOU who addresses me, and to remember that meaning is not an objective, eternal 1dea but so:nething that

·arises in relatshp." Music, and singing, and praying, all go together, to make worshiD. Nowhere el.se can one find man1s preoccupation with eternal values and his obsession with reltg so complete­ ly expressed than in the painting of silencauinto a terrifying scene, or the hearing of a set of musical notes that become a Thou who addresses me. It is that aspect of Bibl literature which we shall study and think about in~ the coming three mQnths. Today the text is Exod 15. In the weeks to come we shall read songs of triumph and sorrow and joy and praise -and worship. We shall find songs in the bks of history and in ~e psalms and in the Xn literature of NT. We shall also read some of the prayers which are part of the Bible, the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, and the p~er he prayed for them on the night he )i&S betrayed • Late in the series we shall a lso read once again the-:hymn that Paul wrote into o~e of ~is ltrs, and the victory song of the con­ quering Lamb as the confident faith of those who put their trust in an all-pwrful and loving God. songs and prayers; these shall be our lessdn texts for the winter months. You are all invited to be part of the class and follo~rs of the course, here in this chapel, or by the magic of radio wherever you may be. Open your Bibles and read a long, and sing along, to know in the short days and long nights of winter the joy that puts a song on the lipsf/at the light which comes into the world, which the darkness cannot overcome. Faith is the peaceful force that makes life a contin­ ying excitemt, and a vict~ry over ~hate~er besets us. ln a scientific age, said the geologist IC9.rtley F. Mather, the search for Uod bids fair to give nankind the wisdom which is more than knowledge.. Singing when the. clouds are lowering and thick, and there seems to be no • solution, is an act of faith that comes from wisdom and which reveals wisdom. Music, said Sidney Lanier, is love in se.arch of a word; pr.ayer is a cry of hope, a conversation with God, and a confession of need. They are both therefore manifestations of wisdom which is the product of humble faith. So let us in these weeks together read the songs and pray the prayers which teach us how near to us is God, when we confess or childlike need of him. We begin with a prayer of thanks to God for a miraculous deliverance from slave.ry to. freedom and ,from what~peared certain death to life wi.th -all its expansive possibilities. Exod 15: 1-18. This is an example of the use of song to fill the gap between the threat and the-re!ief; between the fear and the answer. It is a seng of del­ iverancefrom what appeared certain defeat and death and the return to slavery. It happened at the very beginning of the escape from Egypt of the Hebrew people. The story is told in awe and astonishmt in the Bk of the Exodus, where we read of Moses' birth and the basket in which his moth er hid him among the reeds along the Nile River; we read that as a young man he fled into exile because he defended one of his own people against the force of the slave-driver; we see him beside the burning bush from which God spoke, and comm.anded Moses to return .to Egypt to lead his people out of bondagePand inte~tionhood of priests and prophets whose insights we all know and use. God intruded into h:lstOI'7 with plagues designed to compe~ Egypt to release the captives, the last one being the death of all the first-bom. The Hebrews would find life and freedom in the sign of the passover, the blood of the -iamb smeared on the doorposts. They gathered and marched out of Egypt, toward the east, toward the land of promise. The pharoah repented of his folly in allowing that gratuitous labor to go fre'e. He ordered out his anny of chariots and horsemen to recapture

· the f~itives. Before the Hebrews was the sea, behindlhi?m the military might of what.wwas at that ti."!IB the strongest and richest empire in the world. They knew the meaning of fear. were there

· not graves enough in Egypt, Moses, that you have'trought us to die in the desert? But God acted

- ~fr7& again with the unexpected. When Moses held his rod above waters ~parted so that Israel's children crossed on dry land. Then, men the !Ja! were n eing from the evidence of God's presence

f( the waters closed upon them. The Egys whom they saw that day they never saw again. It was a mira­ cle, tt was a great relief after great fear and distress. How express the joy of' salvation other than by singing? Here, Ex 15, we have the song of Moses;•Ql Psa 105-6 tell in song the story of deliverance by the hand of a loving God. Singing is the appropriate response to life when we are defeated, tearful, or disappointed. We sing to take away the pain, and to give voice to our deep­ est feelings. Music lifts us above the present, beyond the problem, over and around things as they are, to see what by God's grace things might be. God's people are therefore as inging people, and at no time more so than during the days of Advent. My soul magnifies the Lord, we sing with Mary; O come O come Emmanuel, we sing with a 9th Cen Latin hymn. The season of Advent asks of us one simple question: what are you waiting for? what is there in yeur Ute which can be set aright and healed by the presence of God with us? The song of M:>ses asks the same question. There are some ideas in it which :we must consider. First is the vision tnat we read in the poem. It tells us how Moses must have felt at that moment of altogether unexpected victory, a victory that the people had no part in winning. It was the work of God, who chose sides between the combattants, and who acted in defense of th~ enslaved and the oppressed and the poor. And so it is for all of us. We know the comfort of fo~giveness, an~ the joy of God's presence, and we also know that,nothing we did or said brought it to us. The poet looked at the d espair/fturned into the bright light of life and hope, and he rejoiced in the evidence of God's love. I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath tnt~phed gloriously, v.l. When we compare v.l with v.21 we see that the song of Moses• sister Miriam has been used as prelude and also as postlude, it is the introduction and it is the epilog. Note the recognition of God 1 s hand in what happened. It is an exultant cry; of faith, and it is the meaning of the song set to music. The rescue at the sea.was the triumph of God. W.v.2 we get to the song of Moses, as a later writer has composed it. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This line is repeated in Isa 12:2 and Psa 118:14. That is an indica­ tion of the deep relig feeling the Israelites knew when they confessed to the pwr of God in their history. God has saved both the poet and the people, so they all praise him, my father's God, I will exalt him. All the people praiseGod for his goodness to Israel. God is the principal actor in the poem, but the words are in 3d person--God did this, rather than I the Lord God did this. Our Lord is a man of war, Yahweh is his name. In our pa~ we prefer to think of God as a universal spirit of love and of peace~ not so very long ago/~Clf~"liiped a God whose revelat to mankind was ex­ pressed a.s pwer, pow~r to create, and pwr to save. In the song a God who_is able to do all thatt we need, and -to keep tba. t which we have entnnsted unto him, is central to understanding the nature of God. vv.4,5 state the specific historical event which was- proof of God •s love and care--if not fort he enemy Egys, then certainly for our side in the confrontat. a. God is the actor i~ the drama of life. In eur time it is still difficult for many of us to accept a God who sends min up­ on just and unjust, and who came i.ncarnate into the world as a helpless newborn infant, wrapped not in robes of ~ht or of nobility but in swaddling clothes. The song of Moses d escribes a God of fury and of judgmt, who will not suffer the wicked to- live, and who remember~ iniquity for the Jd-aDd 4th generation of those who hate him1 a God whose right hand is glorious in pwr, who piles up the waters of the sea by the blast of his nostrils, who congeals (or solidifies) the deeps in the, heart of the sea. In v.9 there are 6 short clauses, filled with 'actd.on, which express the con­ fidence with which ~began his pursuit--! will pursue, overtake, divide, fill my desire, draw my sword, destroy. The pwr of God is greater than are the perverted objectives of ev1.l and pwr-drunken people. That is the meaning of the song. W/v.13 the song looks to the .tu~ure from that epochal sea-crossing, and promises God's presence with his people thru the remainder of their pilgrimage to freedom and nationhood. In thy steadfast love and mercy you led fo~h the people whom thou hast redeemed, and their enemies will hear and will know fear. Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine--translated Philistia in the more recent version--and the leaders of Moab are dismayed and tremble, and the people flee in terror. Historically it is not true;_ poeti­ cally it expresses a sincere faith in the promises of God. This issue even into our own day is not settled, but from the beginning the people of Israel knew the confidence that God'!Culd lead them, and pl.ant them in the place which he had made for his abode, the sanctuacy_,O Lord, which thy hands have establ •. That line, v.17, speaks of the Jerus temple, many centuries int.o the future for those who folwd Moses; it may give an indication of the dating of the poenf'iri the reign of Kg Solo­ .mon or after. V .18 is the shout of God 1 s glory and pwr ••• the Lord will reign for ever and ever. It is an act.of faith. It wedo not believe that, seriously and sincerely, then we are indeed sub­ ject to fear and despair. But believing it, then can we sing the Lord 1s song in our time. Voice and feeling may bUrst into song, and we hear the true voice ot God. A faith like that is the nature of song, however we put melody-and tempo; song that is spontaneous and encouraging and supportive,~ Worship of the God who provides and protects, who guides and teaches, cannot be complete without the irrational but satisfying poetry and song and dance. Hallelujah -- it means Hooray for God.

\~~i.) w~ f e)(fl\).__!;)~ot.... i~ j;./~ ~-'""""'. ~JS i e: i ~ !0~~1'i._ )f-"""'-C..-t...._ o-f d \Jo"J.

PAGE C2 WINSTON·SALEM JOURNAL Sunday, November 24, 1991

VISUAL ARTS

Selections from the Kupferman series With Beirut, After Beirut, With Beirut

OBSESSED: Israeli artist has stark vision The title of the large retro­

spective exhibit of Moshe Kupferrnan's paintings

and drawings that closes next Sunday at the N.C. Museum of

. Art in Raleigh comes from a com­ ment the artist once made about himself and other former Jewish refugees who immigrat- ed to Israel in the years after World War II.

Kupferman - who for more th'an 40 years has lived in a kib­ butz (collective community) in Galilee - said that they live "be­ tween oblivion and rernern- b ance." Before the announcement of

his show in Raleigh, I had never heard of Kupferman, but then, I readily admit my ignorance of contemporary Israeli art. From the information in the accompa­ nying catalog, I gather that he is a prominent figure in the Israeli a world. And John Coffey, the state museum's curator of Ameri­ can and modern paintings, ob­ viously feels that Kupferrnan's work is important enough to merit one of the most extensive solo exhibitions th museum has ever had. Kupferman was born in Po­

land in 1926 and spent much of his youth imprisoned in Central Asian work camps operated by the Soviet government during World War II. At 22, he was among the thousands of Euro­ pean Jews who flocked to the newly established Jewish state in the Middle East, where he be­ came a construction worker and helped found the kibbutz where he spn lives. Soon after making this dra­

matic transition, he also took up painting, enrolling in a class with a local landscape painter and

. then setting off on his own to investigate the medium's expres­ sive possibilities. The other members of his

kibbutz, however, apparently didn't regard his artistic efforts as serious work of the kind that such collective communities traditionally depend on for their survival, and for nearly 20 years he had to confine his paint­ ing to his spare time. As his work became more

widely known and more commer- · cially successful, it seems that his neighbors began taking him more seriously as an artist, and in 1967 he was allowed to begin painting and drawing full time. Since then the community has provided him with art supplies, studio space and travel expenses, and in turn he has given the community all the proceeds from sales of his work - an arrange­ ment that sounds refreshingly non-capitalistic in this age of rampant avarice in the art world.

Kupferman began painting seriously around the same time the American abstract expres­ sionists were becoming dominant in modern art. They had their counterparts - or at least artists who were working with related

TOM PATTERSON

obvious. The exhibit catalog and the wall texts accompanying the show don't explicitly promote this interpretation, but they en­ courage it by placing so much emphasis on Kupferman's sta- tus as a former prison-camp in­ mate and refugee. Whether or not he intends

these recurring motifs to reflect the contrast between slavery and freedom. he relies on them heavily, particularly m the earli­ er work in the show, and they be­ come tedious after a while. This difficulty is aggravated

by the relative colorlessness of his work. According to the catalog essay by Nona Fischer, the chief curator of the Tel Aviv Museum of An, Kupferman inherited this tendency from other Israeli painters affiliated with the "New Horizons" group, who had "vir­ tually eliminated color" from their art. But the rationale behind this decision is left unexplained, and those who aren "t conver- sant with contemporary Israeli art are left to wonder why Kupfer­ man has denied his work the pos­ sibilities that a more diverse palette migbt open up. John ( oftey's catalog essay

makes much of the shades of pur­ ple - "from leaden violet to ruddy gray" - that appear in the paintings, but these are very subtle distinctions. For the most part the work in the show is overwhelmingly gray and somber. Although common threads

run through all of the 58 works in the exhibit, a series of small drawings from 1982 seem to mark a distinct shift in the fo- cus of Kupferman's art. Unlike most of the paintings and draw­ ings here, these have a title - With Beirut, }\fter· Beirut, With Beirut - that refers to something outside themselves. Along with many other Israeli citi­ zens, Kupferman was said to have been horrified and outraged at his government's brutal inva­ sion of the Lebanese capital in I 982, and these drawings grew out of his response to it·. In contrast to his work that

preceded them, the Beirut draw­ mgs aren't dominated by the fa­ miliar bars and grids. Those ele­ ments are present in several of these drawings, but in most cases they are all but obliterated by densely configured, confused­ looking squiggles scribbles,

ideas - in the Israeli painters of the "New Horizons" group, founded in 1948. In the early stages of his career, Kupferman studied with several of these art­ ists, and their influence on his own work was evidently profound and lasting.

••• If. like me, you don't know

the work of such Israeli "lyrical abstractionists" as Avigdor Ste­ matsky and Yosef Zaritsky, then maybe you will see Kupfer- man 's art as being somewhat re­ lated to that of Robert Mother­ well, Franz Kline and Mark Roth­ ko, or of Cy Twombly and vari­ ous American minimalists of the 1970s. Although Kupferman has ob

vious affinities with other artists of Ins generation m Israel and elsewhere. he has staked out a distinct visual territory for him­ self. Thie; show has selections from his work over the past 20 years, and for the most part it in­ dicates a consistency and singu­ larity of vision that borders on obsession. There is an almost feverish tension in the way he jux­ taposes and piles up layer upon layer of grids, bars, lines and scrawled, almost accidental· looking marks . He apparently sees endless

possibilities in a severely limited visual repertoire, and his work demands of the viewer a sharp eye for the nuances and subtle­ ties he achieves within these limi­ tations. Those who can't man­ age it will probably find the work gloomy and monotonous. · Given that he spent so much

time as a prisoner during his youth, it's tempting to read the vertical bands and grid patterns that recur in Kupferman's art as emblems of confinement. sug­ gestive reminders of his years behind bars and wire fences. Per­ haps this is a central aspect' of the "remembrance" to which the exhibit 's title refers. Neatly con­ sistent with such a reading is an interpretation of the gestural markings he often superimposes on these bars and grids as met­ aphors for liberation and freedom - the escape from, or tran­ scendence of. the enslaved condi­ tion that Kupferman came to know all too well during his early years. On the other hand, maybe

such a literal reading of these ab­ stract visual devices sells the artist's work short by relying too heavily on what seems to be the

zigzags and bold slashes, dots and smears. According to the wall text that accompanies these works, some of these heavy, ir­ regular marks represent Kupfer­ man' s attempt to record scenes of the invasion that appeared on Israeli television, such as Im- ages of "corpses piled up and ly­ ing in a street." Although it's not easy to recognize any such representational references, there is no question that the Bei­ rut drawings have an emotional intensity and a gestural vigor that are generally missing from Kup­ ferman' s earlier and more formal­ ly restricted work. As a former refugee, perhaps

the artist strongly identified with the Palestinian refugees who were the victims of the Israeli in­ vasion and was appalled at their treatment by the government of his adopted homeland. What­ ever his feelings were about the situation, they evidently in- spired a new and, to my mind, more vital direction in his work. A tension between this new

direction and Kupferman's old habits characterizes the paint­ ings he made after the break­ through that the Beirut draw­ ings signaled. In some of these he merely repeats and varies the familiar bar-and-grid motifs, but in others he overlays these with bold markings that resemble those in the Beirut drawings, as well as with irregularly shaped patches of light and dark gray. The latter pieces - including one from 1984 titled Painting in Times of Collapse - are the most intense and complex works here.

Having known nothing of Kupferman before this exhibition, I came away from it with mixed feelings about his work. It's hard not to respect the courage, per­ severance and obsessiveness with which Kupferman has lived his life and made his art. But I find it even harder to summon any­ thing more than a detached, intel­ lectual appreciation for the paintings and drawings. With a few exceptions, they don't move me at all, except maybe to wish that this dedicated artist might someday find a way to fi­ nally break free from the bars and screens that have apparently haunted him for most of his days.

WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL • • PAGE C1

THE ARTS "mindless mechanisms'' e heard at SECCA.

NG THINGS By Genie Carr JOURNAL ARTS REPORTER

Norman Tuck, who makes sculptures, is not very different from "those guys who have model trains or steam engines," he said. "There are just some storage problems."

Indeed. At the moment, and for another three months, Tuck's precise,

whimsical sculptures are "stored" in the mammoth spaces of the Main and Potter galleries at the Southeastern Center for Contempo­ rary Art. "Mindless Mechanisms" exhibits more than 20 kinetic sculptures -works that click, spin, whir, splash, creak, grumble ... or just turn, around and around and around, in eerie silence. Tuck created the works over the past 20 years. Some were made

recently; others had to be retrieved from a barn in Pennsylvania and cleaned up for display. He found at least one so complicated that he hasn't attempted it again; another design is popular with science museums and children's museums in several countries. One observer, Jeffrey Wechsler of Rutgers University, described

Tuck's sculpture this way: "The creations of Norman Tuck come as a pleasant shock to viewers, especially if the objects are referred to as 'sculpture' or 'art.' They are seemingly better defined as machines, fascinating machines that work in interesting ways. Indeed, it is the pure delight derived from finding out how things work, and the

See SCULPTURE, Page C4

Tuck's clock is one of the cre- ations that ·show how things work.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . the season for a holiday

LICKS of

12-8-91. Fifty yrs ago yesterday a nation of heedless and complacent Americans were jerked uncer­ emoniously into a war the rest of the world had begun three years earlier. Every one of us who was old enough in 1941 to be aware/fremembers where they were and what they were doing when the in­ credible news flash came. It was a moment-unlike other moments, for it irretrievably altered the now of histonr and changed for the remainder of the century all the people of earth_. It marked the end of American.isolation from the world, and the end as well of that simple and still nostal­ gic innocence that isolation encouraged. It was unreal, and doomed to disappear, but in hind­ sight maµ.y of us still think: of it as a charmed time, the happiest years, a tiny cocoon of time & snace that insulated a richly blessed people from the harsh and irreconcilable demands that would o~ernight beat down the walls and inundate the levees and wash away all illusions of American moral superiority. The Grk philosopher Zeno is reported to have said thlt anything real was solid, so God is perfectly solid, and justice and virtuer honor and integrity, must also be solid. So it was with many of us in that comic-opera world. A Cabinet secretary could haughtily reject a proposal that the country should maintain an.~agency of spies and intelligence-~atherers/JWith the axiom of ettiquette--gentlemen do not readot.her people's mail. The greatcbpression and widespread unemploy­ ment had taught people the need for govt and welfare programs, and the haunted-house examples of tyranny and brutality in communist and fascist countries in Europe and in Asia had taught the bles­ sings of liberty and self-govt. But there was still much singing and <E.ncing and laughing a way the last hours of youth while the lights, as the~\l~~g went, were going out all over the w:>rld. And then came the fighter-bombers flying low andJuffilindered over the naval base at Pearl and the anny barracks not far away, blasting away the stage-dressings of the play-party and<X>mpelling unpre­ pared civilians to confront a violent, threatening, and ungentlemanly reality. The great novel of those borrowed years in the peacetime army'is James Jones' From here- to Eternity. Jones was a soldier stationed at S~oi:field Barracks in-1941. Many yrs later he returned to the base, and climbed the stairs of his old quarters and stood at the spot where his bunk had been. Tears rolled down his cheeks; tears, he said, for all the years, gone somewhere. And then rrames Jones said, no matter how fast you run, you can never catch up with your past. In the swift flight of time, in the blink of an eye between our beginning and our ending, in the awareness that life is prec­ ious because it is 1 imited, and that we must work while it is yet day, for the night f ast;\,approach­ es when no person may work; in this knowledge we/the faith which assures us that God is Lord also of time, and years. The God who has guided (live in) us to this present moment is Lord also of tomorrow, and the day after, into eternity. And in that faith we sing, not in the false security of our illusions, but in 1he certainty that God is chpendable and sure, and is mightier than a 1000 chariots of iron. That is the lesson we hear today in a song of triumph, text Judges 5. Today we come to the 2d session in a winter study of the songs and prayers of the Bibla. Last wk we read the song of Moses and Miriam which came after the rmiraculous preservation of the Hebrew people at the crossing of the Red Sea when they were pursued by the cavalry and the charioteers of the Egyp­ tian army, the strongest military force in the near east at that time. The Bible is a collection ofwitings of all kinds; it is a library within itself, for it contains history and devotionals & poems and biographies and ge~ealogies; it cont.tns philosophical essays, and theological teachings, and fables andfflrables and songs. Here is satire, and irony, andrmetaphor--what other kinds of lit­ erature are there? be sure that whatever kind you prefer you will find examples of it int he Bible. When I was a third your age there was a course in the college I attended/entitled The Billlle as Lit­ erature,· it had large enro~s ~thusiastic st~nts; it might be a aood idea to go back to • ~( 5PI ~ a that materialf(as we tal~~ e cs, integrit{, .sn 'excellencehto people who know little of what those words mean, and whence they come. This term in the lesson series we have a choice selection of the ~ible's songs and prayers, examples of poetry and relig fervor which have much to interest us, and to instruct us, in these trying and troublesome days. We cannot run fast e nough to catch

,L.up-with the past, bu_t~it,we sit quietly and read what it has bequeathed us, we can learn much from 1'"!11ftft Judges 5: l-lHl1TH'd bk of the judges is the 7th bk: in the Bible, It is a fascinating collec­

tion of talei""for a time of uncertainty and insecurity which folwd the entry of the Hebrew people into the land of promise, before there was a Icing in Israel. And because there was no Icing, the writer of the Judges declared that every man did what was right in his own eyes. In our own time, in which there are public officials, and courts, and constabulary, and traffic lights, and all the molds into which society would force us all, many of us continue to define the good life as doing what is right in our own eyes. Change the mechanical and technical underpinnings of life, and you would be right at home in the world the Bk of Judges describes. It is that timeless aspect of Biblical writings which make it meaningful and instructive to all generations. This morning we have' read a portion of what the scholars tell me is one of the oldest passages of literary compo­ sition which have survived for us to read in the present. The song of Deborah is not as old as the epic of Gilgamesh, but is older than Homer. It was preserved in thecral tradition, as is much of folk music. People who sang ueborah1s song used the words as they had leanied them, and then transmitted them to those who came after. This process wasa:>ntinued for so long that people no

1onger understood what they were singing. 'hhen the song was written, the copyists and the transla­ tors had forgotten the meanings of the words, so that they werea>mpelled to transliterate, and to change the spellingf, of many of the poem's parts. And also, 'OOcause it is so old, some of it may no longer be understood; if the translation into English which you read does not have warning foot­ notes, or three-dots of ellipsis to show a lost word or phrase, then you know someone has guessed what might have been the original. But despite the difficulties in these vv. we have an ancient poem full of vigor and vitality, and imaginative imagery~ There is in it a freshness and a vivid­ ness so strong and so real that nearly all the students of the Judges accept• it as a work written by someone who lived in the time of Deborah. And, as was true of the song of Moses we read last week, here again we have first a prose account of what happened; here it is in Judges 4; folwd by a song of thanksgiving which is an act of faith in the presence and the pwr of God and also a shout of triumph at an unexpected victory ove:Trua stronger and better-equipped opponent. First, the prose narrative of the event itself. It is told in ~na chapter before the poem, and the song is a commentary upon the history. It begins with another of those o~en-repeated lines in the Jud­ ges--and the people of Isr did what was evil in the sight of the lord, and the lord sold them into the hand of whorever was the current enemy. It is~~ reiterated theme of the book. We are free to choose our way in the world, but for every one~ '~m there is a price. If you live on credit for a dozen years you can really live it up, just as did the grasshopper in Aesop's fable. But when the bank fails, and the financial centers are taking govt handouts to stay afloat, then comes the inevitable reckoning. If you live by rules of your own making, then all things are moral. But when the dissipation lines in your face grow deeper, and the distrust from other people becomes more evi dent, what do you do for an encore? It is one of the oldest stories in human history, first ex­ pressed in the creation story in Genesis. I will not obey God; I will do as I please; no one can tell me what to do. But then comes the accounting, in this case a conqueaf of the land by the Can­ aanites, who thought it ought to be their land. After yrs of oppression the people came to their senses and cried to God for help. This time the help came from a woman, who is one of those remark able ldrs who arise when the time is right. She was Deborah the prophetess, who sat under the palm­ tree that people named for her. She had a husband whose name was Lappidoth, and I assume~amily. But she was also called to speak for God. Perhaps I should whisper these words, ?eror there may be people listening, inerrantists, perhaps, who think women should pump the organ and wear a hat but keep their mouths shut in service. She called Barak--his name means lightning--and told him to call out the~~~§. ,1$.o Mount Ta tx>r. They came, and God caused noodin,;s ~e~e the river Kishon, w/ mud so thivk 'tti'i "Eba riots bogged d:>wn, and the rushing waters swept the~away. It is an unforget­ table vic~or,y, one worthy of an ancient song about it. As Jonathan Edwards put it. int.hat famous sermon he preached in Connecticut 200 yrs and a few months before those airplanestx>mbed the U.S. Dacific fleet in Hwaii--the bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, & justice bends the arrow •• and strains the bow. Sisera was the comdr of the ruling pwr, who may have been among the Peoples of the Sea who invaded Palestine early in 12th Can b.o.; he was utterly routed and his armycestroyed, not a man was left, we read. So great and so astounding was the vic­ tory that this song was written almost immediately after the event. It breathes the spirit of fait Credit for the victory was given to God. We did not do it ourselves, we could not do it ourselves; it was God's strength which prevad.led. The ldrs took the lead in Isr, and~ the people volun­ teered for\l.~1'~ile, bless the Lord. It may sound offensive to modern ears, accustomed as we are to the gentleT~ug b"r peace. But to the ancients war was a way of protecting the food for the tribe, from lazy or luckless neighbors who had none. It was a defense against thievery, not ab loodletting to satisfy an atavistic urge. Victory was proof that our God was stronger than their god. So Debor­ ah can sing, I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord led the attack from the ancient dwelling place of Seir, and all nature was convaj.sed; the clouds dripped water, the earth trembled and the mountains quaked before the Lord. This1/poetry, and is to be read as poetry; it ex­ presses the awe at the unbelievable victo~y. Before, tht\]gs were intolerable in the land; the roads were so unsafe that caravans stopped trying 1D get t hru, and travellers went by less dangerous ways. But then arose Deborah, as a mother in Israel. When people went after strange gods, they were un­ preparedmi.litarily; there was no shield or sword seen among them. The victory over Sisera was all the more miraculous. So let everyone repeat the triumphs ofthe Lord, let everyone sing praises to the Lord. V .20, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. It means that to the eyes of faith the universe is not neutral in the struggle between good and evil. The victory came because of heavy rains that caused flooding; nature whose Lord is God, entered the fight and determined the outcome. The 900 chariots of iron were normatch for the pwr of God who controls human destiny and directs the force of nature. In everything God wor~ for good with those who love hiITl, St.Paul wrote; everything also includes the stars in the heavens, who take sides in what happens on earth. Mankind possesses great strength, in his ann.s and in his imagination; but we always come'to a point where we need help. In a moral universe, such as the writers of the Bibl understood, help is there

when we confess oV"-.nead. The Lord is nigh unto all them who call upon him.

12-15-91. Sorrow.· Last month there died in our house one of the cats who are kind and gracious to permit us to share their nest and easy chair and to provide food upon demand. With all the trag­ edy and sorrow in the world, one cat who came to us as a stray may not add up to much; may note­ ven be worth the mention. There was no obituary in the papers, and no processional of mourners to honor the departed. But still, it left an empty place, and it brought a tearand a eulogy. Onelife, or ninel ives, do not last forever; when it ends it leaves a sadness. To mourn the fact of death, and to mourn the very special fact of the loss of family or friend is an assault upon the mind and the emotions and the memory. So it has been for as long as ther&~~ve been human minds aid human emotions. Unless another poem is discovered, .pel?haps the oldestr!fine;al dirge that dealt with the sense of loss and sadness at the death of a friend is the Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh. it was writ­ ten in cuneiform script-and has been dated to the 3d millennium b.c. That means that it is 5000yrs old. It recounts imaginary deeds of th~ero _Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu. In one story the two set.fbrth into the forest torkill the evil one, named Humbaba. On the way Enkidu is wounded, and from the festering sore he died. Gilgamesh wept bitterly for his friend--weep for Enkidu, for he is dead. The poem deals with the sorrow of Gilgamesh, in ways that more recent literat~,l_1:J~g1!11res snd imitates. All that is left to one who grieves is convalescence, the unknown poe1("wro-te,. The person has been changed to a -thing that sees how much it costs to lose a friend it loved. And again,

\i being human holds a specialgrief of privacy within the universe that yearns and waits to be retouch ed by someone who can take away the memory of deabh ," There is wisdom in the words of the epic, & there is the courageous refusal of 11.fe to accept death as the end of personality and existence. The story of Gilgamesh continues to charm readers and to send them away from its pages with a new un­ derstanding of what it mea~s to be human, and to be aware of one's mortality. There are in·litera­ ture many examples of grief and what it means. Some yrs ago James Agee wn a prize with his novel about a death in the family; John Milton composed an epitaph on the death of a fair infant--0 fair­ est flower no sooner blown than blasted, soft silken primrose fading timelessly, he wrote. And the list could continue. It is::ppropriate this morning, for·the lesson is about grief and loss, text 2:Sam:l;. Today we have the 3d in a winter series of lessons based upon the songs and prayers of the Bible. It is a reminder of the infinite varietyband the moveable feast{/which is the Bible. It is not one book, it is many books; it is not one kihd of writing, it is many kinds. It is a lib­ rary within one binding. Last month there was a report in the newspaper that the Bible still ranks #1 among bookh]Yers of this countny. One reason is that it contains a rich assortment of writings based upon the faith that God is creator and Lord, that love swallows up darkness, and that hope rises above whatever despair afflicts us. It is timeless and therefore permanent; when that which we see in a mirror darlcly(j'passes away, the assurance of-victory to morality and fidelity and the Kgdm of God remains. This term the topic is the poems of the Bible. Poetry is the oldest form of literature, because in the beginning all of~was recited orally and by memory; before there was writing, people had to memorize what was important. Poetry with its rhythm and rime was easier to remember, so it came first. So basic is poetry that the word itself is the Latin spelling of the Grk verb meaning to make; whatever the gifted anong us make is poetry. And as far back as there are records and memories(fpeople set their poems to music as another aid to remembering. The ancient Grks discovered and ci3scribed the mathematical ratios£:between the l~~th of a string and its tone when plucked, and from that knowledge came music, and then song/fas a way of~axpressing the joys & sorrows of life. Even earlier than the Grks, though, were those who taught the Grks. Some of man­ kind "s earliest songs are included in the library which is the Bible. We have read two of themein this series; now we turn to a third. Let us hear a very old funeral dirge of David the poet-king. 2 Samuel 1: 17-27. The two bks we call Salluel are historical works, and are sometimes called the ?irst two""bks of the Kgs. In fact, if you use the 17th Cen translat you will see t~a} printed at the beginnings of the bks , The .4 bks of the Kgs tell the story of the rise and fall Of a nation. It is stirring history told from the theistic frame of reference, a tale full of drama and human emotion. The vv. we read tell of David's sorrow at the death of Saul and Jonathan. Before we talk about it we must look at the background, which is not easy to explain. There are two versions of the daath of Saul, and they differ in fundi(Jnental ways. The final chap of 1 Sam, #31, tells of a battle be­ tween Israel and the Philistines, and the Philistines had the better of the day. Saul was king in Israel, the beginning of the monarchy. 1 Sam 9 tells of Saul's anointmt by the prophet Samuel, the ceremony which meant that Saul was God's choice to be king. Saul was the lord's anointed; in Hebr the word is messiah; in Grk it is christos. So Saul was crowned and so Saul reigned. But at the center of the story we find not Saul but a young shepherd-poet named David, who caught the imagina­ tion of the nation of Israel as no other person did. From our earliest childhood we remember the stories of the giant named Goliath, and Saul's spear hurled at the head of the singing David, and David's friendship with Jonathan, son of Saul the king. But now, at the dividing point between the two bks of Samuel we read two different accounts of Saul's death. However it happened, and you may take your pick, it ended the dynasty of Saul and brought young David to the t hnone , When

thenessenger brought the news of Saul's death, then David lamented with a song of sorrow. The

scholars who study such h 'tell me that the poem is a genuine work of David, and that makes it one of the very earliest ex ples of Hebr literature. It is totally devoid of any relig sentiment, which is one bit of e videnc that it truly expressed the feeling of David. So completely did David dominate the imagination o the Israelites that no later writer, trying to put words imto David's m9Uth, would have failed t copy into the song an echo of the deep faith of the psalms, with which tradition had connected t e art of David. Because it is not here, the scholars assert that we have a real bed~rock poem of ~id, and they also say that on the basis of this one poem/fDaVid is entit­ led to a place among the world's greatest lyric poetry. The main problem with our knowing thatQis that because of its ageltthe textlwe have are in some places hopelessly corrupted. The translators into English have attempted to conceal the distortions by emending the text. In a few cases the re­ sult is more confusing that a ~imple confession of ignorance would be. Right at the beginning, in v .18, there is the first example of a mangled original. In KJV the v , is put inside parentheses, & the meaning made altogether incomprehensible. There is not time to do a wor~-~or-word analysis of the v., even if your teacher knew enough to do it. It is worth a carefulstu~o see how translators do their work. The Bk of Jashar means a record of heroes, and is a collection of the poems of Isr; it must have been compiled after the construction of the temple of Solomon, but no one can say. The original words of the text may have been crystal clear, as the inerrantists would have me believe; but they may not be translated as they have come to us. It is badcHebr , and totally inappropriate to the setting, that before asking Isr to weep for th~ fallen he would have commanded parents to teach their children how to use the bOtil'; it is likely that at some time he gave such an order, but not here. It may make sense to read the words He said as the opening of the poem, and the rest of the_v. is evidence that the beginning line of it is lost in gibberish. Weep, O Israel; O Judah, to yourcrying, form your battlefields your heroes lie slain and fallen low. 1be refrain is the re­ peated, How are the mighty fallen. The seeds of ultimate failure are planted in our genes, and they grow as we grow. Saul fell because he thought that what he himself wanted was what God ought to want. It is a temptation we all confront. When we break our promise, or break a law, we convince ourselves that what we did was a duty, or that God our judge wanted us to do what we did. Saul was the victim of_his own pride of position and the pwr of the throne. Mighty he was, but heights are for falling down just as they are for climbing. Upon thy high places,v.19, the glory (or beauty) of Isr is slain. They were mountains, and in poetic imagery they were also the over-reaching pwr of a person who would not be serttant to his people, but wanted to stand roove them. On the high places, and in the armored limousines, and responding to the planted questions, there fall those who do not know the limitations upon us all. Keep it a secret,v.20, tell it not in Gath, or in Ashkelon; these are 2 of the 5 great c ities o£ the Philistines. To knQw that the heroes of Isr are fallen in battle will give aid and comfort to the enemy. TheY"Will ridicule the God of Isr because he did not protect his worshippers. Every believer~who falls to temptation makes of their belief a laughingstock beca>USe it offers evidence that the believers are no better than the cynics and skeptics. The mountains had always been the strongholds of Isr military and relig strength; now they have become her graveyard. Saul 1 s shield was defiled and 1 ies neglected upon the field. The phrase about not anointed with oil,v.21, is another broken text with which no sense can be made. Saul was the Lord'scnointed, but what this line might have intended is lost to the centuries. Saul & Jonathan were together in life and in death; n&ither their sword nor their bow ever turned back from battle. They were faster than eagles, and stronger than li~:1So we weep for them, for they

_-are dead. Daughters of Israel, lead the mourning, ~r Saul gave~ rich presents from the loot of battle, scarlet goods, and ornaments of gold. We eep also for the friendship we had for them in their strength, and in the loyalty of sons for heir father. David was a far more noble charac­ than was Saul, yet Saul's family wa' a stronger unit than David ever,knew in his home. Ver-y pleas-

_ant have you been to me, Jonabhan"(;~and even after 3000 yrs we can still feal the sorrow in his words. We can hear ~~ir grief. The last sentence of v.25, Jonathan lies slain µpon your high plac-

• es, is another corrupt fragment of what must originally have been another couplet, for it has no ~~. Jonathan was a f riend to David. A friend is the richest and rarest treasure of which this

life is capable. It is my wish that all o~-you may have a friend, by being one, in the house by the side of the road. The poem concludes with a sad epilog to the reality of battle. It begins with drumeaats and buglesand trumpets, with clean, well.-fed, and healthy young people, and when the sound of combat quietens to the sobbings of pain and loss, then do the sensitive ask, to what pur­ pose, o Lord? How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished. Alas for them. Weep, for they were heroes, and they are no more. David knew the emotional cost of warfare, for he was a poet as well as a soldier. He with Moses are the two characters who make Isr's history, and of the two David is the dominant one. He wrote the songs for Isr•s worship, and he led her armies and estab­ lished her kingdom. No other person was so attractive, or so ready to confess his sins before his God. His human sensitivity and his profound yielding to God made of him the leader/land the author of verbal beauty(Jthat he was. Grief over the loss of the anointed king and of his friend found ex-

pression in a masterpiece of elegy. May we find in it theCDurage to keep faith. Ttte gift of God as the contemp poet R.D.Laing said, is death in time, and life in eternity. '

12-22-91. Joy. Today we come to the climax of the Advent season. "this week we celebrate the day of enunanuel, of the incarnation of the spirit of God in human flesh, of the gift of an only begotten son, through whose life and whose death and resurrection we all may become children of God and know the reality of life beyond the grave. In the unforgettable language of the poet John Milton, this is the month, and this the happy morn, wherein the Son of Heaven's et~rnal King, of wedded maid and virgin mother born, our great redemption from above did bringJfof that Babe, and of that birth, we think in this coming week, as the light of day grows faint and 'trief, and the dark of night extends beyond its allotted span. In faith, in this season, we worship the infant who as a man could say, I am the light ofttle world, and he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. We remember the words which begin that same gospel of John, wherein we find that great I AM declaration, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Last week there came to our house a Xmas card from a friend who now represents a local manufacturer~~~ ~in Australia, at the opposite end of the earth from us. In the skies above that distant con­ tinent Oll3 may see stars in an alignment which makes across; it is a heavenly reminder of the mes­ sage of the Xn gospel, and it is never seen in that portion of earth we call the northern hemi­ sphere. As I went about my chores last week I thought about the contrast between our season, with the sun low in the southern sky and the days only a few hours long, and the season in that far­ off island world, where this week begins not winter's dark, but summer's light. lt makes a differ­ ence how much light we get each day, for it tells us som~thing fundamental about God's/ork among us. In the ~ocabulary of the Hebrew-Xn understanding of uod, light has always expresse a sense of purity and spiritual health. This is the judgment, John's gospel tells us, that the light has come into the world, and men loved chrkness rather than light, because their deeds were <evil; he who does what is true comes to the light. Light is thus clearly understood as moral cleanliness and spiritual wholeness. Now we learn that light is also necessary for physical health. Last month, in the American Journal of Psychiatry, there appeared a!:&rticle reporting the results of a study of seasonal affective disorder. In layman's language it is an illness whose symptoms are recurrent winter depression folwd by summer remission. It is associated with fatigue and loss of appetite and feelings we know by the slang word Blues; sorrow and sadness without reason; seasonal mood swings. The study reported that the disorder was associated with enviDonmental light, and that by treating patients with bright lights during the months of winter{/the symptoms are grea!.y reduced •. Living in the light improves people's moods and enables them to be more active and hap­ pier when1~he northernramisphere dayl~ht hours are short. In the spiritual sense, light has al­ ways been"the solutioa to feelings of guilt and of burden, and to the presence of evil. Now the medical profession has emphasized that diagnosis/(which the coITJmunity of faith has long proclaimed. Light is health, and darkness can lead to physical and spiritual disorder. In this season of the year, when in our hemisphere the light of our daystar shines low on the horizon, we sing again the carols of joy at the coming of the light, and the birth of the Word in flesh cppearing. This morn­ ing, as we mark theG11nual feast of the Xr-child, we shall consider not one but two of the Bible~s songs, texts l Sam 2, Luke 1. This winter quarter the lesson texts invite us to hear the word of God in song and in prayer. Some of the world's most beautiful songs, and its most moving prayers, are contained within the library of sacred literature which is the Bible. As we have noted earlier there are many types of writing in the Bible. For many of us ~p~ songs and poems are among our favorite biblical passages. Music is love in search of a wor~like balm, it soothes the wounds of grief and pain; it is a principal means of glorifying our Creator, and in these lines I quote the wisdom oft he ages. William Shakespeare had much to say a bout music and song. It is the food of love, which those who scorn it suffer because they respond not to it. Music is a way of wor­ ship; we read that when the angels brought the good news they sang it from the skies. So let,,us listen again to two songs of joy and faith in the love and the pwr of God.! Sam 2: 1-10;~ ~. For a lesson in Christmas week and on the final Sunday of the season ~Advent'W'e have 2 so?igs-sung by women to whom a miraculous announcement had just been made. Let us talk first about Hannah and hers ong , The scholars tell me that the song is very likely to be much later in time than is the event it celebrates. Theypoint out that not only is it an intrusion into the narrative, but also that it comes in the middle of a -. sentence in the original Hebrew, a sentence which con­ tinues in v.11 with the interrupted story. Hannah's story is similar to that of Sarah, Abraham's wife, in that she had no child, and it made her unhappy. At the ancient temple at Shiloh she made her pledge to God: give me a son, and I will then give bim to the Lord in service. Her prayer was answered and in time she gave birth to a son she named Samuel, which means to ask of God. When the child was old enough to leave its mother she took him to the temple and left him with the pri~st Eli. When~ grew up he was the last of the judges and t.'le first of the prophets. But when Hannah left her son as her gift to God, she sang about it. As we have it, it is a psalm in praise of God goodness. Her song is called a prayer, so that in these words we have an overlapping of the two parts of this qr•s series; this is a song and also a prayer. It reminds us that giving thanks, &

74' ~'J ~~ l~\\1~.

giving praise, are both aspects of prayer. Too much of what we pray is selfish, like a small child's wish-list; we need to learn how to pray, t-0 give thanks to God for blessings granted, and to give God praise and glory as an act of worship. Hannah's song is provided as text today, be­ cause tnere are in it lines which remind us of Mary's song in Lk. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, she sang, my horn is exulted in the Lord; it is poetic imagery for the horns of a wild animal, held straight and high in triumph.If you are reading the newer translation you see that the image is lost, as is the ancient way, of'f. showing contempt by opening wide one' s mouth. V .2 is an active statemt of God's holiness, which is anotherway of sa:ring_that God is transcendent, not like us in any way. It means otherness, and not distance. It also means that God is unique--as a source of strength there is no rock which can compare with him. God is sovereign over all that occurs, and he is also morally responsible and actively participates in his creation. He gives life, he brings down and heraises up. Inv.8 there is the promise that God is near to the poor and the needy, and he gives them seats of honor, among the princes. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's. He will guard the feet of the faithful, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,v.9. But then let us hear the other song of gladness, Lk l: 46-55. This is one of the most beautiful of Lk's birth songs. Lk is a poet, and he heard the old folks as they remembered the stories of Xr•s birth. Many a composer has set theseW>rds to melopy, and many an artist has painted the scene. We call it the Magnificat, for thalt is its first wordrin the Latin Vulgate version. As is clear from the text, it is based largely upon the Song of Hannah. It is also in the Hebrew tradition of psalms. When Mary and Elizabeth met, both were carrying unborn children. Elizab's child became John the ~aptist, the herald of the coming Xr, and he 1.eaped for ~Y at the presence of his unborn Lord. Eliz herself cal­ led Mary the most blessed of women, for she was chosen-fut., a most special mission. Now she sings of her joy at God's action in time and in hist, and as was co11DT1on to OT psahns//she moved from individ feeling to natl concern. She sang of her own low estate and of her exaltation. In Mary God has done great things, and holy is his name. Rs we saw, holy means transcendence, otherness~but not remoteness; it means uniqueness, unlike anything you and I could imagine. The song is in the past tense--he has shown strength, he has scattered, he has put down the mighty, he has filled the hung­ ry, he has helped his svt Israel, as he promised to Abraham., vv 51-5. The past tense tells of God's care for the oppressed in the past, but it also tells of what God has done in fulfilling the prom­ ise to Abraham, in the sending of his Son. It is a clear statemt of revolutionary change which the birth of her child will bring. For centurie~ fhe Jews had been ruled by cruel and tyrannical out­ S'iders who took the fat of the land for the~~wn. To be poor meant to be a faithful folwr of the Law and the prophets, and not to collaborate with the oppressors. To be rich and pwrful meant to betray one's own people, and the faith 0£ I5rael. Jesus would take thatthepe for a restored na­ tion, and would remove from it the national provincialism and the legalistic self-righteousness, and then proclaim the presence of the Kgdm of God, which was at the same time at hand, and also present within you, or among you, and make it a more profound revolution anyone then or since has every1.magined, a spiritual rebirth which many professed folwrs even yet turn from in distaste. Of all the 4 gospel-writers, Lk points up the timely and yet timeless meaning of the Kgdm of God. And it Q0gan with the birth of absby. God incarnate, born the most helpless of all creatures, putting himself far from omnipotence and majesty and glo"Y, no crib for his bed, no royal purple for his gannent, no trumpets blaring, but~angels in a heavenly choir. His mercy is 6ncthose who fear him from generation to generation. The proud and the self-sufficient he has scattered. The early Ch saw in Mary's song the kind of salvation God worked thru Jesus. The complacent and the satisfied dislike that kind of God at work, but those who are faithful to the covenant, who can pray Thy Kg­ dm come and mean it, will greet the coming of the light into the world with joy and praise. Their souls will like Mary's magnify,,or declare the greatness of, the Lord. This is the meaning of the birth of Jesus, in Bethlehem. of Judea, in thedays of Herod the King. To the humble and God-fearing the words may still be heard--fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of a great joy which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Xr the Lord. If we do not hear that song, andoolieve it with all of our souls and strength and minds, then Xmas is -lMllf'--another pagannoliday in celebration of the shortest day in the norttern hemisphere's year, ~there is no good news, and no hope, and no meaning in life,,and nothing beyond this pres­ ent. It is a truth we need to hear, and thank God for, and respond to, every day of our lives. The creative revolution of Jesus, the work of God in giving salvation and forgiveness, and the peace and good will//which his birth made available, that is the gift of Xmas. This is the message of the NT, and the hope to which all humanity and all creation looked to, and longed for. The good news is preached to the poor, that a savior is born. Life will not be the same; the Eternal became human, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Our song at Xmas must al­ ways be, Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to God in the highest. Not only does Xmas tell us that there is a God, but that God comes very near to us, and that God has thest.rength to overcome, and to triumph. The light came into the world, and the darkness comprehended it not, and cannot over­ come it. '!bat is the Xmas story.

. F~fie2~ i\)Os~o~8§~ffilipg ~Hnl~q?~rfi0~Re0R~n~a~!l§ ofs8uar~1!R~,d~§iBf W~fch11v 12-29-91. Once again the prec!sely aepenaaole rotation of .. mo'.Jier ~art~'around our day-star nas brought us to the end of~n~ year and the beginning of a new one. To the anc:ient Romans, who gave us much of what we take for granted, it was the season and the month of Janus, the two-faced god of doorways and entrance-gates, who looked at the same time to the past and to the future. So we in the northern hemisphere call the week of the shortest daylight the holiday seasonUand we bring forth evergreen branches to remind us that life persists and that spring cannot be far be­ hind. Thomas Mann, the German Nobel-laureate writer, said that time has no divisions to mark its passage; there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to~announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.11 On occas;on we also note the passage of hours, and days, and months, as future becomes the present, and the present disappears like smoke before our eyes into the locked vault of memory we call the past. This week we stand again at the imaginary line between one time and another, one year andthe next. It is, or ought to be, a time of worship, and religious renewal, instead of the saturnalian carnival many of us observe. Here we raise our eben-ezer, hither by the grace and:nercy of God we have co~. Whatever may befall tomorrow, or next month, to this point we have known the providence of God and all is well with our souls. At this time of beginnings and endings the thoug ful person retires to solitude and thanksgiving. Ring out, wild bells, Alfred Tennyson sang; ri~g out the old,ring in the new, ring out the false, ring:in the new. All of nature is poised on tip­ toe, waiting the spring. What appears to be dead is only sleeping, hibernating, resting and recup­ erating. Let us then in this season take a lesson from nature, and pause to look back to swmner's greenery, and forward to the renewal of youth which is the spring. Let us look to the skies in the clear cold winter nights to see the signature of the Creator written in the order and precision of the universe. In the beginning God created, we read in the Bible; it tells us Who, but not How. That remains the unending qU3st of the scientistJof space. They now tell us that it began with a Big B~ng, whose effects are still visible around us. But what exploded, and where it came.from be­ fore there was matter, you must take on faith. It made a beautiful planet in a hostile universe. A few yrs ago the Nobel prize winner for physics Steven Weinberg wrote The First 3 Minutes, a mod­ ern view of the origin of the univere, int.ended for the non-specialist. The conclusion of his text is proof that physicists may also be poets. I quote Steven Weinberg: As I write this I happen to be in an airplane at 30,000ft .• Below the earth looks very soft and com.fortable--fluffy clouds here and there, snow turning pink as the sun sets, roads stretching straight across the country from one town to another. It is very hard to realize that this all is just a tiny part of an overwhelm­ ingly hostile universe. It is even hearder to realize that this present universe has evqlved from an uns~eakably unfamiliar early condition, and faces a future extinction of endless cold or intol­ erable heat. The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless •• ~ But then Weinberg says, the effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.tt Those.J us who know_Jlh<Lbrought this tiny planet, this little island in the midst of a forbidding whole ~an look upon both time and space as gifts fro~a loving and creative Father-God. We can under- ' "tand that the visible universe is not our ~~nothing i.!!_to th!t_beautiful ~s:>me,:Yhin.,o-we k~

home; we are but sojourners, or in the words of s'tanley Hauerwas and Wrll Wilie'mon at Duke Univ, we are resident al1ens, bound for the promised land. still it is a nice place to live. Tod~y's lesson invites us at the turn~itof the year to consider the work of God's hands in the creation, Psa 8. Today we begin the 2dv of a 3-month series of lessons based upon psalmsvritten as hymns for public worship in Israel. This winter the texts are of songs and prayers of the Bible. Earlier this month we read and discussed songs of triumph and sorrow and joy; now in the 2d unit of the series we turn to songs for worship. TodaY's reading is one of the most beautirul of songs in the ancient hymnal of the Hebrews. They were, and are, a gifted and sensitive people of great artistic talent. Many of them were also saturated in mind and soul with a sense of God's presence & power. Songs and hymns and poems in praise of God came easily therefore to those who heard and wrote the music of worship, and also to those who sang and heard, and preserved, the message in poetic ex­ pression. Let us listen, and respond, to the words of song. Psa 8. First let us look to the heading of the usalm. It is dedicated to the choirmaster, it is attributed to David the poet-king, and is to be s~ng to the tune Gittith. It was one of the favorite melodies of the Hebrews; three of the psalms are set to it; next week, should we be so blessed, we shall road another song intended for the same tune. There is no way of knowing how many poems have been sung to those notes. We hear it in Johannes Brahm!J's German Requiem, and in other modern works. In cadence and harmony it is irres­ isibly singable with an unforgettable melody that is among the oldest of hJllTln-tunes. In Psa 8 we have a setting ~ich asks us to stand in awe of the Cre1tor-God of nature. But first we need a few sentences«' Background on the psalms as a group. Here I am indebted to Walter Brueggemann, the emi­ nent OT scholar of a seminal_"Y in Atlanta, in a little bk entitled the Msg of the~alms, publ 1984. The psalms, Brueggemann said, are songs of hope rooted in the midst of loss and darkt;e~s~ where God is surprisingly present. The Jewish reality of exile, the Xn confession of crucifixion and

cross, the honest recognition that there is an untamed dar-knass in our life that must be embraced --all of that is fundamental to the gift of new life." It is also fundamental to the J(jsg of the psalms. These poems, Brueggemann said, are profoundly subversive of the dominant culture, which wants to deny and cover oveythe darkness we are called to enter. We shun negativity even as we are compelled to face it; we as amciety prefer pretense to truth. To quote Brueggemann, against this the psalms issue a mighty protest and invite us to be honest in facing the darkness. We can face it because even in the valley of the shadow there is One who is there to walk with us. God is there but He is not part of the darkness; He transforms our grief and loss by the pwr of his presence. Another Nobel prize winner, Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the holocaust, said that poets exist so that the dead may vote. 'Ihey vote in the psalms; they vote for faith against the thickets of integrity and morality and v alues which threaten to obliterate faith; the psalms vote for singing however great the pain and sorrow//Now let us stand back and take a look at the God whose love and majesty are revealed in the universe in which we live. Psa 8 is a song to the glory of God of creation. It is a restatemt of Gen 1 set in poetry; it is the faith of a relig scientist~who can see majestic sweetnessnand mathematical perfection#written large in the ga'laxies of the skies, and written small in the electron microscope's view of the polio virus. There is no p:r10of of God other than the cer­ tain knowledge which comes by fath, but his fingerprints show up all over creation. That is the ex­ ultamtrLshout of David. The psalm is in 3 parts, and the whole is framed between the repeated words at beginningald end. Note that these lines are in the plural, an1 ar~ intended for group worship-- 0 Lord, our Lord--but that the body of the poem is in the singular--when I consider thy,heavens. It may be that it was written for a soloist and a choir group, each singing a different line. With those opening and closing words omitted, the song consists of 4 verses of two lines each. The first part, vl-2, is a celebration of God's glory. We look into the heavens with awe and reverence, but God is above and beyond th~m. In this the Hebrews were different from other ancient peoples. They saw nature as the work of uod, and not as God. The French writer Blaise Pascal said that nature is so perfect that we want to worship he1?t'! l;>_u!i, ,.she has such defects as to convince us that s he is not. Still, people have worshipped the sun~e river which drains and waters the earth, or a grove of trees, or even the athletic human body. In that they confuse the creation with the creator. The playright Christopher Fry said that nature loves the incomplete; if she drew a conclusion it would i'inish her. So we see God in nature, in the order and symmetryand mathematical precision, but~ do not see God As nature. The psalmist must have been familiar with the old pagan creation myths in which the world began with a victory of a god over the dragon-moateer of chaos, for he speaks of the natural order as a bulwark of strength against the efforts of enemy and avenger to challenge God•s sovereignty, v.2. Part 2 or the-poem is the core and center o~ it, vv 3-8. In this the psal­ mist shows how far he has gone in his thinking from other creation stories. Note that creation is well-ordered, but more important because God has ordained mankind to be his agent in the dominion of t.~e creation. In these vv we see the place of human beings, first in relatshp to the heavenly

. eings, then in relatshp to the earthly creatu~es. What is man, that God is mindful of her? the ·oet asked and then answered the rhetorical question. Thou hast made him a little lower than the ·angels, or, in the newer translat, little less t God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. These are the attributes usually accorded to God. In the Genesis story we read that we are made of ashes and dust, and yet for us was the whole universe formed. Here we read a similar story. We are sinful flesh, and yet we are just beneath the rank of angels. Human beings are of such value that God sent his Son into the world, that t hru him all should know salva~ion. You ares somebody, You do not need to join the Army to be all that you can be. And in relat/to to the other living things on earth, humanity has been given dominion,v.6,all things are put u6der her feet, all beasts, all flying things, all water things. Honor and glory, not unlike God, in comparison to angels; dominion and control over earthly beings, again not unlike God. The psalm depicts a creationWiich is subject to order, it is a well-oriented worldb. and that provides security and confidence. In thatassurance we live and move and have our being. Lhe psalm is therefore in the mainstream of creation faith, which holds that humanity resides in the crucial center of t~at good and Godly order. The earth is ours to preserve or to destroy, for authority and responsibility are given to men and womeh. At~ center there is an affirmation of hu.~an control over creation. At its beginning and its ending is a shout of praise to God. The form of the poem is therefore a guide to successful living. We begin and end with confession of our debt to God; in between we run the business of earth as seems best to us. The middle v.,5, must be read along with~ & 9, for to take either w/o the other is to miss the po~nt of the song. It is a theological statemt of great meaning to us. Htunan power is always bound and limited by an awareness of the greatness and majesty of God. Doxology, a Grk word meaning to give praise and thanks to God, from whom all blessings flow, is what gives dominion its content and its authority. Dominion without confession, leaving God out of the decision-making, is destruc­ tive; it profanes the holy foundation upon which man's power rests. Them sg of Psa 8 is that human­ ity is the croW111ing ach~evemt of God's creation, but it must take its place by praising the God who made us. It is the joyous song of praise which confirms the ordered creation of God. May we begin the new year with doxology, freely and sincerely offered. That is the starting point for all things

ood.

~t!A.·

~Worship. One of the most celebr~ted ofa:>ntemporary writers of fantasy and science fiction isAUrsula K. LeGuin. In a number of.exciting interviews and essays she spoke of her art and her suoject-matter. She has said, fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, tut it's true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely why m~ny of them are afraid of fantasy. They are afraid "of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom)lBut even more to the point, Ursula Le­ Guin said this: What other people, real or imaginany, do and think and feel--or have done and thought and felt; or might do and think and feel--is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become. Thestory is one of thetasic tools invented by the mli.nd ••• for the purpose of gaining understanding. There have been great societies, LeGuin said, that did not use the wheel, but there havefbeen no societies that did not tell stories. Today we will read ang....._consider astory with a theme as old as the human imagination. It is the awareness that there isfinvisible spirit whose works are visible all about us, and that we owe worship and reverence to that which is more real than is the seen or felt, to that which showed pwr and majesty in the crea­ tion, and whose story may read like the unbelievable(/but which is true as well as ~ctual. Karl Barth, whom some students consider the most influential theologian of this century, wrote about the reality behind the words of the Bible.\\It is a treasury of tnnth concerning the right relation of men to the eternal and divine--but •• we have only to seek honestly and we shall make the plain dis­ covery that there is something greater in the Bible than relig and worship •• It is not the right hu­ man thoughts about God which form the content of the Bible, Barth wrote; but the right divine thots about men ••• Man as man cries for God. He cries not for A. truth, but for truth; not forS)mething good but for the good; not for answers but for JilS.- answer, the one that fs identical with its own question •• He does not cry for solutions but for salvation; not for something human, but for Goa, for God as his savior from h'µmanity •• And yet when people ask for God, they do ask for an answer which is identical with their question, for an infinite which is also finite, for One who is beyond

ffand also here, for a Goa who is also man. The opening words of the J3i.9~ are, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; the-rinal words are those strange ~~f ·yearning, even so, come, Lord Jesus.'lrn::.eetween there is the word of God to us, expressed in stories, and narratives, and songs, as spirit-inspired people tried to express to us their awareness of the God who would not let the creature rest until she rest in Him. \\It is truth which satisfies the spiritually hungry, and refreshes the souls of the thirsty, and comforts the fearful and the afflicted. In return, we offer thanks and praise to G~d(n worship.I/Communion with the Holy One is disturbing, wrote Walter Brueggemann, a Bibl scholar w1i"o teaches in Atlanta. We shrink from a meeting shaped by a massive sovereignty befor~ which we bow, or by suffering love that is self-giving. And, Brueggemann wrote, we are always shocked that the massive ~eig,p.J!Y of God yields before us; and the suffering love of God ~m~s so much. We can hardly endure the strange juxtaposition of sovereignty and grace, Brueggemann said; the sovereign one who is suppriilngly gracious, the gracious one who is stunning­ ly sovereign. For many of us, that shock produces in us~s the sociologist Robert Bellah and his colleagues have shown in their Book, Habits of tha Hear!)a reductionism called subjective con­ sciousness.1fhat, is, we no longer imagine a reality be~nd us, outside; we imagine that we are the only reality ,J\nd our cravings and longings. In such a collapsed wrld there is no real s peach, because there is noeone but us, no one to speak to and no one to answer, no one who commands us w/ authority. We are the only law, and all that we do is ethical. But then we hear the still small voice of that ultimate infinity, reminding us that there IS reality beyond the scope of our minds. When we respond in faith and humbleness of spirit we worship. Today the text is a psalm of worship, Psa 84. This winter in the internat 11 lesson series the texts are taken from the Bible's song> and prayers. Today we c~ne to lesson #6, the second in a unit of 5 sessions on songs that were composed for festive occasions. They are like some of our more modern hymnals in which hymns for special oc­ fasions are grouped together, with carols in one part, thanksgiving in another. Each of the psalms in this group was written with a specific purpose in mind. Last wk w/Psa 8 it was praise to the ere ator, today it is a song of worship. As you see by tha heading of Psa 84, it was set to the same tune, named Gittith, which was the melody for Psa $.As we saw last wk, it is one of the favorite tunes of poets and musicians for more than 3000 yrs, and composers in our own time continue to echo it in their music. But it is the poem which makes this among the most beloved of the psalms. It is a poem of longing for the divine other, for creator and Lord. Psa 84. This is one of the great songs of worship, and it is beloved by people in all genera;tions becau-s0 in its insight it goes be­ yond the appointed readings and the spoken word of praise. The author of this poem was, we are told one of the sons of Korah. Korah was a Levite from whom descended a family who served in the temple as doorkeepers and musicians, and like Johann Sebastian Bach used the opportunity to compose origin al works for worship. Ia. of the ~50 psalms in the Bible are ascribed to those people. Note in this psalm that almost nothing is said about the form or organization of the worship that went on every day in the temple. In v.3 there is a reference to the altars, and in 2 places the poet tells of the formal worship-service ma~ked by the singing of praises to G~d. It is instructive that what made the temple attractive to the writer was that in spite of-the responsive readings and the sermons

somehow people felt themselves close to God. One commentator on the bk of the psalms, 1"1emiing James, said that Psa 84 is the supreme psalm of the sanctuary. It must have bean the expression of a pilgrim to the temple whose visit was a spiritual experience that fulfilled all the unspoken yearnings of the worshipper. It may also be a hymn to be sung at the feast of the tqbernacles, the great autumn festival of the harvest. The poem divides into three parts, or strophes, as the literary people prefer to call them. The first two parts end with the word Selah, probably but not certainly meaning a pause. Let us look at each part in turn. Part 1, vv 1-4, relates the first lev­ el) or stage, in the developmt of relig experience. It expresses the professional attitude toward worshpp, one we might expect of priests and musicians who are constantly in the temple. It tells of the delights of the temple dweller~ And how 1 ovely it is, for it is the dwelling also of the Lord of Hosts. It is a compelling emo~ional experience, one that fills us with joy and peace and love for all of God's creation. So strong was the appeal of the temple that the poet felt longing for it, and even felt faint in the ecstasy of the moment. It is a mystical experience which came at no other time or place. It is part offue order of nat\lre that the cresture cries for God; not for A truth but for truth, not for a word about God butt he word OF God, not for a form but for the liv­ ing spirit which gives life and breath to mortal flesh. All of creation finds a resting place at t,he altars of God. The sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for its young, at thy altars. The poetic imagery is clear, and it is comforting. It is happy and filled with joy. How many of us hate to go to worship, think it a waste of precious time, or an unprofitable activity which has outlived its meaning. And, regrettably, often with reason. Worship too often is a non-event. Noth­ ing happened, because the worshippers did not expect anything to happen. There was no delight in worship because there was no sense of the presence of the living God. In many-worship services there~is no time for silent meditation and prayer; evec-ything must be structured and directed. But those who dwell in the presence of God are blessed; at thy altars, 0 Lord of Hosts, there we sing thy praises. How great thou art, and how good. Part 2 of the song describes the delights of the pilgrim who makes his way from his farm or village to the temple to participate in the festival of the harvest, vv5-8. These are the words of the traveller who goes to worship, who sees all along the way the signs of God's presence and power and providence. The season of hard labor has ended, and the fruit of the grain and the grape and the olive are stored in the barns fort ho fallow mon­ ths which are ahead. Happy, blessed, is the person whose strength is in Thee, 0 Lord, who knows that the rain and sun and fertile earth are gifts of God. In the heart are the highwsys to the hill of God. To many commentators v .6 is the core of the psalm. "As they pass thru the valley of Baca they make it a richly watere-dp1..ace, and the early rains stand in pools and ruts. No one knows for sure what Baca means; it could be a plant or tree. A revised trnaslat of 1901 reads, passing th.ru the valley of weeping they make it a place of springs, and the early rains (they begin in October) cover it with blessings. The idea of the poet is that those who are wayfarers in saareh of God find that times of sadness become times of joy. God is near to us, and our pain is also his. The valley of desert is made rich with blessings. In the words about the pilgrimage and an unpleasant place we hear the beauty of the worship of God. It is not where, but how, we worship, which changes the desert into a garden//and a cloudy day into the warmth of a smile. They go from strength to strength who see the wor~s of God about them. So we pray God to hear our prayer, and gi~e ear to us. Part 3 of the song, vv9-12, recounts the joy of worship. It may represent a third group of worshippers, those who neither live and work in the temple, nor climb the hill of Zion, but who feel the pres­ ence and pwr of God whereYer they are. If we cannot be priest or pilgrim, we still have a claim up. on the favor of God. We can still trust in the mercies of the Lord. We may not know the labor of the harvest, mr the singing of the choir, but there~ in tl\1! soul a longing for God.@may be a soldier guarding the borders from invasion; this 3d portion of psa 84 h~s.~~-~litary tone to it. If someone in your family is on call for hazardous service to protect the~e~,C,1take heart from these lines of promise. Look upo~ur shield, 0 God, look upon the face of the ahointed one. The poet on duty cannot visit the temple, but he knows that a day in worship is better than a 1000 at the ball game or in the mkt-place. Then that famous and oft-~epeated line: I would rather be a door keeper in the house of rrry God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Doorkeepers welcome worship­ pers, and help them find their way to a place, and to the prayers and hymns of worship. V.11 has a most unusual word; there are many references in the psalms to God as our shield. But nowhere else in OT is God called the sun, perhaps because so many ancient peoples worshipped the sun, and no pious Jew could worship any visible thing. In Mal 4 there is ~Ethe sun of righteousness which shall rise upon those who fear his name. But here God is sun and shield, who bestows grace and glo­ ry. No good thing does God withhold, but there is a requirement; those who walk uprightly. V.12 is a final shout of triumph; blessed is the man who trusts in thee. The story is an essential guide, as the poem is a bright and happy song of wbPship to the God who graciously grants his presence to those who trust in his word. The lonely sentinel on the wall, th~ pilgrim passing thru the desert, the priest serving at the altar, all sing for joy at the living Uod. Each of us, too, in our own way, and about our own business, may know the assurance of the God who blesses and forgi~es and

receives us unto himself.

1-12-92. Redeemer. Music and song have been a part of worship since human beings have known that they were weak but that they were not alone. Our ancient Hebrew ancestors knew it, and ex­ pressed it in measured rhythms and harmonies and in poetic imagery. Among Xns the more inspired prophets and teachers have also been poets and writers of hymns. Poetic speech and musical set­ tings tell us more completely_~h_ap prose ever could about that reality which lies beyond the seen and the settled. Visions ofm~'1>ossi"nle have found expression in choirs and choruses who had the courage to see beyond the humdrum, the mechanical worship-service which changed no one's idea or way of life, which was a non-P-vent that did no more than fill the necessary hour. Truth tha~ once liberated/{becomes in time the meaningless mantra that hyprX>tizes and kills. The American poet Wallace Stevens wrote of the reality of fiction to change human destiny.nit is possible, pos­ sible, pessible. It must be possible. It must be than in time the real/will from its crude com­ poundings come, seeming, at first, a beast disgorged, unlike, warmed by a desperate milk. To find the real, to be stripped of every fiction except one, the fiction of an absolute." Thus the eyes of the imaginative poet see truth and real!_tz beyond the visible, and as we sing their words we learn that what really matters/9 challen~ old notions and outmoded assumptions. Tlle language changes with the fashion, thnCJwing up chords and words which some listeners find offensive. Last month in the Wall St Jour there was an article by the paper's relig reporter Gustav Niebuhr about changing fashions in church music. Groups with guitars and amplifiers and drums compete with the more traditional pipe or-ganj songs with titles such as "Jesus, we remember it's yourbirthday" replace older carols of the nativity. Top-40 style music, and often-repeated short lines, set toes to tapping and heads nodding; what is C3lled Xn rock attracts large numbers of younger people, '·iho, in the words of a California pastor, don't dig Bach, adding that it also included Beethove.n and Buxtehude. Critics of sacred pop demean what they call schlocky little Jesus songs and their music that sounds shallow and repetitive, with chords lacking depth and dramatic color. The new­ style chll!'ches also do away with hymnals, the report said; instead they pFeject words and musi~ upon large screens on the sides of the stage. Along with printed hymns and the chorales of Bach/ many of them have also abandoned music with tllteological or doctrinal themes. They prefer praise choruses with simple lines; one example is Lord you are worthy, worthy to be honored, worthy to be praised. No involved logic as was expressed in Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Wrethhes went out with 8-part harmonies and polyphonic complexities. And the fun~oes on. Last year a book about cowboys of tho Americas recited a recording by a sisterly du­ etffgP Millie and Dolly Good/which posed the burnirg question about the connection between corral as a place of holding ani.~als and ch~ral as something performed by a chorus. Will there be yodel­ ling in Heaven? the Goo~,d I presume also goodly/sisters asked. Some would reply that the angel choir would stick to Bach and the churchly works of Mozart,,and that Yodelling would not be per­ mitted within the pearly gates. But whether your taste accepts the post-Elvis beat of gospel rock, or prefers the full-throated grandeur of a large choir singing Handel with hallelujahs in counterpoint, all must agree that the full heart pours forth its thanksgiving to God in the ec­ stasy of song. roday the text is everfone's favorit~ Biblical song of praise, Psa 103. This winter the theme of these lessons is the place of song and prayer in human life, and the texts are taken from the poetry and prayers of the Bible. People whose inspired writings were preserved as:r.evelats of God knew the effect and the appeal of poetry, and used it to dramatize their mes­ sage. Triu.~ph and defeat, the presence and the apparent absence of God, the awareness_of sin and of God 1 s forgiveness, the beauty of the creation, these and more became subjects of hymns in the Biblical collection. Today we have the personal experience of a singer who waate::lto share an ex­ perience which meant much to him. As we read it, and think about it, we join the great congrega­ tion of those who have felt and responded to the experience of its author. Psa 103. This song is written in the 1st person singular. It is personal and it is also universal, so that it speaks to us here today just as it has spoken to its readers and hearers for nearly 3000 years. Commen­ tator Frank H. Ballard called it one of the noblest hymns in Cfr, and said that it has been part of public worship among the faithful through many generations. As we read it, we join a mighty chorus of believers who have found comfort and triumph over guilt in its beautifully stated faith. It must have begun in the mind and soul of someone--it is attributed to David the shepherd-king-­ who felt a c:Bep sense of gratitude to God both for sin forgiven and also for a serious illness he3led. And to ancient understanding, those may have been synonymous terms. Before scientific medicine, and the wee beasties which give us pain and fever, illness was regarded as punishmt for evil. In this case the poet felt cleansed and made whole, and he wrote his thanksgiving and joy into a matchless poem. Few other places in OT make it so clear as 103d Psa that God is love. It is the supreme hymn of praise in the Biblical hJlI!ln-book. As Walter Brueggemann described it, it is bright and focussed, reflecting a sense of wonder and marvel at the gift of life recently giv­ en. It i~ a li~urgical and unrestrained yielding of self and commun~ty to God. It is the essenco of the c1atechism answer, the purpose of man is to glory: God and enJOY him fore~er. The hymn of

Psa 103 is the way the faibh community glori~ies and enjoys God in a specific experience, which

is a foretaste of that which is to come. The poem divides into 4 parts, and in the original~ probably intended tote an acrostic, with each sentence beginning with the letters of the Hebuew alphabet in order. It is unusual in that the psaL~ist urges himself to give praise unto God, and it is clear in its understanding/that the grace and mercy of God are given along with a call for individual response and commitment to covenant obedience. There is in the hymtrasense of rever­ ence before God the omnipotent judge who knows our inmost thoughts, and also a feeling of intima­ cy with God the understanding friend. The writer epoke first of what God had done for him person­ ally. That must always be the starting-point of testimony. The best worship is always personal. Even in the midst of general praise and thanksgiving, for the harvest, or the banking industry, or the security of the nation from enemies within and without, and the common denominator of hwnar.t ity that makes the whole world kin, even as we participate in pOlitical and seculcr thanks, there must be the deep awareness of personal experience. Hymns become the relig experience of people in all ages because they declare in exalted language what we all feel and know. They become con­ gregational only when they have first been individual, and they are plural because they are so singular. The beginning of Psa 103 seems to express a personal experience that was physical or medical in nature. So the poet commanded his soul to bless the Lord, and his memory to hold the fact of all his benefits. God has forgiven all Your iniquity, heals Your diseases, redeems Your life from des~ruction--the Hebrew is Pit, another term for §heol, abode of the&ad--crowns you and satisfies you with good, and renews Your youth like the''eagle's. In each case the You and the Your, the thee and thy of the 17th century version, vv)-5, all refer to the soul. It is an inter­ esting image of a person's mind or will directing words to the soul of that same individual. We are souls, and we have souls, and we can speak to our souls, bless the Lord oh my soal, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. The verse is so familiar that we do not notice how odd it is to hear the self commanding the self, reminding self of the fact that all good things in life come from the goodness of God. The worshtpper speaks not to the congregation but to himself. The basis for the memories, and the thanksgiving to God, is the remarkable list of verbs in vv)-6. ~t ms a sUI11111ary o.tUod1s nature and action. If you want to know what God is like, then read these 111erbs, and think upon them. Forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, renews, as long as you live. Note also in v.6 the verb works. It is a reminder to us that in Hebr thought justice and vindication are always visible and are proof of God's love and support for those who are oppres­ sed. Note also thatfour times, in vv. 4,8,11,17, we are told of God's steadfast love. It is a call for us to recognize that God is unlike us in fundaJ1m.ntal ways. But more about that in a mo­ ment. First we must- notice, in part 2 of the psalm, 6-J..3, the poet remembered the history of the nation. He is back in the time of Moses the intermediary thru whom God communicated his acts and his ways to the people of Israel. In the Exodus, and in the law-gi'Wing, God revealed his grace & mercy; he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. V.il is a familiar and a comforting line: as the heavens are highroove the earbh, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. Note here the condition, or prerequisite, for God's un­ waver:·ing love; it is that only those who hate evil are capable of loving God. So far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Here is redemption and release from bondage, whether political or spiritual. But then, v.15, comes the contrast with hwnan beings God's love is steadfast and his mercy is sure, but not so for the creature. Our days are like grass, like the liliesof the field: we flourish like a flower, for the wind passes over it, and it is gone. But the steadfast love of God is from everlasting toe verlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to those who keep covenant and do his comdmts. W/vl9 the scope is widened to include all of creation, his kgdm rules over all. Angels, mighty ones, hosts, ministers who do his will, all his works in all places, join together in blessing the Lord. He pities his children,v.13 people who know Hebrew tell me the word translated pity does not adequately convey the poet's meaning; who was it who said that poetry is what is lost in translation? It is another expressaon of the finelalance in Psa 103 between God's justice and his mercy, which every human father ~hould seek to achieve. But in Hebr the word is closely related to the word for womb, so it may b3 possi­ ble to make the leap and read the v erse, like a father mothereth his children. God shows mercy be­ cause he made us and knows our limits. God is from everlasting to everlasting, but mau•s earthly days are limited; he remembers that we are dust. It is a reminder of Gen 2:7. The more religiously minded we are the more we can accept the fact of our mortality because we know that God's love is seeking us and using us for purposes which are beyond our understanding. God's worldJ Malcolm Spen cer of England ~ota60 yrs ago God~s world deserves from us TI.yrical praise; God's love is also wor­ thy of our shouted exclamatio~s. There is no virtue, no satisfaction to God or man in praise that is faiilb or formal, Spencer said. It would make adifference in our time if people went gladly to worship with the song of psa 103 in their hearts. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion, bless the U:>rd, o rrry soul, praise the everlasting king.

So It Isn't Rock Of Ages, It Is Rock, .And Many Love It Ii kQ\ Vt-J~ * Dk 111?1 Churches Go Top-40 to <!;et

An Under-30 Age Group; No Handel on Christmas? .

By R. GUSTAV NIEBUHR Staff Reporter Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL a

LOS ANGELES-Sunday morning at Shepherd of the Hills Church, hundreds of cl Baptists push through the doors expecting a program of Christmas carols and hymns. The choir is assembled on stage, and stately music by George Frederick Handel fills the sanctuary.

But as soon as the congregation has been seated, the prelude stops and there is a new sound-unmistakably post-Elvis.

The Praise Boys, a band of five born­ again Christians who often back the choir, quickly have heads nodding and toes tap­ ping to the light-rock lyric "Jesus, We Re­ member It's Your Birthday!" They do some old favorites, too, like "Joy to the World," but with a decidedly new beat.

Rex Thomas strums a bright yellow electric guitar. He has played with Al Hirt v and Ella Fitzgerald. Tom Adams is at the synthesizer. He has backed up Bette Midler. A saxophonist, a bass guitar player and a drummer round out the ensemble. Christmas Past

But if this is Christmas, shouldn't there be a big pipe organ pounding out the great old hymns for the inspiration of the oldest Pretestsnt cengregasion in the San l<'er­ nando Valley?

"That's passe," declares the Rev. Jess ti C. Moody. Younger members of his flock, d he adds, "don't dig Bach." And that goes i for Beethoven and Buxtehude, too. p

The pipe organ is nearly as old as West- 1 ern civilization, but there is less and less o for it to do in the modern suburban sanctu­ ary, given the deep decline in membership of denominations that were bastions of or- o gan music-Presbyterians and Episcopa· lians, particularly. At the same time, more and more churches are playing down clas- · sical religious music in favor of a "Chris· r tian top-40 sound."

About a thousand Lutheran churches have taken up contemporary songs and in· struments in the past three years, says Da­ vid Anderson, president of Fellowship Min· istries, a nonprofit group in Phoenix that arranges concerts and publishes music for churches. "It's all from the grass roots," he says. It's not coming from the seminar- ies." The Organ Lobby

But it doesn't always come easy. Tradi· tionalists, organists prominent among them, aren't amused by the trend toward what one church musician calls "schlocky little Jesus songs."

James Moeser, president of the Ameri· can Guild of Organists, blames television evangelists for popularizing pop-style church music. (Jimmy Swaggart had a lot of upbeat country gospel music on his show.) "It's a perfect match of very super· ficial theology with superficial music," he says.

Proponents ·of sacred pop argue that history is on their side, that hymns revered by purists today were the secular ditties of yesteryear. Martin Luther borrowed music from a German love song for "O, Sacred Head Now Wounded." Likewise, John and Charles Wesley launched the Methodist movement with hymns written to the melo­ dies of English pub songs.

The Community Church of Joy in Glen· dale, Ariz., has grown from fewer than 100 people on a Sunday to more than 2,500 in the decade since it hired a new pastor who brought in contemporary music. It may be a case of cause and effect. The church­ which has the largest Lutheran congrega-

Please Turn to Page A4, Column 1

Sou11111; fabar lhpa#R11MI

1992, unless the economy deteriorates fur­ ther, job growth should resume. The Blue Chip Economic Forecast of Sedona, Ariz., caIIs for an average jobless rate of 6.5% next year.

What is more difficult to measure is whether the quality of jobs is deteriorat­ ing, even as the quantity remains constant. What Mr. Lacey and others believe is that once-secure jobs with generous benefits at big companies are being eliminated, and are being replaced by jobs in smaIIer com­ panies with inferior benefits and little as­ surance of long-term employment.

SmaIIer companies may be overrated as sources of new jobs next year, though. "Small business provided lots of job growth in the 1980s, but it won't in 1992," says Richard Belous, senior economist at

uraged Workers' by the Recession people I can do and do well."

Some experts say that although the sta­ tistics are running below those of previous downturns, there is some chance that these figures understate the employment woes in the U.S. For example, people who have been pressured into accepting early retire­ ment offers don't fit into any of the catego­ ries- neither unemployed, nor discouraged workers, nor involuntary part-timers.

As to the discouraged workers them­ selves, they are difficult to find, and offi­ cials say they know relatively little about them.

Harvey Hamel, a senior economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, says, "We don't typically know the length of time that a person is discouraged" although a re­ search study that he had seen found that a year after the survey, fewer than half the discouraged workers surveyed were working again.

About 597,000 are women and 478,000 are men, a typical distribution, which puz­ zles researchers given that there are more men in the labor force than women. Some speculate that because women move in and out of the labor force much more than men, primarily because of family responsi­ bilities, when they want to re-enter it it may be tougher because their links to it are weaker. Minorities Hit Hard

Minorities also have a greater propen­ sity to be discouraged workers. About 309,- 000 of the 1.1 million are black- roughly one-third even though blacks make up Jess than one-third of the labor force. "Minori­ ties have more difficulty getting jobs and are often Jess educated and if there's a tough market out there, they have a higher unemployment rate and you would find a higher discouraged worker rate," Mr. Ha­ mel says.

About 151,000 of the 1.1 million are teen­ agers, 128,000 are 20 to 24 years old, 606,000 are 25 to 59-the prime working ages-and 191,000 are at least 60. The high number in he prime-working-age category bolsters he argument that discouraged workers hould be counted among the unemployed ecause they are more like members of he labor force than the more than 60 mil- ion people who are outside the work force ecause they are retired, disabled, keeping ouse or in school. Only one-third of the ore than 60 million fall within that age oup. Discouraged workers generally cite five asons for .being discoural?'ed, a

So It May Not Be Rock of Ages, But It Is Rock, and Many Love It

Continued From First Page tion in the state-still has an organ, but it is only used for weddings, says the Rev. Timothy K. Wright, a 33-year-old assistant pastor.

Nowadays, those arriving for the 11: 15 a.m. service encounter a band doing sound checks, a scene deliberately reminiscent of a rock concert. "We're targeting baby­ boomers who were raised on rock 'n' roll and who have rebelled against classical music," Mr. Wright says.

Shepherd of the Hills started down this rocky road a few years back and has come so far that on Sunday next, it plans to mix traditional Christmas music with such 20th-century trifles as "Jingle Bell Rock."

At first blush, Dr. Moody, the church's 66-year-old pastor, doesn't seem the type to have initiated such change. He dresses in dark business suits and thinks of himself as a theological conservative in a denomi­ nation similarly inclined.

But get the man talking about music and he sounds downright radical. All Aboard

"I think there is a revolution coming in the field of [religious J music," Dr. Moody savs, Churches that "don't get on board" wiil be "vacated so fast."

Ever since its musical transformation, Shepherd of the Hills has watched its con­ gregation grow younger. The average age of its members has fallen from 36 (a bit long in the tooth, in the view of church con­ sultants) to 27.

The church took its boldest step two months ago when it moved into a modern, barnlike sanctuary in the growing Chats­ worth area after selling its old building in nearby Van Nuys.

The interior of the old church was domi­ nated by a $1.5 million pipe organ. But when the new building was designed, says music director Phil Barfoot, 'there- was a real conscious decision to do away with the pipe organ." The old one was sold, for 10 cents on the dollar, to a Catholic parish.

The change has its partisans. Dave Hol­ lingsworth, a lanky, long-haired 30-year­ old, says a steady diet of nothing but tradi­ tional organ music "just gets really stale."

Bank of Boston, Shawmut Postpone Action on Merger By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter

BOSTON-The boards of Bank of Boston Corp. and Shawmut National Corp. have decided to delay until Janu­ ary consideration of a merger of the two banks, according to people close to the negotiations.

Some officials at the two banks had hoped for board action on the merger this week, but management decided to delay board votes until final details have been worked out.

"After many months of talks, why rush it now?" said a person close to the talks. "The big issues are agreed to, but we still have lots of small issues to work out. We're going to take our time and get it done carefully."

After months of little movement, a major obstacle was removed recently when the banks' outside auditors favor­ ably completed reviews of each others' loan portfolios, clearing the way for fair­ ness opinions from investment bankers representing each side.

The proposed merger, which would include a plan by the combined bank to raise about $650 million of new capital through stock offerings, still must be ap­ proved by federal regulators.

Both banks have declined to com­ ment about the talks or even confirm that they are discussing a merger.

Having instruments like a synthesizer and horns in church "opens you up to a lot more sounds," he says.

Troy Schmidt, 30, a program developer with the Disney Channel, says too many churches think solemn music is reverent. "I think, if it's quiet, it's boring." Charles Bradford, 77, a retired Lockheed Corp. quality-control manager, says of the Praise Boys: "I like the beat."

But others in the congregation complain that the music is too loud and distracting and that people talk through some of the Praise Boys' opening numbers. James Haggai, a retired small-business man, speaks passionately about not hearing enough of the traditional music he says is vital to any churchgoer's religious educa­ tion. "You're throwing away the founda­ tion," he declares. "Those hymns are so supplementary to the Bible. They bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ."

Shepherd of the Hills decided to do with­ out hymnals, too, in its new house of wor­ ship and now projects written verses on big screens at either side of the stage. As a result, Mr. Barfoot points out, the congre­ gation looks up-heavenward, one sup­ poses-while singing. These days, the as­ sembled mainly sing what are called "praise choruses," new tunes instantly fa­ miliar and accessible. So Hard to Forget

Lyrics tend to be simple and repetitive, says Dennis Allen, a Nashville, Tenn., composer who is working on a songbook of 60 such tunes. He offers as an example: "Lord, you are worthy, worthy to be hon­ ored, worthy to be praised ... "

Thus, a praise chorus is a snap to learn and easy to remember. "You get it in your mind and it stays there," says Lana John­ son, who sings in the choir at Shepherd of the Hills. During the week, 'TH be hum­ ming it at the Xerox machine."

Mr. Barfoot says he knows full well that there are some unhappy sheep in the flock. Heeding requests from older members, the ones closer to 36 than 27, he has been bringing back some of the old music. "We are trying to be sensitive to those who want the hymns."

And, after some debate, church officials decided to buy a compact, unobtrusive electronic organ for the new sanctuary. It finds good use in playing solemn back­ ground to spoken prayers. Mr. Haggai, for one, is grateful that it is there.

Delta Air Unes Delta Air Lines Inc. said it will take a

$50 million write-off in the current quarter because of expenses incurred in its involve­ ment in Pan Am Corp. 's reorganization.

Atlanta-based Delta, which would have been a 45% stockholder in a reorganized Pan Am, pulled out of the transaction this month when Pan Am's losses continued to mount steadily and that carrier's own management said the business plan for the new Pan Am wouldn't work. Pan Am ceased operations days later.

Delta had already disclosed in a quar­ terly filing with the Securities and Ex­ change Commission that it expects to show a net loss and an operating loss for its sec­ ond quarter, ending Dec. 30. At the time, Delta attributed the losses to difficulties it was having in digesting the European routes it bought from Pan Am in August. Delta also bought Pan Am's East Coast shuttle.

But yesterday, Delta said that wasn't the only reason it expects negative results. Passenger revenue for the quarter is lower than expected, it said; while October pas­ senger revenue was reasonably close to its forecasts, November's revenue was lower because of poor economic conditions.

1-19-92. Love. In 1864 the British poet Folliott S. Pierpoint wrote a poem which for many of us ~~resses the gratitude of a thanksgiving service. For the beauty of the earthf for the beauty of the skies, he ~ote, Lord of all, to thee we r aise this our hymn of grateful praase . One of the stanzas is a recognition of the gifts offamily--for the joy of human love, brother, sister, paren~ child, Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful priise. The family is indeed a gift of a loving Father-God, and it is in trouble in these post-modern, post-industrial years in ~hich we live. 25 yrs ago, ih 1965, there were 479,000Jdivorces in these U.S.; in 1985, after 20 yrs of economic growth, there were 1,190,000 divorces. In 1999 there were 8-sta~s with nO-fau.l.. t divorce laws, wli.ich me ant that either partner~ by simply separating, with ~tr without serious cause,

())~91::reak the vows of matrimony. In 1987 all 50 states had such a statute orlthe books. The effect '/0r such behavior upon women and children has led some legal authorities to cpestion the wisdom of

easy, but far from painless, divorce. But for the moment, love of parents for each other, and for the:ir offspring, is taking on a new and frightening impermanence. It becomes a matter of impor­ tance to the community of faith when we remember the radical exclamation of John the beloved dis­ ciple--God is love, and he/she who abideS in love abide.Si n God, and God a bides in them; Love is of God, and he/she who does not love remains in death~/&lG Qn an even deeper level, also in the ltr of John, we lie if we say we love God and hate #ellow human be mg , Around us we see the wreckage of what began as a reasonable search for justice and equity. The sexual revolution is eating up its children; the new morality is the old immorality wearing g?udy dress. Til death do us part becomes a matter of a few years, and successive monogam;Jr~replaces the pledge,s of permanence. Hus­ hlnds, Paul wrote, should love their wives as Xr loved the Ch, which means that they would die for her. The oldest Bibl statemt of the miracle of marriage is in Gen 2--the two become one flesh, to which Jesus added, ¥bat God has joined together, let no man put asunder. From the creation, male and female were thetasis of family, and the purpose of marriage was to continue the creation. For our grandparents• generation, a helpful teacher was G.A.Studrlert-Kennedy, who wrote in 1929, Love is the joyous conflict of free self-conscious persons who rejoice in one another's individu­ alities and •• thru the clash of mind on mind and will on will, work out an ever-increasing but never finally completed unity •• And the primary school of this vital and vitalizing love is the home." The home must be held together by something larger than itself; the love of God for us be­ comes the model by which we -love each other. That which began in romance too often decays into ill-will and quarrel and misery, when neither partner recognizeg any higher loyalty than to them­ selves and their own desires. The literature is filled with love-poems. The greatest the ancients could produce may well be 0lato's Symposium, wh!.ch is not a poem but a dialog of Socrates, in which we see m•st clearly Plato's understanding that the real and the true and the baautilul, while not seen, are eternally valid and real. I also recommend the poems of Will Shakespeare: and Eliz.13arrett Browni':lg, and W.B.Yeats. But today we have the only sustained love poem in the Bible, ab riedl' and exultant song we know as the Song of Songs. I invite you to follow in your Bibles as we read and discuss. It is in the portion of Hebr scriptures called the Writings, and in our edi­ tions we place it between Eccles and the towering prophetic work of Isaiah. It may be the most difficult of all Bibl materials to interpret. In all my yrs of leading students thru the wilder­ ness of my Lgnor-ance as Bible teacher I do not recall ever before havang an assigned text from the book. It is unusual in marw ways. Nowhere in it do we find the word God, or anything that might extend our theologi~al understanding of God. It is a song in praise of human love, the glue which binds toge i:her a man and a woman into a new creation, and it is straight-forward in its description of the delights of human love. It is a lyric poem of great ooauty, filled with re­ minders of the sensual, and in its present form it is purely secular, with no explicit moral or relig teachings. You may W8ll wonder how such a flagrant rhapsody to human love ever got into the Bible. About that the scholars continue to debate, and there are a number of opinions and guesses. The f~tt is that in the 2d Ce.n- of the C.E. a studious rabbi decided that it was an alle­ gor-J of God's love for humankind, and therefore inspired and worthy, so we find it here. In Hebr congregats it is read each yr on the 8th day of Passover, and taken as sescription of God the lov­ er-bridegroom and the Shulamite woman as the nation Israel. Marital love was taken as sacred,be~ cause it avakened an awareness of the profound love of God. More recent s cholars class it as pro­ fane, which tells us something important; God blesses and sanctifies and redeems the totality of life. Certain it is that if we ignore this Song we miss much of value to us. The 12th Cen monas­ tic St.Dernard of Clairvaux published a book, still on library shelves, containing 86 sermons ou the Song of Solomon, which incidentally may in fact be 500 yrs later than Solomon. Many other em­ inent theologians and scholars have left us commentaries upon the book, some reading it as m;ysti­ cal confrontation w/God, others seeing in it a histor-f of God's past providence and prophetic in­ sight in the future. The allegorical interpretat gave the book whatever the imaginat of the read- er could conju~e up, and that produced sv._~h extravae:aat meanin~s//th~t hardly anvone toaayfufiaa that interpretive tool. For our purpos~nd in tnese ye~rs In wliich Love is a passi g a ~, it may be help' ul, to read theSong as a statemt that love is ass trong as death (8:6, 7) and will

~!l~~i. t.riiumph even as we deny it and degrade it., espite fear and spiritual blindness to that which is eternal. To q uote the poet Grace Schulman, the Song teaches us that love, tenacious as death, conquers the inavitable; passion, harsh as death, simultaneously terrifies and endures. Seemingly opposed, love and death have, in fact, one name ••• Love is only apparently transient, but actually eternal.flt is a short book, of only 117 vv,1'yet in it are unforgettable lines which beco;oo part of the language, about the impor:t:ance of small things, about putting first things first, about the springtime of the soul, andcbout the meaning of life itself. St.Bernard wrote a Latin hymn which remains, intranslat, one of the best-beloved of all hymna--but what to those who find? ah this, l!l1!I nor tongue nor pen can show: the love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones know. That is what the Xn saint saw in the poetic Song which he studied with such devotion. Out of the many po­ ems which make up the Bk, we aremked to read and think about Song of Songs 2. This chapter is representative of the other songs collected in the book. It is--acfia:Iog between the maiden and the man; the maiden sings, I am the rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys, terms we read and hear often. Mothers name their daughters Sharon, or in my own boyhood, Rose of Sharon, and there is a church song often heard in those ancient daysfithat had a line, about Jesus, He's the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star. Then speaks the man, v.2, as a lily among brambles is my love among maidens. Was ever love•s choice put so beautifully, or the marriage vow put more clear­ ly--forsaking all others, I thee wed. 'rhe!!Bid responds, for the remainder of the chapter, 3-17. In this poem are some of mankind's most exalted ideas of human love at its most sacred. The maid replies to the man's preference for her over all other wonf?n, with words of her own selection of him, v.3--as an apple-tree among the trees in the forest, so is my be.iioved among young men. The apple, with its desirable fruit, was one of the most favored trees in the forest. With great de­ light we sit in the shade of its branches, and his fruit is sweet to the taste. The language of love is always direct personal address, and the lesson of this poem is that the deepest humane­ motions must find expression not only in the abstract--as with the old j oke about the man who wrote a love-letter and then addressed it to Resident; or the variant, the man who called his beloved and asked her to marry him; YES, she shouted, and then she said, Who's calling, please? It must be love in the abstract, but also in relatshp. Love must have a subject and an objectf/to be real. I can sympathize with those among us who complain about being nothing but an object,Dand they have reason to complain. But without subject and object there can be no relatship. ~people are not things to be used; they are sacred centers of personality, whose company and affection may be shared but not possessed. She, said the man, is the 1 ily among thelriers; he, she answered, is the apple among the lesser trees of the wood. That is the basis of fidelity and permanence in the

st :tntimate of human relatshps. He lrought me to the banqudt, v .4, and the re~rence may be to a wedding feast, and over the bride the spirit that floated like a banner over her was love. If thou must love me, Eliz Barrett Browning wrote to her husband, let it be for nought except for love's sake only. And in one of his sermons on the Bk of the Songsfi:Bernard wrote, Love is alone !ufficient by itself; itpleases by itself, it is itself a merit, and itself its own recompense. t seeks ne:Hher cause, nor consequence, beyond itself. It is its own fruit, and its own object &

usefulness." Love, wrote J.C.Powys, always believes in miracles. My beloved is like a gazelle, the maiden said, he comes laaping upon the mountains, & bounding over the hills; there he stands, llboking in thru the lattice. He calls to me, arise, my love, rrry fair one, arise and come a way, for it is springtime, and all the world is alive and fresh. The winter is past, the flowers appear, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove, which is oneof the sounds which an0- nounce the beginning of springtime in the near East; the 17th cen translat used only the word tur­ tle, which meant a mourning dove, and also a person who was excessively affectionate, but to later ears the phrase caused cxmsternation among people who had never heard the voice of the turtle. Your voice is sweet and your countenance is comely. Take us, catch us, the foxes, the little foxes, shat spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. So familiar to our grandparents were those words tnat in 1939 Lilliam Hellman used them as title to a successful stage play. The line speaks again ~the redemption of the commonplace and the all-but-unnoticed influence of little things. As a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough, so small things work their way among us. For rrry beloved is mine and I am his, a wedding pledge that is timeless, so long as we both shall live. V.17, the scholars declare, means all the day long; but it is clearly a poetic metaphor describing the total span of life. Until the day break, and the shadows flee a way, or, in the newer transla t, until the morninglbreezes blow away the darkness and bring the dawn, dance with me, my beloved; be a roe or a young stag, both words for deer upon the mountains. In one version they are the hill of Bather, in the other they are rugged mountains. The original is obscure and the meaning uncer­ tain. We can sunnise that it was intended as the word of love. Note clearly the kind of love the Bible describes. It locates the source of love in ~od, and it teaches that human love is derived from God's love and is related to that primary love which in the beginning created male and female and provided the hills and the forests and the vineyards which become the words of the love song.

As we look upon the face of our beloved, we knOw more fully the love of God for us.

1-26-92. Vineyard. In this class, as in 1000s of Bible classes around the world, the Bible is the textbook and subject of the teaching and the learning. The purpose of the teaching is not to make the Bible relevant to this present age, net to hammer and slice its teachings· so that they march to the beat of con temporary demands and definitions of the good life. There is in our world, as there has been in all the generations before us, far too mu.ch preaching and teaching that dilutes the clear word of God so that learners and listeners can swallow a dose of Bible without visible effect upon thinking and acting. No, the purpose of reading and studying the Bible is to meet the reality who is just behind the words and the events of the Bible. On the final Sunday of last yr Steve Bouser, who is editor of the Salisbury Post in our state, published an essay~~~ about his reading the Bible through in one year. I can't believe I read the whole thing, he began, and then he described his pilgrimage through the chapters and Yerses of this book. The people among whom the Bible sprang up weren't a bunch of Charlton Hestons in bathrobes, he wrote. They were ap different from us as some~ibiuof fierce Mongolian herdsmen. So it•s fair to ask, Editor Bouse~ote, How can these unschooled ancients, who never knew anything about science, computers, automobiles, the theory of relativity, crack cocaine or even of the geographical world •• how can these people, li'lo b~lieved in talking_bushes and magic smoke and demon-possessed pigs, possib]J' have anything to teach us? Bouser said that each ef us much choose our own answer; then he said that however great the_gulf between wh~re they were and where we are, the basic questions remain. Where did we come -from; why do we havec.-to die; is there a God;ind how do we get to know him, arxl what does he expect, of us;- the same old stuf'f that has always puzzles humankind, the enduring ques­ tions that no empirical learning can drive away. That is why theBible remains required reading and study for intelligent minds that will not take less than the best, people who are not/...Televance to a world whose best thinking is not working and whose ethic is self-centered (looking for) and earth-bound. Editor Bouser concluded his report on Bible-reading with these words: what emerges on these pages still manages to add up to something immensely gC'eater and more compelling than the sum of its parts. It is the record, if one so chooses to believe, of God 's attempt to get some41HtJ(; through man's woefullf thick skull.i'IThat something is the infinite love and grace of God, and the free offer of forgiveness, and also the judgmt that comeS''to us when we :fail to repent, or even to admit that our conduct is anything but praiseworthy. Judgment is the other side to the love of God, and it must always begin at the house of God. The Bible tells of a covenant God, who makes promises to his creatures, promises which he is certain to keep when people-1ive up to their side of the bargain. But '1.t is part of being human that we are tempted to reject God's providence and care, and to try to solve our own problems and to save ourselves. In the Genesis account the basic ~""Il'lptation held out the seductive prQDise, you will be like God, your eyes will be opened, y0u will not die. All of it was a lie, as we know; but still the voice of the tempter is heard. When we fol­ low the call of the tempter, and seek to go our own way, then God attempts to get the msg through our woefully thick skulls. Repent and return to covenant, and obedience, and righteousness, or you will surely die. Int he unceasing effort of God to teach us, and save us, he used a wide Yariety of teaching devices; history, and visible manifestations, and then prophets, and then poets to at­ tract human emotions and imaginations to listen to the voice of God. Finally comes the poet, Walt Whitman wrote in 1855, in a portion of Leaves of Grass called Passage to India. After the seas are all crossed ~as they seem already cross 'd ), after the great captains and engineers have accom­ plish'd their work, after the noble invent~111 after· the scientists, the chemist, the geologist, ethnologist, Finally shall come the poet worthy of that name, the true son of God shall come sing­ ing his songs. Walti•)niitman probably meant something else in those lines, but we may steal them and put them to our pnrposes. Finally comes the poet, to sing a song of promise and of warning, to call us back from the doom which lies before us unless we repent and ask for mercy. Today we have a swmnary, in les1s than a dozen vv., of God 1 s work among us, text Isa 5. This winter term the theme of our lessons is the Songs and ~ayers of the Bible~ Today we have the last in a unit of songs designed and sung on special occasions; next month the texts will tell of prayers and songs for Xns and the Church. After that, in the spring, we shall study selections from the ~spel of Mk, a series that will take us through Easter. But for today we have that troubling yet gracious warn­ ing .from God to his people, a song with a lesson we need to heat, and to act upon, before it is too late. Isa 5:1-7 20-23. These words, these poe~i~ images~ are unique in the Bibl collection of prophet1cutterarlces. Nothing else in the works of the 'prophets can dompare with it. It is a para­ ble cast in a ~ong, a little story of a small garden of grape-vines, which then ~urns upon the lis­ tener with a bite with a criticism and a warning to the self-satisfied people of Judea. It is then i'olwd by an expla~ation of the meaning of t he prrabke , In form it is a harvest song , From the most anci.8nt of times, among those people who live where grapes will grow, the ali\~harvest is~ time of singing and dancing and feasting. Bringing in the fruit, bursting with sweet tasty juice, was and is a season of joy. Even yet, in the wine villages of Italy, people fill a huge vat with grapes and then take off shoes, roll up trousers, and dance upon the harvest. The ancient Hebrews gathered at the temple to celebrate the feast of tabernacles, the harvest festival. Before the

sacrifices of thanksgiving began, people ggthered outside the temple to rejoice over the gtft

of the harvest. To those assembled celebrants, Isa sang a song of harvest-time that contained more than joy at the bounty. What set Hel:rew prophecy apar'j> from other ancient relig writings was its insistence upon God 's dema nd--not for church attendance, not for formal worship, not far showing up every time the ~oors open, but for behavior and action on the other six days of the week. Now hear this, Isaiah began; let me sing for~ beloved a love song about a vineyard. In these words we hear the imagination of a master teacher who has an important lesson to teach, and to teach it he must get the_ attention of his hearers. So he put his insight in the words of a love-song, the kind of music that has always been popular. It is as ong with lyrics we want to hear, set to music we tap our toes to. The word translated beloved means favorite, pet, someone more than friend; it means the chosen one, the especially dear. God, the beloved, ·showed his love by preparing a vine­ yard on a fertile hill, a promised land flowing withmilk and honey. He dug out the stones, he plan­ ted it with 1he best 'Vlilrieties of grapes, he put a watchtower in the midst of it so the owner could guard against intruders; he carved out a vat in the stone for holding the juice as it ripened. I can imagine the crowd of celebrants hearing the werds,perhaps with a harp or guitar strumming chords to enhanc~ the melody, nodding their heads in agreemt. Surely God has given us a goodly land. We are richly blessed among mortals, aren't we? Everythihg we touch turns to gold. Wehave not been invaded from outside, we have ~een the looters and not the looted, nor have we been ruled by cruel and grasping foreigners. See what care God took in fashioning for us a land w/o flaw. Whatever we needed for our welfare was provided, broad oceans to isolate and protect, imaginative minds and skillful fingers to turn the continent into the envy of the world, living standards and liberty beyond the wildest dream of other people. All that we were asked to do was to confess the goodness of God, and to respond to the love of God in sincere humility and faith, and with justice and moral ity in human relaiJsps. What more could God do for his people,.~that he had not done? Judge me, God asked; wascnything lacking, was there a need unmet? But when he looked to it for a sweet harvest, it yielded wild grapes. Literally, stinking fruit, spoiled, rotten. In these few lines there is the poet-prophet's judgmt upon us all. God gave us a garden and we lost it, God gave us wealth and we spent it in riototls llvi~. I read now that the interest on a 3 trillion dollar debt is more than we pay for weapons o.( destruetion<and t•d and shelter for the-world's suffering. What do you imag­ ine will be the judgmt ·upon us for that brain;tess greed?. Those ancient Israelites were also richly blessed, and given a land theycnuld call their own. They polluted it with greed and hypocrisy and disobedience. They _imitated the relig of the Canaanites who lived around them in Palestine, they adopted the life-style of the Egyptians who had enslaved them, and they ran of;f°'/and killedqthe crit Les k ho found fault with them. 'fyo nations emerged within the covenant people--a rich nation of the

_ few,r and a poor nation of the many .. That produc.e_d stinking :fruit. Those in control re§t1sed to admit that .~bing was..-ong, or that a change was needed, or tha~ the future would be~any different from the present. Where the present includes homeless people, and hungry people, people to whom justice is denied, change ie necessary, and will ~appen. God's word, spoken by the prophet, is that the present can not, and should not, endure. The words, Let my people go, once spoken to the Pharoah, were now sung to the leaders of Israel. Weep for those people, weep for our own people, for grief is the most basic waV of<ideclaring that the system has failed. Hear the condemnation in v.4; what more was there to do? and then hear the voice of the prophet; history shall happen to Judea. Vv 5'f'! 1 is the pronouncemt of doom. I will remove its hedge, I will break down its wall, I will make it a waste, briers and thorns shall grow, no rain shall ,_fall upon it. God will trample out the vintage where the grapes of -.rath are stored, as another poet put it. The people of Israel are his pleasant planting; he looked for justice, and see, bloodshed; he looked for righteousness, and behold, a cry. In the world there can be no history/Jfor cries are never heard, and the prayer for justice is never answered. But God hears, and God enters history. Woe to them, Isaiah sang; what emergesfrom the Bible is a word that is immensely greater than its parts, the record of God's attempt tog et through to our stubborn minds. I do n~t read all of the chap; please read it to hear that timeless word/ of the infinite. A few examples of it:: woe to those who seek escape in strong drink v22, woe to those who call evil good, and good evil v.20, who put darkness for ligh~ and bitter for sweet. From pulpit and pew we need people who can read the signs of the times, and can work through tha jargon and the double-talk, who knew a theft and ab ribe when they see one, and condemn infidelity and unfaithfulness in high places and low. w.v.26 there is the ominous prophecy of an invading force which will enter God's vineyard; God will whistle to a nation at the ends of the eartn and

_it shall march upon the arrogant children of the chosen people, roaring like young lions, they seize and carry off their prey, and none can rescue. It one look to the land, behold, darkness & distress. Health and joy may be ours when we confess our dependence upon God, but disobedience and violence, injustice and immorality, produce destruction. Isaiah demonstrated that the rulers of this ~orld are not in control of it. May we always remember that God is fathful and will forgive the penitent and punish the wicked. Finally comes the pr>et.~~the true son of God will come singing

hb song. May it be ours to hear, and to respond, to the spoken word.

2-2-92. Model Prayer. This past fall Mario -M. Cuomo, governor of New York State, was invited to the 92d Street Y Forwn in NY City to talk about 11Who is God?11 What the child of Italian im­ migrants and the old Catholic tradition-had to say there is of importance to us. No one need ap­ prove the governor's politics or party -to admire and learn from his words. And I am told that he writes his own speeches, which is getting to be- a rarity.among our leaders at all levels of society. Cuomo said he spoke "not as as cholar, or a theologian, or an apologist, but as an ordi­ nary New Yorker--from Queens, from asjlhalt streets ands tickball, from a poor and middle-class neighborhoodi" he spoke as a "person who struggles to keep ab elief in God that he inherited, .. and as "a Catholic raised in a religion closer to the peasant roots of the s im.ple· Sunday Mass - ,practitioners than to the high intellectual traditions of the Talmudic scholars, elegant Episco­ palian homilists, or a_bstruse Jesuit teachers." ~~~~y..Aer.e..J}ur~.?!.)lP, Gov.Cuomo said in a phrase that is worth chewing on, and rolling around in one's mou:f;h to savor,f\people "perceived tha world then as a sort of cosmic basic training course, filled by God with obstacles and traps to weed eut the recruits unfit for eventual service in the heavenly host. The pbstacles were e 1-erywhere," Cuomo said, and people had to avoid them until 11by some combination of grace and good works, and luck, they escaped final damnatdon ," So, 11their sense of who God is was renec­ ted in the collective experience of people who through most of their history had little chance to concern themselves with helping the poor or. healing the world• s wounds. "They were the poor, the wounded. Their poverty and their endless, sometimes losing, struggle to feed themselYes and hold their families together had varied little across the centuries. 11 The result was, Cuomo said, that !twas "hard to see G'od 's goodness in· the pathetic faces of the customers in our small groc­ ery store who pleaded with my father for bread and maybe some cold cuts--til the next relief check came. in;.11 But it got harder in wartime, when gold stars in the window meant a battle death in the family, and a mother's prayers to Santa Monica never answered. "Who could b~me-them for feeling that if God was _not dead, he must surely be loDking in another direction. Vietnam didn •t help ••• People weren't asking who is God? They were asking ••• Is God? •• For some of us, the awful burden of dis belier became intolerable •11 They needed a God "like the one that was promised in the ancient books: a God of mercy, a God of peace, a God of hope. In the end, to make any sense, it must be(c'a God of love." And then, in -conclusion, the Governor, -of the State of New York quoted some words from the late Jesuit Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose scientific notions are no longer popular, but whose mysticism and spirituality.did much to calm the doubts of Cuomo and his generation. "We must try everything for. God. Jerusalem, lift up your head. Look at the immense crowds of those who guild and those who seek. All o_ver thew orl-d people are toiling •• oi'l'he ferment that is taking place by their instrumentality, in art and- science and thought, is happening for your sake. Open, then, your arms and your heart ••• like Christ and welcome the waters, the flood-­ accept the juice of humanity--for without its baptism, you will wither, without desire, like a nower ouT of water. And tend it, since, with.out your sun, in will disperse itself wildly in sterilp shoots." Thus s p{ike"Mario Cuomo, s_on J of Italy, and gov of NY State. Re expressed ideas we all think about, deep within ourselves, even as we try to avoid the thought by aa>nstant round of bustle and noise. Can we see the goodnees of God in the world in which we live? in the pathe­ tic faces and the sometimes cruelty of the powerful and the thoughtless' in hunger and homeless­ ness and disease? One cannot exist today as a person, Dorothy Thompson wrote, without having a sh-0wdown with one's self, without having to define what _it is that one lives by, without being clear _in one •s own mind what matters and what does -not matter." What matters is what j.suNe put .p,,p;,,;~.rust in, to what. do- we commit ourselves. T_oday we have as our text one of the moat familiar r~~~ in the Bible, words which invite us to think about prayer and the God to whom we pray, Matt 6. This winter temn the lesson topics ar,e taken from t..11e songs and pr~ers of the Bible; today we begin a new month, orie whose name no one cari pronounce without sounding stuffy. We also begin the final 4 lessons on the thane, songs and prayers of the church. The texts are from the Xn lit­ erature of the Bible. Two of them are prayers, one is a hymn, and the other is a song of victr:rry in the midst of persecution. We invite you to join us, here in Davis Chapel, or wherever yCl>u may be, by the magic of radio and the generosity of the campus-lroadcasting station. So to the Sermon on the Maunt, the collected teachings of the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth.about the old law and the new. Matt 6: 5-13. Pray then like this, Jesus said to the mul-titude which asse-moled to hear him. In Lk's version, in Chap ll, the disciples saw Jesus at prayer, and they asked hi.~ to teach them how t-o pray. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed b8 thy··name. r, Matt 's ver­ sion is a close but not an exact reiteration. It is the form in which most of us use it. Bit be­ fore we talk about rit, there are some things waneed to know about prayer, practices which were the background to these words. ~h public and private prayers to God are important, and we find references here to both examples. J:ht the emphasis here is upon private prayer, and more than that upon sincere andg9nuine prayer., It is conunon among the world's religions that prayer should

be public,Va theatrical presentation, open and visible to all. In many cases prayer is accompan­ ied by ,,,the ringing of bells, the sounding of gongs, or the call of the trumpet. In J 1s day it was

otf-<2"'~: '--CJ:JM i 1A.9

common to see men of prayer behave as professional actors; the Grk word is hypocrite. They stood at busyoorners in the streets, they went 1're they might find an audience. It was more important

I'> to be seen at prayer than it was to pray. We hawe a similar demand in our day, for the consent of the political state for managed and imposed and public prayer in the public schools. If we really cannot offer our prayers of thanksgiving and praise to God without aronstitutional amend­ ment, then we are farther gone into paganism than you may have thought. The professionally pious are with us yet, and if there are'iit>tes to be gotten, then prayer as humble communication is shoved aside in favor of as pectator sport of religion. So Jesus taught us that prayer must be real, or it is nothing. Like salt that has lost its savor, it will be traapled under feet of passersby. Cor­ porate prayer that la,.f(J"s inceri ty is a waste of breath. We must shut the d oor upon the distrac - tions thatwoul~ deter us, and there can be no place for pose or pretense. It must be brief, not a repeated mantra of empty phrases that souncV/but do not change our ways. Prayer is not to change God, but to change us as we pray. In the end it comes down to, Thy will be done. Hear then the model, the pattern by which we measure our own prayers. Note that it is brief fifty words or so; it 1-~.childlilce in itS' s implicit~. Oldest and youngest, wisest and simplli.st, ~ita~ian1ihd-uni"• f;i""?'i~~, may repeat these words with meaning; it is audacious in its invitation to us to approach Gd'd "'for ourselves, it is example of prayer yet it offers place for personal petitions,; nothing in it is new, yet every phrase of it opens doors and pulls back veils. Best of all, it puts our con­ cerns in proper order and perspective. First, note the teaching about prayer in general, 5-8. Do not be like hypocrites, ,who act to be seen, or like the heathen who pray to that which is not. When you pray, go into your closet and shut the door. Pray'in secret. We can do that waenever we have need, and wherever we are. No govt can prevent it, and no govt can command it. Do not heap up empty phrases; the Grk verb means to babble, to speak that which has no meaning/funder the theo­ ry that if 2 minutes of prayer is good, then 20 minutes will be ten times as g ocd , V. 8 sqs some­ thing about God that we ought to know, but often do not. God knows what we need before we ask. We do not need to tell God what is in the morning news, or what programs our relig group offers, or the personal kinks in our 'OWtl personalities. Pray then like thif• Our Father. From the beginning syllables the model prayer is filled with meaning. To call God ather is one thing; to call God Our is another. Here is relatshp1hat soothes our bruised souls, it speaks to the universal long­ ing of people of every:ination and class and ethnic grouping. As George Arthur Buttrick explained it in his commentary, the phrase Our Father is the hallmark of J's truth, an imprint which he has set forever on our world. To add the words which art in heaven, saves the word Father from our hum­ anness, and the petition Hallowed be thy name enthrones it with awe. Thus the critic cannot use ~he jibe •anthropomorphic 1; and it ne should, he himself' blunders K>rse by speaking a bout the laws of the universe; for, Buttrickwote, it is a worse anthropomorphism to compare sovereign Power with a lawbook than with a father. The only words we have are human words; we are not angels. J taught us to compare God with our best, and then to~knowledge a Myste11 beyond the best which no words can hint. Note in vv 9-10 the three petitions which are worship. heyooncern God• s nature, God's kgdm, and God's will. We cannot pray the model prayer without making the adventure of faith in a life, and a universe, which is divinely governed. Thy name be hallowed; it means; God, cause th7 eternal nature, in""'parnate in Xr, to be known as holy by us and by all people. We must pray thatfbefore we ask fGrthe coming of the Kgdm, for unless the Kgdm is ruled by a holy Father-God it will oppress soulshGod created to be free; we must pray that God be hallowed before we pray for bread, or we distort life, and the bread which neurishes it, unless God is glorified; we must pray this first before we ask pardon, for the forgiveness we receive is the gift of holy love. We must hallow the name of God first before all else, or we e:x:istftbut do not live. All work, and all play, must kneel in reverence; there can be no dividing wall between sacred and secular,between work and worship, between play and pnayer. The kingdom already is, or it could not come. It is here among ug, within us, so that we pray that we may do God's will in all things, so that all may know that over and above and around and under us there are the everlasting arms of God the Father, on earth as it is in heaven. Yu and I no longer belong to that which is passing away, but to that which is eternal. It is the Father's kgdm, and we are like unruly children, who think we can be happy when we manage our lives and our world for ourselYes. ((Then there are the four petitions,YVll-13,that are~out man's needs, which are also cared for in the wonderful providence ot God. Our daily bread, which is symbolic tor all our temporal needs, for air and water, f~r clo­ thing, for work that gives meaning to life, for the essentials upon which we depend. Note that it is Our, not My, daily bread; it is recognition that in the basics all human beings •re akin; the prayer asks God to preside at the world's dinner-table; as with the manna in the wilderness, so with the Bread of Life. Then comes the prayer for forgiveness, which is God's offer to all who t\ll'll in penitence and sincerity, and it is conditioned upon our forgiving those who are indebted to us· The conclusion is a prayer for deliverance from the pwr of evil. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the warmth of God's love, nor the pwrs ot death be effectiYe against it. Only God's power can save us, in Xr heaven-sent. Jesus is the answer to the prayer he himself prescrib- ed as the mdelprayer. May we pray and belieYe--our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed bethyname.

2-9-92. High Priestly Prayer. The Irish poet William Butler Yeats stands tall, and perhaps even tallest, among the English-langU3ge poets of this present century. In a gen&ration that produced Ezra Pound and T .s.niot, Yeats contributed a spiritual and intellectual quality to literature which continues to exert an influence over life and thought. He expressed his sense of the f'unda­ mental and the important by rejecting the characteristics considered modern--free verse, placing the image over thought, rationalism and liberalism and secularism. Instead, Yeats was conserva­ tive and religiOUs, and used universal symbols fromirish myth and history which describe a proph­ etic soul meditating upon what the .future holds. The wonder and the terror of history's inexorable change afrected his work, so that he wrote of timeless traditions which ruled the 1 ives of those around him. The tension between order and force gave him his subject-matter, and his opposition to science, technology, and material gain as the gtl'iding principles of lifeUmade him a romantie in the old sense of the word. He explained his c ontemplation of the opposition between order and

~force in these words: I am alwazs.;. in all I do, driven to a moment which is the realisation of my­ /' self as unique and free, or to a moment which is the surrender to God of all that I am." Freedom

ands elf-surrender are .,!!21 mutually exclusixe. Within the mystery of God's love as revealed in the gift of an oily-begotten Son, freedom is attained by self-surrender to God of all that we a re. In a work entitled A Dialogue of s·elf and Sou)#Yeats expressed the duality which becomes unity, where after the Soul's steady gaze into the dark of theti>solute, the Self looks at the horror ot life and declares its will to live it all again. In the magic of the opposites//the poet renewed himself into the tragic joy which reached far beyond the base o t pessimism from which it sprang. tJ-1hat renewal ii-st.or Yeats' readers a source of life and courage and faith. Today we have for text one of the;lWv:tng and- meaningful prayers in all of human history, tl"Jlly a holy of holies in­ to which we are invited~o listen, and to marvel, and finally to worship and adore, the God-man who offered the prayer that makes sense of life and· the world, text John 17. We a re nearing the conclusion of a 3-month lesson series based upon the songs and p~ayers of the Bible. Aftertoday only 2 Sundays remain of this subject before we move to a half-course on the gospel of Mark and another brief series on the ltrs 'of St.Peter. This-month the texts are songs and prayers of the Xn Ch;, last wk it was the model prayr that Jesus used as an example to his students of how a pray­ er should be expressed. Today we have what was in fact the Lord's prayer, the words he uttered in the upper room in Jerus on the night he was betrayed and~arrested. There are 21 Chaps in the 4th Gospel, the one we call John, and it is significant that of them the writer gave 4 Chaps to the events that happened around the table where the group took supper. From Chap 14 thru 17 we read some of the most beautiful, and most meaningful, words in NT. Imagine the scene. In three of the gospels the meal was the seder, the Passover supper of bitter herbs and unleavened bread, during which Judas the betrayer went out into the night to plot his course. In John it was the night before, so that he could report that on the day of Passover, at the exact hour in which the sacrificiil lambSdied in the Temple, on the little hill of Calvary the lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world cried out, It is finished. To prepare the disciples for that death, and that resurrection whieh folwd, Jesus took the class to supper, where he could talk to them about it. In my Father's house are many mansions, he began; I go to prepare a place for you, that where I go.you may also go. From those words of promise he spoke to them about the things that really matter--not about who decides the budget for a seminary in Switzerland, but about living/ and dying,pabout remaining faithful, about the-true vifie that nourishes the branches, and a bout the coming of the Comforter who will teach us all things; and most important, about the j oy which shall be ours,even in the midst of suffering and pain- and death. Among many of us it is no long­ er fashionable to read or to speak about these 4 Chaps; we no longer think it strsnge that in mem­ orial services far the departed.l"there is no promise of the resurrection. But if we want life, triumphantly, more abundant life, then we must return to the teaching, and the preaching, which is in these 117 vv., and to live in the light of the assurances which illuminate and enrich these words. Every clause and every sentence is a theological lecture, and taken as a whole it is un­ matched for its description of faith in the love and pwr of God. Do not be afraid, J told those frightened people; be humble, for the greatest among you are servants, who show their disdai(l) for rank and authority by washing the feet of their fellows; be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. Do we really believe that in our day? I\ I beg of you to put your trust in the God J Xr revealed to the world. TilUM' having completed his' farewell teaching, he offered a prayer. Let us hear it, and learn from it • .bhn 17: 1-11, 20-2). There are in the !J>Spels many references to J at prayer, and many of them tell of ~n extended period of prayer. All night he continued in praye to God, Lk 6. But this is the only time in the 4 gospels when we have the content of a lengthy prayer. Many critics haYe therefore denied that we have the exact words of J; it must be a reco atruction, or an invention, either of the early Ch in congregation, or of thewriter of this Gosp. Despite all this, it is possible to accept it, and read it, as the words of Jesus at that time & in that place. When spoken it must have impressed itself upon the memories of those who heard, and when they thought back upon it after the astonishing events of the next seven days, they must

have remembered them, and repeated them., until they were fixed in memory, and then in writing, as they were uttered. However it may have happened, this Chap is one of the loftiest and most reas­ suring statemts in NT. I~~has been called the High Priestly prayer, or the PTayer of consecreatio Whatever we call i~, weliiru.st not miss the fact that here we have a real prayer, not a teaching or a sermon. Prayer is di~ect communion between man and God, the lifeline which enables us to face whatever might come. Emily Dickinson in one of her poems"-l'ote that prayer .is the little implement through which men reach,where presence is denied them. We are invited to pray w/o ceasing, and we are the stronger when we do. This prayer as w~ have it divides into) parts; let us ::a:aa.tb:xllll dis­ suas briefly each part. Vv 1-5 concern the relatshp between Father and Son in the heur of crisis. The theme or every prayer of J is ~he fatherhood of God. J spoke directly to God as one would to a loving father, er as a person to a friend, and in utter confidence that God11Duld hear. After that, the other recurring theme of J's prayers is a shout of praise and thari<sgiving, and some­ thing deeper than than, which can only be called exultatio~·. My soul magnifies the Lord, Mary sam eight times in this r J used a w ord trans lated glory, glorif'y'. At the end of his ministry on earth, with head of hill'i pain and re eotion, an ea n he still poured forth words of thanksgiving to God for a owing him to suffer for 1he lDrld. Glorµ'y thy son, use him to reveal thy presence, since th~u has given him pwr to give eternal life to all whom God had given him. And this is eternal life, to know thee as the only true God and J Xr whom rthou hast sent. All stu­ dents are in agreemt that these last words are a later addition, not spoken by Jesus, but it re­ mains ti:u* to the spirit and teaching of John's gospel. The one true God is made known only thru Jesus his Son, who was pressnt with God bsf'ore the world was made. We first met that teachiJtg in the _prolog to John, 1:2>; here it is repeated, v.5. Eternal life exists i~e i:resent tense for us who believe, and it also exists in _the future/las one commentator put it, it is in the mystic tense. It means to Jc~ow God as he really is. As we know God we trust hi.M, and we can put aside our anxieties and our temporary concerns, and live in the present because we know we also live in the future. V .4 has the great claim: I ha VI! accomplished the work you gave me to do; 1st, I glorified you on earth; then, I manifested thy name,v.6;: Jd,v.lfi., I gavw them your word, and the 'WOrld hates them for it. Note the _emphasis upon the word--not upon sacraments, or ritual, or doing justice; it is the word which gives meaning to worship and to lrfe. This is etern,al life, to live as no longer in time, but in th~ eternities. Part 2 of the prayer, vv 6-19, cone~rn the relatshp between the son and the disciples. This is the preparation of the little Ch, of only 11 members, who will remain behind to do the Lor~•s work in the world. Their understanding of the Xr-event is far from adequate, but they do know that Jesus _is more than human, and is sent f-rom God. From that be­ ginning they will grow in understanding, for knowing Jesus to be divine marks off belief from un­ beliefhand the Xn from all other religious people. Believers will become God's own possession as we become Xr's possession, for the two are one. This is the prayer for His Own, thofe who heard & believed the father hood or God, from which all else flows. I pray for them, tor they- have rec'd the words, and they know in truth that I came from thee. All mine are thine, and all thine are mine. They- are still in the world; Holy fatmr, keep them in thy' name. Note that in beg~nning the prayer J addressed God as Father; in v.ll th• words for God are Holy Fatmr, in 24 they are again Father, and in 25 he said O righteous F~ther. Note also that the disciples must remain in the

. wQrld and not try to escape it; I do not pray that theu shouldst take them out of the world, b~~ that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them with thy word which is truth, so we1 can live in the world, but not of the 'WOrld, so we can take life in all its richness and fullness as a gift of God to be used for his glory. As God sent the Son into the world, to teach the word by speaking and by doing, so J now sent the disciples into the world; as God consecrated Jesus for what he must do, so he prayed that they too might be consecrated intt-uth for their tasks. Part 3, vv 20-26, are for the b el:ievers who are yet unborn. These words are for us here, this moming. The prayer,v.20, is for those who will believe because of the te~timony of1he apostles, the Church which was to make real the great commission, to take the good news of God im. Xr to all nations, be ginning in the local Church, to the neighborhood, and the city, and the world. As a spiritual unit b ... fn~together the Fatmr and the Son in the Godhead, •• so in the Ch there is also a unity •• Xns are thbse who confess that the Son has been sent by the Father, and that the 2 are 1. I in them, and thou in me, that they may become perfectly o~~· It is the shame ofoolievers in the OJleness of God that we cannot agree among oursiU.ves. There are unbllievers enough,- on this campus and in my town and yours; why must we do battle with those who believe? The prayer ot Jesus makes it plain tor all to see, that all l41.o'celieve milght share in the unity and glo!ll'Y that bind Father & Son to­ gether. As we have the promise of eternal life we also have the prCJt11.ise that a unity like that of the Godhead will be an historical and spiritual truth also tor the Churc:b. One Lord, o~ faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is ci:>Qve all, and t hru all, and in all, and grace was given to each of us. In that faith and in that reality may all of us know joy, and glory, and the1riumph of eternal life in the world of1ribUlation, so that all may know that Jesus is sent from God, and that he returned to God, and now sits at the right hand, that thru him all men &

women may live victoriously and abundantly.

2-16-92. Hymn of Praise. The most important of the q:U,aatiops which people ask over and over is that one ab:>ut what does it mean to be Xn. Not long ago thI"ee men whose mmes are Coalter, Mulder, and Weeks edited a book of essays about the mainstream protestant church decline in membership and in impact. A chapter by Donald Smith reported that the departing brotm rs and sis;ters are not with­ drawing because they go to another church. They are,dropping off to nothin~, which means, probabl;r: Smith wrote, they are dropping off to the Sunday newspaper, pr to the TV interview programs, but they are decisively NOT going to some .f'undy church--a term which is an abbreviation for fundamen­ t~list gathering--not to some fundy church where Jesus Cfivist is preached and the preacher doesn't even know where Nicaragua or il Salvador is. That was good news to John R. Ff'Y, who reviewed the book a'tx>ut mainstream church decline. It meant that peGple were not leaving because of their murch"s, and I quote, "sin-crazed insistenc_e on dinldng around in left-wing politics." John Fry

. then proceeded to descri m what makes a church ~ow. It's easy, he wrote; you .f'urnish the build­ ings in upscale-looking stuff, sing mindless J Xr words to soft-rock music, and couple this with the assurance that God will provide prosperity and health to anyone with courage enough to tithe. In a word, .when churches are prepared to lie about the Almighty, and reinstitute all the relig junk that ~nraged Jesus, speak in hushed reverence to an everlasting male ~od and uphold the bib­ lical family (while tolerating divorce, -of course), they can attract lltuge numbers of the distrac­ ted, bored, andsspiritually vacuous people out there. That is the way to be a supermarket church instead of the Mopi fin Pop deal that is going ~~-~ b~(3iness all over the place." So spoke review­ er John Fry about mainline Protestant churches'~~o~ssle, no challenge, no marching ordersJ nothing but sort music. He wrote with rather more of vinegar·than of honey than I would have pre­ ferred, but his point about evading the truths of reveaQed re~tgion is well made, and worth the thinlcing about. A~out the _same time, theologian Robt MfAfee Brown was writing, Dead gods (meaning ineff~ctive ones) are a dime acbzen. The God I cannot finally evade, no matter how hllrd I try~­ re.f'uses to sit on the sidelines but keeps turning up. This God w ork:s thru the prophets (who often resented divine intrusion as much as we do); in a special way thru Jesus of Nazareth; and even on occasion thru the church, which expends ~o much energy vainly trying to tame a message whose rad­ ical dimensions keep showing thru." Both of these writers and critics of popular religion deal w/ the most important of the questions which endure, which is what does it mean to be Xn. This morn­ ing we have tor text one of the most b!autiful songs of the Bible, one whose theme is the meaning ot the Xr!..event and the exalted perspective upon the purposes of 9-od it impresses upon us, text Phil 2. Aftert.oday only one more lesson-remains in a winter series on the songs and prayers of the Bible, a_fter which we begin a new <»urse of study with mate rials from the Gospel of Marie. To­ day we have what many scholars call a lst Cen hymn in praise 6f the divine Jesus. It is a love­ poem that Paul included in a ltr he wrote to his friends in the church at Philippi. Let us hear it and then study it. Phil 2: 1-11. This passage ranks near the top of everybody's list of favor­ ite Scripture texts. By general agreement among the scholars it is a lst-Cen hymn in praise 0£ Xr the humble servant of God. It is a gem of poetic beauty; m0re than ~hat~ it expresses a theol­ ogy that has frQm· the beginning been the subject of study and discussion and thought and faith. In chur~h Latin its title is carmen Christi, the song ot Xr; to the theologians it is the emptY,ing of a spiritual omnipotence to take on human flesh, with all of its aches and stresses; to the stud­ ents of Paul's preaching and writing-it is a window into what he taught and what he thought impor­ tant. For us it has all these meanings, and more; it is an emotionally moving reminder of what God has done for us in bis Son. To all of us it is an insistent call to self-denial, and self-ef­ facement, and self-giving. Far too 0ften we go to church to have our egos stroked, to hear soft­ rock music, and to have our prejudices buttressed and approved. At frequent and regular inter­ vals it is necessary that we ask that reeurring question, what does it mean to be Xn? It is to that question that- the earliest song in the Church's hymnal addressed itself, and those who sung it. Like the ltr to the Philippians itself, it is personal and full of meaning. Philippi, in the ancient kgdm of Macedonia, was where the church first began in Europe. It is the mother Church of all whose ancestry is rooted in tl\e world beyond the middle east, beyond Jerusalem and Antioch and Asia, and it_must have been Paul's favorite church. I know he loved the Corinthians, who were a raucous and turbulent group, but worth Paul's teaching and coaching. But Philippi must have been his dearest and best beloved. There is in each of Paul's ltrs a song to agape-love, to self-giving, uncaused love. That one in first Corinthians 13 is widely popular and often read. But compare it with the hymn in Phil 2, for noble poetic sweep, and for the most uplifting view of Xr, and see which you prefer. The teacher must always aim his lesson at, or slightly above, his students, so they will understand; if I had my choice, I'd rather belong to the church at Phil, for the breadth of their understanding, and for their eagerness to be served good strong food for ~owing in wisdom and in stature, and in favor w1 th God and man. Paul knew them, and wrote what he had taught them, and what they must commit themselves to. When he wrote the ltr Paul was a prisoner awaiting trial. The ltr had several purposes, but chief among them was their need to prepare their faith and conmitmt for the tribulations which lay in their future. The last

paragraph in Chap 1, which begins w/v.27, is an encouragemt to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, not frightened by your opponents. You will suffer for Xr, and for that you should give thanks, for it is a gift of the God who also gave you salvation in Xr. Then Paul turned to the lovely words which are the morning's text. Here the dic­ tion becomes clearly superior. Most of Paul's letters were dashed -Off to meet a present need, w/ little regard for syntax ands trophe. But here and there are literary delights, and these vv ; are in that category. In Ork, as in E~gl, there is a careful choice of words, and meter, a fact which tells us something about those first believers. They had a divine truth to tell, and when they sang it they expressed· it the best poetry they c ould write. The firs~ 4 vv of Phil 2 are words directed to the ~embers -of the Ch itself. There must have been some kind of dispute among the mem­ bers, and Pa'Uk spoke to it in terms not of soft cushions in the pews-or cushy but superficial Ch activity. He addressed it tenns of self- denial, which is a subject we moderns do not talk about. The experts weo:>nsult when we have a problem in the Ch advise us to feel good8'out ourselves, and to emphasiz.e1uself-£ulfillmt. When we try to get people to work and worship together/fthat old dev­ il Self gets in the way. It is the same entity that produces war and crime and economic depression and social maladjustimt. Paul wrote what is the only solution to personality conflicts, and he re­ peated it 4 times so we would not miss it. So, because you must work together for the gospel, if there is any comfort in Xr, any knowledge of·Xr•s love for you, if there is any strength given by the Holy Spirit, any affection and sympathy; this last is not easy to translate. If you follow the 17th Cen translat you will see the words bowels and mercies--te!r'Jl'l:ID that have obviously changed their meanings. The idea is that r'r has the same nature that God has, yet he was totally human, with affections and sp:mpathies so he could understand our problems and give halp where we need it. Last month in the funny paper, we saw Dennis the Menace kneeling at his bedside, sayingto God, I figured you 111 understand, having a boy of your own. We too can be confident of forgiveness. We can be in harmony, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, acting unselfishly and humbly. Then, w/v.5 Paul quoted what must have been a hymn they all knew·and loved, about the humility and self-giving which Xr demonstrated. Let this mind be in you which was also in Xr J, he said, and in this we have one -of the earliest efforts to define the meaning of Xn. Some consider it a matter of worship and would exclude any who did not participate in the ritual or ceremony; others demand acceptance of a formal creed or belief;oth~s upon ethical behavior and obedience~ to specific rules and practices. But see, Paul offers a definition that is not so precise as are these, but which goes much deeper than they. Not our belief or obedience, not our creed or our ritu&i; but a condition ef mi.nd, makes ue Xu. Paul wanted 'ti.hose Phils, and us, to know that. Xty was a fundamental disposition, and it was the same whether the issue were great or small. And note too that when Paul pointed to the example ot Xr, it was not..-. his eart~ ministry, or his teach­ ings, that he cited; it was instead his pre-existence with God in heaven. It was Xr's obedience unto death on a cross that was uppermost to Paul, and the only explanat for such love and caring was his divine origin. V.6 is the key to the entire hymn, and -it is very difficult to translate, & to understand. He was in the form of God; the word form here is one that meant not shape but inner reality; he was equal to God in every respect but he did not count equality w/God a thing to be grasi8d,thought it not robbery to be equal with God, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's E­ qual--I read alternative translats,/{but empti~d himself, taking the form of a servant. Here again the word read as form means inner reality, substance; he did not only take human shape, but was in fact totally human. He was not only a mortal,but was one bound to service, afflicted w/human limi­ tations and weaknesses. He did not come as emperor, or commanrling general, or professor, but a'- a carpenter who worked with nis hands, a fact which magnified the diffence between where he bega~& what he became/on earth. orn in the likeness of humanity; this i'S the meaning of incarnation; he humbled himself still further, and became obedient unto death, even unto the most despised and feared of deaths. Therefore, because he was humble, God exalted him highlJr, and bestowed upon him the name which is above every name, the name at which all people shall bow the knee, and confess with tongue that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The ancient hymn tells us how those early believers -understood the meaning of lty. They faced tests of fai.th we no longer confront. No one in authority feels threatened if we participate in public worship; the sheriff does not knock on our doors at midnight to demand that we take an oath of allegiance to the flag. That shld make it easier for us. It doesn't; instead it makes it more difficult •. Facing no danger means main­ stream Protestant decline, and drop-outsfito nothing at all; it means finding ways to take the bite ou~ or Bible and the challenge out of a call to commitmt. To the ancients Xty was a picture of e­ ternal reality; the divine became the lowliest among us, the one who brought life abundantly and eternally was himself put to death; the purest/ endured temptats w/o sin. '!:his is the answer to dis­ cord and tension and ill-will. The Bible remains a best-seller because it is the supreme expression of what it means to live joyfully, independent of the future. It shouts to us, it sings to us the glad word--whatever happens, J Xr is Lord, and is tr1umphant. '

2-23-92. Hall~lujah. The date was April 13, 1742, and the scene was the·tiusic hall in Dublin, in Ireland. In that place, and on that date, ·a chorus with soloists performed for the first time the most famous of all musical co.mpositions. It was Georg Friedrich Handel:' s Grand O~atorio, called the Messiah. In less than two months we shall note the 25oth anniversary of that signifi­ cant milestone in the history- of art//and of the human voice as a means of expressing th~beauty of color and symmetry. Handel completed the score in 23 days, using a text arranged by Charles Jennens "with poetry from the books of Job, PsaL'YlB, Isaiah, Lamentations, Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi from the OT; and from the New, Matt, Lk, and John, the Epistles of Paul, and .the Bk of the Revelat. Handel later reported that as he worked on the music to carry the words, "I did think I did see all,l{~aven before me, and the great God himself." Many singers, and listeners, over the past 2 and lralf centuries/Jhave felt the same response to the unforgett~ble and emotion­ al1y-moving melodies and message of that work of art. Handel single-handedly severed Er:glish mu­ sic from Italian operatic models, and in his work created something new under the sun. The form is called oratorio ~rom the Italian word for a place of prayer. Handel took it from the Itals and made it the pre-eminent expression of British music~l taste. Using Biblical themes as sym­ bols of English historyqHandel aroused his audiences as no one else could do. The Messiah con­ tinues to do that._ No one grows weary of those majestic arias with their delicate orchestral accompanmmms •• He· shall feed his flock, er knol( that my redeemer liveth, He shall be exalted, He was despised and rejected. Bu.t it is the triumphant hallelujah chorus which brings listeners to their feet, folwg a tradition which began at the premier performance in I.ondQn, in March 1743, JdDlJl Kg George II, three months before his military victory at Dettingen over a superior French force, the last time a reigning British monarch personally led his troops into battle, rose to his feet in tribute to the spiritual grandeur of Handel's music in .the concluding chorus. All of that is appropriate this morning, because our text contains a portion of the language of faith that Handel set to thrilling 'Jnusic. It was fa't.=·from the total of Handel's compositions, which fill over a hundred bulky volumes, and in perfonnance-time almost equall~ng the output of Bach and Beethoven combined. But it is the perennially popular favorite. As a commentator upon Handel's music· wrote in 1965,"The Messiah survives partly because it enshrines the central doc­ trines of Xty, dear even to those who have shed them, but chiefly because its profound chants & triumphal choruses make it, in all, the greatest single composition in the history of ITD.lsic.11

Many of us may disagree with that judgmt, but none qf us can deny the spiritual impact of that towering triumph of human expression. This morning ,we shall read and discuss the words which make the hallelujah chorus ·a, l~:f.ty mouptain-t<µ> mu,sical ehcounter, t.ext Rev 15, 19. Today. we, end a 13- wk series of lessons based on the songs andprayers of the Bible. We bagan in Dec with the Song of Moses from Exodus--and as we shall soon hear, we conclude with a reference to that same song; We heard again the psalms of Israel and of the early_...!!l_Ch and the prayers of Jesus. Now, at the end of Feb, we come to the vision of triumph for ~fltta£ul whose faith in the God of Jesus was stronger than death because they believed that as th~ir Lord had triumphed over 6eath, so they too woul.~ live in the eternities. As we have it, the strengtl.!.aof ~l).J!ir ~th found its clear­ est and most Joyous expre s sdon in song." When I was half your agel"~"t~ may yet remain/sin­ cere believers who exclude music in any fonn from their worship. If it sets your toe to tapping it is a temptation to levity, and relig is much too serious a matter to be left to choir-masters and organists. To all such' I quote the words of st.Paul from Col 3:16, a verse that may be prin­ ted a~er the title-page in your hymnal--Let the word of Xr dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as yous illg psalms and }zy:mns and s piritUial songs with tbankfulness in your hearts to God. - It is a good text to memorize, and to quote. In dungeons and in the arena, in foul weather 1lf in fair, Xns have always been a singing people. Joy bubbles up even in uncertainty and ugliness and peril. So may it be also with us, in a tiJlle when profes­ sed believers are indifferent to the legacy o.f.A,!P-rooted faith in the Xr of God, whose example inspired "the establmt of schools and colleges~t us hear the sound of music from the Kgdm of God, when we are at work, and play, and at worship. Finally comes the poethto sing in metered lines theglad .tidings of joy which shall be to all people. Let us hear the song of praise to God, Rev 15: 2-4119:~. Many -Of us find it easy to ignore the bk of the revelatio.n, in part because we find it diffic lt to understand, and in part bec<lEUse of the uses to which people who appear to be charlatans have put it. In Grk its n~me is apocalypse, which in English means an unveiling, a revealing or as we call it, a revelation. By wellfounded tradit it was written by John, the 'beloved dis~ipl~ the one who lived inti:>Lthe 9th decade of the first century. John was condemned to a penal colon~ on the island of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea not far from the Ionian coast of As­ Min. Roman autho~ities detel'llined to eradieate.-;the Xn fat th because its mherents refused to swear allegiance to Caesar; In our day we feel no embarrassmt at rendering unto God that which is God •s, and saluting the flag of Caesar, who is lord of this present time. The Romans were a zene rcus and

a tolerant people to those who offered no resistance to their rule,. but they were uncsaemg in theircruelty to those they regarde-d as subversive, rebellious, trouble-makers. Many Xns were

caught between their confession of faith that J Xr is Lord, and their human desire to live a few more years by worshipping at the shrine of the divine Caesar. John knew that God is eternal, but Rome will pass away. He wanted to tell his lrothers and sisters to keep faith with the Eternal, for Rome 1s dayt,lla past. If he said that4claax{yand plainly//his jailors would not permit it to cir­ culate. No Pharoah, and no Caesar, wants thefr subjects to have hope. Hope means that there is an alternative to the present oppression and explaitation of the many by the few. So John wrote

~love-letter to his fellow-believers in thecryptic,,seem.ingly innocent, even nonsensical, lB_!!l­ uage called apocalyptic. The bk of Revelat is the finest example of that style of writing, but~ was al.Eeady familiar to those who knew the Hebr-Xn tradition. It would get past the censors, and it would be meaningful and inspiring to those who knew how to read it. Its msg is eternal, and it comes thru loud and clear--God reigns and will prevail;. those who keep faith will know the peace and joy of God's presence. Rome was called Babylon, or the Beast, Jesus is the Lamb slain,,and the history oft he world from the time of Alexander the Great to the CaesarsiJJrg told in exotic depictions of monsters with horns and angels with books and seals upon them~e~ause no one cares, we no longer need the apocalyptic stple, but we do need the word the bk of Revel brings to us. It is not prophecy of what will happen in the future; it is a sermon in code directed to that gen­ eration. Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of her im­ pure passion. But let us turn to the assigned texts. Thew in Chap 15 tell• of a chorus of the faithful, beside a sea of glass, singing of God's triumph over the beast and its image, and the number,-of' its name. Many students say that number is 696, which in Hebrew spells the name Nero c'aesar. There is a striking contrast between the cruelty and immorality of the worship of th~ beast, who may be understood as any self-centered regime at any time, leaders with no other inter­ est than their own comfort and pleasure, and the lo.tty nobility of the life with God. There is nothitig pretty in the worship of whoever dominates the world. These martyrs, whose deaths conq­ uered the mighty beast, carry harps of Goq in their hand.s,v.2. This is the music of God, in the worship of the God whose every act is one of compassion and the .t\llfillmt of art. The harps of God symbolize the harmonies which now from that faith which transcends the selfish, and the pas­ sing; all who believe are depicted as artists who play upon heavenly instruments. The song they sang is itself a masterwork of poetry and theology, for it is a marriage of the law and the gos­ pel, turned into music. We are told,v.3, that they sing the song of Moses. If you will compare these lines with the song of Moses with which we began this series, in Ex 15:·1, you will find lit­ tle similarity. Instead, the author of Rev~l, who had memorized the holy texts of his day, strung togel)ber lines frorrt, at least 8 different s ources , none of them from EePd. But its meaning is clear; it i.s, like other songs in 'the kevel.,, a shout ot· praise. to God""for his pwr aild might.. Those who were called upon tb confront the police:man at midnight, or the lion in the arena, might give up their faith in God because God waa weak, or apathetic, or absent. Great and wo~erful are thy deeds, 0 Lord God; just and true are thy ways, 0 Kg of the ages; thou alone art holy. Whatever we DlaY see in the present, this too shall pass, and all nations shall come and worship thee. Now see how old and new are combined in this song of praise. As the people of Israwl stood beside tha sea after their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, so now the eye of the poet sees the victorious sai'nts beside a sea of glass and fire. Tho law and the EPSpel have become one faith, both can sing of the deeds of God in forgiving and redeeming his own, and the entire Bibl story of the call of God to humankind cone1udes with a revelat of his holiness and power. This song swmnarizes all the meaning of the ancient Law thru which our ancestors were lrought to an awareness of God's care> amd it tillr> adds the victory of those who gave their lives rathe·r than deny their faith in the reality of God's presence. The song ends upon a note 0£ universal acceptance and t rust in God. This is the genuine union of the nations, who shall come to JJ>rship God. In the s ong included in Chap 19 we come to the mountain-top of the Bible. A mighty'voice of a great multitude in heaven was heard, crying Halleluijah, salvation and glory and pwr belong to our God, for his judgmts a re true and just, Amen, Halleluaah, and from the throne came the same words, this time,v.5, translat­ ed from Hebrew to Greek, and then into English, Praise our God, you who fear him, small and great. And then John heard· the multitude, like the sound of a mighty ocean wave, with loud peals of thun­ der, crying Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty reigneth. This i~ 1'.he line that birsts forth in the famous Hallelujah Chorus in Handel's oratorio, that will be 250 )rrs old in April. It is a shout<'-of jey over the destruction of that wicked city Rome, which was to John the symbol of all evli..l everywhere in the world. This song is heaven's proclamation of ultimate victory over all evil among men and women. It is also a song to celebrate the marriage of the Lamb of God to his bride, which is the Church or J Xr visible on earth. It is a reminder of the Song of Songs, which the rabbis took to be a symbolic poem of the marriage of God to Israel, now assumed into the Xn revelat; J is the bridegroom, and the Church of the faithful is the bride, now clothed in the righteous deeds of the saints. Lust cannot have the final word; cruelty and arrogance will be over come; the Church made pure by the blood of the Lamb is invited to the marriage feast. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is the consummation of God's acts in hisiD ry to restore the broken covenant and man• s sin. Hallelujah may we sing, and say Amen.