Maybe my "Last Chapel Sermon"

... about "loyalty" and "vision" . . . if you can decipher my spacey speech:

For E.N.C. chapel 4/29/92
DEALING WITH CONFLICT IN LOYALTIES

(( A NEW EXPERIENCE, BEING PAID TO SPEAK IN CHAPEL FROM MY OWNPULPIT, WHICH IS NOT MY OWN PULPIT WHEN THIS IS THE COLLEGE CHAPEL
1) reflections on the history of this church's relationship toENC across the years
2) reflection on the larger relationship of ENC to the church atlarge, and to the Church of the Nazarene in particular))

1. A FOCUS ON OUR LOYALTIES
".. to thine own self be true and it must follow as the nightthe day thou canst not then be false to any man.." Shakespeare'scharacter notwithstanding, this is only partially true. and as Tony Campolo has said in the title of a book outliningseveral damnable heresies-- there is a kernel of truth in mast lies;the title is "Partly Right", by the way
WHEN LOYALTIES CONFLICT, how do we address the tension? who orwhat has to give? William C. Placher in a recent article says
"imagine admissions literature stating something like this:
We groom you to success in your careers. We prepare you for graduate and professional work at the best universities or cocktail conversation at the best country clubs. And also, we will get you thinking about the service of the crucified son of a carpenter who calls his disciples to give up all that they have and pick up their crosses and follow." Then Placher adds with bitter irony: "On second thought, perhaps we'd best leave out that last sentence." So-- am I called to be a millionaire, or called to be a monk?Am I to be socially active, or fundamentalist-defender of the faith?Is there any kind of safe way to go? or better, is there any one rightway?

2. SEEKING THE DEEPEST, HIGHEST LOYALTIES
Kohlberg, Lawrence Kohlberg, (who had some influence in myunderstanding of how I think about 'right and wrong'), saw- still inindividualized understanding- the highest motivation as being"principled" or "post-conventional" motivation. He wrote that he had never observed anyone under 22 years of agethat was really into this high level of loyalty to truth.
I question that-- for the highest understanding of truth isnever abstract, never objective. Robert Coles, also an eminent Harvardteacher, has seen in children nine, ten, eleven years of age aspiritual sensitivity that went beyond their rational understanding ofmoral issues.
We are dealing here with mystery! And I have known many people whose moral understanding may havebeen lacking, but whose commitment to Truth was so thorough and soirrevocable that they lived like Jesus because they lived with Jesusand Jesus lived through them.
There is a better, a higher way of loyalty. It is the personal loyalty to Jesus that transcends all other loyalties. It denies self-sovereignty ("I am NOT God!") and identifies with Christ's body,the Church, (imperfect as it may be, especially after you join it)!

Conclusion: Change is threatening. We live in tension between the joy ofchange and the security of steadfastness. This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face OJacob!