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God is present to us in all the chaos of our time. God nourishes us as a desert turns into pools of water, our parched souls are quenched by God's Word. O give thanks to God, for God's steadfast love endures forever. Friends, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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But if we confess our sin, God, who is faithful and just, forgives us our sin and indeed cleanses us from all unrighteousness. In humility and repentance, let us confess our sins against God and one another. Let us pray. God of promises,

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You have called us to be witnesses to your great love, but we bicker and blame, gossip and criticize, boast and sing our own praises. We pray so that others will see us, and so often our prayers are empty. You have said the greatest of us will be a servant, and the humble will be exalted. Humble us this day, O God,

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and strengthen us to truly be your servants in the service of others. In the name of the Christ, amen. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. If we have died with Christ, then we believe we shall also live with him.

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So we must also consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to everything that is good. Friends, hear and believe the good news of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Amen.

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Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us forgive one another. The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And also with you. You may be seated.

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It is a deep joy and privilege to introduce once again the Reverend Dr. Joseph L. Roberts Jr. senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, for 29 years.

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Last evening, President Wardlaw so aptly described the Ebenezer Baptist Church as a cathedral of civil rights in this country. If so, then Dr. Roberts is surely its archbishop. Having furthered the ministries and the legacies of his predecessors,

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namely the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., while also making his own unique and outstanding contributions to a congregation, to a movement, indeed, to a world. Contributions that remain models for Christians and Christian ministry.

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Dr. Roberts described himself last night as a conglomerate of Christian traditions. He has been a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church, where he served pastorates in New Jersey, along with serving in several leadership roles in the denomination, and, of course, the Baptist Church, which is to say that he is the consummate ecumenist and seeker of unity within diversity in the body of Christ.

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That continues to be his passion, that continues to be his witness. Dr. Roberts is a cum laude graduate of Knoxville College and holds the Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York and the Master of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also the recipient of honorary degrees from five different institutions of higher learning, and he has been called an outstanding clergyperson by Ebony Magazine.

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His numerous other awards and accolades are simply too many to name. In his sermon last night, Dr. Roberts challenged us to face the fiery ordeals of this world boldly with Christ.

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That is, to live into the centrality of the cross in the face of today's abundant resources, both in the church and out for avoiding pain and struggle. In a phrase, he challenged us to resist pulling the nails out. We anticipate with much eagerness, Dr. Roberts, the word you will offer us tonight,

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And we are deeply honored by your presence with us here at Austin Seminary. And so I am delighted to introduce to you once again a preeminent pastor, leader, thinker, advocate for persons and voices silenced by oppression and injustice, indeed a fine human being, the Reverend Dr. Joseph L. Roberts, Jr.

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Thank you, Dr. Cole, Dr. Warden Law, and my brothers and sisters. These days have come and gone so very quickly.

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And yet I take away from this place a degree of enrichment that is sorely needed by those of us who are out in the desert looking for an oasis. It has been good to be here. But we know that the transfiguration did not last forever. We have to go back down into the valley where there will be sickness, confusion, hostility, joy, love, and support waiting for us.

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And we go back with the light of God in us. Our lecturers have been superb. They have taught us much. We thank God for this opportunity to pull apart for a while and to think deep thoughts and to glory in His name.

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I had the happy pleasure of speaking to the Baptist Alliance this afternoon. They snuck me in and I see some of them are here tonight. Dr. Griffin is the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in this city, and I see him here this evening, and that is right next door to you.

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Is that one of your daughters? No. All right. All right.

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His daughter was the organist at Ebenezer Baptist Church. She is married to the renowned Dr. Lawrence Carter, who is Dean of Chapel at Morehouse College. And we indeed thank God for the years that we have known each other and for the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love.

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I'm going to be getting out early in the morning, and if you don't see me in my robe, that's because I didn't bring mine. And I was supposed to borrow somebody's robe, but we got a little mixed up. I got one last night, but that's just all right. because God looks at the heart.

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And if the heart is right, then He can use us. We thank you for this opportunity, and excuse me for not being in liturgical attire. But if we put on the full armor of God, then we are able to acquit our responsibilities meaningfully. Let us pray.

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Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Let your light so shine that we may see your good works and glorify our Father in heaven. As we leave this place on tomorrow and go back to our several posts of duty in a multifaceted ministry, you know what we need. We only ask you to supply it.

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And when we are weary, let us never be weary in well-doing. For we know if we hold on on the other side, we will receive our reward. We thank you for the opportunity to proclaim a word that angels cannot share, to be able to talk to each other. about a wonderful God who sustains us in ministry and is the end of our ministry.

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And because we have faith in you, and because faith is the evidence of things not seen, faith is that which we hope for. We know that you will affirm our faith and confirm us in your love. This we ask in the strong name of Jesus Christ, your Son and our deliverer. Amen.

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I would like to call your attention to words that are found in that beautiful letter that Paul writes to the church at Philippi. We all know that his connections with Philippi were great because these were the persons who when nobody else would come to his rescue, voluntarily and unsolicitedly came to his aid. He is now writing them as he spends the last two years of his life in a Roman prison.

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He knows he will never see them again. And so he sends this parting letter to them. to be perpetuated in their ministry and to give them strength in their witnessing. We read from the fourth chapter, beginning with the fourth verse.

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Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice, is a man saying, rejoice from prison. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

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Let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure whatever is pleasing whatever is commendable if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise think about these things keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you finally brothers and sisters

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Whatever is true, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I'd like to put a handle on this message this evening, and I would like to address myself to the topic, I think more. I think more. Let me begin by a story that is told by Paul Austendale.

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He writes, I have a friend admired by all for his wisdom and his creativity, but now his eyesight is failing, as he is infirmed. He has been a resource leader at many study groups that I have attended. And recently, because I knew he was growing older and his sight was growing more dim, I asked a student who attended one of his workshops, was he in his usual excellent form? And the student answered, oh yes.

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But I especially remember, said the student, his opening sentence as he began our workshop that afternoon. He was standing in front of us. looking out at us. We all knew that his eyesight was getting poorer, but he waited until the room became quiet, and then he said these words.

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I cannot read much anymore, so I don't think about as many things as I once did, but I think more. Now, I think more. Not about as many things as I once did, but I think more.

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Most of us in this age of overabundant knowledge try to be as widely and as deeply informed as possible. We need no urging to become interested in many different subjects. We take pride in the fact that we are always learning something new, even here at Austin Seminary. But

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But there is something that happens in life like it happened to this friend. When our options are suddenly narrowed through illness or accident or some other unfortunate circumstances, we find ourselves with time we never had before. It's like Saul on the road to Damascus. He thought he had the agenda down.

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He thought he was obeying God. He thought he was being an interpreter of the law. But when he fell off his horse by divine revelation and was knocked to his feet, knocked to the ground and was blinded, then with nobody to help him, he had opportunity in that accident to see what he had never seen before because God made him take a time out. And although we wouldn't choose our sudden deprivations, they can actually be an act of grace, a blessing in disguise, if you please.

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For without our deprivations, without our limitations, without cutting down on our options, many of us might miss the chance to examine ourselves and to discover the deeper learnings that we need and the deeper strengths that we need for our individual journeys in ministry. Yes, a crisis forces us to stop and think and above all, to fully know the depths of God's will and God's purposes for our lives. A time of deprivation is unfortunate, but it can be a time when we move from being simply well-informed or even over-informed to becoming truly wise.

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There's a difference in it. I remember my dad died in 1977. I had been at Ebenezer Church for two years. He was born in Georgia, but when he came back on that last trip before his death, he told me, take me around.

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He was born in Monticello, Georgia, and we drove around. And you know, he said, I see things that I had not seen before. His sudden deprivation The leukemia that he had made him know that time was precious, and things that he might have overlooked before, he now absorbed and assimilated into himself.

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That's what I'm talking about. It's good for us sometimes, in the midst of our deprivation, to be still and to know that God is God, to realize that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows his handiwork to just stop a minute. And sometimes God's got to knock us down so that we will be able to see.

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At the beginning of Paul's ministry, he is limited by the parameters of an affliction that God lays on him so that without his physical vision, he would have other eyes opened that he had never understood when he goes to Damascus. and to a street called straight. He is very much like this old man I talked about, who said, I've been pinched in. I can't read much anymore, so I don't think about as many things as I once did, but I think more.

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And certainly, the apostle Paul knew all about this. We are gripped by the fact that you go from the Damascus experience to his last experience when he writes the Philippians, I have told you that he was in jail, and he puts an ultimate on the thing. It seems as if his life is about to terminate because he says, finally, brethren, finally, sisters.

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His eyesight was failing him at that time. His body, Paul's body, was weak and emaciated. But what was the essence of Paul's message to those persons he was talking to? He said, don't try to understand everything, but think more insightfully.

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more wisely. But it is not how many subjects you know, but how well acquainted you are with the subjects that are most important. Now Paul knew that the human mind will always focus on something, and he wanted to be sure that the Philippians focused on the right subjects, the eternal values, the everlasting verities of life. Paul knew that if a person thinks long enough about something,

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And he comes to the point where he thinks of nothing else that will obsess him. He can't help thinking about it. And so he's thought that thoughts literally put us in a mental and spiritual state out of which we cannot quickly jerk ourselves. And so he said, if you're going to think about anything, in this last time, as I am here in prison, I have learned that I need to concentrate on those things that are fine and are noble, I am

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I'm focusing and narrowing my focus to the things that are true and just and pure and lovely and gracious. Think on these things. And if you do, the God of peace will be with you. That's the thing that he warns us to be sure to do because there is little time at hand.

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Now, I just want to talk about two things in this particular scripture because we're going to communion. I want to talk about what Paul sees as being just and what Paul sees as being lovely. Think on what is just for a few moments. Well, Paul comes to a definition of just.

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which lets us know that we need to let our moderation be known to all people. The word just has been translated by Wycliffe as your patience, by Tyndall as your softness, but in the Geneva Bible it is called the patient mind. But I like C. Kingsley Williams' translation of this Greek word just.

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What does just mean for him? He says, if we are to be just, we need to let the world know that we will meet a person halfway. Be it my co-worker, be it my colleague in ministry, to be just is something better than justice.

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To be just, we as Christians have to be moderate. You see, there are circumstances in life in which strict justice becomes unjust because of its generality. Whatsoever things are just, Well, think about it.

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A law or a regulation or a condition may in and of itself be perfectly just by itself, but when you put it in context, when you take it to an individual, this law which seems just may be unjust because justice must often be meted out with equity for all. What is equity, you might ask? Equity is justice applied in circumstances not covered by the law.

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Equity is mercy that suits our case. A person in Christ is prompted by the spirit of moderation not always to apply the strict letter of the law when he knows it is more important sometimes and more redemptive to relax justice and apply mercy, to let someone live who thought they were going to die, to go beyond that which is really thought of as justice, and let mercy suit their case. Lord, when you come into your kingdom, remember me.

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Did the dying thief want justice? No. Did Jesus give justice? No.

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He gave equity. This day, in spite of your record, this day, in spite of your flaws, this day, you shall be with me in paradise. If the church could think more about giving out equity rather than justice, Tempering what we do with moderation.

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Meeting a person halfway, how much better off we would be. Let me give you an example of that and talk to you about a subject that we usually shy away from. A person is in a classroom, and they are teachers in that classroom, and they have two students, and they correct their examination papers, and if they apply justice, they will find that one has 80% and the other has 50% of the correct answers on their examination.

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If you apply justice, if you are cold and hard, you don't think about anything else. But then if you look a little further and apply equity, if you look beneath the surface, you will discover contextually that the student who scored 80% has books and leisure, he has peace to study, a home where it's quiet, He has parents who are supportive of education. No worries, no distractions.

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Everything is in his favor. But look at another student who scores 50. He comes from a poor home. Equipment is at a bare minimum.

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There are no books. Those who are living in his house may be ill or in pain. They have come through recent stress and recent difficulty. Will we mete out justice on him by flunking him out?

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Or does he deserve equity? Do we need to do something beyond justice? When I think more, I realize that if justice is to be meted out, we must do more. A woman caught in adultery, should she be stoned?

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Jesus says, he who is without sin casts the first stone. There is something about justice that is inadequate. Sometimes it must be tempered with mercy. The woman who was forgiven by Jesus was the recipient of affirmative action.

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Oh yes, she was. The student who is allowed to go on is given a chance because he did not start out on equal ground. If you read the gospel, It is full of affirmative action.

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People who did not deserve to receive the mercy of God received it. People who were wrong were able to get up on their feet and stand again. The woman who came and washed Jesus' feet, poured the alabaster perfume on his feet, felt forgiven. She had known mercy.

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I think more about these things when I'm talking about trying to be just. What does it mean, then, for us to be just? It means that there is something beyond justice that we must be willing to follow if we are to do God's will.

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But then not only must we do that which is just, but we must also have actions that are lovely. I think more about those actions. I've announced my retirement from Ebenezer Baptist Church, 30 years there, 45 years in the ministry. And as I wrap that up, I am able to think more simplistically about what religion and ministry is all about.

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I focus on a few things, and I think more deeply about them. Not worried about all the subjects in the world, but concerned about those salvific things That must be in my biography, that I may be called a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. I must put love into action.

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There are a number of ways that this can be done. As we think about doing lovely acts, not only just being just, but following up with lovely acts, I'm reminded of the fact that in the United States of America, we have an exploding prison population. In fact, there has been a 50% increase in our prison population in the last 10 years, even though crime has been going down. While there has been a crackdown on crime, a tougher crime mentality of mandatory minimum sentences prevails in this nation.

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And while it reduces the crime rate, it has produced another problem. For today, we have 1.5 million children. who have at least one parent behind bars in the United States of America. And it is growing in number every day as we increasingly mete out tough sentences to parents.

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This is especially grievous to those of us who are in the African-American community and who realize that 68% of our homes are headed by women, and we are throwing mothers in jail as well. We resurrect that old spiritual which says, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. I don't know where my father is.

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Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child because I am one of 1.5 million children who have a parent in jail. My only parent in jail. We have seen the unintended effect of locking children, young children, into troublesome lives.

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Well, they've done something creative in the city of Philadelphia. I'm talking about putting love into action now. What has happened in that city of brotherly love? They have gotten 43 churches together, and they've asked them to supply local church volunteers.

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To the credit of President Bush, he has allocated money from the federal budget to help in these endeavors. $67 million has been given to support programs of this nature through the entire country. The president has lit a candle rather than cursing the darkness, and he is to be commended for that.

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It shows where his heart is. But this initiative must be matched by the fact that we face some realities. Crime is down, but in a city where there are so many children who long for their parents, we need to remember that children of inmates are six times more likely to end up in prison themselves. A particular concern is the rising number of women inmates who we find all around us, and they are the primary givers of care for their children.

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Sandra Barnhill in Atlanta writes, For every mother who is in prison, her child is also in prison. These children, though out of jail, are doing serious time. Which is why it is so important that the issue is coming to the forefront. Aid to children of imprisoned mothers.

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Well, in the city of Philadelphia, John Street, the mayor, discovered that there were 20,000 children in his city in that category. Parents doing time in prison. He believes in the role of Christianity to do something more than act justly, but to love in a meaningful way. He thought that he would apply the love of the church to healing social ills.

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And so he turned to a public-private venture that does work, faith-based institutions, working in the city's poorest communities. And in Philadelphia, they have started a program known by a West African term as Amache. And do you know what that term means? It means, who knows what God has brought us through this child?

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We were talking about baptism this morning, but it appears to me shorn of all of the theology that is around it. When we dedicate a child and baptize that child into the covenant community, who knows? Who really knows what God has brought us through this child? Rather than relegating them to the curb of life, we include them in the covenant community.

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That is the thing that is so very important for us. I remember that in Alex Haley's Roots, Kunta Kinte held little Kissy up to the sky and said, There is nothing greater than you about the sky. If we could do this for children, if we could support them, how much better off we would be instead of looking down on them and bringing shame to them because their parents are inextricably bound in a cycle of violence and in criminal activities. It was Jesse Jackson who said, The only way we dare look down on anybody is if we intend to lift them up.

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And it is well for us to remember that we are all sinners saved by grace. It is well for us to remember that if God had not been on our side, we would not have made it. And the privileges we have are to be shared with others.

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We are blessed to be a blessing. There is no way to get around that. They have this program in Philadelphia where church people volunteer to spend at least one hour a week with one of these 20,000 children. They haven't completed it.

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They had 800 two years ago who had been identified, and they have had matches, and they are now doing whatever they can to try to make sure that these children are loved and supported. They bring them to church, and they find that they no longer need to feel like motherless children. in God's equation. He calls us to think more, just about a few things, to find our niche, and to find out what we can do to help others.

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And the reason we have to do this is because we are a part of a worldwide community. I could not leave here without lifting up the words of Martin Luther King Jr., and particularly in the book that he writes, Where Do We Go From Here? Dr. King writes that years ago,

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A famous novelist died, and among his papers were a list of suggested plots for a future story. the most prominently underscored being this one: a widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together. This is the great new problem of mankind, said King. We have inherited a large house, a great world house, in which we have to live together.

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Black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu. A family separated in ideas, yes. Separated in culture, yes.

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Separated in interest, yes. Who can never, ever live apart again. We must somehow learn to live with each other in peace. He goes on to suggest

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what has happened in this world that has made it necessary for us to strive to live in peace. This was his dream. I hope that we will move toward thinking about it more and making it a reality, because we are now in touch with each other. There is no way for us to escape the inextricable web in which we are bound.

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But then, there are so many ways we can show love in individual manners. I think more about these every day I pastor. I think about the people who in years gone by I may have overlooked, who I now take a chance to see and a chance to do something with.

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Do you know, I don't care how much money you have, you have more money than you have time. Be sure that you use your time wisely because it passes from us. Let us show love in individual ways, not only corporately.

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A pastor was taken to a mental facility near his church. He was taken there to see certain patients who he described as humanoid figures because of their enormous disfigurement. And the pastor watched as a man who was all twisted and Miss Happened had a terrible seizure.

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And a nurse who was nearby immediately knelt down beside the screeching and shaking man. That nurse took him into her arms and held him close. She rubbed his back when the screeching subsided and the trembling stopped. She helped put him back down on his cot.

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The director of the mental institution told the pastor, no one person in this room can see anything. No person in this room can say anything. No person in this room can get up and do one thing for themselves. They only know

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One thing, they know that we love them. When Jesus stepped down to this earth out of heaven, he came down to sit by you and me in the previews this evening. He came down to tell us that in spite of our quaking and in spite of our fear, he loves us.

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And when nobody else will embrace us, he hugs us. It was Robert Raines who said, We hug our hurts, but not each other. If we could only learn to not lock ourselves out from community, but to reach out to others, how much better we would all be.

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Justice is not enough. I think about this. We need mercy if we are ever to overcome. Love is not enough.

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We need action if we are to live in this worldwide community. We must reach out to those persons like the children I taught you about. We must bring them to the Lord. And finally,

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when we don't know how we can quiet someone who is in trouble, I think more about the fact that we can embrace them in our arms and share the love of Jesus with them. And when people are guilt-ridden, think about where the Lord brought you from. Suppose all of your skeletons came out this evening. Suppose you were totally exposed for what you were.

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I'd run and hide. And you would, too, if you had any sense. Think about where God brought you from and how merciful he was on you.

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Think about his love which embraces you. They brought the woman to Jesus and they were going to stone her because she had been caught in the very act of adultery. Jesus inscribed in sand Words that are indelibly etched in our lives.

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Thank God. He said he or she, but it was all he. He who is without sin casts the first stone. Whenever you hold a grudge or whenever you would destroy anybody,

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Think about whatever things are just, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are pure, whatever things are of good report. Think about these few things and let the others go. Joe, twice now you have referred to the ministry as often a desert, and surely you're right. But the people of Ebenezer, through your words and witness, have seen the desert bloom.

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And so we thank God for you, and we hope that God will be with you as you go back there to begin to say your farewells, and God will be with us as we go back to the ministries that we are in, and by God's grace, may our works bloom too. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due God's name, bring offerings, and come into God's courts. .

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. Will you please remain standing? Friends, this is the joyful feast of the people of God. They shall come from east and west and north and south to sit at table in the kingdom of God.

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According to Luke's gospel, when our risen Christ was seated at the table with his disciples, he took bread, and when he had blessed it and broke it and given it to them, Their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. This is our Lord's table. Our Savior Christ invites all who put their trust in Him to join in the feast which He has prepared.

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Let us now prepare our hearts by singing together hymn number 504, Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether. . Amen. Please be seated.

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The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord.

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Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise. It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise, eternal God, creator and ruler of the universe. At your word, the earth was made and spun on its course among the planets.

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Your hand formed us from the dust of the earth and set us among all your creatures to love and serve you. When we were unfaithful to you, you kept faith with us. Your love remained steadfast. When we were slaves in Egypt, you broke the bonds of our oppression.

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brought us through the sea to freedom, and made covenant to be our God. By a pillar of fire you led us through the desert to a land flowing with milk and honey, and set before us the way of life. You spoke of love and justice in the prophets and the preachers, and in the word made flesh you lived among us, manifesting your glory. He died that we might live, and he is risen to raise us to new life.

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Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels, and with all the faithful of every time and place who forever sing to the glory of your name. You are holy, O God of majesty, and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, whom you sent to save us. He came with healing in his touch, and was wounded for our sins. He came with mercy in his voice, and was mocked as one despised.

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He came with peace in his heart and met with violence and death. By your power, he broke free from the prison of the tomb, and at his command, the gates of hell were opened. The one who was dead now lives. The one who humbled himself is raised to rule over all creation, the lamb upon the throne.

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The one ascended on high is with us always. as he promised. We rejoice that the grave could not hold your son, that he conquered death. Remembering then all your mighty and merciful acts, we take this bread and this wine from the gifts you have given us and celebrate with joy the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ.

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Accept now our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as a living and holy offering of ourselves, that our lives may proclaim the one crucified and risen. Great is the mystery of faith. Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

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Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts of bread and wine. that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ. By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, that we may be one with all who share this feast, united in ministry in every place. As this bread is Christ's body for us, send us out to be the body of Christ in the world.

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And it is for the world we now pray, Bring peace to the areas torn by war. Bring restraint where there has been violence. Bring comfort to those who grieve, ones who have been lost.

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Restore the lands of those who have lost their crops, their homes. Be with all who are in need of your presence and care tonight. All who are sick, all who are near to death, we commend into your hands. Nourish us at this table, oh God, that we may know Christ's redemptive love and live new life in him.

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Help us who recognize our Lord in the breaking of this bread, to see Him and serve Him in all whose lives are broken. Give us who are fed at His hand grace to share