1 10 4 https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/2d3b24f1517c00e4f90a6d0dc7808a8c.pdf a7e2831bc64acade3d00e34dea01c76d PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-569_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University God's relation-- relationship with the human spirit and with life-- don't quite know how to phrase this-- but the general title will emerge as we work along together on Sunday. But today we shall begin with-- with the-- the divine encounter. And I have decided to do this. And it's been on my mind for many, many weeks. And what I-with what I came back from the east [INAUDIBLE] I read Rabbi Saul White's sermon. I thought at once that-- that I'd better not do this. And then I decided that I would do it anyway-[LAUGHTER] --because every time I dismissed it, it came back automatically. So I'm going to do it. I like to use as a text this-- this morning two quotations from-- from the lips of Jacob. One quotation is "The Lord is in this place. And I knew it not." Another quotation is that "I have seen God face to face. And I am still alive." Jacob-- Jacob was an extraordinary man in many ways, very puzzling. And it is not my purpose to deal with Jacob this morning but simply to establish the setting of what I have to say. Jacob was fleeing from the relentless logic of his past behavior. And he stopped to catch his breath and to flee. And as he slept, he dreamed. And as he dreamed, there was a ladder extended from Earth to Heaven. And these angelic bodies were going up and down. And then when he woke up, it suddenly dawned upon him that even in his diseased conscience-- even in his disordered life, God was present. And he said the Lord is in this place. And I didn't know it even. I didn't expect to find God here. I thought God was only where there was goodness. But he's here. So I mark this place. He took a stone and put it down. And he marked the place. And all the people who journeyed through that part of the country, when they saw the stone as was the custom-- the stone out of character, out of context-- they knew that the stone marked the place where a man had had an encounter with Yahweh. So as a tribute to his religious experience, the traveler picked up a stone and threw it there. And one of the ways by which altars emerged was that simple way. one man standing in the presence of the symbol that marked the spot where another man had encountered God saluted that experience by adding his stone. The other-- Jacob is running again. And this time, he's frightened, because he's sure that Esau-- Esau is going to catch him and kill him [INAUDIBLE] kill him. And he wondered what could he do to placate Esau. And in his clever fashion, he worked out some plan. And after working them out in detail, he set his family on across the river. And he stayed on this side. And he-- he was alone, as Moffitt puts it, and struggling in his sleep, of course. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And an angel this time of-- or some heavenly body, not a part of a company now-- there's no ups and downs of the ladder, no host, but just a solitary figure wrestling with a solitary man. And He wrestled with him until the break of day. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And then as they began emerging, this man said, I'll have to go now. You-- you-- you better turn me aloose. And Jacob said, I won't do it unless you bless me. And He blessed him. He mocked him. He-- he touched him at a certain spot, so the story goes. And after that, he limped for the rest of his days. Wrestling with an angel-- interesting. But as Jacob reflected upon the meaning of this experience, he said, I, in that experience, I met God face to face. And I am still alive. Well that's the setting. Now let's-- let's work at it a little. I'm suggesting the fundamental proposition this morning that-that every life is involved eventually in some form of crisis. Now the crisis may be-- may be very noticeable, may be very dramatic. Or the crisis may be so subtle, so pervasive, so much a part of the landscape that one does not realize that it was crisis until afterwards. One looks back upon it and says, oh, that was it. Wherever the human spirit encounters experience that strips-- strips it to whatever literal substance there is in the human spirit-- there, in that kind of experience, man has encountered God. And it's crisis, for what is crisis? Crisis is the thing that happens when forces that seem to push one out of the familiar pattern of security or-- or living, out of the familiar context of behavior. Something happens that pushes you out of that. And even as that happens, there's something in you that pulls you back-- pushes, pulls. And the tug that goes on, the tension between these two things is the thing that makes for the crisis. It's what we mean when we say that a person has a crisis and the disease, isn't it-- that the disease, whatever the disease germs may be or whatever the disease is, that it keeps building and building and building until it seems as if the forces that-- that are making for the destruction of the cells and all the rest of it are-- are going to get the upper hand. If they get the upper hand, then it means that the-- the creative resourcefulness of life, the vitality in the organism, will be permanently blocked. And for hours, the doctor says, well, I don't know. And what does he mean? He means that-- that I don't know whether these-- these forces that are- are negative, that are working for the disintegration of the cells will win over this-- this creative churning of vitality that keeps pushing, pushing in terms of newness, in terms of-- of health, in terms of strength. Now the crisis is passed when one or the other wins. And we say that-- we only say the crisis is passed if the person lives. We don't say the crisis has passed if the person dies. But it really-- the crisis has passed. Now that's on the-- on the physiological level. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now the same thing happens in your personal-- in terms of personal experiences and personal tragedies. And the solution of a crisis can take place on two levels. One level is the level of ordinary skill and competency. Pitts Theology Library Emory University You may-- you may have-- if you are having some sort of tremendous emotional crisis, it is quite possible that-- that at the level of the moment, at the level of the facts that are present in that little time's m you may seek skill and help from a doctor, of a psychiatrist, of an analyst. And-- and that solution-- that help that comes will reach back into a whole series of more or less quantitative factors that have entered into the making of this crisis. And-- and that is-- and that is very tremendous. And for many, many, many human beings, the solution to the crisis at that level is-- is all that-- that they-- they can manage. That's a great deal, because often it makes a difference between life and death, between sustained and indefinite torture, and some peace of mind and tranquility of spirit. But religion thinks in terms of crisis at an even deeper level. Let me illustrate it in two or three ways and then put it together. I'll be through. I don't know whether you've seen-- and this is not by way of a plug-- I don't know whether you've seen the-the movie about Beethoven yet that's over at some theater in town. And I won't say which theater. [LAUGHTER] Little by little, Beethoven realizes that he is losing his hearing. And there is a scene, which may be apocryphal. But there is a scene in which he is conducting some symphony. And because he can't hear, the singers are going one way. And the-- the orchestra is doing something else. And then people begin to shake their heads. And finally he just looks around in his dazed confusion, realizing that now everybody knows that he is deaf. And he has tried to keep it as a secret for so long. And then he stumbles out and goes home. And he walks in broke. And he throws all the music that he has written-- scanners it on the floor. Then he bangs on the piano with his-- with his fist. And then he gets up and walks around. And he begins to talk to God. And he says, what's the matter? Are you afraid that I might compete with your power? Why did youse give me this gift if the only thing that you wanted to do was to mock me? What good is the gift if I can hear no more? Then he remembers what the priest had told him. In a previous conversation, the priest had said that God-- God was in this even though you cannot resolve it at the level of the doctor, the physical thing. But God is in it. And perhaps, said this priest to Beethoven, perhaps God wants you to hear melodies that you can't hear if your hearing is confused with external noises. And perhaps the hearing with which you hear now will bring the kind of lift and joy and hope and wonder to human beings that they have not known before. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And all of this goes through Beethoven's mind. And then after he has exhausted himself with all of his bitterness and his tirade and his polemics, a lady comes in, talks to him a little. And she reminds him of another dimension in his life. And then she breaks down and begins crying. And then she cries. And he tries to comfort her. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And he says, isn't it strange? You came here to comfort me. And now it ends up that I'm comforting you. I understand now. Go out to the outside world and tell them that I have conquered the silence of my ear. Tell them that Beethoven hears crisis, confrontation, divine encounter, [? wonder. ?] When I was in-- away three weeks ago, I lived in a home for 4 and 1/2 days, a home in which there was a little child, a spastic child-- been that way from birth-- unable to speak, fastened by a harness to his little wheelchair. And I watched the mother and the father and 18-year-old daughter. They had learned how to communicate, how to communicate with Dicky at a level that was active in the history of the race before men learned how to speak. For language is late in the development of man on the planet. Together, they dropped themselves back into a vast feeling continuum from which he had never quite emerged. And moving with him at that level, all sorts of miraculous things became possible. I wanted to see if I could communicate with him. And was it was very wonderful. I had two hours rest between 8:00 and 10:00 every night before my 10 o'clock session. And I noticed that this [INAUDIBLE] always enjoyed the television. And so I sat-- and this is really not on the point, but I have to tell you anyway-- I sat watching, watching him watch the television. Of course his mother was always there, because no time-- no time during the 24 hours could he be alone, because his neck would twist in a certain angle, certain things would happen in the muscles and he'd choke to death. So that someone had to be with him always 24 hours. I watched his reaction to various pictures on the television. When I was out of his line of vision watching his reactions, I watched him for two nights. And the third night I moved up so that he could see me if he wanted to. And then I reacted as he reacted. And then I noticed that he was looking that way at me every now, and then and then I looked at him and he'd look off and look back at the television. So I knew that the eyes of Texas were upon me. [LAUGHTER] So after-- after four nights, then it was a kind of communication between us. This reacting to the same thing in television. So Friday night when I was leaving about 11 o'clock, I went by room to tell him goodbye. And then I stood under the light so he could see my face. And then I reacted to two or three things. And then immediately, he reacted. And I knew that we were talking to each other. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now what has happened to make that mother and that father and that 18-year-old daughter deal creatively with that kind of experience? What does it? As long as an individual says-- back to my thesis, you see-- as long as the individual says no, I will pull back. I will-- I will-- I will rebel! I will spend my energy and resentment! Pitts Theology Library Emory University I will strike out against. I will [INAUDIBLE] until I spill all my vitriolic feelings over life, over God, over everything, as long as there is this shrinking bank one lives in a state of extended crisis. But when one is able an amazing thing happens. You know what it is? It is this. One discovers that the most fundamental belief of the mind and the spirit of man with reference to all of life and all the levels of experience, is that-- that there is an order, there is a rationality, there is a logic that structures every dimension of man's awareness. And when I pull back from my encounter, it says that the encounter, the thing from which I shrink, is chaotic. There's chaos there! There is no order there! There is no logic there! There is no rationality there! That it is therefore, out of the reach of the power of the spirit to unlock! But when I go forward to it, it says that there is-- there is an order, that there is-- there is a fundamental principle of orderliness of rationality of God in everything! And I shall not let it go! Until the divine in it reveals itself to me! Now when you are caught in that pocket, you're stripped to whatever there is in you that's liberal, whatever there is in you that's irreducible, whatever there is in you that is ultimate in its character! You are cut down to that, beyond which there is no retreat! And there you must stand! And when you get there I stand. And you look into the eyes of whatever it is, you see that the thing on which you are standing is a thing at which you are looking. And then you know what peace means. And you have that which the world cannot touch and cannot take away from you, because you have looked into the face of God. And you're still alive. Hallelujah. 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953 Description An account of the resource In this series delivered at Fellowship Church from March 9 to March 30, 1953, Thurman discusses encountering the divine in our everyday lives. Thurman finds God's logic in moments of personal crisis and chaos, as well as in our encounters with human need. Both crisis and human need can be dealt with at a surface level, but Thurman highlights the necessity of dealing with them at a deeper level – the level of religion. Do we dare search for God in our darkest moments? Do we have eyes to see the Lord's face in the hungry, the thirsty, and the imprisoned? Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Rodell Jefferson III AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-569_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 7/1 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Divine Encounter, parts 1 and 2 (Fellowship Church), 1953 Mar 9, 16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-569_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter, Part 1, 1953 March 9 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953-03-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource In the first lecture of this series, Thurman discusses the Divine Encounter in the context of crisis. All living beings experience crisis in some form. These crises force us out of familiarity and comfort. Thurman suggests that, in the face of crisis, we have the option to retreat or move towards this challenge.  Using examples ranging from biblical Jacob to Beethoven, Thurman offers that, even in seeming chaos and disorder, there is an "orderliness of rationality of God." Ultimately, Thurman invites us to demand revelation from crisis, as there is no crisis that is outside of God. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. suffering https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/1df415bf73ae9ece71c7f6e46321e86a.pdf 8812390580695482f47eb3aaa5aa11ed PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-569_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University [? Logical ?] experience or levels of struggle in other dimensions that the crisis is created by the fact that there is an ever-present tendency to resist all movement that pulls the individual out of the context of the familiar. And also, there is always present the impulse to spill over into the new. And the tension between these two creates crisis. And in the crisis, the individual is confronted with whatever there is that is literal in himself and in his experience and in the universe, that God is a part of the individual who is experiencing the crisis. He is a part of all of the materials that enter into the crisis, and that this whole concept is built upon a profound religious belief about life and about its structure. And that belief is that life is orderly, that there is an order that bottoms all of the stuff of existence, and that when a man is involved in a tragic sequence of experiences, which may be puzzling, which may be terrifying, which may be destructive in their operation upon him. If he wrestles with them at all, the thing that instinct is wrestling is the affirmation that there is, in the problem of his struggle, irrationality, and order, something that will yield its secret to the questing spirit. And if he renounces his experience and turns his back upon it, it is his way of saying that the experience itself fundamentally and thoroughly is irrational and cannot be understood. There is no clue, no secret, and it belongs outside of the context of living. So interesting to me. Now, of course that presupposes, all of this discussion last Sunday presupposes, the, in a sense, I suppose, that only in crisis, only the individuals who are caught in some great upheaval have the divine encounter. I did not mean to convey that altogether. But when I think about it, it seems that-- [? don't ?] quite know how to put this. It seems that there are personalities that attract crisis. I remember reading Jean-Christophe years ago. And one of the things that impressed me very much in the story was the fact that Rolland said that JeanChristophe was like a mountain peak. He has a very beautiful passage about five pages describing these mountain ranges and the lightning playing over these ranges. But he says that there are certain peaks that always attract the lightning, that the lightning goes all around these others. [LAUGHTER] And he has an explanation for it. I suppose it's satisfying to a geologist, but I'll just take it for what it says, that there are elements in the peaks, certain minerals that have an affinity for the lightning. The lightning, they just call the lightning. [LAUGHTER] I remember when I was a boy, going to a funeral of a very famous minister. And an equally famous minister preached the funeral. And it's one of the first times that I'd ever heard a man say publicly what you were sure that if you were talking to him privately, he would say. It was a great lesson to me. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu He talked about this man in whose presence we were. And he said, he killed himself. This shocked everybody. He said, there are some people who go down to the Jordan River where the ferry boat takes you across to the other side. And if they see that the ferryboat is not there, then they go back up into the community to carry on their work. Pitts Theology Library Emory University But this man, when he came down to the landing, the ferryboat had pulled out and was on its way across the river. But he made so much confusion at the dock that the boat turned around-[LAUGHTER] --and came back to get him. It's very interesting. Now, I think that there are people whose constitution breathes, seem to create vacuums that pull in to them all kinds of churning, critical, crucial situations. They move from crisis to crisis. And any time you see that person appear, you know-[LAUGHTER] - that a storm is somewhere around. Now, it is not because that person is better or worse. But what I'm feeling for is that over and above what is inherent relative to the divine encounter, in situations of crisis, there seems to be an element in personality that is attracted to crises. Now, the assumption with reference to encountering God in crisis is that God is the antagonist of the human spirit, the wrestling with God, as if God, in some sense, is trying to overcome man, trying to tame the glory out of man, to reduce man to some kind of non-entity. And that ought to test man in order that his true character might be revealed, might come up to the surface. And then God may have in his hands a human instrument with a divine quality that can be used to work his perfect work in the world. Now, for many of us, that is true. But there's another aspect to this, to which I would call your attention. And that is that so often as we live, we find it comparatively simple and easy to have a sense of great spiritual movement and process in the crises of our lives. But the time of greatest agony for the human spirit is not such times. But it is when it seems as if life has passed us by, that life has not honored us with the intensity of great and dramatic agony. Life has not saluted our personalities by exposing us to terrifying lacerations, but rather that life has just swung by and left us alone on our little islands. And our tragedy is not that so many things happen to us that we can't manage, that we are overwhelmed by the terrific pressures under which we live. That is not our tragedy, because there is something in the human spirit that reaches down to the deepest thing that there is in it. And that deepest thing reaches out, leaps out to the deepest thing that there is in the circumstance or in life. And these two elements come together as one. But the tragedy is when nothing ever happens to you, nothing, nothing, that life seems to say you don't count. You don't rate being hit across the head. That's it. How can I have the encounter when my assignment is to the deadly monotony of the commonplace? Always the same dull [? round, ?] always the same dead faces, always the same relentless. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now, it's a rather extraordinary insight that emerges. Many years ago, in Asia Minor, during a period of excavation, a town was uncovered. I can't think of the long Greek name for it, but the English quick translation is Pike Town, P-I-K-E Town, because it was the center of the worship, of pike worship at that period. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Among the many things that they found, old bills of lading, and old receipts, marriage licenses, all sorts of things, among the things they found were some, in quite good condition, papyri which were sayings of Jesus that were not familiar to us in our gospels, some quotations from gospels that we didn't know anything about, and then a whole section of what was called sayings of Jesus. Now one of these sayings was that wheresoever thou art, thou art not far from God. God is with Thee. Cleave the wood, and there you will see him. Raise the stone, and behold his face. Now, please, please, if it be true, as it seems to me to be true, that all of life, all of life, is bottomed, bottomed by an orderly and creative rational spirit mind, which, you see-- and I repeat this, because if you ever get it hammered, it will be a wonderful thing for us-- which, you see, is the basic principle upon which all of our investigation of nature is built. The scientist always says with reference to that which he has not explored that he doesn't know yet. He says it is unknown, but he does not say it is unknowable. It is unknown, because the whole experience of life, the whole world of nature, the whole universe, is bottomed by this principle of rationality, this order of creativity which the mind has in it also. And when that creative principle in the mind begins waking on the stubborn and unyielding and chaotic stuff and unknown stuff of experience, little by little, the principle of rationality in the mind strikes fire here. And the response of rationality in the stuff creates what men call understanding of this. Now, if it's true with nature, nature, then it seems to me, therefore, nowhere I am, no thing I may be doing is not in immediate candidacy for the fullest and most amazing revelation of God. Now, that is the meaning of this thing I was talking about a moment ago in terms of religious experience. So there is no ordinary experience for me. There is no commonplace, insignificant moment. But every moment, wherever I am, stands in immediate candidacy for the completest and most exhaustive manifestation of the mind, of the will, of the purpose, of the spirit of God. Therefore, I should not dishonor the immediate potentiality, if I may put it that way, of the living God in the dry rot of my situation merely because I was not chosen to walk the high road, merely because I have no great gifts of mind, or no particular advantages in status, no dramatic resources available to me. I'm just me, just ordinary. But where I am, where I am, there, the infinite is within reach. You see what this does? It cuts the nerve center of the thinking that makes a separation between the secular and the sacred. You see? It has its most dramatic expression in the democratic dogma that we talk about, that the infinite value of the individual and the presence of God, all of it's saying the same thing, you see? That right here, in my little room, with my little life, with my little dreams, with my little sins and my little sorrows, the great high God is at home. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University So a man doing a lifetime sentence in the prison in Charlestown, Massachusetts can say, life, you've beaten me. Yet with stinging wounds, I kiss your hands. Though you've tortured me till my joy was killed, my hopes, my dreams for things I do not understand, though you have silenced every fife and drum that makes my march less terrible, I love you, life. Life, for all your cruel powers, for all your proud brutalities, how wonderful the few, brief times when you're kind to me. Always, I am on the threshold of the ultimate revelation, the ultimate revelation. Therefore, I shall lift up my head. I shall stop being ashamed of my lot. I shall relax the envy with which I look upon the fortune of my fellows. I shall expect the highest revelation in my littlest place. It's [INAUDIBLE] the commonplace now becomes shot through with new glory. And God is encountered even in the drabness of my life, because He is in me. And He's in my situation. And when I realize that, then these two elements get together. And when they do, a current is established that can float anything. I know I don't believe that. For me, life has to consist one by one, closing a door. 4 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953 Description An account of the resource In this series delivered at Fellowship Church from March 9 to March 30, 1953, Thurman discusses encountering the divine in our everyday lives. Thurman finds God's logic in moments of personal crisis and chaos, as well as in our encounters with human need. Both crisis and human need can be dealt with at a surface level, but Thurman highlights the necessity of dealing with them at a deeper level – the level of religion. Do we dare search for God in our darkest moments? Do we have eyes to see the Lord's face in the hungry, the thirsty, and the imprisoned? Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Rodell Jefferson III AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-569_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 7/1 Transcript @ 2:53 – reads "irrationality and order" instead of "a rationality, an order" – RJ 8/27/21 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Divine Encounter, parts 1 and 2 (Fellowship Church), 1953 Mar 9, 16, Side B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-569_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter, Part 2, 1953 March 16 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953-03-16 Description An account of the resource In Part 2 of this series on the Divine Encounter, Thurman continues to claim that all of life is supported by God's order, including life's crises. Thurman asserts that it is better to experience crisis than to have no crisis at all, for it is crisis that summons up the depth of the human spirit. For Thurman, all the universe shares the rationality of God with the human mind, and thus the mind is capable of finding revelation and understanding in any circumstance. By this connection, Thurman says that we should expect "highest revelation," even in our "littlest places." Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. suffering https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/2ef93fbe51637a8f05bbfe357ca32590.pdf 4a5d9f64541b6fcaec8499c862182961 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-570_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University A mere thing, a body worth living. They yielded with abiding enthusiasm to a view of life which included all the events of their experience without exhausting themselves and those experiences. To them, this quality of life was insistent fact because of that which deeper than them, they discovered of God and His far flung purposes. God was not through. And He was not, nor could He be, exhausted by any single experience or any series of experiences. To know Him, was to live a life worthy of the loftiest meaning of life. Man in all ages and climes, slave or free, trained or untutored, who have sensed these same values are their fellow pilgrims, who journey together with them, in increasing self realization in the quest for the city that hath foundation, whose builder, and whose maker is God. The significance of this particular day, as that significance has defined itself increasingly in our culture, is a significance, the inner meaning of which tends to be no part of the life of modern man. It is the celebration of something that belongs, essentially, to the nature of life, but does not belong, essentially, to the nature of any creed about life. And when I make a remark like that, it is not my intent to speak with irreverence concerning any creed or any faith, nor is it my attempt to do anything other than what I am doing. To say that life-- life is more than any experience of life, life, life. And this was the contribution of Jesus. And in our inability to deal with that contribution, in any effective manner, we have had to erect our tent on the outskirts of the city in which He dwelt. And to spend our time quarreling over what He meant by what He said, when all the time he was involved in a great creative encounter with life. And out of the richness of that encounter, He addressed His living, though He talked about God's God. And there was only one tragedy in human life, as far as He was concerned, only one sin, only one basic and fundamental error of the human spirit, possibly. And that was to lose connection with God. That's all. One unpardonable sin, one. All others could be forgiven. Not that one. And what was that? Do you remember the incident, perhaps, if you're familiar with the New Testament. If not, let me remind you. His family said that He was out of His mind-- out of His mind, talking as He was talking because they wanted to give those who are unfriendly to Him a hook on which to hang their hostility. So they said, He's crazy. And if you can ever decide that somebody is not right, then you don't hold them responsible for what they do. So they can go free. It's very convenient. [INAUDIBLE]. Oh, no. He's all right. The difficulty is, He has too much sense. So smart, He's has given Himself over to the movement of the devil. And it is by the power of the devil, that He casts out devils. And Jesus, hearing the conversations said, you don't talk as if you have a good sense. A house divided against itself cannot stand-- can't stand. If you say that I cast out devils, by the power of the devil, you will commit the unpardonable sin. And what is that? 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu If I knowingly call a good thing bad there will come a time when deep within the core of my being, I lose my sense of moral discrimination. And the lights go out. And my house becomes dark. That's the only sin. The only sin according to Him. Pitts Theology Library Emory University For the meaning of man's life is a meaning which is to be found in the relationship of that life. The uninterrupted, basic relationship of that life, to that out of which that life comes God. And nothing must ever mount so meaningfully in the context of my living and my experiencing that that relationship is cut. Why do you worry over clothes, He said. Why be anxious about tomorrow, He insisted. Why fear those who can kill the body, and after that there is nothing more that they can do? Why be troubled about the events of your life? For when you move the concentration of your spirit in to the tiny compass of an event in your life, you let that event cut the line. Cut it. That puts all the lights out in your house. So was His simple words. No great theologian, no great philosopher, He knew nothing about the things that are going on today, in His name. Not involved. No trouble about that. What is salvation, says He. What is it? Being bathed in the blood of the lamb? No, He hadn't heard about that. No. Uh-uh. Involving oneself in some kind of personal, either mental or physical flagellation? No, He hadn't heard about that. Behold, said He, I shall tell you a story. There was a sheep, once, walking along on the hillside eating grass. And the grass was so good. And he was enjoying it so much, that before he realized it, the sun was down. And he looked up and all the other sheep had gone. And he realized that he was outside now. And they were inside, somewhere. And he began doing what a sheep would do under those circumstances. He began to crying. Crying to recapture his sense of belonging. That's all. And the shepherd went around looking. And he heard the cry. And he found the sheep. And then the sheep went back home. And the sheep was saved. He restored his harmony. Simple, that's all. The line was cut. And now the line was back together. And when the line was reestablished, all the lights went off. [INAUDIBLE] She looked everywhere trying to find it. And she found it the last place she looked. And when she found it, she was very happy. She didn't have it. And she got it. A boy who ran away from home from our country, spent all the money he had because tomorrow is another day. It's all right. Then he discovered that there wasn't anybody who understood him, nobody. He thought they understood him, as long as he had some money. But they didn't understand. They understood his money. It was very funny [INAUDIBLE] standing tall. And when the money was gone, there was no basis for understanding left. Finally he was driven to an ultimate extremity in event [INAUDIBLE] an ultimate extremity in event. Not an ultimate extremity, an ultimate extremity in event-- in event. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And when he hit an ultimate extremity in event, then he had to move beyond the event and make contact with that which transcended event, the love of his father. That's all the strange man has to say about what salvation is. That's all. Whatever there is that imprisons me within the narrow limitations of an event cuts the connection that sustains and guarantees and confers, upon and in, my life, its quality, its meaning, and its significance. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now let us look at it just in another way. This is true, as it would seem to me, because of the very nature of personality itself. For instance, you're sitting here. And for the most part, you're looking up in this general direction. And some of you are looking with great intensity and concentration, and you're looking beyond me into dinner. [LAUGHTER] That really wasn't fair but-- but meanwhile, you're here. There's a quality. There's a quality in your personality that always stands outside of the event, that never quite gets shaken down into the event. That's why nothing that you've ever done is quite representative of you. Nothing, no experience that you've ever had can quite contain what you are meaning in that experience. Because something-- there's a dimension of your personality that plays all of the events of life as a pianist plays a keyboard. All [INAUDIBLE] you stand out here. You are in them, involved in them, but not exhausted by them. Now anytime an event succeeds in giving you the illusion that you totally are involved in it, that event becomes, for you, God-- God-- God. Because it says that it is, in itself, inexhaustible. And if it's a terrible event, that's why worry, anxiety, quietly, and sometimes tempestuously, exert so devastating a tyranny over the human spirit because it gives, in some way that I don't understand, I wish I did, but in some way, it gives, to the mind and to the spirit of man, the delusion that this thing is inexhaustible. And if it be inexhaustible, then it qualifies for God. And it is a terrible thing, you see, you are exhausted in an agony. [TAPPING] And day in and day out, the meaning of life can only be measured in times of the shrieking of your spirit. And there is none to hear because your God is there. That's why He was always against worry. Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. Yet, your Father takes care of them. That's what He's talking about, this strange man. Nothing is capable of taking all in, except the one ultimate, God. Nothing, that's what He say. So He says to the lady, who's lost her little child, don't weep anymore. Don't weep. To the brother, to the sisters of Lazarus, don't cry. Don't be too disturbed. Because death-- death, what is it? Death is something that takes place in life. It isn't something that takes place to life. That's different. No. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Death-- death is, in the very nature of the case, a part of the time-space involvement of the human spirit the human the whole human personality just as any other event is, but it is it is a time-space involvement. And it belongs in the category of-- category of episodes, that which is in its very structure transitory because it is not capable of exhausting all of me. Pitts Theology Library Emory University That is why, even when a man is dying, again and again, he himself is aware that this is happening to him. And even in the mystery the death event itself, the margin of this dimension of personality, about which I am thinking, persists, so that a part of me shimmers on the crest of the wave of death without being involved in it, riding it-- riding it. [BELLS RINGING] Wonderful, isn't it? [BELLS RINGING] That-- that-[BELLS RINGING] That nothing-- nothing can ever really effect me but the central thing of my life. And that is my relationship to God. Curious. When I injure you, therefore, I and your God. When you injure me, you injure God. And the trial of my life is only possible when I realize that-- when I realize that. That is why it is this sort of insistence, this sort of revolutionary madness, that has made us, on a day like this, embalm Jesus-- embalm. Because if we-- if we ever let him get out of that-- get out of that coffin, and with the sweet of aliveness, that is the common lot of the children of man, move among us activating this-- How should I say it? This stationary principle that is integral in personality. And most of the things that we hold precious now, we would tear up. So we say our grave hymns, and we cite our words, and we keep Him as far away from us as possible, For to become involved-- 4 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953 Description An account of the resource In this series delivered at Fellowship Church from March 9 to March 30, 1953, Thurman discusses encountering the divine in our everyday lives. Thurman finds God's logic in moments of personal crisis and chaos, as well as in our encounters with human need. Both crisis and human need can be dealt with at a surface level, but Thurman highlights the necessity of dealing with them at a deeper level – the level of religion. Do we dare search for God in our darkest moments? Do we have eyes to see the Lord's face in the hungry, the thirsty, and the imprisoned? Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Rodell Jefferson III AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-570_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Internal Notes Notes for project team Audio @ 14:25-15:05: Fades OUT and then fades IN – RJ 9/1/21 Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Divine Encounter, parts 3 and 4 (Fellowship Church), 1953 Mar 23, 30 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-570_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter, Part 3, 1953 March 23 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953-03-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource In Part 3 of this series on the Divine Encounter, Thurman remarks that "life is more than any experience of life." No single event, circumstance, or experience is capable of totally defining our lives. Any event that convinces us otherwise becomes God in our lives, which is why worry and anxiety are so despairing. For Thurman, remaining connected to the inexhaustible quality of our personalities gives our lives meaning and resilience. With this connection maintained, even death becomes nothing more than an event of life, incapable of exhausting the whole of us. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/ae5a90b262d768f959597451e0eb30b3.pdf 0fc7a7d1a2d2ba058ae89664c083bd9d PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-570_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University Confrontation that we call crisis, and that the crisis may be resolved at a level that may perhaps be called the level of the secular, which resolving has certain satisfying effects, in terms of how the individual functions after. But that crisis also may be dealt with-- and perhaps, ultimately, must be dealt with-- at a deeper level, at the level of religion, the level in which the individual is sure that when he is stripped, what is laid bare is the literal substance of himself, or whatever there is that is literal in him. And when he stands on that, looking into the churning deeps of his crisis, that which he sees at the bottom of his crisis is that upon which he himself is standing. Of course, that's very simple. Because everybody feels that somehow he is prepared-- he will be prepared for his great moments. And then the second Sunday, we talked about the divine encounter at the level of the ordinary traffic of living. That in the dull monotony of commonplace routine, where life has worked us over until all the glory has been tamed out of us, that it's rather awkward there to feel that we are in the midst of the divine encounter. And we talked about that a little-- thought about it. And now today, I'd like to deal for a little while about the divine encounter as we are involved in human need, human need. It is but natural that in any consideration of this sort, the dramatic picture that Jesus gives us about the climax of human history would come to mind. Do you remember the setting? It's rather melodramatic. The end of the age has come. And all of human life is brought to a point of tremendous focus. And the human race, in this picture, is divided into two groups-- the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. And the judge is enthroned. And the people who are on the right are surprised that they are on the right, I suppose. And people on the left are surprised they are on the left. There's general surprise all the way around. And the judge says that I was sick, and you didn't come to see me. I was hungry. You didn't give me any food. I was naked, and you did not restore my self-respect by giving me clothes to wear. I was in prison, and you didn't visit me. And the conventional answer was when did we see you hungry, and didn't come to visit you or give you food. When did we see you naked without clothing you? And he said-- the judge said, didn't you know that when you did this to people-- ordinary people, any people people-- you did it to me. That in the encounter with the deckled edges of dripping human need, you are having the divine encounter. That you are brought face-to-face with all that you are capable of sensing about the ultimate character of the universe. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And I'm very sorry. There isn't very much I can do now, because the history of your life is the judgment that is being passed on your life. The history of your life is the judgment that is passed on your life. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Seems a little hopeless, doesn't it? Just a little. Now there are two, three-- two or three things that I want to suggest that I hope I can make them-- say them. The first is that in the presence of human need, there are two or three temptations that we face. One is to minimize the need. That's one of the temptations, to say that it is not really as bad as the person thinks it is. And then, of course, I am always reminded of that famous Zulu proverb, which says that full belly child says to empty belly child, be of good cheer. You know, it's just-- it's all right. The temptation is to minimize. It's a very interesting thing to pursue that that we want. Why do we tend to minimize the suffering presence of which we stand-- the need. All of it-- first of all, we minimize it because we relate ourselves to the need, to the need. And as we do, then we compare it with some other things. Why, you're having quite a time, I know, but I heard yesterday about a man, who was so, and so, and so, and so. So that in the light of what he is going through, your situation is rather mild. So that's one thing we do. And then, sometimes we tend to reduce our exposure to the need, all under this general proposition of relating ourselves to the need, which is the basic aspect of the first part of what I wanted to say. As we look at the need, we shrink. We try to reduce our exposure to it. And we tell ourselves in so doing that we can't run the risk of undermining our own emotional stability by relating ourselves too closely and intimately to this need. It's too terrible, and we are delicate creatures. We have a high-strung nervous system, and if we expose ourselves too directly to this raw need, then we become so disorganized that we are helpless. Stating it this way it sounds very far fetched, but is it? Is it, really? Think about it for a minute. How many times in your life have you deliberately closed your eyes to some tragic human need in somebody because you felt that if you knew too much about it, all of your peace of mind would be destroyed? So you protect yourself from it by reducing your exposure to it. And in that effort, there are little ways by which we seek to atone for it. And we atone for it, sometimes, by-- and this is all right, I suppose-- but we atone for it sometimes by putting part of our substance at the disposal of the person whose nerves are tough and who can do this sort of thing. Here is somebody who feels a sense of mission, or somebody who feels that he is particularly conditioned for working with this kind of human need. And he's worked out some sort of immunity to it so that it doesn't affect his sense of stability in the way that it affects mine. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu So I will help him. That's all right. I will help him. I will support him. I will give him some money and some other things to help him along, in order that he may be able to do this thing which I am to fragile to undertake. Pitts Theology Library Emory University So I relate myself to him who stands next to the need. And I read his reports, skipping the more gruesome parts of the report. And when I skip that part, then I increase the amount that I give him. Curious, isn't it? Now I may relate myself to the need in another way. I may put at the disposal of the needs increasingly whatever my resources are. And then I realize suddenly that the need is infinite. That human need is infinite. And if I administered to human need 24 hours out of 24 for 1,000 years, at the end of my 1,000 years the human need that remains would still be infinite. And I say to myself since I can't meet the human need, then I will take care of my needs first. Because I'm human too. And I'm a part of the need. And charity-- charity does begin at home. So I begin at home. Now what happens if I relate myself to the individual who is the sick man or the hungry man? Now the moment I do that, then something extra is added to the picture. And the first thing that is added is a new dimension, a realistic understanding about it. For instance, the natural effect of being hungry and not being able to get food to eat is bitterness and resentment. That's the natural result. I've never been in jail, but I imagine that if I were in prison this morning, even if I felt that I was in prison because I had violated some law, and had been proven guilty, and society had sentence me, I imagine-- I don't know-- but I imagine that in my cell this morning, I would feel that two three things-- one, that a lot of people who did things just as bad, but because they had money or because they had this or because they had that, they're free. And I'm here. I would resent it. I would, I think. Or I might say that if in the community in which I lived as a boy there had been provided opportunities that were not available to me for this reason, or that reason, or the other reason, then I would not have gotten off on this wrong foot. So that society withheld from me that which was my heritage. And it sits in judgment upon me, because I am suffering from that withholding. And that suffering has taken the form of this kind of behavior or that kind of behavior, which runs counter to law and order. Or if I'm lonely and can't find a friend, one of the most natural things for me to feel is that people aren't friendly. What sort of place is this? Nobody speaks much to you. Nobody says anything to you. You go on your way, and nobody pays any attention to you. It's a cruel world. And then after I exhaust that, then finally I begin to feel sorry for myself. And say, well, what's wrong with me. And I'll look in the mirror. What's wrong with me? Is there's something about me that drives people away from me? 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu The most natural reaction-- that's what I'm getting at-- the most natural reaction to these things that were listed here is a kind of bitterness, and resentment, and hardness-- a certain kind of a deadly cynicism, not even created cynicism. But what happens when one person relates himself to another person who is sick, or who is in trouble, or who is in need? What happens? Pitts Theology Library Emory University I wish I could put it into words. I can't. How do you-- think about it. Let's just everybody preach his own little sermon right in this part. Think about it. What happens to you when-- you've been sick. Almost everybody in this room has been sick some time, and sometimes over a pretty long time interval. What happens to you when somebody comes to see you, and that person seems to relate himself or herself directly to you, not to your gout or to your tuberculosis They don't get to you riding through your malady. But they seem to cut right through that and touch you. What happened? What happens? What happened to you when that happened? Or if you've ever been lonely, really lonely-- not just not feeling well, not because you didn't sleep well, or something's wrong with your digestion-- but really lonely-- an authentic depression. And somebody breaks through that and touches you. And suddenly, you'll feel under no necessity to talk about how lonely you are. What happens? What happens? I don't know. I'm not wise enough to say it. But it's something like this, isn't it? That I seem to be pushed on the other side of my malady, on the other side of my need-- or above it, may be a better figure-- so that it is no longer on top of me, but I'm on top of it. And it may be that the facts in my situation have not been changed. Maybe they haven't been changed. Haven't been altered. But something has invaded, something has invaded my spirit that gives to me a breadth and a comprehensiveness of feel that makes me know that not only can I handle this illness, not only can I handle this loneliness, but I can handle anything that life can do to me. It's a curious thing. I remember when I was in divinity school, I invited a doctor to talk to my class-- to our class. And he hesitated about coming to talk, because he had a very bad idea about ministers, and a worse idea about those who were preparing for the ministry. So that made it unanimous, sadly. But he agreed to come anyway. And he talked to us about the medical profession, which is very surprising. And he said, I regard all of the healing cults in religion as reflections on the medical profession. And I said, so? --As we all did. He said, you see, as the study of medicine-- the practice of medicine-- has become more and more clinical, said he-- I'm still talking about what the doctor said. So don't hold me responsible except as an interpreter-- that as the study of medicine has become more and more clinical, the concentration has focused upon the disease, the types of disease, and so forth, and so on. He said, that's a beautiful carcinoma, or that's a beautiful something else. And it has deconcentrated upon the personality who's wrestling with the malady. And he said as the 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu personality became more and more isolated, stranded, separated from his involvement as to his body, it has become necessary for something to be done that can restore the personality to the center of his life. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And he said, the old country doctor had that. He said, my father was a doctor in a little town outside of the Le Roy, New York, and that meant it was pretty small because the Le Roy is very tiny. And my father treated John Smith who had typhoid fever. He did not treat the typhoid fever that John Smith had. And therefore, he said, when my father walked into the room-- the sick room-- he dealt fundamentally with the personality of the sick man. And his job, as he sensed it, was to put a quality of affirmation in the sick man that would bottom the tensions of his body. In other words, he said that the encounter is not with the disease, as important as that is, but the encounter is with the person, the person. And now to flash back to the picture. When the encounter is with the person, the encounter is with God. God. And it's very difficult to have that encounter, because in our human relations we deal with aspects of each other. Now and then, now and then, in our relations with each other, we are able to cut through and go beyond the aspect, the aspect, that confronts us-- the segment of the personality. And there is no greater need. I'm sure that we all feel when we're most ourselves. I'm sure I do feel it terribly. Then the developing of simple techniques, simple means by which we transcend the aspect and somehow meet the person. You thought, said the teacher, that when you administered to a hungry man, that you were administering to a hungry man. No, you were administering to God. The God in you went out on the highway of the need to meet the God in the other. It makes living a tremendously exciting but terribly perilous adventure. 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953 Description An account of the resource In this series delivered at Fellowship Church from March 9 to March 30, 1953, Thurman discusses encountering the divine in our everyday lives. Thurman finds God's logic in moments of personal crisis and chaos, as well as in our encounters with human need. Both crisis and human need can be dealt with at a surface level, but Thurman highlights the necessity of dealing with them at a deeper level – the level of religion. Do we dare search for God in our darkest moments? Do we have eyes to see the Lord's face in the hungry, the thirsty, and the imprisoned? Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Rodell Jefferson III AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-570_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Divine Encounter, parts 3 and 4 (Fellowship Church), 1953 Mar 23, 30, Side B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-570_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource The Divine Encounter, Part 4, 1953 March 30 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953-03-30 Description An account of the resource This final section in Thurman's series on the Divine Encounter examines the encounter with God in human need. Throughout this series, Thurman has spoken to dealing with crisis, not just on the surface, but at deeper levels. By relating to the person, rather than the person's sickness, we are able to restore them at the level of personality. This is a difficult task because we often deal with only aspects of each other, and not the whole. Nevertheless, when we deal with each other in whole, the God in us is administering to the needs of God in the other. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III.