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d49c17fc6f670089e3babc564b0f817a
PDF Text
Text
Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
394-810.mp3
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord,
my strength and my redeemer. For as much time as I have this morning, I want to read two
things which have to do with the celebration of Christmas day. The first is a clipping which
comes from McCall's magazine. It appeared as the Christmas editorial in that magazine last year
written by the editors.
Could you spare five minutes of Christmas? Now Christmas comes, solstice in the long year, a
chiming of fleet hours. The verdant wreath adorns the snowy door of winter. And the evergreen
bears unaccustomed fruit.
It is the day of days. For 24 blessed and embellished hours, the flood gates of affection and
generosity are opened and the thoughts of men turn kind. For 24 hours, some special [? denizen
?] descends on fellow hearts.
For eyes that will see, the sometimes gloomy landscape of the material world makes way for far
horizons of the spirit where all things are possible. For ears that will hear, there are voices that
speak with the tongue of angels. Of all the gifts of Christmas, the gift of the very day, 1,440
minutes, is at once the most precious and the most common. It is a gift bestowed on all, young
and old, high and low, just and unjust, wise and foolish, ill and well. And the use we make of it
may enrich us beyond the dreams of avarice or render us poorer, indeed.
Could you spare five minutes of Christmas to embrace its honest meaning? Could you spare five
minutes to give a soft answer, turn the other cheek, do unto others as you would be done by?
Could you spare five minutes to protect the weak, defend the persecuted, comfort those who
mourn, and love your neighbor as yourself?
Could you spare five minutes to feed the hungry, invite the stranger, cherish the child? Could
you spare five minutes to tender mercy, give without hope of receiving, and forgive those who
know not what they do? Could you spare five minutes to cast out fear, choose between good and
evil, and let your light shine? Could you spare five minutes from 1,440 to take the glibness out of
peace on Earth, goodwill to men?
So now Christmas comes, and with it, again, the age-old opportunity to begin anew, to reach at
least slightly beyond , the confining boundaries of self to emerge from concerns determined by
greed and prejudice, to depart the cheerless abode of cynicism and disdain, to cease the aimless
drifting towards paths of Eve. Could you spare five minutes to care? Whatever disillusion and
confusion beset our life, it is ineradicably written that the future belongs to the pure at heart. Five
minutes, five minutes, five priceless quickly passing minutes could change the world. Heartily
we wish you these five minutes and a merry Christmas.
1
�Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
And now this of my own-- Christmas is a season of intense and feverish activity. The activity
begins days, weeks, even months before. This activity is not merely limited to those in
merchandising and advertising, but it involves all who have services to sell or to give away.
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
We are prepared to go all out in what we call the Christmas spirit, making the extra contribution
to our favorite charity, putting the extra dollar in the Christmas envelope if we go to a church,
giving some money for the Christmas dinner put on by the Salvation Army, getting our old toys
or old clothes so that they may be shared with the skinned and cast down. Christmas is a season
of intense and feverish activity.
The contagion of the season extends in other ways more personal and intimate. We are reminded
of unanswered letters, for instance, and unacknowledged courtesies that have accumulated
through the year. Christmas is the time to say thank you and to make the gracious gesture.
Whatever it may be the prevailing quality or character of our relationships, something special
must be done during the Christmas season to highlight a more favorable and generous side of our
lives. Such activity takes on the characteristics of an inventory of our personal relationships. And
this is good.
There is a strange irony in the fact that Christmas has become identified with mass production,
exploitation for profit, profit for profit, crowds, hurry, whipped-up emotions, and collective
hysteria. These are followed by exhaustion, physical and spiritual weariness, more drives on
goods, bargain counters, and bills, bills, bills. All of these things are far removed from the simple
setting that means for millions in our world the moment of truth for the world.
Now, what was the setting? Of course, according to the traditional story, there was the
announcement of the angels. There must be always remaining in every man's life some place for
the singing of angels, some place for that which is breathlessly beautiful, and by an inherent
prerogative, throwing all the rest of life into new and creative relatedness, something that gathers
up in itself all the freshness of experience, from drab and commonplace areas of living, and
places, and one bright light, a penetrating beauty and meaning, then passes.
The commonplace now is shot through with new glory. Old burdens become lighter. Deep and
ancient wounds lose much of their old, old hurting. A crown is placed over our heads, that for the
rest of our lives, we are trying to grow tall enough to wear.
Despite all the coarseness of life, despite all of the harsh discords of life, life is saved by the
singing of angels. May this Christmas season, then, this Christmas day be for each of you, a time
when you may gather together in some moment of creative focus and meaning, something that is
precious to you. And hold it, and finger , it and lay it alongside your heart, that it's pulse beat
may be your pulse beat. And then some of the kindness, and the joy, and the magic that is to be
found in the pure in heart as they share this will come to you. And yours will be a good day, a
unique day, a wonderful day, whether you bow your knee before an altar or not.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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�Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord
my strength and my redeemer.
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�
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
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We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)
Description
An account of the resource
<em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br />
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p>
<img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" />
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Descriptions by Dustin Mailman
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<iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-810.html" ></iframe>
Internal Notes
Notes for project team
Edited - GL 7/29
Original Title
Title as transcribed from tape cassette
A Salutation to Christmas (WB-1B), 1961 Dec 22
Time Period
The decade in which the recording was produced.
1960s
Location
The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon
WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts
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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
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394-810
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Thurman, Howard
Title
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A Salutation to Christmas (1961-12-22)
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<a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a>
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audio
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<a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a>
Date
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1961-12-22
Description
An account of the resource
In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads two reflections on the Christmas season. The first is from "McCall's Magazine," and reflects upon the implications Christmas day has in relation to the Christian life. Though Christmas day is filled with generosity and affection, Thurman asks the question if those celebrating Christmas could take five minutes to protect the weak, feed the hungry, love thy neighbor, etc. The second excerpt is written by Thurman, himself. In it, Thurman works with the tension between gratitude and critique during the Christmas season. He asks the question of how one can both show gratitude while also resisting materialism and hyper-industrialism.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Description by Dustin Mailman
angels
Christmas
contagion
creativity
crown
ethics
gifts
Golden Rule
holidays
Jesus ethic
materialism
potential
Relatedness
values
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e198bf7a7d3170e1b8e1d96c8b321781
PDF Text
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Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
394-783.mp3
This is tape number ET31 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two
meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side 1, entitled Supportive Order Inherent in Life.
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord,
my strength and my Redeemer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
As a continuation of our time together last week, I want to read, today, from The Inward
Journey. And this has to do with the unity of life. "In all the waking hours, the tentacles of time
give channel to each living thing-- the bird on wing, the mole moving in darkness underground,
the cricket chanting it's evening song, the primeval whale sporting in chilly seas or floating
noiselessly in turbulent waters, in mountain crevice or sprawling meadow, the delicate beauty of
color-stained flower or fragile leaf.
High above the timberline, the sprig of green dares wind and snow. In the barren parchness of
desert waste, the juiceless shrub and water logged cactus. High in the tree top, the green-pearled
fruit of olive mistletoe and the soft gray stillness of creeping moss. The infant, the growing child,
the stumbling adolescent, the young adult, the man full-blown or stooped with years-- the
tentacles of time give channel to each living thing.
And beyond all this, thoughts that move with grace of being, light thoughts that dance and sing
untouched by gloom or shadow or the dark. Weighty thoughts that press upon the road with
tracks that blossom into dreams or shape themselves in plan and scheme.
Thoughts that whisper, thoughts that shout, thoughts that wander without rest, seeking, seeking,
always seeking. Thoughts that challenge, thoughts that soothe. The tentacles of time give channel
to each living thing.
Out from the house of life, all things come. And into it, each returns again for rest. When I
awake, I am still with thee.
There is not only a built-in unity and harmony in the organism-- in yours, in mine. But there is a
unity that is inherent in the particular life. This unity is determined by many factors, some of
which we understand and some we do not understand.
Why does your foot grow and grow and then stop growing? Why does some other part of your
body develop? And then something gives the word. And it stops it. It makes an end of growing.
The thing that's in my mind is that there is, in the individual life, a kind of built in logic and order
that is inherently a part of the individual's life, so that everything in your life counts. It is a part
of the order that is inherent in the living stuff which is your own life.
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�Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
Now this does not mean as it seems, that I am making some left handed case for a kind of ranting
determinism that suggests that everything that concerns your life or my life is fixed and ordered.
No. I am saying, however, that because of the harmony that is within the movement of the
private life, every thing in that life belongs.
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
And if I could understand the totality of a man's life, how he has responded from the day of his
conception to the present, to all of the forces that have played upon his life to which he has
responded, then the story of his life would make sense. For there is, within the life, an order and
a harmony.
And this is the basis upon which so much of the therapy that people are using now at the hands
of the disciplined minds-- the doctors who work with us when we have emotional upsets and
emotional disturbances, or we have some other things going on within us that are unmanageable
and that cause us to do things which are out of character. And how do these men work?
They assume that there is a logic here that somewhere in the development of your life or my life
or the individual's life that is seeking help, something happened. An event took place. And I
responded to that event in a certain way.
And as a result of the impact of this-- upon my life and my response to it, what I am
experiencing now is the order. This is how we study diseases. We say that the cure for a disease
is unknown. But we do not say, ever, that the cure is unknowable.
For the assumption is that there is an order that is inherent in the operation of the disease, that
there is a rational order in the mind. This rational order is always trying to penetrate, to make
contact, to touch, to sense, to become aware of, to understand.
The principle of order that may be at work and the behavior of this body of cells, so that when
the rational principle in the mind makes contact with the order that is in the disease, so that the
mind says that the logic in my mind and the logic here in this disease flow together, and give me
an insight, then men can talk in terms of curing the disease or of reducing it so that it will not,
any longer, threaten life.
What I'm saying is that we are surrounded by an order of which we are part and of which all of
life is a part. And that if there are those experiences in life that break the order, those experiences
that rupture the community, these things are regarded as being against life.
And the purpose of life from this point of view is to develop more and more order, more and
more synthesis, more and more wholeness, more and more creativity. And wherever there is that
which is divisive, wherever there is that which tears asunder, which [? rends ?] this must be
regarded as being against life.
And he who works for order, who works for harmony, who works for a total experience of
integration, life is on his side. And he who works against this, whatever may be the private
grounds for the judgment that monitors the enterprise, this is against life. And if it is against life,
it is against God."
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�Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord,
my rock and my Redeemer.
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The preceding program was pre-recorded.
This is tape number ET31, from the Library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is
side 2, entitled For Love's Sake.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord,
my strength and my Redeemer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Today I am reading, as the background for our thinking, a prose poem from the greatest of these.
"While there is a lower class, I am in it. While there is a criminal element, I am of it. While there
is a man in jail, I am not free. Thus spoke one whose very life and deeds these words fulfilled.
Contacts with one another abound in a world grown small. Because the mind of man has worked
unceasingly to banish barriers set by nature here and there, everywhere. But where there is no
will to love, to make an act of grace towards fellow man, contacts may degrade. Outrage nip the
tender shoots of simple trust.
Love abides when all else sickens and dies from sheer revulsion and disgust. The fruit it bears
sustains the nerve and makes the life a harbor of repose for the weak and tottering, a heavy
judgment for the cruel and hating, a precious bane for those who seek to know the way of God
among the sons of men.
With it, the deeds of men are measured by man's great destiny. It meets men where they are,
sometimes cruel, sometimes lustful, sometimes greedy, often callous, mean, of low design, and
treats them there as if they were full-grown and crowned with all that God would have them be.
For love's sake, and love's alone, men do with joyous hope and tender joy what no command of
heaven, hell, or life could force of them if love were not. To be God's child, to love with steady
mind and fervent heart, this is the law of love."
The apostle, Paul, in one of his letters, has left a very significant and pointed line which has
bearing on our thought for today. He says, "My prayer to God is that your love may grow more
and more rich in knowledge and in all manner of insight, that you may have a sense for what is
vital, that you may be transparent and of no harm to anyone."
3
�Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
We are surrounded today by a climate of impersonality, I suppose, is the best way to put it. It is
very difficult for the individual in our society to keep from becoming anonymous in his
relationships and in his estimate of himself, so that any thought about the thickening of human
relations, the tidying of relationships-- so that when men move in the midst of each other, they
will have no sense of jeopardy, no sense of being threatened, is a most important consideration.
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
The basic statement that I would make, that I hope you will remember, with reference to this
whole idea is that in our kind of world today, there is but one refuge that any man has on this
planet. And that is in another man's heart. And when I close the door against any man, it means
that I undermine my own sense of emotional security as I seek to live my life on this planet.
Now there are many contexts which we have, contacts, for the most part, are contacts without
fellowship. Now contacts without fellowship tend to express themselves in a kind of
unsympathetic mood.
They are, essentially, unsympathetic. They are cold. They are detached. Sometimes they are
cruel. The contacts are there. But they are not warm. They are unsympathetic. They are hard-the sort of thing that you feel, sometimes, when you go into a man's office. And he looks at you
with a with a dead hard stare in his eyes. And you wonder whether the third button on your shirt
is open or closed. But you dare not feel to see.
It is something that strips you, that lays you bare, that exposes you. It's hard. It's devastating. It is
destructive. Now an unsympathetic attitude tends to express itself in the exercise of a will that is
distorted, a will that is ill, a will that is sick.
And there is a subtle contagion about a sick will. Many people who come into direct contact with
it or are exposed to it find that they are contaminated by this. And the same sort of disposition or
attitude which is theirs, which is to be found in the mind and the life of the person with the ill
will, becomes characteristic of those to whom it is exposed.
Now an ill will that is dramatized in the life of a man is what we mean by hate walking on the
earth. Now the reverse of this is true.
Contacts with fellowship are warm. And they make for an understanding that is sympathetic-the kind of understanding that we all seek, the sort of understanding that gives the individual a
sense of inner freedom, that gives the individual the feeling that he need not pretend.
He need not cover up. The vulnerable things in his life will be protected by someone who
understands him in a sense that is increasingly total. And this is what we seek, after all-understanding that is sympathetic, so that in its warm glow, the weaknesses and the strengths, the
good points and the bad points, are not held in any sense that is judgmental.
But they are gathered up in a healing mood of not only compassion but of understanding. This is
what we seek among ourselves. This is what our children seek. This is what adults seek.
4
�Pitts Theology Library
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive
Transcription
thurman.pitts.emory.edu
Now sympathetic understanding tends to express itself in the exercise of a will that is good. Now
a good will is the creative expression of one man's total attitude towards another man.
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
It is, laced, if I may use that word, in a kind of kindness. And here, something very important
must be said. No one ever quite deserves kindness. Men deserve respect as human beings. Men
deserve honor, sometimes, for the contribution which they have made to the redemption of the
common life or the contribution which they have made to some stark human need to which they
are exposed.
But no one ever quite deserves kindness. For when you are kind to a man, it means that you
place upon him something that he does not merit. It is like placing a crown over his head that, for
the rest of his life, he is trying to grow tall enough to wear, so that when you are the recipient of
the kind act, you know deep within yourself that you cannot ever repay this deed to the person
from whom the deed issued to you so that the only thing that you can do is to seek to confer that
kind of meaning upon someone else as your response to that kind of meaning that has been
conferred upon you.
Now a goodwill caught, dramatized, epitomized, for instanced in the life of a man is what we
mean by Love. And when we love, it means that we deal with each other at a point in each other
that is beyond all the good and beyond all the evil. There is but one refuge that one man has
anywhere on this planet. And that is in another man's heart.
Will you keep your door open that whoever knocks may enter?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord,
my strength and my Redeemer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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
We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)
Description
An account of the resource
<em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br />
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p>
<img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" />
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Descriptions by Dustin Mailman
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/394-783.html" ></iframe>
Internal Notes
Notes for project team
Edited - GL 7/26
Original Title
Title as transcribed from tape cassette
Supporting Order Inherent in Life; For Love's Sake (ET-31; GC 11-24-71), 1971 Nov 24
Time Period
The decade in which the recording was produced.
1960s
1950s
Location
The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon
WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts
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
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394-783
Creator
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Thurman, Howard
Title
A name given to the resource
Supportive Order Inherent in Life (1963-05-17); For Love's Sake (1958-05-30)
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
1963-05-17
1958-05-30
Description
An account of the resource
In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "The Inward Journey." Thurman's reading speaks to the intricate ways in which human life and experience is ordered in a synchronistic fashion. It is in one's understanding of creation's interrelatedness, Thurman suggests, that one can come to understand that the entirety of one's existence belongs.
In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon a poem from Eugene V. Debs, speaking to notions of solidarity and love. He notes that notions of love and disease both have a contagious characteristic, and that there is great responsibility in one's choosing of love or disease. To share one's heart, thus one's love, is to invite fellowship and community. To share one's disease, is to invite isolation and individualism.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Dustin Mailman
belonging
contagion
creation
creativity
ecology
Eugene V. Debs
experience
fellowship
harmony
healing
heart
interconnectivity
inward journey
love
order
organism
Paul
Philippians
poetry
relationship
security
society
synchronization
synthesis
tentacles of time
unity
vulnerability
wholeness
will