.F AC ING LIFE 'S BROKEN. DREAMS

Transcription

1 .F AC ING LIFE 'S BROKEN. DREAMS INTRODUCTION The me.d1tation this morning is entitled, "Facing Life's Broken Dreams", and it's intended especially for those who recently have experienced some disappointment or disaster in their own lives. It b.eg1ns with a story, a true story, about a young woman who was teaching school, and at the same time filling up her hope chest with all of those wonderful treasures for the home that was soon to be established when quite unexpectedly and without any warning, she found herself completely overwhelmed_ by a disa.ster that literally smashed all of her dreams. The young man to whom she was to be married, a brilliant young man, a young man who had worked his way through college and had graduated with a Phi Beta Kappa record, was suddenly stricken with a streptoccus infection. It proved to be fatal, and in those days or grief following his death, this young woman wrote a letter to the boys and girls of the ninth grade' class that she taught which had tried to express their sympathy to her. In her letter, part of which I'd like to share with you this morning, she lays bare her own sou~'s response to her broken.dreams. "I want to thank you for your genuine sympathy. Words at a time like this seem of little comfort, yet the assurance of your love and your affection does make me feel better. Life seems to be hopeless now. All the dreams, the hopes, the ambitions that Walter and I had are never to be realized. But I am trying to remember that God is infinitely wise. And when the visions of our home, which will never be, arise to taunt me, I force myself to remember that we are eternity bound creatures." Certainly the sorrow that touched the life of this young woman is no stranger to some of you. Hundreds of disappointments come daily into the lives of men and women. Our plane are changed. Our lives are altered by something that we hadn't counted on. Disappointment in love, or in the loss of a.1 ob, or in the dea.th of a loved one, or in the curtailment of education, or in the crippling effects of a d ieeaee - such as these often confront us as we move through ltfe. WHAT TO DO All of this leads us into this aueetion : what can we do, or how should we respond to our broken dreams for 1sn 't it true that what we do in spite of them, or because of them determ!ines our own future happiness and our own future values to others. To begin with, we recognize that there are some people who try to esca.pe into another world.when confronted with disaster, a world, you might say, of make believe. They find it difficult to acc ept what ha.e happened to them, and they try to forget momentarily through

2 EIGHTY-SIXTH STREET AND PARK AVENUE NEW YORK 28, N. Y. PHILIP A. C. CLARKE, PASTOR MARY C. HEDMAN, DEACONESS CHURCH OFFICE EAST 86TH STREET TELEPHONE ATWATER

3 - 2 - drug or drink. A person can live in such a world for a time, but sooner or later he has to return to reality, and it goes without saying that such a way of escape only intensifies disappointment and offers no real solution,. Of course there are others who respond. to a broken dream with resentment and self-pity. "Why did this have to have to me" they say. Or 11 wl).at have I done to dese:rve this?" But once again, sooner or later, life closes in around the person who tries to drown himself in resentment and self-pity. Other respond with a stoical gritting of the teeth, and an "I can ta.ke it" attitude. They resolve to go grimly through with it. No meaning is seen in the disa,ppointment, only ~ determ 1nation to stand fast. This is relatively good, but it s not auite enough. 'l'here is another way of facing life~ s broken dreams, a far better way than the ones I've briefly suggested. It is to acce pt the disappointment and try with God"s help to use it for some good. It's to pick up the broken dre ame and fit them into a mosaic. It is to trust in the words of Paul when he said: "All things work together for good to them that love God". It is to accept your limitation, your sorrow, your illness, your misfortune, and to ask God to help you to work your way through it, and to use it for some good. It is a faith which says that there is a God whose plane are not completed here, who offers us strength to withstand life's disappointments, and who helps us trium ph over them. I wish I had more time to speak to you of this way of facing your own broken dreams. I feel I've simply launched the idea into your thoughts. But I hope that youtll think on these things as you come to the. communion rail this morning and share, in this sacrament.whewhatever m;ay be your limitation., your disappointment, your sorrow, your broken dream - dedicate it to God and ask him to help you work your way through it, so that even in spite of it, you may come to know th:3:t "all things do work together for good to them that love God 11 LET US.i?l:{AY: whom wl-.om Our Father and Our God. from t-ftee we come, and unto~ our spirits return1. Without thee we are restless. Help us to find rest in thee. Help us to know that life's most important ouest is in finding Thee and being found by thee. Comfort us this day with the fact that our probtams can me met and solved with thy strength and wisdom. HelP us to be hard on ourselves in disciplining our lives. Where there are sorrowful hearts, bring comfort. Where there is lingering illness, bring healing. Where there is crippling fear, bring hope. Where there is disturbi~ doubt, bring faith. All this we ask in thy name and for thrysake. nmen

4 Jlarh!\u~nu~ c:fb!ldlynbist <ll4urr4 EIGHTY-SIXTH STREET AND PARK AVENUE NEW YORK 28, N. Y. PHILIP A. C. CLARKE, PASTOR MARY C. HEDMAN, DEACONESS CHURCH OFFICE EAST 86TH STREET TELEPHONE ATWATER ,.

5 PARK AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH 106 East 86th Street, New York 28, N. Y. AT CHURCH DIRECTORY Philip A. C. Clarke Minister Mary C. Hedman Deaconess Gerald E. Rock Minister of Music Bertha Leech.. Nursery School Director Patrick Nugent... Custodian GENERAL OFFICERS Lay Member, Annual Conference... Paul R. Russell Lay Leader, The Church..... Harold W. Black President, Trustees.. Paul R. Russell President, Woman's Society... Mrs. James McCartney President, Young Adults Mark Else President, Choir Charles Kim Superintendent, Church School Harold W. Black STATED MEETINGS Sunday Services: 9:45am Sunday School 11:00am. Morning Worship 12:00 am..... Fellowship Hour 6:30pm..... Young Adults (Every other Sunday) Official Board First Monday, 8 pm Woman's Society Second Monday, 8 pm Fisherman's Club First Tuesday, 6 pm Choir Rehearsal... Every Wednesday, 7:30pm Boy Scouts... Every Saturday, 10 am INFORMATION FOR PASTOR Name Address Please check reason for giving name 0 Desire pastor to call 0 Change of address 0 Desire to join church 0 Visitor 0 Sickness PHOTO BY RUSS TALLEY

6 'f.wenty-second SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY November 2, 1958 ORDER OF WORSHIP 11 A. M. ORGAN PRELUDE PROCESSIONAL HYMN No. 382 "Glorious things of thee are spoken" CALL TO WORSHIP (Standing) Page 523 GLORIA PATRI PRAYER FOR PURITY (Se~ted) Almighty God, unto wbom; all hea 't~ are open, all desi!'es knmm, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspj.rati.ons of Thy Holy Spiri~, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name~ through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen THE LORD! S PRAYER THE SUMMARY OF THE DIVINE LAW KYRIE tilord Have Mercy Upon Us" ~HHHI* ( Inte!'Val for ushering) THE SCRIPTURE LESSOI~ Philippians 4:4 13 ANNOUNCEMENTS OFFERTORY SOW (Bass) "King of Lovett Gounod PRESENTATION OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS WITH DOXOLCGY :HHHI* (Interval for ushering) COMMUNION MEDITATION "Facing Life's Broken Dreams" FRAYER Choral Amen HYMN No "Blest be the tie that binds" THE HOLY COMr1UNION RITUAL The Invitation (Standing) (Page 528) The General Confession (Seated) Prayer and Comforting Words The Sursum Corda ~nd the Sanctua The P~~er ot Consecration (The Minister) The Pjayer of H~ble Access (said b,y all) The Agnus Dei (The Choir) The Partaking of the Elements The ~loria in Excelsis (Words and music, No. 588} HYMN No. 358 BENEDICTION POSTLUDE "Rejoice, ye pure in heart" "Chorale-Prelude" Choral Response Karg-Ehlrt THIS WEEK AT PARK AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2 6:00 P, M. Young Adults supper meeting on the 4th floor. Speaker: Charle~ Anderson; topic, "Methodist Beginnings". MONDAY 1 NOVEMBER 3 7:15 P. M. Meeting of the Board of Trustees. 8:00 P, M. The monthly Official Board meeting. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 6:00 P. M. Commission on Membersh$p and Evangelism meets for supper at Deaconess Home, 1175 Madison. Monthly meeting and visitation evangelism. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 1:30 A. M. Fellowship Prqyer Cell, 4th floor lounge. 5:45 P. M. Fellowship Prayer Cell, 4th floor lounge. 1:30 P. M. Choir rehearsal. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 3:30 P. M. Opening of Church Fair and Dinner at 6:45. 7:00 P. M. Club 86. Mr. ~nd Mrs. F. Rhymes, Chaperone SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 10:00 A. 11. Boy Scouts. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9 9:30 A. M. Church School classes for all ages. 11:00 A. M. Divine Worship. OTHER NOTICES Visitors are always welcome to the services of worship and the various programs of our church. As you note the meetings announced in this bulletin, we hope you will know that you are welcome. There will be no coffee hour today following the service of worship. Ushers this morning are Mr. J. Bowater (Captain), Mr. s. strout, Mr. c. Paech, Mr. T.Montaneli and Mr, J. Merget. Mre. J. Durham and Miss P. Darby are in charge of the Nurser.y Care Hour (10:45 to l2al5). Flowers on the altar this morning are in memor,y of the father of Mrs. Karl Sundstrom, Mr. Albert K. Hall, who passed away this past week.