March 25-April 7, 2002
Dag Hammerskold was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in an airplane crash in 1961 on his way to negotiate a cease-fire between the United Nations and Katanga forces. In his book called "Markings" written in Swedish and translated into English and only to be published after his death we find "a remarkable record of the spiritual life of a man whose public image was universally known and admired—a record that reveals the extent of his commitment to the Way of the Cross."
On Maundy Thursday, 1961 he quoted from a play called "Brand" by Ibsen, the last 4 lines of the play.
Brand (his face lifted up towards the descending avalanche):
The jaws of death encompass me.
God above!
Does it all count for naught with Thee
That man in anguish strives to be?
(The avalanche sweeps him away. The valley is buried in snow. Through the roar a Voice is heard.)
Voice: God is Love.
Then Hammerskold’s his next writing, some weeks later:
"I don’t know Who—or what—put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone—or Something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self surrender, had a goal."
This affirmation came after long years of doubts and seeking, "when I finally reached that point, the beliefs in which I was brought up and which, in fact, had given my life direction even while my intellect still challenged their validity, were recognized by me as mine in their own right and by my free choice…"
This is the message of Holy Week and beyond. Birth, life in service, cross, resurrection often daily and then forever.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
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