WEBVTT
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(church organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(somber organ music)
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(whimsical organ music)
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Yes.
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(footsteps echoing)
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(upbeat organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(whimsical organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(dramatic organ music)
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(high pitched dramatic organ music)
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(upbeat organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
(quiet chattering)
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(somber organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(somber organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(slow organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(upbeat organ music)
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(scuffling)
(quiet chattering)
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(whimsical organ music)
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(footsteps echoing)
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(intense organ music)
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(coughing)
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(footsteps echoing)
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And that's all.
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No.
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(footsteps echoing)
(quiet chattering)
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(church choir singing harmoniously)
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(coughing)
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(uplifting organ music)
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(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)
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(organ playing dramatically)
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(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)
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Oh, come and magnify the Lord with me
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and let us exalt God's name together.
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Now, let us test and examine our ways
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and return to the Lord, our God.
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The sacrifice acceptable to God
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is a broken spirit, a contrite heart.
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For a broken heart, oh, God, you will not despise.
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Let us pray.
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(soft creaking)
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Oh, Lord Jesus, you set your face to Jerusalem
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and called us to come with you.
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How glibly we said we would follow.
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We confess that our talk was greater than our courage.
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Our idealism exceeded our commitment
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and our self confidence overshadowed our faith.
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As we have become more prosperous and secure,
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oh, Lord, we have had second thoughts about the cross.
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Forgive us for our willfulness and our refusal to take risk
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for your kingdom.
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Restore in us a spirit of conviction and courage,
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that we may live in perfect obedience
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to our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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(shuffling)
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(coughing)
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(coughing)
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Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.
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You who come to me shall not hunger
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and you who believe in me shall never thirst."
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In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven.
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Let us, then, give thanks, for God is good
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and God's love is everlasting.
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Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.
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Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.
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Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.
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We welcome you to this holy service of worship
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during the Lenten season.
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It is now the fifth Sunday of Lent
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in our own journey toward the cross
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and our way of discipleship.
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We are glad to welcome you and your friends
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here to this service of worship with us today.
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I want to call your attention to one announcement
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in the bulletin and also have a special announcement
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to make for the community here at Duke.
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You will notice that Mr. Herbert Manfred Hoffman
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will be offering a recital here in the chapel today
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at five o'clock.
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We are very privileged and pleased
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to have Mr. Hoffman with us.
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He is the organist of the Heilig Geist Kirchort
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in Frankfurt, West Germany.
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The recital is open to the public.
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There is no charge and we warmly invite you to attend.
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I was informed by Duke University Food Services
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on Friday of this week that they have given permission
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for Duke University students to donate
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any leftover points in their Food Service plans
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to go toward imperishable goods
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for the Saint Philip's Soup Kitchen.
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So, we want the word to get out about this,
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particularly to students, but others who have meal plans
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here at Duke as well.
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Any student who would like to donate points
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for the purchase of imperishable goods
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to help the soup kitchen in Durham
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may do so by going by the Bryan Center Information Desk.
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There will be sign up sheets there
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and you can give any points in any amount
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that you so desire.
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The deadline for the collection of points,
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which will go for the purchase of goods,
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will be Wednesday, April the 18th
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and we do hope that students may be able
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to donate generously to this cause to help
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hunger here at Durham.
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We are delighted this morning to introduce to our
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university community our very own Father Joseph Burke.
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He will be our guest preacher for the first time
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this morning here in the chapel.
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He is now in his seventh year as Chaplain
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for the Newman Center and the Catholic community
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here at Duke.
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Father Burke is a Jesuit priest
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having been ordained in 1951.
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In our sharing together, he has told me that
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40 years of his training and, now, ministry
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have been spent in a college or university setting.
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We have been delighted to have him among us
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in the Religious Life staff here at Duke.
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We are very glad that he will be sharing with us
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in the sermon this morning.
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We are grateful to the Catholic community
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and our friends in the Newman Center
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for sharing Joe in his very busy priestly schedule
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this day and I noticed that the Newman Center
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cheering community is in place on the pulpit side.
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Father Burke, we are thrilled to have you
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and we look forward to the sermon
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that you will bring.
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The sermon title is "I Will Never Forget You."
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Let us pray.
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Oh, God, who, according to the promise of Jesus Christ,
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your son, did send the spirit of truth
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to your people, grant that the spirit may teach us
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all things, guide us into all truth,
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open to us the scriptures and take the ways
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of Christ and show them to us for your name's sake.
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Amen.
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The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah, Chapter 49,
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Verses 14 and 15.
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But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me.
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My Lord has forgotten me.
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Can a woman forget her suckling child
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that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
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Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you."
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Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.
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(shuffling)
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(somber organ music)
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(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)
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(coughing)
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Will the congregation please stand
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for the reading of the gospel lesson?
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From John, Chapter Eight, Verses One through 11.
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They went each to his own house,
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but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
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Early in the morning, he came again to the temple.
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All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them.
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The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
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who had been caught in adultery.
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In placing her in the midst, they said to him,
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"Teacher, this woman has been caught
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in the act of adultery.
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Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such.
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What do you say about her?"
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This they said to test him
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that they might have some charge to bring against him.
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Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground
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and as they continued to ask him,
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he stood up and said to them,
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"Let him who is among you without sin
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be the first to throw a stone at her."
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And once more, he bent down and wrote
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with his finger on the ground.
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But when they heard it, they went away one by one,
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beginning with the eldest and Jesus was left alone
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with the woman standing before him.
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Jesus looked up and said to her,
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"Woman, where are they?
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Has no one condemned you?"
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She said, "No one, Lord."
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And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you.
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Go and do not sin again."
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Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson.
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Amen.
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(dramatic organ music)
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(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)
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My dear fellow students,
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after having spent 44 of the last 48 years
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as either a student, a teacher, or an administrator
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at a collegiate institution, I feel quite comfortable
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addressing you students in this way.
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In a sense, I have never really gotten out of college.
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Over the years, my contacts with students
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have usually been in the classroom, in booth sessions,
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at the local pub, and in most other places
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that students usually gather.
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And in the seven years that I've been here at Duke,
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most of these sessions have taken place right downstairs
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in the basement of this great chapel
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where my office is.
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I've walked through this chapel
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many times, hundreds of times,
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and I've prayed here silently many times.
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I feel very much at home here,
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but never, never have I looked at you from this height.
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I feel so very far away from you.
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I'd much prefer, frankly, to be right down there
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in the pews with you.
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But, I feel like Savonarola haranguing the multitudes
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in the Doumo at Florence.
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But Savonarola, I assure you, I am not.
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For one thing, he was a Dominican and I'm a Jesuit
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with whatever that implies.
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In intellect, we are worlds apart
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and in personality, of course, no comparison.
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Nevertheless, here I am, up here, way up here
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on this fifth Sunday of Lent
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and a sermon has to be preached.
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And so, I've chosen three aspects of God
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that have meant so much to me over the years.
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God's forgiveness, God's presence, God's love.
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And in sharing my thoughts on these points,
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I confess I've come to agree strongly
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with Carl Rogers's experience.
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This distinguished psychologist
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invariably found that the feeling,
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which seemed to him most private and personal,
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proved to be an expression for which
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there was a resonance in many another.
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It lead him to the conviction
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that what is most personal and unique
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in each one of us is probably the very element
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which could, if it were shared or expressed,
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speak most deeply to others.
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And Henri Nouwen, in commenting on this,
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suggested that the Christian leader is,
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first of all, the artist, who can bind together
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many people by his courage
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in giving expression
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to his most personal concern.
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To our first point, then.
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God's forgiveness.
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Over the years, in speaking with thousands of you students,
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I've sensed your awareness of sin in your lives
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and an apprehension,
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even a fear of the eternal consequences
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of that sinfulness.
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And I say this despite the fact that in my estimation
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college age crises are not so much conflicts
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with evil as they are struggles
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to determine your identity.
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Who am I?
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How do I become me?
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And I confess, I, too, have had this fear.
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How will God judge Burke when Burke faces him
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at the judgment?
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Not an unreasonable fear on my part, I assure you.
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(laughing)
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Well, let's see what Jesus says about it.
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In Matthew's 25th chapter, Jesus gives us his version
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of the Last Judgment.
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You remember the story
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when the son of man comes as king
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and all the angels with him.
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He will sit on his royal throne
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and the people of all nations will gather before him.
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Then, he will divide them into two groups.
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Just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
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he will put the righteous people his right
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and the others at his left and so on.
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And when the separation has taken place
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and the reason for the separation given,
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the righteous rather plaintively ask,
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"Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you
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or thirsty and give you a drink?
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When did we see you a stranger and welcomed you
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into our homes or naked and clothed you?
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When did we ever see you sick or in prison
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and visit you?"
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"And," says Jesus, "the king will reply
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I tell you, whenever you did this
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for one of the least important of these
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brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me."
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Now, the intriguing thing about this story
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is told by Jesus and which has always fascinated me
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is this:
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the king never once mentions positive sin
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as we understand it.
(coughing)
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When those in eternal fire ask for an explanation,
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"Why are we here?"
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The king does not say because you committed
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adultery 10 times or you murdered somebody or whatever.
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He simply says, "Away from me.
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When I was hungry, you didn't feed me
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and when I was thirsty, you didn't give me to drink.
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That is why you are where you are."
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And so, I've always believed that we will be judged more
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on the many good things that we could have done
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and did not do
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rather than on those big bad sins
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that we did do
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and about which we always worry and fret,
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even though they have already been forgiven and forgotten
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by an all merciful God.
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Jesus urges us to forget our forgiven sins
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and get going on doing good.
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Now, let's get one thing clear.
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I am not saying that
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we can earn our way into heaven
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by good deeds.
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That argument is over.
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It holds water neither philosophically, nor theologically,
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and the reward of heaven,
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even our very faith itself,
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is a free gift of God.
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But, having said that, we are still left
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with the plea of Jesus to feed the hungry
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and clothe the naked
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and we must be about our business.
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Another aspect of Christ's forgiveness,
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Jesus rarely became angry.
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And when he did, it was usually in the presence
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of hypocrisy and phoniness.
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He was always most kind and considerate
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in the presence of sins of weakness,
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which most of our sins are.
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A clear example of this is the story
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of today's gospel reading from Saint John,
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the woman taken in adultery.
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One of the tenderest moments
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in the whole New Testament,
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this poor woman caught red-handed
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is brought before the people and Jesus
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with no regard for her feelings and her dignity.
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If there was ever a time when it might be said
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that sin personified was in the presence
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of virtue personified, it was this confrontation
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of the adulterous woman and Jesus.
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Yet, Jesus quietly forgives her immediately.
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I can imagine even with an embrace
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and releases her.
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Soren Kierkegaard, in one of his edifying discourses,
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has this poignant comment on this very episode.
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When the woman was brought in,
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Jesus bowed down and wrote with his finger upon the ground.
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Why, I wonder?
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Did he write with his finger on the ground?
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Did he sit there like a judge who listens attentively
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to the story of the accusers
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who jots down the principal points
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so that he may not forget them and may judge strictly?
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Was the woman's guilt the only thing that was noted
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by the Lord?
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Or did not he who wrote on the ground
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rather write it down in order to erase it and forget it?
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He wrote with his finger in order to blot out
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what he himself knew,
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for sin discovers a multitude of sins,
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but love covers a multitude of sins.
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Yes, even in the sight of the sinner,
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love covers a multitude of sins.
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There was no longer an accuser, no one who condemned her.
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And so, Jesus simply said,
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"Neither do I condemn you.
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Go and sin no more."
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Thus, Kierkegaard, the gentleness
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with which Jesus handled this poor woman
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comes clearly through the gospel text.
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Thus, does Jesus deal with us weak sinners.
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He is more willing to forgive our sins
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than we are to ask to have them forgiven.
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Why don't we take God at God's word?
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Your sins are forgiven.
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Go and sin no more.
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God will never abandon us.
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Can a mother forget her infant?
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Be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
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Even should she forget,
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I will never forget you.
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A forgiving God is with us always,
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which brings us to our second point, God's presence.
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Over the years, I've noticed a tremendous
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streak of generosity in college students,
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despite your perennial bad press.
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You really do want to make this a better world
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in which to live.
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This is commendable, but ponder this:
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too few Christians find Christ in their fellow man.
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It is not that they find little to love in the poor
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and the disadvantage