WEBVTT
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(bell ringers ringing)
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We have been led in worship on this first Sunday
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after Epiphany by Mr. Philip Young
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and the Bell Ringers of First Baptist Church, Henderson,
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North Carolina, making their annual appearance with us.
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It's always a most fitting way to end the days of Christmas
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and to begin Epiphany with their beautiful music.
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We're glad that you're here with us
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for this service of worship.
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Remind you that these services are now being broadcast
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at 2 p.m. on Durham Cablevision and as always,
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in the patient rooms live of the Duke Hospitals.
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And now let us continue our worship.
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(organ plays)
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(everyone sings, accompanied by organ and bell ringers)
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O living God, as a spirit descended on Jesus
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at his baptism in the Jordan waters,
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so may your spirit descend on us gathered here this day.
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Keep us your people who even as your son
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had been born of water and the spirit
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always faithful to him who is Lord forever and ever.
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May we be empowered to do thy will on Earth
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even as it is in heaven, amen.
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Be seated.
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Let us pray.
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Open our hearts and minds, O God,
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by the power of Your Holy Spirit
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so that as the word is read and proclaimed,
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we might hear with joy what You say to us this day, amen.
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The Old Testament lesson is from the book of Isaiah.
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The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
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because the Lord has anointed me
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to bring good tidings to the afflicted;
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he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
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to proclaim liberty to the captives,
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and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
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to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
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and the day of vengeance of our God;
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to comfort all who mourn;
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to grant to those who mourn in Zion,
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to give them a garland instead of ashes,
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the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
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the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit;
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that they may be called the oaks of righteousness,
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the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
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They shall build up the ancient ruins,
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they shall raise up the former devastations;
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they shall repair the ruined cities,
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the devastations of many generations.
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Will you join in reading responsively the 29th Psalm.
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Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
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ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
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Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
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worship the Lord in holy array.
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(murmuring)
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The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
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the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
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He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
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and Sirion like a young wild ox.
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(murmuring)
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The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness,
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the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
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(murmuring)
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The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
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the Lord sits enthroned as king for ever.
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(murmuring)
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May the Lord bless his people with peace.
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(organ plays)
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(everyone sings)
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The second lesson is from the Acts of the Apostles.
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Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
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Philip went down to the city of Samaria,
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and proclaimed to them the Christ.
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And the multitudes with one accord
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gave heed to what was said by Philip,
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when they heard him and saw the signs which he did.
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For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed,
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crying with a loud voice;
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and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.
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So there was much joy in the city.
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Now when the apostles at Jerusalem
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heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
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they sent to them Peter and John,
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who came down and prayed for them
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that they might receive the Holy Spirit;
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for it had not yet fallen on any of them,
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but they had only been baptized
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in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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Then they laid their hands on them
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and they received the Holy Spirit.
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(bell ringers ringing)
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The gospel lesson comes to us
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from the gospel according to Luke.
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Hear the word of the Lord.
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As the people were in expectation,
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and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John,
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whether perhaps he were the Christ,
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John answered them all, "I baptize you with water;
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"but he who is mightier than I is coming,
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"the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie;
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"he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
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"His winnowing fork is in his hand,
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"to clear his threshing floor,
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"and to gather the wheat into his granary,
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"but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
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Now when all the people were baptized,
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and when Jesus also had been baptized
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and was praying, the heaven was opened,
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and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form,
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as a dove, and a voice came from heaven,
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"Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
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The word of the Lord, thanks be to God.
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(bell ringers ring)
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Ned Arnett says I never hear
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about the Holy Spirit at Duke Chapel.
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Why is that?
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Though I'm loathe to explain anything
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to a James B. Duke professor of anything,
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let me try to explain.
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Around here, you're apt to hear
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about God the Father, God is the Creator,
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who set the universe in motion like a great clock.
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God is the creative but alas,
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aloof hermit artist
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who shapes and forms and sets the whole thing in motion
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and then leaves, the deistic Deus absconditus.
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Or you may hear about God the Son.
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God is the young and fearless prophet of ancient Galilee,
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the rabbinic teacher, the great ethical example.
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Jesus the man for others, who exist mainly to set high
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and unattainable ethical ideals for the rest of us.
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But God the Holy Spirit,
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Ned says he doesn't hear much about that aspect of Godness.
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We honor God the Creator because we can see nature,
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we can dissect its wonders and understand it.
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We pay homage to God the Son
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because even people who don't believe that Jesus was divine,
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at least do believe that he was a marvelous person
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and a great ethical example and after all,
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they say isn't that really the purpose of religion,
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to offer us ethical examples.
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But God the Spirit?
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That seems strange, exotic, optional equipment
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for us moderns who live in this thinking, whirring,
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clanking, clockwork world of a universe,
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where people are busy helping themselves
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and getting ahead and taking charge
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and looking out for number one
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and shaping their own destinies,
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self-determining their future.
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In this clanking, working, flattened out universe,
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predictable human-centered world,
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we have no need for a God
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who comes to us as power and spirit.
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Please God, we would rather do it ourselves.
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But how small is this flattened out notion of God
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when set next to the God depicted in today's Psalm.
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The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
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The voice of the Lord breaks cedars.
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The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
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The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness,
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makes mighty oaks to whirl, strips forest bare,
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and all in his temple cry glory.
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How puny is our little modern image of God
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when compared to this cedar-breaking, flame-flashing,
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oak-whirling epiphany of a living
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God.
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When Jesus was baptized in the muddy Jordan river,
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the heavens cracked open and fire descended upon him
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like a dove and there was a voice.
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John the Baptist had predicted as much.
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I baptize you with water
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but there's one coming after me who's mightier.
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He shall burn you with fire.
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Thus began Jesus' work.
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And his earthly work culminates with the risen Christ
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come back to his disciples and he says to his people,
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you wait in Jerusalem and I'll come to you
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and I'll give you the same spirit which empowered me.
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Then on the day of Pentecost, the heavens cracked open again
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and there was fire again,
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a rush of cedar-breaking, oak-whirling wind
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and flames of fire descended on the church.
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And that baptismal fire has since Pentecost
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spread to every nation of the world
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so that there is no corner of the Earth
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where there is not somebody to rise up
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and say, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
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The Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings
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to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted,
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to set at liberty those who are imprisoned.
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Isaiah 61.
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Power.
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Fire.
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Voice.
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Leaping over every boundary that we erect.
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Racial or economic or political.
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So that it is pushed in every corner of the world.
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Wherever Jesus' people are,
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there is the spirit at work.
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Power.
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Fire.
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Spirit.
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He had been, as they say,
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born and bred in North Carolina.
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Therefore as a child, it was quite natural for him
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to live in a world where in the department stores
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there were two water fountains, one marked Colored,
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the other marked White.
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Natural for him also
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were people who never had last names,
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only called Mary or Tom or worse, Buck or Boy, Uncle, Girl.
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The others never entered through the front door.
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The others always drank out of mayonnaise jars
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when they came to work in your front yard.
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But of course, that was yesterday,
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mistakes made by his parents.
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He had the privilege to be living in the new South
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which meant that now things were done differently
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which often means that now
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things were done subtly, covertly.
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That day they sat in big, leather-bound, brass-studded
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chairs around a big oak table in the board room
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and he had worked hard to sit around that table.
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It's not that I dislike her, said the boss, it's just that,
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well, it's just that she doesn't quite fit in.
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She's not really part of the team if you know what I mean.
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And of course, everybody knew what the boss meant.
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But nobody said it and everybody reached down deep,
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past the veneer to the prejudices and the past
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and dredged up all of those unlearned, untaught, unstated
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but nevertheless fixed in concrete boundaries
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between us, between them and us,
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and those customs and folk ways
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who told you who you are.
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But for some reason that day, he reached even deeper,
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past the prejudices and past the folk ways.
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And he found a voice to say,
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Jack, you know and we all know that that's not right.
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She has done the job, she deserves the promotion.
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And I want our company to be a model
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for how we treat our people
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regardless of the color of their skin.
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Power, power not of his own creation.
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Something unnatural, beyond the natural.
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From whence did it come?
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One time Jesus told his disciples,
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when they drag you in the court
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and you have to testify before the princes,
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don't worry about what you're going to say, how you testify.
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The Holy Spirit will tell you how to testify.
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What lawyer would have taken their case?
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This group is so far out
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they've got nobody to take their case except the Spirit.
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She wanted, wanted more than anything, love.
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She was so lonely, going at the end of every day,
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back to the same drab cold lonely apartment.
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And out of her desperation,
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she started going to bars in the evenings,
260
00:34:16.110 --> 00:34:20.130
not to drink but just to be with somebody else
261
00:34:20.130 --> 00:34:25.130
and there she met other lonely people.
262
00:34:25.680 --> 00:34:29.250
But one evening, she met someone and they talked
263
00:34:29.250 --> 00:34:34.190
and it was right and she said to herself,
264
00:34:34.190 --> 00:34:35.610
this is the way it can be.
265
00:34:35.610 --> 00:34:40.610
Two people, adult, sharing,
266
00:34:40.842 --> 00:34:44.550
and it was wonderful.
267
00:34:44.550 --> 00:34:45.990
But then, toward the end of the evening,
268
00:34:45.990 --> 00:34:48.340
he said to her, well he didn't really say to her
269
00:34:48.340 --> 00:34:51.470
but he didn't have to say to her, she knew.
270
00:34:51.470 --> 00:34:56.012
That she should share more than conversation and opinions
271
00:34:56.012 --> 00:35:01.012
and she was frightened because she didn't want to lose him
272
00:35:01.540 --> 00:35:03.050
and she didn't want to blow it,
273
00:35:03.050 --> 00:35:08.050
her one chance for companionship and affection and love.
274
00:35:11.100 --> 00:35:14.820
But from somewhere, somewhere deep inside her,
275
00:35:14.820 --> 00:35:19.820
she found a voice to say, no,
276
00:35:20.210 --> 00:35:23.360
no we're not ready for that now.
277
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:27.935
We need to spend more time together.
278
00:35:29.350 --> 00:35:34.350
You see, as it turned out, she wasn't really alone.
279
00:35:34.540 --> 00:35:38.580
There was Spirit, Spirit, empowering her
280
00:35:38.580 --> 00:35:41.640
to be more than she could've been
281
00:35:41.640 --> 00:35:45.967
if she had been left to her own.
282
00:35:45.967 --> 00:35:47.759
Spirit.
283
00:35:47.759 --> 00:35:51.242
Power.
284
00:35:52.970 --> 00:35:57.513
The days following the funeral were like a dream to Martha.
285
00:35:57.513 --> 00:35:59.018
Martha ate and then she slept
286
00:35:59.018 --> 00:36:00.330
and then she got up in the morning
287
00:36:00.330 --> 00:36:03.110
but she wasn't really living.
288
00:36:03.110 --> 00:36:07.763
She didn't want to live anymore now that he was gone.
289
00:36:07.763 --> 00:36:12.005
What have I to live for she would ask herself.
290
00:36:12.005 --> 00:36:14.280
What reason have I to go on?
291
00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:19.186
I have no purpose for my life, it's ended.
292
00:36:22.120 --> 00:36:25.028
But then,
293
00:36:25.028 --> 00:36:28.311
Martha was able to say later it was like a voice.
294
00:36:28.311 --> 00:36:31.010
Not suddenly but gradually over the next days
295
00:36:31.010 --> 00:36:36.010
a voice calling her name saying Martha, you can go on.
296
00:36:37.790 --> 00:36:40.140
This is a chapter in your life that's ended
297
00:36:40.140 --> 00:36:42.832
but a new chapter is beginning.
298
00:36:42.832 --> 00:36:47.332
Reach for life. Go on.
299
00:36:48.830 --> 00:36:50.728
Until there was that morning when she got up
300
00:36:50.728 --> 00:36:55.302
and she put on her best dress and her favorite hat
301
00:36:55.302 --> 00:36:59.933
and she strided forth to life.
302
00:37:01.990 --> 00:37:06.603
A voice, liberating a captive.
303
00:37:08.290 --> 00:37:10.560
A voice speaking words to her
304
00:37:10.560 --> 00:37:15.060
she could've never spoken to herself.
305
00:37:15.060 --> 00:37:16.777
Power.
306
00:37:16.777 --> 00:37:18.676
Spirit.
307
00:37:18.676 --> 00:37:22.468
Voice.
308
00:37:23.398 --> 00:37:27.293
Jesus had promised to his disciples.
309
00:37:27.293 --> 00:37:31.220
Just you wait, go wait in Jerusalem,
310
00:37:31.220 --> 00:37:36.211
I'm gonna give you the same spirit that empowered me.
311
00:37:39.040 --> 00:37:44.040
Spirit, but to be empowered by the Spirit
312
00:37:44.040 --> 00:37:47.180
is not only to be comforted or to encourage,
313
00:37:47.180 --> 00:37:52.120
it's also at times in life to be prodded.
314
00:37:52.120 --> 00:37:56.811
As individuals, as a church, to be pushed, nudged.
315
00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:05.430
Our first lesson today, our second lesson
316
00:38:05.430 --> 00:38:06.800
is from the book of Acts,
317
00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:10.460
the story of Phillip going down into Samaria.
318
00:38:10.460 --> 00:38:13.981
It's a story about the Spirit.
319
00:38:13.981 --> 00:38:16.220
It's a story not only about how the Samaritans
320
00:38:16.220 --> 00:38:19.987
got the Spirit but how the church got some of the Spirit.
321
00:38:23.010 --> 00:38:25.780
Now Phillip, we've asked you to come and to appear here
322
00:38:25.780 --> 00:38:30.780
before the board of inquiry of First Church Jerusalem.
323
00:38:31.183 --> 00:38:33.348
And we'd like you to explain Phillip if you can
324
00:38:33.348 --> 00:38:37.150
just what you were doing over in Samaria?
325
00:38:37.150 --> 00:38:39.750
I mean after all, we are reasonable people.
326
00:38:39.750 --> 00:38:43.320
We don't want to jump to conclusion on the basis of rumors.
327
00:38:43.320 --> 00:38:45.250
We'd like to hear in your own words
328
00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:50.040
just what were you doing over there with them?
329
00:38:52.530 --> 00:38:56.480
We hear that you were with them.
330
00:38:56.480 --> 00:39:00.063
I mean we hear worse.
331
00:39:00.063 --> 00:39:03.953
Now Phillip, you know you had no business doing that.
332
00:39:03.953 --> 00:39:07.170
Did not the Lord clearly tell us in scripture,
333
00:39:07.170 --> 00:39:11.630
go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel?
334
00:39:11.630 --> 00:39:13.460
Can't you understand plain Hebrew?
335
00:39:13.460 --> 00:39:16.890
First, it means what it says, first, you know what first is,
336
00:39:16.890 --> 00:39:20.850
first, Israel, the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
337
00:39:20.850 --> 00:39:23.190
What were you doing over there in Samaria?
338
00:39:23.190 --> 00:39:27.982
They're not us; they're not Israel.
339
00:39:27.982 --> 00:39:31.792
And don't try quoting that stuff from Isaiah to us either,
340
00:39:31.792 --> 00:39:34.510
about good tidings to the afflicted
341
00:39:34.510 --> 00:39:37.791
and binding up the brokenhearted.
342
00:39:37.791 --> 00:39:40.838
Don't you know Isaiah was talking about Israel?
343
00:39:40.838 --> 00:39:44.863
Wasn't talking about the Samaritans, talking about Israel.
344
00:39:44.863 --> 00:39:47.680
Besides, with the Romans here, who's more brokenhearted
345
00:39:47.680 --> 00:39:50.770
and needs binding up more than us?
346
00:39:50.770 --> 00:39:55.601
Charity begins at home.
347
00:39:56.560 --> 00:40:00.940
Phillip who elected you Mr. Missionary of the year?
348
00:40:00.940 --> 00:40:02.390
Don't you know Peter's supposed to be
349
00:40:02.390 --> 00:40:03.690
in charge of these things.
350
00:40:03.690 --> 00:40:05.670
Didn't Jesus call him the Rock?
351
00:40:05.670 --> 00:40:07.850
Not you, you shoulda checked,
352
00:40:07.850 --> 00:40:10.780
you should've wired the home office for instructions.
353
00:40:10.780 --> 00:40:15.233
What were you doing out there?
354
00:40:15.233 --> 00:40:17.950
You should've checked with the bishop.
355
00:40:17.950 --> 00:40:20.360
Phillip replies, well we don't have bishops
356
00:40:20.360 --> 00:40:21.840
until after the 2nd century.
357
00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:26.540
Well you should've checked with somebody.
358
00:40:26.540 --> 00:40:31.537
And then Phillip responded, well if you recall,
359
00:40:32.550 --> 00:40:35.560
I mean we never intended to go out to Samaria,
360
00:40:35.560 --> 00:40:38.513
to preach or do any good.
361
00:40:38.513 --> 00:40:42.410
If you recall, after they killed Stephen,
362
00:40:42.410 --> 00:40:43.920
and they started going house to house
363
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:44.983
and dragging people out
364
00:40:44.983 --> 00:40:49.611
and throwing them in jail, we cut out of town.
365
00:40:49.611 --> 00:40:52.200
And we went out to Samaria because the way we figured it,
366
00:40:52.200 --> 00:40:56.618
no good person would be caught dead out in Samaria.
367
00:40:56.618 --> 00:40:58.900
And we were just out there trying to keep our heads down,
368
00:40:58.900 --> 00:41:00.960
just trying to keep our name out of the papers,
369
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:04.640
trying to keep the Romans away from us.
370
00:41:04.640 --> 00:41:07.770
But then they started coming to us.
371
00:41:07.770 --> 00:41:09.810
Who started coming to you?
372
00:41:09.810 --> 00:41:14.810
Well people who were sick and paralyzed.
373
00:41:15.460 --> 00:41:17.450
Samaritans?
374
00:41:17.450 --> 00:41:19.560
Well I tell ya, you start looking at a paralyzed man,
375
00:41:19.560 --> 00:41:21.790
you can't tell whether he's a Samaritan or a Jew.
376
00:41:21.790 --> 00:41:25.180
He just needs you and we started healing to him
377
00:41:25.180 --> 00:41:30.180
and then that's when they came and asked us for baptism.
378
00:41:34.500 --> 00:41:36.891
Baptism?
379
00:41:36.891 --> 00:41:41.382
Yeah, it was like the same voice,
380
00:41:41.382 --> 00:41:43.760
the same Spirit
381
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:48.753
which enabled us to heal, enabled us to invite.
382
00:41:50.650 --> 00:41:55.430
It was the Spirit that did it, don't blame it on us.
383
00:41:55.430 --> 00:42:00.035
It wasn't our idea to be out there.
384
00:42:00.035 --> 00:42:02.613
It was the Spirit.
385
00:42:02.613 --> 00:42:05.270
I guess you'd say I'm just an ordinary guy
386
00:42:05.270 --> 00:42:10.176
that got inspired, get it?
387
00:42:15.200 --> 00:42:19.290
Toward the end of his ministry, in the Gospel of John,
388
00:42:19.290 --> 00:42:24.290
Jesus tells his grieving disciples, don't worry.
389
00:42:25.580 --> 00:42:28.386
I'm not gonna leave you alone.
390
00:42:28.386 --> 00:42:32.610
I'm gonna send you the Spirit.
391
00:42:32.610 --> 00:42:36.120
The same Spirit which empowered me, I'm gonna give to you.
392
00:42:36.120 --> 00:42:40.748
I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit, the comforter.
393
00:42:42.560 --> 00:42:45.790
The Spirit as comforter.
394
00:42:45.790 --> 00:42:48.710
Now that sounds very cozy and nice, doesn't it,
395
00:42:48.710 --> 00:42:53.211
the Holy Spirit is our comforter.
396
00:42:53.211 --> 00:42:58.171
Well the Latin means with strength, comfort,
397
00:42:59.330 --> 00:43:00.930
and you know that there's comfort
398
00:43:00.930 --> 00:43:05.930
but then there's also comfort.
399
00:43:06.190 --> 00:43:10.060
In the Bayeux tapestry, there is a scene
400
00:43:10.060 --> 00:43:15.060
in which a column of Norman soldiers is riding into battle
401
00:43:15.490 --> 00:43:20.310
and at the end of the column is the Bishop of Bayeux,
402
00:43:20.310 --> 00:43:23.670
riding behind them and he's prodding the soldiers
403
00:43:23.670 --> 00:43:27.265
with this great, big, stout stick
404
00:43:27.265 --> 00:43:32.261
and underneath the Bishop are the words,
405
00:43:32.261 --> 00:43:37.258
Bishop Odo comforts his soldiers.
406
00:43:39.580 --> 00:43:41.029
Power.
407
00:43:41.029 --> 00:43:41.862
Spirit.
408
00:43:41.862 --> 00:43:43.821
Voice.
409
00:43:43.821 --> 00:43:46.529
You've got it.
410
00:43:46.529 --> 00:43:47.995
Amen.
411
00:43:50.735 --> 00:43:53.235
(organ plays)
412
00:44:46.663 --> 00:44:49.413
(everyone sings)
413
00:47:31.820 --> 00:47:33.443
The Lord be with you.
414
00:47:34.364 --> 00:47:35.570
(murmuring)
415
00:47:35.570 --> 00:47:36.773
Let us pray.
416
00:47:45.098 --> 00:47:49.540
Oh God, whose mystery is as deep as the sea,
417
00:47:49.540 --> 00:47:53.740
whose light is as bright as a thousand suns,
418
00:47:53.740 --> 00:47:56.130
whose spirit fills the sanctuary
419
00:47:56.130 --> 00:47:59.770
like the sweet air of a spring day,
420
00:47:59.770 --> 00:48:04.260
we bow before you believing that in Jesus Christ
421
00:48:04.260 --> 00:48:09.260
you have revealed yourself in a way we can understand.
422
00:48:09.410 --> 00:48:13.600
In his love for his disciples and in his teaching,
423
00:48:13.600 --> 00:48:16.833
we can perceive what it is that we must do.
424
00:48:17.990 --> 00:48:20.440
In Christ's death, we can begin to see
425
00:48:20.440 --> 00:48:23.090
the limits to which we must go.
426
00:48:23.090 --> 00:48:26.090
In his resurrection, we can glimpse
427
00:48:26.090 --> 00:48:29.190
the life that is promised us,
428
00:48:29.190 --> 00:48:31.220
that the power these understandings
429
00:48:31.220 --> 00:48:33.450
give effectiveness to our living,
430
00:48:33.450 --> 00:48:36.020
let the gifts that are in us
431
00:48:36.020 --> 00:48:39.283
become gifts for the world around us.
432
00:48:40.160 --> 00:48:43.910
As we raise our voices in prayer for others,
433
00:48:43.910 --> 00:48:47.460
we ask for the touch of your Spirit upon us
434
00:48:47.460 --> 00:48:49.593
and upon all in need.
435
00:48:50.440 --> 00:48:53.750
Continue to touch the grieving family and friends
436
00:48:53.750 --> 00:48:57.760
of all those who died in and as a result of the tragic
437
00:48:57.760 --> 00:48:59.753
air explosion over Scotland;
438
00:49:00.790 --> 00:49:02.850
touch the thousands who continue to try
439
00:49:02.850 --> 00:49:04.940
to put their lives back together
440
00:49:04.940 --> 00:49:09.500
after the recent devastating earthquake in Armenia;
441
00:49:09.500 --> 00:49:11.650
touch the terrorist in the world
442
00:49:11.650 --> 00:49:14.800
who seek violence and destruction
443
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:17.370
in order to have their way,
444
00:49:17.370 --> 00:49:19.880
may their angry and warring hearts
445
00:49:19.880 --> 00:49:22.193
be softened with compassion;
446
00:49:23.480 --> 00:49:27.690
touch the twisted minds of the murderers and drug abusers
447
00:49:27.690 --> 00:49:31.400
so that evil might give way to good;
448
00:49:31.400 --> 00:49:33.820
touch the leaders of all nations
449
00:49:33.820 --> 00:49:36.610
especially those of our new administration
450
00:49:36.610 --> 00:49:40.433
so that peace and good will might be their goal;
451
00:49:41.320 --> 00:49:45.580
touch those who have lost spouses, children and friends
452
00:49:45.580 --> 00:49:49.890
by death, violence and mean circumstance,
453
00:49:49.890 --> 00:49:52.783
may they find comfort and rest;
454
00:49:53.710 --> 00:49:56.250
touch the homeless and the victims of famine,
455
00:49:56.250 --> 00:49:58.960
wars, poverty and injustice
456
00:49:58.960 --> 00:50:03.323
who know only a fearful and hateful world;
457
00:50:04.490 --> 00:50:07.140
touch the sick and the dying,
458
00:50:07.140 --> 00:50:11.273
that they might experience healing and freedom from pain;
459
00:50:12.210 --> 00:50:14.550
touch the spirit in us that is hungry
460
00:50:14.550 --> 00:50:18.313
for your presence and make it joyful;
461
00:50:20.220 --> 00:50:23.340
touch all of us with a new awareness of life
462
00:50:23.340 --> 00:50:27.170
and of each other, take sin away
463
00:50:27.170 --> 00:50:31.433
and make us new persons people of love and mercy.
464
00:50:32.390 --> 00:50:37.390
For yours is the kingdom, now and forever, amen.
465
00:50:40.750 --> 00:50:43.230
In return for God's eternal gifts
466
00:50:43.230 --> 00:50:46.050
of love and sacrifice for us,
467
00:50:46.050 --> 00:50:49.340
now may we bring in joyous thanksgiving,
468
00:50:49.340 --> 00:50:52.207
our gifts to God, Father, and Son.
469
00:50:59.451 --> 00:51:02.451
(bell ringers ring)
470
00:58:23.791 --> 00:58:26.291
(organ plays)
471
00:58:47.132 --> 00:58:49.882
(everyone sings)
472
00:59:45.930 --> 00:59:49.940
We give you thanks most gracious and eternal God,
473
00:59:49.940 --> 00:59:53.770
that you have refreshed us by your Holy Spirit,
474
00:59:53.770 --> 00:59:56.540
that you have given us your loving presence
475
00:59:56.540 --> 00:59:59.530
as we have praised your everlasting name
476
00:59:59.530 --> 01:00:02.760
and listened to your holy word proclaimed.
477
01:00:02.760 --> 01:00:05.080
Because of your gifts to us,
478
01:00:05.080 --> 01:00:07.950
too numerous and limitless to measure,
479
01:00:07.950 --> 01:00:11.030
we offer these gifts in thanksgiving
480
01:00:11.030 --> 01:00:13.510
and profound gratitude to you
481
01:00:13.510 --> 01:00:16.230
as we dedicate ourselves anew
482
01:00:16.230 --> 01:00:19.940
to the continuing work of your kingdom.
483
01:00:19.940 --> 01:00:24.860
And now as our Savior has taught us, let us pray saying,
484
01:00:24.860 --> 01:00:27.890
Our Father who art in heaven,
485
01:00:27.890 --> 01:00:30.030
Hallowed be thy name.
486
01:00:30.030 --> 01:00:33.510
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
487
01:00:33.510 --> 01:00:36.090
on earth as it is in heaven.
488
01:00:36.090 --> 01:00:38.693
Give us this day our daily bread,
489
01:00:38.693 --> 01:00:41.590
and forgive us our trespasses,
490
01:00:41.590 --> 01:00:45.440
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
491
01:00:45.440 --> 01:00:50.150
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
492
01:00:50.150 --> 01:00:53.510
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
493
01:00:53.510 --> 01:00:55.823
and the glory, forever, amen.
494
01:00:58.562 --> 01:01:01.145
(organ plays)
495
01:01:36.391 --> 01:01:39.141
(everyone sings)
496
01:04:26.240 --> 01:04:28.160
And now may the Spirit of the Living God
497
01:04:28.160 --> 01:04:32.087
be with you and abide with you, now and always, amen.
498
01:04:42.840 --> 01:04:45.340
(organ plays)