(organ music) (choir singing) 

- God has given us life but we have not lived. We have been called to freedom, but we have the burden heavy. The anxiety painful. In fear and pride we have turned from the Lord our God to live in self deceit and to serve other lords. May we admit together our willfulness and our weakness in denying the life that is ours to live. Let us confess our sin. Let us pray. Forgive us God, for our confusion is often like a storm that blurs our vision and clouds our minds. We understand the need to struggle for material gain, but fail in our struggle for spiritual gain. We understand the need to relax with a good book, but fail to seek the peace of the presence of Christ. We understand the need for social harmony and justice, but fail to promote them in our own lives. We understand the need for sensitivity in human relationships, but fail to care for one another as our Lord cares for us. O Lord our God, our confusion often leads us to sin and to suffer. We ask now for the forgiveness of Christ. We pray from the depths of our hearts. O Lord we have wronged you, ourselves, and others about us. O Lord we truly repent and confess our mistakes, our transgressions and our sins. O Christ in mercy, do forgive us. Listen, here is good news, Jesus said, "I will never turn away anyone who comes to me." Jesus the Christ has come to forgive us, accept us as we are, set us free and make us who we were meant to be. Let us give thanks for God is good and God's love is everlasting. Thanks be to God, by whose love we are created. Thanks be to God, by whose mercy we are redeemed. Thanks be to God, by whose grace we are led into the future. We welcome you this morning to Duke University Chapel to our service of worship. We are pleased that you can be here with us as you gather as the Duke community, friends, students, parents, faculty, administrators. We are pleased that you are here. We trust that God's presence will be felt and that you will be inspired as you leave in service this morning. Let me call to your attention and invite each one of you to participate in a service of Eucharist, immediately following our morning worship service. It will be in the Memorial Chapel, and you are invited to attend. We would like to lift up the fact that we do need volunteer ushers and attendants here in the chapel to help us on Sunday mornings. If you are interested in serving in this way, please contact the chapel basement office and we would be glad to hear from you. 

- Let us pray. Prepare our hearts o Lord to accept your word. Silence in us any voice but your own, that hearing we may also obey your will, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 31, verses 31 through 34. Behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their inequity and I will remember their sin no more. Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. Amen. The epistle lesson is from the first letter of Peter, chapter two verses four through 10. Come to Him to that living stone rejected by men, but in God's sight chosen and precious. And like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house. To be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame. To you therefore who believe He is precious, but for those who do not believe, the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. And a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall. For they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Here ends the reading from the epistle, amen. (choir singing) Will the congregation please stand for the reading of the gospel lesson. The gospel lesson is from Luke chapter 22 verses 14 through 20. And when the hour came, He sat at table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He said, take this and divide it among yourselves for I tell you that from now on, I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And He took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it and give it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me, and likewise the cup after supper saying, this cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in my blood. (choir singing) 

- Grace to you and peace, from the Lord our God who has made us, who has indeed redeemed us, and who does indeed sustain us, amen. This week as all of us know, marks the beginning of a new year for all of us here in this university community. Beginnings of new years it seems to me, are always filled with ambivalent, ambiguous, uncontrollable feelings. Feelings of excitement and fear, expectation and anxiety, anticipation and dread, wanting and not wanting, wanting to move in and wanting to move out, wanting to stay and wanting to go home, reaching out to others and pulling back into one's self, being cocky and certain, being frightened and scared to death. This is the beginning of a new year for you and me, for all of us in this place and at this particular time. It's good to have new beginnings, when we can lay aside what has been, can wipe the slate clean of all that is old and worn, can start all over again with the past over and done with. This is the beginning of a new year. So I've been thinking about what that does mean for you and me and for all of us this year. New relationships, new experiences, new ideas, new people, new ways, new thoughts, new challenges, new decisions, new opportunities, new freedoms. Which means danger, risk and unknown. It means good and bad, helpful and hurtful, destructive and constructive. It means being faithful and unfaithful, being responsible and irresponsible. Yes this is the beginning of a new year, a time to think about among other things, covenants which we may make with God, with others and with ourselves. So let's think for a few minutes about covenant in the biblical sense and see what this may mean to us. A covenanting relationship with God is one in which you and I are free to enter, we are free to remain in that relationship or we are also free to withdraw from that relationship. Covenant in the biblical sense shows that God is the one who takes the initiative. God is the initiator, the primary actor, the motivator, the mover, the one who comes to us. Covenant with God means two things, basically. It means that we are privileged to receive and to benefit from God's gracious acts. It means also that we are invited to join with God in caring for others and in caring for the world. Covenant, then, is God's act and our response. The call for us to participate in covenant with God I believe goes all the way back to beginning, all the way back to creation itself. In the image of God, God created them male and female created God them, Imago Dei, in the image of God. This call I believe also is seen in the experiences of Noah, of Moses, of Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus, the disciples, the early church. Covenanting with God means, chosen, claimed, called, commitment, commonality, community, communion. In covenant God does take the initiative. God makes promises to us. God assumes responsibility. God provides for us on the way of our pilgrimage. God gives us signs along the way. God's call to covenant is not always when we want it to come. It surely wasn't for Moses. God's call to us is not always when we are ready. It wasn't for Jeremiah. God's call is not always what we expect or want or are looking for. It certainly wasn't for Noah. God's call to us to enter into covenant does not always lead to success or victory or to our coming out on top. God's call to us does not always take us immediately into the promised land. It is high risk I believe to wait upon the Lord. To listen to the word of the Lord. To respond to the voice of God. To enter into covenant with God. Like Michael Quoist writes in his book, Prayers, "Lord, you seized me and I could not resist you. "I ran for a long time, but you followed me. "I took bypaths, but you knew them. "You overtook me, I struggled, you won. "Here I am Lord, out of breath no fight left in me "and I've said yes, almost unwillingly "when I stood there trembling "like one defeated before his captor, "your look of love fell on me. "The die is cast Lord, I can no longer forget you "for I recognized you without seeing you. "I felt you without touching you, "I understood you without hearing you. "Marked by the fire of your love "I can no longer forget you Lord." Yes it is high risk to enter into covenant with God. It just may be that it will rain on us for 40 days and 40 nights. Or it just may mean that we will wander as did Abraham for many years in the land headed toward Canaan. Or it may mean as it did for the people of Israel, wandering for 40 years in the wilderness before they reached the promised land. Or it may mean as it did for our Lord Jesus after he was baptized, it may mean 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. It is high risk to enter into covenant with God. But you know, we have some strange notions most of us, or some of us anyhow, in our heads and hearts and minds and in our very souls about what life and faith, living and believing about what entering into covenant with God is all about. We seem to believe that covenant with God is what we do. No I don't think so. It is what God has done, is doing and will do in us, with us, to us and for us, and it is we who respond. We seem to believe that covenant means deliverance, and we act as if it means deliverance right now, right this moment, this very instant. From bondage to freedom, from guilt to forgiveness, from oppression to release, from slavery to the promised land. One things my friends I have learned in reading and studying the Old Testament and the New Testament, and in trying to understand God's dealing with our forbears in the faith, has been very important and very helpful to me and I share it with you this morning. Somehow or other I had the notion that if you were saved, if you only believed, if you simply trusted in God, if you truly responded to God's call, if you entered into covenant with God, you immediately were delivered, were made whole, were released, were freed, were set upon dry land. I believed that if you simply responded and said, "Yes I believe, I trust in God, "I accept God's love and grace, "I want to be faithful and obedient and responsible," then God would take you at once into the promised land. And so, there I was. I had heard and felt somehow or other and in some way or another God speak and call and come to me. I had tried as best I could to respond, to be faithful and obedient and loving and caring, and yet I seemed not to have arrived. I was still wandering, I was still in the desert. I was still filled with questions and doubts and uncertainty and ambiguity. I was still aware that life just did not make sense. There were and there are still things I do not understand or know or see clearly. The point is, that I am not in the promised land. Any of you ever have that feeling? That you think you have heard and felt a word from God? That you feel like you've tried to respond and to obey and yet you feel like you are still not in the promised land? If so, I have a word for you and for me, a word I believe from the Lord, that that is the way that covenant and life and faith and living and believing are intended to be. At least that's the way they really are. As I read in the Old Testament and in the New Testament about covenanting experiences of God with Noah and Moses and Abraham and Isaiah and Jeremiah, with Jesus and with the early church, I read of no experiences at all where the people of God move immediately from covenant to the promised land. There is always in between covenant and the promised land, there is always wilderness. Wilderness, always. Always. For Noah and his family, for Moses and the children of Israel, for Jesus and the disciples and indeed for you and me. Then I think somehow or other we have the notion that covenant with God is something that we are to control. Not at all. If I understand the word of God in scripture and in the life of the church it is that God is in control. The call and the claim and the covenant often come to us when we are not ready. Someone has said that there are three images in the New Testament that are covenanting or are receiving images: baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the Holy Spirit. Let me show I think rather clearly how we within the church somehow or other feel like we are in control of the life of faith which is ours. It's seen very simply in the way we express ourselves. We think baptism is something we do. We think the Lord's Supper is something we take. We think the Holy Spirit is something that we have. Three very possessive controlling verbs: to do, to take, to have. It's easy to see if that is our language, and I think it is for many of us, it's easy to see why some of us think that we are in charge. But baptism is not something we do, it is something we receive. The Lord's Supper is not something we take, it is something that we receive. The Holy Spirit is not something we have, it is something we receive. Covenant, my friends, affirms who God is, who each of us is, and who we are all together. Covenant means I will be your God and you shall be my people, yes it does, all the way, fully, totally, freely, wholly, unreservedly, unconditionally, obediently and faithfully, but that's risky business my friends. Risky yes, risky indeed. Listen to some of the words of some of the hymns that we sing, that we sing I think coolly and calmly and casually. Breathe on m e breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love and do what thou dost do. I will go where you want me to go dear Lord, I will do what you want me to do dear Lord. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me, make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded and still. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me, mold me, make me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the the living God, fall afresh on me. Covenant often comes when we're not ready. It often comes when and where we do not want it. Covenant often means a responsibility that we don't care to take on as it did for Moses and Jeremiah and Isaiah and for Jesus. It's risky business to enter into covenant with God. For we may end up working with people that we don't want to work with. We may end up fighting for causes that are not popular that we'd rather leave alone. We may end up dealing with issues that we're not quite ready to deal with. It may mean fighting for the rights of minority persons, Native Americans, Blacks and others in this country. It may mean working for causes for the rights of women, for the passage of ERA or something as significant or as important as that. It may mean struggling against that which the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about just as he was leaving office after serving two terms in the presidency. It may mean struggling against the military industrial complex as it is established in this country. It may mean that some of us will counsel with those who seek to become conscientious objectors. It could mean, my young friends, to you, those of you who began, or those of you who are continuing your life on this campus, it may mean saying no to the use of drugs or alcoholic beverages, or to loose and irresponsible sex. It may mean not lying or cheating or stealing not only stealing some thing that belongs to somebody else, it also may mean not stealing or taking some idea or some thought or some writing that belongs to somebody else. It may mean joining some of us for a march on Washington the first weekend in October. A pilgrimage of suffering and hope to Washington National Cathedral. It may mean, my friends, that we'll get dirty sometimes, that we may be smelly and stinking. That some of us may get our hair messed up, those of us who have hair, or our clothes messed up. It may mean that we will be seen with the poor and the outcast, with the radical and the revolutionary. It may mean taking up a cross, literally. It may mean taking up a cross all alone or all together. If therefore, the next few weeks, the next year, the next four years, or even the rest of your life as was the case for Moses, if this period of time whatever it is seems like a wilderness as you chart a new life, as you begin a new way, as you search for a new truth, as you live out a new covenant, just remember that it's okay to be in the wilderness. Some pretty good folks have been there, and they're still there with us. Folks like Moses and Jeremiah and Abraham and Jesus. For even there, right there in the wilderness there is the certainty and the assurance that God's presence is there. And we have signs to help us along the way like the manna for the children of Israel, like the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, we still have signs like that, we still have a rainbow that comes in the day. We still have bread and wine, a towel and a basin, we still have a cross. This cup, which is poured out for you and for many, is the new covenant in my blood. It's risky business to enter into covenant with God. Risky indeed. Amen. (orchestral music) (choir singing) 

- Let us affirm what we believe. We believe in God who has created and is creating, who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile and make new. Who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust God who calls us to be the church, to celebrate life and it's fullness. To love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil. To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, our judge and our hope. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us, we are not alone. Thanks be to God, the Lord be with you. Let us pray. O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, We come to praise you this morning, for your faithfulness to us. We come to thank you for the covenants that you have established with your people. Covenants that call us to justice and mercy, forgiveness and righteousness, repentance and faith. May we be able to see that your covenants are a sign of your revelation to us, and your great love for us. O God we ask that you visit us today with your healing word, for we are a people who come into your presence with many wounds, heartaches and sicknesses. Bind us up in the power of your word, strengthen us with the promise of your word, inspire us with the truth of your gospel. Enter our lives this day in a new way that we might be changed, never to be the same again. O Lord our God, fill us now with your grace that we might embody the life and example of Jesus, the Christ. Help us to know and be assured that we are daughters and sons of a covenant relationship. You are our God, we are your people. This promise we have made and now seek to fulfill. Enable us then to see signs of this covenant around us, and within us as we relate to one another and to your creation. Come and stir within our souls, that we might feel your spirit and rejoice in your presence. May we be restless o God, until we find our source of life in you and all of your creation. For we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the initiator of the new covenant, who taught us to pray saying, our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this daily our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever, amen. (organ music) (choir singing) Oh God as we offer these gifts of money to you, help us also to be able to offer ourselves. Take our bodies, our minds, and spirits and use them in your ministry in your world, amen. (organ music) We know now in the certain knowledge that we are made in God's image and that we are destined for fulfillment in God's eternal service. (choir singing) (organ music)