WEBVTT
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(symphony music)
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On this first, on this fourth Sunday after Pentecost,
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I welcome all of you summer school students, faculty,
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visitors, and regular attenders to this service of worship
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at Duke University Chapel.
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We also greet those viewing the service
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on Durham Cable Vision, channel eight at two p.m,
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and those viewing the service from the Duke area hospitals.
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Today, I had an unusual privilege of sharing the leadership
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of this service with my husband Dan Via.
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Dan, our preacher for today, is Professor of New Testament
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at Duke Divinity School.
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He has just completed a book Matthew and Paul
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on self-deception and wholeness.
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Our elector for today is Dr. Walter Westerfer,
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a great friend of Duke Chapel, and a member of the council
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of the Duke University Chapel Congregation.
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Notice other announcements found in the bulletin.
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And now, let us continue our worship together.
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(choir singing)
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(organ playing)
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(congregation singing)
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(organ playing solo)
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(congregation singing)
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In our brokenness and hunger for God's mercy and forgiveness
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may we now join together as we confess our sin
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and receive God's pardon.
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You may be seated.
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Oh omnipotent God, our sin weighs heavy upon us.
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Our guilt is a burden.
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We neglect your world and its peoples,
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lusting after privilege and place, we misuse our power.
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The ground trembles with the machines of war.
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Forgive, oh Lord, our sin.
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Arouse in us a passion for the wellbeing of others.
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May hatred give way to healing.
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May reconciliation replace division so that nations
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will embrace your Lordship.
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Quicken our sense of your power and mercy
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through Jesus Christ, child of your love, and our hope
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of Salvation.
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The steadfast love of God never ceases.
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God's mercy and pardon never come to an end.
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And so by God's grace, we are pardoned.
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We are forgiven.
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Let us rejoice.
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Let us pray.
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Open our hearts and minds, oh God.
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By the power of your Holy Spirit so that as the word
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is read and proclaimed, we might hear with joy
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what you say to us this day, amen.
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The first lesson is taken from the first book of Kings.
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Then Solomon stood before the alter of God in the presence
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of all the assembly of Israel and spread forth His hands
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toward heaven and said, "Oh Lord, God of Israel,
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"there is no God like you in heaven above
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"or on Earth beneath, keeping covenant, and showing
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"steadfast love to your servants who walked before you
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"with all their heart."
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Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people Israel
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comes from a far country for your namesake, for they shall
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hear of your great name and your mighty hand
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and of your outstretched arm.
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When a foreigner comes and prays towards this house,
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here in heaven in your dwelling place, and do according
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to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order
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that all the peoples of the Earth may know your name
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and fear you as do your people Israel.
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And that they may know that this house which I have built
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is called by your name.
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This ends the reading of the first lesson.
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(organ music)
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(congregation singing)
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The second lesson is taken from Paul's letter
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to the Galatians.
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Paul, an apostle, not from human beings nor through any
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person, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father
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who raised Christ from the dead, and all the coworkers
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who are with me to the churches of Galatia, grace to you
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and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
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who gave up self for our sins to deliver us from the present
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evil and age according to the will of our God and Father
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to whom be the glory forever and ever, amen.
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I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one
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who called you in the grace of Christ.
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And turning to a different Gospel, not that there is
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another Gospel, but there are some who trouble you
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and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ.
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But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
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should preach to you a Gospel contrary to that
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which we preach to you, let them be a cursed.
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As we have said before, so now I say again,
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if anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to that
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which you have received, let that be a cursed.
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Am I now seeking human favor?
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Or the favor of God?
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Or am I trying to please human beings?
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If I were still pleasing them,
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I should not be a servant of Christ.
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This ends the reading of the second lesson.
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(organ music)
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(choir singing)
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Good morning.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord,
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Jesus Christ.
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Please hear the Gospel lesson, composed of two texts
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from the Gospel of Luke.
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After he had ended all his sayings in the hearing
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of the people, he entered Copernium.
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Now a Centurion had a slave that was dear to him
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who was sick and at the point of death.
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When he heard of Jesus, he said to him elders of the Jews,
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asking him to come and heal his slaves.
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And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly
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saying he is worthy to have you do this for him,
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for he loves our nation and built our synagogue.
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And Jesus went with them.
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When he was not far from the house, the Centurions sent
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friends to him saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself
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"for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.
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"Therefore, I did not presume to come to you but say
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"the word and let my servant be healed,
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"for I am a man set under authority with soldiers under me
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"and I say to one, go and he goes and to another
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"come and he comes and to my slave do this and he does it."
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When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him and turned
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and said to the multitudes that followed him,
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"I tell you not even in Israel have I found such faith."
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And when those who had been sent returned to the house,
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they found the slave well.
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One day as he was teaching the people in the temple
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and preaching the Gospel, the chief priests and the scribes
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and the elders came up and said to him, "Tell us by what
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"authority you do these things, or who is it that gave you
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"this authority."
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He answered them, "I will ask you a question.
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"Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven
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"or from men?"
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And they discussed it with one another saying
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if we say from heaven, he will say why did you not
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believe him?
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But if we say from men, all the people will stone us
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for they are convinced that John was a prophet.
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So they answered that they did not know whence it was.
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And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you
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"by what authority I do these things."
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This is the Word of God.
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Listen again to the Centurion's petition to Jesus.
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Say the word, and my servant is to be healed for I am a man
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under authority and my word has authority.
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I tell a soldier to go and he goes, I tell him to come
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and he comes, and then there the words of Jesus' opponents
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to him, tell us by what authority you do these things.
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And finally, Jesus reply, I will not tell you by what
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authority I do these things.
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Our theme then is authority.
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Let us say provisionally that authority is the right
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to make a claim upon someone, but it is also the capacity
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to carry out that claim.
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It is closely associated with power and the ability to act.
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So authority involves right to make a claim and power.
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Now what is our experience of authority and how does
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the Gospel in these texts challenge and transform
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our relationships to authority?
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How do we, in fact, experience authority in our
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historical situation?
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Nicholas Robichaud, ex-commissurae of the people,
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is in prison, charged with counter-revolutionary activity
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and other crimes against the party.
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There in prison he remembers his words of some years back
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to a young German communist who had questioned party policy.
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Says Robichaud, the party makes no mistakes.
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It has discovered the unairing laws of history,
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and it embodies these revolutionary laws.
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Therefore the party can never be mistaken.
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It cares not about the conscious or the motive
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of the individual.
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What goes on in her individual heart or head is of no
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importance what so ever.
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Robichaud recognized that his past, his presence,
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and his future belonged absolutely to the party.
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It was not to be questioned.
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The unairing movement of the party justified any action.
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This comes from the fictitious world, but true,
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of Arthur Kessler.
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A public figure in our own recent history charged with lying
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to Congress and related offenses justified his actions
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by stating he was always following orders.
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And we should remind ourselves that this defense was also
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used by many Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.
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Colonel North probably does not believe that lying
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is acceptable moral behavior.
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But apparently he believes that there are authorities
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who have the right to require him to go against
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his conscious, the right to claim absolute obedience
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from him.
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I do not chose these examples because they reveal to us
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the worst possible people we can possibly imagine.
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I would not want to say that we should think of Russia
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as the evil empire or that communism has produced
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the most demonic societies of the world has ever known.
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Nor do I suggest that Colonel North is the most corrupt
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liar in American public light, there are many others
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to chose from.
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I rather cite these cases because the extreme behavior
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exhibited by ex-connoisseur Robichaud and Colonel North,
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this behavior dramatically discloses a tendency
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in all of us.
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It may be concealed a bit beneath the surface
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but we all want to think that there are infallible
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human authorities which have a right to our unwavering
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obedience.
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If there are such authorities, then we are relieved
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of the responsibility for our own lives and actions.
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In our time there are human authorities which claim
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infallibility and demand our total allegiance,
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and there are countless people who are willing to accede
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to this claim.
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And, in our society, in a quite contradictory way,
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there is the denial that there is any real authority at all.
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There is no authority with a legitimate claim upon us.
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The book Habits of the Heart reminds us that
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American culture has long taught us to leave home
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and become independent.
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We want to throw off the authority of home, religion,
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vocation, and seek only inner validation.
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External obligation from any source can only interfere
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with our need to become individual selves,
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particularly the psycho-therapeutic attitude of our time
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encourages us to think that we ought to live independently
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of anyone else's standards.
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The liberated relationship does not demand obligation
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or commitment but only the requirement
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to share feelings openly.
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A university professor reports that when he asks his student
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who their heroes are, he is generally greeted by silence.
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They don't have any heroes.
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They can't even think of one.
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Why should their lives be shaped
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by the values of someone else?
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The point that I want to make is not that we should
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necessarily have heroes or engage in hero worship,
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that can be poisonous.
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But is it the case that we do not need to have our lives
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fashioned and shaped by anything outside of ourselves?
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It seems that within our common humanity,
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there are people who bestow absolute authority
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upon human beings and institutions,
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and there are people who acknowledge no authority at all.
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Are there two kinds of people?
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I don't really think so.
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All of us in one way or another make both of these moves
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simultaneously, all of us want to reject authority,
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including the authority of God, and all of us, though we may
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not quite know it, pay inordinate allegiance to some
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human authority or authorities, and these human authorities
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manipulate our lives.
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Most of us are not as clear-headed as was ex-connoisseur
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Robichaud about our unlimited loyalty to something
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less than God.
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Is there an authority which really is power
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but which does not simply over power us?
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Yes there is:
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The authority of God.
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God's authority is different from that of human beings.
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When human authority is left to its own devices,
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it becomes compelling force.
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It becomes ex-connoisseur Robichaud's communist party,
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which rolls unerringly and inextricably on its course
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crushing the will, the conscious, the thought, the feeling
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of the individual.
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It becomes the source of the orders to Colonel North,
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which required him to lie against his conscious.
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It becomes the religious claim that books written
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by human beings or other human beings are infallible
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authorities.
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But the authority of God does not work like that.
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How then does it engage us?
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The divine authority appeals to our inner reality
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and on the basis of its own content.
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The authority of God as it comes to expression in Jesus
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is real authority.
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It has power to make things happen.
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The divine authority, however, does not compel us
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like an outside force.
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Rather, it lays claim on our hearts because of its inherent
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and its intrinsic content.
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It does not compel, but elicits or draws forth
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our consent.
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The good news is that the divine authority engages us
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in the mission of Jesus in such a way that it touches us
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from within and then liberates and refashions our lives.
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The authority of God addresses our understanding
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and does not overwhelm us but enables us to be free.
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Freely responsive in relationship to God.
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And the authority of God is effective power,
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which liberates us from slavery and enables us to cope
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fruitfully with the realities of life.
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Let us see how these two dimensions of authority come
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to expression in the gospel texts.
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The divine authority really is power.
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It does not overpower us.
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Luke's story of the healing of the Centurion servant
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occurs in the second half of his account of Jesus' mission
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in Galilee.
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It shares with neighboring material an interest in how
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to hear the word of God properly.
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Jesus is certainly represented here as powerful.
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His word is effective.
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And the Centurion knows that his own word has authority
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It has consequences.
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If he tells a soldier to go or to come, he does it.
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Jesus' word has similar authority, only more so.
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Just say the word and my servant is to be healed.
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00:33:16.078 --> 00:33:20.001
The story, in fact, enhances the power of Jesus
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by the fact that the servant who is healed is not even
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00:33:22.780 --> 00:33:27.780
in Jesus' presence. His word was effective at a distance.
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00:33:28.590 --> 00:33:31.643
But there is a counter-melody playing itself out
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in this story which moderates the emphasis on Jesus' power.
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The Centurion has a creative role.
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00:33:38.330 --> 00:33:40.780
He makes a comparative judgment.
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Jesus' authority is somehow like his.
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And this counter-melody causes the story as told by Luke
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to modify the conventional way in which miracle stories
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00:33:51.950 --> 00:33:53.540
were usually told.
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What is normally the center of the story,
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00:33:56.420 --> 00:33:59.670
the healing itself, the enactment of power,
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00:33:59.670 --> 00:34:02.670
the center is not narrated at all.
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00:34:02.670 --> 00:34:05.850
It is simply stated at the end that the friends
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00:34:05.850 --> 00:34:08.755
of the Centurion, when they returned home,
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00:34:08.755 --> 00:34:11.220
found the servant well.
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00:34:11.220 --> 00:34:14.960
All of the interest in the story focuses on the attitude
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00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:17.236
of the Centurion.
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00:34:17.236 --> 00:34:21.690
Actually, our narrative interweaves two human problems:
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00:34:21.690 --> 00:34:26.043
two oppressive boundaries that need to be crossed.
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The servant is separated from health and the Centurion,
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00:34:29.710 --> 00:34:33.740
because he is a Gentile, is separated from Jesus.
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00:34:33.740 --> 00:34:37.170
And although the healing is not finally described,
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00:34:37.170 --> 00:34:41.010
and the Centurion never gets into the presence of Jesus,
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00:34:41.010 --> 00:34:43.960
Jesus commends the faith, the faith of this Gentile
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00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:47.480
army officer as having exceed that that he has found
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00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:49.976
anywhere in Israel.
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00:34:49.976 --> 00:34:52.950
Our miracle story has relatively little interest
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00:34:52.950 --> 00:34:55.690
in the actual miracle, in the healing.
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00:34:55.690 --> 00:34:59.480
But it is very much interested in the faith that gives us
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00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:03.010
access to the healing power of God.
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00:35:03.010 --> 00:35:06.740
To have faith is to understand that it is the authoritative
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00:35:06.740 --> 00:35:10.350
word of Jesus that restructures our reality.
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00:35:10.350 --> 00:35:14.120
Say the word and my servant is to be healed.
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00:35:14.120 --> 00:35:18.350
It is the interaction between word and faith
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00:35:18.350 --> 00:35:23.350
which empowers us to cross the boundaries that oppress us.
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00:35:23.470 --> 00:35:27.060
What does it mean finally to believe in miracles?
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00:35:27.060 --> 00:35:29.930
Is belief in miracles simply an illusion,
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00:35:29.930 --> 00:35:31.860
wishful thinking,
355
00:35:31.860 --> 00:35:36.720
a desire for the instantaneous gratification of our wishes,
356
00:35:36.720 --> 00:35:40.600
a regression into infantile mentality?
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00:35:40.600 --> 00:35:44.207
Possibly faith in miracle is this.
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00:35:44.207 --> 00:35:47.670
Therefore, to believe otherwise is to take the risk
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00:35:47.670 --> 00:35:50.250
that faith always entails.
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00:35:50.250 --> 00:35:54.180
Or is faith believing that the historical Jesus really did
361
00:35:54.180 --> 00:35:55.848
work miracles?
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00:35:55.848 --> 00:35:58.620
Did Jesus heal a Centurion servant?
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00:35:58.620 --> 00:36:00.180
Possibly.
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00:36:00.180 --> 00:36:04.118
Was healing the kind of thing that Jesus was able to do?
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00:36:04.118 --> 00:36:05.540
Probably.
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Most critical New Testament scholars would agree to this.
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00:36:08.930 --> 00:36:12.270
But, what living relationship do we have to such
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00:36:12.270 --> 00:36:14.082
miraculous events?
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00:36:14.082 --> 00:36:17.103
They belong to the distant past.
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00:36:17.103 --> 00:36:21.150
What is accessible now and may intervene in our lives
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00:36:21.150 --> 00:36:23.380
is the miracle story.
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00:36:23.380 --> 00:36:26.727
The word about miracle in and through which
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00:36:26.727 --> 00:36:30.590
God's transforming power occurs for us.
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00:36:30.590 --> 00:36:35.040
We are in the same kind of situation as the Centurion.
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00:36:35.040 --> 00:36:40.040
The authoritative healing word of Jesus in the story
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00:36:40.337 --> 00:36:45.270
has now become the story itself as authoritative healing
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00:36:45.270 --> 00:36:47.380
word for us.
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00:36:47.380 --> 00:36:51.330
To have faith is to understand the power of this word,
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00:36:51.330 --> 00:36:56.260
this story, and to have our life situation reshaped by it.
380
00:36:57.482 --> 00:37:02.191
In miracle stories, the everyday world becomes transparent
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00:37:02.191 --> 00:37:04.200
to the divine presence.
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00:37:04.200 --> 00:37:08.600
We are able to see through the world to God by means
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00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:10.333
of the story.
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00:37:10.333 --> 00:37:14.100
The stories enable us to see that ordinary reality
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00:37:14.100 --> 00:37:17.190
contains a great deal more than the ordinary.
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00:37:17.190 --> 00:37:21.070
When we see the world through the lens of miracle story,
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00:37:21.070 --> 00:37:24.630
the divine activity becomes present for us.
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00:37:24.630 --> 00:37:29.625
By means of the story, reality is given a new structure.
389
00:37:30.595 --> 00:37:33.860
How should I understand this event?
390
00:37:33.860 --> 00:37:36.500
Several years ago, Margaret and I returned to a town
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00:37:36.500 --> 00:37:38.550
in which we had once lived.
392
00:37:38.550 --> 00:37:41.270
As we drove into town, we were discussing how we would meet
393
00:37:41.270 --> 00:37:43.840
after lunch and share the car.
394
00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:46.380
I said I thought I would go to see a certain friend
395
00:37:46.380 --> 00:37:49.901
and she agreed to meet me there after lunch.
396
00:37:49.901 --> 00:37:52.930
This person had been a good friend, but I had not seen him
397
00:37:52.930 --> 00:37:56.291
for awhile, and usually did not go to see him
398
00:37:56.291 --> 00:37:58.390
when I returned to town.
399
00:37:58.390 --> 00:38:01.909
Why did I decide to go that day?
400
00:38:01.909 --> 00:38:04.170
Margaret and I met after lunch,
401
00:38:04.170 --> 00:38:06.300
I knocked on his office door.
402
00:38:06.300 --> 00:38:08.920
When he opened the door and saw who was there,
403
00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:13.473
amazement spread over his face.
404
00:38:13.473 --> 00:38:16.477
He said, "I have had some very troubling things on my mind
405
00:38:16.477 --> 00:38:21.325
"lately, and I needed to talk to you today."
406
00:38:21.325 --> 00:38:26.325
What took us there contrary to our accustomed behavior?
407
00:38:26.879 --> 00:38:30.724
When we moderns, or should I say post-moderns
408
00:38:30.724 --> 00:38:35.060
look at the world through miracle story, we do not stop
409
00:38:35.060 --> 00:38:39.918
believing that this worldly causal forces operate
410
00:38:39.918 --> 00:38:42.494
in nature and history.
411
00:38:42.494 --> 00:38:45.279
But we also believe that there is another dimension
412
00:38:45.279 --> 00:38:49.840
of reality and power which works from beyond, in,
413
00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:54.840
and through the ordinary things of this world.
414
00:38:55.732 --> 00:38:59.390
Our second Gospel text extends the meaning of Jesus'
415
00:38:59.390 --> 00:39:02.243
authority and the role of our faith
416
00:39:02.243 --> 00:39:05.060
in making that authority a reality.
417
00:39:05.060 --> 00:39:08.270
The religious officials questioned Jesus about who gave Him
418
00:39:08.270 --> 00:39:10.840
the authority to ride in to Jerusalem like a king
419
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:12.981
and to throw the merchants out of the temple?
420
00:39:12.981 --> 00:39:16.000
And now to be standing in the temple himself teaching?
421
00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:18.671
By what authority?
422
00:39:18.671 --> 00:39:20.890
He answers with a counter-question.
423
00:39:20.890 --> 00:39:24.030
Was the baptism of John the Baptist from heaven
424
00:39:24.030 --> 00:39:25.820
or from human kind?
425
00:39:25.820 --> 00:39:29.228
They decide that either answer will get them in trouble
426
00:39:29.228 --> 00:39:32.390
and so they reply we don't know.
427
00:39:32.390 --> 00:39:35.733
And the story ends dramatically with Jesus' response,
428
00:39:35.733 --> 00:39:40.210
Jesus' proclamation: Then I won't tell you by what authority
429
00:39:40.210 --> 00:39:43.003
I do these things.
430
00:39:43.003 --> 00:39:46.810
Why did Jesus not just say God gave me the authority?
431
00:39:46.810 --> 00:39:48.910
Why did He have to make it so difficult for them?
432
00:39:48.910 --> 00:39:51.820
Why did He not just give them a straight forward answer?
433
00:39:51.820 --> 00:39:54.030
They asked Him a question about His authority
434
00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:57.660
and He answered with a question about John the Baptist.
435
00:39:57.660 --> 00:40:01.238
You ask a question and you get another question.
436
00:40:01.238 --> 00:40:03.860
What is the source of Jesus authority?
437
00:40:03.860 --> 00:40:05.670
He won't say.
438
00:40:05.670 --> 00:40:08.890
And His refusal tells us something important.
439
00:40:08.890 --> 00:40:13.310
When He declined to say God is the source of my authority,
440
00:40:13.310 --> 00:40:16.030
he was disclosing something about the nature of God's
441
00:40:16.030 --> 00:40:18.630
authority and about the nature of faith.
442
00:40:18.630 --> 00:40:22.980
The authority of God in Jesus is always hidden.
443
00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:27.980
Concealed, hidden, so that it can win the uncoerced
444
00:40:28.392 --> 00:40:30.610
assent of our hearts.
445
00:40:30.610 --> 00:40:35.563
The assent which knows that its intrinsic claims are right.
446
00:40:36.454 --> 00:40:40.150
Jesus came with a message that God loves us unconditionally
447
00:40:40.150 --> 00:40:44.010
and demands everything of us in the way of obedience.
448
00:40:44.010 --> 00:40:48.060
And Jesus actualized this message in His own life.
449
00:40:48.060 --> 00:40:51.223
If He had said, God is my authority,
450
00:40:51.223 --> 00:40:54.500
He would not have added anything to the internal,
451
00:40:54.500 --> 00:40:58.700
self-authenticating, intrinsic power already present
452
00:40:58.700 --> 00:41:00.220
in His mission.
453
00:41:00.220 --> 00:41:04.288
God was already present and active in His words and deeds.
454
00:41:04.288 --> 00:41:08.520
God is not a power which lies underneath, or outside,
455
00:41:08.520 --> 00:41:12.540
of Jesus' mission and guarantees the authenticity of it.
456
00:41:12.540 --> 00:41:15.900
Rather, God is the expression for the authority which Jesus
457
00:41:15.900 --> 00:41:18.170
mission has in itself.
458
00:41:18.170 --> 00:41:22.960
Jesus is not going to authorize His mission by saying God
459
00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:27.930
gave me the authority, because we have to see for ourselves
460
00:41:27.930 --> 00:41:31.930
that God is the authority, transcendent but present
461
00:41:31.930 --> 00:41:35.235
as hidden, in the mission of Jesus.
462
00:41:35.235 --> 00:41:39.530
To see this hidden presence is faith, and to experience
463
00:41:39.530 --> 00:41:43.770
the authority of God hidden in the real humanity of Jesus,
464
00:41:43.770 --> 00:41:48.770
is to see the world in a new way.
465
00:41:49.230 --> 00:41:52.222
There is a story by Flannery O'Conner.
466
00:41:52.222 --> 00:41:55.190
She said it was her favorite, and she called it
467
00:41:55.190 --> 00:41:57.400
The Artificial Nigger.
468
00:41:57.400 --> 00:42:00.030
I'm sure you understand that that is not my term
469
00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:02.420
and neither was it Flannery O'Conner's.
470
00:42:02.420 --> 00:42:05.510
It is a term which is appropriate to the setting
471
00:42:05.510 --> 00:42:08.090
and the characters of the story.
472
00:42:08.090 --> 00:42:11.410
This is the story of a man who experienced the authority
473
00:42:11.410 --> 00:42:16.170
of God hidden in an unexpected place as it was hidden
474
00:42:16.170 --> 00:42:19.146
in Jesus.
475
00:42:19.146 --> 00:42:24.146
Mr. Head is a proud and bigoted man who lives in rural
476
00:42:24.610 --> 00:42:29.300
Georgia with his equally proud and impudent grandson Nelson.
477
00:42:29.300 --> 00:42:32.310
And they live in the state of mutual hostility.
478
00:42:32.310 --> 00:42:35.600
Mr. Head is taking Nelson to Atlanta to teach him a lesson.
479
00:42:35.600 --> 00:42:38.980
To teach him that he's not as smart as he thinks he is.
480
00:42:38.980 --> 00:42:41.190
In Atlanta, they see lots of black people
481
00:42:41.190 --> 00:42:45.930
who both unnerve them and evoke Mr. Head's bigotry.
482
00:42:45.930 --> 00:42:48.573
They've become lost and frightened.
483
00:42:48.573 --> 00:42:53.070
Then Nelson puts Mr. Head in an embarrassing and threatening
484
00:42:53.070 --> 00:42:58.070
position and Mr. Head in his fear denies that he even knows
485
00:42:58.550 --> 00:43:00.320
his grandson.
486
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:04.082
Nelson is shocked and offended.
487
00:43:04.082 --> 00:43:07.240
While Mr. Head was then remorseful and tormented,
488
00:43:07.240 --> 00:43:10.390
Nelson was relentlessly unforgiving.
489
00:43:10.390 --> 00:43:13.289
Mr. Head, in his guilt, believed now that he he knew
490
00:43:13.289 --> 00:43:17.001
what it would feel like to be dammed eternally.
491
00:43:17.001 --> 00:43:20.960
They wandered in their lostness into an elegant neighborhood
492
00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:25.960
where they saw in someone's front yard a small, chipped,
493
00:43:26.244 --> 00:43:30.195
defaced, plaster figure of a black man.
494
00:43:30.195 --> 00:43:33.058
Standing before this figure together,
495
00:43:33.058 --> 00:43:35.985
somehow their differences dissolved
496
00:43:35.985 --> 00:43:39.260
and Mr. Head knew the mercy of God for the first time
497
00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:40.400
in his life.
498
00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:43.992
Still he said, they don't have enough real ones here,
499
00:43:43.992 --> 00:43:46.764
they've got to have an artificial one.
500
00:43:46.764 --> 00:43:48.930
But something has happened.
501
00:43:48.930 --> 00:43:52.060
Back at home, he both judges himself
502
00:43:52.060 --> 00:43:55.090
and feels the overflowing mercy of God,
503
00:43:55.090 --> 00:43:58.330
forgiving him for sinning the sin of Adam
504
00:43:58.330 --> 00:44:01.759
in his denial of Nelson.
505
00:44:01.759 --> 00:44:05.560
All of this happened in consequence of his encounter
506
00:44:05.560 --> 00:44:10.560
with the defaced plaster figure of a small black man.
507
00:44:10.670 --> 00:44:14.290
It must have been the authority of God which met him there,
508
00:44:14.290 --> 00:44:18.070
otherwise how could he have been redeemed from having sinned
509
00:44:18.070 --> 00:44:20.770
all the sins of the whole human race
510
00:44:20.770 --> 00:44:23.390
in his denial of his grandson.
511
00:44:23.390 --> 00:44:26.861
And the authority of God must have been hidden
512
00:44:26.861 --> 00:44:30.900
because his normal way of viewing reality would never
513
00:44:30.900 --> 00:44:35.374
have permitted him to see Salvation at this point.
514
00:44:35.374 --> 00:44:39.868
And the consent of his own heart must have been elicited
515
00:44:39.868 --> 00:44:44.818
for only the new eyes of faith could have let a white
516
00:44:44.818 --> 00:44:49.393
backwoods bigot see the forgiving face of Jesus
517
00:44:49.393 --> 00:44:54.393
in the disfigured image of a small black man.
518
00:44:54.470 --> 00:44:57.603
That is Mr. Head's story.
519
00:44:57.603 --> 00:45:02.390
Recall from our text that a Gentile Army officer found
520
00:45:02.390 --> 00:45:06.570
authoritative healing power in the word of an intenerate
521
00:45:06.570 --> 00:45:08.507
Jewish preacher.
522
00:45:08.507 --> 00:45:11.872
That's the Centurion's story.
523
00:45:11.872 --> 00:45:14.010
What's your story?
524
00:45:16.753 --> 00:45:20.457
(congregation rustling)
525
00:45:20.457 --> 00:45:22.957
(piano music)
526
00:45:29.698 --> 00:45:32.198
(organ music)
527
00:45:51.279 --> 00:45:54.529
(congregation singing)
528
00:48:47.610 --> 00:48:49.340
The Lord be with you...
529
00:48:50.330 --> 00:48:51.320
And always be with you.
530
00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:52.153
Let us pray.
531
00:49:01.580 --> 00:49:06.580
Oh Mighty God, whose hiddenness confounds us and whose mercy
532
00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:11.880
is blessedness, how unsearchable are your ways,
533
00:49:12.310 --> 00:49:16.360
oh incomprehensible and infinite God.
534
00:49:16.360 --> 00:49:19.790
How vast is your loving kindness.
535
00:49:19.790 --> 00:49:22.980
You make glad the hearts of the desperate.
536
00:49:22.980 --> 00:49:26.350
You lift the heads of the bleeding as their voices
537
00:49:26.350 --> 00:49:28.082
cry out to you.
538
00:49:28.082 --> 00:49:32.760
You make straight the twisted spirits and crippled bodies
539
00:49:32.760 --> 00:49:34.750
of the crushed.
540
00:49:34.750 --> 00:49:39.270
You bring to our complicated, trying relationships
541
00:49:39.270 --> 00:49:41.713
understanding and healing.
542
00:49:42.740 --> 00:49:47.200
Oh compassionate God, we offer our prayers for those among
543
00:49:47.200 --> 00:49:50.067
us and in the world around us.
544
00:49:50.067 --> 00:49:54.830
For those who are desensitized by affluence and those
545
00:49:54.830 --> 00:49:59.300
who are trapped in poverty, for the two powerful
546
00:49:59.300 --> 00:50:02.130
and for the two powerless.
547
00:50:02.130 --> 00:50:05.460
For those who are insensitive for the needs of the sick
548
00:50:05.460 --> 00:50:10.460
and the suffering and for the sick who cannot reach beyond
549
00:50:10.730 --> 00:50:12.113
their own needs.
550
00:50:13.010 --> 00:50:16.410
For those who prized possessions too much.
551
00:50:16.410 --> 00:50:20.218
And for those who are blind to the joy of accepting
552
00:50:20.218 --> 00:50:21.943
God's gifts.
553
00:50:22.810 --> 00:50:25.990
For those who because of their knowledge have lost
554
00:50:25.990 --> 00:50:30.358
the ability to see the wonder of simple things.
555
00:50:30.358 --> 00:50:34.150
For those who are afraid to voice openly their doubts
556
00:50:34.150 --> 00:50:37.033
and fears of uncertainty to you.
557
00:50:38.148 --> 00:50:42.556
May all of humanity join in affirming the power of your
558
00:50:42.556 --> 00:50:45.253
love, your presence, and your mercy.
559
00:50:46.660 --> 00:50:50.410
Oh redeeming God, you have gathered the Church of Christ
560
00:50:50.410 --> 00:50:52.248
from the whole world.
561
00:50:52.248 --> 00:50:57.248
Support her, that she may everywhere bear faithful witness.
562
00:50:59.040 --> 00:51:03.250
Bless your church with leaders who both think and feel,
563
00:51:03.250 --> 00:51:06.130
with pastors who love their people,
564
00:51:06.130 --> 00:51:09.393
and you more than they love themselves.
565
00:51:11.230 --> 00:51:15.750
With theologians who attempt to balance faith and reason,
566
00:51:15.750 --> 00:51:19.913
with members whose devotion to you is ever growing.
567
00:51:21.370 --> 00:51:24.890
Oh God who governs the world in your love,
568
00:51:24.890 --> 00:51:28.970
we commend to you our nation, and all the nations
569
00:51:28.970 --> 00:51:30.510
of the Earth.
570
00:51:30.510 --> 00:51:34.960
Grant that the councils of government may banish suspicion,
571
00:51:34.960 --> 00:51:39.960
mistrust, fear, and hatred, and embrace your paths
572
00:51:40.490 --> 00:51:45.490
which lead to peace, justice, and goodwill for all.
573
00:51:46.750 --> 00:51:51.016
Especially we pray for those who's thrust towards freedom
574
00:51:51.016 --> 00:51:55.083
in China have meet with cruelty, suffering, and death.
575
00:51:56.010 --> 00:51:59.600
May temporary defeat not lead them to despair,
576
00:51:59.600 --> 00:52:03.360
but rather be a springboard to greater triumph
577
00:52:03.360 --> 00:52:05.072
in the future.
578
00:52:05.072 --> 00:52:09.150
Help us to remember that the kingdoms of this world
579
00:52:09.150 --> 00:52:12.920
will become the kingdom of your righteousness where all
580
00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:17.920
people will be united by the one who is our peace,
581
00:52:19.260 --> 00:52:23.793
Christ Jesus our Lord, aman.
582
00:52:27.620 --> 00:52:31.850
Great is the need of the world around us, now let us
583
00:52:31.850 --> 00:52:35.470
respond to that challenge of need with the greatest
584
00:52:35.470 --> 00:52:40.470
of generosities so that even our lives will be changed
585
00:52:40.820 --> 00:52:42.347
in the act of giving.
586
00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:47.780
(organ music)
587
00:54:29.277 --> 00:54:33.110
♪ Gloria, gloria ♪
588
00:54:33.110 --> 00:54:37.678
♪ Gloria, gloria ♪
589
00:54:37.678 --> 00:54:42.678
♪ In excelsis deo ♪
590
00:54:45.705 --> 00:54:50.705
♪ In excelsis deo ♪
591
00:54:52.393 --> 00:54:56.852
♪ Gloria gloria ♪
592
00:54:56.852 --> 00:55:01.485
♪ Gloria, gloria ♪
593
00:55:01.485 --> 00:55:04.318
♪ In excelsis deo ♪
594
00:55:12.915 --> 00:55:17.205
♪ Gloria, Gloria ♪
595
00:55:17.205 --> 00:55:20.038
♪ In excelsis deo ♪
596
00:55:38.445 --> 00:55:42.601
♪ Gloria in excelsis ♪
597
00:55:42.601 --> 00:55:47.601
♪ Gloria in excelsis deo ♪
598
00:55:50.821 --> 00:55:54.238
♪ Gloria in excelsis deo ♪
599
00:56:03.753 --> 00:56:06.253
♪ In excelsis ♪
600
00:56:16.261 --> 00:56:19.761
♪ Gloria, in excelsis deo ♪
601
00:56:25.328 --> 00:56:27.828
(organ music)
602
00:57:13.074 --> 00:57:18.074
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪
603
00:57:19.182 --> 00:57:24.182
♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪
604
00:57:25.214 --> 00:57:28.514
♪ Hallelujah ♪
605
00:57:28.514 --> 00:57:32.665
♪ Hallelujah ♪
606
00:57:32.665 --> 00:57:37.665
♪ Praise God above, ye heavenly host ♪
607
00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:44.400
♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! ♪
608
00:57:45.014 --> 00:57:48.598
♪ Hallelujah ♪
609
00:57:48.598 --> 00:57:51.074
♪ Hallelujah ♪
610
00:57:51.074 --> 00:57:54.373
♪ Hallelujah ♪
611
00:57:54.373 --> 00:57:57.386
♪ Hallelujah ♪
612
00:57:57.386 --> 00:58:02.386
♪ Hallelujah ♪
613
00:58:05.954 --> 00:58:08.371
♪ Praise God ♪
614
00:58:17.700 --> 00:58:22.470
In praise and thanksgiving our eternal God, we bow before
615
00:58:22.470 --> 00:58:27.270
your sovereign majesty in humility and awe.
616
00:58:27.270 --> 00:58:31.870
You are great and greatly to be praised, marvelous
617
00:58:31.870 --> 00:58:35.980
is your power and your wisdom is infinite.
618
00:58:35.980 --> 00:58:40.980
Wonderful are your works in creation and redemption.
619
00:58:41.010 --> 00:58:45.260
In and of ourselves oh gracious God, we are fragmented
620
00:58:45.260 --> 00:58:47.670
and our gifts are only partial.
621
00:58:47.670 --> 00:58:52.670
But in you, our gifts and ourselves are made whole.
622
00:58:53.230 --> 00:58:57.300
Before this alter we remember the poor, the hungry,
623
00:58:57.300 --> 00:58:58.890
the neglected.
624
00:58:58.890 --> 00:59:03.890
Receive our gifts who reflect who we are who we will become
625
00:59:04.600 --> 00:59:08.760
in your Kingdom, and give these offerings wings
626
00:59:08.760 --> 00:59:11.990
to bring hope to our weary world.
627
00:59:11.990 --> 00:59:16.670
In the name of the one who taught us to pray saying--
628
00:59:16.670 --> 00:59:19.700
Our Father, who art in heaven,
629
00:59:19.700 --> 00:59:24.700
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
630
00:59:25.280 --> 00:59:27.830
on Earth as it is in heaven.
631
00:59:27.830 --> 00:59:31.490
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us
632
00:59:31.490 --> 00:59:36.490
our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,
633
00:59:36.660 --> 00:59:41.120
and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
634
00:59:41.120 --> 00:59:45.058
For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory
635
00:59:45.058 --> 00:59:47.310
forever and ever, amen.
636
00:59:50.098 --> 00:59:52.598
(organ music)
637
01:00:35.365 --> 01:00:39.448
(congregation and choir singing)
638
01:03:04.390 --> 01:03:08.450
And now may the strong and gentle Spirit of God
639
01:03:08.450 --> 01:03:13.450
who speaks to us in many wondrous ways empower us now
640
01:03:14.060 --> 01:03:17.840
and throughout the week to stand courageously
641
01:03:17.840 --> 01:03:22.692
in the thick of life, to see Christ's love in every face
642
01:03:22.692 --> 01:03:27.250
and in every hand that reaches out and touches us.
643
01:03:27.250 --> 01:03:32.250
Until, by the Grace of God, we see Christ face to face.
644
01:03:34.108 --> 01:03:34.941
Amen.
645
01:03:37.049 --> 01:03:39.609
(choir singing)
646
01:03:39.609 --> 01:03:43.965
♪ Amen ♪
647
01:03:43.965 --> 01:03:45.882
♪ Amen ♪
648
01:04:00.085 --> 01:04:02.002
♪ Amen ♪
649
01:04:13.727 --> 01:04:16.227
(organ music)