(spiritual hymn) (spiritual music) (spiritual hymn) (spiritual music) (spiritual hymn) 

Male speaker: Before we proceed further with the service of worship so that you may follow the service orderly and as it is supposed to be, let me just mention that the bulletins, some of them were folded incorrectly so that the inner sheets may need to be folded backward from what you may have yours now. As you insert it at the top of the right, page 3 should begin with the Affirmation of faith. If you would check and fold if necessary, then we can all follow together. 

Female speaker: When we gather to praise God, we remember that we are people of God, and who have preferred our wills to the divine will, accepting the power that God offers to us to become new creatures in Christ. Let us all corporately confess our sin before God and one another, let us pray. "Most merciful God, "we confess that we have sinned against You "in thought, word, and deed. "We have not loved You with our whole heart. "We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. "We pray You of Your mercy. "Forgive what we have been, amend what we are, "direct what we shall be, "that we may delight in Your will "and walk in Your ways through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen." Hear the good news, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. That is God's own proof of His love toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. 

Audience: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. 

Female speaker: Amen. (spiritual music) (spiritual hymn) Let us affirm our faith. We believe in God who has created and is creating, who has come in the true man, Jesus, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by His Spirit. We trust Him. He calls us to be His church, to celebrate His presence, 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 thee to God. 

Male speaker: Let us pray, "Lord, open our hearts and our minds "by the power of Your Holy Spirit, "that as the scriptures are read and the word proclaimed, "we may hear with joy what You say to us today," amen. The Old Testament lesson is from Psalm 95:1-7. "Oh come, let us sing to the Lord. "Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. "Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving. "Let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise, "for the Lord is a great God "and a great king above all gods. "In His hand are the depths of the earth, "the heights of the mountains are His also, "the sea is His for He made it, "and His hands formed the dry land. "Oh come, let us worship and bow down. "Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. "For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture "and the sheep of His hand, "owe that today you would harken to His voice." Stand for the reading of the gospel. The gospel reading is from John 17:15-23. Jesus is praying to God, His father. "I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world, "but that thou should keep them from the evil one. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. "Sanctify them in the truth, thy word is the truth. "As thou did send me into the world, "so I have sent them into the world. "And for their sake, I consecrate myself, "that they also may be consecrated in truth. "I do not pray for these only, but also for those "who are to believe in me through their word, "that they may all be one, "even as thou, father, art in me, and I in thee. "That they also may be in us "so that the world may believe that thou has sent me. "The glory which thou has given me, "I give also to them, "that they may be one even as we are one. "I in them, and they in me, "that they may become perfectly one "so that the world may know that thou has sent me "and has loved them, even as thou has loved me." May God add His blessing to this reading of His holy word. (spiritual music) (spiritual hymn) 

Male speaker: The farthest places of the earth are in His hands. In the long span of human history, global consciousness is a very recent experience. Less than five centuries ago, Columbus ventured westward to reach the east. Three decades later, Magellan's crew confirmed that we live on a sphere. In recent days, astronauts have looked down in wonder on this beautiful planet earth. Two years ago, the United Methodist Church created a board of Global Ministries. Now, instantaneous satellite relays bring us pictures of the other side of this tiny ball in space. Whether we like it or not, we know that we are together in one world, but that realization has not yet affected our hearts, our values, our ways of living. Oh, we may jet around the circumference of this globe. Many of us in the last few months, have traveled to places literally as well as figuratively beyond our horizons. For a while, last winter, we shivered because we actually felt that the nations of the world are interdependent. Though today, our business' usual speeds and our efforts to solve economic problems through greater and greater industrial production, suggest that we did not really learn very much. We trot out tired cliches, "United we stand, divided we fall," "We must hang together, or we shall hang separately." Morality, in the words of Herbert Spencer, knows nothing of geographical boundaries or distinctions of race. Yet, even Christians have made very little advance toward a genuine global morality. In 1974, World Population Year, a few more politicians and scientists have discovered global consciousness. They have talked about control of the seas, though the sea is His and He made it. They have managed to reduce one of the greatest threats to mankind, the population explosion, to a political shuttlecock. They will meet next month to discuss world food supplies, while literally millions are starving. Obviously, nuclear and ecological problems are global in scope and consequence. For the moment, we may be able to isolate mass starvation and chronic poverty, the exponential birth rates and epidemics, but does anyone really doubt that their social and political and economic effects will devastate the world? No wonder a thoughtful, professionally trained woman is quoted as saying, "Global consciousness is what I really hate. "It's spoiling my whole life. "I can't stand to have all the misery, violence, "and injustice of the world dumped into my living room "through the television tube." Solving the problems of the whole world is more than any single human being can do. So what does global consciousness have to do with this campus, this church? It was my privilege to spend the past academic year in Tokyo, Japan, at International Christian University, known to residents and a few taxi drivers as ICU, unique as an embodiment of post-war reconciliation, unique in its spacious campus amid the world's largest city, unique in possessing the only open stack college library in Japan, unique above all in attempting to live up to its name. In fact, as I sat on the chapel platform last Christmas Eve and looked out over the sea of flickering candles, I began formulating a sermon for this congregation, entitled ICU, from ICU. But when Bob Young invited me for World Communion Sunday, I decided that that title was too flippant public announcement, but the intention remains. International Christian University endeavors to be just that. I hope and believe that Duke University holds a similar goal. It is interesting to note that Mr. Duke's indenture lists the individual, the state, the nation, and the church, but not the world. Yet, I trust he would be proud of the extent to which Duke University's service and influence has reached global proportions in the past 50 years. This is not the place for a discourse on the academic or institutional definitions of a university. Some of you may prefer to emphasize the pluralism of American society, the diversity of interests and aims, the variety essential in a successful educational enterprise. Yet, I would insist that a university must maintain and periodically reaffirm its explicit unity of purpose. Mr. Duke did that in two imperishable phrases, the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings of Jesus Christ, and sane and practical education as opposed to dogmatic and theoretical lines as next to religion, the greatest civilizing influence. But what does it mean to be an international university? Not merely to include every geographical area in the curriculum, not a faculty familiar with the ruins of (indistinct), Zimbabwe, or Borobudur, not an inscription on a stone bench, above all nations is humanity. A recent study book declares that education for global living is person-oriented, and goes on to assert, "A culturally deprived person is any person "who has not experienced a meaningful encounter "with persons of another lifestyle or culture." Not how many students are enrolled from abroad, but whether our attitudes toward them are condescending. Not how much should we teach them, but how much we learn from them. Not how many languages we speak, but whether they enable us to understand people, including ourselves, in the broad context of human history and global living. And a Christian University, a current hit song by Lynn Kellogg says to this kind of global citizen, "You're a thorn in my side, you're keeping my eyes open wide." Instead of amassing possessions at home, you're thinking of others, while I think of me. We do not, cannot have a Christian university, not in the sense of perfect fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, any more than when we refer to a Christian nation or a Christian family or a Christian person, not in the sense of demeaning or excluding others, quite the contrary. In a society like Japan's, where 75% of all young people deny any faith whatsoever, there are still valid though often ambiguous reasons for requiring that all full-time tenured faculty of ICU should be Christian, a restriction most of us would not tolerate here. But Duke University was founded and should be maintained on the basis of a common commitment. Despite our differences, we gather in this chapel especially on World Communion Sunday, to reaffirm that purpose. For Christianity is a global faith, geographically the most extensive, creation is global. The world's destruction by God or human selfishness will be global. The kingdom of God, for which we pray and strive, is global, or it is meaningless. The Christian view of human history and of mans relationship to nature is inescapably global. The call of the church to service and sharing is global. For a monopoly on the gospel is a contradiction in terms. Whatever our understanding of the nature of salvation may be, individual conversion or human liberation, eschatological judgment or a community of love, its possibility as a gift of God offered to all His children must be global. Thus, Christ's invitation to His table is to all of you. My memory reaches out this morning to an incredibly ramshackle Batak Chapel in the remote jungles of Sumatra, to a congregation of black Rhodesians singing, "God bless Africa," to an imposing university chapel in Japan. I hope that many of you have similar pictures in mind. For today, on every continent, millions of Christians are holding out their hands, yellow and brown, black and white and red, for the the covenant of sacrifice and service. It is an empty symbol if it does not transform our interpersonal relations, our consumer values, our vocational priorities. On this day, in this temple, in fellowship with disciples everywhere, let us pledge ourselves to the creation of an international Christian university, and a world where we may not only acquire global consciousness, but practice global living. In the Name and Spirit of Jesus Christ, our global Lord, amen. 

Male speaker: It is appropriate that we pray for others. Let us pray that the world may live in peace and that the church may achieve unity, fulfilling its service here and everywhere. (audience praying) That all ministers and teachers in the church may be faithful servants of the gospel, leading others into its way of life and strengthening their faith. (audience praying) That the leaders of this nation and of the world may govern with justice and mercy. (audience praying) That all our work may be done for the common good, that it be done in safety, and that all may be spared from grinding toil which destroys fullness of life. (audience praying) That those who work on frontiers of truth and those who enrich our lives with beauty and joy may be free to follow their vocations. (audience praying) That those who suffer disease or poverty or loneliness or grief, may be healed and comforted. That those who are oppressed or persecuted may be strengthened and delivered. (audience praying) That those whom we have known and loved who have died in the faith, may be a glorious memory to us and a source of renewed fellowship with all the saints. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. 

Female speaker: Christ, our Lord, invites to His table, all who love him and who desire to live in peace with one another. May the peace of the Lord be with you, always. 

Audience: And also with you. 

Male speaker: Last Sunday, we received the offering in its entirety and dedicated it to relief in hurricane-ravaged Honduras. The administrative committee of the chapel feeling that it was appropriate not only to receive that special offering last Sunday, but also today, on Worldwide Communion Sunday, agreed that the offering in its entirety today also would go for that purpose. I have no way of knowing how much money you have in your pockets, but having read the newspaper accounts and seen on television, I do have some idea of the very desperate needs of our brothers and sisters in Honduras. And so, as we celebrate this sacrament of the Lord's Supper on this Worldwide Communion Sunday, let me urge you to give and to give generously in the name of Christ. And I can assure you that every penny given this day will go for relief of those who now suffer. Let us worship God. As forgiven and reconciled people, let us now offer ourselves and our gifts to God. (spiritual music) (spiritual hymn) (spiritual hymn) (spiritual hymn) (spiritual hymn) (spiritual hymn) (spiritual music) (spiritual hymn) ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ (spiritual hymn) ♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ (spiritual music) 

Male speaker: Eternal God, giver of every good and perfect gift, the source of all our comfort and joy, receive us and these our gifts as we dedicate them and ourselves unto You, grant that with these token gifts of our hands, we may more fully give ourselves in joyous obedience and service, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. 

Male speaker: The Lord is with you. (audience praying) Lift up your hearts. (audience praying) Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. (audience praying) Father, it is right that we should always and everywhere give You thanks and praise only You, our God. You created all things and called them good. You made us in Your own image. Even when we rebel against Your love, You did not desert us. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our God and king, and spoke to us through Your prophets. Therefore, we joined the entire company of heaven and all Your people now on earth in worshiping and glorifying You. Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Less it is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. We thank you, father, that You love the world so much, you sent Your only son to be our savior. The Lord of all life came to live among us. He healed and taught people, ate with sinners, and won for you and new people by water and the spirit. We saw His glory, yet He humbled Himself in obedience to Your will, freely accepting death on a cross. By dying, He freed us from unending death. By rising from the dead, He gave us everlasting life. We remember that on the night in which He gave him up for us, the Lord, Jesus, took bread, after giving You thanks, He broke the bread, gave it to His disciples and said, "Take, eat. "This is my body which is given for you." When the supper was over, He took the cup. Again, He returned thanks to You, gave the cup to His disciples and said, "Drink from this, all of you. "This is the cup of the new covenant "in my blood poured out for you and many "for the forgiveness of sins." When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we experience a new, the presence of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and look forward to His coming in final victory. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. We remember and proclaim with gratitude, Holy God, what Your son has done for us in His life and death, in His resurrection and ascension. Accept our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in union with Christ's offering for us as a reasonable and holy surrender of ourselves. Send the power of Your Holy Spirit on us, gathered here out of love for You and on these gifts. Help us know in the breaking of this bread, the presence of Christ, who gave His body and blood for all people. Make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in service to all mankind through Your son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in Your holy church, all glory and honor is Yours, God almighty. In unity with Christ and with each other, we pray, "Our father in heaven, holy be Your name, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven. "Give us today the bread we need. "Forgive us our sins "as we forgive those who sinned against us. "Save us in the time of trial and deliver us from evil, "for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, "now and forever," amen. Because there is one loaf, we many as we are a one body, or it is one loaf of which we all partake. When we break the bread, is it not a means of sharing in the body of Christ? 

Female speaker: When we give thanks over the cup, is it not a means of sharing in the blood of Christ? (gentle music) 

Male speaker: This time, we invite all who wish to respond to the invitation which you heard earlier, to come and partake of the blessed sacrament of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The choir will come first, and then those seated in the transepts, and then moving through the main part of the sanctuary. The ushers will assist you to and from the communion table. As is our custom here, we would like to ask you to gather in two concentric circles around the altar, the ministers then will serve you. You may receive the elements separately or by intention taking the bread and dipping it into the wine. (gentle music) Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, where they shall inherit the earth." Rise, dear friends, and go in peace. And may your attitude of humility and compassion bring joy to you, amen. (gentle music) As the next table partakes of the sacrament, let me suggest that you follow the ushers as they ask you to come and stand in the aisle ready to take you places around the altar. (gentle music) (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) 

Female speaker: Neither death, nor life, nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heights, nor depths, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Go confident in God's abiding love, amen. (spiritual hymn) (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) 

Male speaker: Jesus said, "Blessed are those "who hunger and thirst after righteousness, "for they shall be filled." Arise, beloved, and go in peace, and may God satisfy your hungering and thirsting with the food of the soul, which lasts forever, amen. (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) 

Female speaker: Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly." Go in peace, and may your abundant life in Christ overflow in love and service, amen. (spiritual hymn) (gentle music) (spiritual hymn) 

Male speaker: John writes, "For God's so loved the world that He gave His only son, "whoever believes in him shall not perish, "but have eternal life." Arise, beloved of Christ, and go in the assurance that God loves you so much that He gave himself for you. And as you go, go willing to give yourself in love to others, amen. (spiritual hymn) There may be persons sitting in the pews who wish to receive communion, where you are? If so, would you please indicate that at this moment? We'll be very pleased to bring the elements where you are seated. (gentle music)