dcrau002723001.wav / Helen G. Crotwell - "All Ate and Were Satisfied" (March 9, 1975) / Duke Digital Repository

(instrumental music)

0:03

-

Let us pray.

8:34

Give ear, Lord, unto our prayer

8:37

and attend to the voice of our supplications.

8:41

Teach us thy way, Lord.

8:45

We would walk in thy truth.

8:48

Unite our hearts to fear you.

8:52

We would praise thee, Lord, our God with all our heart

8:56

and we would glorify thy name forevermore

9:01

for a great is thy mercy toward us.

9:05

Amen.

9:09

Our hymn of praise is number 27,

9:15

"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise."

9:17

(instrumental music)

9:22

Please be seated.

12:19

There is no greater evidence for our need of confession

12:27

of sin than the conviction of our own righteousness.

12:31

And there is no greater readiness for confession

12:37

than our on sense of failure in loving God wholeheartedly.

12:41

Let us confess our sins to almighty God.

12:47

Eternal God our judge and redeemer,

12:51

we confess that we have tried to hide from you

12:56

for we have done wrong.

13:00

We have lived for ourselves.

13:03

We have refused to shoulder the troubles of others

13:06

and turned from our neighbors.

13:10

We have ignored the pain of the world

13:14

and passed by the hungry, the poor, and the oppressed.

13:17

God, in your great mercy forgive our sin

13:23

and free us from selfishness that we may choose your will

13:29

and obey your commandments through Jesus Christ our Lord.

13:35

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us remission

14:04

of all our sins, true repentance, amendment of life,

14:08

and the grace and consolation of his holy spirit

14:15

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

14:19

Amen.

14:22

(instrumental music)

14:27

(opera music)

15:03

Let us hear this witness to the word

21:27

as we find it in the old covenant,

21:29

the eighth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy.

21:32

"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,

21:39

a land of brooks of water,

21:43

of fountains and springs flowing forth in valleys and hills,

21:46

a land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees,

21:51

and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,

21:56

a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity,

22:00

in which you will lack nothing,

22:04

a land whose stones are iron

22:07

and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

22:11

And you shall eat, and be full and you shall bless the Lord

22:15

your God for the good land he has given you.

22:21

Take heed lest you forget the Lord your God

22:26

by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances

22:30

and His statutes, which I command you this day.

22:33

Lest when you have eaten and are full

22:37

and have built goodly houses and live in them,

22:41

and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver

22:46

and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied,

22:51

then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord

22:56

your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

22:59

out of the house of bondage, who led you through the great

23:04

and terrible wilderness with this fiery serpents

23:08

and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water,

23:13

who brought you water out of a flinty rock,

23:18

who fed you in the wilderness with manna,

23:21

which your fathers did not know that he might humble you

23:24

and test you to do you good in the end.

23:29

Beware lest you say in your heart, my power

23:35

and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.

23:40

You shall remember the Lord your God

23:45

for it is He who gives you power to get wealth,

23:48

that He may confirm His covenant,

23:53

which He swore to your fathers, as at this day.

23:55

And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods

24:01

and serve them and worship them,

24:04

I solemnly warn you this day that you shall surely perish.

24:07

Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you,

24:13

so you shall perish,

24:17

because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God."

24:19

The gospel lesson from St. Luke's gospel the ninth chapter.

24:31

The apostles have just returned from the mission

24:39

on which Jesus had sent them throughout the land.

24:43

"On their return, the apostles told him what they had done,

24:47

and he took them and withdrew apart

24:51

to a city called Bethsaida.

24:54

When the crowds learned it, they followed Him

24:58

and He welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God

25:02

and cure those who had need of healing.

25:05

Now the day began to wear away

25:09

and the 12 came and said to him, send the crowd away

25:13

to go into the villages and country roundabout to lodge

25:18

and get provisions for we are here in a lonely place.

25:21

But He said to them, you give them something to eat.

25:26

They said, we have no more than five loaves and two fish,

25:31

unless we are to go and buy food for all these people,

25:36

for there were about 5000 men.

25:40

And he said to his disciples,

25:44

make them sit down in companies about 50 each.

25:46

And they did so and made them all sit down.

25:50

And taking the five loaves and the two fish,

25:54

He looked up to heaven and blessed and broke them

25:56

and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd

26:01

and all ate and were satisfied and they took up

26:05

what was left over 12 baskets of broken pieces."

26:09

Here ends the morning lesson.

26:16

(instrumental music)

26:20

Let us confess our faith.

27:04

We are not alone, we live in God's world.

27:08

We believe in God who has created and is creating,

27:14

who has come and the true man, Jesus,

27:19

to reconcile and make new,

27:22

who works in us and others by His spirit.

27:26

We trust Him.

27:30

He calls us to be His church, to celebrate His presence,

27:32

to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,

27:38

to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen our judge and our hope

27:44

in life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.

27:51

We are not alone.

27:59

Thanks be to God.

28:01

The Lord be with you.

28:05

-

Be with you too.

28:07

-

Let us pray.

28:09

Lord, who provided manna for the fathers

28:21

in the desert wanderings and equipped our master's disciples

28:24

for mission when they had need of it

28:28

hear now our prayers for our time and our world.

28:32

In a world fragmented by politics,

28:40

direct peoples and nations that we may learn to live nation

28:44

with nation searching diligently for arms instead of arms

28:48

for the brother and sister of other lands.

28:53

In a world of broken by economic greed and self-interest,

28:59

we pray that our diverse economic plights may show us

29:04

our mutual dependence and drive out our collective greed.

29:09

In a world divided by race, direct our way with affections

29:18

that we may come to love and appreciate the brother

29:23

and sister of unlike mind and perspective.

29:26

We pray, Lord, for thy church,

29:34

bring her many members to her one true baptism

29:38

in her crucified and risen Lord,

29:41

that every member may be nourished by the diversity of gifts

29:45

in the oneness of spirit.

29:50

Let us remember this day, this land, and our people

29:55

that we may find a strength in our emerging frailty,

30:02

that times of adversity may give birth to new vision,

30:07

new promise, and hope.

30:11

We remember today, Lord, especially the involuntarily poor,

30:15

the unemployed and the unemployable.

30:21

And we pray that thou will help this land

30:26

toward economic justice that participates

30:28

however remotely in thine own righteousness.

30:31

We bring these prayers to thee our Lord at thy invitation.

30:38

As children to a loving and kind parent,

30:44

our comfort and assurance are that you are

30:48

not only our Lord, but Lord of history.

30:51

So we pray or Lord as you will, so be it.

30:56

Let us join now in the prayer our Lord has taught us saying,

31:04

our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name,

31:09

thy kingdom come,

31:15

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

31:17

Give us this day our daily bread

31:22

and forgive us our trespasses

31:25

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

31:28

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

31:32

for thine is the kingdom

31:37

and the power and the glory forever.

31:39

Amen.

31:44

-

In the name of God our creator, redeemer, and sustainer.

31:57

Amen.

32:04

Isn't it amazing how the lectionary lesson

32:08

from Deuteronomy describes who we are?

32:11

A people living in a good land,

32:16

a land in which we can eat bread without scarcity,

32:18

a land in which we like nothing,

32:21

a land whose stones are iron,

32:24

and out of whose hills we can dig copper

32:26

and we shall eat and be full.

32:29

And because this is who we are,

32:32

we must take heed lest we forget the Lord our God

32:35

by not keeping God's commandments

32:41

and our covenantal relationships.

32:44

Lest when we have eaten and are full

32:48

and have built goodly houses and live in them,

32:51

we forget the Lord our God and say in our heart,

32:55

"Our power and the might

33:00

of our hand have given us this wealth."

33:03

And if we forget,

33:08

we shall surely perish.

33:11

This is who we are,

33:15

people who have forgotten that the earth is a gift

33:17

to be used, to be cared for, to be shared.

33:22

And so we are at the close to the point of perishing.

33:28

We know this, but we do not comprehend.

33:35

We know that people are actually starving to death

33:39

And we can remember just a little while ago

33:44

when we were concerned about

33:46

how many people went to bed hungry each night.

33:48

These people are now starving.

33:52

We know that we are moving from a time of abundance

33:57

to a time of scarcity.

34:00

But it is difficult for those of us

34:02

who live in this good land to comprehend.

34:05

We have been inconvenienced by some shortages

34:10

and we've been irritated by most prices,

34:14

but it is difficult for us

34:18

to comprehend the scarcity and the crisis.

34:20

The American Friends Service Committee has described part

34:25

of our situation in this analogy.

34:28

If we imagine that our world is a global village

34:32

consisting of 100 people,

34:36

100 people who have not yet died from starvation,

34:40

then 70 of this 100 would not be able to read,

34:44

one would have a college education,

34:48

and of the 100 who have not yet died of starvation,

34:52

50 will be suffering from malnutrition,

34:57

80 will live in substandard housing.

35:01

And we know that even in this good land,

35:05

in which we can eat bread without scarcity,

35:09

there are countless persons suffering from malnutrition.

35:13

Dr. Shinoa reports in his book, "The Malnourished Man,"

35:18

on a team of noted pediatricians, who with senators,

35:22

visited many areas in Mississippi in 1967,

35:26

and they found that in every county they visited

35:32

there were boys and girls who were suffering

35:36

from severe malnutrition with injury to body's tissues,

35:40

it's muscles, bones, and skin,

35:45

as well as the associated psychological state

35:49

of fatigue, restlessness, and exhaustion.

35:52

They found homes in which children were lucky

35:57

to have one meal a day.

36:02

But even that meal was inadequate nutritionally.

36:04

These children are out of sight and ignored.

36:10

They received no help, no food, no medical attention.

36:15

They were living under such primitive conditions

36:21

that it was hard to believe that they lived

36:25

in the United States in the 20th century.

36:29

And unfortunately, these conditions are not in the past

36:33

and I'm not limited to Mississippi.

36:38

Dr. Shinoa says that the victims

36:42

of hunger often look healthy and well fed.

36:44

This appearance is deceiving and is caused by the swelling

36:48

of tissues, a common symptom

36:51

of sustained malnutrition in children.

36:53

He attributed this ignorance

36:58

to the Mississippi Governor's callous response

37:00

to our reporters' question about the hunger

37:05

among the poor blacks.

37:08

This governor said,

37:10

"All the Negroes I have seen

37:13

around here are so fat, they shine."

37:15

Now we know that starvation

37:23

has become more disparate since 1967.

37:25

With the high cost of food, the high unemployment rate,

37:31

the possibilities of an adequate diet has been lessened.

37:36

And Dr. Shinoa's acute concern is for the children

37:41

who suffer permanent brain damage from an inadequate diet,

37:45

especially from the absence

37:50

of the correct protein in their diet.

37:52

Now an adult can suffer from malnutrition

37:55

and with a proper food can become healthy again.

37:58

But from the time of gestation

38:03

until the child is four years old,

38:05

an inadequate diet causes permanent brain damage,

38:08

damage which nothing we can do can correct.

38:14

Now, not only are people malnourished,

38:18

but people are actually starving.

38:22

We know this, but this too is difficult for us

38:26

who live in this good land to comprehend.

38:30

No one can give us an exact count

38:35

of how many people are dying from malnutrition.

38:37

The estimate varies from 10 to 20 millions

38:41

of persons per year.

38:44

And it seems that 12 million is a reasonable estimate,

38:46

if you dare use the word reasonable

38:51

in the same sentence with starvation.

38:54

But I have difficulty comprehending what it means

38:57

that 12 million people die each year from starvation.

39:01

I can understand it better if I imagine

39:06

if this were not a Recess Sunday,

39:10

we would probably have approximately 1400 people

39:13

more or less in this chapel worshiping.

39:16

And during this one hour,

39:21

while we worship this number of people,

39:23

1400 people will die from starvation,

39:27

and from starvation alone, not from related affects.

39:32

Several Saturdays ago, some of us attended a conference

39:38

at Chapel Hill, a conference for Duke, UNC, and State.

39:43

It was a seminar on limits to growth.

39:48

Dr. Robert Patterson from state calibrated a metronome

39:51

to tick to indicate the right people are dying

39:55

from malnutrition alone.

39:58

This communicated to me the awfulness of our situation,

40:01

the terror most graphically, each tick represents one death.

40:06

(metronome ticking)

40:20

For those of us who live in this good line,

40:29

our first step in responding to the command to take heed is

40:34

in some sense to comprehend

40:42

what these ticks mean, that these are human beings.

40:44

Once we comprehend, we are compelled to act responsibly.

40:50

Now, we are sophisticated enough

41:05

to know that what we are discussing is not simple,

41:07

that we live in a world of limited resources and that some

41:11

of our simplistic solutions may cause more complex problems.

41:15

But we are also sophisticated and know

41:21

that we may be paralyzed into no action

41:24

if we listen uncritically to such warnings.

41:28

We know that we must face the critical nature

41:33

of our survival, that we must move

41:35

from a time of abundance to a time of scarcity.

41:38

We know that we are people who must take heed

41:42

lest we shall surely perish.

41:46

This is who we are.

41:51

This word, which comes to us though, is not hopeless.

41:53

The biblical word admonishes us to take heed,

41:59

the scientific word shouts at us to take you.

42:03

But both words offer some hope for the future

42:09

and the hope is conditioned

42:12

on our being morally responsible persons.

42:13

The scientific word to us is that the future

42:17

of our world may not be as hopeless

42:20

as some people have feared,

42:21

that we can support a viable standard of living

42:23

for the inhabitants of this earth

42:26

if we use our creative intelligence

42:28

as morally responsible people.

42:30

There is no doubt, if this is to happen,

42:33

we will have to make some radical changes

42:36

in our lifestyles in this country, radical.

42:39

And we will have to take responsibility

42:44

for the leadership essential for this to happen.

42:46

The biblical word, rest on our understanding of who we are

42:50

in relation to God who has created us

42:54

and given us this world.

42:56

And it rests on our understanding

42:59

of who we are as human beings.

43:00

Simply stated the responsibility

43:03

which has been given to us is to care for our brothers

43:05

and our sisters and the world, which is our home.

43:09

And simply stated, our understanding of who we are

43:14

as human beings is that we are people

43:17

who are capable of caring, of loving, of serving,

43:20

but we are also people who can be blinded to the needs

43:25

of our brothers and sisters by our personal desires,

43:30

which at times, cause us to act as if we had special rights

43:35

and privileges which do not extend to all peoples.

43:40

Lord, forgive us.

43:46

And we are people who can be forgiven.

43:49

We can turn around.

43:51

And this is what we must do

43:53

if we are to act as morally responsible people

43:55

and here lies our hope.

43:59

Let's seems to be an appropriate time,

44:02

a good time to begin this.

44:04

Recall the invitation from the Ash Wednesday service.

44:07

I invite you to the observance of holy land

44:12

by self-examination and repentance,

44:15

by prayer and fasting and self denial,

44:17

and by reading and meditating on God's holy word,

44:20

and to make a right beginning of repentance as a remark

44:24

of your moral nature.

44:30

Combine this with the reading for Ash Wednesday from Isaiah,

44:32

which reminds us that fasting is not an end in itself,

44:37

rather it is a preparation which can sensitize us

44:42

and enable us to let the oppressed go free,

44:47

to share our bread with the hungry,

44:51

to bring the homeless into our homes.

44:53

Then shall the light break forth like dome.

44:56

Then we shall call and the Lord will answer.

45:00

Now, there are those of us here present today

45:06

who see lent as a time of preparation, of renewal,

45:08

a time of repentance, as a time for new beginnings,

45:12

which do not end on Easter Sunday.

45:15

And surely, all of us here today are caring people,

45:19

we are concerned people, we feel responsible.

45:24

We want to do what we can, but we also feel hopeless,

45:29

helpless, and at times, discouraged.

45:34

We feel alone isolated with our concerns.

45:39

We are afraid that what we can do is so insignificant

45:45

that it is not worth the effort.

45:50

And we wonder why we should deny ourselves

45:53

when no one else does,

45:57

especially when some people ridiculed our efforts saying.

45:59

"How stupid to think that turning off lights

46:03

or giving up one meal will help this world?"

46:06

We feel that the problem is too big and too complex

46:10

and we are too powerful and ignorant of the real facts.

46:12

Okay, that's where a lot of us are,

46:17

but that is not where we have to stay.

46:21

So today we are being called to claim what is possible

46:24

and what may be uniquely possible as Christian communities.

46:30

For it is as we work together

46:36

that it will be possible for us to care for our neighbor

46:39

who is starving, who is malnourished, who is hungry.

46:42

We have seen evidences of such work in the past,

46:47

and we see evidences of it in the present.

46:51

We give thanks for what is happening now in this university

46:54

as a result of the leadership of two students,

46:57

Drake Boyd and David McCauley.

47:00

But they cannot, in their communities, cannot do it alone.

47:03

They need the support of the broader segments

47:07

of the university and the larger community around us.

47:09

We must work in groups and communities

47:13

and within our institutions.

47:16

Now, there are many reasons why it's critical

47:20

for us to work corporately.

47:22

Basic is the awareness of the presence of the power

47:24

of the holy spirit, which has been promised to us

47:27

and which is evidence within the community.

47:30

Unless we have the perspective and the awareness

47:34

of the supporting guidance of our holy God,

47:37

we will become weak and discouraged.

47:39

The spiritual dimension is essential

47:43

for the direction and the sustaining of our work.

47:45

And one of the people who have ever done this

47:49

and have shown us the power is Dom Helder Camara,

47:52

the Archbishop in Brazil who says,

47:57

"The real God does not create our own misery,

48:00

we cause it by our injustices."

48:04

We need the support of the real God,

48:09

which is given to us in the community.

48:13

And we know that we have more power in our corporate action.

48:17

We need personal support, both to correct us

48:23

when our vision is distorted

48:27

and to sustain us when we become discouraged.

48:29

The task facing us is an impossible one in isolation.

48:35

When we consider them enormity of the information,

48:41

we need to have at our disposal in order to act responsible,

48:43

information about food production and distribution,

48:48

fertilizer, the number of persons this world can support,

48:52

the role our government can and should play,

48:56

the long range application of our actions, and on and on.

48:59

We are overwhelmed.

49:04

For one person, this is an impossible task.

49:06

Working corporately, it becomes possible

49:10

to share the responsibility in such a way

49:13

that we will have the necessary knowledge available to us

49:16

and that we can get the necessary work done.

49:20

Now you found in your bulletin the covenant of simplicity,

49:24

which was developed by the Duke University Parish Ministry

49:28

based on the Shakertown page

49:33

of The American Friends Service Committee.

49:34

We are convinced

49:37

that we must develop a more simple lifestyle.

49:38

And those of us who choose to move

49:43

toward a more simple lifestyle will find

49:44

that the discipline is made easier and clearer

49:46

when it is undertaken with persons

49:51

who share these same values.

49:53

Some of us have some fears of what this will mean,

49:57

fears that we will be committing our families

50:00

to less than human existence,

50:03

that we will become malnourished,

50:04

that we will not be able to tolerate a lifestyle

50:06

without all the luxuries we are used to,

50:10

and that's probably our real fear.

50:13

And yet our rational nature knows that few of us

50:17

in this congregation today are anywhere close

50:19

to a minimum level of existence.

50:24

Simple living does not mean ugliness, drabness, boredom.

50:27

In fact, it means just the opposite,

50:32

health, joy, aliveness, beauty.

50:35

When we think of people

50:39

for whom life has had the most meaning,

50:41

the people who live by the values we cherish,

50:44

we find little correlation between their way of living

50:48

and their accumulation of possessions and luxurious.

50:53

We are convinced that we must develop

50:59

a more simple lifestyle in this country.

51:03

We are convinced that this cannot be done in isolation.

51:07

So we are called forth today to assume the moral leadership,

51:14

which is necessary at this time.

51:19

We are invited to seriously consider this covenant

51:24

of simplicity now, but more important later

51:28

with your family and friends when you can discuss

51:33

which of these you choose to accept,

51:37

what additions you want to meet, and decide

51:41

what this means for you and your family and friends.

51:45

Now, if you are visiting us today,

51:51

we encourage you to go back to your community

51:53

and give leadership to these issues.

51:55

If you are a part of the Duke community,

51:59

we encourage you to let us know if you accept this covenant

52:01

so that we may develop a network of groups

52:06

who can give leadership which will help.

52:09

This community respond personally

52:12

and corporately to see that food,

52:15

a basic human right,

52:19

food, a basic human right, is available to all persons.

52:23

And to see that this happens both immediately

52:30

and is also available for future generations.

52:33

We are called forth to meet human need

52:39

before we satisfy our personal desires.

52:44

One of Rilke's poems haunts me constantly.

52:51

Hear only one verse from it.

52:56

(metronome ticking)

52:59

"Whoever dies anywhere in this world,

53:00

without cause dies in this world,

53:04

looks at me."

53:08

We are called for to change the death rate

53:12

from starvation of one person every 2 1/2 seconds to zero.

53:16

(metronome ticking)

53:21

We are forth to work that all may eat and be satisfied.

53:24

(metronome ticking)

53:31

May God help us.

53:35

(metronome ticking)

53:37

Amen.

53:39

(metronome ticking)

53:40

(instrumental music)

53:49

(opera music)

57:04

(instrumental music)

1:00:44

-

Thou whose nature is itself true charity blessed these

1:02:07

our gifts with thy bountiful graces

1:02:12

that their fruits may be multiplied many times

1:02:15

to everlasting praise and the salvation

1:02:18

and nourishment of humankind.

1:02:22

Amen.

1:02:25

(instrumental music)

1:02:29

The Lord bless you and keep you.

1:06:49

The Lord make His face shine upon you

1:06:53

and be gracious unto you.

1:06:56

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you

1:07:00

and give you His peace.

1:07:04

Amen.

1:07:08

(bell ringing)

1:07:13

(instrumental music)

1:07:30

dcrau002723001.wav

Transcript

File Info

Duke University Archives