Robert T. Young - "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (July 11, 1982)

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	(slow organ music)	0:23
	♪ Our God be praised in heaven above ♪	8:14
	♪ Praise to the king for he reigns all ♪	8:20
	♪ Over all creatures ♪	8:26
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:33
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:35
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:38
	(slow organ music)	8:46
	(choir sings hymnal)	9:19
-	Grace to you and peace from God the father	11:49
	and Christ Jesus, our Lord	11:52
	who gave himself for our sins to deliver us	11:55
	from the present evil age	11:58
	according to will of our God and our father	12:00
	to whom be the glory forever and ever, amen.	12:03
	Dear brothers and sisters, when we examine and take stock	12:08
	of our lives, we recognize that we have sinned	12:12
	and fallen short of the glory of God.	12:15
	When measured against the perfect righteousness	12:18
	of Christ Jesus, we know ourselves to have sinned	12:20
	against others and against God in thought, word and deed.	12:24
	Let us, then, acknowledge and confess our sins	12:29
	before Almighty God, our heavenly father with a humble,	12:32
	lowly, penitent, and obedient heart to the end that we may	12:36
	obtain forgiveness of sins by God's infinite	12:41
	goodness and mercy.	12:44
	Be seated.	12:47
	Let us join together and prayer.	12:54
	Oh, holy and merciful God,	12:57
	we confess that we have not always taken upon ourselves	13:00
	with joy the yoke of obedience, nor been willing to seek	13:04
	and to do your perfect will.	13:09
	We have not loved you with all our heart, and mind,	13:11
	and soul, and strength, neither have we loved our neighbors	13:15
	as ourselves.	13:19
	You have called to us in the need of our neighbors	13:21
	and we have passed, unheeding, on our way	13:24
	in the pride of our hearts and our unwillingness to repent,	13:28
	we have turned away from the cross of Christ	13:32
	and have grieved your Holy Spirit.	13:35
	Amen.	13:38
	(soft organ music)	13:44
	Hear these words of assurance from God's holy word	14:29
	and take them to your comfort.	14:33
	Ask and it will be given you.	14:36
	Seek and you will find.	14:38
	Knock and it will be opened unto you.	14:41
	For every one who asks, receives.	14:44
	And he who seeks, finds.	14:47
	And to him who knocks, it will be opened.	14:50
	Let us, then, give thanks, for God is good	14:54
	and God's love is everlasting.	14:57
	Thanks be to God whose love creates us.	15:00
	Thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us.	15:05
	Thanks be to God whose grace leads us into the future.	15:09
	We welcome you this morning to do chapel	15:17
	and to this service of worship on the sixth Sunday	15:20
	and the season of Pentecost.	15:22
	It is a joy to have join us in this service,	15:25
	the worship of God, and in the celebration of the life,	15:28
	death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord.	15:32
	And we would give a special word of welcome this morning	15:36
	to those persons who are with us these few weeks	15:38
	in the Ministerial Course of Study school,	15:42
	studying in the divinity school as part of their training	15:44
	for the ministry of the United Methodist Church.	15:47
	The Reverend Robert T. Young, minister to this university	15:51
	will bring us the message of the morning:	15:55
	When Bad Things Happen To Good People.	15:58
	We look forward with anticipation to this good word.	16:02
-	Let us pray.	16:15
	Almighty God, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom	16:18
	and knowledge, open our eyes that we may behold wondrous	16:22
	things out of your word.	16:25
	And give us grace that we may clearly understand	16:27
	and hardly choose the way of your love through Jesus Christ,	16:29
	our Lord, amen.	16:33
	The Old Testament lesson is from Lamentations chapter three,	16:37
	verses 22 and 23.	16:40
	The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.	16:44
	His mercies never come to an end.	16:47
	They are new every morning.	16:51
	Great is thy faithfulness.	16:53
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament, amen.	16:56
	The epistle lessons from II Corinthians chapter eight,	17:00
	versus one through nine, 13 through 15.	17:03
	We want you to know, brethren, about the grace of God	17:07
	which has been shown in the churches of Macedonia,	17:10
	for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy	17:13
	and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth	17:16
	of liberality on their part.	17:19
	For they gave according to their means as I can testify	17:21
	and beyond their means of their own free will,	17:24
	begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part	17:27
	in the relief of the saints.	17:30
	And this, not as we expected, but first they gave themselves	17:32
	to the Lord and to us by the will of God.	17:35
	Accordingly, as we have urged Titus that as he had already	17:39
	made a beginning, he should also have complete among you	17:42
	this gracious work.	17:44
	Now, as you excel in everything, in faith, in utterance,	17:46
	in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us,	17:50
	see that you excel in this gracious work also.	17:54
	I say this not as a command but to prove by the earnestness	17:58
	of others that your love also is genuine.	18:01
	For you know that grace of Lord, Jesus Christ,	18:04
	that though he was rich, yet, for your sake, he became poor	18:06
	so that by his poverty, you might become rich.	18:10
	I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened	18:12
	but that as a matter of equality, your abundance	18:16
	at the present time, should supply their want	18:18
	so that their abundance may supply your want,	18:21
	that there may be equality.	18:24
	As it is written, he who gathered much had nothing over.	18:26
	And he who gathered little had no lack.	18:30
	Here ends the reading from the epistle, amen.	18:34
	(slow organ music)	18:38
	Will the congregation please stand for the reading	20:52
	of the gospel lesson?	20:54
	The gospel lessons from Mark chapter five,	21:00
	verses 21 through 43.	21:02
	And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat	21:05
	to the other side, a great crowd had gathered about him	21:07
	and he was beside the sea.	21:10
	Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue,	21:12
	Jairus, by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet,	21:14
	exalt him saying: My little daughter is at the point	21:17
	of death, come and lay your hands on her so that she may be	21:20
	made well and live.	21:23
	And he went with him.	21:25
	And a great crowd followed him, enthronged about him.	21:28
	And there was a woman who had a flow of blood or 12 years	21:31
	and who had suffered much under many physicians	21:34
	and had spent all that she had and was no better but,	21:36
	rather, grew worse.	21:39
	She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him	21:41
	in the crowd and touched his garment, for she said,	21:44
	if I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.	21:47
	And immediately, the hemorrhage ceased and she felt	21:50
	in her body that she was healed of her disease.	21:53
	And Jesus, perceiving himself that power had gone forth	21:55
	from him immediately turned about in the crowd and said,	21:59
	who touched my garments?	22:02
	And his disciples said to him, you see the crowed pressing	22:04
	around you and yet you say, who touched me?	22:07
	And he looked around to see who had done it but the woman,	22:10
	knowing what had been done to her, came in fear	22:13
	and trembling and fell down before him and told him	22:15
	the whole truth.	22:18
	And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well.	22:20
	Go in peace and be healed of your disease.	22:23
	While he was still speaking, there came from	22:27
	the ruler's house some who said, your daughter is dead,	22:29
	why trouble the teacher any further?	22:32
	But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler	22:35
	of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe.	22:37
	And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James	22:40
	and John, the brother of James.	22:44
	When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue,	22:46
	he saw a tumult and people weeping and wailing loudly.	22:49
	And when he had entered he said to them,	22:52
	why do you make a tumult and weep?	22:54
	The child is not dead but sleeping.	22:56
	And they laughed at him.	22:59
	But he put them all outside and took the child's father	23:01
	and mother and those who were with him and went in	23:04
	where the child was.	23:06
	Taking her by the hand he said to her, talitha koum,	23:08
	which means, little girl, I say to you, arise.	23:12
	And immediately, the girl got up and walked,	23:16
	she was 12 years of age, and they were immediately	23:19
	overcome with amazement.	23:21
	And he strictly charged them that no one should know this	23:23
	and told them to give her something to eat.	23:26
	Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson, amen.	23:29
	(slow organ music)	23:32
	(choir sings)	23:40
-	It's a privilege to share in this service this morning	24:36
	with Paula and John.	24:39
	Paula now serves in the same capacity in the divinity school	24:41
	which I served for three years, so I can empathize with her	24:45
	and sympathize with her in the responsibilities	24:50
	and the decisions that are hers.	24:54
	John has just completed his undergraduate studies	24:56
	and his law school work here at Duke	24:59
	and soon will be beginning his law school practice	25:02
	in New York City.	25:05
	John, we wish you all of God's blessings	25:06
	and hope that your influence can be a sustaining	25:10
	and leavening one for the legal profession as you come into	25:15
	contact with it.	25:19
	Let us pray.	25:21
	Take now, oh Lord, our words, our thoughts,	25:26
	all that we are and all that happens within us	25:32
	in these moments	25:36
	and use them for your glory,	25:38
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray.	25:42
	Amen.	25:46
	There's a small book on the New York Times Bestseller list	25:51
	that has been there for several months now.	25:55
	It's something of an unusual book to find there.	25:59
	Because it is a religious book.	26:03
	And you don't find many religious books on the bestseller	26:08
	list unless there is one by Billy Graham or by	26:11
	Norman Vincent Peale.	26:15
	This book is not only very small, it's also very simple.	26:18
	A simple book that deals with a common,	26:23
	universal experience of life.	26:27
	When Bad Things Happen To Good People, is the title	26:31
	of this book.	26:37
	It was given to me by a good friend,	26:40
	one who is, herself, a good person	26:42
	and one who, herself, who has known what it is	26:47
	to have bad things happen to good people.	26:50
	Written by Harold S. Kushner, a Jewish rabbi,	26:56
	serving the temple Israel congregation	26:59
	in Natick, Massachusets.	27:01
	The book deals with a question as old as Job himself	27:03
	or perhaps even older than Job.	27:09
	Why do bad things happen to good people?	27:13
	The book deals with reality.	27:20
	The reality of the good and faithful life that Rabbi Kushner	27:24
	and his wife and his family lived.	27:28
	The reality of the tragic, incurable disease that their	27:32
	young son, Aaron, faced and experienced.	27:36
	Aaron was two years old and on the very day in which	27:41
	his younger sister was born, the family pediatrician	27:45
	walked into the hospital room and told his mother and daddy	27:48
	that Aaron had progeria, the aging disease.	27:54
	They soon learned that this would mean that Aaron	28:00
	would never grow much beyond three feet tall,	28:02
	that he would have no hair on his head nor on his body	28:04
	anywhere, that he would look like a little old man	28:07
	while he was still a child and that he would die	28:10
	in his early teens.	28:12
	Rabbi Kushner writes: What I mostly felt that day	28:16
	was a deep aching sense of unfairness.	28:19
	It did not make any sense.	28:25
	I had been a good person.	28:27
	I had tried to do what was right in the sight of God,	28:31
	more than that, I was living a more religiously	28:33
	committed life than most people I knew, many of whom had	28:36
	large, healthy families.	28:40
	I believed that I was following God's way	28:43
	and doing God's work, how could this be happening	28:45
	to my family?	28:49
	If God existed, if God was even minimally fair,	28:51
	let alone loving and forgiving, how could God do this to me?	28:56
	And he continues: But even if I could persuade myself	29:03
	that I deserved this punishment, on what grounds did Aaron	29:06
	have to suffer?	29:12
	He was an innocent child, a happy, outgoing three year old.	29:14
	Why should have to suffer physical and psychological pain	29:19
	every day of his life?	29:23
	Why should have to be stared at, pointed at wherever	29:25
	he went; it simply did not make sense.	29:28
	I could only repeat over and over again, in my mind,	29:32
	this can't be happening, it is not how the world	29:35
	is suppose to work.	29:38
	Tragedies like this are supposed to happen to selfish,	29:39
	dishonest, evil people; how could this be happening to me	29:42
	and to our son?	29:47
	It's no wonder that the book is a best seller.	29:51
	It's no wonder that Rabbi Kushner is now very much in demand	29:54
	to appear on radio and TV talk shows, to speak to religious	29:57
	and civic groups across the country	30:02
	to share his life's experiences, his and his wife's	30:04
	and their son's to tell their story.	30:08
	To share his philosophy, his theology, his beliefs	30:11
	to all of us in all conditions of life, to all of us	30:15
	from all walks of life of all kinds of religious persuasions	30:19
	and to those of us of no religious persuasion whatsoever.	30:23
	The story is as old as Job, it is as new as the Pan Am crash	30:27
	in New Orleans, Louisiana.	30:32
	It is as far away as the bombed-out homes	30:40
	in Beirut, Lebanon.	30:43
	It is as close as your home	30:48
	or your apartment, or your neighbors across the street	30:53
	or around the corner.	30:58
	For we all know secondhand and firsthand	31:00
	what it is to have bad things happen to good people.	31:04
	For bad things do happen to good people,	31:10
	to very good people.	31:13
	Bad things have always happened to good people	31:16
	but when bad things happen to people, it does not mean	31:19
	that the people to whom they happen are bad.	31:22
	Bad things happen to good people and they happen	31:28
	to bad people.	31:30
	We have all had bad things happen to us whether we are good	31:32
	or whether we are bad.	31:36
	Bad things just happen to the good and the bad.	31:39
	And good things just happen to the good and to the bad.	31:45
	Jesus answered this argument by saying that the rain falls	31:51
	on the just and the unjust, the good and the bad.	31:56
	We also know that the sun shines on the good and the bad,	32:01
	on the just and the unjust.	32:06
	And Kushner reminds us that God has placed us in a world	32:09
	where many more good things than bad things happen	32:13
	to most all of us.	32:17
	And I think that is true.	32:22
	I wish I could remember the specifics of it because	32:25
	somewhere several years ago I read, and maybe some	32:28
	of you know, hospital insurance people probably would know,	32:32
	but I read somewhere how many days the average person	32:35
	spends in the hospital.	32:38
	And it's very, very few days that the average American,	32:41
	anyhow, spends in the hospital.	32:46
	We experience many more moments of joy than of sadness.	32:49
	The telephone more often brings good news than bad.	32:53
	And the letter more often makes us feel good	32:56
	than it does bad.	32:59
	Tragedy pain, suffering, heartache, are more the exception	33:01
	than they are the norm.	33:05
	We have many, many more sunny days than stormy ones.	33:07
	We meet many more smiles than we do frowns.	33:13
	It is true that, for most of us, life is far more good	33:17
	than it is bad.	33:22
	But that does not make the bad any more bearable	33:25
	when it happens to us.	33:32
	Bad things do happen to good people,	33:37
	to us and to other good people.	33:40
	A young four year old boy is crushed to death	33:46
	as he goes outside his yard to watch the bulldozer	33:48
	that's grading in the yard next door.	33:52
	Hundreds of party-goers, last summer, were killed	33:55
	at the Kansas City Crown Center Hotel, dancing and having	33:58
	a good time when a walkway broke and hundreds of people	34:02
	were crushed below it.	34:05
	An Air Florida plan takes off	34:08
	from Washington National Airport in a snowstorm and	34:09
	never makes it.	34:14
	Pan Am jet heads from New Orleans to Las Vegas	34:16
	and all on board and many on the ground are killed.	34:20
	Twenty-seven innocent children in Atlanta	34:24
	are mysteriously murdered, one-by-one,	34:27
	over a two year period.	34:29
	A young woman, faithful and loving to her husband,	34:32
	wakes up one morning and reads her husband's note that	34:35
	he has written that says that he has gone to live	34:38
	with another woman, that their marriage is over.	34:41
	A young man have a very difficult time with job, after job,	34:44
	after job, his marriage is over, his divorce is final,	34:47
	he begins therapy and learns that he is schizophrenic	34:53
	and that means that he knows that he will have to live	34:56
	with that all the rest of his life.	34:59
	A minister friend of mine had a son who was	35:01
	in his first year in college,	35:04
	he and two other boys were in a little Volkswagen.	35:07
	A 14 year old boy who was driving a car with a grown man,	35:11
	drunk, lying the floorboard of the car,	35:15
	swerved across the road and hit them head-on	35:17
	and killed the driver of the car.	35:20
	The son of this minister friend of ours	35:22
	was critically injured.	35:24
	The drunk man and the little boy, young boy driving	35:27
	the other car got out and walked away.	35:30
	A bright, young, 21 year old Carolina student,	35:36
	leader of Christian groups, faithful to God,	35:39
	and loving to his friends had open-heart surgery here	35:42
	in the Duke Medical Center and didn't make it.	35:45
	A Duke student, five or six years ago now,	35:49
	home on Christmas vacation, she and her mother and father	35:53
	and her brother and sister were riding on a road	35:56
	between Asheville and Bravard and a car swerved	35:59
	across the road and hit their Volkswagen van, head-on.	36:01
	Her father was killed, her mother was a permanent invalid,	36:06
	she, herself, was injured, her sister was injured, and,	36:09
	all of sudden, she became the head of a household of three.	36:12
	And you could go on, and on, and on, just as I could	36:20
	because, my friends, bad things happen to good people	36:25
	and they happen all the time, everywhere.	36:29
	They happen to strangers whom we know not on the other side	36:32
	of the world, they happen to friends and neighbors	36:35
	of yours and mine, they happen to members of our families,	36:37
	and they happen to you, and they happen to me.	36:40
	Do bad things happen to good people	36:45
	because this is God's will?	36:47
	I do not think so.	36:53
	The Jews in the Old Testament did not think so.	36:57
	Job did not think so.	37:01
	Jesus did not think so.	37:04
	The early church did not think so.	37:07
	God does not will that innocent people suffer.	37:10
	It is God's will, I believe, for all persons to know	37:16
	goodness and health and fulfillment in life.	37:19
	To say that a tragic experience is God's will may seem	37:23
	to help, for the moment.	37:26
	Blaming God,	37:30
	saying that a tragic experience is God's will	37:33
	may really be the easy way out.	37:37
	Stand beside the bed of 11 year old girl who's dying of	37:43
	Leukemia, if you will, and tell me that that's God's will.	37:46
	Do bad things happen to good people because	37:56
	the suffering one has sinned?	37:59
	Not necessarily so.	38:04
	Jesus refuted this argument, clearly, you remember he	38:08
	and the disciples were passing a man who had been blind	38:10
	from his birth and the disciples asked Jesus, they said,	38:13
	Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he has been	38:16
	blind since his birth?	38:21
	Jesus answered: It was not that this man sinned,	38:23
	nor that his parents sinned.	38:26
	Some suffering, though, is inevitably the result of sin.	38:29
	Greed and the lust for power of Menachem Begin	38:36
	and, perhaps, others in Israel,	38:41
	surely must account for the suffering of hundreds	38:43
	and thousands of people in Lebanon today.	38:45
	That's suffering that is the result of sin.	38:49
	Greed, and lust, and jealousy, and resentment of others.	38:53
	Other sins of the flesh and of the spirit often bring	39:00
	on suffering but all sin does not result in suffering.	39:02
	And all suffering is certainly not the result of sin.	39:07
	Why is it that we think that everything that happens	39:12
	has to have a reason for happening?	39:15
	Why is it that we think that we have to	39:18
	understand everything that happens?	39:19
	Why is it that we think that we have to blame God	39:22
	when we can't think of anyone else to blame?	39:24
	Or that we blame ourselves or that we blame somebody else	39:26
	when something goes wrong?	39:30
	Why, my friends, can we not simply accept the fact	39:31
	that some things just happen?	39:35
	It is far more easy for me,	39:43
	far more compatible with my view of who God is,	39:47
	far more consistent, I believe, with the view of God	39:51
	we have in the Old Testament and the New Testament,	39:55
	and the God whom we see in Jesus	39:57
	to have a God who is limited,	40:01
	a God who does not do everything,	40:04
	does not control everything than it is to have a God	40:08
	who causes the innocent to suffer or to have a God	40:11
	who deliberately, willfully causes bad things to happen	40:15
	to good people.	40:20
	Give me a God whose power is limited any time	40:22
	before you give me a God who capriciously flaunts	40:26
	power and tragedy on the innocent as well as the evil.	40:29
	God can do anything and everything that God wants to do.	40:34
	I do believe that.	40:39
	But God chooses not to interfere or intrude into any	40:41
	and all aspects of our life.	40:45
	God chooses to limit, to stand back, to wait,	40:48
	to let us be free and responsible children who will suffer	40:52
	and grow, who will hurt and heal, who will fall and fail.	40:57
	All the bad that happens is not because we have sinned.	41:06
	All the bad that happens is not because it is God's will.	41:10
	Why can we not simply believe that some things just happen?	41:14
	A blood vessel just breaks.	41:20
	Diseased germs just strike.	41:23
	A young boy just drowns.	41:26
	An airplane engine just fails.	41:29
	An automobile just goes haywire.	41:32
	A marriage just breaks apart.	41:35
	Or a heart just stops beating.	41:37
	I am absolutely amazed and you are too, my friends,	41:42
	when you stop and think about it.	41:46
	I'm absolutely amazed and utterly appalled at how much	41:48
	and at what kinds of suffering some people endure.	41:54
	You wouldn't know this woman, so I'll share this with you,	42:01
	I think the most tragic human plight I have heard	42:04
	came from a woman who came to talk with me	42:08
	a year or so ago now.	42:12
	I really don't know where she lives	42:16
	but 12 years ago, her husband died after he had cancer	42:20
	for three years.	42:26
	After he had had Leukemia for three years.	42:29
	Almost to the day, one year after her husband died,	42:34
	their 11 year old daughter was run over by a car and killed.	42:39
	She moved away from that town	42:48
	and she and her two teenage boys settled in another town.	42:51
	And just six months before she came to talk to me,	42:59
	she learned the she, herself, had terminal cancer.	43:02
	I'm absolutely amazed and utterly appalled	43:10
	at the suffering that some people endure	43:16
	and at the suffering that many, many children endure.	43:18
	Innocent, helpless children	43:24
	all around the world endure.	43:27
	So bad things do happen to good people, we know that.	43:32
	We've experienced some of those bad things ourselves	43:36
	and our loved ones have.	43:38
	There are no easy answers to explain these experiences	43:43
	which are common to us all.	43:48
	Perhaps, there are no answers at all.	43:55
	I hope you can live with that.	44:05
	I hope I can live with that myself, namely that there are	44:09
	some experiences in life, some bad experiences in life	44:12
	that just happen to good people and that we will not know	44:16
	or find the answers now.	44:20
	Perhaps Paul was right when he said, eye hath not seen	44:24
	nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart	44:27
	of anyone what God hath prepared for those who love God.	44:29
	We have not seen, we do not know now.	44:34
	Perhaps Paul was right, as a matter of fact,	44:38
	I'm convinced that he was right when he said,	44:41
	now we see through a glass darkly.	44:43
	And we do.	44:49
	Darkly and dimly.	44:52
	But one day we will see, face to face,	44:56
	and we will understand clearly.	45:00
	But, perhaps, the real question is not do we find answers	45:05
	to the questions of why bad things happen to good people.	45:08
	Perhaps, the more important question is the one that	45:12
	Kushner poses for us near the end of his little book.	45:14
	As he says, maybe the real question that we need	45:19
	to ask ourselves is what do we do	45:22
	once the bad things have happened to us?	45:26
	What do you do in the midst of a bad or tragic experience?	45:33
	What do you do when that bad or tragic experience is over?	45:37
	William James, a noted authority on the psychology	45:43
	of religion at the turn of the century tells us	45:46
	that the real test of the meaning of any experience	45:49
	is our answer the question of	45:54
	what difference does that experience make?	45:58
	So maybe the real question is not are there answers	46:06
	to the question of why good people suffer bad experiences	46:08
	but maybe the real question is what do we do,	46:14
	whether we're good people or whether we're bad people,	46:19
	what do we do once we have experienced that tragic	46:22
	or that bad experience?	46:26
	I think the three lessons which were read this morning	46:29
	as our lectionary lessons gives us three.	46:31

-	Insights as to how we can let bad experiences	0:04
	that come to us make a positive difference in our lives.	0:09
	First, pray to God.	0:16
	Second, come together with one another.	0:19
	Third, have faith in God.	0:23
	Pray to God.	0:28
	The writer of Lamentations writing of the laments	0:30
	of the people of Israel over the bad things	0:33
	that had happened to them as God's people,	0:35
	as God's faithful people, mind you,	0:38
	tells us in this passage,	0:41
	remember my affliction and my bitterness,	0:45
	the wormwood and the gall,	0:47
	my soul continually thinks of it and is	0:50
	and is bowed down within me.	0:53
	They have suffered affliction and bitterness	0:56
	but this I call to mind	1:00
	and therefore I have hope	1:02
	that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,	1:04
	his mercies never end, they are new every morning.	1:08
	Great is thy faithfulness, oh God.	1:14
	And that way we know that the steadfast love	1:19
	of the Lord never ceases is through prayer.	1:21
	Prayer is hard, I believe.	1:25
	Prayer is especially hard in times of darkness.	1:28
	It may be hard to know God,	1:33
	to find God or to feel God	1:35
	but sometimes, sometimes we may have to live	1:38
	with the reality that we do not know God	1:43
	in a given moment and simply be content that God knows us.	1:46
	Come together with one another.	2:00
	The early Christians in Macedonia	2:03
	had suffered much affliction	2:05
	yet in and through all of that affliction,	2:07
	Paul tells us in this letter to the Corinthian church	2:11
	that their love and generosity were an example	2:14
	that he wanted to hold up to the church at Corinth	2:16
	and that he wanted to hold up to us.	2:19
	Strange, isn't it?	2:23
	In moments of tragedy when we hit the bottom rung	2:25
	of the ladder of life,	2:28
	when the darkest of clouds hover around us	2:30
	and over us, strange, isn't it	2:33
	how warm and caring and gentle hands touch us	2:35
	and hold us up and love us.	2:43
	One of the things, one of the beautiful things	2:48
	for me about being minister to the university	2:51
	in this university community	2:53
	is that during my nine years now as minster in this place,	2:57
	I have seen much that both surprises me and pleases me	3:03
	about how much love and affection and attention	3:07
	are focused on a family here	3:12
	when some bad thing has happened.	3:13
	Often I think that this is a cold	3:17
	and competitive and callous and uncaring place	3:20
	and it is much of the time	3:24
	but when someone hurts or suffers	3:31
	or is in real need,	3:35
	the hard stones which we see around us become soft hearts.	3:40
	The clenched fists become loving hands	3:48
	and the preoccupied selves become persons	3:54
	who are concerned about others	3:57
	for tragedy somehow or other puts us in touch	4:01
	with other people,	4:03
	suffering pulls us out of our isolation.	4:05
	Bad experiences often bring us together	4:10
	in beautiful, beautiful moments.	4:12
	There have been times in my own life	4:17
	that the only thing that has kept me going	4:19
	has been the awareness	4:23
	that there is somebody else in this place	4:24
	who cares about me.	4:28
	The Mark passage for this morning tells us	4:36
	of some good folks who had had bad things	4:39
	to happen to them,	4:41
	Jairus' daughter was sick	4:43
	and near the point of death	4:45
	and Jairus was heart broken.	4:46
	The woman had been suffering with a hemorrhage for 12 years.	4:51
	Bad things.	4:58
	These folks knew those bad things.	5:03
	Do you know what it was that brought healing	5:08
	and health and wholeness to each one of them?	5:10
	What it was that restored each one of them to new life?	5:14
	Faith.	5:20
	Each of them, all of them,	5:23
	every one of them had faith in Jesus,	5:25
	in the midst of death, in the midst of heart break,	5:29
	in the midst of an incurable hemorrhage of blood,	5:33
	they simply believed in the presence	5:38
	and in the power of Christ.	5:40
	They had faith in God	5:42
	and sometimes that's all we have.	5:46
	Faith, faith in God.	5:50
	And we find the power to see a bad experience through	5:55
	to a victorious end.	6:00
	Perhaps that's all we can ever ask for	6:04
	or hope for or expect.	6:08
	The power to see it through.	6:13
	Some of you know that GA Studdert Kennedy	6:16
	is one of my favorite writers.	6:18
	He was chaplain during the First World War,	6:20
	an English chaplain.	6:22
	He was known as Woodbine Willy.	6:24
	His poetry is powerful and penetrating.	6:28
	I close with some lines of his	6:33
	that are entitled Thy Will Be Done.	6:36
	But I've just been reading a story here	6:42
	of the night before Jesus died	6:45
	and of how he prayed in Gethsemane	6:48
	and how he fell on his face and cried,	6:51
	cried to the Lord Almighty above	6:55
	'til he broke in bloody sweat	6:58
	and he were the Son of the Lord he were	7:01
	and he prayed to him hard	7:05
	and yet, and yet he had to go through with it, boys,	7:06
	he prayed to the Lord and he sweated blood	7:12
	and yet he were crucified	7:14
	but his prayer were answered,	7:20
	I sees it now	7:23
	for though he were sorely tried, still he went	7:25
	with his trust in the Lord unbroke	7:29
	and his soul it were satisfied	7:32
	for he felt he were doing God's will, you see,	7:36
	what he came on Earth to do	7:38
	and the answer what came to the prayers he prayed	7:40
	were his power to see it through,	7:43
	to see it through to the bitter end	7:47
	and to die like a God at the last	7:49
	and the glory of light that were dawning bright	7:52
	with the sorrow of death all past	7:55
	and the Christ who was hung on the cross is God,	7:58
	true God for me and you	8:03
	or the only God that we can trust	8:07
	is the God who sees us through.	8:10
	Amen.	8:16
	(tranquil organ music)	8:24
	(congregation sings)	9:12
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	11:54
-	We believe in God who has created	11:57
	and is creating, who has come in the truly human Jesus	12:01
	to reconcile and make new,	12:06
	who works in us and others by the Spirit.	12:09
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	12:14
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	12:19
	to love and serve others,	12:22
	to seek justice and resist evil,	12:25
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	12:29
	our judge and our hope.	12:33
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	12:36
	God is with us.	12:40
	We are not alone.	12:42
	Thanks be to God.	12:45
	The Lord be with you.	12:47
-	And also with you.	12:50
-	Let us pray.	12:52
	Oh God, you who have created us	13:04
	and who sustains us,	13:08
	be near to us this morning.	13:10
	Lord, you know that each day we live in a world	13:13
	that is a little bit different,	13:16
	different because of events that take place	13:19
	in our own individuals lives	13:21
	and the lives of our family members	13:23
	and those in our community and in our nation.	13:25
	And Lord, we know that to live in the world,	13:28
	we have to live in requires faith	13:31
	and love and courage.	13:33
	Take us by the hand and teach us the things	13:37
	we need to know.	13:40
	Remind us that all men and women are not just,	13:42
	that all persons are not true	13:46
	but teach us also that for every scoundrel	13:49
	there is a hero,	13:52
	that for every crooked politician	13:53
	there is a dedicated leader,	13:55
	that for every enemy there is a friend.	13:58
	Lord, teach us to learn to lose	14:02
	and to enjoy the winning.	14:04
	Steer us away from envy and teach us the secret	14:07
	of quiet laughter.	14:10
	Teach us the wonder of books	14:12
	but also give us quiet time to ponder	14:14
	the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,	14:16
	bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill.	14:19
	Lord, teach us how to laugh	14:24
	when we are sad, teach us that there is no shame in tears,	14:26
	teach us that there can be glory in failure	14:32
	and despair in success.	14:35
	Lord, teach us to scoff at cynics and pessimists	14:39
	and to beware of too much sweetness.	14:41
	Lead us so that we do not put a price tag	14:44
	on our hearts and souls.	14:46
	Lord, give us strength not to follow the crowd	14:49
	when everyone is getting on the bandwagon.	14:52
	Help us to ignore those voices	14:55
	which would enticingly lead us away from you	14:57
	but also God, remind us	15:01
	that there are times when we must stand	15:02
	and fight for what we believe and know to be right.	15:04
	Grant us courage to be impatient,	15:07
	grant us the patience to be brave.	15:10
	Lord, teach us to accept your forgiveness	15:14
	and to allow the past no longer to haunt us.	15:17
	Spur us to live each moment	15:21
	so that not one drop	15:23
	of its sweet grace and blessing is lost.	15:24
	Remind us that the future is opened,	15:27
	exciting and filled with your promises.	15:30
	Lord, teach us to love the unlovely,	15:34
	to turn toward those who need us	15:37
	instead of turning away,	15:39
	to reach out and touch the ones we work with	15:41
	and live beside.	15:44
	Teach us that we are part of a worldwide community,	15:46
	that the pain and suffering of persons in Poland,	15:49
	in Lebanon, the grief and agony of those	15:52
	in Argentina and Great Britain	15:56
	and the agony of the families	15:58
	of those who died in the airplane crash	15:59
	in New Orleans is our pain and suffering too.	16:01
	Lord, we know that this is a huge prayer	16:05
	and that more often than not we are slow learners	16:08
	but teach us all these things, Lord,	16:11
	if you can for we ask them in the name	16:13
	of your Son who offered up his whole life	16:15
	to you as a prayer	16:18
	and who taught us to pray saying.	16:20
-	Our Father who art in heaven,	16:22
	hallowed be thy name,	16:26
	thy kingdom come, they will be done	16:28
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	16:32
	Give us this day our daily bread	16:35
	and forgive us our trespasses	16:37
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	16:40
	and lead us not into temptation	16:44
	but deliver us from evil	16:47
	for thine is the kingdom,	16:50
	and the power and the glory forever.	16:52
	Amen.	16:55
	(tranquil organ music)	17:06
	(lively organ music)	18:56
	(choir sings)	19:05
	(lively organ music)	21:57
	(lively organ music)	23:51
	(congregation sings)	24:10
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:22
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:25
	(congregation sings)	24:29
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:42
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:44
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:47
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:51
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:54
	♪ Amen ♪	25:02
-	Oh God, most merciful and gracious	25:14
	of whose bounty we have all received.	25:17
	Accept this offering of your people.	25:20
	Remember in your love those who have brought it	25:23
	and those for whom it is given	25:26
	and so, follow it with your blessing	25:28
	that it may promote peace and goodwill among men	25:30
	and women and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Savior,	25:33
	Jesus Christ, amen.	25:36
	(lively organ music)	25:41
	(congregation sings)	26:27
	In the days ahead, when bad things happen to good people,	29:56
	let us take hold of our faith	30:00
	and use prayer and fellowship	30:02
	and the faith in the our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ	30:06
	to guide us through those times.	30:09
	And now may the peace of God	30:11
	which passes all understanding	30:13
	keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge	30:15
	and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord	30:18
	and the Blessing of God Almighty,	30:22
	the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit	30:24
	be with you and remain with you always.	30:28
	Amen.	30:31
	♪ Amen ♪	30:38
	♪ Amen ♪	30:45
	♪ Amen ♪	30:53
	♪ Amen ♪	31:01
	(lively organ music)	31:12

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (July 11, 1982)

Description:

The preacher considers the question of why good people suffer and replies that this is definitively not because God wills such suffering. Rather, the preacher believes that God limits God's actions to allow for human freedom. The preacher goes on to say that the better questions is not to ask why good people suffer but what will we do when that suffering comes our way? The preacher gives three final charges for how to respond to this suffering: Pray to God. Come together. And have faith in God. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 24:36. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 08:16.
Key quotation: "Give me a God whose power is limited anytime before you give me a God who capriciously flaunts power and tragedy on the innocent as well as the evil."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4xp6vh8j

Date:

July 11, 1982

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0088
ref7699_9co
uachapelsermaud
duke:320383
dcrau001080
ark:/87924/r4xp6vh8j
e3970b14-da27-4724-a292-6a5ce93cf641

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Robert T. Young - "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (July 11, 1982)

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1. Robert T. Young - "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (July 11, 1982)

Duke University Archives

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Robert T. Young - "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (July 11, 1982)

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