Clarence G. Newsome - "When We Live Without Walls" (May 22, 1983)

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	(organ music)	0:03
	(organ music)	0:38
	(choir singing)	3:33
	(organ music)	4:52
	(choir singing)	5:36
-	Hallelujah, the spirit of the Lord	8:35
	renews the face of the earth.	8:37
	Come let us adore him.	8:40
	Hallelujah.	8:43
	Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father	8:44
	and from the Lord Jesus Christ.	8:48
	Let us confess our sins unto almighty God.	8:55
	Almighty God who sends the power of your holy spirit	9:11
	to fill the cycles with willing love	9:15
	to overcome confusion,	9:19
	to make us scouted people one with each other and with you.	9:21
	We confess that we have held back	9:26
	the force of your spirit among us.	9:29
	Our hatreds cause us to rebel against your desire for unity.	9:32
	By our arrogance is the community fractured.	9:37
	By our greed are the poor kept poor	9:41
	and righteousness thwarted.	9:45
	By our angers are wars begun	9:47
	and the humility firmly diminished.	9:50
	Have mercy on us, oh God.	9:53
	Let your tongues of fire burn away fears,	9:56
	our falseness, our pride.	10:01
	Feeling your spirit's cleansing embrace,	10:04
	prompt us to be makers of peace.	10:07
	For the sake of your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.	10:10
	Amen.	10:15
	Almighty God have mercy on you,	10:54
	forgive you all your sins through our lord Jesus Christ,	10:57
	strengthen you in all goodness	11:02
	and by the power of the Holy Spirit,	11:06
	keep you in eternal life.	11:08
	Amen.	11:11
	Let us give thanks.	11:13
	For God is good	11:15
	and God's love is everlasting.	11:17
	Thanks be to God	11:20
	whose love creates us,	11:22
	whose mercy redeems us.	11:24
	Thanks be to God	11:27
	whose grace leads us into the future.	11:28
	Good morning and welcome to Duke University Chapel	11:36
	on this day of Pentecost.	11:40
	There are a couple of announcements.	11:43
	One is that there has recently been completed,	11:48
	an inventory of all of	11:51
	the magnificent stained glass windows,	11:53
	a photographic record	11:56
	of all these stained glass windows here in the chapel	11:59
	and this collection is going to be	12:03
	put in the university archives in the library,	12:06
	but before that happens, on Wednesday, May 25,	12:10
	there will be an informal reception downstairs in the chapel	12:14
	from 2 o'clock to 5 o'clock in the afternoon	12:18
	and there will be refreshments then	12:22
	and all of you who are so inclined	12:26
	and all of you that are listening on the radio	12:30
	who wish to view these photographs	12:32
	are welcome to do so then.	12:34
	That's Wednesday, May 25.	12:37
	Also	12:41
	the choir	12:43
	is constituted differently in the summer	12:45
	and there has gone out a invitation from Donna Sparks	12:49
	for all people who wish to	12:52
	try out and be members of	12:55
	the Duke University Chapel Choir during the summer.	12:57
	Please	13:01
	know that they can do that.	13:04
	Another announce that I'm sure all of you	13:11
	are interested and concerned about:	13:13
	the Reverend Dr. Robert Young, Dean of the Chapel,	13:18
	has suffered another heart attack, small heart attack,	13:23
	and is now convalescing in the Duke University Hospital.	13:27
	His attack came while on a fishing trip in South Carolina.	13:32
	Bob is expected to leave the hospital	13:37
	Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week	13:40
	and to return home for a period of a month,	13:44
	for recuperation and repair,	13:47
	in preparation for a double bypass heart operation	13:50
	scheduled for later this summer.	13:55
	He specifically asked me this morning	13:58
	to request from you prayers and your good wishes.	14:01
	As always, Bob is chipper	14:06
	and in good spirits.	14:09
-	As we prepare ourselves to hear God's word	14:27
	read and proclaimed, let us pray.	14:30
	Blessed Lord	14:35
	who has caused all holy scriptures	14:37
	to be written for our learning,	14:40
	grant that we may and suchwise hear them,	14:41
	read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them.	14:44
	That by patience and comfort of you holy word,	14:50
	we may embrace and ever hold fast	14:54
	the blessed hope of everlasting life	14:57
	which you have given us in our savior, Jesus Christ.	15:00
	Amen.	15:04
	The Old Testament lesson	15:07
	is Nehemiah 2:17-20.	15:09
	Then I said to them,	15:13
	"You see the trouble we are in,	15:17
	"how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned.	15:20
	"Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem,	15:25
	"that we may no longer suffer disgrace."	15:28
	And I told them of the hand of my God	15:31
	which had been upon me for good,	15:34
	and also of the words that the king had spoken to me.	15:36
	And they said, "Let us rise up and build."	15:41
	So they strengthened their hands for the good work.	15:45
	But when Sanballat the Horonite	15:49
	and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite	15:51
	and Geshem the Arab heard of it,	15:54
	they derided at us and despised us saying,	15:57
	"What is this thing that you are doing?	16:01
	"Are you rebelling against the king?"	16:04
	Then I replied to them,	16:07
	"The God of heaven will make us prosper,	16:09
	"and we his servants will arise and build,	16:12
	"but you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem."	16:16
	Here ends the reading	16:22
	from the Old Testament.	16:24
	The Epistle lesson	16:27
	is from Ephesians 2:11-22.	16:29
	Therefore remember, at one time you gentiles in the flesh,	16:39
	called the uncircumcision by what is called	16:43
	the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.	16:47
	Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ,	16:51
	alienated from the commonwealth of Israel	16:55
	and strangers to the covenant of promise,	16:59
	having no hope and without God in the world.	17:02
	But now in Christ Jesus	17:06
	you who once were far off	17:09
	have been brought near by the blood of Christ.	17:11
	For he is our peace, who has made us both one	17:14
	and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility	17:19
	by abolishing, in his flesh,	17:22
	the law of commandments and ordinances,	17:25
	that he might create in himself	17:29
	one new man in place of the two, so making peace,	17:31
	and might reconcile us both to God in the one body	17:34
	through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.	17:39
	And he came and preached peace to you	17:45
	who were far off and peace to those who were near.	17:48
	For through him we both have access	17:52
	in one spirit to the Father.	17:55
	So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners,	17:57
	but you are fellow citizens with the saints	18:01
	and members of the household of God,	18:04
	built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,	18:07
	Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,	18:11
	in whom the whole structure is joined together	18:16
	and grows into a holy temple in the Lord	18:19
	in whom you also built into it	18:23
	for a dwelling place for God	18:26
	in the spirit.	18:28
	Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson.	18:30
	(organ music)	18:40
	(choir singing)	19:03
	Will the congregation please stand	20:27
	for the reading of the gospel lesson?	20:28
	The gospel lesson is from John 14:25-31.	20:34
	"These things I have spoken to	20:43
	"you while I am still with you.	20:46
	"But the counselor, the Holy Spirit,	20:48
	"whom the Father will send in my name,	20:51
	"he will teach you all things	20:53
	"and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.	20:56
	"Peace I leave with you;	21:00
	"my peace I give to you.	21:03
	"Not as the world gives do I give to you.	21:06
	"Let not your hearts be troubled,	21:09
	"neither let them be afraid.	21:12
	"You heard me say to you,	21:14
	"'I go away, and I will come to you.'	21:17
	"If you loved me, you would have rejoiced,	21:21
	"because I go to the Father	21:25
	"and the Father is greater than I.	21:27
	"And now I have told you before it takes place,	21:30
	"so that when it does take place you may believe.	21:33
	"I will no longer talk much with you,	21:37
	"for the ruler of this world is coming.	21:41
	"He has no power over me,	21:44
	"but I do as the Father has commanded me,	21:47
	"so that the world may know that I love the Father.	21:50
	"Rise, let us go hence."	21:54
	(organ music)	22:01
	(choir singing)	22:09
-	Let us pray.	23:10
	Almighty, all wise and all gracious God,	23:14
	look now upon your servant,	23:19
	fill his heart with divine intent	23:25
	so that the words which come forth	23:32
	will redound to your glory,	23:36
	our uplifting	23:41
	and edification.	23:45
	Amen.	23:48
	When we live	23:57
	without walls.	24:00
	When we live	24:05
	without walls.	24:11
	This is Pentecost Sunday.	24:17
	Traditionally, this is the Sunday	24:22
	we celebrate the birth	24:26
	of the Christian church,	24:29
	not because the church actually began on Pentecost.	24:33
	For surely the church was already present in the lives of	24:38
	the disciples,	24:43
	during the life of Jesus and prior to his death	24:45
	and resurrection.	24:51
	But on Pentecost	24:55
	the spirit of God descended upon the church,	24:59
	empowering it for witness and mission,	25:04
	preaching and service.	25:10
	In the second chapter of Acts	25:17
	we get the picture of	25:22
	the spirit descending like a mighty rush of wind.	25:25
	So great was it	25:36
	that the disciples, the apostles,	25:39
	began to speak with tongues of fire.	25:41
	I suppose it's possible to read that passage	25:48
	and get the picture of a situation	25:55
	that was really perhaps,	25:59
	from one angle of vision, rather chaotic	26:02
	and rather confused, rather disarranged.	26:06
	For we can imagine not only were	26:13
	the apostles given to speaking in tongues	26:17
	or given to glossolalia,	26:19
	but to certain bodily affections or paroxysm	26:24
	so characteristic of revivals during the 19th century	26:28
	and even now those kind of bodily spasms	26:33
	that some of us come to expect when we visit revivals.	26:38
	Indeed some of the onlookers	26:45
	on that day that the spirit of God descended	26:48
	concluded that the apostles were drunk with new wine,	26:52
	a strong, potent fermented wine.	26:56
	For them the situation	27:02
	was out of control, chaotic,	27:05
	but things are not always as they seem.	27:10
	Though it appeared that the apostles	27:17
	spoke in a foreign tongue,	27:19
	there were many who actually understood,	27:21
	in their own language, the glory	27:24
	of God at work.	27:29
	And while for some the situation	27:37
	was confused and disarranged,	27:41
	it seems to me that the apostles were given to this behavior	27:46
	precisely because there was,	27:51
	experienced at that very moment,	27:53
	an inner, great, magnificent	27:56
	peace.	28:00
	Ever since I came to understand	28:08
	the meaning of Pentecost, it seemed to me	28:12
	that the untold story of Pentecost	28:15
	was the peace that the apostles felt	28:20
	on that day.	28:25
	Yes indeed, the story of Pentecost is indeed	28:29
	the empowerment of the church	28:32
	by the work of the Holy Spirit,	28:35
	but so often we do not tell the story	28:37
	of the peace of that moment.	28:41
	So glad was I to find peace	28:48
	in our confessional prayer.	28:51
	And it's by no accident that in John we	28:56
	see Jesus leaving peace	28:59
	upon the shoulders and the work of the Holy Spirit.	29:05
	The kind of peace	29:12
	that I think comes through very clearly	29:17
	in Ephesians, the 2nd chapter	29:21
	verses 11-22.	29:26
	When I thought on this peace,	29:32
	my mind was directed to this passage over and over again.	29:35
	Who knows why,	29:40
	except by those categories of reasoning	29:44
	peculiar to the heart.	29:47
	But turning to the passage, I was immediately impressed	29:51
	with verse 14 in the 2nd chapter of Ephesians.	29:55
	Here the author, purportedly a pawling disciple	30:01
	of the next generation, depicts Christ	30:05
	in a most fascinating way.	30:09
	Christ is depicted as our peace.	30:14
	That is as the literal embodiment	30:19
	of the bond of our peace	30:24
	and that Christ	30:29
	broke down and replaced the wall of hostility	30:33
	that divides us at all levels of our social life.	30:40
	He broke them down.	30:44
	He replaced them	30:50
	and offered himself as a bond of peace.	30:53
	Now when it comes to describing	31:00
	divisions among men and women,	31:02
	the wall metaphor, and I'm sure you would	31:06
	readily agree with me, the wall metaphor is ancient.	31:08
	Indeed, if each of us had a proverbial dollar	31:13
	for each time the metaphor has been used,	31:17
	we would all be well beyond the financial problems	31:20
	and concerns posed by an inflated economy.	31:23
	But then it was not	31:30
	the wall as a symbol of human divisiveness	31:32
	that captured my attention.	31:37
	What caught my eye	31:41
	was the sense in which the metaphor	31:45
	in the context of this verse, verse 14,	31:47
	implies; and if this seems too harsh a word or hard a word,	31:52
	forgive me, but I think it's apt;	31:56
	the sense in which the metaphor	31:58
	in the context of this verse implies the very foolishness	32:01
	of building walls	32:08
	for the purpose of securing	32:10
	peace,	32:15
	securing peace both in the way	32:17
	of bringing about peace and protecting,	32:19
	or safeguarding peace,	32:22
	the foolishness of building walls for the purpose	32:23
	of securing peace.	32:27
	Now throughout the history of mankind,	32:32
	the building of walls figures prominently	32:37
	in the efforts of people to achieve and have	32:39
	peace.	32:44
	There are numerous biblical accounts of such	32:47
	and one that comes foremost to mind	32:50
	at the present time	32:53
	is the story of Nehemiah's commitment	32:55
	to rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem,	33:00
	following its destruction	33:04
	in the summer of 586 B.C.	33:07
	For Nehemiah,	33:12
	the peace of Jerusalem	33:15
	was integrally tied up with reconstructing the great wall	33:18
	that once surrounded the city,	33:24
	the temple once refurbished	33:28
	and the inhabitants of the city could be secure	33:30
	only if the wall were rebuilt	33:34
	and so it was rebuilt.	33:41
	And so great a wall was it	33:45
	that at the dedication ceremony	33:48
	Nehemiah was able organize	33:52
	a magnificent and splendid procession upon the wall.	33:54
	Not at the base or the foot of it	33:59
	or in front or behind it, but upon the wall.	34:01
	What a great wall.	34:04
	A procession consisting of all the princes of Judah	34:08
	decked out in their finery, their gold and their jewels.	34:12
	A procession so large	34:18
	that Nehemiah had two great companies upon the wall,	34:22
	one to walk to the right and another to walk to the left,	34:26
	to dedicate and consecrate the wall.	34:30
	Yet, it's altogether ironic.	34:38
	For all that Nehemiah did in getting the wall rebuilt,	34:45
	little was actually accomplished	34:49
	in the way of securing peace for the city.	34:54
	You see, there is something about the nature	35:01
	of walls,	35:05
	something about the nature of walls.	35:07
	Often they arouse hostility and enmity,	35:10
	both without, sometimes we expect that,	35:15
	but also within their boundaries.	35:19
	In the book of Nehemiah for example,	35:25
	we are informed that the wall	35:29
	intensified hostility between the Jews	35:33
	and their enemies:	35:38
	Sumerians, the Ammonites and others.	35:41
	And at the same time, it fostered dissension	35:45
	among the Jews themselves.	35:49
	The enemies stood out from the wall and looked over	35:54
	and began to rumble saying,	35:59
	"You know, those Jews are at it again.	36:00
	"Are they plotting against the king?	36:03
	"Well let's see. "Let's not be too hasty.	36:06
	"Let's see what they can do with that wall.	36:08
	"Can actually revive the stones out of the ashes?	36:11
	"If so, we need to confuse their effort."	36:15
	And for the Jews	36:20
	their fields were growing over and some were,	36:23
	in point of fact, actually losing their land,	36:27
	because the building of the wall	36:30
	required so much time and some feared	36:32
	that they might go hungry,	36:37
	that they might be sold into slavery	36:40
	in order to pay the taxes and pay the debts.	36:43
	Dissension within. Hostility without.	36:51
	Walls have a curious nature.	36:57
	To be sure, they do serve a positive function	37:03
	and purpose	37:06
	and I will be among the very first	37:10
	to acknowledge that there are times when	37:13
	they are necessary.	37:17
	For example, I think of	37:22
	how necessary it was or might have been for the Chinese	37:24
	to build a great wall,	37:28
	Changcheng, the Sui and the Ming dynasties,	37:31
	given that they, like some many people during the time,	37:37
	were people who were constantly being invaded.	37:41
	It seems to me to have been the logical	37:44
	and perhaps practical thing to do or at least attempt to do.	37:47
	And over the years, perhaps we can say it worked	37:52
	to a reasonable degree,	37:57
	in keeping potential invaders at bay,	37:59
	at least until the advent	38:02
	of modern weaponry and modern warfare.	38:04
	But certainly, in terms of helping China to secure peace	38:10
	we might readily agree	38:17
	that overall the wall has done little.	38:19
	For despite hundreds and hundreds of years	38:24
	of the wall's existence,	38:27
	China, like most nations, if not all nations,	38:28
	is still a country very much	38:32
	at war with itself.	38:35
	Just last year, I had an opportunity	38:41
	to dialog privately	38:44
	with a resident of the Republic of China.	38:46
	We hit it off very well.	38:52
	In the first 30 seconds, I think,	38:55
	he had my favorite pipe tobacco, my Bull Durham	38:57
	and in the next 30 seconds he had my favorite pipe,	39:02
	one which I have not been able to replace.	39:04
	My heart just went out to him and I said take it all.	39:06
	Good think I couldn't give him my clothes.	39:09
	With both of us speaking through an interpreter	39:16
	from the U.S. State Department,	39:18
	it did not take me long, however, to realized	39:22
	that China,	39:27
	despite the very positive image	39:28
	we so often get in the news media,	39:31
	at least at the present time,	39:34
	that China is a country very much divided along	39:37
	ideological, economic, racial and religious lines.	39:41
	I guess I was somewhat caught off guard	39:47
	when he referred to the religious problem in China.	39:49
	It turns out that he was muslim.	39:52
	I did not know that there were muslims in China.	39:54
	And as a muslim, he was a member of a very small minority	40:00
	who suffered one type of discrimination after another.	40:04
	To bring this matter of the nature of walls closer to home:	40:13
	not long ago	40:16
	my wife and I had, and I suppose	40:19
	it would really be stretching the point if I said walls.	40:21
	My language most certainly would be hyperbolic.	40:24
	We had a fence built around our backyard,	40:26
	so that neighbors' children would not move indiscriminately	40:31
	through our yard	40:36
	and so that we might also check	40:38
	the comings and goings of our neighbors' dogs.	40:41
	We thought that if we put this fence up	40:48
	our minds would be at peace.	40:52
	Interestingly, when I talked with my wife about this fence	40:58
	just a few days ago, I learned	41:01
	that she worried about the fence every day,	41:04
	like I worry about the fence.	41:07
	Have they torn it down at some point?	41:08
	Have they destroyed our property?	41:10
	If some of the children have,	41:13
	what will we say and how will we say to their parents	41:14
	they must stop?	41:17
	I have no peace of mind with that fence.	41:21
	Well all of this is to say, and this brings me	41:29
	to my first major point and I shall not be long.	41:31
	This brings me to my first major point.	41:36
	Building walls does not secure peace	41:40
	and yet each of us goes about our daily living	41:48
	as if the inverse were true.	41:52
	Daily, even hourly,	41:58
	we build walls all around us,	42:02
	individually	42:09
	and collectively,	42:11
	as families, as special interest groups,	42:14
	as communities, as races,	42:18
	as denominations.	42:22
	You know, we have a certain attitude	42:25
	about the Pentecostals who tend to be far	42:26
	open and receptive to paroxysms	42:31
	and glossolalia and charismatics.	42:35
	Some of us far more reluctant about that kind of thing.	42:37
	Well some people who are far more	42:44
	in that camp of things look askance at others	42:46
	who are not as open to paroxysms,	42:48
	bodily spasms and speaking in tongues.	42:52
	We build walls around us too, as nations.	43:00
	Not only denominations, but nations as well.	43:04
	We let our opinions	43:09
	and we let our customs and we let our habits	43:11
	and we let our biases and we let our preferences	43:16
	and our wishes and our desires	43:22
	function errantly.	43:27
	Properly understood, they should function in a way that	43:33
	they enrich the meaning of our living,	43:37
	function in a way that we can appreciate the variety	43:42
	and the diversity of God's handiwork.	43:46
	But too often the function as walls	43:53
	which keep others unnecessarily at bay	43:56
	and walls behind which we see cyclical,	44:01
	emotional and spiritual space,	44:05
	in a futile attempt to be at peace.	44:11
	We cannot find, however, peace in this way,	44:19
	as the author of Ephesians was well aware.	44:25
	In the King James translation,	44:31
	there is also a reference in the 14th verse	44:36
	to the middle wall partition in the temple,	44:41
	which restricted gentiles	44:47
	to the outer part of the sanctuary.	44:50
	Only Jews, by law and by custom,	44:55
	were allowed to go beyond the partition	45:00
	into the inner sanctum.	45:04
	Reference to the partition	45:09
	is significant.	45:13
	For the author wishes to convey symbolically	45:16
	that Christ renders obsolete	45:21
	and irrelevant	45:26
	all things that would divide mankind.	45:29
	For the author of Ephesians,	45:38
	the partition in the temple	45:41
	was meaningless to the Christian,	45:43
	be he a Jewish Christian or a gentile Christian.	45:47
	The partition was meaningless.	45:52
	When we try to understand why	45:58
	we are so often divided by opinions	46:03
	and by customs and by biases	46:06
	and so forth and so on, it becomes apparent	46:08
	that we are prone, in our culture,	46:13
	to confuse happiness and contentment with peace.	46:18
	I recall very clearly right now	46:28
	one statement made during the 19th century	46:31
	on the part of a pro-slavey preacher,	46:34
	a statement made from the pulpit,	46:40
	"We cannot be happy if blacks are to be free."	46:41
	So it seemed that slavery was important,	46:48
	in order for him to be happy.	46:50
	We confuse happiness and contentment so often with peace.	46:55
	Happiness and content are not synonymous with peace.	46:59
	Happiness and contentment can be a part of peace,	47:07
	but certainly peace cannot be reduced	47:10
	to happiness and contentment.	47:14
	Happiness and contentment are at best moods.	47:18
	They come and they go.	47:22
	They are moods which we so often mistake for peace	47:26
	and I dare to say even now that we confuse bliss with peace.	47:32
	I would not say that bliss is a mood.	47:38
	I would perhaps say that bliss	47:40
	is a process,	47:43
	a process of pursuing avenues of escape from reality.	47:46
	That's why we have so many people trying to find the road	47:53
	by indulging in drugs and alcohol, abusing those things,	47:56
	only to find out if that road is traveled too often,	48:02
	it leads to a certain eternal death.	48:05
	Bliss is not peace.	48:10
	Peace is a process too.	48:13
	But authentic peace	48:16
	is the process of being made whole,	48:19
	made whole.	48:25

-	By becoming one with God, and one	0:02
	with our fellow man.	0:06
	And interestingly, this is precisely the connotation	0:09
	of the word peace as it is found in Ephesians,	0:13
	and understood in terms of it's Greek root,	0:17
	eirini, peace.	0:20
	Being at rest by being whole and complete.	0:23
	And how might we enter into this peace?	0:32
	This process of becoming whole?	0:38
	Well now this brings me to my second major point,	0:44
	peace is possible	0:49
	only through Christ Jesus.	0:52
	In Ephesians, we are told that Christ Jesus,	0:59
	having preached and having pursued peace	1:03
	even onto the cross, this Christ	1:07
	is our peace.	1:13
	He is the means, Christ is the process,	1:19
	by which we become whole.	1:27
	As our peace, we are made one	1:32
	when we enter into Christ.	1:37
	By the power of the resurrection and the power of	1:43
	the Holy Spirit, Christ takes us as are,	1:46
	different though we be by appearance,	1:52
	different though we be by habit or by custom,	1:55
	Christ takes us,	1:59
	and creates one new man	2:03
	out of the many.	2:08
	One new body with one mind,	2:12
	one will, reconcilable to God.	2:16
	Interestingly, in Christ,	2:27
	we are not changed	2:31
	in the way that we lose all distinctiveness,	2:33
	especially all distinctiveness as individuals.	2:38
	As racial roots, as nationalities, so on.	2:42
	In this sense we do not cease to be	2:46
	who we are at one level of our living.	2:48
	What ceases is the priority of	2:54
	superficial things over our lives.	2:57
	And when I think of this dynamic and	3:01
	I suppose miracle,	3:05
	I think of the burning bush, the way in which	3:06
	God set a bush on fire without destroying the bush.	3:09
	Changed it without destroying it.	3:16
	And even Moses' rod, at times it took the form	3:19
	of a snake and yet it remained a rod.	3:24
	God has a way.	3:27
	We do not cease to be who we are,	3:33
	rather we become what we can be.	3:36
	In Christ Jesus,	3:43
	we can be at peace.	3:46
	For in his flesh enmity	3:54
	was brought to an end.	3:57
	All customs and ordinances and commandments	4:02
	were abolished in terms of	4:06
	having priority of our lives.	4:10
	And the flesh of Christ Jesus,	4:19
	all woes were demolished.	4:22
	He took them unto himself and crushed them.	4:29
	And this then brings me to my third and final major point.	4:37
	There is peace	4:47
	when we live	4:52
	without walls,	4:55
	there is peace when we live without walls.	4:59
	For when we seek to live without walls,	5:06
	God works through Jesus Christ, he meets us	5:10
	as we are to be found in Christ Jesus,	5:14
	and then works to fashion and to mold	5:19
	and to reshape and to transform	5:23
	our lives so that we become	5:27
	and this is the beautiful imagery of versus 22,	5:31
	in this passage, we become as if we are living stones.	5:36
	And with these stones,	5:45
	God builds not walls to divide,	5:48
	but to unite,	5:57
	and to bind together one stone	6:00
	after another he brings together.	6:05
	Lays one upon another and one next to the other.	6:09
	And in this unity and this binding together there is peace,	6:19
	for these living stones	6:27
	bound together and cemented by the Holy Spirit,	6:31
	which came to us on the day of Penecost.	6:37
	These living stones are fashioned and shaped	6:43
	and built into a living temple, this	6:46
	is the language of the passage, a living temple,	6:50
	a living church, a living Christian community,	6:56
	in which in dwells	7:03
	the God who is peace.	7:07
	One of my dearest friends, and a person who	7:15
	was a dear friend to many in this universe	7:18
	and community lies in a hospital today,	7:21
	on a hospital bed,	7:24
	and I know he's listening.	7:28
	And I want to say to him and I want to	7:32
	say to all of us here and those who are listening	7:35
	by means of radio,	7:39
	that God has a way of taking stones	7:43
	even from the ashes of our trials,	7:46
	of our tribulations, of our wars,	7:52
	and reviving them and using them in	7:57
	the building of the walls of his living church.	8:02
	God has a way,	8:08
	this is the work of the Holy Spirit upon us.	8:13
	And to the end	8:22
	that we might be at peace,	8:25
	I'd cease to look for happiness, and I hope you, too,	8:29
	will now search for peace and pursue peace to	8:34
	the end that we might be at peace.	8:37
	Let us all commit ourselves to living without walls.	8:41
	For when we live without walls, there is peace.	8:49
	We have peace with ourselves, we have peace with	8:57
	our mothers and peace with our fathers,	9:02
	our family unit today is in such disarray.	9:05
	This is so much needed, we have peace with our parents,	9:08
	peace with our brothers, and peace with our sisters,	9:12
	we have peace with blacks and we have peace with whites,	9:17
	we have peace with Episcopalian's	9:20
	and peace with Charismatic's.	9:22
	We have peace from other lands, Americans and Russians,	9:26
	Chinese, Africans, all	9:30
	can get along in peace.	9:36
	When we live without walls we have peace to live together,	9:42
	to work together, to play together, to grow together,	9:48
	we have the kind of peace that the Apostles had	9:50
	on day of Penecost, the kind of peace that sometimes	9:54
	moves us to talk about it and speak of it in tongues,	9:57
	intelligible only to the faithful.	10:03
	We can have this peace	10:05
	when we live without walls.	10:13
	We live in Christ Jesus and by the work of the Holy Spirit,	10:21
	and so doing we have	10:27
	the peace of God,	10:31
	amen.	10:38
	(organ music)	10:46
	(choir singing)	11:37
-	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	14:12
	who has come in the truly human Jesus, to reconcile	14:17
	and make new, he works in us and others by the Spirit.	14:22
	We trust God, who calls us to be the church,	14:27
	to celebrate life in it's fullness,	14:32
	to love and serve others, to seek justice	14:35
	and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus	14:39
	crucified and risen, our judge and our hope	14:42
	in life and death and life beyond death,	14:47
	God is with us, we are not alone, thanks be to God.	14:51
	The Lord be with you.	14:57
-	[Church Attendees] And also with you.	14:59
-	Let us pray.	15:00
	Oh God, you have made us in your own image and redeemed	15:17
	us through Jesus your son, look with compassion	15:21
	on the whole human family, take away the arrogance	15:26
	and hatred, which infect our hearts, break down	15:31
	the walls that separate us, unite in bonds of love	15:36
	and work through our struggle and confusion	15:41
	to accomplish your purposes on earth,	15:45
	that in your good time, all nations and races	15:48
	may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne.	15:53
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	15:57
	Eternal God in who's perfect kingdom no sword is drawn	16:02
	but the sword of righteousness, no strength known	16:07
	but the strength of love, so mightily spray it abroad	16:11
	your spirit that all peoples may be gathered under	16:17
	the banner of the prince of peace, as children of one	16:21
	Father to whom the dominion and glory now and forever, amen.	16:27
	Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be they name,	16:37
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as	16:43
	it is in heaven, give us today our daily bread,	16:47
	and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those	16:52
	who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation,	16:56
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom,	17:02
	and the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen.	17:06
	(organ music)	17:16
	(choir singing)	18:52
-	Your prayers are asked for Bob Young.	25:15
	For Father of mercies and God of all comfort,	25:19
	our only help in time of need,	25:22
	we humbly beseech thee to behold,	25:26
	visit and relieve thy servant Robert,	25:29
	for whom our prayers are desired.	25:33
	Look upon him with the eyes of thy mercy,	25:36
	comfort him with a sense of thy goodness,	25:40
	preserve him from the temptations of the enemy,	25:43
	and give him patience under his affliction,	25:48
	and thy good time restore him to health,	25:51
	and enable him to lead the residue of his life	25:55
	in thy fear and to thy glory,	25:57
	and grant that finally, he may dwell with thee	26:01
	in life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	26:04
	The peace of God which passeth all understanding,	26:10
	keep your hearts and minds and the knowledge	26:15
	and love of God and his Son, our savior, Jesus Christ.	26:18
	And the blessing God almighty, the Father, the Son	26:23
	and the Holy Spirit, be amongst you	26:26
	and remain with you always, amen.	26:29
	(organ music)	26:39
-	Let us pray.	28:50
	Let us go forth into the world in peace.	29:09
	(choir singing)	29:30

Item Info

Title:

Clarence G. Newsome - "When We Live Without Walls" (May 22, 1983)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 23:56. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 10:41.

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4w37m947

Date:

May 22, 1983

Speaker:

Newsome, Clarence G. (Clarence Geno), 1950-

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0151
ref7825_ldr
uachapelsermaud
duke:320991
dcrau001142
ark:/87924/r4w37m947
6f013d98-119a-48de-9623-376d8fd01d35

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

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