Robert W. Estill - "The Church - 1983" (July 10, 1983)

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	(upbeat organ music)	0:03
	(choir singing)	9:44
	(upbeat organ music)	10:53
	(choir singing)	11:30
	(upbeat organ music)	14:01
	(choir singing)	14:34
-	Grace, mercy, and peace to you	15:19
	from God our creator and the Lord Jesus Christ.	15:22
	Now with a clear mind and open heart,	15:27
	let us in truth confess our sins.	15:30
	Let us pray.	15:34
	O holy and merciful God,	15:45
	we confess that we have not always taken	15:47
	upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience,	15:50
	nor have been willing to seek	15:55
	and to do your perfect will.	15:56
	We have not loved you with all our heart	15:59
	and mind and soul and strength,	16:02
	neither have we loved our neighbors as ourselves.	16:05
	You have called to us in the need of our neighbors	16:08
	and we have passed unheeding on our way.	16:12
	In the pride of our hearts	16:15
	and our unwillingness to repent,	16:17
	we have turned away from the cross of Christ	16:20
	and have grieved your Holy Spirit, amen.	16:23
	Wait for the Lord,	16:47
	be strong and let your heart take courage,	16:48
	ye, wait for the Lord.	16:52
	In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven.	16:54
	Let us then give thanks for God is good,	16:59
	and God's love is everlasting.	17:02
	Thanks be to God whose love creates us,	17:05
	thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us,	17:09
	thanks be to God whose grace leads us into the future.	17:13
	We welcome you this summer Sunday morning	17:20
	here to worship with us in Duke University Chapel.	17:23
	Today is the seventh Sunday after Pentecost,	17:27
	and our hope for you is that your heart and life	17:30
	will be full of God's spirit	17:33
	as you are refreshed this day	17:36
	as the people of God.	17:38
	We are glad this morning	17:41
	that our summer chapel choir is back with us,	17:43
	we've missed them and their presence	17:46
	and music ministry among us.	17:48
	Also, I'm aware that we have two groups of young students	17:51
	here with us worshiping in the chapel today.	17:55
	Both groups are participating in special summer programs	17:59
	here in the Durham area.	18:03
	One group is from the North Carolina School	18:05
	of Math and Science here in Durham,	18:08
	and we're delighted that they've chosen	18:10
	to come and worship here in the chapel.	18:12
	Another group is from here at Duke University,	18:16
	students participating in the talent identification program.	18:20
	We're delighted that all of you have chosen to come	18:24
	and be with us here in worship with us.	18:27
	You will note in the bulletin that all of us	18:32
	are invited to a reception following the worship service	18:35
	next Sunday morning here at the chapel.	18:39
	Out on the main lawn in front of the chapel,	18:42
	the Duke University Union will be hosting a reception	18:46
	for all people who attend chapel worship.	18:50
	There will be a string group providing music,	18:54
	and light refreshments will be served.	18:56
	We look forward to that time of fellowship together.	18:59
	And you will note that in case of rain,	19:02
	the reception will simply be postponed	19:05
	until the following Sunday.	19:08
	We are honored today to have among us	19:12
	and here as our guest preacher	19:16
	the Right Reverend Robert Whitridge Estill.	19:19
	He is currently bishop of the diocese of North Carolina,	19:22
	residing in Raleigh.	19:27
	Bishop Estill is a native of Lexington, Kentucky.	19:30
	He has the AB degree	19:34
	from the University of Kentucky at Lexington.	19:36
	His advanced degrees are from	19:40
	the Episcopal Theological School	19:42
	in Cambridge, Massachusetts,	19:44
	and from the School of Theology	19:46
	at University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.	19:48
	Reverend Estill comes to us	19:53
	with a very wide background of service	19:55
	in the life of the church.	19:59
	He has served as rector,	20:00
	as faculty on seminaries and schools of higher education,	20:03
	and also in the capacity of dean.	20:08
	He has now been instrumental	20:11
	in a number of ecumenical efforts in the area of Raleigh,	20:13
	and the whole church is grateful	20:17
	for his witness and ministry.	20:19
	We are very glad to have Bishop Estill here with us today,	20:22
	and we look forward to the sermon that he will bring.	20:26
	The sermon title is	20:30
	The Church, 1983.	20:32
-	Let us pray.	20:44
	O Lord and lover of us all,	20:47
	cause the pure light of your divine knowledge	20:49
	to shine forth in our hearts,	20:51
	and open the eyes of our understanding	20:53
	that we may comprehend the ways of your gospel	20:56
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	20:59
	The Old Testament lesson is from Deuteronomy,	21:04
	chapter 30, verses nine through 14.	21:06
	The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous	21:10
	in all the work of your hand	21:14
	and the fruit of your body,	21:16
	and in the fruit of your cattle,	21:17
	and in the fruit of your ground,	21:19
	for the Lord will again take delight	21:21
	in prospering you as he took delight in your fathers.	21:23
	If you obey the voice of the Lord your God	21:27
	to keep his commandments and his statutes,	21:29
	which are written in this book of the law,	21:32
	if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart	21:34
	and with all your soul,	21:36
	for this commandment I command you this day	21:38
	is not too hard for you,	21:41
	neither is it far off.	21:43
	It is not in heaven that you should say	21:45
	who will go up for us to heaven	21:48
	and bring to us that we may hear it and do it?	21:50
	Neither is it beyond the sea	21:54
	that you should say who will go over the sea for us	21:56
	and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?	21:59
	But the word is very near you,	22:04
	it is in your mouth and in your heart	22:06
	so that you can do it.	22:08
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	22:10
	The epistle lesson is from Colossians,	22:15
	chapter one, verses one through 20.	22:17
	Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,	22:21
	and Timothy our brother,	22:25
	to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colossae,	22:27
	grace to you and peace from God our father.	22:31
	We always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,	22:34
	when we pray for you	22:38
	because we have heard your faith	22:40
	of our Lord Jesus,	22:42
	and of the love which you have for all of the saints	22:43
	because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.	22:46
	Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth,	22:50
	the gospel which has come to you.	22:52
	So among yourselves,	22:55
	from the day you've heard and understood	22:56
	the grace of God in truth	22:58
	as you have learned it from Epaphras,	23:00
	our beloved fellow servant.	23:02
	He's a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf	23:04
	and has made known to us your love in the spirit.	23:07
	And so, from the day we heard of it,	23:11
	we have not ceased to pray for you,	23:13
	asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will	23:15
	and all spiritual wisdom and understanding	23:19
	to lead a life worthy of the Lord,	23:22
	fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work,	23:24
	and increasing in the knowledge of God.	23:28
	May you be strengthened with all power	23:30
	according to his glorious might,	23:33
	for all endurance and patience with joy,	23:35
	giving thanks to the father,	23:38
	who has qualified us to share in the inheritance	23:40
	of the saints and light.	23:43
	He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness,	23:45
	and transferred to us the kingdom of his beloved son	23:48
	in whom we have redemption	23:52
	and forgiveness of sins.	23:53
	He's the image of the invisible God,	23:56
	the first born of all creation,	23:58
	for in him all things were created	24:00
	in heaven and on earth,	24:03
	visible and invisible,	24:05
	whether thrones or dominions	24:07
	or principalities or authorities,	24:09
	all things were created through him and for him.	24:12
	He is before all things,	24:16
	and in him all things hold together.	24:19
	He is the head of the body, the church.	24:22
	He's the beginning, the first born from the dead,	24:25
	then everything he might be preeminent.	24:28
	For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,	24:31
	and through him to reconcile himself to all things,	24:35
	whether on earth or in heaven,	24:38
	making peace by the blood of his cross.	24:40
	Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson.	24:44
	(choir singing)	25:00
	Will the congregation please stand	26:55
	for the reading of the gospel lesson?	26:57
	The gospel is from Luke,	27:03
	chapter 10, verses 25 through 37.	27:04
	And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test,	27:09
	saying teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?	27:12
	He said to him what is written in the law?	27:18
	How do you read?	27:21
	And he answered you shall love the Lord your God	27:22
	with all your heart	27:26
	and with all your soul	27:27
	and with all your strength	27:28
	and with all your mind,	27:30
	and your neighbor as yourself.	27:32
	And he said to him you have answered right,	27:34
	do this and you will live.	27:38
	But he, desiring to justify himself,	27:40
	said to Jesus and who is my neighbor?	27:44
	Jesus replied a man was going down	27:47
	from Jerusalem to Jericho,	27:49
	and he fell among robbers who stripped him	27:51
	and beat him and departed,	27:54
	leaving him half dead.	27:56
	Now by chance, a priest was going down that same road,	27:58
	and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.	28:01
	So did likewise a Levite,	28:06
	and when he came to the place and saw him,	28:07
	passed by on the other side.	28:10
	But a Samaritan, as he journeyed,	28:12
	came to where he was,	28:14
	and when he saw him he had compassion and went to him	28:16
	and bound up his wounds,	28:19
	pouring on oil and wine.	28:21
	And then he set him on his own beast	28:23
	and brought him to an innkeeper,	28:26
	saying take care of him,	28:28
	and whatever more you spend,	28:30
	I will repay you when I come back.	28:32
	Which of these three do you think	28:35
	proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?	28:37
	And he said the one who showed mercy on him,	28:41
	and Jesus said to him go and do likewise.	28:44
	Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson, amen.	28:49
	(light organ music)	28:53
	(choir singing)	29:01
-	In the name of the father	29:53
	and of the son and of the Holy Spirit,	29:54
	amen.	29:57
	A lawyer stood up	30:03
	to put Jesus to the test,	30:05
	saying teacher, what shall I do	30:08
	to inherit eternal life?	30:11
	And when Jesus asked him what was written in the law,	30:14
	he answered you shall love the Lord your God	30:18
	with all your heart	30:22
	and with all your soul	30:24
	and with all your heart, and strength and mind,	30:27
	and your neighbor as yourself.	30:30
	And Jesus said to him	30:34
	you have answered right,	30:36
	do this and live.	30:37
	As we know, Jesus went on beyond these remarks	30:42
	to illustrate what he meant by this summary of the law.	30:45
	He told the story of the good Samaritan,	30:49
	and I would like, around the title of my sermon,	30:54
	The Church, 1983,	30:56
	to think about that today	30:59
	in the context of this gospel lesson.	31:01
	Let me say first, though, how happy I am to be here	31:05
	and to have this opportunity	31:08
	at this moment in the sermon	31:10
	to thank the university and the chaplain	31:12
	and all who make this Duke Chapel so available	31:16
	to all of us in the community of North Carolina,	31:20
	and certainly even beyond.	31:24
	I was consecrated here,	31:26
	and instituted here.	31:28
	We've had numerous acollate festivals here,	31:30
	the episcopal church is most grateful to you	31:34
	for letting us have this as our cathedral	31:37
	and not having to pay the light bill.	31:40
	We do appreciate it,	31:44
	and it is a great ministry through this place	31:45
	to our state and beyond it, to the world.	31:49
	So, I would like to think about the church together.	31:52
	My own church, picking up on Saint Paul's definition,	31:56
	considers the church to be the body of which	32:00
	Jesus Christ is head,	32:03
	and all baptized persons as members.	32:05
	Our new prayer book describes the church as	32:09
	the people of God,	32:12
	the new Israel,	32:14
	a holy nation.	32:16
	It describes people who are the church	32:19
	as being pillars and grounds of truth,	32:22
	a royal priesthood.	32:26
	Not long ago, I read a little skit	32:30
	written about some children who were playing church.	32:32
	The children in the skit are Jim,	32:36
	Carol, Millie, Bill, and Fred.	32:38
	Jim speaks up first and says	32:43
	if we're going to play church,	32:45
	we need a building.	32:46
	Carol, no, we need people first.	32:48
	Millie, we've got to have a pastor.	32:52
	Jim says Fred, you be the pastor.	32:55
	Fred, what do I do?	32:58
	Bill, preach sermons that make people mad.	33:01
	Jim says no, you call on the old,	33:05
	and you scold the kids.	33:08
	Carol, and you take up an offering.	33:10
	Millie, let's have a service.	33:13
	Jim, let's criticize the sermon.	33:16
	Fred, I didn't preach one yet.	33:19
	Bill, we'll criticize it anyway.	33:23
	Millie, hardly any Bible in it.	33:26
	Jim, I couldn't hear half of it.	33:29
	Carol, I didn't like the half I heard.	33:32
	Jim says we're in a financial bind.	33:37
	Millie, what's that?	33:40
	Jim, I don't know, but Dad enjoys saying it.	33:42
	Fred, it means we need money.	33:46
	Carol says let's sell lemonade.	33:49
	Bill, if we don't like the sermon, why give?	33:52
	Jim, that's what Dad says.	33:56
	Fred, can't we have some fun in church?	33:59
	Carol, no, mother says it's a sacrifice.	34:03
	Fred, what's that?	34:08
	Carol, stuff you do because you hate to.	34:09
	And Fred says why?	34:15
	Carol, God loves us more if we're miserable.	34:17
	And the little skit ends with Fred saying	34:23
	let's play something else.	34:26
	Well, that perception is a far cry	34:32
	from what I've said	34:33
	at least Episcopalians say the church is, isn't it?	34:34
	The Gutierrez and others in Latin America	34:38
	have a different perception of what the church is about too.	34:42
	They point out that Jesus had a revolutionary consciousness,	34:46
	meaning by that word revolution,	34:51
	a fundamental transformation	34:53
	of an existing state of affairs.	34:56
	Jesus, whose body we say the church is,	35:00
	certainly did not belong to the Ecclesiastical	35:03
	or social establishment of his day,	35:06
	despite was Hans Kung calls	35:09
	the varied attempts made to domesticate him.	35:12
	There is a radical note to the gospel lesson,	35:17
	it equates the kingdom of God with action,	35:21
	with reaching out, with picking up a helpless soul	35:25
	from the highway and ministering to him.	35:29
	So Camilo Torres could say the Christian community	35:34
	cannot offer the mass, the sacrifice,	35:38
	in an authentic form	35:41
	if it has not first fulfilled the percept	35:44
	love thy neighbor.	35:47
	The whole movement in liberation theology	35:52
	calls upon you and I,	35:54
	if we would be the church,	35:56
	to a radical obedience to this commandment.	35:58
	And while it is beyond the scope of this sermon,	36:03
	it must not be beyond our scope of study	36:06
	and of attention if we are to be the body of Christ	36:09
	in our world where we live,	36:13
	whether in Latin America,	36:15
	or here in North Carolina.	36:17
	Again, the model of the Christian playing church,	36:20
	or of the liberation church in Latin America,	36:24
	very different conceptions of what the church is meant to be	36:26
	may well cause most of us to fall somewhere	36:31
	between those extremes.	36:34
	The Princeton Religion Research Center	36:38
	and the Galop organization,	36:41
	the latter being a little less objective, in my opinion,	36:43
	have done a report on the background	36:47
	and values and interests of unchurched Americans	36:49
	called the Unchurched American.	36:52
	The report concludes that the proportion of believers	36:56
	in the total American population	37:00
	has remained constant over the last quarter of a century,	37:03
	and further, the unchurched are overwhelmingly believers,	37:08
	and it is not loss of faith, in their conclusions,	37:14
	in most cases, that has caused people to become unchurched.	37:17
	The report goes on to say many of the unchurched	37:24
	and churched as well	37:26
	fell that churches are spiritually dry.	37:28
	Americans, particularly the young,	37:32
	are increasingly turning to various religious movements	37:34
	and to disciplines in an effort to find	37:39
	deeper spiritual meaning in their lives.	37:42
	A significant proportion of Americans	37:47
	have had a dramatic religious experience in their lives,	37:50
	but at the same time, are spiritually homeless.	37:54
	They are, as it were, all charged up,	37:59
	but they feel they have no place to go.	38:03
	Somehow, as the Conference of Catholic Charities	38:08
	stated in 1972,	38:11
	the good news of the gospel	38:14
	and the scandal of human suffering together	38:16
	situate our paradoxical mandate as a church,	38:19
	for only in the blending of those	38:24
	will the mature and the integrated life	38:27
	expected of the Christian community be forthcoming.	38:30
	As I've gone about the episcopal diocese of North Carolina	38:36
	in my first three and a half years as a bishop,	38:40
	I've tried to say that the body of which	38:43
	Jesus Christ is head,	38:46
	and all baptized persons are its members,	38:48
	is that place when we gather,	38:52
	when we hear the word,	38:55
	and when we partake of the sacrament,	38:58
	it is that place in which then	39:01
	we meet the living Lord of the church.	39:03
	Not because he is not elsewhere in his world	39:07
	in all of creation for he is,	39:11
	but because in a particular way,	39:14
	he has in a way limited himself	39:17
	in a kind of self limitation	39:20
	to coming together and being with people	39:23
	when two or three gather together in his name,	39:26
	or when we hear, as we have this morning, the word,	39:29
	or when we partake of the sacrament.	39:33
	When we do that, the Lord of life comes	39:36
	and dwells in our midst.	39:40
	And we then, with the eyes of our faith opened,	39:42
	go out from the church and proclaim that good news	39:47
	by meeting him where Jesus said we would as well	39:51
	in the life and in the needs of others.	39:55
	When you and I become good Samaritans,	39:58
	when we find the truth in those words	40:02
	in as much as ye have done it	40:05
	unto one of the least of these, my brethren,	40:07
	ye have done it unto me.	40:11
	That man, beaten by robbers and left on the road to die,	40:14
	when the person stopped,	40:20
	the Samaritan stopped and picked him up,	40:22
	was in his person the Lord of life,	40:24
	and he met the Lord there	40:28
	whether he knew it or not.	40:30
	That means that the church is meant to become	40:33
	a kind of beehive in reverse,	40:35
	a coming in to receive,	40:38
	and a going out, then, to give.	40:40
	I heard a story told that during World War Two in London,	40:44
	there were two shopkeepers in the east end of London	40:48
	who were great rivals.	40:52
	And during the Blitz,	40:54
	each made a point of being open for business every morning	40:55
	after the severe air raids,	40:59
	even though his store	41:02
	might've been damaged the night before.	41:04
	One night, however, the attack was particularly devastating,	41:07
	and the front of one of the shops	41:11
	was completely blown away.	41:13
	The competitor's store, while also damaged,	41:16
	nevertheless had the usual sign out front	41:19
	the next morning, which the people had grown to depend on,	41:22
	which said open as usual.	41:25
	When they looked across the street at the other shop	41:28
	with its front completely blown away,	41:31
	nonetheless there was a larger sign there,	41:34
	and on that sign was lettered the words	41:37
	more open that usual.	41:40
	That story says something to me about the function	41:44
	of the church today.	41:47
	You and I who are the church	41:49
	need to be more open than usual,	41:51
	more open that usual to the opportunities	41:55
	to serve as good Samaritans.	41:58
	More open that usual to feed the hungry,	42:01
	not only with bread but with the bread of life.	42:05
	More open than usual to proclaim the word of God	42:09
	in deeds and in action	42:13
	as well as with our lips.	42:16
	More open than usual to be the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	42:18
	when we gather in his name and in his presence,	42:22
	and to make others welcome there	42:26
	and to feed them on the presence of the living Lord	42:28
	whose church this is.	42:32
	That's why when we gather as we have this morning,	42:35
	it's such serious stuff.	42:38
	Beneath the excitement and the joy	42:42
	and the beauty and the outward signs	42:44
	and all that go with days when we come together	42:47
	to worship in a great place like this,	42:49
	you and I nonetheless must be deadly serious	42:52
	about what we're doing.	42:56
	Never before, in my opinion,	42:58
	has the church of Jesus Christ	43:00
	been more needed than it is today.	43:02
	Never has it needed more desperately	43:06
	to shed that image that those children had	43:08
	in that little skit.	43:11
	Never has it needed more desperately	43:13
	to be the church,	43:16
	to be God's reconciling agency	43:18
	not only in the life of the world and of the nation,	43:22
	but in our lives as well,	43:26
	yours and mine.	43:27
	C.S. Lewis wrote, "God made us,	43:31
	God invented us as a man invents an engine,	43:34
	a car is made to run on gasoline	43:38
	and it would not run properly on anything else.	43:41
	So God designed the human machine	43:45
	to run on himself.	43:49
	He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn,	43:52
	or the food our spirits were designed to feed upon.	43:57
	There is no other,	44:02
	and that is why it is no good asking God	44:05
	to make us happy in our own way	44:07
	without bothering about religion.	44:10
	God cannot give us a happiness and a peace	44:13
	apart from himself	44:17
	because it is not there.	44:20
	There simply is no such thing."	44:22
	And thus it is that it is even more important to know	44:28
	that we who call ourselves the church	44:31
	are God's reconciling body in his world,	44:35
	called to proclaim by word and example	44:39
	the good news of God in Christ,	44:42
	called to seek and serve Christ	44:45
	in all persons,	44:47
	loving our neighbor as ourself,	44:49
	called to strive for justice and peace among all people,	44:53
	and to respect the dignity	44:57
	of every human being.	44:59
	Someone has written that the holiest moment	45:02
	of the church service is that moment	45:04
	when God's people, strengthened by word and by sacrament,	45:07
	go out of the door, into the world to be the church.	45:11
	You don't go to church;	45:17
	you are the church.	45:19
	And it is part of our good fortune	45:22
	that we can show forth our thankfulness	45:24
	for God's reconciliation	45:26
	not only with our lips but in our lives.	45:29
	For just as we meet the Lord there	45:32
	in that good Samaritan story	45:35
	when we stop on the road	45:37
	and minister to that person in need,	45:39
	so too you and I have been that person in need,	45:42
	and the Lord of life has come to us	45:46
	and bound up our wounds	45:50
	and taken us to the inn	45:52
	and put us up for the night	45:53
	and healed us and forgiven us	45:55
	and strengthened us.	45:58
	You and I can proclaim that good news to others	46:00
	lying on the highways of life,	46:03
	you and I can,	46:06
	by giving up ourselves to walk in his service,	46:07
	truly become what the church is meant to be.	46:11
	To be, as Tolkien once said of himself,	46:15
	co-creators,	46:19
	to share as members of his body	46:21
	in the new creation.	46:24
	In the name of the father	46:28
	and of the son and of the Holy Spirit,	46:29
	amen.	46:33
	(light organ music)	46:42
	(choir singing)	47:03

	(congregation sings)	0:03
-	As the people of God, let us affirm what we believe.	0:34
-	We believe in God who has created	0:39
	and is creating, how has come in the truly human Jesus	0:42
	to reconcile and make new,	0:46
	who works in us and others by the sprit.	0:49
	We trust God who calls us	0:53
	to be the church to celebrate life	0:55
	and its fullness, to love and serve others,	0:58
	to seek justice and resist evil,	1:02
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	1:06
	our judge and our hope.	1:09
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	1:12
	God is with us.	1:16
	We are not alone.	1:18
	Thanks be to God.	1:20
-	The Lord be with you.	1:22
	(congregation mumbles)	1:25
	Let us pray.	1:26
	Our eternal God, maker of all worlds	1:39
	and creator of our very souls,	1:43
	we worship you this day.	1:46
	It is out of our littleness and partialness	1:49
	that we ask that you weave us into your larger life	1:53
	and design for us.	1:58
	Lead us up from our low levels	2:00
	and out from our narrow boundaries	2:03
	that we may escape somehow	2:06
	from the obsession with ourselves	2:08
	and loving and serving something greater than ourselves,	2:11
	find what we are truly in you.	2:16
	Set us in the great backgrounds of our lives.	2:20
	Remind us of the families from which we came,	2:25
	the fathers and mothers and others who loved us,	2:29
	the better heritage of our nation's life	2:34
	in which we share, the prophets	2:37
	who have spoken for us and to us,	2:39
	the martyrs who have died that we might live,	2:43
	that so seeing our lives might be lifted up	2:47
	and we be grateful.	2:50
	Oh God, grant us even this day a new vision	2:53
	of the causes we should serve,	2:57
	justice in a generation that is full of wrong,	3:00
	unselfishness in a time when many are suffering,	3:04
	peace in a day of violence.	3:09
	Release us from narrowness of opinion	3:12
	into wide compassion and sympathy.	3:16
	Grant unto to us your servant	3:20
	so sincerely to worship you	3:22
	that across all lines of division	3:25
	our hearts may today perform an act of your goodwill.	3:28
	Give us the victory over our private prejudices	3:34
	and our meanness, oh God,	3:39
	for we would take into our care every sort	3:41
	and condition of humankind.	3:44
	Oh loving Lord, if there are hearts and lives here	3:49
	to whom such calls of service seem to come in vain	3:52
	because they are too sorely hurt themselves by life,	3:58
	we ask your strength for them	4:03
	and it is not for soft and easy lives that we pray	4:06
	but for great resources of endurance.	4:11
	Some of us are struggling against powerful temptations,	4:15
	some of us have felt the burden of grief	4:20
	and anxiety too heavy to be borne,	4:23
	thus oh God, we ask for stability,	4:26
	for inward reserves of your spiritual power	4:29
	that while our outward person seems to be fraying,	4:34
	that inward person may be renewed day by day.	4:38
	Send us out, oh Lord, we pray you to face	4:44
	this troubled difficult and often cruel world.	4:47
	May we know and learn how to lay soothing hands	4:53
	upon places that are hurtful	4:57
	and for ourselves to keep clearly in our vision	5:00
	all that is excellent and beautiful.	5:04
	God, give us radiance as your people	5:07
	and make our faith contagious.	5:11
	May Christ's joy be ours	5:14
	and the promise of abundant life be fulfilled in us	5:16
	and may we who be among those who help bring humanity	5:21
	to its fullness when you have promised	5:25
	that your kingdom of righteousness shall come	5:29
	for we ask it in the Spirit of Christ our Lord	5:33
	who taught us to pray saying.	5:38
-	Our Father, who art in heaven,	5:40
	hallowed be thy name,	5:43
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	5:45
	on Earth as it in heaven.	5:48
	Give us this day our daily bread	5:51
	and forgive our trespasses	5:54
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	5:56
	and lead us not into temptation	6:00
	but deliver us from evil	6:03
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	6:05
	and the glory forever.	6:08
	Amen.	6:10
	(tranquil organ music)	6:24
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	7:11
	(choir sings)	7:16
	♪ Rejoice ♪	7:20
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	7:21
	(choir sings)	7:26
	♪ Rejoice ♪	7:29
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	7:31
	(choir sings)	7:36
	♪ Rejoice ♪	7:40
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	7:41
	(choir sings)	7:48
	♪ The Lord is a man ♪	8:10
	♪ The Lord is a man ♪	8:14
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	8:18
	(choir sings)	8:23
	♪ Rejoice ♪	8:26
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	8:28
	(choir sings)	8:34
	♪ Rejoice ♪	8:42
	(choir sings)	8:43
	♪ Rejoice ♪	8:49
	(choir sings)	8:51
	♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪	10:04
	(choir sings)	10:11
	♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪	10:28
	♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪	10:36
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	10:44
	(choir sings)	10:50
	♪ Rejoice ♪	10:53
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	10:55
	(choir sings)	11:01
	♪ Rejoice ♪	11:05
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	11:07
	(choir sings)	11:12
	♪ Rejoice ♪	11:15
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪	11:17
	(choir sings)	11:23
	♪ Rejoice ♪	11:32
	(choir sings)	11:34
	♪ Rejoice ♪	11:40
	(choir sings)	11:42
	♪ Rejoice ♪	11:48
	(lively organ music)	12:06
	(congregation sings)	12:25
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:37
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:39
	(congregation sings)	12:44
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:56
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:59
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:02
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:06
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:10
-	Giving us all things, oh Lord,	13:22
	will you now receive these gifts of your people.	13:24
	Help us to render unto you	13:28
	all that we have and all that we have are	13:30
	that we may praise you with our whole lives.	13:33
	Amen.	13:37
	(lively organ music)	13:39
	(congregation sings)	14:19
	And now the peace of God	17:30
	which passes all understanding	17:32
	keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge	17:35
	and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord	17:38
	and the blessings of God Almighty,	17:45
	creator, redeemer and sustainer	17:48
	be among you and remain with you this day and always.	17:52
	♪ Amen ♪	18:02
	♪ Amen ♪	18:11
	♪ Amen ♪	18:18
	♪ Amen ♪	18:26
	(lively organ music)	18:39
	(clapping)	26:31
	(people murmuring)	26:41

Item Info

Title:

Robert W. Estill - "The Church - 1983" (July 10, 1983)

Description:

We who call ourselves the Church must be God's reconiling body in the world, proclaiming by word and example the good news of Jesus, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and striving for justice and peace among all people. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 29:53. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 46:35.
Key quotation: “You don’t go to church; you are the church.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4n29pn8q

Date:

July 10, 1983

Speaker:

Estill, Robert W.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0159
ref7841_n7j
uachapelsermaud
duke:320727
dcrau001150
ark:/87924/r4n29pn8q
eaadc3c4-470d-4329-96af-90d3664efb23

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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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

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Robert W. Estill - "The Church - 1983" (July 10, 1983)

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1. Robert W. Estill - "The Church - 1983" (July 10, 1983)

Duke University Archives

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Duke University Archives

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