J. Michael Laidlaw - "The Terror of It All" (March 4, 1984)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(gospel music) | 0:03 | |
(gospel music) | 6:55 | |
(gospel music) | 10:27 | |
- | My brothers and sisters in Christ, | 13:46 |
the peace of God be with you this day. | 13:48 | |
As we gather for worship it is as though you and I, | 13:51 | |
we're ascending the mountain of God, | 13:55 | |
seeking God's presence as God seeks us. | 13:57 | |
We come to worship not because we must | 14:02 | |
but because we may, not because we have any claim | 14:04 | |
on God's heavenly rewards but only that in our human frailty | 14:08 | |
and sin, we know we constantly need the love of God. | 14:14 | |
With awe and wonder, with even fear and trepidation, | 14:19 | |
we ascend the mountain of God. | 14:24 | |
Join me in our confession as printed in your bulletin. | 14:27 | |
Oh God in Christ, under whom in every age | 14:41 | |
people have confessed and been forgiven, | 14:46 | |
we acknowledge now our need for your pardon and grace. | 14:50 | |
In this dislocated age, | 14:55 | |
we limp not because we wrestle with you | 14:57 | |
but because we struggle with one another. | 15:01 | |
The world is dark with our angers, your creation groans | 15:04 | |
its travail from our abuse, the human family is threatened, | 15:09 | |
oh Lord, we lament our sin. | 15:14 | |
We admit our need and desire to change, forgive us, | 15:17 | |
transform us, empower us to persist in the ways of love | 15:22 | |
and discipleship, in the name of the one | 15:28 | |
who is servant of all, Jesus of Nazareth, amen. | 15:31 | |
Who is in a position to condemn? | 15:45 | |
Only Christ and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, | 15:48 | |
Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. | 15:52 | |
When a person is in Christ, that person is a new creation | 15:58 | |
altogether, the past is finished and gone, | 16:01 | |
behold, the new has come. | 16:05 | |
Let us hear and believe the good news of the gospel, | 16:08 | |
in Jesus Christ, we are a forgiven people, hallelujah, amen. | 16:12 | |
Let us give thanks for God is good and God's love | 16:22 | |
is everlasting, thanks be to God whose love creates us, | 16:26 | |
thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us, | 16:32 | |
thanks be to God whose grace leads us into the future, amen. | 16:36 | |
I would like to call your attention to various announcements | 16:44 | |
in the bulletin today. | 16:47 | |
First of all that there will be a service of ashes | 16:50 | |
in the chapel at noon on Wednesday, March 7th, | 16:52 | |
Ash Wednesday. | 16:56 | |
Also that the Yale Russian Chorus will perform | 16:58 | |
at the chapel on Sunday, March 11th, at seven o'clock, | 17:02 | |
the public is cordially invited to attend | 17:06 | |
and there is no charge for that concert. | 17:09 | |
The preacher this morning is the Reverend Mike Laidlaw | 17:13 | |
and the title of his sermon is the terror of it all. | 17:17 | |
- | Let us pray. | 17:34 |
Oh mighty and most merciful God. | 17:40 | |
You have given the bible to be the revelation | 17:43 | |
of your great love to us and of your power | 17:45 | |
and will to save us. | 17:49 | |
Grant that our study of it may not be made in vain | 17:52 | |
by the callousness or carelessness of our hearts | 17:55 | |
but that by it we may be confirmed in penitence, | 17:59 | |
lifted to hope, made strong for service and above all | 18:03 | |
filled with the true knowledge of you | 18:09 | |
and of your son, Jesus Christ, amen. | 18:11 | |
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis chapter 22, | 18:19 | |
verses two and three and verses nine through 13. | 18:23 | |
God said take your son Isaac, your only son whom you love | 18:31 | |
and go to the land of Moriah, there you shall offer him | 18:38 | |
as a sacrifice on one of the hills which I will show you. | 18:42 | |
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his ass | 18:48 | |
and he took with him two of his men and his son, Isaac, | 18:52 | |
and he split the firewood for the sacrifice | 18:56 | |
and set out for the place of which God had spoken. | 18:59 | |
And the two of them went on together and came to the place | 19:04 | |
of which God had spoken. | 19:07 | |
There Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood. | 19:10 | |
He bound his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar | 19:14 | |
on top of the wood. | 19:17 | |
Then he stretched out his hand and took the knife | 19:19 | |
to kill his son. | 19:22 | |
But the angel of the Lord called to him from the heaven. | 19:25 | |
Abraham, Abraham, he answered here I am. | 19:29 | |
The angel of the Lord said do not raise your hand | 19:35 | |
against the boy, do not touch him, | 19:37 | |
now I know that you are a God fearing man, | 19:41 | |
you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. | 19:44 | |
Abraham looked up and there he saw a ram caught by its horns | 19:50 | |
in a thicket, so he went and took the ram and offered it | 19:54 | |
as a sacrifice instead of his son. | 19:58 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 20:03 | |
The Epistle lesson is from Romans chapter eight, | 20:08 | |
verses 31 through 39. | 20:12 | |
In face of all this, what is there left to say? | 20:17 | |
If God is for us, who can be against us? | 20:21 | |
He who did not hesitate to spare his own son | 20:25 | |
but gave him up for us all, can we not trust such a God | 20:27 | |
to give us with him everything else that we can need? | 20:31 | |
Who would dare to accuse us whom God has chosen? | 20:37 | |
The judge himself has declared us free from sin. | 20:41 | |
Who is in a position to condemn? | 20:45 | |
Only Christ and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, | 20:48 | |
Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. | 20:53 | |
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? | 20:58 | |
Can trouble, pain or persecution? | 21:01 | |
Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, | 21:04 | |
the threat of force of arms? | 21:08 | |
No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory | 21:11 | |
through him who has proved his love for us. | 21:15 | |
I have become absolutely convinced | 21:20 | |
that neither death nor life, neither messenger of heaven | 21:22 | |
or monarch of earth, neither what happens today | 21:26 | |
nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high | 21:29 | |
nor a power from below nor anything else | 21:34 | |
in God's whole world has any power to separate us | 21:37 | |
from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. | 21:41 | |
Here ends the reading from the Epistle lesson. | 21:46 | |
(gospel music) | 21:53 | |
Will the congregation please stand for the reading | 25:38 | |
of the gospel lesson? | 25:41 | |
The gospel lesson is from Mark chapter nine, | 25:52 | |
verses one through nine. | 25:56 | |
He also said I tell you this, there are some of those | 26:02 | |
standing here who will not taste death before they have seen | 26:07 | |
the kingdom of God already come in power. | 26:11 | |
Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him | 26:17 | |
and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. | 26:22 | |
And in their presence he was transfigured. | 26:26 | |
His clothes became dazzling white with a whiteness | 26:30 | |
no bleacher on earth could equal. | 26:33 | |
They saw Elijah appear and Moses with him | 26:37 | |
and there they were, conversing with Jesus. | 26:40 | |
Then Peter spoke. | 26:45 | |
Rabi, he said, how good it is that we are here. | 26:47 | |
Shall we make three shelters? | 26:51 | |
One for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah? | 26:53 | |
For he did not know what to say, they were so terrified. | 26:58 | |
Then a cloud appeared casting its shadow over them | 27:03 | |
and out of the cloud came a voice. | 27:07 | |
This is my son, my beloved, listen to him. | 27:11 | |
And now suddenly when they looked around there was nobody | 27:17 | |
to be seen but Jesus alone with himself. | 27:20 | |
On their way down the mountain he enjoined them | 27:24 | |
not to tell anyone what they had seen until the son of man | 27:27 | |
had risen from the dead. | 27:30 | |
This ends the reading of the gospel lesson. | 27:34 | |
(gospel music) | 27:39 | |
(congregation sings) | 27:47 | |
- | Provide us now, oh Lord, | 28:52 |
the gifts of discernment and awe | 28:56 | |
that we may hear your word, | 28:59 | |
sense your presence | 29:03 | |
and most fully experience your creation. | 29:07 | |
In the name of the Christ, amen. | 29:12 | |
Did you hear him? | 29:21 | |
Not Jesus, but the writer of the gospel, | 29:24 | |
as he tries to give us something more than the external, | 29:29 | |
as he strains to describe for us something more | 29:34 | |
than the props. | 29:39 | |
They were so terrified. | 29:42 | |
It is not the main theme, of course, this almost passing | 29:47 | |
reference to the confusion and terror of it all. | 29:51 | |
And then again maybe it is. | 29:56 | |
At least it competes, this story of human terror, | 30:00 | |
with the cloud that overshadowed them and the voice | 30:05 | |
that spoke to them and the holy admonition, | 30:10 | |
this is my son, | 30:15 | |
listen to him. | 30:18 | |
Their confusion is worthy of our pardon, of course, | 30:23 | |
and they had reason to be frightened God knows. | 30:28 | |
In their presence, he was transformed. | 30:31 | |
And not only that, as if that weren't enough to confound | 30:37 | |
and strike fear into any human heart, but there were also | 30:42 | |
those apparitions, those two holy phantoms, | 30:47 | |
Elijah and Moses, long gone, long dead. | 30:52 | |
And now here they are kibitzing with Jesus. | 30:57 | |
Mark is silent as to what those three fellows talked about | 31:03 | |
that day, but Mark is like that, | 31:07 | |
terse, Spartan, | 31:12 | |
sort of a New England boy when it comes to saying | 31:16 | |
what he has to say. | 31:19 | |
But Luke, Luke, | 31:22 | |
almost always more the wordsmith | 31:25 | |
and always more the playwright, tells us that they spoke | 31:28 | |
of Jesus' departure, the destiny which Jesus | 31:32 | |
was to accomplish in Jerusalem, | 31:37 | |
not exactly a consoling conversation to say the least. | 31:39 | |
And Peter, Peter, bless him, | 31:46 | |
not always daring, | 31:51 | |
but almost always blunt and brash | 31:54 | |
and always compulsive. | 31:58 | |
Rabi, he said, how good it is that we are here. | 32:01 | |
He could have said how good it is to be Jewish | 32:08 | |
or the fish are biting or just about anything | 32:12 | |
because Peter was talking more to hear the reassuring noise | 32:17 | |
of his own voice than anything. | 32:22 | |
But it didn't work for he didn't know what to say | 32:26 | |
is how Mark puts it, though I suspect that Luke | 32:31 | |
is more truthful when he tells us Peter spoke | 32:35 | |
without knowing what he was saying. | 32:39 | |
They were terrified at any rate and it must have been more | 32:44 | |
than terror of the mind, | 32:49 | |
for it was surely terror of the soul as well. | 32:52 | |
That deep down sort of terror when all you thought | 32:56 | |
should happen isn't happening, can't happen, | 32:59 | |
or all that you thought couldn't happen, can't happen, | 33:04 | |
suddenly begins to happen. | 33:08 | |
And everything around us is unsure, uncertain. | 33:13 | |
It was surely terror of the soul. | 33:18 | |
Oh, it could have been worse for Peter and James and John, | 33:22 | |
I suppose, it could have been death they were confronting, | 33:26 | |
their own, perhaps, somebody else's, both maybe. | 33:30 | |
And maybe that was a part of it. | 33:36 | |
A meeting up with their own mortality coupled with these | 33:39 | |
dark hints of the destiny of Jesus. | 33:43 | |
And the hints of his mortality. | 33:46 | |
And somehow it looked to them, seemed, felt as if it were | 33:49 | |
all about to fall apart. | 33:53 | |
This mission of theirs and them right along with it. | 33:56 | |
This mission that still was not clear in their minds. | 34:01 | |
And never would be on that side | 34:06 | |
of the whole bloody affair at least. | 34:10 | |
And so John and James were frightened into silence | 34:14 | |
and Peter was terrified into noisy bluster | 34:20 | |
and neither of their responses was precisely the right one. | 34:25 | |
But then we're a lot like that, aren't we? | 34:32 | |
When we dare a visit with our own souls, | 34:37 | |
we know that there is an awkward kinship between ourselves | 34:40 | |
and that terrified threesome on the mountaintop. | 34:44 | |
Silent, silent when we should speak. | 34:49 | |
Rattling on and on when God wishes to heaven | 34:54 | |
that we'd be silent. | 34:57 | |
Hardly ever getting it quite right, | 35:00 | |
hardly ever getting the proper balance. | 35:02 | |
There are, God knows, a multitude of matters | 35:08 | |
that should concern us if only because they concern God. | 35:12 | |
Situations and conditions that call for our words | 35:17 | |
and not our words only but also our lives. | 35:21 | |
And it's the calling for the latter, I suspect, | 35:27 | |
that make our silences the more seductive choice. | 35:30 | |
And we not only choose the silence, we not only choose | 35:36 | |
the silence, but we stone the prophets who dare to break | 35:40 | |
the silence somehow and remind us that | 35:44 | |
God does have a stake in it all, | 35:48 | |
that somehow it does matter to God | 35:52 | |
that we have not gotten our priorities in order. | 35:54 | |
But even as James and John are made dumb by fear, | 36:02 | |
there's Peter talking his fool head off, | 36:08 | |
saying anything | 36:12 | |
because he doesn't know what to say and not knowing enough | 36:13 | |
not to say anything. | 36:16 | |
And a lot of our talk is like that, like Peter's I mean. | 36:22 | |
Some of us simply talking to hear ourselves talk. | 36:26 | |
Believing maybe that this planet's very survival | 36:31 | |
depends on the resonance of our own voices, I don't know. | 36:34 | |
And in some of us talking so others will not talk. | 36:41 | |
Lest by some word or idea of theirs, | 36:46 | |
we will be faced | 36:51 | |
by the inadequacy of a word or idea of ours. | 36:52 | |
And then some of us talking, I think, talking as if somehow | 36:59 | |
God is measuring our goodness, our righteousness | 37:04 | |
by the number of religious words that we utter. | 37:07 | |
Something akin to good works of the mouth, I suppose. | 37:12 | |
Most of us talking though, most of us talking, | 37:18 | |
burdening the silence with our babble | 37:22 | |
because of the terrifying prospect of who we'll meet | 37:26 | |
in the silence, talking our fool heads off | 37:30 | |
lest we meet mystery in the silence, | 37:35 | |
and not just any mystery, but the mystery, | 37:40 | |
source of all mysteries, | 37:46 | |
lest we hear a voice that enjoins us, | 37:51 | |
be still and know that I am God. | 37:55 | |
Or this is my son, | 38:00 | |
listen to him. | 38:05 | |
Chattering on and on as if somehow, | 38:08 | |
sometime, somewhere | 38:13 | |
we too will hear a voice that speaks of sacrifice | 38:16 | |
and compels us to say | 38:21 | |
here am I. | 38:24 | |
With all that happened that day, in that encounter, | 38:31 | |
with the ghostly theologians of yesteryear | 38:36 | |
and the booming holy voice and that curious transfiguration | 38:39 | |
where Jesus' clothes were bleached whiter than white. | 38:43 | |
It could have been, it could have been the wonder of it all | 38:48 | |
that day, but it wasn't, | 38:51 | |
it wasn't. | 38:56 | |
Indeed, it was anything but. | 38:57 | |
And so I wonder how they weathered it all, | 39:00 | |
survived it all that day. | 39:03 | |
Maybe, maybe those good old boys, | 39:07 | |
those good old Jewish boys | 39:11 | |
remembered their Torah, maybe they had read it that morning | 39:13 | |
before their trek up the mountain | 39:18 | |
and maybe they remembered in the midst of their panic, | 39:21 | |
because of their panic, most likely, the story of Abraham | 39:25 | |
and his mountaintop terror. | 39:30 | |
And maybe that's what got them through it all. | 39:34 | |
Remembering that there was after all precedent | 39:38 | |
for this sort of thing. | 39:41 | |
And trying to remember, trying to remember what Abraham | 39:43 | |
had learned from it all. | 39:47 | |
And somehow being reassured by that | 39:49 | |
and given strength by that. | 39:52 | |
Reassurance enough and strength enough at least | 39:57 | |
to pack up the food basket and to wash out the thermos | 40:02 | |
and load up their gear and to get their frightened fannies | 40:07 | |
off that mountaintop, maybe, maybe. | 40:12 | |
Oh yes, yes, there's the sentiment of that other text, | 40:20 | |
if God is on our side, who can be against us? | 40:25 | |
I am convinced that nothing in death or life, | 40:30 | |
in the realm of the spirits or superhuman powers, | 40:34 | |
nothing at all of creation can separate us | 40:37 | |
from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. | 40:40 | |
And those might have been reassuring words too. | 40:46 | |
With all that talk about spirits and powers and such. | 40:50 | |
And none of those powers being strong enough | 40:55 | |
or determined enough or having wits enough | 40:58 | |
to pry loose the sacred from the profane, | 41:01 | |
which is to say God from Peter and James and John | 41:04 | |
and you and me and the rest of the sacred and timid crowd. | 41:08 | |
But, of course, Peter and James and John didn't have | 41:16 | |
those words that day, because those words were written | 41:22 | |
long after their mountaintop encounter with terror. | 41:26 | |
And anyway, even if those very words were somehow | 41:32 | |
emblazoned on a nearby boulder | 41:37 | |
or branded dramatically, | 41:41 | |
suddenly, on a passing stray donkey, | 41:43 | |
I suspect that the disciples would have been | 41:48 | |
no less confused and certainly no less unnerved | 41:50 | |
because, I suspect, I suspect that the seeming peril | 41:57 | |
of the moment was greater than any of their abilities | 42:02 | |
or all of their abilities for that matter | 42:06 | |
to somehow decipher the meaning of it all | 42:08 | |
and the purpose of it all. | 42:12 | |
And I suspect too that even if the disciples did remember | 42:18 | |
their Torah and its story about Abraham, | 42:23 | |
it too would have made little sense, | 42:27 | |
little sense that day and no difference. | 42:32 | |
Because, because it's only after we have been through | 42:39 | |
our terror, | 42:43 | |
those episodes of fear and panic | 42:46 | |
and the smell of our own sweat, | 42:49 | |
that we realize that we have not been alone at all. | 42:53 | |
Because in the deepest moments of our terror, | 42:57 | |
there's seldom anything more present than our terror, | 43:00 | |
more present than ourselves and the danger | 43:05 | |
that threatens ourselves. | 43:09 | |
Which is to say more present than our human finitude | 43:12 | |
and our human frailty. | 43:17 | |
Which is not to say, which is not to say that that's all | 43:20 | |
that's actually there. | 43:25 | |
And too Peter and the boys were undoubtedly | 43:31 | |
looking for something that made sense that day, | 43:35 | |
that would wipe away their confusion | 43:39 | |
and I don't blame them. | 43:43 | |
But, of course, none of it made sense really. | 43:46 | |
Still doesn't make any sense really. | 43:50 | |
For those imperatives of God, | 43:55 | |
go, do, feed, | 43:58 | |
heal, sell, be still, | 44:05 | |
speak, die, to live, | 44:09 | |
these imperatives of God, the suffering of God, | 44:16 | |
this persistence of God, | 44:23 | |
this grace of God, | 44:27 | |
most of all this grace of God, | 44:30 | |
silliness, nonsense, | 44:34 | |
but this, this is precisely the point. | 44:40 | |
The holy humor of the thing, | 44:47 | |
the holy punchline if you will. | 44:51 | |
That none of it, that the nonsense of it all | 44:54 | |
is not to be confused with the futility of it all. | 44:58 | |
That they are not the same at all | 45:04 | |
but rather that this thing which is sheer nonsense | 45:08 | |
is also the sheer beauty of it all, | 45:12 | |
the sheer magnificent, | 45:15 | |
utter wonder of it all. | 45:19 | |
Oh yes, yes, my sisters and brothers, | 45:26 | |
there is a certain holy terror to this truth, | 45:31 | |
this miracle of presence and power. | 45:35 | |
There's a certain unpredictability about this God | 45:40 | |
who's careless with his grace and woefully indiscriminate | 45:43 | |
with his favors of love. | 45:48 | |
But frankly now, honestly now, | 45:52 | |
this carelessness | 45:59 | |
and this indiscrimination, these are our only hope. | 46:03 | |
Just as Peter and James and John had cause to be terrified, | 46:09 | |
if only because of their sin and mischief, | 46:15 | |
we too have cause to be terrified, | 46:18 | |
if only because of our own sin and mischief. | 46:21 | |
There is, after all, | 46:28 | |
there is, after all, so little | 46:31 | |
in our lives that deserves anything | 46:33 | |
but God's anger. | 46:39 | |
But anger has never been God's ultimate mood | 46:44 | |
nor God's ultimate word. | 46:49 | |
No, this word, this mood, | 46:52 | |
these are found only | 46:59 | |
in the reality of that victory that is ours | 47:00 | |
through the presence of God in Jesus of Nazareth. | 47:04 | |
And that's why we, you and I, | 47:11 | |
and this whole blessed human race, | 47:16 | |
can dare to live at all, | 47:20 | |
can dare to live and to dance | 47:23 | |
and to kiss the flowers | 47:27 | |
and to give birth to love and life, | 47:30 | |
can dare to embrace | 47:35 | |
the wildest miracle of them all | 47:37 | |
and call it by its proper name which is the Christ, | 47:40 | |
son of God, savior. | 47:46 | |
Or call it by no name at all but simply live our lives | 47:52 | |
open to the fierce, to the mighty, | 47:56 | |
to the transforming power of it all. | 48:03 |
- | All of which is to say that this holy terror, | 0:07 |
that this holy terror has come, | 0:11 | |
that human existence might be emptied | 0:14 | |
of all of its terrors, | 0:17 | |
that our human fears might give way | 0:20 | |
to human awe | 0:26 | |
and that our deepest anxieties, | 0:28 | |
that our deepest anxieties may give way | 0:32 | |
to the presence and the changing power | 0:35 | |
and the experience of redemption | 0:40 | |
which is to say that this is one reason at least | 0:47 | |
that you and I | 0:53 | |
may want to give a hearing | 0:56 | |
to the voice that says | 0:59 | |
this is my Son, | 1:02 | |
my beloved, | 1:05 | |
listen, listen to him. | 1:08 | |
In the name of the Father | 1:16 | |
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. | 1:18 | |
(lively organ music) | 1:34 | |
(congregation sings) | 2:09 | |
Let us affirm what we believe. | 4:48 | |
- | We believe in God | 4:51 |
who has created and is creating, | 4:53 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus | 4:57 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 5:00 | |
who works in us and others by the Spirit. | 5:03 | |
We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 5:07 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 5:11 | |
to love and serve others, | 5:15 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 5:17 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 5:20 | |
our judge and our hope. | 5:24 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 5:27 | |
God is with us, we are not alone. | 5:31 | |
Thanks be to God. | 5:35 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 5:39 |
- | And also with you. | 5:41 |
- | Let us pray. | 5:42 |
Oh Lord our Lord, | 5:54 | |
how majestic is your name in all the Earth. | 5:57 | |
With heads bowed and bodies bent, | 6:01 | |
we approach you this day | 6:04 | |
asking that you hear the prayers | 6:07 | |
of your fragmented, fearful people | 6:09 | |
and trust in you to answer our prayers | 6:13 | |
according to your will. | 6:16 | |
Where there is brokenness of body or spirit, | 6:19 | |
send your healing balm | 6:22 | |
that soothes and makes all things new. | 6:25 | |
Where there is grief and sadness | 6:31 | |
which weigh heavy on our shoulders, | 6:32 | |
embrace us and lift us up with your comforting spirit. | 6:35 | |
Where there is seething hatred within families divided | 6:42 | |
or between nations of the world, | 6:46 | |
sound the trumpet of your reconciling love | 6:48 | |
as revealed in Jesus Christ. | 6:51 | |
Where there is evil and callous indifference | 6:56 | |
within us that cause life to freeze over, | 6:59 | |
thaw us out with the warmth of your love. | 7:04 | |
Where there is false pride | 7:09 | |
and the lie of rugged individualism, | 7:12 | |
bring us to our knees | 7:15 | |
and to a more complete dependence upon you. | 7:17 | |
Where there is the famine of food | 7:23 | |
or the famine of faith, | 7:25 | |
send your people forth to satisfy the hungry. | 7:27 | |
Continually remind us | 7:31 | |
that we are your hands, we are your feet, | 7:33 | |
we are your mouth to speak truth in a darkened world. | 7:36 | |
Where injustice and unfairness are accepted | 7:43 | |
as status quo and are endorsed | 7:45 | |
by the powers that be, Lord God, | 7:48 | |
give your church a united prophetic voice | 7:52 | |
that neither falters nor fades away. | 7:55 | |
Where there is confusion about where we should go | 8:01 | |
or what we should do | 8:04 | |
or what awaits us tomorrow, | 8:06 | |
as individuals or as the church, | 8:09 | |
ease our anxieties and deepen our trust | 8:12 | |
and remind us that just as you have been our help | 8:16 | |
in ages past, so will you be our hope for years to come. | 8:19 | |
Oh Lord, our Lord, | 8:27 | |
how majestic is your name in all the Earth. | 8:30 | |
Hear our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ | 8:36 | |
who taught those who would fallow after him to pray saying. | 8:39 | |
- | Our father, who art in heaven, | 8:43 |
hallowed be thy name, | 8:46 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 8:48 | |
on Earth as it is in heaven. | 8:52 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 8:55 | |
and forgive our trespasses | 8:58 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 9:00 | |
and lead us not into temptation | 9:04 | |
but deliver us from evil | 9:07 | |
for thine is the kingdom, | 9:09 | |
and the power and the glory forever. | 9:11 | |
Amen. | 9:15 | |
(tranquil organ music) | 9:22 | |
(lively organ music) | 15:06 | |
(congregation sings) | 15:24 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 15:36 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 15:38 | |
(congregation sings) | 15:43 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 15:54 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 15:56 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 16:00 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 16:03 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 16:06 | |
- | Almighty and ever blessed God, | 16:24 |
from whom comes every good and perfect gift, | 16:27 | |
we give you praise and thanks for all of your mercies, | 16:31 | |
your goodness has created us, | 16:34 | |
your bounty has sustained us, | 16:36 | |
your fatherly discipline has guided us, | 16:39 | |
your patience has carried us, | 16:42 | |
your love has redeemed us. | 16:45 | |
Give us hearts to love and serve you | 16:48 | |
and enable us to show our thankfulness | 16:51 | |
by offering our very selves to your service. | 16:54 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 16:58 | |
(lively organ music) | 17:06 | |
(congregation sings) | 17:45 | |
- | Throughout the time of peace, | 19:51 |
have courage, hold on to what is good, | 19:53 | |
return to no one evil hurtful. | 19:56 | |
Strengthen the faint hearted, | 20:00 | |
support the weak, | 20:02 | |
help the suffering, honor all people, | 20:03 | |
love and serve the Lord, | 20:07 | |
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. | 20:09 | |
And now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 20:13 | |
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 20:16 | |
be with you and abide with you | 20:19 | |
from this time forth and forever more. | 20:21 | |
Hallelujah, amen. | 20:25 | |
(lively organ music) | 20:31 | |
(lively organ music) | 23:05 | |
(lively organ music) | 25:36 | |
(lively organ music) | 27:08 |
Item Info
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