Joseph A. Burke - "I Will Never Forget You" (April 8, 1984)

Download
- Rights
- No Re-Use
  In Copyright
  More Rights Info
- Files (2)
- MP3 Part 1
- MP3 Part 2
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4r49gq1c?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4r49gq1c
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(church organ music)	0:03
	(footsteps echoing)	0:50
	(somber organ music)	0:57
	(whimsical organ music)	1:53
-	Yes.	2:37
	(footsteps echoing)	2:40
	(upbeat organ music)	2:43
	(footsteps echoing)	3:57
	(whimsical organ music)	4:04
	(footsteps echoing)	5:05
	(dramatic organ music)	5:12
	(high pitched dramatic organ music)	6:18
	(upbeat organ music)	7:12
	(footsteps echoing)	8:18
	(quiet chattering)
	(somber organ music)	8:48
	(footsteps echoing)	10:12
	(somber organ music)	10:20
	(footsteps echoing)	11:23
	(slow organ music)	11:30
	(footsteps echoing)	12:25
	(upbeat organ music)	12:34
	(scuffling)	13:36
	(quiet chattering)
	(whimsical organ music)	13:51
	(footsteps echoing)	14:51
	(intense organ music)	15:01
	(coughing)	16:15
	(footsteps echoing)	16:17
-	And that's all.	16:27
	No.	16:32
	(footsteps echoing)	16:38
	(quiet chattering)
	(church choir singing harmoniously)	17:18
	(coughing)	18:20
	(uplifting organ music)	18:23
	(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)	19:15
	(organ playing dramatically)	21:02
	(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)	21:22
-	Oh, come and magnify the Lord with me	22:19
	and let us exalt God's name together.	22:23
	Now, let us test and examine our ways	22:28
	and return to the Lord, our God.	22:31
	The sacrifice acceptable to God	22:34
	is a broken spirit, a contrite heart.	22:37
	For a broken heart, oh, God, you will not despise.	22:41
	Let us pray.	22:46
	(soft creaking)	22:49
	Oh, Lord Jesus, you set your face to Jerusalem	22:58
	and called us to come with you.	23:02
	How glibly we said we would follow.	23:05
	We confess that our talk was greater than our courage.	23:08
	Our idealism exceeded our commitment	23:12
	and our self confidence overshadowed our faith.	23:16
	As we have become more prosperous and secure,	23:20
	oh, Lord, we have had second thoughts about the cross.	23:23
	Forgive us for our willfulness and our refusal to take risk	23:28
	for your kingdom.	23:32
	Restore in us a spirit of conviction and courage,	23:34
	that we may live in perfect obedience	23:38
	to our Lord Jesus Christ.	23:41
	Amen.	23:43
	(shuffling)	23:52
	(coughing)	24:02
	(coughing)	24:07
	Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.	24:13
	You who come to me shall not hunger	24:16
	and you who believe in me shall never thirst."	24:19
	In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven.	24:23
	Let us, then, give thanks, for God is good	24:28
	and God's love is everlasting.	24:31
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	24:34
	Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.	24:38
	Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.	24:42
	We welcome you to this holy service of worship	24:48
	during the Lenten season.	24:52
	It is now the fifth Sunday of Lent	24:54
	in our own journey toward the cross	24:57
	and our way of discipleship.	24:59
	We are glad to welcome you and your friends	25:02
	here to this service of worship with us today.	25:05
	I want to call your attention to one announcement	25:10
	in the bulletin and also have a special announcement	25:14
	to make for the community here at Duke.	25:17
	You will notice that Mr. Herbert Manfred Hoffman	25:21
	will be offering a recital here in the chapel today	25:25
	at five o'clock.	25:29
	We are very privileged and pleased	25:31
	to have Mr. Hoffman with us.	25:33
	He is the organist of the Heilig Geist Kirchort	25:36
	in Frankfurt, West Germany.	25:39
	The recital is open to the public.	25:43
	There is no charge and we warmly invite you to attend.	25:45
	I was informed by Duke University Food Services	25:52
	on Friday of this week that they have given permission	25:56
	for Duke University students to donate	26:00
	any leftover points in their Food Service plans	26:03
	to go toward imperishable goods	26:08
	for the Saint Philip's Soup Kitchen.	26:12
	So, we want the word to get out about this,	26:14
	particularly to students, but others who have meal plans	26:17
	here at Duke as well.	26:20
	Any student who would like to donate points	26:23
	for the purchase of imperishable goods	26:27
	to help the soup kitchen in Durham	26:30
	may do so by going by the Bryan Center Information Desk.	26:33
	There will be sign up sheets there	26:39
	and you can give any points in any amount	26:41
	that you so desire.	26:44
	The deadline for the collection of points,	26:47
	which will go for the purchase of goods,	26:49
	will be Wednesday, April the 18th	26:52
	and we do hope that students may be able	26:55
	to donate generously to this cause to help	26:57
	hunger here at Durham.	27:02
	We are delighted this morning to introduce to our	27:07
	university community our very own Father Joseph Burke.	27:11
	He will be our guest preacher for the first time	27:17
	this morning here in the chapel.	27:20
	He is now in his seventh year as Chaplain	27:23
	for the Newman Center and the Catholic community	27:27
	here at Duke.	27:30
	Father Burke is a Jesuit priest	27:32
	having been ordained in 1951.	27:35
	In our sharing together, he has told me that	27:39
	40 years of his training and, now, ministry	27:43
	have been spent in a college or university setting.	27:47
	We have been delighted to have him among us	27:51
	in the Religious Life staff here at Duke.	27:55
	We are very glad that he will be sharing with us	27:58
	in the sermon this morning.	28:01
	We are grateful to the Catholic community	28:03
	and our friends in the Newman Center	28:06
	for sharing Joe in his very busy priestly schedule	28:09
	this day and I noticed that the Newman Center	28:12
	cheering community is in place on the pulpit side.	28:15
	Father Burke, we are thrilled to have you	28:21
	and we look forward to the sermon	28:23
	that you will bring.	28:25
	The sermon title is "I Will Never Forget You."	28:27
-	Let us pray.	28:41
	Oh, God, who, according to the promise of Jesus Christ,	28:45
	your son, did send the spirit of truth	28:48
	to your people, grant that the spirit may teach us	28:52
	all things, guide us into all truth,	28:56
	open to us the scriptures and take the ways	28:59
	of Christ and show them to us for your name's sake.	29:02
	Amen.	29:07
	The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah, Chapter 49,	29:09
	Verses 14 and 15.	29:13
	But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me.	29:17
	My Lord has forgotten me.	29:21
	Can a woman forget her suckling child	29:24
	that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?	29:27
	Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you."	29:31
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	29:36
	(shuffling)	29:38
	(somber organ music)	29:45
	(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)	29:55
	(coughing)	31:33
	Will the congregation please stand	31:40
	for the reading of the gospel lesson?	31:42
	From John, Chapter Eight, Verses One through 11.	31:49
	They went each to his own house,	31:54
	but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.	31:57
	Early in the morning, he came again to the temple.	32:00
	All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them.	32:03
	The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman	32:08
	who had been caught in adultery.	32:11
	In placing her in the midst, they said to him,	32:13
	"Teacher, this woman has been caught	32:17
	in the act of adultery.	32:20
	Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such.	32:22
	What do you say about her?"	32:26
	This they said to test him	32:29
	that they might have some charge to bring against him.	32:31
	Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground	32:35
	and as they continued to ask him,	32:39
	he stood up and said to them,	32:42
	"Let him who is among you without sin	32:45
	be the first to throw a stone at her."	32:49
	And once more, he bent down and wrote	32:53
	with his finger on the ground.	32:55
	But when they heard it, they went away one by one,	32:58
	beginning with the eldest and Jesus was left alone	33:02
	with the woman standing before him.	33:06
	Jesus looked up and said to her,	33:09
	"Woman, where are they?	33:12
	Has no one condemned you?"	33:14
	She said, "No one, Lord."	33:17
	And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you.	33:19
	Go and do not sin again."	33:23
	Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson.	33:26
	Amen.	33:29
	(dramatic organ music)	33:30
	(church choir singing harmoniously with organ)	33:39
-	My dear fellow students,	34:40
	after having spent 44 of the last 48 years	34:44
	as either a student, a teacher, or an administrator	34:49
	at a collegiate institution, I feel quite comfortable	34:54
	addressing you students in this way.	34:58
	In a sense, I have never really gotten out of college.	35:04
	Over the years, my contacts with students	35:10
	have usually been in the classroom, in booth sessions,	35:13
	at the local pub, and in most other places	35:18
	that students usually gather.	35:23
	And in the seven years that I've been here at Duke,	35:27
	most of these sessions have taken place right downstairs	35:30
	in the basement of this great chapel	35:36
	where my office is.	35:39
	I've walked through this chapel	35:42
	many times, hundreds of times,	35:44
	and I've prayed here silently many times.	35:47
	I feel very much at home here,	35:53
	but never, never have I looked at you from this height.	35:58
	I feel so very far away from you.	36:04
	I'd much prefer, frankly, to be right down there	36:08
	in the pews with you.	36:11
	But, I feel like Savonarola haranguing the multitudes	36:15
	in the Doumo at Florence.	36:20
	But Savonarola, I assure you, I am not.	36:23
	For one thing, he was a Dominican and I'm a Jesuit	36:25
	with whatever that implies.	36:29
	In intellect, we are worlds apart	36:33
	and in personality, of course, no comparison.	36:35
	Nevertheless, here I am, up here, way up here	36:39
	on this fifth Sunday of Lent	36:42
	and a sermon has to be preached.	36:44
	And so, I've chosen three aspects of God	36:47
	that have meant so much to me over the years.	36:50
	God's forgiveness, God's presence, God's love.	36:53
	And in sharing my thoughts on these points,	37:00
	I confess I've come to agree strongly	37:02
	with Carl Rogers's experience.	37:05
	This distinguished psychologist	37:09
	invariably found that the feeling,	37:11
	which seemed to him most private and personal,	37:15
	proved to be an expression for which	37:19
	there was a resonance in many another.	37:22
	It lead him to the conviction	37:26
	that what is most personal and unique	37:29
	in each one of us is probably the very element	37:33
	which could, if it were shared or expressed,	37:38
	speak most deeply to others.	37:43
	And Henri Nouwen, in commenting on this,	37:48
	suggested that the Christian leader is,	37:51
	first of all, the artist, who can bind together	37:54
	many people by his courage	37:59
	in giving expression	38:03
	to his most personal concern.	38:06
	To our first point, then.	38:11
	God's forgiveness.	38:13
	Over the years, in speaking with thousands of you students,	38:15
	I've sensed your awareness of sin in your lives	38:20
	and an apprehension,	38:25
	even a fear of the eternal consequences	38:27
	of that sinfulness.	38:31
	And I say this despite the fact that in my estimation	38:34
	college age crises are not so much conflicts	38:39
	with evil as they are struggles	38:42
	to determine your identity.	38:46
	Who am I?	38:49
	How do I become me?	38:51
	And I confess, I, too, have had this fear.	38:56
	How will God judge Burke when Burke faces him	39:01
	at the judgment?	39:07
	Not an unreasonable fear on my part, I assure you.	39:10
	(laughing)	39:13
	Well, let's see what Jesus says about it.	39:17
	In Matthew's 25th chapter, Jesus gives us his version	39:23
	of the Last Judgment.	39:26
	You remember the story	39:28
	when the son of man comes as king	39:30
	and all the angels with him.	39:32
	He will sit on his royal throne	39:34
	and the people of all nations will gather before him.	39:36
	Then, he will divide them into two groups.	39:40
	Just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,	39:43
	he will put the righteous people his right	39:48
	and the others at his left and so on.	39:50
	And when the separation has taken place	39:54
	and the reason for the separation given,	39:57
	the righteous rather plaintively ask,	40:01
	"Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you	40:05
	or thirsty and give you a drink?	40:10
	When did we see you a stranger and welcomed you	40:13
	into our homes or naked and clothed you?	40:18
	When did we ever see you sick or in prison	40:23
	and visit you?"	40:26
	"And," says Jesus, "the king will reply	40:29
	I tell you, whenever you did this	40:33
	for one of the least important of these	40:36
	brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me."	40:41
	Now, the intriguing thing about this story	40:47
	is told by Jesus and which has always fascinated me	40:49
	is this:	40:55
	the king never once mentions positive sin	40:57
	as we understand it.	41:02
	(coughing)
	When those in eternal fire ask for an explanation,	41:05
	"Why are we here?"	41:08
	The king does not say because you committed	41:11
	adultery 10 times or you murdered somebody or whatever.	41:14
	He simply says, "Away from me.	41:20
	When I was hungry, you didn't feed me	41:26
	and when I was thirsty, you didn't give me to drink.	41:29
	That is why you are where you are."	41:33
	And so, I've always believed that we will be judged more	41:39
	on the many good things that we could have done	41:44
	and did not do	41:49
	rather than on those big bad sins	41:52
	that we did do	41:56
	and about which we always worry and fret,	41:58
	even though they have already been forgiven and forgotten	42:03
	by an all merciful God.	42:09
	Jesus urges us to forget our forgiven sins	42:12
	and get going on doing good.	42:17
	Now, let's get one thing clear.	42:22
	I am not saying that	42:24
	we can earn our way into heaven	42:27
	by good deeds.	42:31
	That argument is over.	42:33
	It holds water neither philosophically, nor theologically,	42:35
	and the reward of heaven,	42:40
	even our very faith itself,	42:43
	is a free gift of God.	42:47
	But, having said that, we are still left	42:50
	with the plea of Jesus to feed the hungry	42:53
	and clothe the naked	42:59
	and we must be about our business.	43:01
	Another aspect of Christ's forgiveness,	43:07
	Jesus rarely became angry.	43:10
	And when he did, it was usually in the presence	43:15
	of hypocrisy and phoniness.	43:20
	He was always most kind and considerate	43:23
	in the presence of sins of weakness,	43:26
	which most of our sins are.	43:29
	A clear example of this is the story	43:34
	of today's gospel reading from Saint John,	43:36
	the woman taken in adultery.	43:38
	One of the tenderest moments	43:41
	in the whole New Testament,	43:45
	this poor woman caught red-handed	43:49
	is brought before the people and Jesus	43:53
	with no regard for her feelings and her dignity.	43:57
	If there was ever a time when it might be said	44:03
	that sin personified was in the presence	44:06
	of virtue personified, it was this confrontation	44:10
	of the adulterous woman and Jesus.	44:15
	Yet, Jesus quietly forgives her immediately.	44:21
	I can imagine even with an embrace	44:26
	and releases her.	44:30
	Soren Kierkegaard, in one of his edifying discourses,	44:34
	has this poignant comment on this very episode.	44:38
	When the woman was brought in,	44:44
	Jesus bowed down and wrote with his finger upon the ground.	44:46
	Why, I wonder?	44:52
	Did he write with his finger on the ground?	44:54
	Did he sit there like a judge who listens attentively	44:58
	to the story of the accusers	45:01
	who jots down the principal points	45:04
	so that he may not forget them and may judge strictly?	45:06
	Was the woman's guilt the only thing that was noted	45:11
	by the Lord?	45:15
	Or did not he who wrote on the ground	45:18
	rather write it down in order to erase it and forget it?	45:21
	He wrote with his finger in order to blot out	45:28
	what he himself knew,	45:32
	for sin discovers a multitude of sins,	45:35
	but love covers a multitude of sins.	45:40
	Yes, even in the sight of the sinner,	45:46
	love covers a multitude of sins.	45:48
	There was no longer an accuser, no one who condemned her.	45:51
	And so, Jesus simply said,	45:56
	"Neither do I condemn you.	46:01
	Go and sin no more."	46:04
	Thus, Kierkegaard, the gentleness	46:08
	with which Jesus handled this poor woman	46:12
	comes clearly through the gospel text.	46:15
	Thus, does Jesus deal with us weak sinners.	46:19
	He is more willing to forgive our sins	46:26
	than we are to ask to have them forgiven.	46:28
	Why don't we take God at God's word?	46:33
	Your sins are forgiven.	46:39
	Go and sin no more.	46:42
	God will never abandon us.	46:44
	Can a mother forget her infant?	46:48
	Be without tenderness for the child of her womb?	46:52
	Even should she forget,	46:56
	I will never forget you.	46:59
	A forgiving God is with us always,	47:04
	which brings us to our second point, God's presence.	47:11
	Over the years, I've noticed a tremendous	47:18
	streak of generosity in college students,	47:23
	despite your perennial bad press.	47:28
	You really do want to make this a better world	47:33
	in which to live.	47:38
	This is commendable, but ponder this:	47:41
	too few Christians find Christ in their fellow man.	47:48
	It is not that they find little to love in the poor	47:55
	and the disadvantage	47:59

-	What do the words of Christ really mean?	0:03
	As long as you did it to one of these, you did it to me.	0:06
	Give one a cup of cold water and you give it to me.	0:11
	Somehow what emerges from the slums of New York,	0:17
	or the shacks of Appalachia,	0:22
	or the migrant farm workers of North Carolina	0:24
	is not the face of Christ,	0:29
	but the features of crucified man.	0:32
	We must see Christ in our less	0:37
	fortunate brothers and sisters.	0:41
	Wherever they are, and whatever their condition.	0:46
	That is what gives Christian value	0:51
	to that cup of cold water.	0:56
	But let's come closer to home.	1:02
	Right here to this campus at Duke.	1:04
	If we are true Christians, we should see Christ	1:09
	in every Duke student.	1:13
	Now that can be a tall order.	1:18
	But I really mean it.	1:22
	Is this some kind of Christian pantheism?	1:27
	No, it is not.	1:32
	I think it's a deep understanding of the Incarnation.	1:34
	We must seek Christ in each other.	1:38
	Do we realize what kindness and compassion	1:45
	can do even in the worst of scenarios?	1:47
	Remember The Elephant Man, the play, the movie?	1:51
	When a compassionate surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves,	1:57
	first saw the Elephant Man, John Merrick was 20.	2:00
	He was terribly misshapen.	2:06
	The most disgusting specimen of humanity	2:09
	that Dr. Treves had ever seen.	2:13
	Giant nodes extended his head like masses of dough.	2:17
	Another mass of bone protruded like a stump from his mouth,	2:21
	making it only a slobbering aperture,	2:27
	turning speech for him into torture.	2:30
	From his back hung sac-like masses of flesh.	2:33
	From his chest, a bag of flesh.	2:38
	Like dewlaps suspended from the neck of a lizard.	2:41
	When Treves came upon him by accident or providence,	2:47
	Merrick was a circus freak, exploited by his ability	2:53
	to shock, to make people throw up.	2:57
	He had no other way to live.	3:01
	He was shunned, recalled Treves, housed like a wild beast,	3:05
	and got his only view of the world	3:10
	from a peephole in a showman's cart.	3:13
	Two years later, Treves housed Merrick	3:19
	in the London Hospital, with his own sitting room.	3:24
	Merrick, he discovered, was highly intelligent,	3:28
	acutely sensitive, romantically imaginative.	3:32
	Against all the odds, his genetic disorder	3:38
	and the cruelty of his fellows had not embittered him.	3:44
	He was gentle and affectionate,	3:51
	free of cynicism and resentment.	3:55
	With never an unkind word for anyone.	3:59
	Merrick was even able to face others without embarrassment.	4:06
	And that transformation began	4:10
	when a young widow entered his room one day,	4:12
	wished him good morning, and shook his hand.	4:17
	Merrick sobbed uncontrollably.	4:24
	Apart from his mother,	4:30
	she was the first woman	4:33
	who had ever smiled at him,	4:36
	ever touched his hand.	4:40
	From then on, he lost his shyness	4:45
	and loved to see his door open and the world flock to him.	4:47
	For here, Treves noted, was a being with the brain of a man,	4:51
	the fancies of a youth, and the imagination of a child.	4:57
	After three years and four months in London Hospital,	5:04
	death came unexpectedly to John Merrick,	5:10
	in 1890 at the age of 26.	5:16
	And time and again before that tragic April afternoon,	5:22
	the Elephant Man told Treves,	5:27
	"I am happy every hour of the day."	5:31
	Now how is it that such physical deformation,	5:36
	such pain and humiliation,	5:41
	did not lead to a deformed personality?	5:44
	John Merrick confounds so many of our pet theories	5:51
	about personality, about human living,	5:55
	about good and evil.	6:00
	He exemplifies quite rudely how much potentiality	6:04
	for life and love, for joy and laughter,	6:10
	lies deep within the scarred and disfigured.	6:14
	Needing only a smile or a touch to release it.	6:19
	Now, if Treves did what he did for John Merrick,	6:26
	the Elephant Man, out of a human motive, he did well.	6:30
	But if he did it for a Christian motive,	6:37
	that was faith in action.	6:41
	And you Duke students don't have far to go	6:46
	to put your faith in action.	6:52
	Here at Duke, there are no John Merricks.	6:56
	But right in the dorms, right down the corridor,	7:02
	there are students who need your help.	7:08
	Who need companionship in their loneliness.	7:11
	And compassion and understanding	7:16
	in their confusions and sorrows.	7:18
	You can bring out their inner worth.	7:22
	God is in each of us.	7:29
	And it is for this reason, that Saint John pleads,	7:32
	"Little children, love one another."	7:38
	Which brings us to our third point, God's love.	7:45
	If someone were to tell me, Burke,	7:52
	sum up Christianity in one single word,	7:55
	I suppose I'd demur and say,	8:01
	well, can you give me a couple semesters?	8:03
	Nope, one word.	8:06
	What about a lecture?	8:08
	Nope, one word.	8:10
	A sermon?	8:13
	No.	8:14
	A teeny weeny sermon?	8:16
	No, one word.	8:18
	If you push me into a corner,	8:21
	I'd have to answer love.	8:24
	Love is the only word that explains God's creation	8:29
	of everything and everyone.	8:34
	Love is at the basis of God's	8:37
	special relationship to the Hebrew people.	8:38
	Love is at the bottom of the Incarnation.	8:42
	Only love is believable.	8:46
	In the first place, only love makes Christ believable.	8:50
	Only love makes sense out of the next two weeks.	8:56
	The two weeks of the Passion.	9:00
	The Passion of Christ, something happened to Jesus.	9:03
	But what happened to him?	9:08
	What he suffered makes sense only	9:10
	in the context of what he did.	9:13
	And one thing he did supremely, more than anything else,	9:17
	better than anyone else, he loved.	9:22
	Saint John highlights this in the first page of his Passion.	9:27
	When Jesus knew that his hour had come	9:32
	to pass out of this world to the Father,	9:35
	having loved his own who were in the world,	9:38
	he loved them to the end.	9:42
	But if love alone makes Christ believable,	9:47
	surely love alone makes the Christian believable.	9:50
	For Christianity is not an idea	9:55
	floating around in outer space.	9:58
	Christianity is people.	10:03
	In a sobering phrase, God's people.	10:06
	Christ and Christianity will be believable	10:12
	only if my love makes me believable.	10:16
	And so here is the importance of the next two weeks,	10:23
	the two weeks of the Passion,	10:26
	love must get through to me.	10:29
	The love of him who is the suffering servant beyond compare.	10:32
	It must transform my love, so that the men and women	10:38
	I touch resonate my touch	10:42
	because they see on my face	10:46
	the image of Christ,	10:50
	the Christ who loved to the end.	10:54
	A rather famous Jesuit once said,	11:01
	"I suppose I've done some fairly good things in my lifetime.	11:04
	"But you know, if God were not somehow there,	11:10
	"It would all be rather silly, wouldn't it?"	11:14
	Silly, it would be utterly impossible.	11:18
	In Augustan's powerful phrase,	11:23
	"If we but turn to God,	11:26
	that itself is a gift of God.	11:30
	Once I realize that, I can take	11:35
	Christian delight in myself.	11:39
	And what a mighty God has done	11:42
	Through a lowly person, I can like me.	11:45
	And so for every Christian, there are two special sins	11:51
	that crucify Christ again.	11:57
	Pride and despair.	12:00
	Each of these is rooted in the same heresy.	12:03
	That the world can be saved by human wisdom.	12:09
	N-O says Saint Paul, no.	12:14
	God chose what is low and despised in the world,	12:19
	even things that are not,	12:23
	to bring to nothing things that are,	12:26
	so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.	12:31
	God chose you and me.	12:38
	Let God work his wonders in you,	12:43
	and you may take delight in God	12:47
	and in yourself.	12:52
	In the meantime, my dear fellow Duke students,	12:57
	you represent all the students I've known over the last	13:05
	48 years, you and they have pushed me,	13:09
	you've challenged me, you've exasperated me,	13:14
	and you've edified me.	13:18
	And I am grateful to you.	13:21
	My feeling for you and my prayer for you	13:26
	is best expressed	13:31
	in the words of Paul's letter to the Christians at Philippi.	13:33
	I give thanks to God each time I remember you.	13:40
	Always in every prayer of mine, for all of you.	13:45
	I make my prayer with joy.	13:51
	For of this I am certain,	13:55
	that he who began the good in you	13:58
	will bring it to completion,	14:02
	ready for the day when Jesus Christ comes.	14:04
	May your love abound more and more in the fullness	14:09
	of its knowledge and the depth of its perception.	14:14
	So that you can learn to prize what is of real value.	14:17
	May nothing cloud your conscience	14:24
	or hinder your progress till the day Christ comes.	14:27
	May you reap through Jesus Christ	14:33
	the full harvest of your justification	14:38
	to God's glory and praise,	14:43
	amen.	14:48
	(organ music)	14:56
	(choral music)	15:18
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	17:17
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating,	17:21
	who has come in the truly human Jesus,	17:26
	to reconcile and make new.	17:29
	Who works in us and others by the Spirit.	17:32
	We trust God, who calls us to be the Church,	17:35
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	17:40
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil.	17:43
	To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	17:49
	our judge and our hope in life, in death,	17:53
	in life beyond death, God is with us.	17:58
	We are not alone, thanks be to God.	18:02
	The Lord be with you.	18:06
-	And also with you.	18:08
-	Let us pray.	18:10
	Oh God, eternal spirit, grant us grace	18:22
	to worship you in spirit and in truth.	18:26
	You have so made us that the glory of our lives	18:30
	is not in things below or around us that we master,	18:34
	but in the divine above us that masters us.	18:39
	Grant us an hour of such spiritual wealth,	18:44
	made aware of your eternal realities,	18:48
	captured by a vision of the Christ-like life	18:51
	to be lifted up out of our littleness	18:56
	by dedication to abiding values	18:59
	and to your everlasting purposes.	19:03
	You, oh God, surely see us a generation victorious	19:07
	over the hazards of war,	19:13
	and yet frustrated and even confused	19:15
	by the problems of peace.	19:18
	From a dismaying world, we come into your sanctuary,	19:21
	and here we pray for an hour of spiritual insight,	19:27
	that with thankful hearts, we may see afresh	19:31
	the light which even this darkness	19:34
	has not been able to put out.	19:37
	For the heritage of the Christian gospel,	19:41
	for all the saints who from their labors rest,	19:45
	for the noble succession of seers and prophets,	19:49
	for Christ, your son, who has given us	19:53
	a kingdom that cannot be shaken.	19:57
	For our friends who renew our faith	20:00
	in goodness and beauty, in integrity and love.	20:03
	And for you, your love, oh God, we give you thanks.	20:08
	Now marshal within us in these momentous times	20:14
	such resources of the spirit that we may be able	20:18
	to withstand in the evil day,	20:22
	and having done all to stand.	20:26
	Come and minister to our intimate personal needs.	20:30
	Oh spirit of the living God, walk through this place now,	20:35
	and be the help and comfort, the inspiration	20:41
	and sustenance of our very souls.	20:46
	In temptation, in illness,	20:49
	in disappointment and depression,	20:53
	in defeat when we are tempted to give up,	20:56
	and in success when we are tempted to be proud,	20:59
	oh God, restore our souls.	21:04
	May we hear your voice speaking to each of us,	21:07
	reassuring us, challenging us, summoning us	21:11
	to dedicated and victorious living.	21:15
	Hear now the unspoken prayers that rise in silence	21:20
	from the depths of our hearts.	21:25
	And to those needs that can find no voice,	21:27
	save for your ear alone, minister according	21:31
	to the riches of your grace, in Christ Jesus,	21:36
	our savior and lord,	21:40
	the one who came to live among us	21:43
	and who taught us to pray, saying,	21:46
	our Father, who art in heaven,	21:49
	hallowed be thy name,	21:52
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	21:54
	on earth as it is in heaven.	21:57
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	21:59
	and forgive us our trespasses,	22:02
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	22:04
	And lead us not into temptation,	22:08
	but deliver us from evil,	22:10
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	22:12
	and the glory forever, amen.	22:15
	(joyful organ music)	22:34
	(man sings in foreign language)	24:16
	(choir sings in foreign language)	25:03
	(man sings in foreign language)	25:55
	(French horn music)	27:05
	(choir sings in foreign language)	27:12
	("Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow")	30:07
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	30:28
	♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪	30:35
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	30:42
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	30:45
	♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪	30:50
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	30:57
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	31:03
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	31:06
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	31:10
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	31:13
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	31:17
	♪ Amen ♪	31:26
-	Oh Lord our God, send down upon us	31:38
	your holy spirit to cleanse our hearts,	31:40
	to make holy our gifts, and to perfect	31:44
	the offering of ourselves to you.	31:47
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen.	31:50
	(organ music)	31:57
	(choir sings indistinctly)	32:32
-	The Lord bless you and keep you.	35:47
	The Lord's face shine upon you.	35:50
	The Lord's countenance be upon you,	35:53
	both now and forever, and give you peace.	35:56
	(choral music)	36:03
	(organ music)	36:28
	(parishioners chatting indistinctly)	40:02
	(organ music)	40:09
	(parishioners chatting indistinctly)	42:38

Item Info

Title:

Joseph A. Burke - "I Will Never Forget You" (April 8, 1984)

Description:

The central word of the Christian faith is love. God manifests this truth to us through God's unrelenting forgiveness and God's presence in every person. We, then, ought to reflect this love by loving each person as if they were Christ. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 34:40. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 14:50.
Key quotation: “Christianity is not an idea floating around in outer space. Christianity is people…Christ and Christianity will be believable, only if my love makes me believable.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4r49gq1c

Date:

April 8, 1984

Speaker:

Burke, Joseph A.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0200
ref7923_mxg
uachapelsermaud
duke:320874
dcrau001190
ark:/87924/r4r49gq1c
1fc9a84d-f73b-4ae8-b1d7-d0ccdb5b53c1

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

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:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Joseph A. Burke - "I Will Never Forget You" (April 8, 1984)

Transcript

Item Info

1. Joseph A. Burke - "I Will Never Forget You" (April 8, 1984)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options