Louis Patrick - "The 'Ah' of Wonder" (September 30, 1984)

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	(reverent organ music)	0:04
	(uplifting organ music)	6:03
	(uplifting organ music)	9:44
Pastor	Good morning.	18:02
	We welcome you to this service of worship,	18:04
	particularly our visitors.	18:07
	A number of years ago, when I was a young minister	18:12
	in South Carolina, I got up early on Sunday mornings	18:14
	to listen to the Protestant Hour broadcast.	18:17
	And on that broadcast I heard the voice of one,	18:21
	a voice so mellow and reassuring and yet,	18:25
	in so disturbing in his sermons,	18:30
	it was Lewis Patrick	18:35
	who is probably appeared on the Protestant Hour	18:36
	more than any one speaker.	18:38
	It's a privilege for us to welcome him to the chapel	18:41
	today as our preacher.	18:44
	Many times as we encounter human suffering	18:47
	and pain in life we wonder what we can do.	18:54
	I remind you that each Sunday,	18:58
	we receive an offering in Duke Chapel.	19:00
	Nearly all of the offerings that we receive here	19:04
	go to alleviate human suffering at home and abroad.	19:08
	The work of Meals on Wheels	19:12
	is highlighted in today's bulletin.	19:14
	This is just one of the ministries of this chapel.	19:17
	So when the offering is received,	19:20
	we invite you each Sunday to give generously.	19:22
	And now let us prepare ourselves for worship.	19:26
	♪ Blessed be the God ♪	19:51
	♪ And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ♪	19:57
	♪ Which according to His abundant mercy ♪	20:15
	♪ Hath begotten us again unto a lively hope ♪	20:31
	♪ By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ♪	20:45
	(uplifting organ music)	21:10
	(choir sings)	21:40
Woman	Whosoever shall do the will of God, Jesus said,	24:47
	the same as my brother and sister and mother.	24:51
	Let us pray.	24:56
	Oh God, who has shown us Thy eternal will	25:01
	and the life of Christ our Lord	25:04
All	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	25:07
Woman	Oh, God.	25:12
	Who art ever working in our hearts by the operation	25:13
	of Thy spirit to make us fellow workers with Thy will.	25:16
All	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	25:22
Woman	Oh God, who willist that all will be saved	25:27
	and come to the knowledge of Thy truth.	25:32
All	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	25:34
Woman	From all reliance on ourselves alone,	25:39
	from trying to limit the range of Thy purposes,	25:42
	from doubts of Thy mightiness and operation.	25:47
All	Save us an help us.	25:51
	We humbly beseech Ye, oh Lord.	25:53
Woman	From all unwillingness to learn Thy will,	25:57
	from clinging to our own plans and desires,	26:00
	from all want of faith that hinders self commitment	26:04
	to Thy guidance.	26:08
All	Save us and help us.	26:09
	We humbly beseech Ye, oh Lord.	26:11
Woman	From cowardess following Thy leading,	26:15
	from ever suffering our own ambitions	26:18
	to cloud the vision of Thy will for us,	26:21
	from trying to serve the and escape the costs,	26:24
All	Save us and help us.	26:30
	We humbly beseech Ye, oh Lord.	26:31
Woman	From weakness when we are faced with decisions,	26:35
	from over confidence in making them,	26:38
	from acting without trying to learn Thy will.	26:42
All	Save us and help us.	26:46
	We humbly beseech Ye, Oh Lord.	26:48
Woman	From shirking the responsibility of our place	26:51
	in the divine order,	26:54
	from fearing new truth and new ways of thought and life.	26:56
All	Save us and help us.	27:01
	We humbly beseech Ye, oh Lord.	27:03
Woman	From seeking to set forward human progress,	27:07
	whether in the church or in the world	27:10
	by doing our own will instead of loyally	27:13
	asking to know Thine.	27:16
All	Save us and help us.	27:19
	We humbly beseech Ye, oh Lord.	27:21
	Amen.	27:24
	(uplifting organ music)	27:25
	(choir sings)	27:34
Pastor	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	28:35
	By the power of Your Holy Spirit,	28:37
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	28:40
	may hear with joy what You have to say to us this day.	28:44
	The first lesson is from Genesis,	28:52
	chapter 28, versus 10 to 17.	28:54
	Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.	28:59
	And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night	29:03
	because the sun had set.	29:06
	Taking one of the stones of the place,	29:08
	he put it under his head	29:11
	and laid down in that place to sleep.	29:13
	And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth	29:16
	and the top of it reached to heaven.	29:20
	And behold, angels of God	29:22
	were ascending and descending on it.	29:25
	And behold, the Lord stood above it and said,	29:28
	I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father	29:32
	and the God of Isaac.	29:35
	The land on which you lie, I will give to you	29:37
	and to your descendants.	29:40
	And your descendants should be like the dust of the earth.	29:42
	And you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east	29:46
	and to the north and to the south.	29:49
	And by you and your descendants	29:52
	shall all the families of the earth bless themselves.	29:54
	Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.	29:58
	And will bring you wherever you go	30:03
	and will bring you back to this land.	30:05
	For I will not leave you until I have done that	30:08
	to which I have spoken to you.	30:11
	Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,	30:13
	surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.	30:17
	And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.	30:23
	This is non other than the house of God	30:27
	and this is the gate of heaven.	30:31
	Here ends the reading.	30:33
	(dramatic organ music)	30:40
	(choir sings)	30:49
Pastor	Please be seated.	32:52
	The epistle lesson is from Philippians,	32:59
	chapter two, versus one to 13.	33:02
	So if there is any encouragement in Christ,	33:06
	any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit,	33:09
	any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being	33:14
	of the same mind, having the same love,	33:18
	being in full accord and of one mind.	33:21
	Do nothing from selfishness or conceit,	33:25
	but in humility count others better than yourselves.	33:28
	Let each of you look not only to his own interests,	33:32
	but also to the interests of others.	33:36
	Have this mind among yourselves,	33:39
	which is yours in Christ Jesus,	33:42
	who, though he was in the form of God,	33:44
	did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,	33:47
	but emptied himself, taking a form of a servant,	33:50
	being born in the likeness of men.	33:54
	And being found in human form, he humbled himself	33:56
	and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.	34:01
	Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him	34:06
	the name that is above every name,	34:10
	that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,	34:13
	in heaven and on earth and under the earth,	34:17
	and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,	34:20
	to the glory of God the Father.	34:24
	Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed,	34:28
	so now, not only as in my presence	34:31
	but much more in my absence,	34:35
	work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,	34:37
	for God is at work in you, both to will and to work	34:41
	for his good pleasure.	34:46
	Here ends the reading.	34:48
	(uplifting organ music)	34:52
	(choir sings)	35:17
Pastor	The gospel is from Luke chapter four,	36:53
	versus 16 to 12.	36:55
	And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.	36:58
	And he went to the synagogue, as his custom was	37:01
	on the Sabbath day.	37:05
	And he stood up to read and there was given to him	37:07
	the book of the prophet Isiah.	37:10
	He opened the book and found the place	37:12
	where it was written,	37:14
	the spirit of the Lord is upon me	37:15
	because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.	37:18
	He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives	37:22
	and recovering of sight to the blind.	37:26
	To set at liberty those who are oppressed,	37:29
	to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.	37:32
	And he closed the book	37:36
	and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.	37:38
	And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.	37:41
	And he became to say to them,	37:45
	today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.	37:47
	And all spoke well of him and wondered at the gracious words	37:51
	which proceeded out of his mouth.	37:55
	And they said, is this not Joseph's son?	37:58
	This ends the reading of the gospel.	38:03
	Amen.	38:05
-	[Pastor Patrick Lewis] For all of us,	38:20
	this is the day the Lord has made.	38:23
	But for some of us, it is a bit more awesome	38:27
	than for others and not until I stood up here	38:30
	did I really appreciate why your ever gracious dean	38:33
	put on the back of the chair where I'm sitting,	38:37
	the word, preacher.	38:39
	It helps to be reassured in this awesome setting	38:41
	that one has come to preach,	38:47
	especially, when the text seems so out of place	38:52
	for this context.	38:56
	The 28th chapter of Genesis, the 17th verse:	39:00
	When a man awakens in the out of doors	39:05
	in the midst of every day life and says,	39:09
	surely the Lord is in this place	39:11
	and I knew it not.	39:15
	And is called up with great awe and trembling.	39:19
	And it is about that kind of wonder	39:27
	that I want to speak with you this morning.	39:29
	That we are running into everyday	39:34
	and somehow or other, it escapes us.	39:36
	We see the silver rain peppering on the pond.	39:41
	And we smell the incense of honey suckle	39:46
	at the end of a hot and bothered summer day.	39:48
	And at night, we listen	39:55
	while the waves lull the shore to sleep.	39:56
	A while some whipple wheel makes its plaintiff call	40:01
	from out of a deep dark wood,	40:04
	and we think, awe as such things as the stuff of life.	40:07
	And we do and this as the wonder that lies	40:14
	deep down in things where life consists	40:16
	not in the number of breaths we take	40:19
	but in those times when our breath is taken away from us	40:21
	and all we can do is say, ah, ah.	40:24
	That's why no day is lost in which we marvel.	40:32
	For whosever wonders rains and whoever rains	40:39
	will find rest.	40:44
	Stay yourselves and wonder	40:50
	who makes the streams run	40:54
	and the valley's grass on the mountains	40:56
	shows His goodness to the forgotten.	40:58
	Sets at liberty those who are in chains.	41:00
	Proclaims the acceptability of the Lord	41:02
	but always in terms of the common everyday events.	41:05
	To see this is to indeed be saved.	41:10
	But so often this awe of wonder escapes us.	41:17
	We look at every day life,	41:19
	our own life, and the life of the world,	41:23
	and instead of awe of wonder,	41:25
	it's the blah of what we know	41:27
	and what we somehow think we understand.	41:30
	We see through everything there is to see	41:32
	until we've seen through it.	41:36
	Every question has an answer.	41:40
	Until you come to the blah of class after class	41:44
	after class, all questions with answers.	41:48
	The blah of a world where we are moved around	41:55
	in terms of digits assigned to our places by computers,	41:59
	known by numerals instead of names.	42:02
	The blah of plastic replacing wood.	42:05
	Powered stuff in place of Betsy's milk.	42:10
	Soap operas instead of real life.	42:16
	Where we do indeed see through what is in everything	42:20
	until there is nothing left to see	42:24
	and we look through the slits of our eyes	42:26
	knowingly like some downstairs maid.	42:28
	Until all the prophet can do is say to the likes of us,	42:33
	see, you blind, listen, you deaf.	42:37
	Do at wonder that at deep down	42:45
	in the everyday things.	42:48
	Annie Dillot tells how a six or seven year old in Pittsburgh	42:56
	and goodness knows Pittsburgh is no wonder city,	43:00
	not even with the Steelers and the Pirates.	43:03
	She would go out as a six or seven year old,	43:09
	when this curious compulsion laid hold on her	43:13
	to hide a penny somewhere in that smokey city,	43:16
	along a certain stretch of sidewalk,	43:20
	to hide a penny always under a sycamore root	43:22
	or a crack in the sidewalk.	43:25
	And then beginning at one end of the block or the other,	43:29
	draw arrows leading towards it	43:32
	and when she'd learn to write, she'd put on the arrows,	43:34
	surprise ahead, or money, this way.	43:37
	And how she then would go hide.	43:44
	Had no desire to see it, just to think the wonder	43:47
	of someone in the universe receiving a free gift	43:52
	from the universe, without regard of merit	43:56
	or desserts or anything.	44:01
	Now she says, the compulsion no longer seizes her.	44:05
	But since we live in a world that is strewn with pennies,	44:10
	if we would cultivate that kinda healthy poverty	44:15
	where finding a penny would make your day,	44:19
	we would thereby, simply by that poverty,	44:22
	inherit a lifetime of days.	44:25
	But in a world where facts are facts	44:31
	and facts are all that matter,	44:33
	who has time to stoop for pennies.	44:35
	You know, what's one more copper?	44:38
	So she says, the cold frost of fact	44:44
	gives correctly stated death to all that lives.	44:47
	And pennies do not make our days.	44:53
	She means that we have demystified life.	44:57
	Forests are no longer enchanted.	45:01
	Sidewalks are not longer full of surprises,	45:03
	just ways of getting places.	45:07
	You would know this had to come from another generation,	45:12
	wouldn't you?	45:15
	Flower in the granite wall, I pluck you out of the crannies.	45:18
	And I hold you here in my hand, little flower.	45:23
	And if I could but know what you are,	45:28
	root in all and all in all,	45:32
	if I could but know what you are,	45:34
	then I would know what God and man is.	45:37
	What do you mean, if?	45:43
	Anybody with a botany badge, girl or boy scout	45:47
	knows what a flower is.	45:51
	Anthem, stamen, pedal, you know.	45:53
	Not even the heavens are above our knowledge anymore.	45:57
	Twinkle, twinkle, little star.	46:00
	I don't need to wonder what you are.	46:01
	You're just so much combusting mass of CNN and hydrogen gas.	46:03
	Here's how one person put it:	46:15
	One day I went walking and I found a magic glass,	46:18
	a magic looking glass.	46:23
	A stagnant pond, said Cas.	46:28
	One day I went walking and I found a fairy's dress,	46:32
	a princess fairy's dress.	46:36
	A fallen leaf, said Tess.	46:40
	One day I went walking and I found a brownies shoes,	46:44
	a brownies button shoe.	46:48
	A dry pea pod, said Sue.	46:52
	The next time I go walking, I'm going by myself.	46:57
	Unless, I meet an elf,	47:01
	a funny, friendly elf.	47:04
	That's why John Omen said	47:12
	that as long as he was a Methodist--	47:14
	He became a Roman Catholic.	47:19
	As long as he was a Methodist,	47:20
	had he seen Jesus walking on water,	47:22
	he would have had to say,	47:24
	sir, would you do it again. I didn't get the trick.	47:25
	That's how important it is for us to demystify.	47:33
	To understand in such a way that it does not so much	47:40
	lead to wonder as take away the wonder.	47:43
	So a man in St. Louis dying of cancer writes a book	47:50
	called, The Living End.	47:53
	He's an English teacher	47:55
	and it's about a fellow named, Ellerbee who--	47:57

-	What turns God on?	0:06
	And God deals with these very quickly, saying, goodness?	0:11
	You think that I get off on goodness?	0:14
	You went through the long slap of history,	0:19
	the long suffering of the innocent?	0:22
	All this history's increment	0:28
	of evil being rewarded with good, and good with evil.	0:31
	You think goodness is my thing?	0:33
	No, I called it off because my one thing	0:37
	is astonishment.	0:43
	And I never found my audience.	0:47
	I got a few (speaks foreign language)	0:51
	from the Jews a few times,	0:52
	a few hallelujahs from the Protestants,	0:57
	a few (speaks foreign language) from the Catholics.	0:59
	But I really never found my audience.	1:01
	For astonishment is that in which I delight.	1:07
	Those who can stand before an everyday event	1:14
	and say this is the Lord's doings.	1:17
	It's marvelous.	1:19
	In my eyes.	1:23
	The way Alice Walker does in her Color Purple,	1:26
	saying, "God loves the very things we love	1:28
	"that used to turn us on,	1:31
	"only they keep on turning Him on.	1:33
	"It isn't that He's vain,	1:35
	"it's just that he wants to share these things with us,	1:37
	"and nothing turns Him off so much as a person who can walk	1:39
	"by a field of purple	1:43
	"and not stand and stare.	1:48
	"So full of care, they can walk by a field of purple,	1:51
	"and have no time to stand and just stare."	1:56
	Look at the wonder deep down in things.	2:06
	Every land a land of Oz.	2:09
	Every place a place where the Lord is,	2:12
	especially in those everyday places.	2:14
	And I've taken this long to just somehow get us	2:17
	into this story of Jacob which will not now take long.	2:20
	For here's a man who has just fleeced his father,	2:28
	flimflammed his brother, he's taking it on the lam	2:30
	until the temp is cool.	2:33
	And the first night out, makes his bed under the sky	2:35
	with nothing around to remind him of anything	2:39
	other than just the world as it is,	2:42
	the plain hard facts. And he lies down,	2:44
	and you'd think he'd have a troubled conscience.	2:47
	But he goes to sleep like a baby cradled	2:51
	in his mother's arms.	2:53
	And you'd think at least then God would get at him	2:57
	in some bad dreams.	2:59
	And instead, he gets a dream	3:01
	that would be worthy of a saint.	3:02
	He sees a ladder coming down from heaven	3:05
	and from the earth back up to heaven,	3:07
	and on it, angels with feet of burnished brass,	3:09
	wings like monarch butterflies.	3:11
	And they are all bringing blessings to him,	3:14
	Jacob, the flimflam artist, the conman.	3:17
	And above the ladder is God Himself saying	3:21
	in unmistakable terms, "I'll give you the land you sleep on.	3:24
	"I will make you a blessing	3:29
	"to all the nations of the earth.	3:31
	"In you, they will find their birthright."	3:32
	And then this codicil to the blessing:	3:36
	"I will bring you back to the land from which you left	3:38
	"and I will be with you wherever you go.	3:40
	"And always I will be there to bless you."	3:43
	My soul, you would have think	3:48
	at least God would have thrown the book at this crook.	3:51
	No wonder when he awoke from the dream	3:58
	it was with fear and trembling.	4:00
	The Lord is in this place.	4:04
	This place.	4:07
	The last place I would ever have expected to find Him.	4:09
	In a way that you couldn't put Him there.	4:16
	You couldn't cheat and get Him there.	4:19
	He was there simply	4:22
	to give what was on the house,	4:26
	what had been on the house all the time.	4:28
	Everything that Jacob had wanted and cheated	4:29
	in order to obtain, it couldn't be had that way	4:31
	because it can't be had that way.	4:34
	It has to be had as a gift.	4:36
	That's what he was saying.	4:37
	Surely this is the gate of heaven.	4:38
	This is the great discovery.	4:40
	The Lord is precisely where I least expected Him.	4:43
	And so he became father of the faith.	4:46
	So the stable, so the star.	4:48
	So the man whose name is called Wonderful.	4:51
	All this awe	4:57
	in the midst of the everyday things.	5:01
	In a world of con artists, of helms and hunts.	5:04
	Of family feuds.	5:11
	Of attempted getaways.	5:14
	Dirty tricks, you name it.	5:18
	Holy, holy, holy, our God Almighty.	5:23
	The earth is the place of Thy glory.	5:28
	That's why this chapel, to remind us of nothing more	5:38
	than just precisely that.	5:41
	Not that He's in chapel, but that all the glory	5:45
	that is here comes from there.	5:49
	Or we would not be here ourselves.	5:55
	How else can you say it?	6:06
	Lick a finger and feel the now.	6:11
	Listen, Jesus says, to the wind.	6:13
	You listen.	6:15
	It's out there.	6:17
	The wind.	6:21
	That's the now.	6:23
	That's the gracious coming of our God	6:25
	who always comes in ways he's least expected,	6:26
	where we least expect to find Him.	6:30
	As in the room full of Jews smelling of fish.	6:32
	They have the upper room.	6:35
	As on the road to Emmaus,	6:36
	you know, where they thought the one thing they now	6:37
	could be saved from was anymore visitation	6:40
	from any more saviors.	6:42
	Always coming to make wherever we are this land of Oz.	6:48
	So C. S. Lewis tells how he, too, as a young boy, 10,	6:57
	was one day standing beside a currant bush	7:05
	when something overtook him.	7:09
	More important than anything that had ever happened	7:10
	in his life up to that time or ever since.	7:14
	He had a memory that went back not a few years	7:20
	but went back centuries it seems to him,	7:24
	to that time when his older brother came	7:27
	and brought on a biscuit tin a miniature garden	7:31
	made up of nothing but moss and a few plants.	7:35
	And suddenly he said, just as a child in the nursery,	7:40
	I found myself filled with the enormous	7:45
	bliss of Eden.	7:49
	Longing for that place	7:54
	where I would be at home, had been at home,	7:58
	would yet become at home again.	8:01
	And the longing I no longer had but it vanished.	8:03
	And I longed for the longing.	8:06
	The only really important thing	8:08
	that has happened in my life.	8:10
	On that biscuit tin, on that moss and in those plants.	8:14
	To see the wonder of God's creation.	8:21
	You're going to say blah, blah to that?	8:28
	It's in all of us.	8:33
	How else will you understand this poem?	8:37
	Lewis wrote it many, many years after.	8:41
	That longing had welled up in him and then quickly vanished.	8:45
	The sky was low,	8:52
	the sounding rain was falling dense and dark,	8:55
	And Noah's sons were standing at the window of the Ark.	8:59
	The beasts were in, but Japheth said,	9:06
	"I see one creature more there	9:09
	"all belated and unmated there come knocking at the door."	9:13
	"Well let him knock," said Ham,	9:21
	"or let him drown or learn to swim.	9:24
	"We're overcrowded as it is; we've got no room for him."	9:26
	"Oh, but how it knocks," said Shem,	9:31
	"How terribly it knocks.	9:35
	"It's feet are hard as hooves.	9:39
	"But oh the air that comes from it, how sweet.	9:41
	"Now you hush," said Ham.	9:49
	"You keep talking you'll wake up Dad	9:52
	"and when he comes to see what's at the door,	9:54
	"All it's going to mean is more work for you and me."	9:57
	Sure enough, Noah's voice came up	10:02
	from the darkness down below,	10:04
	"Boys, boys, some animal is knocking.	10:06
	"Knocking, knocking there at the door."	10:08
	Ham shouted back, savagely he nudging the other two,	10:13
	"That's only Jack knocking the brad-nail in his shoe."	10:18
	"Boys," said Noah, "no, I hear a noise	10:22
	"that's like a horse's hoof."	10:25
	"No, no," said Ham, "it's just the dreadful rain, dad,	10:30
	"coming own on the roof."	10:32
	But Noah tumbled up on deck and out he put his head.	10:37
	Suddenly his face went grey,	10:43
	his knees became loose, he tore his beard and said,	10:47
	"Look, look, it would not wait.	10:52
	"It turns away and takes its flight.	10:58
	"Oh, fine work you've made of it, my sons.	11:02
	"Fine work you've made of it tonight!	11:06
	"Even if I could outrun it now, it would not turn again.	11:09
	"Not now.	11:13
	"Our great discourtesy has earned its high disdain.	11:16
	"I tell you noble, unmated beast,	11:22
	my sons were all unkind.	11:27
	"On such a night as this what stable,	11:31
	"what manger will you find?	11:35
	"And henceforth what furrows shall be plowed	11:40
	"across the hearts of men before you come	11:44
	"to stable or to manger ever, ever again?	11:47
	"And how dark and how crooked all the ways	11:53
	"in which our race shall walk,	11:58
	"all their wondering manhood now like flower broken stalks,	12:02
	"and all the world, my sons, will curse the hour	12:08
	"when you were born because of you	12:11
	"the Ark must sail without the unicorn."	12:15
	Have you seen a unicorn lately?	12:30
	That which cannot be had can only be given	12:35
	in the come and go of everyday life.	12:41
	Can only be had in such things as faith and hope and love.	12:46
	That come to us in our daily walk.	12:51
	And you can say surely the Lord is in this place	12:56
	and I knew it not.	13:01
	For holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,	13:03
	the earth is the place of Thy glory.	13:08
-	Let's rise and affirm what we believe.	13:28
	I believe in God, the Father Almighty,	13:34
	the maker of heaven and earth.	13:38
	And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord	13:40
	who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,	13:44
	born of the Virgin Mary,	13:47
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	13:49
	was crucified, dead, and buried.	13:51
	He descended into hell.	13:54
	The third day he rose again from the dead.	13:57
	He ascended into heaven and sitteth	14:00
	at the right hand of the God the Father Almighty.	14:02
	From thence He shall come again to judge	14:06
	the quick and the dead.	14:08
	I believe in the Holy Spirit,	14:10
	the Holy Catholic Church,	14:12
	the communion of saints,	14:14
	the forgiveness of sins,	14:16
	the resurrection of the body,	14:18
	and the life everlasting.	14:20
	Amen.	14:22
	(organ music)	14:27
	(congregation sings)	14:49
	The Lord be with you.	16:41
-	And also with you.	16:43
-	Let us pray.	16:44
	Let it not be, oh God,	17:04
	that wonder and praise should rise to Thee	17:09
	from all places of Thy dominion	17:12
	while we keep silent.	17:16
	Teach us that emotion we are so unskilled in using,	17:21
	gratitude.	17:27
	Thankfulness for all things great and small	17:30
	by which our lives are sustained	17:33
	and our tired spirits are surprised.	17:36
	We pray today	17:43
	for those among us who are burdened	17:47
	not by too little,	17:49
	but by too much.	17:52
	Those who have so much power	17:56
	that they have become indifferent to the needs of the weak.	17:58
	Those who have so much good health	18:04
	that they cannot reckon with the needs of the sick	18:10
	or confront their own mortality.	18:13
	Those who have so much wealth	18:20
	that possessions become more prized than people	18:23
	and they worry into the night about losing what they have.	18:28
	Those who have so much knowledge and erudition	18:36
	that they have grown proud,	18:44
	self-sufficient,	18:47
	and have lost the common touch.	18:50
	Those who have so much virtue	18:54
	that they cannot see their sin	18:57
	and have lost the wonder of your grace.	19:02
	Those who have so much leisure	19:07
	that they have become drifters on the surface of life only	19:11
	lacking any cause larger than themselves	19:17
	to give themselves to.	19:22
	Oh, God,	19:27
	who is able to save us from both the perils	19:30
	of abundance and privation,	19:32
	meet the strong in their strength,	19:37
	take them and what they have into Your service	19:41
	wherein is peace.	19:46
	Through Jesus Christ,	19:50
	our surprising Lord.	19:53
	Amen.	19:57
	As a forgiven and gifted people,	20:01
	let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.	20:05
	(organ and choral music)	20:18
	(organ music)	27:24
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	27:58
	♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪	28:03
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:09
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:12
	♪ Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ♪	28:17
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	28:22
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:28
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:31
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:34
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:38
	♪ Alleluia ♪	28:41
	♪ Amen ♪	28:49
-	Almighty God,	29:03
	all the heavens and yet You have deemed it not	29:06
	an unworthy thing to come among us	29:09
	in the daily things of life,	29:11
	recognizing the giftedness of all creation,	29:14
	we offer ourselves and these gifts	29:17
	in Your service as our appropriate thanksgiving	29:20
	for Your love.	29:25
	Our Father Who art in heaven,	29:27
	hallowed be Thy name.	29:30
	Thy kingdom come,	29:32
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	29:34
	Give us this day our daily bread,	29:38
	and forgive us our trespasses	29:41
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	29:43
	And lead us not into temptation,	29:47
	but deliver us from evil	29:49
	for Thine is the kingdom	29:51
	and the power and the glory forever.	29:53
	Amen.	29:56
	(organ music)	30:00
	(congregation sings)	30:36
	Now may the grace of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,	33:33
	may His peace and love go forth with you.	33:36
	♪ Amen ♪	33:55
	♪ Amen ♪	34:01
	♪ Amen ♪	34:09
	♪ Amen ♪	34:17
	♪ Amen ♪	34:24
	♪ Amen ♪	34:35
	♪ Amen ♪	34:50
	(joyful organ music)	35:12
	(people chatter)	41:40

Item Info

Title:

Louis Patrick - "The 'Ah' of Wonder" (September 30, 1984)

Description:

The world, in all its everyday beauty, is full of the glory of God's holy presence. Yet we have demystified it and no longer are astonished by it. We need to cultivate a sense of wonder. Then we will be able to recognize the presence of God where we are. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 38:20. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 13:13.
Key quotation: “That which cannot be had can only be given in the come and go of everyday life…And you can say surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ng4h644

Date:

September 30, 1984

Speaker:

Patrick, Louis

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0230
ref7981_s4v
uachapelsermaud
duke:321094
dcrau001218
ark:/87924/r4ng4h644
8fd7b75f-ed78-4d41-b4ea-7220e6b6c337

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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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.

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Louis Patrick - "The 'Ah' of Wonder" (September 30, 1984)

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Duke University Archives

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