Ernest T. Campbell - "Surprising Judgement - Amazing Grace" (February 24, 1985)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| (enchanting glass armonica music) | 0:05 | |
| (enchanting glass armonica music) | 2:57 | |
| (organ music joins) | 7:38 | |
| (soothing organ music) | 13:04 | |
| - | We welcome you to our service of worship this morning, | 15:59 |
| particularly our visitors. | 16:02 | |
| We're delighted to have as our visiting preacher today | 16:04 | |
| Dr. Earnest Campbell, | 16:07 | |
| former pastor of Riverside Church, | 16:10 | |
| and now on the faculty at Garrett Evangelical Seminary. | 16:12 | |
| I've long admired the work of Dr. Campbell, | 16:17 | |
| particularly for me his prayers, and we have | 16:20 | |
| therefore asked him to lead us in our prayer for others, | 16:23 | |
| as well as to preach for us today. | 16:26 | |
| And we welcome him again to the Pope out of Duke Chapel. | 16:28 | |
| Today being the first Sunday of lent, | 16:33 | |
| we have a Lenten theme on the cover of our bulletin. | 16:35 | |
| And we begin our service with a great litany of lent. | 16:39 | |
| This afternoon at 4:00 pm, the chapel choir | 16:43 | |
| will be in concert, and we invite you back | 16:47 | |
| for that great event. | 16:50 | |
| We begin our service, as I said, with a great litany. | 16:54 | |
| We are using the litany which has been done for | 16:57 | |
| a number of years in the National Cathedral in Washington. | 17:00 | |
| Even as Jesus carried the cross, | 17:04 | |
| we also carry the cross, his followers behind; | 17:08 | |
| the choir will begin in Memorial Chapel | 17:13 | |
| and preces around this building. | 17:16 | |
| We invite you to join with the choir | 17:19 | |
| in the responses as they are printed in the bulletin. | 17:22 | |
| The choir will preces around the building | 17:26 | |
| and end up in the choir stall | 17:28 | |
| as we celebrate this first Sunday of lent. | 17:31 | |
| And now let us stand and join in this historic | 17:35 | |
| (choir precesing and responding) | 17:50 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 30:10 |
| Open our hearts and minds, O God, | 30:14 | |
| by the power of Your Holy Spirit | 30:17 | |
| so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, | 30:20 | |
| we might hear with joy | 30:24 | |
| what You say to us this day. | 30:26 | |
| Amen. | 30:29 | |
| The first lesson is taken from Isaiah | 30:34 | |
| chapter 55, verses six through nine. | 30:37 | |
| "Seek the Lord while He may be found. | 30:43 | |
| "Call upon him while He is near. | 30:48 | |
| "Let the wicked forsake his way, | 30:52 | |
| "and the unrighteous man his thoughts. | 30:55 | |
| "Let him return to the Lord, | 31:00 | |
| "that He may have compassion on him, | 31:03 | |
| "and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. | 31:06 | |
| "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, | 31:12 | |
| "neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. | 31:16 | |
| "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, | 31:21 | |
| "so are My ways higher than your ways | 31:25 | |
| "and My thoughts than your thoughts." | 31:30 | |
| This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 31:34 | |
| (worship organ music) | 31:40 | |
| (choir singing) | 31:49 | |
| The gospel is taken from Matthew, | 38:35 | |
| chapter 20, verses one through 16. | 38:37 | |
| "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder | 38:43 | |
| "who went out early in the morning to hire laborers | 38:47 | |
| "for his vineyard. | 38:51 | |
| "After agreeing with the laborers for a denariusa a day, | 38:54 | |
| "he sent them into his vineyard. | 38:58 | |
| "And going out about the third hour | 39:01 | |
| "he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, | 39:04 | |
| "and to them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too, | 39:09 | |
| "'and whatever is right I will give you.' | 39:14 | |
| "So they went. | 39:18 | |
| "Going out again about the sixth and the ninth hour, | 39:20 | |
| "he did the same. | 39:24 | |
| "And about the eleventh hour he went out | 39:26 | |
| "and found others standing. | 39:29 | |
| "And he said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' | 39:31 | |
| "They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' | 39:37 | |
| "He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.' | 39:41 | |
| "And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard | 39:47 | |
| "said to his steward, 'Call the laborers | 39:50 | |
| "'and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, | 39:54 | |
| "'up to the first.' | 39:58 | |
| "And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, | 40:00 | |
| "each of them received a denarius. | 40:04 | |
| "Now when the first came, | 40:08 | |
| "they thought they would receive more, | 40:10 | |
| "but each of them also received a denarius. | 40:13 | |
| "And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, | 40:18 | |
| "saying, 'These last worked only one hour, | 40:22 | |
| "'and you have made them equal to us who have borne | 40:25 | |
| "'the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' | 40:29 | |
| "But he replied to one of them, | 40:33 | |
| "'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. | 40:37 | |
| "'Did you not agree with me for a denarius? | 40:39 | |
| "'Take what belongs to you and go. | 40:44 | |
| "'I choose to give to this last as I gave to you. | 40:48 | |
| "'Am I not allowed to do what I choose | 40:52 | |
| "'with what belongs to me? | 40:56 | |
| "'Or do you begrudge me my generosity?' | 40:58 | |
| "So the last will be first, | 41:02 | |
| "and the first last." | 41:06 | |
| This ends the reading of the gospel. | 41:09 | |
| - | I was very pleased that morning many months ago | 41:21 |
| when Dr. Lilomon called me collect in New York-- | 41:24 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 41:29 | |
| to see whether we might get together on this occasion. | 41:32 | |
| You underestimate your chapel and if you think | 41:37 | |
| that he would do that, | 41:40 | |
| and you overestimate me if you think that I | 41:43 | |
| would accept the charges. | 41:45 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 41:47 | |
| In any case, I would do most anything | 41:49 | |
| to worship among you today. | 41:52 | |
| Some of the dearest friends I've ever known on Earth | 41:56 | |
| have been given to me by the state of North Carolina, | 41:59 | |
| and I find myself already enriched | 42:05 | |
| just by having participated in this worship. | 42:08 | |
| I'm also glad as an outside speaker that | 42:13 | |
| our basketball team is doing well, | 42:18 | |
| because I won't feel any need to justify | 42:21 | |
| providence to you. | 42:25 | |
| When we have a winning record, somehow Earth | 42:28 | |
| does seem fairer than under | 42:31 | |
| other circumstances. | 42:35 | |
| One of the surest ways to blunt the edge of Scripture | 42:40 | |
| is to assume that we are a latter day spectators. | 42:45 | |
| Thus safely distanced from the drama, | 42:50 | |
| we are free to applaud the boldness of Amos, | 42:55 | |
| the commitment of Paul, | 42:58 | |
| or to hiss the foolishness of Samson | 43:01 | |
| or the treachery of Judas. | 43:05 | |
| But the Bible is more than history, it is revelation. | 43:09 | |
| What God said to Moses or to Luke is history. | 43:15 | |
| What God can say to us through what He said | 43:21 | |
| through Moses or Luke | 43:25 | |
| is part of what we mean by revelation. | 43:28 | |
| The gospel narratives are a case in point, | 43:33 | |
| and these narratives will be the focus of | 43:38 | |
| Christian people during the Lenten season. | 43:41 | |
| The comforting approach is to fault the Jew | 43:46 | |
| because of his failure to receive the Messiah. | 43:50 | |
| Despite abundant clues and signs, | 43:55 | |
| the Jews missed the glory when it passed among them. | 43:59 | |
| When God drew nigh, they were out to lunch. | 44:05 | |
| Their waiting was more formal than dynamic. | 44:09 | |
| It was in their liturgy but not on their horizon, | 44:14 | |
| and so they blew it. | 44:18 | |
| Quickly then we take pen in hand to | 44:22 | |
| mark their report card with a big red D. | 44:25 | |
| And standing tall against their failure, | 44:31 | |
| we are prone to pray with the Pharisee; | 44:35 | |
| God, we thank thee that we are not as others. | 44:38 | |
| But the gospel narratives are only glancingly | 44:45 | |
| about the Jew and the signs that he ignored. | 44:48 | |
| They have to do with us here and now. | 44:52 | |
| They have to do with whether we in our time and place, | 44:56 | |
| since the personal and public relevance of Jesus. | 45:01 | |
| My good friend John Killinger has a way of | 45:09 | |
| writing books faster than I can read them. | 45:12 | |
| He has a line in one of his more recent books | 45:17 | |
| that I think would be worth the price | 45:20 | |
| of all of them. | 45:22 | |
| Speaking about our Lord, he said, | 45:25 | |
| "Jesus had an eye for the high tides of God, | 45:27 | |
| "and he rode them like a surfer." | 45:32 | |
| Jesus had an eye for the high tides of God, | 45:36 | |
| and he rode them like a surfer. | 45:41 | |
| How well do we see? | 45:44 | |
| How much do we hear? | 45:47 | |
| It is humbling to remember that those words, | 45:51 | |
| "behold I stand at the door and knock," | 45:55 | |
| were not addressed to rank outsiders | 45:59 | |
| but to members of the body of Christ. | 46:03 | |
| Expectation can expire | 46:08 | |
| even in one who calls herself a Christian. | 46:12 | |
| But how will we know it is He? | 46:19 | |
| Did not our Lord warn us that many false prophets | 46:22 | |
| would come in his name and deceive many? | 46:26 | |
| Here I think is the master clue especially for us | 46:30 | |
| in the Western world. | 46:34 | |
| Jesus always comes as a radically disturbing presence. | 46:36 | |
| The Babe of Bethlehem became a provocative man. | 46:43 | |
| He will not be an optional appendage. | 46:49 | |
| He will not be assimilated into some | 46:53 | |
| prior construct of life that you and I have arranged. | 46:57 | |
| Jesus will not become a holy additive, | 47:02 | |
| a divine STP treatment | 47:07 | |
| that will help our engines get where they are going faster. | 47:11 | |
| The land is filled these days with | 47:17 | |
| religious hucksters who peddle Jesus | 47:21 | |
| as neutral energy. | 47:25 | |
| If you have the stomach for it, | 47:30 | |
| you might tune in to one of these wall-to-wall | 47:32 | |
| religious television or radio stations. | 47:35 | |
| And the chances are that you would hear a witness | 47:40 | |
| that runs something like this: | 47:42 | |
| "I was the third string quarterback at... | 47:45 |
| - | Aye, and I had a very bad case of acne | 0:02 |
| and I thought my world was about over | 0:07 | |
| but a friend of mine who goes to church said to me, | 0:11 | |
| why don't you bring God into your story? | 0:14 | |
| So, I brought God into my story. | 0:18 | |
| My acne has cleared up | 0:21 | |
| and now I'm the first string quarterback. | 0:24 | |
| Or another scenario in the Bay Area. | 0:30 | |
| It's good to make these illustrations | 0:34 | |
| a long way off from here. | 0:37 | |
| (audience laughing) | 0:38 | |
| A man sits down with his wife on the patio | 0:41 | |
| just for a cup of coffee in the middle of the morning, | 0:44 | |
| somewhat searchingly, he looks into her eyes and says, | 0:48 | |
| you know, we're plateauing out | 0:51 | |
| at 75,000 a year. | 0:54 | |
| For some of us in the ministry, | 0:59 | |
| that would not be a plateau, that would be the Alps | 1:00 | |
| (audience laughing) | 1:04 | |
| and our lives are really into a dead end situation. | 1:06 | |
| I don't know what we're gonna do | 1:09 | |
| and the wife on cue says, you know, | 1:13 | |
| I've waited for you to say this | 1:15 | |
| and our neighbors up the way keep telling us | 1:18 | |
| that we ought to bring God into our story | 1:20 | |
| and so, this man goes on to say, | 1:25 | |
| we brought God into our story | 1:27 | |
| and now we're at 200,000 a year and we're in charge | 1:30 | |
| of the entire insurance operation on the West Coast. | 1:34 | |
| Well, I have some very serious problems | 1:39 | |
| with this kind of testimony. | 1:42 | |
| I wonder whether God really cares who | 1:45 | |
| the quarterback is at UCLA or Duke or any other place. | 1:47 | |
| I mean, when children are dying like flies | 1:53 | |
| on the streets of Calcutta, is it not an abomination | 1:56 | |
| to assign that kind of meaning and attribute it to God? | 2:00 | |
| Can God really care whether somebody | 2:06 | |
| goes from 75 grand to 200,000 grand a year, | 2:09 | |
| when mad men are stocking missiles | 2:15 | |
| beyond the point of rationality? | 2:20 | |
| Can it be that we are wrong in assuming | 2:24 | |
| that what we need to do is bring God into our story? | 2:28 | |
| Maybe it's the other way around. | 2:32 | |
| The call of the gospel is that we lose | 2:34 | |
| ourselves in God's story. | 2:37 | |
| Whosoever would save his life, | 2:40 | |
| whether it be his athletic life or his business life | 2:43 | |
| or his social life or any other life, shall lose it, | 2:47 | |
| but whosoever will lose his life | 2:52 | |
| for my sake and the gospel, | 2:55 | |
| the same shall find it. | 2:58 | |
| Does Jesus simply help us reach our goals, | 3:02 | |
| whatever they may be or is he here | 3:07 | |
| to help us set our goals? | 3:11 | |
| Is he there for us | 3:14 | |
| or are we here for Him? | 3:18 | |
| Jesus renders our lives problematic | 3:22 | |
| by opening new possibilities. | 3:28 | |
| Comes to us then as a radically | 3:33 | |
| disturbing presence. | 3:36 | |
| Let me break that 20 down for you. | 3:41 | |
| Jesus comes as surprising judgment. | 3:47 | |
| Most of us like summaries, especially if we're students, | 3:54 | |
| we'd like to know that all of Conte | 3:58 | |
| can be summarized in three sentences. | 4:01 | |
| I want to suggest that everything about Jesus | 4:05 | |
| that antagonized the authorities | 4:09 | |
| can be found in two questions | 4:12 | |
| that Jesus put in a variety of ways. | 4:15 | |
| The first was the question, are you sure you're in? | 4:20 | |
| This was a question that Jesus put to the strong | 4:26 | |
| and the upright and those who assumed | 4:31 | |
| that they had exclusive right | 4:35 | |
| to the salvation franchise. | 4:38 | |
| Are you sure you're in? | 4:43 | |
| The Magnificat, that dynamic bit of poetry | 4:47 | |
| that we usually embalm in Latin, | 4:52 | |
| hints at the direction, | 4:56 | |
| he shall pull down the mighty from their seats | 4:59 | |
| and exalt those of low degree. | 5:02 | |
| And so, in his most celebrated story, | 5:07 | |
| Jesus honors the Samaritan and trashes | 5:10 | |
| the priest and the Levite. | 5:14 | |
| And so, Jesus praises harlots and prodigals | 5:17 | |
| above the conventionally righteous scribes and Pharisees. | 5:21 | |
| And so, Jesus berates the carefully secure | 5:26 | |
| and commends instead, a life of open trust. | 5:31 | |
| Are you sure you're in? | 5:36 | |
| This nation of which we are proud | 5:43 | |
| to be a part, is suffering | 5:47 | |
| from what could be a fatal | 5:52 | |
| illusion of chosenness, | 5:55 | |
| that somehow it is God and ourselves | 6:00 | |
| straightening out the rest of the world | 6:04 | |
| and to us as American Christians, | 6:08 | |
| comes the question, are you sure you're in? | 6:11 | |
| This is a dramatic inversion | 6:17 | |
| of thought and values. | 6:22 | |
| Jesus didn't come to simply second our motions, | 6:26 | |
| he came to take the floor and make some motions of his own, | 6:32 | |
| surprising judgment | 6:39 | |
| but Jesus also comes | 6:46 | |
| as amazing grace | 6:51 | |
| and the question here | 6:55 | |
| is the question put to the marginal people, | 6:57 | |
| are you sure you're out? | 7:02 | |
| They were pretty sure they were out. | 7:07 | |
| They were told they were out. | 7:08 | |
| Jesus said, are you sure? | 7:11 | |
| Those words from Isaiah read | 7:15 | |
| so helpfully for us today say a lot. | 7:17 | |
| My ways are not your ways, said the Lord. | 7:21 | |
| Your way of sorting out people, | 7:26 | |
| your truths are not my truths. | 7:29 | |
| Your thoughts are not my thoughts. | 7:32 | |
| It's not just that God's thoughts are better | 7:34 | |
| than our bad thoughts but that God's thoughts | 7:37 | |
| are better than our best thoughts. | 7:40 | |
| And that leads us to that story in Matthew 20. | 7:46 | |
| There's enough in that story to irritate everybody | 7:52 | |
| and if that story doesn't rub you the wrong way, | 7:58 | |
| you don't have all your fur. | 8:01 | |
| (audience laughing) | 8:03 | |
| Man needs some workers for his field, | 8:07 | |
| so he says to his steward, go down and get some. | 8:11 | |
| He hires them at seven in the morning, | 8:15 | |
| nine in the morning, still need more, | 8:18 | |
| 12 in the morning, 12 noon, three in the afternoon, | 8:20 | |
| and would you believe, he's still short? | 8:26 | |
| So, at five in the afternoon | 8:29 | |
| the steward goes down to the shape-up site, | 8:33 | |
| probably the village well | 8:36 | |
| and there are some lazy teenagers with their Levi's, | 8:40 | |
| are lounging around the fountain, | 8:45 | |
| drawing on cigarettes of marijuana | 8:49 | |
| and he says to them, why aren't you working? | 8:55 | |
| And in some of the saddest language anywhere in scripture, | 8:59 | |
| they say because no one has hired us. | 9:03 | |
| The peril of the un-enlisted. | 9:08 | |
| Well, he said, we need some more bodies, follow me. | 9:12 | |
| So, they go out to the vineyard | 9:15 | |
| and they just barely discover where the tool shed is, | 9:18 | |
| just barely receive their assignments, | 9:23 | |
| when the bell rings and the day is over. | 9:27 | |
| Good timing on their part | 9:32 | |
| and so everybody lines up to get paid. | 9:36 | |
| Now, I think the boss made two mistakes in this story. | 9:40 | |
| The first mistake was that people | 9:45 | |
| were paid from the last to the first. | 9:48 | |
| In other words, if those who got there at seven | 9:52 | |
| had been paid, they'd have gone down | 9:54 | |
| to the tavern right away | 9:56 | |
| and wouldn't have known what was going on. | 9:58 | |
| But they were supposed to know, that's the story. | 10:01 | |
| So, the last who came got a denarius | 10:04 | |
| and the other mistake was that | 10:10 | |
| they didn't use salary envelopes. | 10:12 | |
| (audience laughing) | 10:16 | |
| I've discovered in academia, that you can talk about sex, | 10:19 | |
| you can talk about religion, but the one thing | 10:24 | |
| that is absolutely top sacred, shut, | 10:27 | |
| has to do with money. | 10:31 | |
| I know in the school where I work, | 10:34 | |
| when the little checks come round every month, | 10:36 | |
| if the person is not in the office, | 10:40 | |
| those checks are not slid under the door, | 10:43 | |
| they are returned to the bursar's office. | 10:46 | |
| This is of major importance. | 10:49 | |
| It wouldn't do for someone to know | 10:53 | |
| what someone else is bringing in. | 10:55 | |
| Can you imagine what this or any other school | 10:59 | |
| would be like if we had a huge pay table | 11:01 | |
| and we just put the money in stacks | 11:04 | |
| and professor Smith takes this stack | 11:08 | |
| and the associate professor Rogers with nine children | 11:11 | |
| and a sick mother-in-law gets this stack? | 11:14 | |
| So, if they had just used envelopes, | 11:18 | |
| it would have been neat | 11:23 | |
| but there it was in galling daylight. | 11:25 | |
| And those who started early had a case. | 11:31 | |
| You mean they get what we get? | 11:34 | |
| And God says, yes, that's right. | 11:36 | |
| Can I do with my own what I wish? | 11:41 | |
| Can't push God around here. | 11:45 | |
| Now, the Christian counterpart to this irritation | 11:49 | |
| is the way we feel when we hear | 11:52 | |
| about an eleventh-hour convert. | 11:54 | |
| Somebody walks up to you and says, | 11:58 | |
| you know, old Zeke Harris? | 11:59 | |
| You say, yes, never drew a sober breath in his life. | 12:02 | |
| Never held a job, ne'er-do-well. | 12:08 | |
| Well, Zeke died last night. | 12:10 | |
| He did? | 12:13 | |
| Yes and he died a Christian. | 12:15 | |
| To hell, you say. | 12:18 | |
| (audience laughing) | 12:20 | |
| No, he died a Christian. | 12:21 | |
| The preacher went up to see him, he was sick | 12:25 | |
| and there, in the very last moments of his life, | 12:28 | |
| the preacher said, Zeke do you know that God loves you | 12:31 | |
| and do you receive him? And Zeke said, I do. | 12:34 | |
| And he died. | 12:38 | |
| And as a card-carrying Christian over these many years, | 12:41 | |
| I have a way of resented that. | 12:45 | |
| You mean, I've gone to all these meetings, | 12:47 | |
| listened to all these plagued sermons, | 12:51 | |
| given up all these delectable possibilities | 12:57 | |
| and he gets what I get? | 13:01 | |
| And God said, that's right. | 13:04 | |
| And if you don't understand that, | 13:07 | |
| you don't understand grace. | 13:09 | |
| We like to sing in academic circles, | 13:19 | |
| the Lord is my light and my salvation | 13:22 | |
| but the chances are that rising out of Athens | 13:25 | |
| is the notion that it's more important to have light. | 13:28 | |
| We're here to shed light but the other part of that verse | 13:31 | |
| is powerful too, the Lord is my light and my salvation. | 13:35 | |
| God not only illumines, | 13:40 | |
| God takes lives that are broken | 13:44 | |
| and out of it and speaks wholeness. | 13:48 | |
| And so, this is a word to all who feel | 13:57 | |
| that they had been marginalized, | 14:00 | |
| those who have tumbled out of the orders of life, | 14:04 | |
| the divorced who have tumbled out of the order of marriage, | 14:09 | |
| the unemployed who have tumbled out of the order of work, | 14:15 | |
| the homosexual who has tumbled | 14:19 | |
| out of the order of accepted sexuality, | 14:21 | |
| the imprisoned who have fallen out | 14:25 | |
| of the order of accepted civil behavior, | 14:27 | |
| the sick, especially the mentally sick, | 14:30 | |
| who have fallen out of the order of health. | 14:33 | |
| The question Jesus puts to us in grace | 14:36 | |
| is are you sure you're out? | 14:39 | |
| I have a thing going about those who edit our hymnals. | 14:49 | |
| I think when you're redheaded and a Leo, | 14:55 | |
| you're entitled to take on a lot of causes. | 14:58 | |
| And someday I'm gonna get serious about it | 15:03 | |
| but I do worry about new editions of hymnals | 15:05 | |
| that show certain stanzas deleted | 15:10 | |
| and I surely would like to know here or hereafter, | 15:14 | |
| who it was that played loose with Frederick, | 15:19 | |
| Faber's hymn, There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, | 15:22 | |
| because someone deleted | 15:28 | |
| what might be the finest testimony | 15:33 | |
| to grace ever written but we make his love too narrow | 15:36 | |
| by false limits of our own | 15:43 | |
| and we magnify his strictness | 15:47 | |
| with a zeal he will not own. | 15:51 | |
| I keep coming home to Lorraine Hansberry's | 15:59 | |
| moving play, a Raisin in the Sun. | 16:03 | |
| Black family in Chicago. | 16:06 | |
| Spit poor all of their lives. | 16:09 | |
| You know the story. The father dies. | 16:11 | |
| There's just a little bit of insurance. | 16:14 | |
| Walter and his sister think that the mother | 16:17 | |
| will now get a little home out from under the shadows | 16:19 | |
| of the ill but Walter takes the money | 16:23 | |
| and puts it into a foolhardy | 16:28 | |
| business enterprise that collapses | 16:30 | |
| and his sister is absolutely angry with him | 16:34 | |
| for having dissipated the money | 16:38 | |
| and robbed the mother of a better future | 16:40 | |
| and when we come upon that story, | 16:46 | |
| the daughter is opening up on Walter, | 16:50 | |
| just lacing him with invective | 16:53 | |
| and the mother walks out on the stage | 16:57 | |
| and cracks the daughter across the face | 17:01 | |
| and says there's always something left to love | 17:05 | |
| and if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. | 17:11 | |
| Have you cried for that boy today? | 17:15 | |
| I don't mean for yourself and for the family | 17:18 | |
| because we lost the money, I mean for him, | 17:21 | |
| what he'd been through and what it'd done to him. | 17:24 | |
| Child, when do you think is the time | 17:28 | |
| to love somebody the most? | 17:31 | |
| When they done good and made things easy? | 17:34 | |
| Well, then you ain't through learning, | 17:38 | |
| because that ain't the time at all. | 17:41 | |
| It's when he's at his lowest | 17:45 | |
| and can't believe in his self | 17:48 | |
| because the world done whipped him so. | 17:51 | |
| The final amazement, my sisters and brothers, | 18:00 | |
| is not that we believe in God | 18:05 | |
| but that God | 18:10 | |
| believes in us. | 18:12 | |
| Surprising judgment. | 18:18 | |
| Are you sure you're in? | 18:21 | |
| Amazing grace, | 18:25 | |
| are you sure you're out? | 18:29 | |
| Thus he came and thus he comes. | 18:33 | |
| Amen. | 18:40 | |
| (church organ music) | 18:45 | |
| ♪ Amazing grace ♪ | 19:18 | |
| ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ | 19:22 | |
| ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ | 19:27 | |
| ♪ I once was lost ♪ | 19:36 | |
| ♪ But now am found ♪ | 19:40 | |
| ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ | 19:45 | |
| ♪ 'Twas grace that taught ♪ | 19:54 | |
| ♪ My heart to fear ♪ | 19:58 | |
| ♪ And grace my fears relieved ♪ | 20:03 | |
| ♪ How precious did that grace appear ♪ | 20:11 | |
| ♪ The hour I first believed ♪ | 20:21 | |
| ♪ Through many dangers ♪ | 20:30 | |
| ♪ Toils and snares ♪ | 20:35 | |
| ♪ I have already come ♪ | 20:39 | |
| ♪ 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far ♪ | 20:48 | |
| ♪ And grace will lead me home ♪ | 20:57 | |
| ♪ The Lord has promised good to me ♪ | 21:06 | |
| ♪ His word my hope secures ♪ | 21:14 | |
| ♪ He will my shield and portion be ♪ | 21:23 | |
| ♪ As long as life endures ♪ | 21:32 | |
| ♪ Yea, when this flesh ♪ | 21:42 | |
| ♪ And heart shall fail ♪ | 21:46 | |
| ♪ And mortal life shall cease ♪ | 21:50 | |
| ♪ I shall possess, within the veil ♪ | 22:00 | |
| ♪ A life of joy and peace ♪ | 22:09 | |
| - | May the Lord be with you. | 22:23 |
| - | And also with you. | 22:25 |
| - | Let us pray. | 22:27 |
| Have mercy upon us, O Lord, | 22:38 | |
| that we pray more readily for ourselves | 22:40 | |
| than we do for others, | 22:43 | |
| that we are quick to ask for more | 22:46 | |
| of what we have too much already, | 22:49 | |
| while sisters and brothers near and far, | 22:53 | |
| with needs that shame our wants, | 22:57 | |
| lie beyond the circle of our care. | 23:00 | |
| And so, we pray today for all who work | 23:05 | |
| the borders of our common life, | 23:07 | |
| to serve the little ones of Earth, | 23:11 | |
| those who distribute food in Ethiopia, | 23:14 | |
| that they may minister in love. | 23:19 | |
| Those whose parish is a prison, | 23:22 | |
| a hospital, a home for the mentally ill, | 23:26 | |
| that they may radiate the hope | 23:31 | |
| of the master whom they serve. | 23:33 | |
| Those who defend the defenseless | 23:37 | |
| in the courtrooms of America, | 23:40 | |
| that their strength may be renewed day by day | 23:43 | |
| and their wisdom enlarged by thy spirit. | 23:48 | |
| Those who teach the retarded | 23:53 | |
| and all who work to rehabilitate the injured and deformed, | 23:57 | |
| that they may be sustained by the conviction | 24:03 | |
| that they work with thee, | 24:06 | |
| whose will it is that life, | 24:09 | |
| in all its parts and places, be transformed. | 24:11 | |
| Those who practice medicine | 24:18 | |
| within the rigors of the inner city, | 24:21 | |
| that in the faces of the poor, | 24:25 | |
| they may see thy face and know | 24:27 | |
| that what they do matters where it counts. | 24:32 | |
| These are the intercessions of our hearts, | 24:39 | |
| as we have prayed for others, so may we live for others, | 24:44 | |
| thus shall our words and deeds | 24:50 | |
| flow in one direction | 24:54 | |
| and bring honor to thy name, | 24:58 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 25:01 | |
| Amen. | 25:06 | |
| (distant chattering) | 25:12 | |
| - | To God. | 25:15 |
| (church organ music) | 25:21 | |
| ♪ Lord, thou hast been ♪ | 25:58 | |
| ♪ Our dwelling place ♪ | 26:10 | |
| ♪ For our generation ♪ | 26:16 | |
| ♪ To another ♪ | 26:22 | |
| ♪ To another ♪ | 26:26 | |
| ♪ To another ♪ | 26:29 | |
| ♪ Before the mountains were brought forth ♪ | 26:35 | |
| ♪ Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world ♪ | 26:39 | |
| ♪ Even from everlasting to everlasting ♪ | 26:43 | |
| ♪ Thou art God ♪ | 26:48 | |
| ♪ Thou turnest man to destruction ♪ | 26:56 | |
| ♪ To destruction, to destruction ♪ | 27:00 | |
| ♪ And sayest, return ♪ | 27:05 | |
| ♪ Ye children of men ♪ | 27:11 | |
| ♪ For a thousand years in thy sight ♪ | 27:21 | |
| ♪ Are but as yesterday when it is past ♪ | 27:26 | |
| ♪ And as a watch ♪ | 27:37 | |
| ♪ In the night ♪ | 27:45 | |
| ♪ Thou carriest them away ♪ | 27:56 | |
| ♪ As with a flood ♪ | 27:59 | |
| ♪ As a flood ♪ | 28:04 | |
| ♪ They are as a sleep ♪ | 28:13 | |
| ♪ In the morning they are like grass ♪ | 28:21 | |
| ♪ Which groweth up ♪ | 28:30 | |
| ♪ In the morning it flourisheth ♪ | 28:33 | |
| ♪ And groweth up ♪ | 28:39 | |
| ♪ In the evening ♪ | 28:42 | |
| ♪ It is cut down ♪ | 28:47 | |
| ♪ And withereth, withereth ♪ | 28:53 | |
| ♪ For we are consumed by thine anger ♪ | 28:58 | |
| ♪ By thine anger ♪ | 29:03 | |
| ♪ And by thy wrath ♪ | 29:06 | |
| ♪ By thy wrath ♪ | 29:08 | |
| ♪ By thy wrath ♪ | 29:10 | |
| ♪ Are we troubled ♪ | 29:13 | |
| ♪ Thou hast set our iniquities before thee ♪ | 29:20 | |
| ♪ Our secret sins ♪ | 29:30 | |
| ♪ In the light of thy countenance ♪ | 29:34 | |
| ♪ For all our days ♪ | 29:44 | |
| ♪ Are passed away in thy wrath ♪ | 29:53 | |
| ♪ We spend our years as a tale ♪ | 30:02 | |
| ♪ That is told ♪ | 30:09 | |
| ♪ The days of our years are threescore years and 10 ♪ | 30:21 | |
| ♪ And if by reason of strength ♪ | 30:28 | |
| ♪ They be fourscore years ♪ | 30:33 | |
| ♪ Yet is their strength, labor, and sorrow ♪ | 30:38 | |
| ♪ For it is soon cut off ♪ | 30:46 | |
| ♪ And we fly away ♪ | 30:50 | |
| ♪ Who knoweth the power ♪ | 30:56 | |
| ♪ Of thine anger ♪ | 31:00 | |
| ♪ Even according to thy fear ♪ | 31:02 | |
| ♪ So is thy wrath ♪ | 31:06 | |
| ♪ So teach us ♪ | 31:14 | |
| ♪ To number our days ♪ | 31:19 | |
| ♪ That we may apply ♪ | 31:31 | |
| ♪ Our hearts unto wisdom ♪ | 31:35 | |
| ♪ Return, O Lord, how long ♪ | 31:46 | |
| ♪ And let it repent thee ♪ | 31:53 | |
| ♪ Concerning thy servants ♪ | 31:58 | |
| ♪ O satisfy us early with thy mercy ♪ | 32:11 | |
| ♪ That we may rejoice ♪ | 32:23 | |
| ♪ And be glad ♪ | 32:27 | |
| ♪ All our days ♪ | 32:32 | |
| ♪ Make us glad according to the days ♪ | 32:38 | |
| ♪ Wherein thou hast afflicted us ♪ | 32:45 | |
| ♪ And the years wherein ♪ | 32:54 | |
| ♪ We have seen evil ♪ | 32:58 | |
| ♪ Let thy work appear ♪ | 33:05 | |
| ♪ Unto thy servants ♪ | 33:10 | |
| ♪ And thy glory ♪ | 33:15 | |
| ♪ Unto their children ♪ | 33:19 | |
| ♪ And let the beauty ♪ | 33:31 | |
| ♪ Of the Lord ♪ | 33:41 | |
| ♪ Our God ♪ | 33:49 | |
| ♪ Be upon us ♪ | 33:55 | |
| ♪ And establish thou the work ♪ | 34:02 | |
| ♪ Of our hands upon us ♪ | 34:09 | |
| ♪ Yea, the work ♪ | 34:18 | |
| ♪ Of our hands ♪ | 34:26 | |
| ♪ Establish thou it ♪ | 34:35 | |
| ♪ Establish thou it ♪ | 34:44 | |
| ♪ Establish thou it ♪ | 34:54 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 35:05 | |
| (church organ music) | 35:30 | |
| (choir singing) | 35:48 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 35:59 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:02 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:18 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:21 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:24 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:27 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:30 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 36:38 | |
| - | Almighty God, it is our privilege | 36:48 |
| to offer you these gifts as thanksgiving | 36:50 | |
| and gratitude of our love that we feel for you | 36:53 | |
| because you have loved us, in your cross, | 36:57 | |
| in your amazing grace showered upon us daily, | 37:00 | |
| we have felt your goodness and power | 37:04 | |
| and therefore we offer ourselves | 37:08 | |
| and these gifts as the sacrifice | 37:10 | |
| and thanksgiving of ourselves to thee. | 37:13 | |
| Praying, our Father who art in heaven. | 37:17 | |
| - | Hallowed be thy name. | 37:21 |
| Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth | 37:23 | |
| as it is in heaven. | 37:27 | |
| Give us this day, our daily bread, | 37:29 | |
| as we forgive trespasses, | 37:32 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us | 37:35 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, | 37:38 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 37:41 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, | 37:43 | |
| the power, and the glory, forever. | 37:45 | |
| Amen. | 37:49 | |
| (church organ music) | 37:50 | |
| (congregation singing) | 38:21 | |
| - | Now, may the grace of our Lord and savior, | 41:11 |
| Jesus Christ, the love of God, | 41:13 | |
| and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 41:16 | |
| be with you now and always. | 41:18 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 41:26 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 41:34 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 41:43 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 41:49 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 41:58 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 42:08 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 42:22 | |
| (church organ music) | 42:40 |
Item Info
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