L. Bevel Jones - "The Future That Can Be" (April 6, 1986)

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	(organ music)	0:03
	(organ music)	6:30
-	Grace and peace to you	9:33
	in the name of the lord Jesus Christ.	9:34
	We welcome you to the service of worship	9:37
	at Duke University Chapel	9:39
	and pray that you will receive a blessing here on this	9:40
	second Sunday in Easter.	9:43
	We welcome as our guest preacher today,	9:46
	Bishop L. Bevel Jones the third.	9:48
	Since assuming his post as resident bishop of the western	9:51
	North Carolina conference	9:54
	of the United Methodist Church in 1984.	9:56
	He has won the admiration, respect and affection of many.	9:59
	As a member of the board of trustees of eight church related	10:04
	colleges and universities,	10:07
	he's especially well versed	10:09
	in the needs of the campus community.	10:10
	We look forward to the message he has to bring to us today.	10:13
	You are reminded of the fourth in a series of lunch time	10:17
	chamber concerts to be held this Wednesday	10:20
	at 12:30 p.m. here in the chapel.	10:24
	Dr. Robert Parkins, chapel organist,	10:27
	will perform on harpsichord, chamber organ and regal.	10:29
	All are invited.	10:34
	And on Thursday, April 10th at 5:15 p.m.	10:35
	the Annual Holocaust Remembrance service sponsored by	10:39
	the Duke campus ministry, will be held here in the chapel.	10:43
	Noted holocaust scholar, Dr. Harry James Cargas	10:47
	will be the featured speaker.	10:51
	All are invited to this service as well.	10:53
	Please note the other announcements as they are printed	10:56
	in your bulletin.	10:58
	And now let us join our hearts and minds as one	11:01
	as we continue our worship.	11:04
	(hymnal singing)	11:19
	(organ music)	12:37
	Lord Jesus, by your resurrection you renew the universe.	16:54
	You change our death into your life.	16:59
	We pray to you.	17:02
-	Jesus Christ, risen lord,	17:04
	have mercy on us.	17:07
-	Give us kindness wherever you find bitterness,	17:09
	confidence wherever you find distress,	17:13
	joy wherever you find sorrow.	17:16
	We pray to you.	17:19
-	Jesus Christ, risen lord,	17:21
	have mercy on us.	17:24
-	Give us humility wherever pride reigns,	17:26
	pardon wherever offense abides,	17:29
	grace wherever sin abounds.	17:32
	We pray to you.	17:35
-	Jesus Christ, risen lord,	17:36
	have mercy on us.	17:39
-	Give us love wherever hatred burns,	17:41
	hope wherever despair is crying,	17:44
	faith wherever doubt prevails.	17:48
	We pray to you.	17:50
-	Jesus Christ, risen lord,	17:52
	have mercy on us.	17:54
-	Give us a new spirit in our old age,	17:56
	a new heart to replace a heart of stone,	17:59
	and a new covenant in your holy resurrection.	18:03
	We pray to you.	18:06
-	Jesus Christ, risen lord,	18:08
	have mercy on us.	18:11
-	Amen.	18:13
-	Let us now join together	18:26
	in the prayer for illumination.	18:28
	Let us all pray.	18:30
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	18:32
	By the power of your holy spirit	18:35
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	18:38
	we might hear it with joy,	18:41
	what you say to us this day.	18:43
	Amen.	18:46
	The first lesson is from the gospel of John.	18:50
	On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,	18:55
	the doors being shut where the disciples were	18:58
	for fear of the Jews,	19:00
	Jesus came and stood among them	19:02
	and said to them,	19:05
	peace be with you.	19:07
	When he said this he showed them his hands	19:11
	and his side.	19:14
	Then the disciples were glad when they saw the lord.	19:16
	Jesus to them again,	19:20
	peace be with you.	19:22
	As the father has sent me, even so send I you.	19:25
	And when he had said this, he breathed on them,	19:30
	and said to them,	19:33
	receive the holy spirit.	19:34
	If you forgive the sins of any,	19:37
	they are forgiven.	19:40
	If you retain the sins of any,	19:42
	they are retained.	19:45
	Now Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin,	19:48
	was not with them when Jesus came.	19:50
	So the other disciples told him,	19:53
	we have seen the Lord.	19:56
	But he said to them,	19:58
	unless I see in his hands the print of the nails,	20:00
	and place my finger in the mark of the nails,	20:04
	and place my hand in his side,	20:07
	I will not believe.	20:09
	Eight days later his disciples were again in the house	20:13
	and Thomas was with them.	20:16
	The doors were shut but Jesus came and stood among them	20:18
	and said, peace be with you.	20:21
	Then he said to Thomas,	20:25
	put your finger here	20:28
	and see my hands	20:30
	and put out your hand and place it in my side.	20:32
	Do not be faithless, but believing.	20:36
	Thomas answered him,	20:40
	my lord and my God.	20:42
	Jesus said to him,	20:45
	have you believed because you have seen me?	20:47
	Blessed are those who have not seen,	20:50
	and yet believe.	20:54
	Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence	20:57
	of the disciples, which are not written in this book.	20:59
	But these are written,	21:03
	that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,	21:05
	the son of God	21:08
	and that believing,	21:10
	you may have life	21:12
	in his name.	21:14
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	21:16
	(organ music)	21:23
	(hymnal singing)	21:35
	The second lesson is taken from Revelation.	24:50
	John to the seven churches that are in Asia,	24:56
	grace to you	25:00
	and peace from him who is, and who was	25:01
	and who is to come.	25:06
	And from the seven spirits which are before his throne.	25:07
	And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,	25:11
	the first born of the dead,	25:15
	and the ruler of kings on earth.	25:17
	To him who loves us,	25:20
	and has freed us from our sins by his blood	25:22
	and made us a kingdom,	25:26
	priests to his God and father,	25:27
	to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.	25:30
	Amen.	25:34
	Behold, he is coming with the clouds	25:35
	and every eye will see him,	25:38
	everyone who pierced him	25:40
	and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.	25:42
	Even so,	25:46
	Amen.	25:48
	I am the alpha and the omega, says the lord.	25:49
	Who is, and who was,	25:53
	and who is to come,	25:56
	the almighty.	25:58
	This ends the reading	26:00
	of the second lesson.	26:02
	(organ music)	26:13
	(hymnal singing)	26:17
-	The sermon today is an exposition	30:50
	of one of the parables of our lord,	30:54
	recorded in the gospel according to St. Matthew,	30:57
	the 25th chapter.	31:03
	Will you hear now, this reading of God's word?	31:06
	Then the kingdom of heaven	31:13
	shall be compared to 10 maidens.	31:15
	Who took their lamps,	31:19
	and went to meet the bridegroom.	31:20
	Five of them were foolish	31:24
	and five were wise.	31:27
	For when the foolish took their lamps,	31:31
	they took no oil with them, that is no extra oil.	31:34
	But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.	31:40
	As the bridegroom was delayed,	31:46
	they all slumbered and slept.	31:47
	But at midnight there was a cry,	31:51
	behold, the bridegroom, come out to meet him.	31:54
	Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps.	31:59
	And the foolish said to the wise,	32:03
	give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.	32:07
	But the wise replied,	32:12
	perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you.	32:15
	Go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.	32:19
	And while they went to buy,	32:25
	the bridegroom came and	32:27
	those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast	32:29
	and the door was shut.	32:33
	Afterward the other maidens came also saying,	32:38
	lord, lord, open to us.	32:40
	But he replied, truly I say to you,	32:45
	I know do not know you.	32:48
	Watch therefore,	32:52
	for you know neither the day	32:53
	nor the hour.	32:57
	May God	33:01
	add his blessing to the reading,	33:03
	the hearing and the preaching	33:05
	of his word.	33:08
	Allow me first of all a few amenities.	33:12
	I acknowledge my deep appreciation to Dr. Will Willimon	33:18
	for his	33:23
	invitation.	33:24
	For opening this pulpit to me today.	33:27
	A place that he occupies with singular distinction.	33:31
	He is indeed one of the seminal	33:37
	thinkers and scintillating preachers of our day.	33:40
	One who feeds my own mind and soul and	33:45
	who keeps the church on the cutting edge.	33:48
	Also the presence and the	33:53
	participation of	33:56
	Nancy Ferie.	33:58
	A source of	34:00
	genuine pride to us in the	34:02
	western North Carolina conference.	34:03
	Who, by the way, is on loan to you here	34:06
	at Duke.	34:09
	And my friend and	34:13
	highly respected churchman,	34:15
	Superintendent of	34:18
	the Gurnam district of the North Carolina conference,	34:20
	Dr. Wallis Kirby.	34:23
	Being an avid sports fan, I cannot help but	34:26
	express my continuing grief	34:30
	over the	34:34
	experiences of last week.	34:36
	While I must admit that I'm a Georgia Tech fan by blood.	34:40
	I am a Duke fan by profession of faith.	34:46
	(audience laughs)	34:50
	I want to recognize,	34:57
	the prez is with us today	34:59
	of the head football coach here at Duke,	35:02
	a friend of mine for two decades.	35:05
	I was his pastor down in Atlanta.	35:08
	He was on our administrative board, he is a devout	35:10
	Methodist churchman and Christian,	35:14
	Steve Sloan.	35:18
	One for whom I have the deepest respect.	35:20
	Now on with it, while we're talking about sports,	35:26
	I want to get into the sermon.	35:28
	By quoting one of my favorite philosophers.	35:31
	Yogi Berra.	35:35
	(audience laughs)	35:36
	Yogi says, I'm not much good at predictions.	35:39
	Especially when they have to do with the future.	35:44
	Everybody's talking about the future nowadays.	35:51
	And as some wag has put it,	35:55
	the future is not what it used to be.	35:56
	And Hollywood even invites us back to the future.	36:02
	What are we to make of the future?	36:07
	Maybe that's the key.	36:10
	What are we to make of the future?	36:13
	Max Lerner says I'm not a	36:18
	pessimist nor am I an optimist.	36:22
	I am a possiblist.	36:26
	We do not so much believe in the future	36:32
	as we believe the future in.	36:36
	It is coming and it is going to be	36:40
	after the fashion of our faith.	36:44
	And so the United Methodist Church,	36:49
	launching its third century	36:53
	in the United States,	36:56
	goes forth under the	37:01
	arresting theme, the future that can be.	37:03
	That's the key note of our denomination right now,	37:08
	the future that can be.	37:10
	I want you to stop and reflect with me on the fact that the	37:14
	Hebrew Christian faith	37:17
	is a future oriented religion.	37:21
	God is a futurist.	37:26
	He is forever dealing in futures.	37:28
	And the prophets and the	37:33
	patriarchs and the apostles	37:36
	make bold to offer us an alternative future	37:41
	to the future that may well be.	37:46
	And what is the gospel but good news	37:49
	of a new age.	37:52
	A new way of living.	37:57
	The very reign of God himself.	38:01
	You know what the Bible's big idea is?	38:05
	The kingdom of God.	38:10
	That's the bottom line of it.	38:13
	The kingdom of God.	38:15
	Jesus came preaching	38:18
	the kingdom of God.	38:21
	The key note.	38:22
	He said, the kingdom of God is at hand!	38:24
	There is a future there for you if you	38:27
	will meet it.	38:30
	And how do we meet it?	38:33
	He said repent	38:35
	and believe the gospel.	38:37
	Repentance,	38:40
	meaning to change one's mind.	38:42
	To do an about face, to walk in another direction.	38:47
	And to have faith	38:53
	in what he is saying to us	38:56
	and he told story after story	38:57
	to illustrate this.	39:00
	One of which I read to you a moment ago.	39:02
	All of them dealing in an alternative future.	39:05
	It's out there for us.	39:08
	And what's more, God wants to give us this future.	39:14
	Now,	39:19
	they were gracious enough to put something about my family	39:21
	in this little biographical statement.	39:23
	If I really had my way, I'd use the whole space	39:27
	and all this time to tell you about my family.	39:30
	Talk to one of 'em this morning.	39:34
	Our grandbaby's comin' to Charlotte next week.	39:37
	I can hardly wait, I was with them at Christmas	39:40
	down in Georgia.	39:43
	And I observed	39:47
	that these children of ours	39:49
	are doing with their children what we did with them.	39:50
	Namely, spoil them.	39:55
	I suppose	40:00
	that's what children are for	40:02
	in some measure, to spoil	40:05
	because we love them	40:07
	and we cannot help but give them the best.	40:10
	Sometime we overdo it	40:13
	but our intentions are good.	40:16
	Now Jesus said in that sermon on the mount,	40:21
	in the seventh chapter of Matthew,	40:27
	ask	40:33
	and you will receive.	40:35
	Seek and you will find.	40:38
	Knock (knocks)	40:41
	and it will be opened unto you.	40:42
	For he said,	40:48
	what person among you if,	40:52
	if his son	40:53
	asks for a loaf, we'll give him a stone.	40:56
	Or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a serpent.	41:01
	No decent father or mother would do that.	41:05
	Now Jesus said, if you being evil,	41:09
	if you being imperfect	41:12
	give good things to your children,	41:15
	how much more will your father in heaven	41:18
	give good things to you?	41:21
	You see	41:27
	we summarize our theology when we hurriedly say that	41:29
	table grace, God is great and God is good,	41:33
	and because he is great and because his goodness exceeds	41:39
	his greatness, he wants to give us the best.	41:42
	But we must be ready to receive it.	41:47
	And that's where the rub comes.	41:50
	Now our scripture today	41:55
	has to do with a wedding	41:58
	and what is a wedding?	41:59
	But	42:02
	really the culmination	42:04
	of all that mother and dad have been trying to do	42:06
	for some 20 to 22 years or more.	42:10
	To get this child ready for the best that life has to offer.	42:14
	I mean, you know, all the dreams,	42:22
	the education,	42:25
	the cultivation of friendships,	42:26
	vocational training,	42:29
	hopes, aspirations,	42:32
	felicitations, congratulations,	42:34
	high expectations, a wedding!	42:36
	There is no higher moment in the life of a parent	42:39
	than a child at a wedding	42:42
	and Jesus said the kingdom of God is like this.	42:45
	God wanting to give us the best there is.	42:49
	Now I sometime wonder how the bride ever makes it to	42:56
	the wedding because of all the goings on.	42:59
	Parties, showers,	43:03
	all sorts of activities	43:06
	and sometime the groom is not in too good a condition	43:09
	by the time the wedding gets there.	43:11
	I remember when I was pastor of a church in downtown Atlanta	43:14
	some years ago.	43:18
	Chapel was full.	43:19
	The	43:23
	groom	43:25
	weighed about 220 pounds,	43:27
	came out with me and the best man,	43:30
	we stood and waited while the little bride	43:32
	weighed about 105, I didn't weigh 'em but that's about--	43:35
	(audience laughter)	43:39
	Say 105 pounds came down with her father	43:43
	and stood at the altar and as they turned and faced me,	43:46
	I looked with anxiety at the groom	43:48
	because he was turning whiter by the minute,	43:53
	his eyes were glazed and they began to go back and forth	43:55
	this way.	43:58
	(audience laughs)	44:00
	And I could not stop the ceremony and say,	44:01
	is there a pinch groom who can take his place?	44:04
	Nor could I say to the people,	44:09
	I'm afraid he isn't gonna make it,	44:10
	we're gonna have to delay this.	44:12
	I went forth hoping he would stay in there with us.	44:15
	Sure enough about one third of the way through the ceremony,	44:20
	he left us.	44:23
	(audience laughs)	44:25
	He didn't fall to the left or the right	44:28
	or backward or forward,	44:30
	he went down like a dishrag.	44:31
	(audience laughs)	44:34
	Crumpled up right there in our midst.	44:35
	The best man proved to be just that,	44:36
	and the little bride helped and I assisted.	44:41
	We laid him flat out	44:42
	there at the altar.	44:45
	I took the ritual and fanned him, it did no good at all.	44:47
	(audience laughs)	44:51
	Finally some thoughtful person out in the congregation	44:52
	took a handkerchief, went out to the hall and	44:55
	wet it at the fountain, came back, put it on his brow	44:58
	and in a few minutes he came back to consciousness.	45:01
	Not fully to awareness but	45:06
	to consciousness.	45:08
	We carried him over to the front pew, set him down	45:09
	and proceeded with the service	45:12
	with him in a sedentary position.	45:16
	We waited until the next day to take the pictures.	45:21
	(audience laughs)	45:25
	Now if we make a great deal of weddings in our day,	45:28
	you should've been there in the first century.	45:31
	In the first place, the bride and groom were probably	45:36
	chosen for each other years before	45:38
	by some	45:41
	official of the church,	45:43
	or of the community or the father.	45:45
	Romance had nothing to do with it.	45:48
	And then when they became of marriageable age,	45:51
	they were betrothed for a year.	45:54
	Mary and Joseph were betrothed.	45:56
	This was so binding that if the groom died	46:00
	during the year of betrothal,	46:03
	the bride was considered a widow.	46:04
	Then finally the,	46:09
	the occasion for the wedding.	46:12
	Now you gotta remember that in those days	46:14
	the festivities went for about a week.	46:18
	The bride and groom were a veritable	46:22
	queen and king.	46:24
	The whole community focused attention on them	46:26
	but the big moment, the moment we come on the scene here	46:28
	in the parable is when the groom	46:32
	takes the bride from her father's house to his house.	46:35
	And then it was that	46:40
	these bridesmaids who had been chosen,	46:41
	10 of them,	46:44
	found themselves	46:47
	in a crisis	46:49
	and those who had brought extra oil	46:51
	since there was a delay in things	46:53
	were approached by those who did not have enough oil	46:58
	for the crisis	47:00
	on this wise, they said to them,	47:03
	give us some of your oil	47:05
	and the ones who had plenty said, no,	47:09
	perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you.	47:12
	You go and buy some.	47:14
	Now that doesn't sound like Jesus, does it?	47:16
	Really doesn't.	47:19
	But you see, in a parable there's only one point.	47:20
	All else simply contributes to	47:24
	the amplification of that	47:26
	truth.	47:28
	There comes a time you see,	47:30
	when you and I can't borrow from somebody else.	47:32
	We either have it or we don't.	47:35

-	And then the story says, "After they went to buy,	0:04
	they knocked on the door	0:10
	(knocks on fabric)	0:12
	and of all things, the groom said,	0:13
	"I do not know you."	0:18
	Now did not Jesus tell this story?	0:21
	And did not he say in the Sermon on the Mount,	0:23
	"Knock and it will be opened unto you."?	0:25
	And yet he tells this story in which the door is not opened.	0:28
	Because there comes a time when the door will not open.	0:33
	The opportunity is gone, it is too late.	0:37
	Now this is a side of Jesus Christ	0:44
	that is wanting today, it is being overlooked today.	0:46
	I do not know in my lifetime when	0:50
	Christianity has been quite so popular.	0:52
	But the danger is,	0:57
	that we will make of Jesus Christ a kind of warm fuzzy.	0:59
	There is this iron strand in him,	1:06
	which indicates very clearly to us	1:11
	that he cannot be our savior unless he is also our Lord.	1:13
	There is obedience, there is discipline,	1:20
	there is dedication required.	1:23
	Through the history of religion, human experience,	1:27
	there has been considerable debate	1:31
	about this whole matter of salvation.	1:33
	Some have made it an altogether	1:37
	God-ward experience,	1:41
	salvation depends entirely upon God.	1:44
	Others have made it more or less a human endeavor,	1:48
	we lift ourselves by our own bootstraps.	1:53
	But the wisest thinkers have always known	1:59
	that it is both God and human beings.	2:02
	God's action and human beings' response,	2:06
	we cooperate with God in our salvation,	2:09
	there is responsibility on our part.	2:12
	I remember the story about a flood	2:16
	and the waters came up to the porches of the houses	2:22
	and there was a man standing out on his porch	2:25
	and about that time	2:27
	a couple of fellas came by on a rowboat	2:28
	and they said, "Hop in!"	2:30
	He said, "No, God's gonna take care of me."	2:32
	Then presently the waters rose to the porches,	2:36
	this man got up on his porch	2:41
	and a helicopter came over	2:45
	and a ladder, rope ladder, was let down	2:46
	and a voice said, "Grab hold and come up, we'll save ya!"	2:50
	He said, "No, God's gonna take care of me."	2:55
	After a while, the waters got to	2:59
	the very top of the roofs of the houses	3:00
	and the man on top of the roof was finally	3:03
	washed into the flood and drowned.	3:05
	And when he got to the pearly gates he said,	3:07
	"Lord, I was counting on you to help me!"	3:09
	The Lord said, "Well, I sent a motorboat and a helicopter,	3:15
	"what more did you want me to do?"	3:18
	(audience laughs)	3:20
	There is this good news and bad news,	3:26
	this is not something we cooked up recently,	3:29
	this syndrome has existed all along.	3:33
	Good news and bad news.	3:35
	What is the good news?	3:37
	The Good News is that God so loved the world	3:40
	that he gave his only son,	3:43
	that whoever believes in Him should not perish	3:45
	but have everlasting life, that's the Good News.	3:48
	What is the bad news?	3:54
	The bad news is he came unto his own	3:56
	and his own received him not.	4:01
	Two weeks ago we celebrated Palm Sunday	4:10
	and we thought about that occasion when our Lord,	4:13
	as he approached the city of His fathers,	4:15
	looked out over it and wept.	4:20
	He cried for Jerusalem	4:23
	and he said, "Oh Jerusalem,	4:27
	"How oft would I have gathered you	4:28
	"as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.	4:33
	"But you would not!"	4:37
	There's an old time-honored truth,	4:44
	a proven theme,	4:48
	a principle of existence	4:50
	that we find in boy and girl scouting,	4:53
	we find it in the last volumes of Arnold Toynbee:	4:58
	Preparedness, be prepared.	5:05
	What does Toynbee say in his volumes of history?	5:11
	Essentially he says, "That human experience individually	5:16
	"and collectively is a matter of challenge and response."	5:20
	And those civilizations prevail that are ready	5:26
	to meet the challenge of any given time in history	5:30
	and those civilizations perish that are not ready to meet	5:36
	the challenge of a given time in history.	5:40
	Now let me hurriedly apply this	5:45
	as best we can to our own situation.	5:49
	Take this institution for example,	5:54
	this citadel of learning, of high-mindedness,	5:57
	of purposeful living,	6:04
	here is often education,	6:10
	in terms of personnel,	6:16
	professors who have steeped themselves in knowledge	6:19
	for years.	6:23
	Here are vaulted libraries,	6:26
	volume upon volume upon volume of truth	6:29
	that has been arrived at through discipline	6:35
	and dedicated study.	6:39
	This institution offers education, but it cannot give it	6:43
	to one who will not receive it,	6:49
	who will not respond.	6:51
	Marriage, the wedding itself, the family, home,	6:58
	anybody who has any concern for civilization	7:03
	today as we know it in America is concerned about	7:07
	the plight of the family.	7:10
	And I'm not here to deal in sentimentality or simplism.	7:13
	There are some complex issues having to do with the family,	7:18
	where both parents work.	7:23
	I know something of the stress upon family today.	7:25
	But I would remind you and me	7:30
	that healthy and wholesome family living is	7:33
	for those young people who prepare themselves	7:36
	by way of high-mindedness and ethical and moral character	7:42
	and a sense of responsibility and commitment.	7:48
	If we're going to do anything	7:53
	about strengthening the family,	7:54
	we will begin with our own children now.	7:56
	Inculcating in them those values and those loyalties	7:58
	that are the very fabric of the family.	8:05
	Take this whole matter of international peace	8:10
	and world order.	8:12
	Who was it? Sam Levenson, I think who said,	8:15
	"Our ethics," listen,	8:18
	"Our ethics must catch up with our physics	8:20
	"or we shall all be cremated equal."	8:24
	So the company to which I belong now,	8:33
	the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church,	8:40
	and I speak not in any sort of provincial spirit,	8:43
	but certainly in an ecumenical attitude.	8:47
	Following in the wake of	8:53
	that provocative pastoral	8:57
	of the Catholic bishops a couple of years ago,	8:59
	we are amplifying the themes	9:03
	of that pastoral.	9:07
	As we call on our people	9:10
	to dedicated work for peace,	9:14
	remember this, as Jesus looked out over the city,	9:18
	Luke says his lament was	9:22
	"Oh that you knew the things that make for peace."	9:28
	For peace!	9:32
	"But now they're hid from your eyes,	9:33
	"you did not know the time of your visitation."	9:35
	And we all know in history what Jerusalem suffered	9:40
	some years after that.	9:42
	Let's hark back a moment to Albert Einstein himself.	9:46
	What did he say?	9:50
	He said, when we release energy from the atom,	9:53
	everything changed except our way of thinking.	9:56
	And he said there must be substantial change	10:04
	in our way of thinking if humanity is to survive.	10:07
	And that's the thing I want to drive home for you today,	10:13
	we must prepare ourselves mightily, ethically,	10:16
	socially, spiritually for peace.	10:21
	It will not come with things as usual.	10:25
	Peace is coming when we prepare ourselves,	10:31
	when we change our ways of thinking	10:34
	and relating to one another and acting	10:37
	and the priorities that we have.	10:39
	God wants to give us peace,	10:42
	but we must know the things that make for peace.	10:46
	I am convinced that the seventh beatitude	10:50
	becomes the mandate of our time:	10:52
	"Blessed," said Jesus, "are the peace-makers."	10:56
	Not the peace-proclaimers, not the peace-keepers,	10:59
	but the peace-makers.	11:03
	A young woman sat down one	11:10
	evening in a reflective and meditative mood.	11:14
	She began to think of all the things	11:22
	that she would do to make a better world.	11:24
	And she listed them, in order.	11:31
	The things that she would do to make a better world.	11:35
	At the bottom, she signed her name	11:42
	and she offered the list to God in prayer.	11:46
	Whereupon God replied, "No."	11:53
	"Take another blank piece of paper,	11:58
	"sign your name at the bottom of the page,	12:05
	"and I will fill it in."	12:12
	In the name of the Father	12:20
	and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.	12:22
	Amen.	12:26
	(organ music)	12:33
	(chorus sings)	13:13
-	The risen Christ be with you.	16:03
Audience	And also with you.	16:06
-	Let us pray.	16:07
	Dear God, because so much of our lives are lived	16:17
	in the grip of defeat	16:22
	and because we so easily become adjusted to what is	16:26
	without looking for what can be,	16:32
	accept our thanks for the note of victory	16:36
	which we are able to sing this day.	16:41
	There is no dark corner of life's sadness	16:45
	which has not been made bright by Easter joy.	16:49
	We praise you as the Lord over whom death has no dominion.	16:55
	We bless you for the Easter word	17:02
	that life is lord over death	17:05
	and that your love never lets us go.	17:08
	Reminded that your world	17:13
	is one where goodness cannot die	17:17
	and truth cannot be defeated by deceit or falsehood.	17:20
	We pray for the fruition of your Easter victory	17:25
	wherever your Truth is pitted against ignorance,	17:30
	prejudice, unbelief, oppression, injustice.	17:34
	We see the God-face of the refugee mother,	17:44
	the starving child in East Africa,	17:49
	the hopeless heroin addict in New York,	17:53
	the grieving father in South Africa,	17:59
	the worried young woman in Duke Hospital,	18:03
	and we pray for them	18:07
	confident that what happened on Easter morning to Jesus	18:11
	is for them also.	18:19
	We pray for those whose problems and discouragements	18:23
	seem more than they can handle.	18:27
	May they discover the power you give us	18:31
	to live with confidence.	18:33
	Oh mighty Christ,	18:37
	whose loving Father rolled away the stone from the tomb,	18:41
	heal the doubts of your despondent disciples.	18:46
	Give us the strength and the vision we need	18:51
	to live as those who have been raised with you	18:55
	to newness of life.	18:59
	This we pray	19:04
	with the confidence of those who have seen and believed.	19:06
	Amen.	19:13
	And now let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.	19:17
	(organ music)	19:29
	(chorus sings energetically)	21:37
	♪ Amen, Amen ♪	24:55
	(organ music)	25:08
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow, ♪	25:26
	♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below, ♪	25:32
	♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪	25:38
	♪ Praise God above, ye heav'nly host ♪	25:45
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! ♪	25:51
	♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪	25:58
	♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪	26:04
	♪ Hallelujah! ♪	26:11
	♪ Amen! ♪	26:22
-	Gracious God, it is our privilege	26:32
	to give you thanks and praise	26:35
	for the mighty works your love has accomplished among us,	26:38
	for the resurrection from the dead	26:43
	and the healing of our doubts,	26:45
	your light into our darkness.	26:47
	We give you thanks.	26:49
	Accept these gifts as our grateful response to your gifts.	26:51
	Our Father, who art in heaven,	26:57
	hallowed be thy name,	27:00
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth,	27:02
	as it is in heaven.	27:06
	Give us this day our daily bread	27:08
	and forgive us our trespasses	27:11
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	27:14
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	27:18
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	27:23
	and the glory forever.	27:26
	Amen.	27:29
	(harpsichord and organ music)	27:31
	(chorus sings)	28:12
-	Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,	31:16
	the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	31:20
	be with you now and always.	31:23
	(chorus sings)	31:28
	♪ Amen, Amen ♪	31:30
	(chorus harmonizes)	31:43
	♪ Amen ♪	31:56
	♪ Amen ♪	32:07
	(organ music)	32:47
	(organ music)	35:19

Item Info

Title:

L. Bevel Jones - "The Future That Can Be" (April 6, 1986)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1): 30:50. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 12:28.
In the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, God offers to us a new future. Yet, as the parable of the 10 virgins teaches us, we must prepare ourselves for that future. If we want a future characterized by peace, then we must prepare ourselves for it. It is this which Jesus intends when he says, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “We must prepare ourselves mightily, ethically, socially, spiritually for peace. It will not come with things as usual. Peace is coming when we prepare ourselves, when we change our ways of thinking and relating to one another and acting and the priorities that we have. God wants to give us peace, but we must know the things that make for peace.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r44m91r06

Date:

April 6, 1986

Speaker:

Jones, L. Bevel

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0322
ref8166_u8c
uachapelsermaud
duke:320639
dcrau001306
ark:/87924/r44m91r06
45c9347a-35c0-4013-9274-f371538174f0

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

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

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L. Bevel Jones - "The Future That Can Be" (April 6, 1986)

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